The Beaver Girl

Dragon Knight, along with the "magic" bar it activated, seemed to have effects the panel had not explained.

Whether in his Previous Life or now,

he had never possessed such strong leadership.

But now, his words and every movement carried an air that was both compelling and approachable.

Could this wand have also copied the charisma that had won over King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table?

Was that why Harry was sucking up to him so hard and being so filial all of a sudden?

Even Ron had forgotten his inferiority complex.

Though it was also possible that the novels and films had different settings.

He vaguely remembered that the younger of those twin sisters—the one who preferred the Harry Potter novels—had once said that movie Hermione seemed so outstanding because she had been given Harry and Ron's big moments from the books.

Sure enough, once Ron got comfortable, he began rattling off all sorts of British wizarding slang and customs without repeating himself.

Even Basil, who could be considered a native British young wizard, was amazed.

Harry also became much more familiar with the wizarding world because of it.

However, Ron's greatest expertise was snacks.

He knew the origins and proper ways to eat every kind of treat like the back of his hand.

The assorted flavors of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans: chocolate, mint, marmalade, spinach, toast, coconut, baked beans, strawberry, curry, liver, tripe, pepper, grass, sardine, dried bogey, and more.

Ron could accurately identify them just by their appearance.

Harry admired him immensely for that.

But gradually, Basil also discovered one of Ron's flaws.

Once he got talking, he could not stop.

Even after introducing all sorts of snacks, especially Chocolate Frogs, he kept on talking.

"Harry, Basil, here, sandwiches my mum made! Dry, fragrant, salty, and delicious! Have a taste!"

"My whole family's made up of wizards too. I'm the second youngest."

"But that has its downsides too. My clothes, wand, and textbooks are all secondhand!"

"Even my pet—" Ron put down his licorice wand and pulled a fat gray rat that was sleeping from the inner pocket of his jacket. "—was inherited from Percy. His name's Scabbers. He's been with our family for nearly eleven years."

He casually played with Scabbers's fat belly, and his expression gradually darkened.

Scabbers cooperatively narrowed his eyes and began to grunt.

"Here, your licorice wand!" Basil hurriedly handed it over.

That was way too much for his eyes!

The moment something entered Ron's mouth, his previously gloomy face instantly relaxed.

His hand also moved away from Scabbers's belly.

"Thanks. Mm, wait," Ron suddenly trailed off. He looked Basil up and down as if seeing him for the first time. "Your surname's Granger? Holbem Forest is in Devon, right?"

Basil was a little confused. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Our family's in Devon too!" Ron jumped up. Scabbers was flung into the pile of snacks.

"Are you that young wizard from the Daily Prophet who killed the werewolf Fenrir Greyback?"

"My mum hasn't let us leave the house for a whole month because of you."

"I bet Mum was so angry just now because of that too—I left her sight without permission."

"Killed someone?" Harry, who was stuffing Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans into his mouth, nearly choked.

A frightened sob suddenly came from outside the compartment door.

Basil opened the door and saw a round-faced boy.

He stood frozen before the door, pale-faced and covered in beads of sweat the size of rice grains, trembling all over.

The instant the door opened, he ran away without looking back.

Basil's face darkened as he closed the door again.

"Looks like he heard us."

Basil lowered his voice and gave Harry a sinister look.

Harry merely burst out laughing. "You nearly fooled me!"

He was quite confident when it came to reading people.

There had been more surprise than fear in Ron's tone.

"Tell us. What happened?"

Basil said irritably, "Don't listen to the Daily Prophet. It's a third-rate newspaper!"

"That werewolf was obviously killed by a tree! One my grandfather planted."

"That's still incredible!" Ron said solemnly. "Fenrir Greyback is the most vicious werewolf alive today."

"He makes it his mission to bite and infect as many people as possible, hoping to create a huge army of werewolves to defeat wizards."

"Voldemort even promised him prey as a reward."

"Greyback specifically targets children. He bites them while they're young, takes them away from their parents, and raises them to hate wizards."

At that point, Ron could not help shuddering. "They say Voldemort often threatens to unleash Greyback to bite people's children, and that threat usually works."

"The mysterious person you mean is Voldemort?" Harry asked curiously, tilting his head.

"You said the mysterious person's name!" Ron said, looking both shocked and moved. "I knew it. Out of everyone, only you..."

Basil said earnestly, "Actually, Harry, if Voldemort were still alive, I'd advise you not to say his name. He placed magic on it. Anyone who spoke his name would be noticed by him."

Harry looked puzzled. "Then now?"

Basil said, "Now, say it whenever you like. Just call him Voldemort. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name only strengthens fear of the thing itself."

Ron coughed. "I'll try. Volde... I mean, Voldemort! Whew! I said it!"

He did not notice that Scabbers, in the pile of snacks, had been so frightened that he lost control of both his bladder and bowels.

Basil dry-heaved.

He was not planning to touch those snacks again.

Ron, as if he had noticed nothing, pulled out another licorice wand and prepared to bite into it.

At the critical moment, just as Basil could no longer bear the condemnation of his conscience and was about to warn him,

the compartment door slid open with a swish.

A girl who looked somewhat familiar appeared before him.

She had already changed into Hogwarts's long black robes.

The next second, Basil searched through the memories in his mind and found the matching face.

Hmm, an enemy? No, a helpful person!

But she looked extremely angry.

She seemed to have run all the way here in one breath, panting heavily. Her large front teeth rubbed against the hot air, making little huffing sounds.

Like a small beaver with puffed cheeks, she was quite adorable.

[Scourgify]

As Basil admired the sight, he quietly pointed a finger at the licorice wand in Ron's hand and cast a cleaning charm.

This was another use of the Wand Appearance Component.

As long as he did not materialize it, the wand would keep moving through Basil's body along with his "magic."

He could move the wand to his finger and perform the House-elf trick of using a finger in place of a wand.

"Were you the one who bullied Neville?"

"And I thought you were a good person!"

"That book list of yours must have been a lie too!"

"I'm telling the teachers!" The beaver girl fixed Basil with her dark brown eyes.

"You crazy girl!"

"We never even left this compartment!" Ron stood up and positioned himself between Basil and the beaver girl.

Huff, huff.

Heavy panting sounded from outside the door again.

It was the round-faced boy. He clenched his fists, breathing heavily as he stood in front of the girl.

"Hermione, be careful."

"He killed someone! I heard it myself!"

Basil raised an eyebrow and patted Ron on the shoulder, signaling for him to move aside.

[Immobulus]

With a light tap of his finger, the Full Body-Bind Curse's power froze the round-faced boy in place.

He walked straight up to the girl and carefully examined her face.

"So you're Hermione!"

"But why don't you look anything like Emma?"

"Still, you're pretty cute."

He somewhat regretted not paying closer attention to his "friends'" names when making friends.

Hermione's Echo was good stuff too.

It was his destiny.

Much better than Harry and Ron's Echoes.

The beaver girl refused to back down, glaring right back at him.

Her face gradually reddened.

"You really never went outside?"

Who was Neville?

Hermione said she did not know him.