A Farce on the Back-to-School Train

Time flies by as quickly as the hair of a middle-aged person.

Before we knew it, the Easter holiday was over, and the new school year began on September 1, 1995.

However, this only applies to new students.

For returning students, August 13th, the day the Easter holidays ended and they took the train back to Hogwarts, felt more like the start of the new school year.

However, because today is the start of the school year, we gave students a day off on Tuesday to give those who wanted to go home and take the train with the new students to attend the opening banquet a chance.

Hermione is one of them.

However, her reason was different. "I thought about you for a long time on the train last year, and this time we're going to start school together, Bucky."

"That's what I think too, Steve, no, Hermione," Basil replied listlessly.

For a moment, I was so confused that I almost thought I was role-playing, with the other person being Captain America and me being the Winter Soldier.

Hermione ignored Basil's slip of the tongue, which is quite normal in the Wizarding World these days, because of information pollution, anyone might suddenly say something nonsensical.

At Harry's birthday party last time, when Malfoy was discovered, he yelled things like, "I'm not human anymore, Potter!" "You're going to get Luda!" "This is the route I'm taking!" and slithered away from the scene.

Ron, still staring erratically at Malfoy's retreating figure, said, "This boy must not be allowed to live, otherwise he will surely become a great threat in the future!"

Ginny patted her brother on the shoulder with emotion and said, "Thank goodness for information pollution, otherwise you would never have been able to say such eloquent things in your entire life!"

Hermione cares about now is going to school with her sweetheart and enjoying time alone together.

This is why Ron and Harry, who were also on the train, were moved to another carriage by her, and the door was closed, with several protective charms cast on them.

Fianto Duri to prevent the door from being opened, it is as silent as a place to block out outside noise, and it Peacekeeper to reduce the presence of others.

"Here, this is a smoked ham, tuna, and mashed potato sandwich I made. I learned it from my mom." Hermione presented a lunchbox like it was a treasure and opened it. "I even warmed it up a bit."

Basil accepted it, and he was actually quite moved.

Noticing his dislike of cold food, the hummus wasn't made with the salt and vinegar base favored by the British; instead, it was replaced with mashed potatoes, which he prefers.

"Here, a Coke or a Pepsi."

Taking the cola, which was clearly chilled with Freezing Charm, Basil began to devour it.

In the next carriage, Ron's ear was off the wall. "What are they doing? I can't hear anything."

Ginny said irritably, "Hermione has been preparing for this for a long time, so don't even think about bothering her. Right, Harry?"

Harry nodded quickly; between his brother and his girlfriend, he would choose his girlfriend.

The reason I have free time today is because it's the first day of school at Hogwarts, and the Rune Card World has specially adjusted the schedule and given a holiday for sixth and seventh graders.

Harry and Cedric don't need to be busy with live streaming anymore; they can finally get some rest.

In fact, some of Harry and Cedric's investors felt that the live stream, where they were taking classes with sixth and seventh graders in the Rune Card World, was a waste of their training time.

This can be considered a form of moral blackmail against them by a global audience.

Especially Cedric, whose "path" is not like Harry's path of becoming stronger through love.

Harry barely had a legitimate reason—to be with his three wives.

Cedric might as well go streak in the Forbidden Forest!

When Cedric himself learned of this statement, he almost thought that his streaking had been exposed.

Harry didn't care, prioritizing his wife and girlfriend just like today. If Ginny were also in the Rune Card World, he probably wouldn't have come back.

Ron Xizi clutched her heart, looked up at Harry, and said, "All the love and time I've spent these past few years have ultimately been wasted!"

Harry was terrified. He shrank back and leaned towards Ginny, shouting, "We're just friends!"

Ron coughed lightly. "It's information overload again, but what I mean is the same thing: Harry, you're the first person I ever met, just as I remember."

Ginny gave Ron a disdainful look, then hugged the clingy Harry. "But I was the first to notice Harry. I saw him first at King's Cross Station. And besides, do you really enjoy being a third wheel?"

Ron snorted, crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and muttered, "If it weren't for Lavender..."

"Why didn't you wait at Hogwarts like Lavender, instead of rushing to catch the train?" Harry, who had drawn a sense of security from Ginny's square face and broad shoulders, regained his curiosity.

"I'm going home too," Ron said, offering an excuse.

"I know," Ginny said, giving her brother a disdainful look. "He's secretly playing with Colossus and Fred and George."

With the introduction of Summoning Card, almost every young wizard now has a summoned creature.

Animal fighting thus became a popular activity.

Summoning has two modes: physical entity and projection.

Since summoned creatures in their physical form can be truly killed, and the contracted wizard will also be harmed, wizards will not use this method except to collect valuable byproducts such as fur and Venom.

The projection state is different. It does not refer to creating an image, but rather a tangible physical body made of energy, which the summoned beast can truly sense the outside world.

Summoned beasts in this state cannot be killed, only defeated, and defeating them will at most consume the wizard's magic power.

It is precisely because of this mechanism that beast fighting became popular among wizards who had summoned beasts.

But this is not allowed by the school.

Hagrid and Professor Sprout believed this was an act of harming summoned creatures; they wouldn't die, but they could truly feel the pain of being defeated.

Professor McGonagall believed this was too barbaric, as the young wizards might not be able to control their summoned creatures and could cause friendly fire.

Therefore, animal fights have always been a clandestine underground activity, held in small, empty classrooms or abandoned rooms.

Since the organizers were not skilled in the Undetectable Extension Charm, some junior wizards with large summoned beasts could only watch and could not participate.

"He finds it inconvenient at school. His Bird Serpent can display a larger size in a wide space, giving him a greater advantage in battle."

"But this is too cruel," Ginny said, summoning the Hairy Beast and holding it in her arms. "They feel pain too."

Harry immediately and unconditionally sided with Ginny, but before condemning her, he glanced at the Hairy Beast in Ginny's arms.

Its gray head was indeed round and large.

However, he was somewhat speechless. How could such a small thing, which looked like a gray furry doll and was not even as tall as a calf, be called a demon in Soviet, no, Thaddeus Ross, legends?

This little thing is clearly harmless.

It is hostile to humans and even has a desire to eat them.

My favorite thing is playing hide-and-seek with humans.

Whenever a human turns around, it lies prone on the ground, disguising itself with its head, which looks like a shiny, round stone.

When a human sits down, it pounces on them, intending to attack.

But it was too weak, not even as tall as a newborn baby; one could easily defeat and drive it away by simply standing up and kicking it.

Its bite force is also very weak. In the wild, Muggle sometimes don't even feel its attack. A wave of the hand and a flip can drive it away.

If we have to say what is related to demons, it's their inherent fear-based stance.

But this fear stance is better than nothing.

First, you must not have discovered it.

Secondly, it takes several hours for it to completely drive you to despair.

Finally, even if you're in despair and start crying, you're more likely to be charmed when it jumps out with a 'rua' sound and tries to attack you.

The Thaddeus Ross Ministry of Magic's most frequent task is to rescue Hairy Beast from Muggle homes who have failed to prey on humans and have been captured as novelty pets.

"It's so cute." Harry couldn't resist putting his finger into the Hairy Beast's mouth.

The little thing was clearly biting him hard, but he only felt sucking and a slight pressure.

Um?

Wet and warm, picked up by Muggle and used as toys?

Harry, now an adult, misunderstood for a moment.

"Am I not as good as it?" Ron, who was prepared to be scolded by Harry, was speechless. "Why don't you scold me?"

"Yeah," Ginny nodded, retracting the Hairy Beast, "Why don't you yell at him?"

Harry coughed. "Generally speaking, the projections created by beginners are not stable, and if a beast wants to win, it often requires a wizard to inject his consciousness into it and manipulate it. This means that the summoned beast does not feel much pain, and its projection is destroyed."

"Duelists can empathize, just as if they were personally participating in a boxing match."

"In fact, beast fighting is also popular in the Rune Card World. It's just that Fantastic Beasts are too rare in that world. Most wizards' summoned beasts are magical plants. Niffler are not pets with much combat power, so they are rarely seen on campus."

"What?" Ron's eyes widened. "It can be manipulated by itself? Fred and George cheated!"

Ginny scoffed, "That's because you're incompetent. If you were really going to fight a spider yourself, would you dare to fight a giant Acromantula the size of a calf?"

"I wouldn't dare," Ron said loudly, as if he were very proud. "It's not my fault. If you were hugging your teddy bear and suddenly it sprouted many legs and pounced on your face, you would be scared too."

"I was only three years old then."

"And it was Fred's doing too, because I broke his toy broom."

"But he was not punished in any way."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Toy brooms aren't cheap either, you're lucky you didn't get a beating from Mom for breaking it."

"You know you were only three years old, and Fred was only five at the time."

"Without using a magic wand, secretly turning the teddy bear into a living spider instead of a momentary emotional outburst, I finally understand why Mom had such high expectations for Fred and George, especially Fred."

"Yes, he's a genius, George is a genius, Percy, Bill, Charlie, and you are all geniuses, but I'm not one, okay?" Ron ran out of the carriage.

"What's wrong with him?" Ginny didn't chase after Ron; her cheeks were flushed with anger. "I just look down on his personality. He's very talented, you know. That Nonverbal Spell he used before was so beautiful."

"He's like this because all he knows is how to play."

Ron, who had just put down his wand and returned to the vicinity of the carriage, stopped in his tracks.

"While he was playing, we were all studying."

"When the results came out, they attributed everything to our talent, ignoring our efforts."

"Didn't he see Percy spending all summer studying in his room?"

"Fred and George are making funny props, which is also a way of indirectly training their magic and alchemy skills."

"All he does is read comics, play cards, eat, and sleep in."

"If he put even half of his energy into studying, his grades wouldn't be mediocre."

"I even led you astray before."

"Fortunately, Hermione is there to keep you two in check."

"Otherwise, he can forget about achieving this mediocre result!"

"Is that how you've always seen Ron?" Harry took a deep breath, his expression turning somewhat cold. "He's never led me astray."

Ginny's pupils dilated in shock, as if she couldn't believe Harry would say that about her, for Ron's sake.

Ron's eyes filled with tears.

"He played Wizard's Chess very well. He led us to victory against Professor McGonagall's pieces and soldiers, using his own flesh and blood to block the attacks."

"He cares about you, his sister. Even after you were imprisoned in the Chamber of Secrets, he risked his life to rescue you with a broken wand."

"He was a very good friend. When everyone thought Sirius was a vicious Death Eater, he stood in front of me and said that if anyone wanted to hurt me, they would have to kill him first."

"There's a reason why he lacks confidence."

"Because at home, he was always the most inconspicuous one."

"You, who are the most favored, have absolutely no right to say such things!"

As Harry said this, he walked straight out of the carriage and met the eyes of a teary-eyed Ron.

"Harry".

"Ron."

The two embraced tightly.

Many wizards, unaware of the truth but knowing about Roan and Harry, stepped out of the carriage and began to applaud.

Ginny, who was preparing to chase after Harry, felt that all of this was incredibly jarring.

It turns out that if Ron were Roan, Ginny, no, Ginny Weasley wouldn't have had a chance at all.

Whoosh!

The carriage door, which had been enchanted with many protective spells, was pushed open by Basil.

"You two, if you want to be all lovey-dovey, go back inside the carriage. You're making my eyes water."

"I understand." Ron wiped away his tears.

"Hmm." Harry took Ron's hand and headed back to his compartment.

Ginny quickly sat down, looked out the window, and pretended not to see anything.

After returning to the carriage.

"Ginny, I'm home," Ron said.

He had a feeling that he had stolen his sister's boyfriend.

He was deeply moved by what Ginny said; Ginny was telling the truth.

He didn't quite understand why Harry was reacting so strongly.

However, he was very touched, and for a moment he even had the thought that it would be great if he were a girl like Roan.

"Mm." Ginny nodded.

"I'm back too," Harry said dryly, and sat down next to Ron.

Ginny didn't respond, and for a moment, it seemed as if an invisible barrier separated the two of them.