Argument

Hermione walked out of the classroom with her books in her arms. A lesson had just ended.

But she was in a terrible mood. Honestly, seeing Ron made her feel sick now, and even her former admiration for Harry had faded along with it.

What could she do? Harry and Ron stuck together all day like twins.

After the troll incident, Noah's ruthless intervention had kept them from becoming the true Golden Trio they had been in the original story. That was something Noah had expected.

More frighteningly, Hermione was now even wondering whether coming to Gryffindor in the first place had been a mistake.

At Gryffindor, she truly was the best student!

No matter the subject, she was confident that she was the best!

That was why she had always been happy to answer all kinds of questions. She took pride in helping Gryffindor earn more points.

But gradually, she realized she might have been wrong, because her excellence seemed somewhat out of place in Gryffindor!

Over the past half year, she had discovered that, just as Ron had said, she had no friends at all!

Maybe it was her problem. Maybe it was the environment here. Hermione did not know. She only knew that she needed to vent properly.

So she ran to the bathroom. Only when no one was around could she release all the unfairness and grievances she had suffered these past days.

But what she had never expected was that, when she timed things carefully and prepared to return to the dormitory, she saw a troll standing right in front of her!

"This is just awful!"

No matter how many times she recalled that moment, awful was the only word she could use to describe it all!

The troll was incredibly destructive, so powerful that she had no ability to resist it at all. And she was only a first-year student; she had no idea how to deal with such a creature!

"Maybe only those four Ravenclaw students know how to deal with something like this?"

At that critical moment, Hermione actually thought of Noah and the other three.

It was not because Noah and the others were so handsome that Hermione had developed a crush on them or anything. Though the four of them did look quite presentable, in Hermione's eyes, they were outstanding because of their grades.

Perhaps fortune had favored her, because just as Hermione wondered whether Noah and the others could handle a troll, Noah actually appeared with Kate!

After that, Hermione finally understood just how enormous the gap between herself and those people was!

Kate's Heavy Armor Charm was a spell only upperclassmen could use, yet he had mastered it so easily!

And Noah had used an utterly terrifying spell, directly injuring the troll!

Hermione dared to swear that even if they found upperclassmen, they might not have been able to do what Noah had done!

Powerful magical ability and profound magical knowledge—those were the qualities a qualified mage or wizard should possess!

Hermione felt that she could not go on like this. She should spend more time with such outstanding people. Perhaps they could even become friends!

"H-Hermione."

Just as Hermione was preparing to head to Ravenclaw to find Noah and the others, a clearly hesitant voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

When she looked up, Hermione's expression immediately darkened, because the people speaking were the ones she least wanted to see right now: Ron and Harry!

"What is it, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter?" Hermione's tone was somewhat cold. Clearly, she did not want to see them.

Though children were not supposed to hold grudges, Ron had treated her correcting his mistake as meddling, and he had struck directly at the pain in her heart. Hermione truly did not want to deal with someone like him now.

"Well, Hermione..." Ron naturally noticed Hermione's displeasure, and his expression immediately stiffened.

To be honest, he had not wanted to come here to say anything to Hermione at all. Whether it was this time or the last time, when they had risked being attacked by the troll to find her, it had not been his idea. Harry had taken the lead both times!

"Well, Hermione, we... we came to apologize." Perhaps realizing that his best friend could not bring himself to say it, Harry had no choice but to speak up himself.

"Apologize? There's no need. You haven't done anything to wrong me, have you?" Hermione's expression softened slightly, but her tone remained rather firm.

Honestly, compared to others, Harry and Ron did seem more like people who wanted to be friends, so Hermione found them easier to accept.

But unfortunately, neither Ron nor Harry could understand Hermione's thoughts, especially Ron, who had not wanted to come in the first place!

"I told you she wouldn't accept it! Let's go!" Ron grabbed Harry and turned to leave, fully revealing that he had never really wanted to apologize.

"Is this how you apologize?" Hermione felt aggrieved, and at the same time, she felt that she disliked Ron even more.

"You weren't planning to accept it anyway, were you?" Ron glared at Hermione irritably. He felt that apologizing to a girl in front of Harry was simply too humiliating.

"Ron!" Harry could not stand it anymore. Hermione had helped him a great deal, especially with homework, but Ron was also his good friend and dormmate. He was caught in the middle.

"L-Let's go, Harry. She's so brilliant, why didn't she go to Ravenclaw?" Ron might have realized that he had gone too far, but his mouth was still as stubborn as ever.

"Noah and the others are far better than you!"

"Yes, they are impressive, I admit it! They've even learned dark magic. Otherwise, how could first-years defeat a troll?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"It's not just me saying it. Everyone thinks so, okay?"

Ron and Hermione began arguing fiercely, though what Ron said was not merely his own opinion.

He knew that Noah had one of Snape's notebooks, and in their eyes, Snape was a Death Eater, a loyal follower of that mysterious man!

Therefore, whatever Noah had learned from those notes was naturally dark magic!

Though their guess was completely correct, dark magic was not anything good. Every dark spell was generally regarded as evil and extremely destructive.

Of course, they were only guessing. As long as Noah and Snape did not admit it, it could only remain speculation.

Still, talking behind someone's back and claiming that the magic they studied was dark magic was immoral no matter how one looked at it.

In the end, Ron dragged Harry away, while Hermione stood where she was for a long time.

She truly regretted not listening to the Sorting Hat's suggestion back then, choosing instead the House once attended by the greatest White Wizard of this century.

After a long while, her gaze became much firmer. Tightening her hold on the books against her chest, Hermione continued toward Ravenclaw's Common Room.

"There is no precedent for transferring Houses at Hogwarts, so there is no point thinking about it anymore. But even if I can't transfer Houses, that doesn't stop me from becoming friends with them!"