Ron's Sister

Ron's Sister

"I read about you in a book." Ted held out his hand and shook the somewhat reserved Neville's.

"Hello, I'm Ted Epiphany. You can call me Ted."

"H-hello, just call me Neville." Chubby little Neville looked like the kind of kid everyone picked on, his face practically screaming, "Please bully me. I'm begging you."

Ted was a little worried about Voldemort's situation.

What Ted did next surprised Neville—he did not ask to see his scar.

That made him breathe a sigh of relief, because ever since he was little, everyone who learned who he was wanted to see his scar.

He did not like showing off the scar that had cost him both his parents, but he did not know how to refuse people's requests.

Ted's refusal to ask about the scar immediately earned his goodwill.

Hermione pointed at the Mouse-Ear boy and introduced him. "This is Jerry. He's also a new student this year. We'll all be classmates!"

Ted shook Jerry's hand. "Hello, Jerry. Call me Ted."

"Hello, Ted!" Jerry was obviously much livelier, his eyes darting around.

But after that, the compartment grew a little awkward.

Neville did not dare Start Talking at all. He barely even dared to look anyone in the eye.

Jerry, meanwhile, seemed to want to say something but held himself back in this unfamiliar setting.

He was thinking that although Neville and Hermione did not discriminate against his identity, he still did not know what attitude this new classmate would have.

Hermione, on the other hand, had plenty to say. She kept holding her textbook and discussing problems with spells with Ted.

Meanwhile, the other two secretly observed Ted.

They had already seen how impressive Hermione was—both in personality and magic.

Although Neville came from the Longbottom family, he had not been able to cast a single spell before. His Magic Power had not even erupted until he was ten, during his uncle's "falling-from-a-building experiment." Before that, many people had pessimistically believed that The Boy Who Lived was a Squib.

The Boy Who Lived being a Squib—what a tragedy that would have been! One could only imagine Neville's pressure.

There were some rather unpleasant rumors about him, calling him things like the dull-witted savior.

He was under immense pressure. He only wanted to be an ordinary wizard, an inconspicuous wizard. But that was difficult...

Now that Neville saw that his three new classmates were not staring at him like he was a monkey in a zoo, he relaxed a little.

As for Jerry, although he had been born into this world as a member of the Mouse-Ear Race, many Pure-blood families in the magical world did not consider them natives. Not only was his family's financial situation difficult, but they also had to tread carefully in daily life to avoid causing trouble.

He had only touched a wand for the first time half a month ago.

And Hermione, coming from a Muggle family, could already use several spells!

What kind of person, then, was Ted, whom she kept talking about as someone who could guide her? Naturally, Ted noticed the two secretly observing him, but he did not care.

After a while, Neville adjusted to the new members and atmosphere in the compartment and relaxed considerably.

Jerry became interested in the two smooth wooden beads in Ted's hand. He noticed that sometimes Ted's hand did not move at all, yet the two beads spun by themselves. Was that magic too? At that moment, Anzu finally broke free from Hermione's hands and hurriedly flew onto the luggage rack to preen his feathers. Pecking at them, he cried, "Caw caw~ That girl was way too close~"

Hermione liked Anzu so much that even Magic in her cage became jealous, staring at Anzu the whole time.

Anzu undoubtedly drew the attention of the other two, especially Neville. Holding Leifu the Toad, he looked at Anzu with envy. The Raven had jet-black feathers with a bluish sheen, was clever, and could speak human words.

Anzu was now nearing adulthood. At thirty centimeters long, he was already a big bird.

Then, the people in the compartment heard the voice of a young little girl from the platform not far away.

"Neville! Mum, I see Neville! Mum, can I get on the train and see him?"

"Ginny, Neville isn't an animal at the zoo for you to stare at. Besides, you've already met him!"

"That was when I was little. I don't remember it at all!"

Ted glanced out the window and saw Sirius and his wife seeing Harriett off. They were talking to the red-haired Weasley family.

Neville had obviously heard the exchange too, and he instinctively shrank to the side of the window.

If he could, he wanted to squeeze into the wall where no one could see him.

Although he was now a savior, Neville still seemed overly meek and lacking in confidence.

If someone had no particular strengths, people praised them for being honest and well-behaved.

Perhaps the pressure he had carried since childhood was simply too great.

And his grandmother did not seem very good at raising children. She was practically a pressure grandma.

Soon, it was time. The train began moving, heading north from London toward somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.

Once the train got moving, everyone became much happier, because Hogwarts was not far away.

Just a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

The sliding door opened, and a small red-haired head poked inside.

"Excuse me, can I... Oh no, this compartment is full too! Every compartment is full." The redhead blankly pulled his head back, only to poke it in again a few seconds later.

"Neville?"

Neville smiled awkwardly, his face a little stiff. "Hello, Ron."

So it was Ron Weasley—the Taiwanese translation's bizarre version!

Well, Ron Weasley, one of Hermione's two useless men~ Unlike Harry in the original story, who had grown up in his Muggle aunt and uncle's home, the Longbottom family was also a famous Pure-blood family in Britain's magical world. It was not strange that they had dealings with the equally Pure-blood Weasley family.

Neville's parents and the Weasley Couple were both members of the Order of the Phoenix, so Neville and Ron had met before.

Seeing someone he knew in the compartment, Ron breathed a sigh of relief. At least someone here recognized him.

He asked, "Um, can we squeeze in? There's no room in the other compartments either."

Ted glanced at the others and said, "Come in. We're all classmates. Since you're here anyway~"

"Thank you! Thank you!" Ron thanked them repeatedly as he dragged in a patched-up suitcase.

A compartment meant for four could easily fit five people. Those vans could even cram in a dozen or twenty people! Ron was fairly talkative. He introduced himself to everyone, then quickly began chatting away.

With him warming things up, Jerry, who had already been feeling a little stifled, joined the conversation as well.

Hermione and Ted chimed in from time to time, making the compartment's atmosphere even more harmonious. Neville relaxed a great deal too, and could even say a few things.

The Little Wizards' conversation naturally could not avoid Hogwarts, and soon they began talking about House sorting.

Neville was a little dejected. "I want to go to Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff is probably more likely. I'll be lucky if any House wants me."

Ron disagreed. "How could that be? You're The Boy Who Lived!"

Neville gave a bitter smile. "More like the dull boy who survived by luck..."

Neville could actually make fun of himself. His mentality was pretty good. What ordinary eleven-year-old could handle all that? Ted comforted him. "Actually, sorting is mostly based on your own wishes. If you want to go to Gryffindor, then hold firmly to that thought, and you'll be sorted into Gryffindor."

Ron looked a little skeptical. "Really? You know how the sorting works? I heard George and Fred say that it involves a difficult test, and it's dangerous! But they refused to tell me what it was!"

Ted grinned. "That's part of the tradition too... You'll find out when the time comes~"

Everyone: Riddle-speaker, get out of Hogwarts!

Knowing that Ted, Hermione, and Jerry did not know much about the magical world, Ron was delighted and immediately began talking about himself.

He mentioned that he had a flying broomstick—Shooting Star.

Well, it was not even faster than an energetic butterfly.

Ron complained that everything he owned was secondhand.

His wand had belonged to his second brother Charlie, his robes to his eldest brother Bill, and his Wizard's Chess had been left behind by his grandfather—a family heirloom, so the pieces often said they were old enough to be Ron's grandfather.

Even his pet rat, Scabbers, had belonged to Voldemort. Oh no, I mean, his third sister Peggy...

Ted glanced at his pet rat Peter—I mean, Scabbers.

He comforted Ron. "Don't worry about it. If we're talking about it, I've got it worse than you. Everything I own besides my wand was slowly picked out from secondhand shops over two months. I have no family, and after graduation, I'll still have to repay my student loans..."

Hearing that, Ron said he was sorry, but he indeed felt much more balanced inside.

Well, as the saying went: you fear your brother suffering, but you also fear your brother driving a Land Rover~ People's circumstances really were relative.

Wait!

Ted froze. He had spotted a blind spot.

What did he say? Who? Third sister? Peggy? Wasn't Peter Pettigrew Scabbers supposed to be a family heirloom inherited from Percy? "Ron, how many children are there in your family?"

"Seven!"

After Ted asked in detail—good grief, third brother Percy had become third sister Peggy...

Thanks to reader "I Am a Sharp Blade" for the 666 reward.

An old friend~