Dumbledore

A fat gray rat suddenly crawled out of Ron's sleeve, stood on the table, and squeaked at him.

A large rat suddenly scurried out. Hermione let out a soft cry and hurriedly moved away from Ron.

"Why did you bring a rat?"

Being disliked by a Little Witch his own age made Ron's ears turn bright red. He explained, "His name is Scabbers. He used to be Percy's rat. When Percy became a prefect, Dad gave him an owl. They couldn't afford... I mean, so they gave the rat to me."

Perhaps sensing Ron's embarrassment, Hermione remained far away from both him and the rat, but she still tried to comfort him. "It's all right. Maybe you'll become a prefect someday too, and get a new pet."

Ron took out some bread crumbs and fed them to the gray rat. The rat immediately quieted down. Yet after hearing Hermione's comfort, rather than cheering up, he became even more dejected.

"I have five brothers. I'm the sixth Young Wizard in my family to go to Hogwarts.

"They're all outstanding. Bill and Charlie have graduated. One was Head Boy, and the other was Captain of the Quidditch team.

"Now Percy has become a prefect too. Fred and George are mischievous troublemakers, but their grades are excellent as well.

"So whether it's Mum, Dad, or anyone else, they all think I'll be just as outstanding.

"If I manage it, it won't be anything special. But if I don't, then..."

Hermione fell silent. She was the only daughter of the Granger family and had always been doted on, so she did not know how to comfort someone from a family like Ron's.

She turned to Harry and asked, "What about you, Harry? I heard you grew up in a Muggle family too, just like me."

Hermione's words startled Harry out of his thoughts, and he answered instinctively, "Uh, me? They're all pretty good, at least now they are."

Hermione and Ron were clearly puzzled. Why were they only pretty good now? Had they been terrible before?

But Harry had no intention of explaining. At that moment, he was staring at the fat gray rat.

He could sense fluctuations of magic within Scabbers. It was exactly the same as the magic inside wizards, something like Chaos Magic, but of lower quality than his own.

Magical Creatures?

Harry secretly guessed.

At that moment, Ron pulled out his wand, pointed it at Scabbers, and said to Harry and Hermione, "Fred taught me a spell that can turn him yellow. Want to see?"

"Of course." Hermione was curious about everything in the Wizarding World.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem~" Ron cleared his throat, hoping to make the pronunciation of the spell more accurate.

"Daisies, sweet cream, and sunshine, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

A layer of sparkling yellow light bloomed over Scabbers's body, but he did not turn yellow. He was still the same gray color as before.

When it came to learning, Hermione seemed to always be rather forceful. She questioned, "Are you sure that's a spell?"

Ron's ears turned red again. "I knew Fred was fooling me. He always likes playing pranks on people."

Harry shook his head. "No, Ron's spell worked just now. But Scabbers is a magical creature. The magic inside him made him immune to the spell."

"Scabbers is a magical creature?" Neither Ron nor Hermione believed it. That gray rat looked ugly and dirty. How could it possibly be a magical creature?

Ron was even more unconvinced. Scabbers had lived in his home for years without ever showing anything unusual. He questioned, "How could that be? Scabbers is just an ordinary rat. He's always been like this."

Harry smiled but did not argue. Perhaps Scabbers's magical power was gluttony. Just look how eagerly he ate—a bread crumb nearly half the size of his body was quickly gone.

Hermione stood up and took out her wand.

At that moment, her expression was proud and haughty, making her look completely different from the adorable Little Witch she had been moments ago.

Harry thought of all those top students. This was the unique arrogance of a top student!

Hermione raised her little chin and declared proudly, "I've learned a few simple spells too. Well, they all work quite well.

"One of them is a spell that third-years are allowed to learn. It was difficult, but it was so convenient that I learned it anyway!"

She pointed her wand at Ron. Seeing him look a little frightened, she smiled. "Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon... Scourgify!"

Only then did Harry notice a black smudge on Ron's nose. It quickly disappeared, and even Ron's hair became much smoother.

Harry was never stingy with his praise. "Hermione, you're amazing! You actually learned a third-year spell!"

Ron, however, was not feeling nearly as happy. He looked at Harry, then at Hermione.

All right, apparently he was the worst one there.

He suddenly found Hermione much more annoying.

Hermione's mood was the complete opposite of Ron's. At first, after meeting Harry, she had thought every Young Wizard was like him—equally outstanding.

That had worried Hermione, who had always excelled in her studies. She had been afraid she would fall far behind.

But after meeting Ron, she relaxed. So Ron was the normal standard for a Young Wizard.

As for why Harry was so outstanding, that was because he was the Savior!

Saviors were always different!

At that moment, a smiling woman with dimples pushed open the compartment door. "Dear, would you like to buy some snacks?"

Ron and Hermione both pulled long faces. One came from a wizarding family, but his family was poor enough that they could not even afford a pet.

The other had two dentists for parents, but there was a limit on how many Galleons they could exchange. Those Galleons were just enough to cover her schooling, and there truly could not be any extra spending.

Noticing his two companions' predicament, Harry secretly took out some Galleons from the Pocket Dimension and pretended to pull them from his pocket. "I'll have some of everything, thank you."

Hermione and Ron's eyes lit up.

From the ice cream and cake Hagrid had bought him, Harry could already tell that food in the Wizarding World really did taste quite good.

Harry bought many kinds of snacks: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands, Pink Frogs...

Of course, he would not begrudge such a small amount of money. He shared the snacks with his companions.

Faced with all these delicious snacks, even Hermione ate with great enjoyment.

Harry tried several kinds, and they were all quite good. Only some of the flavors of the Every Flavor Beans made him uncomfortable. After tasting two, he set them aside.

He opened a Chocolate Frog, caught the moving chocolate frog, put it in his mouth, and crushed it between his teeth. As he savored the rich sweetness of the chocolate, he noticed a card.

The card bore the face of a man wearing half-moon spectacles. His long nose was somewhat crooked, and his long silver hair and beard obscured part of his face.

Beneath the picture was his name: Albus Dumbledore.

Harry flipped the card over. There was some writing on the back.

Albus Dumbledore, current headmaster of Hogwarts.

Widely considered the greatest wizard of the modern age,

Dumbledore's well-known achievements include:

Defeating the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945,

Discovering the twelve uses of Dragon's Blood,

Making remarkable achievements in alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel,

Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling.

The greatest wizard of the modern age?

Harry was a little curious. Between this greatest wizard and the Supreme Mage, who was actually stronger?