Vincent Reasons with People

"Woo-woo—"

The Hogwarts Express pulled away from the station.

Hermione, who had just stepped out, stumbled and nearly fell flat in the corridor.

"Just my luck..."

She took a deep breath and lightly knocked on the door to Compartment V.

Just as she had expected, Vincent and Cho were both inside.

A lone boy and a lone girl.

"Sorry to bother you—"

She did not go inside. "Have you seen a toad?

"It was Neville's gift for starting school."

Vincent, who had been resting his chin on his hand, turned his gaze away from the window.

Cho held out the dried fish in her hand to Gu Gu, who was flapping his wings with all his might.

"You can come in and look."

Only after receiving permission did Hermione step inside.

She was not curious about their relationship. She merely added the label of playboy to Vincent, who was also a first-year.

"May I open your suitcase and take a look?"

"Of course." Vincent took the initiative to unzip it.

There was a fairly good chance the toad had crawled inside.

Hermione did not rummage through his luggage. She only glanced through the gaps.

"This is..." She swiftly zipped up the hidden compartment.

That hard, silver unknown object was definitely one of the Wayne Family's small goods, sold all across continental Europe.

"I didn't know that was in there."

Vincent had known his parents would prepare some sort of weapon for self-defense.

In a few more years, that would have been illegal.

"I didn't see anything." Cho tactfully took Hermione's thin arm.

They had seen what they should have seen, and what they should not have seen.

"Neither did I," Hermione said, surprisingly echoing her words.

Her parents were both dentists, and her luggage also contained quite a few dental care tools.

Was it strange for a weapons dealer's son to have a gun?

Not strange at all.

To thank them for keeping quiet, Vincent decided to let Cho fuss over Gu Gu however she liked until they reached the station.

As for Hermione, he voluntarily took on the task of finding Leif.

"Let's look together." She was still a little worried.

There was no telling whether the young wizards would run into a second Neville.

Vincent casually walked out of the compartment. "Fine, but it'll be very inefficient."

Cho hugged Gu Gu tightly to her chest. "I'll ask around toward the back for you."

The last few compartments were basically occupied by students who had almost arrived late.

Students like Vincent and Hermione were very rare.

The two of them had politely knocked and asked around until they reached the middle of the train.

"Sorry to bother you, have you seen...

"Oh, you're doing magic? You wouldn't mind letting us have a look, would you?"

Inside the open Compartment J, the two boys who seemed to be having a snack feast looked somewhat bewildered.

The older boy behind the girl had been staring at them the whole time.

The red-haired boy holding a wand swallowed the food in his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Sunshine, daisies, sweet cream, turn this stupid fat rat yellow—"

With a plop, the snack box the little rat had been burying its head in fell to the floor.

The bespectacled boy exchanged a glance with him, and both could see the thick embarrassment in each other's eyes.

"Are you sure that's..."

"Let's go."

The older boy pulled the girl away.

The two boys in the compartment continued eating snacks and chatting.

For a brief moment, both of them had thought those two had come looking for trouble.

"Harry, don't mind them."

"Okay, Ron."

In the corridor.

Hermione shook off Vincent's large hand. "What are you doing?"

"Don't forget we're here to find Leif."

It would have been a shame not to greet Mr. Potter, but he truly did not want to relive that condescending display of showing off.

Hermione, following behind him, narrowed her eyes at his back.

She had not wanted to show off or anything. Ever since she was little, whenever she saw classmates struggling with a problem, she had enthusiastically demonstrated the solution process for them.

Vincent's attitude clearly showed that finding Leif was merely his "hush money" for her.

The label of snob was pasted onto his back along with her gaze.

Now that they had reached Compartment D, neither of them knew the other's impression of them had worsened.

"Sorry to bother you..."

Vincent opened the compartment door and swiftly turned sideways, dodging a dark blur flying toward his nose.

The pale-faced blond boy inside drawled loudly, "Shit, don't let that toad get away!"

The other two fat boys immediately stood up.

"It's Leif!"

Hermione watched it hop farther and farther down the corridor. Excitedly, she grabbed Vincent's arm. "Hurry up. I don't want to search for it all over again with you."

"Hold on—" The blond boy stopped the two as they were about to leave. "Leif? Are you talking about that ugly toad that ran into my compartment?"

That irritating drawl made Vincent stop in his tracks.

He blocked the compartment doorway and looked down at the two fat boys, both already five feet tall.

"I don't think Leif is ugly.

"At least not as ugly as these two."

The blond boy jumped down from his seat, still dragging out his words. "What, is that ugly toad your pet?

"Heh, what an outdated antique."

His undisguised contemptuous gaze made even Hermione feel extremely uncomfortable.

A pest like him belonged in Slytherin by nature.

"No." Vincent walked inside.

They would run into each other at school sooner or later anyway. He might as well reason with him properly now.

Two chubby lackeys and a brat who was perhaps only good at mouthing off should not take too much time.

The blond boy strode forward with an arrogant expression. "Do you know the Malfoy Family?"

Vincent and Hermione both shook their heads at the same time.

"So you're Muggle-born."

He raised his haughty little head. "Get back home. Hogwarts isn't a place for the likes of you."

The two fat boys sneered and began praising their own noble pure-blood status.

The three of them behaved like medieval nobles who could trample commoners at will.

"Vincent, don't..."

No matter how angry Hermione felt, she kept a firm grip on his right arm as he clenched his fist.

"Pitiful fools—"

Vincent's expression remained blank, but his eyes became exceptionally sharp. "Is bloodline the only thing you have left to brag about?"

The blond boy seemed not to have seen the reaction he expected. Bored, he waved a hand. "Throw them out."

The two grinning chubby boys ignored the difference in height and each placed a hand on Vincent's shoulders as he blocked the door.

Hermione did not hesitate any longer. Her small hand released his arm.

"Get out—"

Vincent swiftly clamped his hands around their wrists. "What, are you his pet guard dogs?"

He twisted their thick arms behind their backs, then slammed them viciously into each other. "Do you know the Wayne Family?"

Bang—bang—

After two huge, heavy impacts, the blond boy took a small step back.

"So you're a coward."

For every step Vincent took, he retreated two.

"Get back home. Even Muggle-born wizards are stronger than you."

Vincent calmly returned every mocking word the other boy had said.

When the Malfoy Family boy had nowhere left to retreat and his back hit the window glass, Vincent suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"What are you laughing at!"

"What do you think?"

Hermione's eyelid twitched outside the compartment.

"Gasp—"

She even sucked in a breath.

"Argh—"

The scene was simply too bloody.