Journey on the Train

Harry was taken aback, his face instantly turning bright red.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he said, looking so embarrassed he practically steamed, especially under Eliana's wary gaze. "I mean, your spellwork was really good... Sorry, I really didn't mean it!"

He stammered, fumbling over his words as he tried to cover himself. "I don't have parents either... mine died when I was a baby. They say Voldemort killed them..."

Harry couldn't believe that one day he'd feel a twinge of relief over being practically an orphan.

He watched the girl across from him carefully. She looked Asian, with hair like black silk and skin as smooth as the Chinese porcelain Aunt Petunia collected. Though her face was tense, she was undeniably pretty.

His face grew even redder.

Luckily, he noticed Eliana's pursed lips relax, and he breathed a sigh of relief along with her.

Eliana confirmed that the person in front of her meant no harm and seemed pretty pitiful too, so she turned to comfort him instead. "It's okay, you've had it rough too. But at least you know your enemy's name—right? Study hard at Hogwarts, then kill Voldemort to avenge your parents."

"Excuse me, can I sit here—ah!!!"

A turkey-like shriek came from the doorway as the door slid open, making both people in the compartment whip their heads around.

Eliana was baffled. "Just sit down already. It's not like they charge fare by volume here."

The red-haired boy said in shock, "You actually said that name, and said you'd kill him."

"You're so brave!" He turned his head toward Harry, looking for a companion to agree with him, but when his eyes landed on Harry's forehead, he let out another shriek.

Eliana wrinkled her nose in mild disgust—had she overestimated the wizarding world? Every peer she'd met so far seemed to be missing a screw, one stammering and the other jumping at shadows.

"Harry Potter! You're Harry Potter, right? I'm Ron." The shrieking turkey said excitedly.

An excited Ron was like a hundred ducks. After a whole lot of noisy fussing, Eliana finally got a rough idea of the situation.

In short, about a decade ago, a terrorist organization had run rampant, burning, killing, and looting without restraint. But their leader was defeated by Harry when he was just a baby. The organization went quiet, the wizarding world returned to peace, and Harry became a hero.

"I knew it. If it was such a well-known event, why didn't I remember it at all? I've memorized the history textbooks several times over. History of Magic only covers wizarding history before the nineteenth century. Voldemort probably wasn't even born yet back then."

Eliana breathed a sigh of relief—she'd thought she had a gap in her studies. Luckily, she just hadn't gotten to modern history yet.

"You memorized the textbooks several times too?"

Ron and Harry both exclaimed in surprise, like two well-coordinated ducklings.

"Hmm? Isn't previewing textbooks a perfectly normal thing?" Eliana looked up at the two dumbfounded faces in front of her, not understanding why they were so shocked.

"I bet those kids from wizarding families must have looked through their parents' textbooks ages ago. They've probably got them memorized backward and forward by now!"

As she spoke, she grew anxious again.

Ron, who came from a wizarding family, didn't dare make a sound.

After a long pause, he said weakly, "Well... not necessarily, right?"

"You've memorized all the textbooks too?" The compartment door slid open with a bang, and a bushy-haired little girl stood excitedly at the entrance. "I memorized them too!"

Eliana shot Ron a "see, I told you so" look, then turned eagerly to the little girl.

The little girl's eyes sparkled with competitive spirit. "I even tried a few simple spells, and they all worked."

She turned to Harry, whose glasses had slid askew from wiping his sweat, and pulled out her wand. "Reparo!"

A flash of light passed, and Harry's glasses, which had been held together with tape, became brand new.

He hadn't even reacted yet, his face still frozen in the shocked expression of being pointed at by a wand: O .O

"!"

Eliana immediately sat up straight, her own competitive spirit ignited. "I've tried a few decent spells too."

She pulled out her lunchbox. "Wingardium Leviosa."

The lunchbox floated up eerily. She waved her wand again, and blue flames shot from its tip, licking at the bottom of the aluminum container. Soon, a faint aroma wafted out.

"Want some?"

She opened the lid generously, revealing a full bowl of chicken soup.

That's right—it was the unlucky rooster that had mistaken her spell light for dawn and crowed. Mrs. Brown, claiming it was "too old and blind to be useful," had turned it into Eliana's farewell dish.

"No, no thanks." Ron's face reddened. "My mum made me sandwiches."

"I still need to help Neville find his toad." The little girl also declined. She turned to Eliana. "I'm Hermione Granger. And you?"

"I'm Eliana Rich. Nice to meet you."

Hermione nodded. "Likewise. Maybe we can study together once we get to school."

"They're pretty scary, aren't they?" Ron nudged Harry with his elbow.

While the two girls were enthusiastically showing off their study results, the two boys, who couldn't get a word in edgewise, somehow grew closer.

Harry wasn't in a great mood. He said worriedly, "I don't know anything. I bet I'll be the worst student in class... Do you think I'll get expelled?"

"Expelled? Probably not." Ron's face fell too. "The worst... don't worry, mate. You've got me."

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The two of them exchanged a precious, understanding look.

Ron suddenly turned his head and said to Eliana, "I bet you'll be in Ravenclaw."

"What?" Eliana didn't understand—she didn't have extra money to buy extracurricular books, like A History of Hogwarts, so she wasn't very clear on things not in the textbooks.

As if finally finding something she didn't know, Ron brightened up. "Hogwarts sorts students into four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Ravenclaw students are known for being clever."

"Sounds nice. I like that house." Eliana shifted the topic. "Which of these houses is the best?"

"Well, everyone says Gryffindor is the best. You know Albus Dumbledore?"

Eliana nodded. "The admission letter mentioned him. Headmaster of Hogwarts, Order of Merlin, First Class, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards."

Ron choked. "Ah, yeah. The greatest wizard. He came from that house."

Eliana lowered her eyes thoughtfully.

"I hope I get into that house, or Ravenclaw would be fine too. Just not Slytherin," Ron concluded.

"Is Slytherin that bad?"

Ron frowned. "It tends to produce Dark wizards."

Finally, a topic Harry could chime in on. "That's the house Voldemort was in."

Ron made a sound like he was about to faint, and Harry quickly apologized. "I mean, the Dark Lord."

"So—" Eliana raised a question. "How does the school sort students? By what criteria?"

Ron thought for a moment. "It should be some kind of test. Fred—my brother—said they do a lot of damage to us. The way he said it sounded like we'd be wrestling a troll."

Harry felt his guts twist into knots. Wrestling? He didn't know a single spell yet! He could run fast—from dodging Dudley's beatings—but being fast wasn't enough to fight a troll!

"No, I don't think it's fighting a troll. We're too small right now, and trolls aren't very smart—they could easily kill us. It should be fighting something small, or sparring with classmates, or fighting a teacher... Teachers should have enough restraint not to kill us."

Eliana analyzed seriously. "I think it's meant to test our grasp of spells and the personality traits shown during combat, to see which house's philosophy we fit."

"And some of us come from Muggle families with no magic at all, so I think the test shouldn't be limited to that. There should be some written portion too, and I think the practical-to-written score ratio should be about 3:7 to be fair—those wizard-raised kids have been learning spells for over ten years more than us!"

Say what you will, but it actually sounded pretty reasonable.

At least Harry believed it.

His face turned pale. Whether practical or written, he couldn't do either. He'd read A History of Magic, but all he remembered was "Hedwig"—and only because he'd used that person's name for his owl.

Ron muttered, "No, Eliana, trust me, a lot of wizard-raised kids don't know anything either."

Eliana had already opened Magical Theory and started reviewing.

Harry scrambled to pull A History of Magic out of his trunk.

Ron frantically dug out A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

The studying atmosphere in the compartment suddenly thickened. All three of them read anxiously, not even bothering to respond when a platinum-haired Malfoy came by to provoke them.

While the platinum-haired Malfoy was chattering on, mocking the Weasley family, Eliana cut him off impatiently. "So, your family is a powerful wizarding family?"

"Of course." Malfoy straightened his tie arrogantly.

"With a long heritage?" Eliana pressed.

Malfoy puffed his chest out even more. "Of course!"

"What do you get when you add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Eliana asked abruptly.

"What?" Malfoy froze, and Eliana's next question came like a volley.

"Then, what year was the Code of Conduct for Werewolves published?"

"Huh?"

"Can you transfigure something? To what extent?"

"..."

Eliana stared at the stammering Draco and the two dumbfounded louts behind him, then delivered her verdict. "Looks like background doesn't mean everything."

"You have such a good learning environment!" she said, almost with a tone of frustration at his wasted potential.

"Think you're so clever, do you?" Malfoy slammed the compartment door shut in a rage.

Eliana buried herself back in her book, looking quite pleased. "I feel a bit more confident about the entrance exam now. There are plenty of idiots out there."

Harry, who had been bracing himself for a fight with Malfoy: ...

He plopped down and frantically flipped through his book to find the answers to those questions.

He felt like he was one of the idiots.