On Halloween, Professor Flitwick announced that the young wizards could try making objects fly. Just as they were about to split into groups for practice, Professor McGonagall took Bing Huan away on Dumbledore's behalf.
Hermione's partner ended up being Ron, who had originally wanted to team up with Harry. The two of them couldn't stand each other. "Swish and flick, then say the spell correctly. Wingardium Leviosa, my friend."
Seamus, with his fire-element talent maxed out, blew everything up with pinpoint accuracy, blackening the feather and half of Harry. Ron seemed eager to vent his frustration on his feather, swinging his wand around like a windmill.
Hermione corrected his pronunciation and successfully made the feather float, earning Professor Flitwick's praise.
After class, Ron caught up with Harry. "No wonder everyone can't stand her. She's like a nightmare." Hermione heard him and ran off in tears.
Harry said, "I think she heard you."
Ron felt a little uneasy. "She must have realized, too, that she doesn't have a single friend."
Harry froze. "Did you forget about someone?"
Ron fell silent.
While the Charms lesson was underway, inside the Headmaster's Office,
a short, chubby man was arguing with Dumbledore, while Grindelwald stood calmly behind him.
With a head of untidy gray hair and a worried expression, he was none other than the current Minister for Magic, Fudge. "Why wasn't the Ministry of Magic informed that the disciple of the leader of the Daoist Sect had come to Hogwarts to study?"
"I'll say it again, Fudge. Hogwarts welcomes every young wizard with magical talent to come and study." Dumbledore sat in the headmaster's chair, looking at Fudge.
"Professor, I've brought him." Professor McGonagall interrupted their argument at just the right moment. Bing Huan glanced at Grindelwald, who pressed his right hand down, then made a throat-slitting gesture.
Bing Huan raised the corner of his mouth and arched an eyebrow, signaling that he understood. Seeing this, Dumbledore said to Fudge, "The person involved is here now, so why don't we discuss this together?"
Fudge turned and saw the boy looking at him without expression. Bing Huan, however, acted completely out of character, ignoring the adults in the room. He went straight to the sofa and sat down, then propped both legs on the coffee table. "I heard the Minister for Magic wanted to see me. What is it?"
Fudge smacked the table hard. "Mr. Bing Huan, is this how you treat your elders?"
Bing Huan pretended not to hear and picked dirt from under his fingernails. "My master is Zhang Tianhao."
"You're coming to study at Hogwarts. Why didn't you report it to the Ministry of Magic first?"
"My master is Zhang Tianhao."
"I'm doing this for the sake of the Wizarding World in England."
"My master is Zhang Tianhao."
"This is the Western Wizarding World, not the Cultivation World of China!" Fudge angrily punched the bookshelf beside him. Bing Huan acted as if he had only just noticed Fudge and said, as though waking from a dream,
"Oh, dear, oh, dear. My mistake, my mistake. I forgot all about it."
Fudge thought he was about to back down. He was just getting ready to put on an elder's air and lecture him some more when Bing Huan spoke again.
"Forget my master—even my senior brother could pin you down with one hand. I've been giving you too much credit~" He even nodded solemnly afterward, as if quite pleased with his conclusion.
Fudge looked at Dumbledore. "Is this the sort of student you've raised? I think you really are plotting a rebellion with Grindelwald."
Grindelwald, who had been doing nothing up till then, spoke up in a cold voice. "Fudge, I gave my guarantee to the Ministry of Magic back then for Albus's sake. I don't recall giving you the right to shout at me."
Bing Huan also stood up and put a hand on Fudge's shoulder from behind. "You old codger, you seem to have a problem with me going to school. You're useless at everything, but you sure have a temper. In this room, who could you beat besides the Sorting Hat?"
Fudge shook Bing Huan's hand off and shouted at Dumbledore, "Dumbledore, are you going to do something about this or not?"
"I'll say it again: Hogwarts will protect every one of its students." Dumbledore walked up to Fudge, his expression stern.
"Fudge, I'm the headmaster."
"Dumbledore, you'll regret this."
Bang!
Fudge slammed the door on his way out.
"Pfft."
"Hahahahaha."
Dumbledore looked at the old man and the boy doubled over with laughter, then shook his head helplessly. He reminded Bing Huan to be careful in the coming days; Voldemort might soon make a move on the Philosopher's Stone.
By the time Bing Huan left the Headmaster's Office, it was already dinnertime. He headed straight for the Great Hall, but when he arrived, he didn't see the bushy-haired young witch. When she saw him coming over, Ron and Harry lowered their heads and kept eating.
"Harry, didn't Hermione come to dinner?"
Harry looked embarrassed when Bing Huan called on him. "Well, we had a bit of a disagreement with her on the way after class, and then she ran off."
"Where is she now?" Bing Huan's right eye suddenly twitched, as if something bad were about to happen.
"Lavender said she's in the girls' bathroom on the second floor and won't come out. Hey, that's the girls' bathroom!" Seeing that Bing Huan seemed to be going to look for her, Ron hurriedly warned him, in case someone mistook him for a pervert.
"...Will this do, then?" Bing Huan took the hair clip Hermione had left with him earlier and pinned it in his hair. Then he walked out without looking back, leaving Harry and Ron bewildered in the Great Hall.
Hermione was still upset about what had happened that day. Suddenly, the light dimmed. She looked up and saw Bing Huan wearing her hair clip, staring at her from atop the wooden partition of a toilet stall. For a moment, Hermione was so stunned that she forgot to keep crying.
"This is the girls' bathroom, right?"
"I did put on a hair clip. If you're still not satisfied... then lend me a skirt~"
"Pfft." Hermione laughed and chided him. "Aren't you afraid someone will mistake you for a pervert and arrest you?"
Bing Huan: ╮(๑•́ ₃•̀๑)╭ "Then I'll say you told me to do it."
Bing Huan led Hermione to sit in a corner and asked what had happened that day. "Am I really that awful? I don't even have a single friend."
"Should I leave, then?"
Hermione quickly grabbed Bing Huan as he pretended to leave. "That's not what I meant. You're important to me; it's just that you don't feel like a friend. You're the most important person I have at school, really."
"You want me to be your dad?"
Hermione: "You're dead!" s(・｀ヘ´・;)ゞ
Bing Huan looked at Hermione seriously. "No one would think that the honest top student in the year was awful. Ron only said those things today because he couldn't stand being outdone by you."
"Then should I change?"
"Why should you? Being smart, ambitious, and cute—that's the Hermione I know. Don't worry too much about how many friends you have. Friends aren't something you can just get anywhere. People walking the same road together are companions; those who can keep walking together even on different roads are friends. If something happens again, don't hide away on your own. Use your bracelet to let me know. I can always make time for you."
"Bing..." Their eyes met.
Gurgle, gurgle.
"Want to go get something to eat?"
Hermione shook her head. "My eyes are still puffy." The young witch didn't want too many people to find out she'd been hiding there crying. Bing Huan thought it over and decided to sneak into the kitchens to get them something to eat.
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Professor Quirrell came rushing in in a panic. "Troll—there's a troll in the dungeons. I thought you ought to know." With that, he collapsed to the floor and passed out. Dumbledore calmed the panicked young wizards and told the prefects to lead them back.
Harry seized Ron's arm in the crowd. "This is bad!"
"What is it?"
"Bing and Hermione don't know about the troll yet."
Ron bit his lip. "All right, we have to sneak over there. We can't let Percy catch us." They also saw Snape heading toward the fourth floor.
As they neared the girls' bathroom, they heard a low muttering and the sound of huge feet dragging across the floor. Then a monster appeared. It stood twelve feet tall, its skin dull and its stench revolting, and it carried a thick wooden club.
Once the troll lumbered into a room, Harry leaped forward and locked it inside. The two boys high-fived, glad they'd managed to trap it. Just then, Bing Huan came over from nearby, carrying a pile of food. He saw that the girls' bathroom door was closed, while Harry and Ron were squirming around outside it like maggots.
"What are you two doing?"
Seeing that Bing Huan was safe, Harry was happy, too. "Bing, there's a troll loose in the castle, but we've already locked it inside."
"Oh, a troll... Wait, what the hell did you lock inside?!" As if in answer to Bing Huan, a shrill, terrified scream came from the room, and all three of them felt their hearts stop.
Bing Huan hurriedly kicked the door open. Hermione was huddled in a corner, and the troll was approaching her, its club ready to come crashing down at any moment. Bing Huan leaped forward and delivered a hard kick, forcing the troll back several steps. "Hermione, are you all right?" Hermione nodded. Harry, watching Bing Huan's every move from nearby, seemed to have learned something.
He drew his wand and sprang forward, wrapping his arms around the troll's neck from behind. His wand went straight up the troll's nostril. The troll writhed in pain, then raised its club and swung at Harry.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
At the critical moment, Ron successfully cast the Levitation Charm. The club slipped from the troll's hand, and Bing Huan seized the chance to pull Harry down, then leaped up.
"Bang!"
The troll took a heavy blow to the head and collapsed.
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