Contradictions and the Trio

Luke and the others entered the last carriage. Before they could start looking for Trevor, they saw three boys blocking the door of a compartment midway down the carriage, looking distinctly menacing.

The leader had blond hair like corn silk, with an arrogant, provocative smile at the corners of his mouth. His two lackeys stood beside him, one tall and fat, the other short and fat. Both looked somewhat capable in a fight.

The moment Hermione saw the boy, she instinctively took a dislike to the leader. He was handsome too, but compared with Luke, he was still a level below, not to mention his bearing and temperament.

"My name is Malfoy! Draco Malfoy!"

They heard the boy announce his name in a haughty tone from a distance, as though waiting for someone to praise him.

But Hermione frowned the moment she heard his name, her face full of disdain.

"Draco? Didn't his parents find it embarrassing when they named him that? And his surname is Malfoy, too."[Note 1]

Hermione asked softly.

"No idea. But the Malfoy Family's reputation in the Noble Circle is rather mediocre as well."

Luke spoke lightly with a faint smile. He was not making it up. Before school started, one of the three things he had done was gather all the embarrassing secrets the nobles in his family had kept on one another.

Much of the Malfoy Family's dirty history was practically out in the open. That also had something to do with the family's boastful nature. Among it, Lucius Malfoy I pursuing Queen Elizabeth I was the main subject of everyone's ridicule.

As for things like controlling the Ministry of Magic or killing their Muggle tenants under the pretext of the Black Death, those could not be considered uniquely disgraceful secrets. Most Pure-blood Families had done such things.

Of course, people looked down on the Malfoy Family partly because their rise to prominence had truly been rather recent. Around the eleventh century, one of the earliest Malfoys gained status by following William the Great.

Families such as the Gaunt Family were often far older than the Malfoy Family. For example, one of the Gaunt Family's verifiable direct ancestors was Salazar Slytherin. Hogwarts had likely been founded around the tenth century, and Slytherin had only been renowned in the Wizarding World even earlier.

"...If I were you, Potter, I'd be especially careful. You should be more polite, or you'll end up like your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. If you keep associating with riffraff like the Weasleys or Hagrid, you'll be affected."

When Luke and Hermione came back to themselves, they heard Malfoy's drawling voice again, full of provocation, arrogance, and warning.

"A fight's about to break out."

Luke's mouth twitched. This was different from the movie plot he remembered. Still, it was not hard to guess that this was probably from the original novel. Looking at it this way, Harry and Draco being able to attend school together peacefully for seven years meant they should be grateful that the Wizarding World's rule of law was relatively well developed.

Sure enough, as soon as Luke finished speaking, Hermione heard a shrill voice filled with anger. "Say that again!"

A cold smile appeared on Malfoy's face.

"Oh? You want to fight, do you?"

"Unless you get out right now."

Another voice, one that did not sound quite so confident, reached Luke's ears.

Luke's mouth twitched again. Sure enough, wherever Ron was, Harry would not be far away.

Malfoy's lackeys were already preparing to make a move. Luke, meanwhile, directly flicked an elegant wand out from his sleeve.

"Incendio!"

A burst of flame surged from Luke's wand tip, aimed directly at the fat boy who had been about to attack.

Hermione was stunned. She had seen this spell in books, but she had never actually practiced it, afraid that practicing it at home might cause an accident. Besides, this was not even part of the first-year curriculum.

They were only going to fight. Was he trying to kill them?!

Hermione looked at Luke with a shocked expression.

Luke remained relatively calm. He had no intention of killing anyone. Whether the one who had moved first was Goyle or Crabbe, neither was irredeemably evil. Including Malfoy, they were all people Luke intended to reform.

And the first stage of reform... was making them understand whose fists were bigger.

The flames did not shoot forward quickly, and they even came with a piercing shriek.

Luke had not lowered his voice, nor had he used the silent casting he had spent nearly a month mastering. So the boy who had been about to attack and Malfoy beside him both saw the Fire-Making Spell rushing toward them.

Malfoy's already pale face instantly turned even whiter, like a corpse.

Fortunately, their instincts still made them dodge the easily avoidable Fire-Making Spell.

The short, fat one squatted directly on the floor. Malfoy turned sideways and pressed himself against the wall farthest from the spell's path, while the tall, fat one's legs gave out and he collapsed onto the floor.

When it reached the space above their heads, the Fire-Making Spell burst like a small firework, scattering into countless sparks and extinguishing in midair.

The commotion was not small. Several students who had not closed their compartment doors saw everything.

That naturally included Harry and Ron.

Under everyone's gaze, Hermione did her best to hold her chest high and lift her chin, trying to look more imposing. Luke calmly slipped his wand back into the miniature wand holster enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm.

He walked toward Malfoy and the others. Along the way, he even smiled politely at those watching him.

His behavior made many upper-year students who had witnessed the scene feel their teeth ache.

Such precise control over a Fire-Making Spell was something only a few among the upper-year students could manage. Hogwarts did not have many students, and since none of them recognized him, he was naturally a first-year this year.

A first-year who looked capable of utterly crushing older students in a fight.

For some reason, they vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

"Luke!"

Harry recognized Luke the moment he saw him. Then he enthusiastically greeted him.

Seeing the smile on Harry's face, Ron realized that this was the first Wizard friend Harry had mentioned.

Ron carefully looked Luke over, then saw his emerald-like eyes and the snake Crest on his chest. He recognized Luke's background.

Meanwhile, Hermione looked at the two boys poking their heads out and could not help frowning again. One wore cracked glasses; the other was dressed cleanly but with a somewhat worn look, and there was even a smudge of dirt on his face.

After coming all this way, she felt that only Luke matched the image of a Wizard in her mind. Everyone else fell short in one way or another.

Luke did not know that, at this moment, one member of the trio he remembered was looking down on the other two, while the other two had both fixed their eyes on him.

Note 1: I found the meaning of Malfoy's name online. It can roughly be translated as Draco (dragon/Draco constellation) Malfoy (mal foy, French for "malicious, dishonest, disloyal"). Put simply, it is something like: "Hello, my name is Evil Dragon." Or, "Hello, I'm Draco the Evil." The name feels both edgy and sinister to me. If someone seriously introduced themselves with a name like that, I do not think I would be able to keep a straight face either.