The Neighbor Girl Was Called Hermione

Lynn was watering the garden at his home when the lively little girl next door passed by his gate with a schoolbag on her back.

"Hey."

Lynn looked up and saw the girl standing outside his gate, calling to him through the fence. He set down the watering can and walked over.

"That's not very polite. If you don't know my name, you should say 'excuse me,' not 'hey.'"

The girl pouted, clearly unconvinced by Lynn's words. After all, he looked about the same age as she was.

But she did not dwell on the matter. Instead, she craned her neck to peek into her own yard, then carefully pulled out a packet of dried fish from her schoolbag.

Pressing her lips together, she held the dried fish out to Lynn.

Lynn did not take it right away. He merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"What, are you trying to bribe me with a packet of dried fish so I'll play with you? If so, you brought the wrong thing. I like sweets, like candy, not salted fish."

The girl kicked Lynn's fence and pulled a face at him.

"I don't want you to play with me. This fish isn't for you. It's for the stray cats that wander around here every day. Mum won't let me feed them. She says they're covered in viruses and bacteria.

"But I actually really want to have a cat. Dad said that if I can keep my grades up, then when I'm a little older, he'll buy me a clean cat.

"But those stray cats are so pitiful. They're all cats, yet they have to run around hungry every day. That isn't fair.

"Yesterday, I saw you feeding them some biscuit crumbs, so today I used my pocket money to buy some dried fish. I wanted you to help take care of them."

That was some seriously lofty awareness...

Lynn grumbled inwardly.

It was obvious that the girl was actually quite talkative. Once she started speaking, she could not stop, though she had seemed a little proud and tsundere before.

Lynn did not feel embarrassed at having guessed her intentions wrong. His skin was thick enough, after all.

He took the packet of dried fish from her. "All right. I don't have much to do every day anyway, so I can help you look after them."

Then he casually picked a lily from his garden and handed it to the girl.

"Consider this their thank-you gift to you."

The girl did not act shy at all. She gracefully accepted the lily from Lynn and said with a beaming smile.

"My name is Hermione Granger. What about you?"

"Lynn Belloc. I only moved here recently. Nice to meet you."

Lynn felt that the girl's name sounded familiar, but he did not give it much thought.

After introducing themselves, they naturally felt much closer. Hermione leaned against Lynn's fence, rising lightly onto her tiptoes as she peered toward his house.

"Do you live alone?"

Lynn took off his gloves, clearly in the mood to chat with Hermione. He had only moved to London recently, and summer holidays were about to begin, so he had not gone to school. He had plenty of free time.

"Yes, for now, I'm the only one living here."

Hermione's eyes widened. "What about your parents? They're okay with you living here by yourself?"

"They died when I was very young. I live with my adoptive father now, but he doesn't come back very often." Lynn's expression remained calm.

But Hermione looked deeply upset as she apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Lynn waved it off. "It's all right. That happened when I was very young, and my life is actually pretty good now."

"What about you?" Lynn changed the subject, casually probing into his neighbor's family situation. "What do your parents do?"

Hermione smiled, showing off her very white teeth.

"My mum and dad are both dentists. If your teeth ever hurt, you can go see them."

Dentists. In Britain, that was undeniably a high-income profession—genuine middle class.

And British people placed great importance on dental health. Skilled dentists usually had extensive connections.

This neighbor was worth getting to know better.

While he was still young, he could shamelessly act cute and build a good relationship. It would surely be useful in the future.

So Lynn put on a dazzling smile and made an invitation.

"Would you like to come over for a while? I made some mung bean soup at noon. It helps cool you down and quench your thirst in summer."

Hermione looked tempted, but she glanced back toward her home and eventually shook her head.

"Thank you, but I've already been gone for a long time. Mum will worry if I don't go home soon."

"Then next time." Lynn did not press her to stay. "I'll make sure those stray cats are taken care of."

Hermione felt that her new neighbor was a wonderful person. She would have a new friend from now on.

"Goodbye, Lynn."

She happily waved to Lynn. Her fluffy long hair looked like a cloud of cotton candy as she skipped and jogged back home.

Hermione's appearance was only a small episode for Lynn.

He put his gloves back on, humming a tune as he continued tending to the blooming flowers in the garden.

Lynn was a transmigrator.

In his previous life, he had been a public school teacher who had worked for less than two years. One day, while riding an electric bike to work, he accidentally fell into a river. Unable to swim, he drowned.

When he regained consciousness, he had become an orphan who had just lost his parents in a British orphanage called Starting Point.

He really did not know whether that was fortunate or unfortunate.

The good news was that the two parents he had never met before they died had left him a substantial inheritance. Once he came of age, he could claim it, find himself a wife, and live a shamelessly happy life from then on.

But welfare institutions in capitalist countries were not truly charitable places. There were plenty of ugly things going on inside, and the pitiful children with behavioral problems were all troublesome too.

So, when Lynn was eleven, he secretly used a few tricks to find himself a cheap adoptive father, moved out of the orphanage, and returned to the home where his parents had lived before their deaths.

His current life had temporarily settled down, but Lynn had not figured out his plans for the future, nor did he intend to.

Plans could never keep up with change.

There was still a long road ahead. The more plans he made now, the more he would regret wasting his time later.

Since heaven had arranged for him to be reborn in Britain during the latter half of the twentieth century, he might as well first establish himself properly in this country.

Thus, eleven-year-old Lynn had a twenty-five-year-old soul and lived the life of a seventy-year-old.

He was helpless too, but entertainment in this era was truly scarce. Other than tending flowers, pulling weeds, and feeding cats, he genuinely did not know what else to do.

After tidying the garden, Lynn set down his tools, took off his gloves, and stretched toward the setting sun.

London's air was terrible. Although efforts to clean it up had increased, the sky was still sometimes gray and hazy.

Lynn narrowed his eyes and faintly spotted a little black dot flying toward him from the horizon.

Only when it drew closer did he see clearly that it was an owl.

Such birds were not rare in Britain, so Lynn paid it little attention. He picked up the dried fish Hermione had given him, locked the garden gate, and prepared to go feed the cats.

What he did not notice was that the owl flying over his head had dropped a thick letter where he had been standing.

It then perched on the roof of his house, watching his retreating figure and tilting its head in confusion.

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