An Excellent Research Specimen

Ron's astonished exclamation echoed through the tiny compartment, carrying the unrestrained exaggeration particular to boys his age.

Harry was clearly uncomfortable with all the attention. He scratched his head awkwardly, quickly brushing his fringe back into place as he tried to cover his famous scar again.

"The stories... are they true?" Ron lowered his voice and leaned forward, as if sharing some earth-shattering secret. "Did you really survive after... you know, That Person attacked you with the Killing Curse?"

Harry's voice sounded a little lost. "I... I don't know. I only remember a really bright flash of green light. I don't remember anything else."

"Wow!" Ron's eyes widened like saucers. He turned to Lin Yuan, seeking someone to share his excitement with. "Hey, Lane, it's Harry Potter! The real Harry Potter!"

Lin Yuan merely glanced at Harry, calm and composed.

He wasn't interested in the title of "The Chosen One." His attention was on the scar.

His Spiritual Sense clearly detected an extremely cold, malevolent residual energy lurking in it, like a curse that had never healed, tangled together with Harry's soul.

An excellent research specimen, Lin Yuan decided.

Harry was clearly uncomfortable with being stared at like some rare animal, and hurriedly changed the subject. "You're Lane Lin, right? It's nice to meet you."

"Hello." Lin Yuan nodded.

Just then, the cheerful jingle of bells came from the corridor. A plump witch pushed a trolley past the compartment. "Anything for you, children? Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Chocolate Frogs?"

Harry had never seen so many magical treats before. His eyes lit up, and he generously pulled out a large handful of Gold Galleons and Silver Sickles. "Let's get some of everything!"

Ron stared in astonishment as Harry bought huge quantities of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Fizzing Whizbees, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum... practically everything. Soon, a sweet-smelling little mountain had piled up on the empty seat between them.

Without a word, he discreetly tucked his own wax-paper-wrapped Corned Beef Sandwich, which looked dry as a bone, farther behind his back.

Lin Yuan had little appetite for the snacks, but he was quite interested in the magic they contained.

He also pulled out a few coins, but bought only one Chocolate Frog.

Tearing open the wrapper, he took out the card bearing Dumbledore's portrait. His Spiritual Sense probed it, and in an instant he "saw" the simple spell structure attached to the card, keeping its moving illusion going.

So that's how it works: fixed magic power driving a looping "GIF"? Not a bad idea, but the technique is crude. Lin Yuan understood.

"Hey, Lane, aren't you going to eat?" Harry was sharing the mountain of treats with Ron.

"I'll try this." Lin Yuan pointed to the box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans Ron had offered and casually picked out a normal-looking yellowish bean.

The next moment, his expression froze.

An indescribable taste of dust and mold shot straight up his nose.

It was Earwax Flavor.

Ron and Harry saw his "old man on the subway" expression and couldn't help laughing.

"Looks like you got unlucky!" Ron roared with laughter. "Mine tastes like chocolate!"

Lin Yuan drained half a bottle of water without changing his expression before he finally managed to wash away the revolting taste.

"Hey, look, I can do a little magic too!" Ron had no idea that the boy beside him was a transmigrator with "dissecting souls" on his mind. He pulled a wand out of his faded old robes. It looked well-used, with several dents in its shaft.

"This is my brother Charlie's old wand," Ron explained a little sheepishly. He cleared his throat and pointed it at the dozing rat on his lap. "Listen to this! Daisies, sweet cream, and sunshine, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

He gave the wand a forceful wave.

The tip of the wand... spat out a faint spark, and then nothing happened.

Scabbers didn't even bother to lift an eyelid. He rolled over and kept sleeping on his back, paws in the air.

The moment was painfully awkward.

Harry gamely said, "Wow," though he had no idea what he was supposed to be impressed by.

Lin Yuan saw it clearly.

The instant Ron spoke the incantation, a faint strand of mental power flowed down his arm into the wand, trying to pry at the magic energy around him. Unfortunately, Ron's mental power was poorly focused, and his incantation was a complete mess. It sounded more like a hopeful wish than a precise command. In the end, that pitiful bit of energy swerved through the air and dissipated completely.

A failed casting attempt. Make a note of it, Lin Yuan silently recorded.

"Clatter—"

Just then, the compartment door was pulled open yet again.

This time, a girl with a thick mass of brown curls and two slightly prominent front teeth peered inside.

She wore a crisp, brand-new uniform and a gleaming badge on her chest. She practically radiated the air of someone who was a model student.

"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy called Neville lost his."

It was Hermione Granger.

Her highly task-oriented mind quickly turned its attention to the main thing at hand: Ron, who was red in the face and about to show Harry his unreliable hand-me-down spell.

"...Sunshine, daisies, sweet cream, turn this stupid fat rat yellow!" Ron shouted, waving his secondhand wand.

"Pop!"

The wand tip released a wisp of smoke weaker than a fart, then fell silent.

The fat rat named Scabbers on the seat only twitched his whiskers irritably and rolled over, continuing to sleep with his paws in the air. He hadn't turned yellow; if anything, he seemed even grayer.

Hermione immediately wore the classic expression of a top student watching a struggling classmate get a basic question wrong: equal parts exasperation and barely contained eagerness to show off.

She cleared her throat and launched into an impromptu lesson, like an experienced teacher.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? It doesn't sound right, and it doesn't seem to work very well, does it? I've only read about spells in books, then tried a few simple ones by myself. Every single one worked."

As she spoke, she sat down quite naturally in the empty seat opposite Harry, as though that compartment had always been meant to include her.

One look at the clear tape holding Harry's glasses together, and she had found the perfect opportunity to show off her skills.

"Watch this. For example—Oculus Reparo!"

She drew her brand-new wand, which carried the fresh scent of vine wood, and gave it a brisk wave.

A flash of light passed over Harry's glasses. They were instantly as good as new, and even the fingerprints on the lenses disappeared.

Her successful spell won her an amazed exclamation and an admiring look from Harry, along with... a massive eye-roll from Ron.

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up too.

There it was! A successful casting!

Through his Spiritual Sense, the girl's spellcasting was textbook-perfect.

A concentrated, precise, purposeful strand of mental power, as sharp as a scalpel, used the wand as an "amplifier" to pry at a wisp of magic energy from the surroundings. Then, following the command to "repair," it reshaped the glasses' physical form.

The entire process was clean and efficient, without a trace of wasted energy.

Now that's a perfect fit for the job, Lin Yuan praised her inwardly. The wand focuses and amplifies, while the incantation is a shortcut for encoding a mental command. The real key is the caster's mental power and will.

The discovery put him in a good mood.

"My name is Hermione Granger," the girl said, putting away her wand and proudly straightening her shoulders. "And you are?"

"Ron Weasley," Ron replied glumly.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

"You really are him?!" Hermione reacted just like Ron, though she was clearly interested in something else. "Of course I know all about you. I bought several reference books. Your name is mentioned in Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic, and Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century."

"I... am in books?" Harry stared at her, dumbfounded.

"My goodness, you didn't know?" Hermione looked at him as though he were a prehistoric creature. "If it were me, I'd read every book I could find about myself. By the way, where do you want to be sorted? I've asked around. I hope it's Gryffindor. I hear Dumbledore was in that house, though Ravenclaw sounds nice too..."

Like someone had flipped a switch, Hermione became a chatterbox and began enthusiastically sharing everything she had learned from books.

Ron and Harry were both overwhelmed by the barrage of knowledge and exchanged bewildered looks.

At last, Hermione's gaze settled on Lin Yuan, who had been unusually quiet the whole time.

"What about you?" She studied Lin Yuan curiously. He seemed different from Harry and Ron. He was far too quiet, and his face even held a composure beyond his years.

"Lane Lin." Lin Yuan closed his Standard Book of Spells and smiled as he introduced himself.

Hermione paused. She clearly hadn't heard of that surname. Then she glanced at the title of the book in Lin Yuan's hands, and her frown deepened.

Lin Yuan gave her the kind of dangerous feeling that only one top student could sense in another.