"Or maybe... long time no see. I've tried every spell in the book, and they all worked. What about you?"
The bucktoothed girl, her messy brown hair still untamed but already dressed in her school uniform, lifted her chin high.
"Who are you?"
The bucktoothed girl immediately lost her composure. "Hermione Granger. We met at the math competition!"
"Sorry. I've had too many losers to keep track of."
Harry said it gently, pointing at the newspaper lying open. "Like this backside. If Ron hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have known whose it was."
"Ron? Ron Weasley! How dare you—" The platinum-haired boy with the pointed face, Draco, slammed into Hermione and lunged at Ron.
Ron sprang up to dodge. The fat rat Scabbers flew along with him, landing face-to-face with Draco.
Squeak—!
Scabbers let out a shriek in his sleep, then landed on the notebook with its silvery-white woven cover, leaving a splatter of Scabbers sauce.
"Rat! Ugh, ugh, ugh!" Draco struggled to his feet.
"Scabbers! My notebook!" Ron hurriedly picked up Scabbers and the notebook. His eyes lit up when he looked at the cover. "It even has a cleaning charm! This really is a great find!"
—It wasn't a cleaning charm.
Harry silently mourned young Voldemort.
"Put me down already!" Hermione snapped. She'd almost ended up face-to-face with Harry, and her girlish heart had just begun to flutter when he lifted her up the next moment, leaving her dangling in midair like a doll.
"Oh."
Harry let go. Hermione nearly landed hard on her backside.
"You—" Hermione puffed out her cheeks, looking even more like a squirrel.
"Red-haired traitor, I'm going to break your nose!"
"Evil Malfoy, I, the great Ron, am no coward!"
Draco and Ron started wrestling.
Neville huddled in a corner, clutching his toad, Trevor, tightly to his chest.
With Scabbers startled awake, he went right on letting loose more Scabbers sauce onto the diary. The diary absorbed it so fast that the stench hadn't even had time to spread.
Harry took an unobtrusive step backward.
Hermione nodded approvingly, looking every bit the little teacher. "You actually didn't hit anyone this time. Unlike those two—they haven't even reached their destination, and they're already causing trouble."
She looked at the two boys with distaste. "You two, stop fighting! If you don't, I'll call a Prefect!"
"A Prefect? My brother's a Prefect!" "Crabbe, Goyle, beat up this bucktooth girl too!"
Ron and Draco now stood united.
"You—" Hermione quickly retreated behind Harry, peeking out cautiously. "My front teeth are just a little long!"
"Goyle, did you hear something?" "Not a thing." Crabbe and Goyle glanced timidly at Harry.
"You—" Now it was Draco's turn to flush red.
But he was beginning to regain his senses. Without his bodyguards, Ron—with his greater height and longer reach—had the advantage.
"I came to challenge Harry Potter!"
"Flint said you've got Troll blood, and that everything in Knockturn Alley was just luck and coincidence!"
The redness on Draco's face spread to Harry's, though Harry was still smiling warmly.
—I really do have the strength of a Troll!
"Lead the way," Harry said softly.
—Force Choke Modified!
Draco instantly came free from beneath Ron, as though an invisible hand had yanked him out, lifted him up, and tossed him out of the compartment.
"Yes!" Draco scrambled to his feet, excitement plain on his face.
—Real Wandless Magic! Harry Potter isn't just a Troll who fights with his fists!
"I'm coming too!" Ron sprang up. "Neville, you're coming too. Didn't your grandma say you should learn more from Harry? This is your chance!"
Neville nodded.
The compartment door closed. Scabbers shivered again, then grew drowsy on the diary.
Harry gave one last glance back.
"Don't—" Hermione tried to grab Harry, but ended up dangling from his arm instead. Under the other students' gazes, she sheepishly hopped down and trailed after Harry like a reluctant little shadow.
Just then, Percy appeared, the P pinned to his chest marking him as a Prefect. In Hermione's eyes, he was like a divine soldier descending from the heavens.
"Stop right there. Everyone back to your compartments. I'm a Prefect!"
"Stop right there." "I'm a Prefect!"
Two nearly identical voices rang out in an odd imitation.
"Move aside." "If Mum finds out you're throwing your Prefect weight around in front of Harry Potter..."
"You'll be..." "In trouble."
Two nearly identical faces appeared behind Percy. Then each of them reached out an arm and hoisted him up.
They shut Percy inside the compartment, then stood on either side of Harry and saluted him, though neither of them was wearing a hat.
"Please, go ahead." "Our twice-victorious star of salvation."
"I'm George." "I'm Fred."
"No, I'm Fred." "You're George."
The compartment door opened and closed. Each of them reached out with one hand and shoved Percy back inside.
"They're both my brothers!" Ron's careless voice brought the farce to a close.
"Which one is George and which one is Fred?" Hermione couldn't help asking.
"Don't bother telling them apart. They're always together. I wouldn't be surprised if they even had their wedding together someday." Ron waved a hand dismissively. "Unless one of them dies, of course. That's impossible, though."
—What a jinx.
Harry, who had just begun striding along briskly, paused for a brief moment.
Meanwhile, in the Hogwarts staff room, hidden behind a door just beyond the High Table in the Great Hall.
"Dumbledore!"
Snape strode in through the door, his black robes billowing behind him as though fitted with a fan, making him look like a giant bat in human form.
"You let Harry Potter take the train to school?"
"After what happened in Knockturn Alley, you know how many people are watching him!"
"Almost every student in my house has a grudge against him."
"The narrow corridors and compartments won't give him any chance to show off his astonishing speed!"
"You promised me you'd protect him!"
"You underestimate Harry. Your students can't hurt him," Dumbledore said calmly. "Besides... Quirinus could arrive at any moment. It wouldn't be wise to let him see how concerned you are about Harry."
"At worst, we'll erase his memory," Snape said, raising an eyebrow. "It's not as if the Dark Lord is hiding in the back of his head. What do you mean, they can't hurt him? There are plenty of curses that won't endanger his life. My students are also used to attacking by surprise. That boy is still human. He'll get tired eventually. He has to sleep, he has to doze off."
"I always thought you only cared whether he stayed alive," Dumbledore said in surprise.
"My students are unfit. They only resemble Slytherins in their despicable cunning. In temperament, they're as reckless as Gryffindors, and more than a few are as careless as Hufflepuffs," Snape said. "They could easily make a mistake, just as James Potter's vile prank nearly got me killed."
"I mean... it wouldn't matter if we used the Cruciatus Curse, would it? With our skill, we probably couldn't kill him anyway."
Inside the Slytherin compartment, a sullen boy made his suggestion. "One each. Use this wand!"
"The Unforgivable Curses leave no trace. They can only be checked by using Prior Incantato on the wand. We just need to give him an Obliviate, then snap this only lead in half." He waved the wand in his hand again. "Blackthorn and Dragon Heartstring. Perfect for Dark Magic."
"With families like ours, even if we're caught, we'll only be expelled. We can always go to Durmstrang!"
"Dumbledore always gives people another chance."
Before you continue