"A toad?"
"It's my friend Neville's toad. His name is Trevor." Hermione had already asked in several compartments, but no one had been able to help her.
"Trevor? Wasn't Trevor beaten to death by Changwei?" Harry blurted out, scratching his head.
"Changwei? Who's that?" Hermione took two steps back, feeling a little dizzy.
If she took this news back to Neville, she could only imagine how terribly the boy would cry.
Smack!
Tom gave Harry a sharp rap on the head, then smiled apologetically. "Just pretend my friend's got his head full of nonsense. First, tell me where Trevor went missing."
"Okay." Hermione seemed to glimpse a ray of hope and hurriedly explained everything she'd found out.
She didn't know the exact spot, but Trevor had definitely gone missing somewhere in the nearby carriages.
Unfortunately, searching with just Neville and her had been far too difficult.
Tom thought for a moment, then nodded. "Easy. Leave it to me. I have connections."
"Connections?"
"Where'd you get connections?"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances.
Tom had once been someone who'd never even come into contact with the Wizarding World. He knew a little more about the magical world than an average Mudblood, but on this train, which belonged to the magical world, who else could he possibly know?
In another carriage.
Compared to the other carriages, this one was exceptionally quiet.
Anyone peering through the compartment windows would have seen a group of well-dressed young men and women chatting elegantly while eating delicate treats brought from home.
It was clearly the Pure-blood Carriage. The compartments were filled with the sons and daughters of the major Pure-blood families.
One compartment, however, looked rather miserable.
The three boys—one fat and two thin—had six tissues stuffed into their nostrils, and every one of them looked thoroughly dejected.
"Damn it! When we get back, I'm going to make my dad use his Board of Governors Power to punish those two rude idiots!" Draco crushed the pastry in his hand with a vicious bite.
"But Malfoy, won't using our parents' influence to deal with a few brats make us look bad as Pure-bloods?"
"Yeah, and apart from Harry Potter, we don't even know the other guy's name."
Crabbe and Goyle voiced their respective concerns one after the other.
"Who cares how it makes us look? I'll show those half-breeds and inferior wizards that no one can insult Pure-bloods!" Draco clenched his fists tightly.
In his eleven years of life, he'd never suffered such a humiliating injustice.
"Really? How do you plan to get back at them?" a ghostly voice asked from behind him.
"Easy. We'll just have them expelled. I refuse to believe Dumbledore would stand up to the Pure-blood families for a little wizard with no power or influence. Unless Hogwarts doesn't want the Malfoy family's investment next year!"
Only after saying that did Draco realize something.
Who had just spoken to him? Why did the voice sound so familiar?
As if he'd realized what was happening, Draco slowly turned his head. He found himself face-to-face with the last person he wanted to see, while three others stood in a formidable line behind him.
"Um... sir, what brings you here?" Cold sweat ran down Draco's back.
"I need your help with something."
"Just say the word."
Tom then explained everything about the toad.
After hearing what had happened, Draco said he'd be happy to help. After all, the compartment was so small there was nowhere else to escape, so he could only follow Tom out, looking thoroughly dejected.
The other Pure-bloods in the compartments noticed, too, and several little heads poked out through the doors.
"Does anyone know what's going on?" one young Pure-blood asked curiously.
Draco had returned earlier with blood all over his face, and now several unfamiliar wizards had forcefully taken him away. It was hard not to be curious.
"I know. I happened to see it when I came from the compartment behind this one. Listen..."
A few minutes later...
The story that the outstanding young heir of the great Pure-blood Malfoy family had been knocked to the ground by a fist from a little wizard from the Muggle world—someone whose blood status was unknown, either Half-blood or Mudblood—had spread throughout the Pure-blood crowd on the train.
At the same time, Tom's panel appeared on its own.
["Robust" +1 progress] ["Robust" +3...+1...+2... ["Overbearing" +3 progress] ["Overbearing" +1...+2...+3...
Making a scene—that was exactly the effect Tom wanted.
With that one move, he'd made a name for himself among the younger generation of Pure-bloods.
From now on, it would be much easier for him to pull off things like false advertising. At the very least, when people heard the latest news about Tom, they wouldn't look confused and ask who he was.
With three more people searching for the toad, the search naturally sped up considerably.
As they looked, Hermione also learned from Ron and Harry what had just happened, as well as Tom's explanation of the Leg-Locker Curse afterward.
Tom's method of breaking the Leg-Locker Curse was outrageous, but his theoretical knowledge of the curse was quite thorough.
The Leg-Locker Curse might be a beginner spell taught in first year, but according to the textbook schedule, it wasn't taught until the end of the year. Yet Tom understood it so well before he'd even started school.
If Tom had been a local wizard, that would have made sense. But she'd later learned that Tom, like her, had never been exposed to the magical world before.
That meant he'd learned everything he knew in just over a month.
She'd thought her ability to study obsessively was unrivaled, but apparently someone else was even more intense!
As if she'd sensed something, Hermione touched her forehead.
"I thought the train was leaking. Turns out it's sweat."
["Diligence" +1 progress] ["Robust" +1 progress]
But soon, the toad was found. After thanking Tom and the others, Hermione and Neville went their separate ways.
Before they parted completely, Hermione looked back at Tom's retreating figure and silently made him her goal.
Meanwhile, Neville could hear her murmuring a whole string of things beside him: "People my age are all so impressive!" "If a little wizard from the Muggle world is this impressive, how amazing must a genius born into the magical world be?" "I'm still not working hard enough. I have to keep trying!"
Time flew by.
A few hours passed in a flash. The train began to slow, and an announcement rang out: "Hogwarts is here. All students, please get ready to disembark!"
The cool night air brought a breath of freshness. The young wizards, who'd been cooped up on the train for half the day, all felt their noses and mouths clear, and were much more comfortable.
"First-years, don't follow the older students! Gather over here!"
A gigantic figure, three and a half meters tall, held up a lantern, standing out in the darkness.
Ron marveled at how huge he was. Curious, he edged over to Tom and whispered, "Tom, who's stronger, you or that Giant?"
"Hmm... at the moment, he is," Tom answered without hesitation.
"A-at the moment?"
Before you continue