Neither of them objected.
What followed naturally was Harry showing them his scar.
Ron was amazed.
Then they talked about a few things from the wizarding world.
Harry worried about how good he was at magic.
Ron's reassurance was clearly much more helpful than the reassurance he got from Devero, the top student.
That put Harry a little more at ease.
By then, Devero had already checked Ron's entries.
Well.
Just as in the original story.
Aside from a basic Magic Ability (Blue) entry, Ron didn't have any other entries of value.
For one of the original story's male leads,
especially when compared to Harry's collection of high-level entries,
Ron did seem a little underwhelming.
Just then, the snack trolley was pushed into the compartment.
The wealthy Harry waved his hand grandly,
and the two poor boys, Devero and Ron, got to enjoy the feast too.
Ron was used to his family being poor.
He'd never really eaten snacks like these before.
Devero, on the other hand, had to deal with Snape being so harsh all the time.
How could he dare show the slightest interest in snacks?
If he did,
he'd have to be ready for twice as much Potions homework.
Harry accidentally ate a pepper-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean,
and started choking badly.
The door suddenly opened.
A girl with bushy hair came in.
A round-faced boy who was sniffling followed behind her.
"Sorry to bother you. My name is Hermione Granger, and this is Neville Longbottom. We're looking for his toad, which has gone missing. Has anyone seen Neville's toad?"
At that, Harry and Ron both looked at Eld, who was sound asleep on Devero's shoulder.
Neville looked over too.
But it was obvious
that Devero's Eld looked nothing like Neville's toad.
Eld was much bigger.
Devero simply spread his hands,
showing that this definitely wasn't Neville's toad.
Meanwhile, he wondered,
Why had Hermione come with Neville?
Had I changed some events?
He immediately checked Hermione's entries.
[Name: Hermione Granger] [Age: 11] [Entries: Exam Expert (Purple), Magical Talent (Purple), Potion Perception (Blue)] [Exam Expert (Purple): Very good at reading textbooks, with an exceptional memory and the ability to handle all kinds of exams with ease!]
Good grief.
You had to hand it to her—
Hermione really was talented.
At least since arriving at the platform,
she had the best set of entries Devero had seen,
apart from Harry, the protagonist.
And Devero hadn't expected Hermione to have an entry related to Potions, too.
But thinking back,
being able to make Polyjuice Potion on her own in her second year definitely took some talent.
The entry Devero coveted most, of course, was [Exam Prodigy].
Although Devero was a Magic Prodigy,
that was all he was: a Magic Prodigy.
For subjects like History of Magic, where knowledge mattered more than practice,
Devero figured he'd suffer just like Harry and the others.
With this entry,
life at Hogwarts would probably be a lot more comfortable.
So Devero added it to his shopping cart.
"Sorry, we haven't seen it, but..."
Coming back to himself, Devero rubbed his chin.
Then, struck by an idea,
he asked Hermione,
"What's the toad called? I might have a way to find it."
"Really? His name is Trevor!"
Hermione immediately perked up.
Her eyes shone as she looked at Devero,
eager to see what he'd do.
Devero nodded,
drew his wand, and called softly,
"Trevor, Accio!"
Whoosh!
A heavy object whistled through the air.
Less than a second later,
a toad flew from some distant compartment into Devero's hand.
Devero caught it easily
and handed it to Neville.
Neville took it happily,
his sadness instantly turning to joy.
"Wow! What spell is that? I've never seen it in a book!"
Hermione immediately moved closer,
staring at Devero's wand in amazement.
"It's the Summoning Charm. It's probably covered in Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four, but it's practical, so I learned it ahead of time."
Devero smiled casually.
"Ah! I've only just memorized the first-year Standard Book of Spells. I'm so far behind. What am I going to do when school starts?"
When Hermione heard Devero,
her face fell at once.
She murmured anxiously, her voice tinged with sadness.
The others were also stunned that Devero had already started learning fourth-year material.
Neville nearly dropped his toad.
He almost let it escape again.
Harry, who had just been reassured by Ron, grew even more nervous.
Seeing their reactions,
Devero marveled that Hermione really was an Exam Prodigy—she'd already memorized the first-year textbook.
At the same time, he couldn't help giving a wry smile.
He explained that Hermione had already memorized the first-year textbooks,
which put her well ahead of most students.
But that reassurance clearly didn't make her feel any better.
She still seemed quite anxious.
Then she looked up and saw Harry,
and her eyes lit up.
She immediately went over and sat across from him,
then took out her wand.
"Hehe, I may not know much, just a few beginner spells. For example, this one."
As she spoke, she waved her wand at the nose bridge of Harry's glasses!
"Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light.
The famous Boy Who Lived failed to escape the Killing Curse once more.
He was killed by the Death Eater Hermione Granger on September 1, 1991.
Beep—
(Devero was just imagining things!)
"Oculus Reparo!"
Hermione's voice was firm and clear.
A soft glow came from the tip of her wand.
In an instant,
the crack in Harry's glasses was perfectly repaired.
The first-years all looked amazed.
Neville even cheered.
He held the toad Trevor he'd just found above his head,
his face shining with undisguised joy.
It was hard to tell whether he was impressed by Hermione's magic,
or simply happy that he'd found his toad.
Harry was happy too.
He thanked Hermione gratefully.
"Thank you, Hermione! That was amazing!"
Ron looked eager to give it a try.
He gripped his wand,
as if he wanted to show off a spell of his own.
"Hey, I can do one too, actually. It's just not very reliable...!"
He said confidently,
though his voice held a hint of uncertainty.
Hermione looked at Devero with a broad smile,
her eyes shining with pride.
It was as if she were saying,
"See? I'm not so bad, am I?"
Devero smiled and applauded her,
nodding in approval.
Just then,
a pale boy with platinum-blond hair came in, accompanied by two stout boys.
There was a hint of arrogance and disdain in his eyes,
as if he disapproved of all the noise they'd been making.
He looked around at the students in the compartment,
and finally fixed his gaze on Harry.
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