Still Ron

The whistle blared again. The train was really about to leave.

Suddenly, a head poked into the compartment. Li Mu recognized him at once—wasn't that Ron Weasley, who had just been helping carry luggage with them? Li Mu and Harry had already looked around, and nearly every other compartment was full. Ron had arrived a step too late and obviously hadn't found a seat.

It seemed fate was fate after all. Harry Potter was destined to share a compartment with Ron Weasley.

Sure enough, the freckle-faced boy froze when he recognized Harry and Li Mu. His expression became somewhat strange. Li Mu guessed it was because his prefect brother Percy—who was sitting in a private compartment reserved for prefects—had left Ron outside while eagerly inviting Harry Potter into his compartment.

But in the end, Ron still spoke. Pointing at the empty seats opposite Harry and Li Mu, he asked, "Hello, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Of course," Harry answered first, and Li Mu nodded as well.

"Oh, thanks!" Ron stepped into the compartment, shut the door, and sat down. Then he almost immediately asked, "Are you really Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded, his face visibly stiffening. But Ron clearly lacked the knack for reading the room. He suddenly reached out and pointed at Harry's forehead.

"Then you really have..." He stared unblinkingly at the scar faintly visible beneath Harry's hair. "It really is there. Oh!"

Harry's face reddened slightly. He looked embarrassed and at a loss, while Li Mu frowned.

When he had read the books and watched the films, he had not thought much of it. But now, Li Mu found Ron somewhat annoying, perhaps not much better than Malfoy. Was he treating Harry like some zoo monkey?

Still, Li Mu quickly relaxed. He had lived two lives already; there was no need to take a little kid's behavior to heart.

"Ah, as an old Chinese saying goes, fame brings trouble, just as fattening brings trouble to pigs..." He reached out and patted Harry's shoulder, then turned to Ron. "Is your whole family made up of wizards?"

Ron nodded. "I suppose so..."

He looked utterly helpless.

Li Mu had wanted to say something else, but Harry immediately cut in enviously. "Oh, that's great! I really wish I had a few brothers who knew magic too."

"I don't!" Ron looked rather desolate. "By the way, I'm Ron Weasley. What about you?"

"Li Mu. An exchange student from China."

With that, the three of them had introduced themselves. Ron continued on with the previous topic. "A few wizard brothers? Heh... Everything I have is their leftovers... old wands, old robes, even old pets!"

He lamented the miserable plight of being the youngest child in the family. As proof, Ron pulled a plump, gray-furred rat from inside his jacket.

"And Fred and the others are always bullying me..." He shook the gray rat in his hand, though the little creature seemed to be asleep. "His name is Scabbers, my only pet... He used to belong to Percy. All he does every day is eat and sleep. Useless trash!"

Ron grew increasingly dejected. But Li Mu's interest had been piqued again. He studied the rat closely, thinking, This is no useless creature. If a fully trained Animagus is useless, then most wizards in this world are worse than useless.

But no matter how closely he examined it, Li Mu could not see what distinguished this "Scabbers" from other rats... It merely looked older and frailer.

While he was observing Scabbers, perhaps to comfort Ron, or perhaps because Ron had stirred up his own painful memories, Harry began venting resentfully as well. "What's that compared to mine?... They never celebrated my birthday. So far, the best birthday present I ever got was a pair of old, smelly socks from my uncle... Dudley always bullied me too..."

Once he got started, Harry became just as talkative as Ron.

September in England, a crowded compartment—why did the air around them seem to be getting colder and colder?... Was this some kind of "England's Most Miserable" audition?...

Still, hearing the famous Harry Potter pour out his troubles did make Ron look considerably better. But if this went on, everyone would only grow more depressed. Before Harry could finish, Ron tried to change the subject.

So he suddenly asked Li Mu, "Oh, Li Mu, you're Chinese, right? Were you born into a Muggle family too? Did you grow up with Muggles?"

Li Mu shook his head, not wanting to discuss such matters. "I've never seen my parents... An old man, a professor at a magic academy back in China, found me and raised me..."

At that, he suddenly sighed and did not wish to continue. He remembered his previous life. Back then, there had been no magic or cultivation. He had spent his days in an ordinary society immersed in technological development, and as one of its most ordinary people, he had felt that life was fine enough.

But now, he had come to a brand-new world. He had practiced Daoist arts for more than eight years, and had truly entered the magical world of Harry Potter that he had once longed for. Yet all at once, he did not know where to go from here. He knew of the major events to come, but what should he do amidst them?

The atmosphere abruptly froze, and the conversation fell flat. That was no good. If it went on too long, everyone in the carriage would start feeling awkward.

Perhaps hoping to ease the mood, Harry said to Ron, "By the way, can you use magic already? People born into wizarding families must be especially good at it, right?"

Ron's cheeks reddened slightly, but he still pulled out a wand that looked rather worn. Pointing it at Scabbers, he said, "George taught me a spell a few days ago. He said it could turn him yellow... I don't know whether it'll work, but let me try..."

Seeing Ron about to cast a spell, Li Mu snapped out of his thoughts and sat up straight. He had never seen real Western magic before.

"Ahem..." With everyone watching him, Ron felt a little smug and cleared his throat theatrically.

But before he could begin the spell, the compartment door was pulled open. A little girl wearing a brand-new Hogwarts uniform entered, with a round-faced boy following behind her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's toad is missing." There was an imperious edge to the girl's tone, as though she were issuing orders to everyone in the carriage.

Li Mu immediately understood and looked her over carefully. The girl had bushy brown hair, fluffy like a little lion's mane, and her front teeth were just slightly too large, nearly buck teeth.

Without those flaws, she would have been a first-rate beauty in the making.

(End of chapter)

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