Lesson

Hermione Granger was very happy.

But just a few minutes ago, she had been filled with urgency.

When Professor McGonagall had appeared at her home and demonstrated several Transfiguration spells in front of her entire family, Hermione's worldview had been shaken, yet she had quickly become fascinated by magic.

She had believed in science since childhood, and science had always held one view—if something existed, it was truth!

But clever as she was, she also understood that being Muggle-born was her greatest weakness.

Especially that day in Diagon Alley, when she had seen Vaughan Weasley cast a trick with a snap of his fingers.

And then Professor McGonagall had told her that he was even a year younger than she was. Hermione's birthday was September 19; if she had been born twenty days earlier, she would have started school the previous year.

It had made Hermione's scalp tingle...

It was terrifying!

Her classmates from wizarding families had been practicing magic since they were young, while she had "wasted" nearly twelve whole years!

Rounding up, she was practically a century behind everyone else!

One could imagine her hiding in her bedroom, clutching her head in despair.

So throughout the summer, Hermione had hungrily absorbed knowledge and practiced spells.

Without anyone to guide her, teaching herself spells had been difficult. As the start of term drew closer, Hermione had grown increasingly anxious. Thus, after boarding the Hogwarts Express today, she had eagerly gone around looking for classmates from wizarding families, hoping to exchange ideas with them.

It should be said that things had gone fairly well at first. There was a girl named Susan Bones in the compartment where they had been resting. She was cheerful and enthusiastic, and she did not bother concealing anything. Nearly every first-year in the carriage knew that her aunt was Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic.

A perfect person to learn from!

But when Hermione cast a Repairing Charm and tried to discuss their learning progress with Susan, the other girl had stopped paying her any attention.

Then, near the back of the train, she had run into another Weasley redhead—Ron Weasley.

The boy she had met once before had been showing off his new wand to Harry Potter. In that tiny compartment were both the "terrifying Weasley" and the savior recorded in A History of Modern Magic.

Naturally, Hermione could not let such an excellent opportunity slip away, so she had urged Ron to cast a spell...

The result was better left unmentioned!

The last person Hermione had encountered was Neville Longbottom. When she grabbed hold of the round-faced boy, he had been crying and laughing as he kissed a toad... Honestly, the sight had suddenly made Hermione question the quality of education in wizarding families.

"I don't know any magic. If it weren't for the Hogwarts letter, my family would even have thought I was a Squib..." Neville had said, trembling under Hermione's glare.

"You live in the magical world and have been exposed to it since childhood. How can you not know magic?"

"Y-you... why don't you go find Mr. Vaughan Weasley? He's over there. He just helped me find Trevor."

Vaughan Weasley—the nightmare that had plagued Hermione Granger all summer.

But after trying all afternoon and learning about the level of her classmates, she could now lift her head with confidence.

Following Neville's directions, Hermione turned the corner and indeed saw that familiar tall, skinny redhead. He was wandering through the train corridor, idly playing with a wand in his hand.

"Vaughan... Weasley?"

For some reason, although Hermione had thought herself confident enough, the moment she called his name and he turned around, his handsome face entering her sight, her heart suddenly began to race.

Thump, thump...

As if it were about to leap out of her throat.

Was this her opponent's aura?

The girl whose mind had never contained anything but the word "study" felt her ears buzzing.

Vaughan, on the other hand, was not surprised to meet Hermione. There were only so many carriages on the Hogwarts Express.

He smiled and nodded. "Hello, Miss Granger."

Before coming to find him, Hermione had prepared a whole speech—perhaps challenging him to a spell contest, or telling him that she had read many newspapers and knew that he had already achieved something in Potions.

But when faced with his greeting for real, Hermione suddenly found her mind completely blank.

She could only reply stiffly, "H-hello to you too, Mr. Weasley..."

"Is there something you need, Miss Granger?" Vaughan asked.

"I..."

Hermione had just blankly started to say something when someone coming from behind bumped her aside.

It was a pale boy with short platinum-blond hair, accompanied by two tall, burly followers. He looked extremely arrogant, practically looking down on people through his nostrils.

"Move aside, Muggle brat!"

Without even glancing at Hermione, who had nearly been knocked over, the boy sized Vaughan up and sneered. "Another Weasley. I just saw one—filthy and stupid, hanging around with that Potter who wears broken glasses. And you... you're even stranger than him."

As he spoke, he finally glanced at Hermione from the corner of his eye, then quickly looked away, as though looking for one second longer would dirty his eyes. "Making friends with someone like that—hair as messy as seaweed, front teeth as big as a rabbit's..."

Before he could finish, Vaughan interrupted, "Draco Malfoy?"

Malfoy looked surprised for a moment, but quickly lifted his chin. "That's right. It seems that compared with that idiot named Ron, you have at least some sense."

Vaughn neither confirmed nor denied it, speaking lazily.

"If I were you, I'd get lost right now. There aren't any mummy and daddy here to protect you on this train."

A faint flush rose to Malfoy's pale face. He widened his eyes and waved his hand sharply. "What, you want to fight too? Crabbe, Goyle, beat him up!"

The two dim-witted-looking lackeys behind him were quite interested in that sort of work.

With savage grins and angry roars, they lunged at Vaughn.

Hermione only had time to let out a cry before she saw Vaughn raise his wand.

"Impedimenta!"

The air blurred for an instant. Goyle and Crabbe seemed to have suddenly charged into a transparent, sticky swamp. Their movements slowed at once, restrained by some unseen force as they floated into the air with their limbs spread wide.

They looked exactly like two frogs pinned to a laboratory table.

They screamed in terror, "Draco, save us!"

Unfortunately, they had called for the wrong person. Draco had only just shown a frightened expression when he saw Vaughn calmly point his wand at him, red light flaring forth.

"Expelliarmus!"

With a bang, Draco felt a tremendous force slam into his abdomen. The train compartments on either side sped backward in his vision, and the next moment, he crashed heavily into a partition.

The violent impact left his mind completely blank. Before he could react, another spell rang out. "Densaugeo!"

Draco felt an itch in his mouth. His eyes went wide as he watched his front teeth rapidly lengthen, jutting past his lips in an instant and even curling upward in a jaunty arc.

The successive blows made him burst into tears.

He no longer dared to stay. Not even bothering with Crabbe and Goyle, he scrambled and crawled toward the rear of the train.

At the same time, the students in the other compartments noticed the commotion outside and poked their heads out to watch.

Vaughn lifted the spell from Crabbe and Goyle, letting the two of them run away crying.