Hermione and Cho Chang

The moment he saw her, Ye Ting's first thought was not of the "conquest" or "cultivation" he had imagined for so long, but why the story of the Harry Potter world had been written into novels and made into films in his home world. Why was the film's female lead so similar to the real Hermione Granger, yet not exactly identical in appearance?

He did not believe that the Harry Potter world had been created because of the Harry Potter novels and films. On the contrary, he preferred to believe that the Harry Potter world had influenced his own world, leading to the creation of those works.

For now, he had no way to prove it. But he believed that as he learned and researched magic, his talent for spatial and temporal abilities would surely allow him to find a way to travel between planes. He felt that he would eventually find the truth through his journeys across worlds.

Coming back to himself, Ye Ting began to examine the girl before him, who was famous in his world.

She was a proud girl, like a swan with its neck held high. She was very cute, and clearly had the makings of a beauty.

"Is this cat yours?" she asked, without either exchanging pleasantries or introducing herself. "Can I pet it?"

"Meow..." Himari whimpered and burrowed back into Ye Ting's backpack, leaving only a pair of bright eyes to watch from within.

"Of course not. You scared Himari," Ye Ting said, raising an eyebrow speechlessly. He truly could not imagine what the girl before him had done to frighten Himari so badly.

"Himari? Why did you give your cat that name? Is it some kind of magical language?" Hermione asked curiously. Her attention had clearly been completely diverted.

"No, it's Japanese. It means 'Himari,'" Ye Ting explained.

"So you're of Japanese descent." Hermione nodded, seeming to understand without really understanding.

"No, I'm of Chinese descent."

"Then why did you use Japanese to name your cat?"

"Because I like it."

Hermione's string of questions left Ye Ting both amused and helpless. He had not expected Hermione to be curious to this extent. Fortunately, the little girl knew when to stop and moved on to another subject.

"My name is Hermione Granger," she introduced herself. "I come from a Muggle family. No one in my family knows magic, so when I received my acceptance letter, I was absolutely astonished—but also especially happy. Because, I mean, as far as I know, this is the best school of magic—all the textbooks, I've memorized them, so I can catch up with all of you—so, what's your name?"

She spoke at breakneck speed, rattling off a lengthy introduction in one breath while finding the chance to show off her own learning ability.

What a child, Ye Ting thought to himself. Then he introduced himself as well. "My name is Ye Ting. I came from a Muggle orphanage, so I don't know whether I have wizard blood."

"By the way, would you like to come in and sit down?" Ye Ting invited.

Besides curiosity, he had another reason for the invitation. He wanted to see whether the so-called "plot" could be changed, starting with Hermione.

Ye Ting intended to influence Hermione into joining Ravenclaw with him rather than Gryffindor. That would inevitably bring enormous changes to the "plot," perhaps even leaving the future unrecognizable. Besides, he truly believed that Hermione's intelligence and eagerness to learn made her better suited to Ravenclaw—and hoping that proximity would give him the advantage was one of his hidden little motives.

Hearing that Ye Ting also came from Muggle society, Hermione immediately felt that the distance between them had narrowed considerably. She gladly accepted the invitation and sat across from Ye Ting. The two began chatting about the magical world that had suddenly appeared in their lives.

Having read the original Harry Potter novels from cover to cover, Ye Ting was clearly far more knowledgeable than Hermione in this regard. Combined with his extraordinary learning ability, the little girl quickly discovered that it was not easy to maintain her pride here.

I've met my match, Hermione thought secretly. At the same time, she acknowledged that Ye Ting was indeed a peer who excelled at learning.

At that moment, there was another knock on the compartment door.

Ye Ting opened it. Outside stood two girls slightly older than Hermione. One was a brown-haired girl with freckles, while the other was a black-haired Eastern beauty—though still only in the making—who looked as though she had been dragged here. Both carried luggage in their hands.

"Hello, my name is Marietta," the brown-haired girl introduced herself. "This is my good friend, Cho Chang. She's of Chinese descent. We saw outside that you were also Eastern, so we came over to get acquainted."

"Hello." The black-haired girl shyly nodded at Ye Ting as well.

Ye Ting introduced himself and Hermione to Marietta, then turned to Cho Chang and said in Chinese, "Hello, Cho Chang. My name is Ye Ting."

Hearing this, Cho Chang opened her mouth in surprise.

"Hello... I didn't expect you to be Chinese too." She looked pleasantly surprised, as though she had met an old friend in a foreign land. The two happily began chatting in Chinese.