Library Friendship

Muya gave Sean a perfunctory round of applause, then picked up the dry bread and milk and finished them in a few bites.

"I'm done eating. I'm heading to the library now, everyone take your time!" With that, she left them only a retreating figure.

"As expected of Ya, she's so diligent!" Susan couldn't help but exclaim.

"She's just going to study English."

Shalian patted Susan on the shoulder. "Ya can't even understand what the teacher says in class sometimes. She really needs to work on it."

Hannah's eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh right, no wonder she looked so... clear and innocent today."

Arriving at the library, Muya suddenly felt a bit at a loss. She stood by the bookshelves staring at books entirely in English that she couldn't understand, feeling her head spin.

With no other choice, she had to ask the librarian. "Madam, do you have any English primer books here?"

Madam Pince didn't lift her eyes from the book in her hands, simply pointing with her other hand toward a shelf. "On that shelf, child. Be quick about it, and I hope you won't eat or speak loudly in the library."

Muya lowered her voice a little. "Oh, alright, serious Madam. Thank you."

Muya grabbed three books and walked over to sit beside a girl with bushy brown hair that was an absolute mess of curls.

"Hello, is this seat taken?"

"No, sit wherever you like." It was a little lioness wearing glasses.

Muya placed her books on the table. The little lioness glanced over, frowned in confusion, and whispered, "You're still reading these books?"

Muya knew why she was puzzled. Kids her age were all reading spellbooks, history texts, and the like. But here she was, with three primers meant for British toddlers.

"Yeah, I'm an English idiot. I can't understand a thing in class." Muya replied in an equally quiet voice.

"..." The companion beside Muya was stunned by her blunt honesty.

Then she watched as Muya pulled out her wand, muttered a spell, and moved two of the books aside.

Was this what you learned when you couldn't understand class at all?

"Will you be coming to the library often?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm Hermione Granger. Just call me Hermione. Maybe we could study together sometime. I can teach you English." When Hermione smiled, her two big front teeth showed, making her look just like a rabbit—well, a clever rabbit.

"I'm Ya. I agree to your proposal. Also, the way your front teeth show makes you look just like a little bunny. If you had rabbit ears, it'd be even more perfect." Muya was already thinking about whether she had a rabbit-ear headband in her wardrobe. Maybe she could give it to this new friend.

"...Oh, thank you." Hermione blushed and went back to reading her book.

Muya quietly followed the phonetic symbols in her book, sounding them out. Occasionally, Hermione would correct her pronunciation.

At nine o'clock, Muya and Hermione said goodbye at the library entrance. She decided to explore outside the school. Using the two spells Hermione had just taught her—Lumos and its counter-curse Nox—they worked like flashlights, though not as bright or far-reaching.

If you like this book, to avoid losing it next time, remember to add it to your bookshelf.

Muya arrived at a lake. She shone her wand over the surface—pitch black. Well, Muya was disappointed. She'd hoped the water would be clear enough to catch fish.

Suddenly, ripples spread across the lake. Muya saw a face, stumbled backward in fright, and fell.

"Ouch!" Her wand slipped from her hand and landed nearby, its tip still glowing.

"Why is another wizard running around near the Black Lake?" Muya was terrified. What the hell was that thing! And it wasn't speaking English—she couldn't understand a word!

At that moment, she thought of Dumbledore. That Old Mischief-Maker said he'd be her guardian, didn't he? She was about to be killed by some unknown creature right now.

"What's wrong with this little witch? Having a seizure? Should I notify Dumbledore?" The next second, he saw Muya crack one eye open. His eyes lit up—looks like he wouldn't need to see Dumbledore after all.

Muya had only opened one eye to check if the thing had vanished from the lake's surface, only to lock eyes with the creature that had crawled up onto the shore!

Well, since she'd been spotted anyway, she might as well die in a slightly more graceful pose.

Muya performed a classic "dying man sits up in shock." Whoa—turns out the thing that scared her was just a mermaid. Phew, all in her head.

She picked up her wand, made an "L" shape with her left hand under her chin, and said, "You'd better behave. This is human territory."

A giant question mark appeared over the mermaid's head. This was the first time a wizard had told him to behave.

"Get lost, little witch!" He swept his tail across the Black Lake, splashing a wave of water onto Muya's robes.

"Ah! My uniform! I can't believe you're this kind of mermaid!" Muya patted her robes dry and stormed back to the castle, furious.

"Hmph, what a mermaid! Absolutely no manners!" Muya wrung water from her robes while grumbling.

"Ya?" Cedric walked toward her.

Seeing her wringing out her robes, he asked, "Ya, what happened? How did your robes get wet? Scourgify! "

Muya instantly found her robes dry. She sniffed them—perfect, no weird smell.

"Thank you, Cedric. I went to the lake outside the castle just now. A mermaid scared me, said a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand, and then soaked my robes with its tail." She recounted what had just happened.

Cedric blinked. "Are you hurt anywhere? Mermaids usually don't surface from the Black Lake!"

Muya shook her head. Cedric let out a relieved breath. "Alright then. Curfew is almost here. I was actually heading to the library to find you, but you weren't there. I was about to look elsewhere when I saw you here."

"There's a curfew at school?" Muya frowned. Cedric nodded. How was she supposed to explore the ancient castle at night like this!

"Let's head back to the common room now." Cedric looked at Muya, who seemed completely deflated, and couldn't help but want to laugh. Looked like little wizards all loved sneaking around at night.

Back in the common room, Muya said goodbye to Cedric and returned to her dormitory. Having already done more than enough studying for the day, she greeted her roommates and went to sleep.

Yeah, right. During the day, with Dumbledore around, she hadn't dared go upstairs to play on her computer. But now? Hehehe.

She pulled her trunk onto the bed, opened it, and nimbly climbed out onto the grass.

"Meow~" It was her cat, Qiqi, a very shy British Shorthair. That's why it hadn't come out when Dumbledore was with her earlier.

"Oh, Qiqi, come here! Let's go play games!" Muya scooped up Qiqi and ran straight into the house.