Luna

September 1st arrived quickly, the first day of school at Hogwarts.

By late August, Kate and Penelope had both returned to their respective homes, preparing to begin their Hogwarts routines, which they pretended were not very familiar with Ryan.

During their absence, Ryan finally had time to study Nagini.

Before this, perhaps because they knew that Nagini was a woman in disguise, and because Kate even somehow obtained photos of Nagini at the Arkanus Circus, Ryan never had the chance to get close to her and slowly touch Nagini's cold body.

Ryan felt wronged. He wasn't doing anything indecent. Even Dumbledore, when examining Regulus, didn't abandon his wand and directly use his hands to measure and sense him.

When it comes to sensing magic, hands and eyes are more suitable than wands.

Penelope and the others should understand this principle as well.

Having already briefly regained human form but lost her memory, Nagini, who appeared as a young girl due to the Blood Curse, leaned against Ryan and nodded in agreement.

This Blood Curse, haha, it's really powerful!

In short, with the start of the school year approaching, Ryan had no choice but to hug Jerry, who was now a fat cat, and bid a tearful farewell to Nagini.

You know, it's summer now. How am I supposed to sleep at night without the cool snake's body?

"What are you looking at? Are you going to lean on me? Fat Cat Jerry!"

"Stop looking, no one would like a fat cat like you, only I would." Ryan, who had arrived on the train early and was sitting in an empty compartment, started to poke his little cat as usual.

He noticed that since the little guy gained weight, he had been sleeping all day and was no longer as readily available as before.

That's incredibly bold of you to fix a cat!

It needs to be rectified!

This time, Ryan made a point of sitting near the train entrance.

He also extended his passivity to the entire compartment, so that only the junior wizards that Ryan deemed qualified could notice it.

As for what constitutes being qualified?

Sure enough, a short, white-haired witch curiously knocked on the door.

"Hello, I think this place should be empty," the little witch said in a dazed tone, her eyes fixed on Ryan as if she had discovered something extraordinary.

"Of course," Ryan said.

He already knew who was knocking on the door.

He had originally planned to sit with Harry and the others as usual.

However, while watching the Harry Potter at The Burrow during a meal, I unexpectedly discovered an interesting little witch.

A little witch that Ryan originally didn't intend to get involved with.

Her intuition was too sharp, and from Harry's perspective, she wasn't very good-looking.

After all, Pansy isn't that great. Although she's pretty, it's a fact that she looks like a poodle.

This shows that Harry's perspective was actually quite accurate.

But to everyone's surprise, the usually fair and impartial Harry suffered a crushing defeat with Luna.

From Harry's perspective, Luna had messy, dirty, waist-length blond hair, very light-colored eyebrows, and bulging eyes that gave her a perpetually surprised expression. She exuded a distinctly eccentric air; for safety's sake, she had her wand tucked behind her left ear, wore a necklace made of Butterbeer corks, and even held a magazine upside down while reading it.

But Ryan thought it was completely different; he believed Harry must be seriously ill.

Luna's hair was indeed messy, but it wasn't exactly dirty. It was more like white with a hint of gold, perhaps the kind of hidden gold that made Harry think Luna's hair was a little dirty.

Most likely it's because this hair color is very similar to Draco Malfoy's, the guy he hated the most in the original timeline.

The fluffy fur reminded Harry subconsciously of Hermione from the very beginning, the same annoying girl.

As for her protruding eyes, they look very cute on Luna's round face.

However, Ryan felt that Harry's criticism of Luna might be related to another person— Divination Class Professor Sybill Trelawney. In Harry's eyes, Trelawney had always been a pretentious and mysterious person, which made Harry "look at" Luna, who had a similar air about her, differently.

Subconsciously, I started to criticize them for a while.

However, Ryan believes Luna is qualified for more than just her looks.

He discovered something: Luna's amazing wizarding intuition.

She always noticed things that others overlooked—loopholes in words, omissions in spells, unnatural emotions, and so on.

She seems to have a natural magnifying glass, and because she relies more on intuition, she often makes others feel uncomfortable.

In layman's terms, they have a sharp tongue, and they're good at hitting the mark.

The wizard's keen intuition—that's the qualification Ryan acknowledges.

It has nothing to do with Luna conforming to his aesthetic standards.

In this respect, even Harry was only more sensitive to magic, and the fact that he had been with the little lion in the original timeline made his impulsive personality even more obscure the intuition that came from his wizarding nature.

"May I know your name? I'm very curious about you," Luna said directly, just as Ryan was wondering if anyone else was watching the room.

That's just how she is—unpretentious and genuine.

Coupled with her personality, which makes her talent seem rather poor, it's no wonder that even Ravenclaw, who claims to be willing to tolerate oddballs, can't quite accept her.

"Ryan Smith." Ryan made no attempt to hide his observation of the strange little witch.

Luna stared intently into Ryan's pale white eyes, without the slightest bit of shyness.

A normal little witch would have been defeated in the blink of an eye if she had seen Ryan's handsome, almost demonic face, but Luna didn't react at all, and didn't even blink.

"The other young wizards can't see this room, what kind of magic is it?"

"Also, you're very pretty, especially the color of your eyes—the same as mine. Can we be friends?" Luna said without hesitation.

"This is Smith's innate magic, just like how Metamorphmagus can naturally change his face and even his hair color."

"Finally, I want to say—why not? You're lovely too." Ryan extended his long, slender right hand.

Luna also stretched out her short hand, quickly shook it, and then pulled it back, as if Ryan had placed a branding iron in his hand.

It seems she's still shy.

"Cute? My dad says I'm cute too, but I've noticed that other people don't seem to like me much," Luna said, puzzled, then looked at Ryan without any shyness, as if she could see something in him.

"That's because you're different from others, but that's not a bad thing. It can help you weed out a group of friends who care too much about what others think."

"They usually bring you more trouble than anything else. In the end, you either become just another face in the crowd or you become the weirdo in other people's eyes."

Ryan met her gaze without any embarrassment. "You're just a little girl. Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

"Oh, does that mean I can't contact Nargles anymore?"

"How terrifying! Thankfully, I have a friend like Ryan now," Luna said in a monotone tone, making it impossible to tell that she was afraid at all.