"See you in Slytherin."
With that, Alice walked away with graceful steps.
Draco, who had long since been unable to contain himself, said excitedly,
"Shawn, I knew you'd choose Slytherin."
Hermione spoke up anxiously.
"Shawn, you nearly wiped out all of Slytherin just now. If you join them, won't they ostracize you?"
Draco gave Hermione, a little Muggle-born witch, a scornful glance, then drawled again in his affected voice.
"What do you know, you Mudblood-Aah!"
Before Draco could finish, a playing card sliced across his cheek. Blood quickly ran down his face from the small cut.
Draco stared at Shawn in disbelief.
Shawn caught the playing card as it spun back to him and gave Draco a hostile look, his voice cold.
"Draco, I don't want to hear you say 'Mudblood' again. Discrimination doesn't make you noble. At the very least, don't say it at school."
Draco went pale and managed a difficult nod.
"I-I understand."
Hermione asked in astonishment,
"What exactly does 'Mudblood' mean?"
Ron, who had barely made his presence felt until now, said timidly,
"It's an extremely insulting word, like calling someone a lowly mongrel. It's a derogatory name pure-bloods use for Muggle-born wizards."
Hermione looked at Draco in disbelief, her eyes full of anger. But remembering that Shawn had already punished him, she said nothing more.
Harry spoke up then.
"After listening to you all this time, I've just realized Hogwarts has different houses. Shawn, if you're going to Slytherin, can I go too?"
Hermione hurriedly nodded as well.
"Exactly. Wherever my idol goes, I'll go too."
A horrified Ron rushed to stop them.
"Harry, everyone in Slytherin becomes a Dark wizard after graduating. You-Know-Who was in Slytherin too. And Hermione, you're a Muggle-born witch. Slytherin only accepts pure-bloods."
Harry and Hermione were both dumbfounded.
Draco had just finished treating the cut on his face. Hearing Ron's words, he couldn't resist another scornful remark.
"You penniless Weasley brat. You're a disgrace to pure-bloods. How dare you insult Slytherin like that?"
Ron immediately flew into a rage.
"Damn you, Malfoy!"
Just as Ron and Draco were about to come to blows, a cold shout rang out.
"Both of you, shut up."
Shawn's voice left the compartment so quiet they could have heard a pin drop. He said nothing more; he had no interest in deciding who was right or wrong among a bunch of clueless brats. He took out his Potions book and resumed reading.
The other four exchanged looks. Finally, Hermione gathered her courage and spoke.
"Shawn, can I really not go to Slytherin? Is discrimination in the wizarding world really that bad?"
Shawn paused as he turned a page and couldn't help sighing.
"The world has never been as beautiful as we imagine, but we can create that beauty ourselves. Hermione, I suggest you go to Ravenclaw, the house of wisdom. It has the knowledge you need to become stronger."
Shawn's words pierced Hermione's heart, but she finally understood why he had agreed to Alice's request to join Slytherin when he could clearly have gone to another house.
Her idol was going to do something great-to create that beauty with his own hands.
As though she had made up her mind, Hermione nodded firmly.
"I understand. I'll go to Ravenclaw, and I'll help you in the future."
Shawn looked up at Hermione's determined expression and knew she had understood what he meant.
His mischievous streak had been behind his attempt to coax Hermione into Ravenclaw, keeping this clever little witch from being dragged down by two useless boys.
Now he thought it was an excellent idea. Hermione ought to be his very own little fangirl, and she would surely become an invaluable helper in the future.
Shawn took the basic General Charms books he had already finished reading out of his ring.
"These are from the Black family's collection. They have some good annotations and are better than the textbook, The Standard Book of Spells. You can borrow them."
Hermione's eyes lit up. She accepted them joyfully and immediately began reading with great concentration.
Meanwhile, Harry sat beside them, bewildered.
For a boy his age, the influence of a role model mattered a great deal. He didn't understand why someone as powerful and elegant as Shawn would go to Slytherin, where there were so many bad people.
Finally, after a moment's hesitation, he asked,
"Shawn, which house do you think I should go to?"
Ron interrupted.
"Gryffindor is the best house. Dumbledore, the greatest good wizard of this century, came from Gryffindor."
Harry ignored Ron's opinion and continued looking steadily at Shawn.
Shawn hadn't wanted to bother with Harry and the others' nonsense. He had a whole pile of matters to deal with himself.
But Ron, the character who had annoyed him most when he watched the films in his previous life, kept forcing himself into Shawn's attention. He didn't mind teaching him a lesson in how to behave.
Out of the corner of his eye, he also spotted Scabbers the rat peeking out of Ron's pocket. Well, it wasn't time to clear his nominal uncle's name yet.
But the thought of Ron cuddling up to a sleazy, balding old man all day made him dislike Ron even more.
"Harry, Draco was right about one thing. Choosing very stupid people as friends will make you look stupid too."
"You're Ron, right? There's nothing wrong with ignorance, but being ignorant without realizing it is stupidity. Go home and study your History of Magic properly. Once you've learned about all the great people who graduated from Slytherin, then you can give Harry advice. You, get out!"
Ron's face turned bright red at those words. He stood up and tugged at Harry.
"Harry, let's go. We're obviously not welcome here."
Shawn waved a hand dismissively. The compartment door opened, and Ron floated into the air against his will, shrieking before tumbling outside with a thud.
The compartment door closed again. Only then did Shawn address the dumbfounded Harry.
"Which house you join is a matter for the Sorting Ceremony. All I want to say is that every house has good people and bad people. The kind of person you choose to become depends only on your heart."
Kindhearted Harry had no time to ponder Shawn's words. He said, "I understand," then opened the door to check on Ron.
Once outside, Harry saw not only Ron lying on the floor groaning in pain, but also a chubby boy standing on either side of the door. He remembered that these two seemed to be Draco's followers.
Inside the compartment, Draco burst out laughing.
"Well done, Shawn. That penniless Weasley brat deserved a good lesson."
Shawn was speechless. Draco never learned his lesson either; his parents had clearly spoiled him rotten.
He flung a book into Draco's face.
"If you learned a few more useful things, perhaps you'd have something to back up your big talk."
Draco stuck out his tongue, picked up the book, and began reading quietly. He had just seen Shawn fight all of Slytherin and then be showered with admiration by everyone.
So he now understood, at least a little, that strength was everything.
After that, apart from Hermione occasionally asking Shawn questions and Draco buying a pile of snacks, there were no more incidents.
Well, except for the occasional little fangirl secretly peeking at Shawn through the crack in the door.
Draco no longer dared to openly sneer at Hermione, so the atmosphere in the compartment was quite pleasant.
The sky gradually darkened. The Hogwarts Express really was fast. After taking practically an entire day, it had actually reached Hogwarts-much faster than riding an electric scooter.
An announcement followed.
"We will arrive at Hogwarts in ten minutes. All students, please change into your school uniforms and leave your trunks in your compartments. Staff will deliver them to your dormitories."
Shawn put away his book, stood up, and addressed Hermione.
"Miss, would you please step outside for a moment? We need to change."
Hermione, who had been utterly absorbed in her reading, immediately panicked.
"Oh, my trunk isn't in this compartment! Oh, and I forgot I promised to help Neville find his toad!"
After Hermione hurried away with the books in her arms, Shawn and Draco changed into their plain school uniforms.
Since they had not yet been sorted, their uniforms had no insignia, and their sleeve bands and scarves had not changed color.
When they left the compartment, Draco saw Goyle and the other boy still standing there stupidly, while Shawn wore a teasing expression.
Draco suddenly felt that these two followers of his were rather stupid too, and snapped,
"Hurry up and get in there to change!"
A few minutes later, the four of them got off the train. The platform was crowded and noisy, and a tall giant was calling out in the distance.
"First years, gather over here, please."
Shawn couldn't help exclaiming,
"Hogwarts, here I come."
But just as he finished speaking, several figures appeared before him through Apparition.
A stern, thin witch wearing emerald-green robes and a witch's hat spoke.
"Mr. Black, in light of your fighting on the train earlier, please come with me to Hogwarts first."