For a moment, the atmosphere in the compartment turned exceedingly strange, and everyone cast puzzled looks her way.
Hugo and Neville looked at Draco with bewilderment. This girl was quite pretty, but why wasn't her brain working properly? Who gloated right in someone's face? Had she never been taught a lesson?
Ron was also deeply embarrassed by her new friend's behavior, but she still kindly explained on Draco's behalf, "She, she didn't mean that."
Draco also realized she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly explained, "No, I mean you're really lucky to have met me. When it comes to finding things, this crystal ball of mine is all you need."
As she spoke, Draco held the crystal ball high as though showing off a treasure and said proudly, "With it, we can find anything."
Hugo looked at the crystal ball Draco held up, his voice trembling with excitement. "You're a Seer? You can make prophecies, right? I read in a book that a Seer's gift has nothing to do with age. Some can make accurate prophecies when they're very young."
Draco smiled awkwardly and explained, "I'm not that amazing."
Neville had, after all, been born in the wizarding world and knew very well how rare Seers were. Besides, given the current situation, if a Seer really appeared and displayed their gift so openly, they probably wouldn't even get the chance to attend Hogwarts.
So Neville immediately guessed that the key must be the crystal ball and asked, "Is this crystal ball a magical item, the kind that can find things?"
Draco hastily nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Yes! It works really well. My mother paid a fortune for it."
As she spoke, Draco also shot Harry a smug glance, her eyes seeming to say, See? Someone recognizes quality after all.
Hugo wasn't disappointed either and continued asking enthusiastically, "Is it really that magical? How does it work? Do you have to say some sort of spell to it?"
Draco began enthusiastically introducing her treasure. "No spells needed. Just put your hand on it and silently picture what you want to find, or a treasure with magical power, and it'll tell you where to go."
With that, Draco handed the crystal ball to Neville for him to try.
After taking the crystal ball, Neville first politely thanked her, then pictured his toad in his mind.
Everyone around him focused their eyes on the crystal ball as well, their gazes full of curiosity as they eagerly waited to see what changes it would undergo.
The crystal ball had originally been perfectly clear, without a single impurity, but soon after Neville touched it, a cloud of gray mist began rising inside.
Immediately afterward, a blurry figure appeared in the middle of the mist. Judging by its shape, it was indeed a toad.
Gradually, the toad's figure grew clearer, and its surroundings also came into view. It turned out to be hiding at a corner in a corridor.
Hugo shouted excitedly, "There it is! There it is! This is incredible!"
Seeing someone respond so enthusiastically, Draco couldn't have been happier and looked smugly at Harry beside her.
But when she saw that Harry wasn't looking their way at all and was instead staring at the scenery outside the window, her lips immediately puffed into an angry pout, displeasure written all over her face.
Herman didn't notice the interaction between the two girls. Looking at the scene inside the crystal ball, he said worriedly, "Wouldn't a corner like this look the same in any carriage? Can it be more specific?"
Neville added, "We don't need any more details. This crystal ball told me the direction."
Herman asked in surprise, "How did the crystal ball tell you?"
As he asked, Herman examined the crystal ball carefully again, making sure he hadn't missed any details. There were no words or anything else on it.
Neville didn't know how to explain either. After scratching his head, he managed, "It's like telepathy. When I touch the crystal ball, it gives me a feeling directly. Go back-it's in one of the carriages ahead that way."
"That's incredible!" Herman and Hugo exclaimed in unison.
"Why don't we go take a look?"
Seeing that her item had worked, Draco spoke smugly, then prepared to leave the compartment, wanting to witness the moment her treasure successfully found the missing object.
Hugo was also very interested and was about to leave the compartment, eager to head back.
Just then, Harry suddenly looked out the window and said with an unusually serious expression, "Don't move around. Something's wrong!"
Draco had long since taken a dislike to Harry. Hearing her words, she immediately retorted sarcastically, "What's wrong? Is my crystal ball going to lead us into a werewolf's kennel?"
This time, Harry didn't snap back or argue with Draco. Instead, her expression grew even graver, and she said solemnly:
"I don't know whether there are any werewolves, but we may be surrounded by vampires."
Naturally, to Draco's ears, those words became a provocation aimed at her. She immediately flushed with anger and embarrassment, her cheeks reddening as she prepared to have a huge argument with Harry.
Herman, however, knew Harry wasn't that frivolous and knew something must be wrong.
He could no longer worry about propriety between boys and girls and hurried over to Harry, the two of them squeezing together to look out the window.
Although the sun had completely set and the sky was growing dark, half the moon had emerged as well. It seemed to be a full moon tonight, and by its light, they could still make out the scenery outside.
Besides the densely packed trees, Herman could clearly see great swathes of dark shapes flying between them, keeping close to both sides of the Hogwarts Express.
"What are those?" Ron, sitting opposite them, also saw the dark shapes and cried out in surprise.
"Bats. Didn't I say so? They're bats that vampires have transformed into!" Harry said icily.
Hearing Ron's words, Draco also realized something was wrong and moved over to the window to look.
Seeing that the seats were completely crowded, Hugo and Neville could only move up to the table and lean as far forward over it as they could, observing the scene outside in somewhat comical poses.
"Are you sure they're vampires? Maybe we passed a cave just now and woke up some sleeping bats?" Herman asked uncertainly. He, too, was utterly confused by this sudden development. After all, there had been no such plot in the original.
Harry said with certainty, "I don't think ordinary bats would follow a train for twenty or thirty minutes, with more and more of them showing up!"
"Are all those bats vampires? How many must there be?" Ron said in terror.
Hearing the question, Hugo immediately forgot his fear. As though a switch for his knowledge had been flipped, he promptly answered, "According to The Complete Book of Dark Creatures, when vampires turn into little bats, the number they become depends on their strength. The longer a vampire has lived and the stronger they are, the more bats there will be. So the swarm following us might only be one or two vampires!"
Hearing Hugo's words, Ron immediately said admiringly, "You know so much! As long as there aren't many vampires, that's good."
Draco was more clearheaded and reasoned, "If it's one or two vampires, with this many bats, how many years must the vampires that turned into them have lived?"
Hearing Draco's words, Ron hastily changed her tune. "Then it'd be better if there were more vampires."
Neville was relatively calm at this point. Frowning, he said, "Why are vampires chasing the Hogwarts Express? Are they going to attack it?"
Hearing Neville's question, Harry gave a rare reply. "Whatever they're trying to do, I think they're about to act. Their numbers haven't increased for a while now."