August 1991, London.
The sun broke free from the clouds, piercing the thick fog and illuminating the damp ground until it gleamed.
A tabby cat squatted at the street corner, taking a serious look at the road sign.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished.
“Mr.
Prewett, thank you for your divination.”
A man huddled his shoulders and sat down in front of a divination stall at the corner of the street.
“My wife… really cheated…”
“Oh, right, this is the agreed-upon payment.”
“I am sorry.” Sheeran Prewett sighed with a feigned look of sorrow, yet neatly and efficiently collected the money.
“If I may ask, how do you plan to handle this matter?
If you need divination advice, I can help you.”
“No need, Mr.
Prewett, I plan to forgive her,” the man said, rubbing his hands together.
Tsk.
What a cuckold.
Sheeran curled his lips in his heart, yet his face still maintained a regretful expression.
“Good luck to you, sir.”
Seeing the man off, Sheeran withdrew his gaze and counted the money, which came to about 25 pounds.
Coupled with the small change he had earned earlier, he now had 28 pounds and 17 pence on him.
However, the money was secondary; what was more important was the prompt box that had popped up before his eyes.
Sheeran’s gaze fell upon a virtual screen in front of him.
[You have completed a scam]
[Silver-tongued: Level 1 (34/100): Proficiency + 1]
[Description: Oh, sir.
Go talk to them, anything will do, they will believe you.
Of course, watch your tongue; after all, trouble stems from the mouth.]
[Effect: Your words reach straight into people’s hearts, making it easier for others to believe you.]
In truth, he didn’t know any divination at all; this was merely a scam he had set up.
Relying on his little brothers from the orphanage, Sheeran had long since discovered the fact that the man’s wife was cheating.
Afterwards, he deliberately lured the man to his divination stall and told him about this matter under the guise of divination.
Sheeran was too young, only eleven years old, so the man did not believe it at first.
Until the reality before his eyes turned out exactly as Sheeran had said.
But this was not the best outcome Sheeran had anticipated.
He had originally wanted to kill three birds with one stone: first earn a sum for calculating the affair, then ask the man for a sum for advice on how to handle the affair, and later turn around and ask the cheating woman for a sum for advice as well.
As a result, unexpectedly, the man chose to forgive her.
Would she be any different?
“Sheeran, I guessed you’d be right here.”
A familiar voice reached Sheeran’s ears, interrupting his thoughts.
“Miss Granger…”
Sheeran hid the money away, instantly composing his expression into a humble and polite demeanor.
In front of Hermione, he always wore a gentle and kind appearance.
“Call me Hermione.”
Hermione Granger sat before Sheeran, resting her elbows on the tabletop and cupping her chin as she looked at him.
“How is business today?”
“Fairly well.”
Sheeran shuffled the deck of tarot cards on the table.
“Would you like to try a divination?”
Hermione looked at Sheeran’s slightly pale and thin face, a flash of pity flickering in her eyes.
“Then let’s have a divination.
I want to know, which school will I go to?”
She was eleven years old this year, at the age to advance to secondary school, and she had been troubled by this matter for the past few days.
Aside from considering which school to go to, there was also the fact that she didn’t want to be too far away from the boy in front of her, who had been her classmate for six years.
Sheeran was unlike other children.
He wouldn’t laugh at her messy hair, and when she talked to him about things in books, he wouldn’t impatiently turn his head away, but instead listened very attentively.
Although he grew up in an orphanage, he was a gentle and kind boy, and he never lied.
Hermione thought to herself.
“Have you received any letters recently?” Sheeran asked.
He remembered that before entering Hogwarts, letters would be delivered by owl beforehand.
Hermione came from a Muggle family, and afterwards, a professor would even visit in person to guide her.
“A letter?” Hermione asked with puzzlement.
“What letter?”
“My parents did complain a few days ago that there were a few rambling scam letters, and one of them even had my name on it.”
It seemed they had been ignored by Mr.
and Mrs.
Granger, Sheeran thought.
This was a common occurrence in Muggle families, which was why professors had to visit in person to explain.
After all, very few parents would send their child to an obscure school simply because of a letter.
“Never mind, let’s begin,” Sheeran said.
The tarot cards, their backs illustrated with stars, were shuffled under his hands and reassembled together.
“Taking you as the focal point, draw a card.”
Sheeran held the deck of tarot cards with four fingers, slowly spreading them out before Hermione.
Under his deliberate control, the distance between each card was almost identical.
Only then did he take the opportunity to closely examine the young girl in front of him.
Messy brown hair, brown eyes, and a slight earnest nerdy temperament.
Of course, none of these mattered.
What mattered was that her name was Hermione Granger.
She looked almost identical to her appearance in the movie version of Harry Potter.
And it was precisely because of her that Sheeran realized, a few years after transmigrating as a baby, that this was the world of Harry Potter.
Hermione drew a tarot card from the middle of the deck.
When flipped over, it depicted an elderly man holding a lantern and a cane, standing atop a snowy peak.
“Oh, The Hermit.” Sheeran took the card in his hand and looked at it carefully.
“This represents that you pursue wisdom and love reading, but as a result, you often feel lonely…”
Hermione nodded; this indeed matched her current situation.
“However, I feel… the most core meaning of this card should be that you will seek out some hidden knowledge.
Who knows, you might even go to an unknown magic school.”
Sheeran spoke the answer in a joking tone.
“Haha, it would be great if you could go with me.”
Hermione merely took it as a joke and didn’t mind.
Blinking at him, she finally spoke of the true purpose for coming to find him.
“I didn’t bring money when I went out, so… come over to my house for dinner, consider it the divination fee.”
When a young girl expressed her feelings, she always had to find an excuse.
Ever since she learned that Sheeran’s parents were both deceased and that he grew up in an orphanage, she frequently invited him over to her house for dinner.
Firstly because she liked this friend, and secondly because she wanted to take care of him.
Because Sheeran looked very thin, she always worried that he was malnourished.
“Then I am deeply grateful to Miss Granger.”
“Just call me Hermione.” Hermione stood up from the stall and re-emphasized, “Sheeran, you are always so polite.”
This place was not far from Hermione’s home.
Carrying their things, the two of them quickly arrived at the destination.
“Mr.
Granger, Mrs.
Granger, good evening.
I’m sorry to intrude.”
“Mr.
Prewett, welcome, welcome.”
“Come on in.”
The Granger family had long been familiar with this polite and sensible child, and they all liked him very much.
“You two play for a while, dinner will be ready soon.”
“Follow me, let’s go upstairs.”
Hermione led Sheeran toward her bedroom.
“Don’t eat too many snacks, oh, it’s bad for your teeth.” Mr.
Granger, acting as a dentist, raised his head from behind his newspaper and gave a habitual reminder.
“My dad bought me an art book last week, but actually I had already read it when I was in the third grade of primary school.
He can never remember which books I’ve read.”
“I suppose it’s because you read too fast.”
“It’s because I never have anything else to do, and you don’t come to find me to play either.”
“Sorry, I…”
“No, it should be me apologizing to you.” Hermione somewhat self-consciously twirled her unruly hair.
“I forgot that you still had to go do divination to make money.”
“It’s alright, occasionally earning a dinner isn’t bad either.”
Hermione was amused by him, and she led him to look at the dense array of various books on her bookshelf, enthusiastically introducing them anew, until Mrs.
Granger knocked on the door.
“Is it time for dinner, Mom?
It’s still early.”
“No…”
Mrs.
Granger appeared somewhat hesitant, her gaze falling upon Sheeran.
“I’m sorry, Sheeran, I’m afraid we won’t be able to host you today.”
“Why?!” Hermione’s voice rose significantly, filled with puzzlement.
“An important guest has come to the house, and there are very important matters to discuss later regarding your education, Hermione,” Mrs.
Granger explained helplessly.
“It’s alright, then I’ll leave first.
See you later, Hermione.”
Sheeran smiled, walked up to Hermione, and said goodbye.
When walking to the doorway, he deliberately turned back to look at Hermione, revealing just the right amount of reluctance to leave.
This made Hermione feel sad and self-reproachful.
“Goodbye, Mrs.
Granger.”
Watching Sheeran’s figure walking downstairs, Mrs.
Granger couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt in her heart.
This child lived a hard life, yet had always been very well-behaved and sensible.
And precisely because he was so sensible, it made people’s hearts ache for him.
But the couple attached great importance to what the guest downstairs had said, so they had no choice but to wrong him for now.
“Goodbye, Mr.
Granger.” Sheeran greeted as he went downstairs, his gaze quietly falling upon another person in the living room.
She was a stern-looking woman wearing square glasses, her pitch-black hair pinned into a tight bun, and draped in a dark green cloak.
“This must be Professor McGonagall, who is coming to admit Hermione, right?”
Based on his memories of Harry Potter, Sheeran deduced the identity of the person in front of him.
“Please wait a moment, Mr.
Prewett.”
Mr.
Granger was somewhat embarrassed; entertaining his daughter’s friend like this was truly not his original intention.
“These sandwiches were made by Hermione, please don’t mind them.”
Prewett?
McGonagall was slightly stunned.
This surname was uncommon in the wizarding world, but in the Muggle world, it was merely an ordinary surname.
There was nothing strange about that; there were plenty of people named Prewett all over London.
However, upon hearing this surname, Professor McGonagall suddenly thought of the Prewett brothers who had sacrificed their lives in the wizarding war.
The Prewett family was an ancient and well-respected pure-blood wizarding family, and also a firm supporter of the Order of the Phoenix.
Unfortunately, in the struggle against Lord Voldemort, the Prewett surname had almost died out.
Before marrying Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley was a member of the Prewett family.
McGonagall cast a slightly curious glance at Sheeran.
Dark brown hair and eyes…
It shouldn’t be that much of a coincidence, right?
Even though she thought this, McGonagall still stared intently at Sheeran.
When he turned his head to look at her, McGonagall finally saw his full face.
This brief glance made McGonagall’s heart skip a beat.
The child’s appearance actually bore a genuine resemblance to Fabian Prewett!