Hearing that familiar voice, Hermione’s body stiffened, thinking to herself: Could it be that she missed Sheeran too much?
How could she possibly be hearing his voice here?
As if to verify her guess, Sheeran’s voice rang out once again.
“Let me help you.”
“Sheeran?!
Why are you here?!”
Hearing that extremely familiar voice once more, Hermione was certain she hadn’t heard wrong.
She whirled around and, upon seeing Sheeran, her mouth dropped open in astonishment.
Never in her wildest dreams would she have expected to run into Sheeran here.
Aren’t all the students here from Hogwarts?
How did he come here?
Could it be that he is also a first-year student?
Countless questions swirled in Hermione’s mind, but for a moment she couldn’t find a place to start.
She could only keep her mouth wide open, looking at Sheeran in utter shock.
“We can talk later.
Let’s get our things inside first; we’re blocking other people from boarding the train here.”
“Oh, right.”
In a daze, Hermione shifted the handle of her trunk over a little bit, and together with Sheeran, they moved the things into the carriage.
To be honest, Hermione’s trunk was certainly not light, and coupled with the luggage racks being a bit high for children of their age, getting things up onto the rack was no easy task.
Seeing Hermione troubled, Sheeran pulled out his wand, gave it a flick, and cast a Levitation Charm.
The trunk on the ground floated up as if lifted by a pair of invisible giant hands, resting obediently on the luggage rack.
The young wizards passing by stared in utter amazement, their gazes toward Sheeran becoming much more respectful.
They figured Sheeran might just be an older student who looked young.
To be able to use a spell so skillfully, surely he couldn’t be a first-year student, right?
“Sheeran.
Have you already learned the Levitation Charm?” Hermione looked at the luggage, and her mouth, which she had managed to close with difficulty, opened up again.
“I tried a few spells at home myself, but unfortunately only [Lumos] and [Reparo] succeeded.”
“I tried the Levitation Charm, but could only barely make a feather float.
To think you can make such a heavy item float?
How on earth did you manage that?”
“If you also received an admission letter, you should have told me earlier.
I thought I wouldn’t be seeing you for a long time.
Oh… you didn’t know I received an admission letter to Hogwarts.
Sorry, I didn’t tell you before.”
Once her curiosity and desire for knowledge were stirred up, her words became as long as Merlin’s beard.
Sheeran was already quite used to this side of Hermione.
“I only found out when Professor McGonagall came to look for me.
I really never expected that the distant school you mentioned referred to Hogwarts.”
“It seems we can be classmates again, then?”
“Clearly so.”
Sheeran turned back, smiled at Hermione, pulled open the door, and made a gesture of invitation.
But after Hermione glanced inside, she didn’t go in immediately, instead fiddling with her hair.
“You sit first, Sheeran.”
“Alright.”
Though a bit strange, Sheeran didn’t decline and sat down by the window.
Hermione’s expressive eyes quietly swept across the opposite side of Sheeran.
“Sheeran, can you explain the key points of the Levitation Charm to me?” As she spoke, the young girl naturally sat down right beside Sheeran, pressing closely against him, as if the opposite side were already full of people.
“Of course.
When casting the Levitation Charm, you must pay attention to the gestures and pitch…”
In fact, with Hermione’s level of intelligence, a small spell of this degree only required practicing a few more times.
She was simply taking advantage of this opportunity to sit by Sheeran and stay a little longer.
“When you have time later, just practice more.
Ahh～”
Sheeran said, unable to hold back a yawn.
He had been reading books and practicing spells these past few days, and now sitting on the train’s soft cushions, with warm sunlight streaming in through the window, he truly felt a bit sleepy.
“Are you sleepy?
Have a rest then,” Hermione said.
“Alright.”
Sheeran leaned against the back of the chair, and smoothly tilted his head toward Hermione’s side, resting it on her shoulder.
In truth, he wasn’t sleepy to that extent, but a man will be a man — what’s wrong with having a little scheme?
The young girl turned her head somewhat stiffly, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Sheeran, who had closed his eyes.
The corners of Hermione’s mouth curved up unconsciously, but she hurriedly covered them with her hand.
She looked outside, and finding that no one was paying attention here, she finally set her mind at ease and picked up a book to read.
Sheeran wasn’t actually sleeping; instead, he brought up the panel in his mind and checked the guilt points he had just acquired.
The guilt points accumulated previously had been largely used up after exchanging for [Spell Inspiration], but he had gained quite a few more at the station just now, enough for him to exchange for another trait entry.
Upon seeing the panel, Sheeran was surprised to find that the exchangeable trait entries had refreshed.
[Constantly Feeling Guilty]
[Description: You are not wrong!
It’s the world’s fault!
Everyone feels guilty towards you.
[Current Guilt Points: 207]
The currently exchangeable trait entries have refreshed:
[Muffled Concealment: Shh!
No one is looking at you.
Your sense of presence is slightly lowered, making it less likely to draw attention.
(Cost: 180)]
[Potion Prodigy: There is no such thing as a genius; I simply used the time others spent drinking coffee to practice potion-making.
Easier to spark inspiration when making potions, and the chance of producing perfect-quality potions is slightly increased.
(Cost: 200)]
[Potion Dependence: Potions are here!
Give them to me quickly!
Glug glug glug!
Stronger resistance to the side effects of potions.
(Cost: 190)]
Tch.
Has this [Muffled Concealment] become a permanent fixture?
Why is it still here after refreshing?
In fact, this entry is not entirely useless.
When wandering around the campus unable to sleep in the middle of the night (violating school rules), this entry would be of great use when avoiding the caretaker.
But right now, there was clearly a better choice right before his eyes.
Between [Potion Prodigy] and [Potion Dependence], Sheeran chose [Potion Prodigy] without hesitation.
He didn’t need to test potions on himself right now, and wasn’t in a rush to increase potion negative resistance.
The corridor was still somewhat noisy, with students jostling back and forth and various sounds mixed together.
“Er… sorry.
I wanted to ask… c-can I sit here?
Everywhere else is full.”
A round-faced boy cautiously pulled open the door, poked his head half out, and asked rather sheepishly.
“Shh.
Sit down.”
Hermione put her finger to her lips, signaling him to keep it down so as not to wake Sheeran, and then motioned for him to sit opposite.
“Oh, thanks.”
Neville carefully pulled the door open more than halfway, tiptoed his body through the opened door crack, and silently sat down opposite Sheeran.
He cautiously observed his two classmates, and seeing Sheeran resting on Hermione’s shoulder, thought to himself that the relationship between these two must be very good.
He thought that he should introduce himself.
But Hermione had just reminded him not to wake up the boy who was sleeping, which left him somewhat at a loss, his palms rubbing continuously against his robes.
Just as Neville was hesitating whether to speak up,
The boy opposite him slowly opened his eyes.