Hermione froze.
She knew that voice.
But that was impossible.
Why would she hear it here?
“Let me help.”
She spun around.
Hylan stood there, hand still on her trunk.
“Hylan?!
What are you doing here?”
Her mouth fell open.
She stared at him, questions piling up faster than she could grab one.
This platform was for Hogwarts students.
Was he a new student too?
How?
When?
“We’ll talk in a minute.
Let’s get this inside first.
We’re blocking the door.”
“Oh.
Right.”
She shifted her grip on the trunk handle.
Together they hauled it into the carriage.
The luggage rack sat high above them, too high for an eleven-year-old to reach easily.
Hermione frowned up at it.
Hylan pulled out his wand and gave it a small flick.
The trunk rose smoothly off the floor, as if lifted by invisible hands, and settled itself neatly onto the rack.
A younger student passing in the corridor stopped and stared.
His eyes went wide with something close to reverence.
He clearly thought Hylan was an older student who just looked young.
No first-year could cast a spell that smoothly.
Hermione looked at the trunk, then back at Hylan.
Her mouth, which she’d finally managed to close, fell open again.
“You already know the Levitation Charm?
I tried a few spells at home, but only the Wand-Lighting Charm and the Mending Charm worked.
With the Levitation Charm I could barely get a feather to float.
You just lifted a whole trunk.
How?”
“If you got your letter too, you should have told me.
I thought I wouldn’t see you for ages.
Oh, you didn’t know I got one.
Sorry.
I never mentioned it.”
Once her curiosity caught, her words ran on like a tap left open.
“Let’s find a seat.
We can talk properly.”
Hylan was used to this.
“I only found out when Professor McGonagall came to see me.
I had no idea your ‘school far away’ meant Hogwarts.”
“So we’ll be classmates again?”
“Looks that way.”
He glanced back at her with a grin, pulled open the compartment door, and gestured her inside.
Hermione peered in, fiddled with her hair, and didn’t move.
“You sit first, Hylan.”
“All right.”
A little odd, but he didn’t argue.
He took the window seat.
Hermione’s eyes flicked briefly to the seat opposite him.
“Can you explain the key points of the Levitation Charm?” she asked, settling herself beside him, pressed close as if the bench across from them was already full.
“Sure.
The main things are the wand movement and the intonation…”
Honestly, with Hermione’s brains, she’d have it down after a few practice sessions.
She was just using the question as an excuse to sit next to him a little longer.
“You can practice more when we have time.
Ahh…”
Hylan yawned.
He’d spent the last few days buried in books and spell practice.
Now the soft seat, the warm sunlight streaming through the window, it was all catching up with him.
“You’re tired?
Rest a bit,” Hermione said.
“Okay.”
He leaned back, then let his head tilt sideways until it came to rest on her shoulder.
He wasn’t that tired.
But a guy’s allowed a little strategy.
Hermione turned her head stiffly, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.
The corner of her mouth twitched up.
She clapped a hand over it fast, checked the corridor to make sure no one was looking, and picked up a book.
Hylan wasn’t really asleep.
He pulled up the system panel in his mind and checked the guilt value he’d earned.
The earlier accumulation had taken a hit when he’d exchanged it for Charm Instinct, but the station had given him enough to afford another trait.
The available traits had refreshed.
[Constant Guilt]
[Description: It’s not your fault!
It’s the world’s fault!
People feel guilty about you.
Within the time limit (one day remaining), collect guilt value to exchange for trait words.]
[Current Guilt Value: 207]
The exchange options:
[Fade Away: Shh.
No one’s looking at you.
Your presence is slightly reduced, making you less noticeable.
(Cost: 180)]
[Potion Prodigy: There’s no such thing as a prodigy.
I just use the time others spend drinking coffee to practice potion-making.
Inspiration comes more easily when brewing potions.
Slightly increased chance of producing perfect-quality potions.
(Cost: 200)]
[Potion Tolerance: Potion’s here!
Give it!
Glug glug glug!
Stronger resistance to potion side effects.
(Cost: 190)]
Huh.
Fade Away was still there.
That thing was like a stubborn tenant.
Not that it was useless.
Sneaking around the castle at night, dodging the caretaker, it would definitely come in handy.
But right now there were better options.
Between Potion Prodigy and Potion Tolerance, he didn’t hesitate.
He took Potion Prodigy.
He wasn’t planning to chug random concoctions anytime soon.
No rush on side-effect resistance.
The corridor outside stayed noisy.
Students pushed past each other.
Voices and footsteps blended into a steady hum.
“Um… sorry.
Can I, is it all right if I sit here?
Everywhere else is full.”
A round-faced boy poked his head through the door, looking embarrassed.
“Shh.
Sit down.”
Hermione put a finger to her lips, then nodded toward the seat across from them.
“Oh.
Thanks.”
Neville eased the door open just wide enough to slip through, crept inside, and lowered himself silently onto the bench opposite Hylan.
He studied his two new classmates.
The boy was asleep on the girl’s shoulder.
They must be close.
He should introduce himself.
But the girl had told him not to wake the sleeping boy.
He wasn’t sure what to do.
His palms rubbed nervously against his robes.
He was still trying to decide when the boy across from him opened his eyes.