Black’s gaze flicked to her two rather prominent front teeth.
That explained the chest.
Hermione Granger.
One of the original trio, and an exceptionally gifted student.
No wonder she could produce rewards.
Another notification sounded.
[A combination of anger and hurt detected.]
[Chest draw in progress.]
[Silver Chest obtained ×1.]
Black brightened.
Two Silver Chests from Hermione in barely a minute.
He’d spent all that money astonishing the plump shopkeeper and hadn’t received so much as the lowest-tier reward.
She was proving remarkably useful.
Admittedly, he seemed to have thoroughly offended a future classmate in the process.
But still.
Two chests.
Hermione was indeed angrier than before, and now she was hurt as well.
She had noticed where he was looking.
At her front teeth.
And then he’d smiled.
She had no way of knowing that Black was pleased because he’d recognised her—and because the system had just rewarded him.
To her, that smile meant exactly the same thing as the grins of all the boys who had teased her before.
Her teeth were the thing she hated most about her appearance.
He was laughing at her.
He had to be.
So what if they were a bit big?
It didn’t matter how handsome he was.
He was just as horrible as the rest of them.
The infuriating little git.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a law against buying every cake in a shop.
There wasn’t a law against looking at someone’s teeth, either.
Hermione swallowed her anger, gave a small, offended sniff and turned to leave.
Fine.
She wouldn’t buy anything.
He could laugh all he liked.
She didn’t care.
She was a witch.
He was only a Muggle.
That made her feel a little better.
Seeing her turn away, Black hurried after her.
He couldn’t let her leave already.
Not when she was practically a walking supply of chests.
Besides, she would be a useful—
A nice classmate to know.
They ought at least to introduce themselves.
September was still some way off; if they became acquainted now, he might find opportunities to earn a few more rewards before term started.
‘Sorry!’ He stepped in front of her.
‘I owe you an apology.
I’ve bought all the cakes, and now you can’t get anything you wanted.’
‘Oh, it’s all right.
You were here first.’
Hermione tried to sound politely indifferent.
She wasn’t very convincing.
Black could see perfectly well that she minded.
‘They aren’t all for me, actually,’ he explained.
‘There are quite a lot of us at the orphanage.
I have to buy this much, or there won’t be enough to go round.’
‘You’re… you’re an orphan?
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—’
‘It’s all right.’
He shook his head.
He didn’t mind being called an orphan.
It was true, after all.
Hermione’s anger began to ebb, replaced by a prickling sense of guilt.
He’d been buying treats for children at an orphanage.
She hadn’t considered that.
And perhaps she’d been unfair about the way he’d looked at her teeth, too.
She knew how noticeable they were.
People could hardly be expected not to see them.
Perhaps he hadn’t been making fun of her at all.
Perhaps she’d let being cross about the cakes colour everything else.
‘Well, never mind,’ she said, more calmly now.
‘I can go to another cake shop.’
‘The nearest one’s quite a long way from here.’ Black smiled.
‘You could have my share, if you like.’
‘Your share?’
‘Yes.
I don’t really like sweet things that much.’
He picked out a slice of strawberry cake from the display and held it out to her.
‘Here.
I think you’ll like this one.’
‘Oh.’
Hermione looked at the cake in surprise.
How had he known she liked strawberry cake?
She hadn’t realised that, as she turned to leave, she’d given it one last, longing glance.
Black had noticed.
‘Well… all right.’
The next shop was quite a distance away.
If he was willing to let her have his cake, there was no reason to refuse.
She accepted it.
‘Thank you.’
Her anger had vanished.
She was rather grateful to him now.
For the moment.
She was about to leave when Black spoke again.
‘Oh, just one thing.
Since you’re having my strawberry cake, that’ll be two pounds eighty, please.’
He held out his hand.
‘You can pay me directly.
I’ve already paid the shopkeeper for it.’
Hermione stared at his outstretched palm.
For a moment, she thought she must have misheard.
Wasn’t he giving it to her?
He wanted her to pay?
Then she remembered his exact words.
You could have my share.
He hadn’t said it was a present.
He hadn’t offered to buy her anything.
She had simply assumed.
Her good mood collapsed.
She was angry again, but worse than that, she was embarrassed.
Dreadfully embarrassed.
She had thanked him as though he’d done something generous, and all the time he’d been waiting for his money.
‘Well, I…’
Her voice wobbled.
Black saw her expression change and felt a flicker of satisfaction.
It was working.
He pressed on.
‘Oh.
Did you think I was treating you?’
He paused.
‘Well, that’s all right.
You can have it.’
He gave a small sigh.
‘Mrs Marian will probably tell me off when I get back, but never mind.’
He sounded so earnest that Hermione couldn’t bear it.
‘No!
No, I’ve got money!
Just a moment!’
In a fluster, she pulled all the money out of her pocket and pushed it into his hand without counting it.
Then she fled with the cake.
Even her ears had gone scarlet.
‘Wait!
You’ve given me too much!
The cake doesn’t cost this much!’
Hermione gave no sign of hearing him.
She shot through the door and was gone.
[Extreme embarrassment detected.]
[Chest draw in progress.]
[Silver Chest obtained ×1.]
‘Oh.’
Black looked down at the money.
Ten pounds exactly.
‘Well, I’ll give her the change next time I see her.’
He considered himself a boy of sound professional principles.
He was after chests.
Pounds and pence were incidental.
He’d leave poor Hermione alone for the rest of the day.
There was such a thing as overdoing it.
Looking thoroughly pleased with himself, he turned back to the counter.
The shopkeeper was staring at him.
Apparently, that little exchange had astonished him almost as much as the order.
‘Could you pack everything up for me?’
Black took one of Hermione’s notes and handed it over to cover the packing.
Then he helped himself to a cake and took a happy bite.
Didn’t like sweet things?
Of course he did.
While the shopkeeper packed his order, Black ate and turned his attention to the three gleaming Silver Chests waiting in the system’s storage space.
Full of anticipation, he gave a silent command.
System, open my chests!