Resolve one misunderstanding— and a brand-new misunderstanding immediately appears.
No matter how much Vincent Wayne explained himself, there was probably no way to erase the unfavorable impression Miss Granger had already formed.
“WHOO!”
Captain Hoot was furious.
That little beetle Rita was one thing— but now even a little girl dared act so boldly in front of it?
Ever since becoming a Hogwarts mail owl, Hoot had never seen a young wizard work harder than Vincent.
Mainly because the food was incredible…
After being thoroughly cursed out in Owl language, Hermione looked utterly confused.
She couldn’t understand a word.
But for some reason, she instantly disliked this fluffy brown ball too.
Like owner, like pet.
“Have a pleasant journey.”
With that, she entered Compartment W next door.
Vincent opened his mouth, intending to say something— only for the door to slam shut with a loud BANG.
The tiny amount of goodwill he’d still retained instantly vanished.
Miss Granger, high and mighty, was definitely not the dream girl from his previous life.
After politely refusing the senior student’s invitation, he entered Compartment V ahead.
He picked this number because it matched the first letter of his name.
Alright.
Fine.
Actually, he was just tired of standing and too lazy to walk farther.
There definitely wasn’t any deeper reason.
“Hello, excuse me, is this—”
Vincent turned around.
“S-Sorry!”
A slightly chubby little boy immediately slammed the compartment door shut.
Vincent slowly lowered his head.
“…Is there something wrong with my expression?”
Hoot blinked its huge eyes and tilted its round head sideways.
Reassured, Vincent opened his suitcase and dug out a bag of dried fish.
…
…
Compartment W.
This time, the slightly chubby boy politely knocked before carefully opening the door a crack.
“Um…”
“May I sit here?”
“Of course.”
“Please.”
A brown-haired head peeked out from behind an enormous book.
The boy immediately relaxed.
This girl, already dressed in Hogwarts robes, seemed much friendlier than the senior student from earlier.
“I’m Neville.”
“Neville Longbottom.”
Only the upper half of her face remained visible.
“Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Hermione Granger.”
Neville put away his luggage and sat properly opposite her.
“You’re a first-year too, right?”
“Yes.”
“No wonder you weren’t like that older student.”
Hermione frowned and lowered her book.
“Who?”
“What did he do to you?”
“The one in the compartment ahead…”
Neville still looked shaken.
“I should’ve knocked first.”
“Maybe then he wouldn’t have stared at me like that.”
“There are people like that?”
Hermione looked utterly astonished.
In Britain— boys like that actually existed?
“Come on.”
“Let’s go settle this.”
She stood up immediately.
“So what if he’s older?”
“I refuse to believe he won’t apologize.”
Neville shrank backward.
“N-No need…”
“M-Maybe…”
“Maybe he’s from Slytherin.”
“Is Slytherin that scary?”
“Uh…”
“My grandmother says they’re all awful.”
Without hesitation, Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him upright.
“Neville.”
“You don’t have to be scared of them.”
“There’s also a chance I was rude first.”
“Even then, he shouldn’t stare at you like that.”
She opened the compartment door.
“If he treats new students this way, he probably isn’t a good person either.”
Neville unwillingly allowed himself to be dragged along.
“I-I scare easily…”
“Maybe I just imagined it.”
Hermione yanked Compartment V’s door wide open.
Inside— someone was using dried fish to tease a plump little owl.
The owl was already round enough— yet he still kept making it flap its tiny wings.
More evil than the devil himself.
Wait.
That owl.
That hair color.
That back.
Who else could it possibly be besides Vincent Wayne?
“YOU AGAIN!” ×2
The two shouted simultaneously.
And both expressions immediately became spectacular in entirely different ways.
Vincent glanced toward the boy behind Hermione.
How could he not realize what was happening?
She was here delivering justice.
He was innocent!
Hermione released Neville and angrily pointed at him.
“Why are you driving Neville away when you’re a first-year too?”
“I’m not—”
“I knew I judged you correctly.”
Vincent’s attempt at explaining himself failed once again.
“You can believe whatever you want.”
He had no choice but to give up.
He’d suffered through enough of this in his previous life.
No way was he repeating that experience in this one.
Yet Hermione continued pressing forward.
“Apologize.”
“You have to apologize to Neville.”
Vincent almost blurted out Why should I?
But from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Captain Hoot launching a full assault charge.
If that attack landed, there’d be no explaining anything anymore.
He quickly stepped forward and grabbed the round owl mid-flight.
To Hermione, however, Vincent suddenly moving toward her looked exactly like someone about to hit her.
“AHHH!”
She screamed and instantly crouched down with her eyes shut.
One second passed.
Then two.
Nothing happened.
“You—!”
“Phew…”
After calming down a little, she finally realized what had nearly happened.
That plump owl in front of her— if it were truly being mistreated— there was no way it’d have grown this round.
Teasing it with dried fish was probably meant as exercise.
Turning around, she spotted Neville hiding out in the hallway and finally understood exactly how timid he really was.
The whole thing…
had probably just been a misunderstanding.
Hermione Granger— top student and model child since birth— had actually made a wrong judgment.
“I’m sorry.”
“I misunderstood you.”
She lowered her head sincerely before hurriedly turning around.
“Oof!”
After bumping into someone, she looked up— and discovered it was the beautiful older girl from earlier.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Qiu stepped aside slightly, her gaze landing directly on Hoot’s puffed-up little face.
This screaming first-year girl had probably tried petting it and gotten rejected.
Owls from the magical world weren’t exactly gentle creatures.
Hermione didn’t explain.
She simply dragged Neville away.
“Sit.”
Vincent hadn’t missed that longing little look.
He handed Hoot over to Qiu.
Instantly delighted, she hugged the fluffy owl tightly.
After Hermione’s apology, the misunderstanding between them should’ve been cleared up.
Qiu sat down openly and started teasing Hoot with dried fish.
Round and fluffy was cute.
But being too fat wasn’t healthy.
Having outsourced the weight-loss mission, Vincent sat across from her without the slightest guilt.
By the end of this train ride— every ounce lost counted.
If Professor McGonagall found out how hard he was working…
she’d definitely be deeply moved.
…
…
Back in Compartment W, neither of them mentioned what had happened.
Hermione returned to reading.
Neville also pulled out a book and pretended to read.
But under such an atmosphere, he felt increasingly uncomfortable.
Between reading and playing with pets—
Neville, who clearly disliked studying, naturally chose the latter.
“Where’s Trevor?”
Neville distinctly remembered finding his pet toad before boarding the train.
Hadn’t Trevor been in his arms the whole time?
When had he disappeared?
“Oh no…”
Hermione looked up and saw him suddenly standing in panic.
“Did you lose something?”
“My pet!”
Neville looked like he was about to cry.
“Wizards don’t really keep toads anymore…”
“But Great-Uncle Algie gave him to me when I got my Hogwarts letter!”
Thinking back to what happened earlier, Hermione felt that no matter how unwilling she was…
she had to visit the compartment ahead one more time.
Even if the second incident had been a misunderstanding— that Wayne boy probably still wasn’t a very good person.
“We—”
“No, I’ll go myself.”
Closing her book, she stood up and slid open the compartment door.