Ignoring Ron's slight mood, she continued speaking without paying attention to him, "I remember you, Ronald Weasley. Your mother helped me find the platform."
"Yes, but everyone usually calls me Ron." Ron mumbled.
"Alright, Ron. I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione nodded casually, then turned to look at the other person, "By the way, what's your name?"
"Harry Potter." Harry said quickly.
Upon hearing this name, Hermione was visibly surprised and proceeded to list several reference books, indicating she knew about his story.
This made Harry feel dizzy, as he didn't know about any of these things himself and hadn't read any of the books she mentioned.
"Goodness, I can't believe you don't know. If it were me, I'd have found every book that mentioned me." Hermione turned back to Ron and asked, "By the way, you mentioned earlier that boy Kyle is top of his year?"
"Oh... yes." Ron nodded.
"No wonder he received the Order of Merlin." Hermione remarked thoughtfully, "I hope I won't be too far behind. I've memorized all the coursebooks — hopefully that'll be enough."
Ron's expression darkened further. He felt like he'd met a second Percy, and he didn't like her tone of voice either.
But Hermione didn't notice him and continued firing off questions, "So, do you know which house Kyle is in? Is it Gryffindor? I've been asking around, and everyone says that's the best. Though since he's so clever, he might be in Ravenclaw."
"Neither." Ron, seeming eager to see her reaction, said with a hint of schadenfreude, "Kyle's a Hufflepuff."
"Hufflepuff..." Hermione was indeed stunned, muttering, "But I heard Hufflepuffs are... well, not particularly bright students."
"No, that's wrong." Ron, enjoying her expression, said somewhat smugly, "In fact, besides Kyle, the top student in third year, Cedric Diggory, is also a Hufflepuff."
Hermione looked angry, feeling she'd been deceived. How could a house that produced two top students be the one others called home to "dummies" and "dimwits"?
If they were dummies, what did that make everyone else — brainless worms?
Harry stood beside them, hanging his head dejectedly.
Earlier, when discussing houses with Ron, he'd been thinking of Hufflepuff as his fallback option. But now it seemed Hufflepuff wasn't so easy to get into either.
Top of the year... Harry would sooner believe Dudley could become as thin as him than believe he could become top of the year. It was impossible.
When Hermione remained silent, Ron asked with a tense face, "So, is there anything else? If not, we need to get back to our compartment."
"Have either of you seen a toad?" Hermione asked, coming back to her senses, "Neville's lost one."
"A toad?" Ron said impatiently, "We've already told him we haven't seen it."
The boy called Neville had already been by earlier and had even cried in their compartment, so he remembered clearly.
"Perhaps you could ask Kyle." Harry suddenly suggested, "He might be able to help find the toad."
"You're right, I shouldn't stay here any longer." Hermione gave them one last look and said, "You two should change into your robes soon. We'll probably be arriving shortly."
Then she left.
"I really hope I'm not in the same house as her." Ron grimaced after closing the compartment door, "One Percy in Gryffindor is enough."
Harry didn't say anything, just nodded half-heartedly, still trying to process all the information he'd just received.
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Meanwhile, Hermione made her way to Kyle's compartment. Through the glass in the door, she saw him holding his wand, making movements over a piece of parchment.
Her raised hand quickly dropped back down. That Malfoy boy had caused trouble earlier by suddenly knocking when Kyle was working, and she didn't want to make the same mistake.
Besides, she couldn't afford to pay for those maps. She couldn't even afford twenty Galleons, let alone two hundred.
After hesitating for a moment, Hermione decided to look in other carriages first.
What she didn't know was that as soon as she left, Kyle put down his wand inside the compartment.
"The Malfoy family crest is such a pain." Kyle rubbed his eyes and said with exasperation, "With all these snakes and dragons, why can't they just use an 'M' instead?"
"Hey Kyle, you should be more patient with our esteemed customer." Fred said with a smile, "What could be easier than earning an extra Galleon just for changing a design?"
"True enough."
Kyle pushed the half-finished parchment to Cedric, who would be responsible for completing the map. Since it was meant to be permanent, they couldn't use the copying charm anymore.
Then, he took out the money pouch Draco had given him.
"One hundred and fifty Galleons — should we split it now, or wait until he pays the remaining balance?"
The others looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.
"Listen, Kyle." George said seriously, "These Galleons were earned through your... er, exceptional wit. We had nothing to do with it, there's no need to share."
"What exceptional wit? I'm not a Ravenclaw." Kyle said dismissively, "Besides, this is money from selling maps, so of course we should split it equally."
"This was an unusual situation, it's different." Cedric shook his head, "From when he banged on the door to everything that happened after, you handled it all yourself. We didn't help at all."
His words seemed to echo what the others were thinking, and they all refused to touch the pouch as if they'd planned it.
Finally, at Kyle's insistence, they each took ten Galleons. Only George got fifteen Galleons, with the extra five counting as compensation for his robes. George didn't hesitate to accept this arrangement.
"By the way." After Kyle put away the money pouch, Cedric pointed at the damaged maps on the table and asked, "Should we use the Repairing Charm to fix these?"
"Hm? Why would you bother?" Kyle asked, puzzled.
Cedric blinked and said matter-of-factly, "We can't just throw them away, that's one Galleon worth of parchment each."
"Wait... you're not thinking of fixing them just to sell them again, are you?" Kyle's brow gradually furrowed as he looked at him with disapproval, "A scheming merchant like you will end up in Azkaban one of these days."
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