Watching Luna and Cho Chang sit together, leaving her alone, Ginny couldn't help but feel secretly depressed.
Her clueless sixth brother backstabbing her from time to time was one thing—after all, his brain structure was similar to a troll's, so she could be somewhat forgiving. But she never expected even Luna to betray her now!
She was supposed to be her best friend!
Their relationship was even closer than with her Gryffindor housemates, even closer than with the girls in her own dormitory. And this was how Luna treated her? Absolutely outrageous!
However, when Cho Chang greeted her, Ginny still flashed her a brilliant smile. In this particular aspect, she absolutely could not lose!
This year, no matter what, she had to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Wait, hold on a moment!
Ginny suddenly realized something very troubling for her. According to Sherlock's explanation, the Triwizard Tournament, which had been suspended for over a century, would be restarting this year, and Hogwarts was the host. Thinking logically, a large-scale event like this would surely occupy much of the professors' time and energy.
In that case, might the Quidditch Cup simply not be held at all? If so, wouldn't she lose yet another opportunity to get closer to Harry?
Merlin's beard, please don't let that happen!
While Ginny was praying silently in her heart, Cho Chang and Luna had already taken their seats. Luna glanced at Sherlock, then pulled out a copy of The Quibbler and began reading by herself. Cho Chang, on the other hand, immediately started talking about what she and Luna had just encountered outside.
"We just ran into Malfoy outside—Draco Malfoy. He said his father originally wanted to send him to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. But his mother didn't want him going so far away for school, so he ended up at Hogwarts. And he said some really unpleasant things..."
At this point, she glanced at Sherlock and Hermione. The two intellectual pillars of Gryffindor immediately understood Cho's unspoken meaning. Malfoy had once again expressed some negative views about Muggle-born wizards. No doubt or rather, certainly—he had mentioned that extremely insulting word "Mudblood" again.
Cho naturally couldn't repeat that word, which was why she had expressed herself so indirectly. Sherlock wasn't surprised by this. Most people's personalities were related to their family environment growing up. Having grown up in the Malfoy family environment, it was completely normal for Draco to have such thoughts.
People like Sirius were the anomalies. Well, Harry counted as one too. If it had been someone else, they probably would have developed a deep hatred for Muggles, wouldn't they? Once you started down that path, you might well become another Voldemort.
Hermione said bluntly, "I actually think he's right."
"What?"
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, not understanding why she would say such a thing.
"Durmstrang is indeed more suitable for that kind of person," Hermione said contemptuously. "So, what are they waiting for? It's not too late to transfer now."
"He's just talking. If he really could go, he wouldn't still be here," Cho Chang said with a smile.
"Is that Durmstrang also a school of magic?" Harry couldn't help asking.
Hearing Harry's question, Cho Chang nodded. "Yes, but it has a terrible reputation. They never accept Muggle-born students."
"What?"
Harry, Ron, and Ginny all showed surprised expressions. There was actually a school like that?
"Not only that, but according to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, that school also places great emphasis on the Dark Arts," Hermione added.
"Oh, now that you mention it, I do remember," Ron said, suddenly enlightened. "By the way, where is it? Germany or somewhere else?"
"No one knows," Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.
"Why is that?" Harry became interested.
"Because there's fierce competition between magical schools. Whether it's Durmstrang or Beauxbatons which are the other two schools participating in the Triwizard Tournament—they all keep their locations hidden so no one can steal their secrets. Hogwarts is the same. Even though we're students here, we only know it's located in the Scottish Highlands, but we don't know the exact address," Hermione answered seriously.
"Wait, the Triwizard Tournament—what's that?"
Hearing this, Cho Chang quickly caught the key point and couldn't help asking. Luna also put down her copy of The Quibbler and looked over with interest.
"Don't say anything, let me tell them!"
Seeing Hermione about to speak, Ron quickly stopped her. Such a rare opportunity—even with only two listeners, he wanted to show off. Hermione shrugged and said no more.
So Ron repeated everything he had heard from Sherlock word for word.
"It's hard to believe that an event that's been stopped for over a century could actually restart!" Cho Chang couldn't help exclaiming after hearing this.
Luna spoke up and asked, "Why? Why are they restarting this project?"
"Who cares why they're restarting it? As long as it's happening, isn't that good enough? This is the Triwizard Tournament we're talking about! Just thinking about it is thrilling. It would be even better if I could participate," Ron said with a longing expression.
"No, I still want to know the reason," Luna said stubbornly.
"Sorry, I don't know that either," Ron said, spreading his hands helplessly, then looking toward Sherlock and Hermione. In his view, only these two could explain the reason.
"Because the European Union was established this year," Hermione said, not disappointing anyone. She explained in detail, "Changes in the international political situation in the Muggle world have also affected the magical world. To be honest, this is something I hadn't thought of before either."
After a moment of silence, Ron really felt that this so-called "international political situation in the Muggle world" was too far removed from them, so he pulled the conversation back. "So, it's precisely because Durmstrang has hidden its address that we don't know where it is, right?"
"That's right, but I think Durmstrang is probably somewhere far to the north," Hermione said thoughtfully. "A very cold place, because their uniform includes fur cloaks! Right, Sherlock?"
"To be precise, it's in Northern Europe, located in the northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula—northern Sweden or Norway."
"How do you know that?"
"Mycroft told me."
"That's so like him!" Hermione said admiringly.
Ron couldn't help but imagine enthusiastically, "Ah, just imagine what could happen. Pushing Malfoy off a glacier, making it look like an accident—that probably wouldn't be too difficult. What a shame, though, considering how much his mother loves him..."
Hermione ignored Ron's muttering and turned to Sherlock. "Sherlock, will you participate in the Triwizard Tournament?"
"We'll see when the time comes. If it's interesting, I might consider it."
Hermione nodded and looked at Harry. "What about you, Harry?"
"Me? I don't know!" Harry said, shaking his head. "We'll see when the time comes, I guess?"
Just as Ron was eagerly waiting for Hermione to ask him, she withdrew her gaze instead.
"Hey, why aren't you asking me?" Ron said, rather disgruntled.
"Do I need to ask?" Hermione said with a matter-of-fact expression. "Isn't it obvious? As long as it's possible, you'll definitely participate!"
Ron touched his nose, somewhat puzzled. "Am I really that obvious?"
Everyone laughed, and the compartment was suddenly filled with cheerful air.
The train continued heading north, and the rain fell harder and more fiercely. The sky was pitch black, and water vapor covered the windows. Even though it was broad daylight, lanterns had been lit.
Fortunately, this time Harry didn't have to worry about Dementors coming again. Of course, even if they did come, he wasn't afraid—in fact, he was rather eager to try. This would be a good opportunity to see what his Patronus actually looked like.
When lunchtime came, the trolley selling lunch rattled down the aisle just like in previous years. Harry had been upgraded from "wealthy" to "loaded" during this holiday, so he naturally took the lead in buying a large cauldron cake for all his good friends in the compartment to share. Everyone didn't stand on ceremony and enjoyed it happily.
In the afternoon, the young wizards began visiting other compartments on the train. Coming to their compartment were Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom, who shared a dormitory with the boys, as well as Dean's best friend, Seamus Finnigan.
Cedric Diggory, Ernie Macmillan, and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff also came. So did Lucy and Alicia, Cho Chang's roommates. Marietta had been isolated by the other girls in the dormitory ever since she was caught stealing Cho's eye shadow.
Lucy and Alicia had already disapproved of her, but they had reluctantly tolerated her since they all shared a dormitory. After that incident, however, the two of them simply ignored her completely, treating her as if she didn't exist.
Although kind-hearted Cho had forgiven Marietta, in Marietta's view, this made things even more unbearable. As a result, in the last term of the previous school year, unable to bear the atmosphere any longer, Marietta took the initiative to find Professor Flitwick and request a move to a new dormitory.
Once she left, the relationship between the three of them actually became even more harmonious. Even today, when Cho boarded the train and immediately came to Sherlock's compartment, it was at Lucy and Alicia's urging.
"Anyway, we don't want her around until we reach Hogwarts," Lucy said with a grin.
Alicia was even more direct. "Harry, you wouldn't want Cho to have nowhere to go, would you?"
Harry was speechless.
However, students from other houses only stayed for a while before leaving. Only Neville, Dean, and Seamus remained. Even now, Seamus was still wearing his Irish badge, which continued to scream weakly, "Troy! Mullet! Moran!" The sound was feeble, as if exhausted. This was probably because the magic contained in it was gradually fading.
Ron rummaged through his trunk on the luggage rack for a while and pulled out his Viktor Krum figurine to show off to the others. Seeing Ron huddled together with the other boys, Cho seized the opportunity and decisively sat down next to Harry.
Ginny was devastated. Damn it, how had she been one step too late!
Fortunately, Luna also sat down beside her at that moment, which at least saved her some face. However, watching Cho Chang sitting next to Harry and so smoothly joining the conversation about the Quidditch World Cup still annoyed Ginny.
Thankfully, she could easily join this topic—after all, she had been to the Quidditch World Cup in person. Hermione had initially joined the conversation as well. However, after more than half an hour, she too became tired of their endless talk about Quidditch.
But with other people present, some topics weren't suitable to discuss with Sherlock. She simply followed Luna's example, took out a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, and began reading intently, trying to learn a Summoning Charm.
And so the train rumbled northward. It wasn't until that familiar voice began reminding them to change into their robes that the friends enthusiastically discussing the World Cup finally left the compartment.
"You know, these past two years with Malfoy not coming to provoke us, I'm really not used to it!" Ron said, half-joking, half-serious.
Ever since Malfoy had apologized to Harry, he really did seem like a different person.
"Please, Ron, don't say things that could be misunderstood—making it sound like you two have some kind of special relationship," Ginny said.
Watching Ron go sit in the spot where Cho and Luna had been sitting, she felt inexplicably annoyed. But she couldn't find a reason for it, so she could only be passive-aggressive like this.
Ron touched his nose, completely unable to understand why his sister's attitude had suddenly changed. After a few more minutes, the Hogwarts Express reached its destination.
The train stopped, the doors opened, and thunder rumbled through the air. Sherlock and Harry each picked up the cages containing Watson and Hedwig, while Hermione wrapped Crookshanks in her cloak.
As for Ron, he still had his dress robes draped over Pigwidgeon's cage—partly because Pigwidgeon was simply too noisy, and partly because he really didn't like those maroon dress robes, even though they weren't secondhand.
And so, the group got off the train. The rain fell fast and hard, like buckets of ice-cold water constantly pouring over their heads. They had to bow their heads and squint in the torrential downpour.
"I always feel like it's raining heavily every year when school starts," Ginny couldn't help complaining.
"It wasn't our first year," Harry helpfully explained.
"It wasn't ours either," Cho added.
Ginny was exasperated: ٩(╬ʘ益ʘ╬)۶
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