The holidays finally arrived as expected, and Hermione boarded the Hogwarts Express in the morning to return home. As for her dorm mates, apart from Ron staying back at Hogwarts Castle, both Seamus and Neville were heading home for the holiday.
Just as Hermione was sitting in the compartment reading a book, the door suddenly knocked.
"Is there anyone here?"
Initially, Hermione was not too happy about being disturbed but looked up in surprise when she heard the voice.
It was Harry and Ron.
"Harry? Ron?" Hermione said happily, "How come you two are on the train too... Oh, I mean, weren't you two staying in the castle?"
"Harry said he wanted to take a trip to Diagon Alley and asked me to go with him," Ron shrugged, "Besides, we're worried you might be troubled by Slytherin people on the way."
"It won't happen, didn't Harry already reach an agreement with Miss Fari?" Hermione said with a smile and asked, "I heard that Miss Fari met you yesterday afternoon?"
"Oh, yes." Harry lounged lazily against the back of the chair.
Hermione and Ron were both interested: "So what did you talk about?"
"Not much, Miss Fari wants to be friends with me," Harry answered honestly, "You know how Slytherin is."
Indeed, back in Harry's time, Slytherin was indeed like that.
If you didn't have any abilities, the Slytherins wouldn't look at you directly; but if you showed the corresponding strength, they would respect you.
Much stronger than those who now swagger around as so-called "Pure-blood Wizards," like some clueless progeny of Death Eaters.
"Is Slytherin like that?" Ron scratched his head. In his stereotype, Slytherin was much worse.
But you really can't blame Ron because, nowadays, the Slytherins are descendants of those who followed Voldemort, the Death Eaters.
Look at those Death Eaters, not good people among them...
Not to mention their deeds, just from their image alone, from Voldemort to Bellatrix, can they compare to Grindelwald and Vinda Rozier?
They can't, they simply don't have that capability, you know.
Speaking of Voldemort, how do you explain trying to assassinate a one-year-old kid solo and getting counter-killed?
No shame at all.
"At least Miss Fari is a decent person," Hermione nodded, "You can tell she previously wanted to duel Harry out of her role as a Class Prefect and was forced to do so..."
"Honestly, man," Ron asked worriedly, "Did Miss Fari really use his family to threaten you?"
"Relax." Harry smiled at Ron, "She's not that kind of person."
The meeting with Jemma yesterday afternoon was as uneventful as the eastern front 52 years ago, Jemma merely expressed her wish to make friends with Harry.
Harry didn't refuse, as they say, having one more friend gives you one more path, and perhaps in the future, Jemma's help would be useful.
"Just as you're both here, why don't you come over to my house later?" Hermione invited, "My house is quite big, and having you two over for a while is no problem."
"We still need to go to Diagon Alley," Ron said.
Hermione curiously asked, "I forgot to ask earlier, what are you two going to Diagon Alley for?"
"To buy some Christmas gifts," Harry told Hermione, "Christmas is a time to exchange gifts, and it happens that Ron's gift requires his presence."
"Eh? What gift?" Hermione got interested.
Harry didn't answer but asked Ron, "Ron, have you noticed that you often struggle when learning magic spells and feel a lot of resistance when using your magic wand?"
Ron thought about it and nodded, "It does seem like that."
"Exactly," Harry said, putting his arm around Ron's shoulders, "Mr. Olivander once told me that it's the wand that chooses the wizard. Perhaps your struggle in learning magic spells is due to the wand, so I thought I'd come out during the Christmas holidays to visit Mr. Olivander's Magic Wand Shop and see. If that's really the issue, then your Christmas gift will be this wand."
"Harry..." Ron was somewhat moved, he tapped Harry's leg and turned to look out the window silently.
After a while, he awkwardly said, "Thank you, Harry."
"We're mates, after all," Harry said with a laugh, throwing his arm around Ron's neck and glancing at Hermione's complex expression, "Besides, once school starts again, you'll also be practicing dueling skills with Hermione, and I don't want you to lose to Hermione because of the wand."
Ron joked playfully, "Oh, at least that way I'd have an excuse."
"Boys..." Hermione shook her head and said helplessly.
The train quickly pulled into the station, and as Harry and Ron were about to say goodbye to Hermione, they were pulled away by her.
"Trust me, Harry, Ron," Hermione said, "Why not first come to my house for dinner, and then I'll have Dad drive you to Diagon Alley—after all, the Broken Cauldron Bar is quite a distance from King's Cross Station. Do you plan to walk there?"
"I suppose," Harry reconsidered and found it logical, "Then we'll bother you—"
The three walked out of the carriage, met by Draco and his two cronies, Crabbe and Gall.
Originally, they thought Draco might say something, but to Harry's surprise, upon seeing the three of them—especially Hermione—Draco hurriedly lowered his head and walked forward as if avoiding some frightening entity.
"What was that about?" Harry was a bit curious.
"Nothing," Hermione said with a sly smile, watching Draco's retreating figure.
As they exited the station, the Grangers were indeed waiting at the exit.
Although there were no telephones at Hogwarts Castle, Hermione had a messenger owl to deliver messages to her family.
Hermione's father's name is Askin, a very English name; her mother is named Claire, a very gentle woman.
Upon learning that Harry and Ron were Hermione's classmates, both Grangers were very enthusiastic, inviting the duo to visit their home.
"Eh?" Ron expressed surprise when he saw Mr. Granger's car, "Isn't that a car?"
"Ron knows cars?" Hermione turned and asked.
"Of course, my dad has one too," Ron raised an eyebrow and said, "But his car isn't as nice as this one, and it doesn't have an emblem that looks like a Golden Snitch."
Following Ron's pointing hand, they indeed saw an "B" emblem ready to take flight.
Just by the car's design, one could tell the price wouldn't be cheap.