"Hey there, I'm Monnie—Monnie Wanda, Ron's cousin."
The moment the cool, short-haired girl with deep brown hair strode into the compartment, Harry couldn't help but envy Ron all over again.
Why did he get stuck with relatives like Dudley, while Ron not only had a sweet little sister but also a beautiful cousin with such a striking personality? Harry couldn't help but wonder.
"Ha, Ronnie, heard you were blubbering in here?" Monnie teased, raising an eyebrow as she dropped into a seat.
Even with his eyes still red from crying, Ron stiffened his neck and shot back, "Was not... Monnie, don't make stuff up. I was just... just tired, that's all. Yawning, see?"
The excuse was so feeble that even Harry had to look away.
Monnie was having none of it. She reached over and gave Ron's already-messy hair a rough ruffle, making it even wilder.
"Oi, what'd you mess my hair up for?" Ron grumbled, clearly annoyed.
"I just don't want to see you fall for Fred and George's tricks. Bet you don't know how much those two made last year tagging along with that Qin fellow! The three of them are basically the 'Capitalists of Hogwarts'," Monnie said, rolling her eyes.
Honestly, that nickname was her own invention. Every time they had a get-together at Hagrid's hut, it was always Qin and the twins footing the bill for a mountain of food.
At the mention of Qin, Harry perked up instantly.
"'Capitalists of Hogwarts'?" Ron repeated, looking lost.
So Monnie filled them in on what she knew about Qin and the twins trading goods from the Forbidden Forest.
Both Harry and Ron listened, wide-eyed. Who would've thought a first-year and two second-years could pull off so much—and make so much gold?
Harry was especially impressed. That's so Qin, he thought.
Adam, sitting quietly in the corner, just listened with his usual calm, like a shadow in the background.
"...So, they spent a bit of cash to buy you new things. Sure, you can be a little touched, but you don't have to bawl over something so small, got it, Ronnie?" Monnie concluded.
"But... they..." Ron began, his feelings a jumble.
"Alright, quit overthinking it. If a capitalist is handing out money, you'd be a fool not to spend it!"
With that, Miss Monnie reached into Ron's trunk, snatched one of the Galleons the twins had stashed there, picked out a coin, and strode out of the compartment.
Right then, a woman pushing a trolley came rolling down the corridor.
Her cart was stacked with all sorts of magical treats, and she was calling out her wares, poking her head into compartments to offer snacks.
Her pitch could be summed up as:
"Pumpkin pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands—come have a look!"
That was exactly who Monnie had been waiting for.
"Excuse me! Over here, please—we'd like to buy some things!" Monnie called out.
"Of course, young lady, coming right up," the woman replied with a warm smile, steering her cart over.
When it came to shopping, Monnie didn't hold back. She took a bit of everything, spending exactly one Galleon, and piled the haul onto the empty seats.
Seeing Monnie buy so much, Harry couldn't resist; he dug in his pocket and bought a bunch of snacks too.
—Mostly because he was feeling hungry, and with a pocket full of wizard coins, watching others buy made him want to join in.
Harry's purchase was more modest—just eleven Sickles' worth.
(Note: Wizarding currency—1 Galleon = 17 Sickles, 1 Sickle = 29 Knuts.)
So the four kids in the compartment set about sampling all sorts of magical treats.
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes—one oddity after another.
Whatever the others thought, Ron was delighted. His mum had packed corned beef sandwiches for lunch—dry as dust, and she always forgot he hated them. But she had so many kids to look after, Ron couldn't really complain.
"...This is a Chocolate Frog. Each one comes with a Famous Witch or Wizard card. Yours is Merlin—surely you've heard of Merlin?" Ron pointed to the card in Harry's hand.
"Merlin's beard?" Harry remembered the phrase Qin Yu had taught him back in Diagon Alley.
"Exactly! But I've got loads of Merlin cards already. What I really need are Agrippa and Ptolemy," Ron sighed.
Neither name meant anything to Harry.
After stuffing another pumpkin pasty in her mouth, Monnie said, "You kids really are nuts about these cards. I collected a dozen or so and gave up."
"You're not that much older, Monnie! Only three years older than me!" Ron protested.
"Ha! Three years is three years, squirt," Monnie shot back, reaching over to muss up Ron's hair again.
Watching Ron fume, Monnie clapped her hands, stood, and announced, "I'm off to find Linda—girls are much cuter, anyway."
Just like that, Monnie breezed in, teased Ron, bought a mountain of snacks, helped herself, and left as quickly as she'd come.
After his cousin's antics, Ron finally calmed down from his earlier emotional rollercoaster.
He didn't really think Fred and George were "capitalists," but if his brothers bought him things and gave him money to spend, he reckoned he ought to be happy. Worst case, he could pay them back when he was older.
So Ron cheerfully munched on snacks bought with his brothers' gold, chatted with Harry about collecting Chocolate Frog cards, and together they sampled all sorts of Bertie Bott's beans. Laughter and stories flowed, and before long, the two of them were getting on as if they'd been friends for years.
Adam, meanwhile, sat quietly as ever. While Harry and Ron swapped stories, he toyed with a Chocolate Frog card in his hands. On the card was an old man with silver-white hair and a long beard. The back read:
Albus Dumbledore, current Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…
…
It was a little after one in the afternoon when Harry finally saw Qin Yu again.
This time, Qin Yu knocked on their compartment door himself.
Hermione was with him, and trailing behind was a chubby, dazed-looking boy.
"Neville's lost his toad. We're helping him look for it," Qin Yu explained.
But neither Harry nor Ron had seen it.
So Qin Yu and the others moved on.
Before leaving, Qin Yu grabbed a few snacks from the pile and handed them to Hermione and Neville.
The truth was, when the snack trolley had passed earlier, Cedric had been in their compartment, enthusiastically discussing new Quidditch training plans, so Qin Yu had missed his chance. Now, seeing the mountain of treats in this compartment, there was no way he'd leave empty-handed—especially with no outsiders around.
"When we get to school, I'll treat you all to some of Hogsmeade's best food," Qin Yu promised the two—no, three—kids in the compartment.
That Adam kid was always so quiet, you could almost forget he was there.
Not long after Qin Yu and company left, they bumped into a pale-faced, blond boy in the corridor.
The boy's face went through shock and embarrassment the moment he saw Qin Yu.
Because now, at last, he realized the two people he'd met in Madam Malkin's robe shop that day.
——Dimensional Wall——
Writing scenes with lots of characters is tough—please forgive my limitations!
Let me take some time to plan out how best to handle these group scenes.
~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~
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