"You're still laughing!"
Hermione's voice was a little muffled — just now, Wayne had bumped into her chin, causing her to bite her own tongue.
It hurt so much that her eyes were brimming with tears.
"Young lady..." Wayne looked over the puffed-up Hermione, and the smile on his face deepened.
"I haven't even held you responsible yet, and you're accusing me first?"
"Well then, let's reason it out properly — who's actually at fault here?"
Wayne placed Hogwarts: A History back onto his trolley.
Then he turned again to look at the little girl.
"I was squatting down to find a book just now. I wasn't even moving. I just stood up straight — how could I possibly bump into someone?"
"Unless you were deliberately standing close and stuck your head over — that's the only way I could've hit your chin."
"Tsk tsk..." Wayne looked suspiciously at Hermione, whose face had already turned red. "You're not trying to stage a scam, are you?"
"Scam? What do you mean?" Her big brown eyes blinked in confusion — the little girl clearly didn't know that word.
"It means tricking someone into paying you, like pretending to be hurt to get compensation," Wayne explained simply.
Hermione exploded at once!
"Nonsense! I'm not that kind of person!"
"I... I just happened to see that book too, and didn't expect you to snatch it first."
"Then why were you standing so close?" Wayne asked suspiciously.
Hermione answered matter-of-factly, "The book was a little dirty. If you put it back, it'd mean you didn't want it. So of course I had to keep a close eye on it."
"Oh, I see..." Wayne nodded, as if understanding.
Then he picked up the book again and waved it in front of Hermione. "Do you want it?"
Hermione nodded excitedly, looking at Wayne with anticipation.
She thought he was about to give her the book, and her gaze toward the boy softened considerably.
Her impression of him immediately improved by a large margin.
Wayne smiled, then pointed at his own face.
"Do I look good?"
Hermione nodded instinctively. Eleven-year-old boys weren't quite "handsome" yet, but words like "cute" and "pretty" were more appropriate at this age.
Wayne was the most beautiful child Hermione had ever seen — even more delicate than most girls.
"Then who's prettier — you or me?"
"Um..." Hermione hesitated.
But for the sake of Hogwarts: A History, she chose to be honest:
"You."
"Hmm, I'm very happy with your compliment." Wayne's smile faded, and he turned to push his cart away. "Since you told the truth, here's a tip: the next batch of Hogwarts: A History will arrive before school starts. You'll be able to buy one then."
Hermione was stunned. Seeing Wayne walk away, she quickly ran after him.
"You're not giving me the book?"
"Why should I? I got it first, so it's mine."
"Then why did you ask me all those questions?!"
"Can't a guy do a little social survey?"
"You—!"
Hermione was furious. Now she realized she'd been played. She could only watch as Wayne went to check out. A History of Modern Magic, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Break with a Banshee...
Those were all books she had wanted!
Hermione's eyes were slightly red. Due to limitations in exchanging Muggle money, even after compressing her entire term's pocket money into five Galleons,
it still wasn't nearly enough to buy all the books she wanted.
She really wished she could be like this boy — buying whatever book she pleased.
Wayne could feel her gaze burning into his back and secretly chuckled. He had teased Hermione on purpose just now.
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
He asked the cashier to have the rest of the books delivered home by owl, leaving only "Hogwarts: A History" and "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" with him.
Then he turned to Hermione.
"Wanna read them? I could lend them to you."
Still wary from being tricked just moments ago, Hermione looked at Wayne cautiously and didn't reply.
Wayne didn't mind and continued on his own, "Of course, it won't be for free… But if someone is willing to pay a little rental fee, I might consider it."
As expected, Hermione was tempted.
"How much?"
"One Sickle per hour."
Hermione frowned. "That's too expensive. Reading it for a whole day would cost… one Galleon and seven Sickles."
"Who said you could borrow it for a whole day?" Wayne took out a pocket watch, glanced at the time, and said,
"I'm heading to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor for some afternoon tea and reading. I'll only be there for two hours at most."
After hesitating a while, Hermione finally nodded.
"Deal!"
While walking to the ice cream parlor, the two introduced themselves.
It was the first time the little witch had met another Hogwarts first-year her own age, and she chatted non-stop the entire way.
Wayne just responded with casual "oh yes" and "oh sure" remarks, but it didn't feel dull.
"Lawrence, you bought so many books all at once—must've spent dozens of Galleons," Hermione suddenly said enviously.
"You must've come from a wizarding family, right? Could you tell me what life as a wizard is like?"
For Hermione, coming to Hogwarts to learn magic was a thrilling yet intimidating experience.
Her competitive nature made her fear she wouldn't be able to keep up with others who had grown up in wizarding families, and that she'd fall behind.
Wayne shook his head. "I wasn't born into a wizarding family."
"No way." Hermione immediately objected. "Even after buying the required items, if you exchanged a full set of seventy Galleons, you shouldn't have had more than thirty left."
"There's no way you could buy that many books all at once."
"I saw you pay earlier—you spent at least a hundred and twenty Galleons!"
Wayne remained calm. "There's a limit on how much you can exchange from pounds. But gold? No limit. I exchanged it all from gold."
"What?!"
Hermione's eyes widened. "You—you—exchanged gold for Galleons? That's so extravagant! Your parents actually agreed to that?"
Wayne kept a straight face. "My parents died a long time ago. I'm an orphan."
Hermione: "..."
She realized she had never experienced such emotional whiplash in a single day before.