In everyone else's eyes, the moment Hermione saw Kane, she froze for a second.
Then, as if some underlying logic had been triggered, she went straight into sage mode.
"Do you mind if I join you?" Hermione asked calmly.
"Not at all." Ron scooted his butt further inside.
Hermione sat down in the compartment and pulled out a book from her pocket to read.
Harry and Ron looked at this scene and scratched their heads in confusion.
They both felt they shouldn't be sitting in their current positions, but should switch places with a certain top student across from them, so the two of them could lower their heads and quietly chat.
But unlike Kane, who buried his head directly in his book, Hermione had something weighing on her mind.
Although improving herself was urgent, the promise she made to Neville to help find his toad was equally important.
So...
"Have you seen a toad anywhere?"
The moment Hermione finished speaking, Kane, who had been quietly reading, suddenly perked up and decisively pulled out his wand.
"Toad? Where's the evil toad?"
The other three people in the compartment all watched this scene with twitching mouths. "So you're afraid of toads?"
"Actually, there isn't one here. We're just looking for it," Harry added.
Kane awkwardly put away his wand. "Don't mind me. I have PTSD."
Harry and Ron heard Kane's strange words but didn't understand them, so they said nothing.
However, Hermione, who could be called well-read, was different.
"I know PTSD is a type of traumatic stress syndrome. Like people who've been in car accidents become afraid of speeding vehicles and car horns, people who've been to war become afraid of gunshots. But what exactly did a toad do to you to make you..."
As Hermione spoke, she pointed at the living wood wand in Kane's sleeve, its mouth sealed with golden nails.
"React this intensely."
Ron also nodded. "Although those things do look scary, you're so capable, couldn't you just kill it?"
Kane slowly closed his book. "You want to hear about it?"
All three nodded in sync.
"The place where I used to live was a strange and absurd place. It was a wilderness with all kinds of magical creatures and unusual weather."
"One of them was a special weather phenomenon in spring.
In the afternoon, the sky would drop lots of frogs. The locals there all called it frog rain.
Every time, a hundred or so frogs would fall from the sky together, and then, like wilderness bullies, any creature that appeared before them would get licked by their disgusting tongues."
Harry and Hermione didn't doubt a word Kane said. After all, she had been living in Muggle society until then, and no matter how magical the wizarding world was, she could accept it.
But Ron, who had grown up in the magical world, and Malfoy, who was eavesdropping outside the compartment, were different.
Their worldview since childhood had never heard of such a place, except perhaps in Lovecraftian novels like Innsmouth.
However, the moment Malfoy shouted "impossible," the entire compartment fell silent. Hermione opened the compartment door. "And you are, sir?"
Seeing Hermione's Muggle clothing, Malfoy instinctively wanted to say "shut up, Mudblood," but then he remembered that neither he nor his father had figured out where Kane came from, so on a social level, Kane also belonged to the Mudblood category...
Ugh, and his own father had told him to befriend him. Better hold his tongue for now.
"My father told me I was wrong at the ice cream shop before, so he told me to apologize to you."
As Malfoy spoke, he pulled three beautifully wrapped chocolates from his pocket.
"Willy Wonka chocolate. My father specifically pulled strings to get them. They're for you."
Malfoy placed the three chocolates on the table, then resumed his characteristic proud and smug expression, closed the door, and left.
This was also what his father had taught him: don't try too hard, just a good beginning is enough.
After Draco Malfoy left, he recalled once more that strange wilderness where it rained toads.
This was a clue. It might be the territory of some strange magical family. He had to tell his father.
"Willy Wonka? What kind of weird name is that?"
Hermione frowned and asked, though her eyes and hands remained firmly glued to her book. This chocolate had nothing to do with her. Better not to look at it.
"Willy Wonka was the most amazing candy merchant in the magical world last century.
The mainstream candies now: Chocolate Frogs, Cockroach Clusters, Lemon Drops.
Almost all the magical sweets you can see in Diagon Alley were invented by him."
"But later, it seems his candy factory was betrayed by someone.
Heartbroken, he sold all his patents and only kept running a small chocolate artisan workshop, making only a hundred pieces a year."
"Seeing how sincere Malfoy's apology is, I'll forgive him!"
After Ron finished speaking, he quickly grabbed his piece of chocolate, tore open the wrapper, and started eating.
Harry did the same.
You couldn't expect an eleven-year-old kid to share something so precious with someone they'd only met twice.
If this were just ordinary chocolate, that would be one thing, but this was Willy Wonka chocolate...
Although he didn't know how amazing this chocolate was, at least it sounded amazing.
As for Kane... normally, of course, he would eat the chocolate without hesitation.
The kind of thing where he'd give the whole chocolate to Hermione or share half with her, and then Hermione would suddenly blush for no logical reason and the two would develop a sweet romance, that would be abnormal.
And so, in the small compartment, three people were simultaneously stuffing chocolate into their mouths, while one was studying hard.
After studying for a while, she remembered she still had to help Neville find his toad.
She looked up. There it was again: people more talented than you are eating chocolate. Now was the perfect opportunity to catch up.
Soon, Kane had finished his chocolate, not leaving a single bit.
This chocolate lived up to Ron's praise.
At this moment, he felt better than he ever had. His originally withered soul was incredibly full. His sanity value had never been this abundant.
He could finally put away the garland on his head.
Just as Kane was making this move, Hermione, who had been reading while observing him, finally noticed something odd.
"So? Never mind. Everyone has their own aesthetic, and that garland is actually quite nice."
Unlike Hermione's calm tone, the other two people in the compartment once again couldn't hold it together.
But they didn't want to laugh out loud because that would be too rude, so they just lowered their heads, shoulders shaking constantly, while watching Kane's temple throb.
Soon, time came to evening.
Hermione finally put down her book and chose to go find that toad belonging to the young wizard named Neville.
Kane was about the same. After reading all morning, his eyes felt sore and swollen, so he'd had no choice but to sleep all afternoon.
Now Harry was waking him up.
"Hurry up and change into your robes. We've already arrived. We're about to see Hogwarts!"