Hogwarts: Please Graduate Soon

"You're still laughing!"

Hermione's voice was a bit muffled; just moments ago, Wayne had accidentally bumped into her chin, causing her to bite her tongue. The pain was making her eyes water.

"This little... friend," Wayne said, looking over the fuming Hermione, the smile on his face growing even wider. "I haven't even held you responsible yet, and you're already playing the victim, huh?"

"Let's discuss whose fault it really is," he continued, sliding *Hogwarts: A History* onto his cart. He turned back to face the little girl.

"I was just crouching down to find a book earlier and didn't move at all. It's impossible for me to bump into anyone just by standing straight up," he explained. "Unless you deliberately stood next to me and leaned in, then I might accidentally hit your chin."

"Tsk tsk..." Wayne looked suspiciously at Hermione, whose face was turning red. "You're not trying to pull a scam on me, are you?"

"A scam? What do you mean?" Hermione asked, her big brown eyes filled with confusion. She had never heard that term before.

"Scamming someone, extorting, deliberately getting hurt to trick someone into compensation," Wayne explained briefly.

Hermione exploded!

"That's ridiculous! I'm not that kind of person!"

"I... I just saw this book too, and I didn't expect you to grab it first," she defended herself.

"Then why were you standing so close to me?" Wayne asked suspiciously.

Hermione replied with a hint of justification, "The book was a bit dirty, and if you put it back, it would mean you didn't want it. Of course, I had to keep an eye on it."

"Oh, I see..." Wayne nodded in understanding. He picked the book back up and waved it in front of Hermione. "Do you want it...?"

Hermione eagerly nodded, looking at Wayne with anticipation. She thought Wayne was about to give her the book, her gaze softening towards the boy. Her impression of him increased significantly in that moment.

Wayne smiled, pointed to his own face, and asked, "Do you think I'm good-looking?"

Hermione instinctively nodded. Calling an eleven-year-old boy handsome was a bit premature; at this age, "cute" and "pretty" were more appropriate descriptions. Wayne was the most beautiful boy Hermione had ever seen, with more delicate features than many girls.

"So do you think you're good-looking or am I?"

"Um..." Hermione hesitated. But for the sake of the history book, she chose to be honest and said, "You're good-looking..."

"Well, that makes me very happy," Wayne replied, suddenly becoming serious as he turned and pushed his cart away. "Since you've been honest with me, I'll share some news: the next batch of *Hogwarts: A History* will arrive before school starts, so you'll be able to buy it then."

Hermione was dumbfounded and quickly rushed after him as he walked away. "Aren't you going to give me the book?"

"Why should I give it to you? I got it fair and square."

"Then why are you asking me all these questions?"

"Can't I conduct a little social survey?"

"You!"

Hermione was exasperated, finally realizing she had been tricked, watching Wayne head to the checkout.

*Modern History of Magic,* *The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic,* *Breaking Up with Ghosts.*

These were all books she wanted! Hermione's eyes were turning red. Due to the limitations of converting Muggle currency, even if she squished her entire allowance for a semester into five galleons, it would still be far from enough to buy all the books she wanted.

She wished that she too could be like this boy and buy any book she wanted.

Feeling the weight of Wayne's gaze on her back, he secretly chuckled to himself; he had only been teasing Hermione just now. Suddenly, Wayne had a clever idea.

He made arrangements for the cashier to send all the other books home via owl post, leaving just *Hogwarts: A History* and *The Identification and Cultivation of Hundreds of Herbs* for himself.

He turned to Hermione and asked, "Do you want to read them? I could lend them to you."

After what had just happened, Hermione looked at Wayne warily and didn't respond.

Wayne didn't mind and continued, "But I can't lend them for free... however, if someone is willing to pay a little rental fee, I might consider it."

Upon hearing this, Hermione was indeed intrigued.

"How much?"

"One Sickles for an hour."

Hermione frowned, "That's too expensive; if I wanted to borrow them for a day, that would cost... one galleon and seven Sickles."

"Who said I'd let you borrow them for a whole day?" Wayne pulled out a pocket watch to check the time and said, "I'm going to have tea at Florin's Dessert Shop this afternoon and read for a bit, so I'll only stay for a maximum of two hours."

After hesitating, Hermione finally nodded.

"Deal!"

...

As they walked to the dessert shop, they introduced themselves to each other. This was the first time the little witch had met a fellow Hogwarts student her age, and she couldn't stop talking.

Wayne casually responded with "Oh yes," and "Oh no," which kept the conversation entertaining.

"Lawrence, you bought so many books at once; you must have spent dozens of galleons," Hermione said enviously. "You must have been born into a wizarding family, right? Can you tell me what life as a wizard is like?"

For Hermione, coming to Hogwarts to learn magic was a matter of both excitement and anxiety. Driven by a strong sense of competitiveness, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to adapt to Hogwarts and would fall behind the other kids who grew up in wizarding families.

Wayne shook his head. "I'm not from a wizarding family."

"Impossible," Hermione immediately rebutted. "You spent a fortune here; even if you excluded the necessities, you couldn't possibly have less than thirty galleons left after changing seventy galleons. No one could buy this many books at once."

"I saw you pay at the register; it was a full one hundred and twenty galleons!"

Wayne remained calm as he replied, "There's a limit on pounds, but not on gold; this money was all exchanged for gold."

"What?!"

Hermione's eyes widened. "You... exchanged gold for galleons? That's so extravagant! Did your parents really agree to that?"

Wayne maintained his composure. "My parents died long ago; I'm an orphan."

Hermione was left speechless. She realized that never before had she felt her emotions so disjointed in a single day.

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