Staying beside Ian, Harry felt extrely relaxed. This outstanding senior always drew the spotlight, allowing him to avoid the awkwardness of being identified as the Boy-Who-Lived.
"What are you guys selling?" Ian ignored the flattery from the two and instead curiously picked up a yellow candy. He quickly realized the twins had once again stolen back one of his own stolen ideas.
"You've got a sharp eye. This is our newest invention, Fart Candy! Eat just one, and you'll earn yourself the privilege of enjoying an entire train compartnt all to yourself, oh yes!" Fred imdiately jumped into his salesman pitch.
"One silver Sickle, won't cheat you, won't scam you!" George imdiately jumped in with his own sales pitch, one had to admit, the twins were true business geniuses. To co up with such a socially-crippling thod just to monopolize a train compartnt? Genius, in its own chaotic way.
"You're basically unleashing biological warfare! This is shaful!" Hermione, still full of bristling nerves and righteous fire, practically transford on the spot into Hogwarts' eco-activist.
"Hey now, don't make baseless accusations. Our products are always top-quality. Sure, the fart from this candy stinks, but there are absolutely no harmful gases involved!"
"That's right! Environntal protection at Hogwarts has always started with us!"
The twin clowns had clearly seen every kind of situation imaginable, and easily handled a little firecracker like Hermione.
"…"
Miss Beaver (Hermione) couldn't co up with a single rebuttal.
She stood there, red-faced and flustered.
anwhile, Harry Potter remained silent, quietly asking George about the price of various items. Then he launched into a spree of low-key, luxurious spending, like he was trying to make up for all the birthdays he never got to enjoy in his childhood.
Ian even watched Harry buy three Fart Candies. Who knew? Maybe he wanted to challenge Ian and Hermione to a fart contest once they found a compartnt.
"So we're just hurting each other now, huh…" Ian twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He quickly tugged at the still-dazed Hermione, who was clearly deep in her own ntal prep for a debate, and dragged her out of that "dangerous" area. Behind them ca the voices of the twins shouting:
"Hey, Ian, don't go! Don't you want to know how much our younger brother is worth in monthly experint fees?"
"George! Quick, drag Ron out and show him to Ian!"
"Damn it, Fred! Mom told you to look after Ron, where'd you lose him?! He's still carrying the sandwiches we were supposed to eat for lunch!"
…
Leaving behind the twin brothers, who seed to care less about their younger brother than about the sandwiches he was carrying, Ian continued leading the way.
He had a hunch that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley might be fated to cross paths, the power of friendship might bring them together soon.
However—
"Ka-chak~"
With the creak of another sliding door, Ian opened yet another compartnt. This ti, it was indeed empty, except for a single boy sitting inside. But instead of red hair, he had a full head of familiar blond hair.
"Hello, Ian, Hermione, and Mr. Boy-Who-Lived," The blond boy, who had been reading, looked up with a smile when the door opened.
Lirim Ollivander.
All three of them had t him before at the wand shop in Diagon Alley. His golden eyes, the sa color as his hair, had left a deep impression on Ian, perhaps a sign of so magical bloodline?
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," Harry Potter had suddenly beco shy again.
"Didn't expect to see you here," Hermione looked quite surprised to be facing the young wand shop heir.
"I suppose this is what you'd call fate." Lirim's smile was warm and refined. He put down his book and got up to help the two younger students with their luggage, but as he moved, he seed to almost circle their trunks in an oddly careful way.
"Your eyes are really pretty," Harry said, after receiving Lirim's help. It was a sincere complint, what self-respecting boy hadn't, at so point in his youth, dread of having dazzling golden eyes?
"I think so too," Lirim's smile grew even brighter.
"So… are the other places on your body that have color also gold?" Hermione's curiosity got the better of her, completely unaware of how inappropriate her question sounded, and how it froze Lirim's smile in place.
"Hissss~"
Ian once again experienced the sheer power of Hogwarts' mouthpiece.
Even he wouldn't dare to ask sothing like that.
But then again, this was Britain. Asking a question like that might not make soone feel embarrassed… but it would definitely make them wonder if you were flirting, or confessing a certain interest.
"Maybe…" Lirim answered with a sowhat stiff, ambiguous reply.
Hermione let out a gasp of wonder. This made the blond boy's expression grow even more awkward. The atmosphere in the compartnt was starting to feel a little strange.
"Is the book you're reading, The Fallen Witch Fell in Love with , actually any good?"
Fortunately, Ian prided himself on being a master of diffusing awkward situations. He stepped forward to steer the mood back on track.
"If you don't mind lodramatic plots, then yes, it's a fine way to pass the ti," Lirim imdiately picked up the thread of conversation, and the atmosphere gradually returned to normal.
When he sat down again, he didn't return to his original seat. Instead, he chose the spot farthest from Ian and Ian's little trunk.
He even pulled Harry over to sit beside him, as if using him as a human shield.
"Hm?" Ian felt a bit confused.
He gave Lirim's golden eyes another thoughtful glance.
"Have you guys thought about which House you'll be sorted into?" He casually shifted the topic.
"I… I don't know much about it. Hagrid said Gryffindor is the best House."
"That's true. I read in a book that the greatest wizard of this century, our Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, he was a student of Gryffindor."
"Gryffindor's nice, but I think I'll be a Ravenclaw. I heard life in Ravenclaw is really interesting. And ? I just can't resist anything interesting."
"Good, good! A wise choice!"
…
As their conversation continued and they grew more familiar—
The train set off.
Slowly, it chugged out of London…
The train was now cutting across fields full of cows and sheep. Around 12:30, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor, and a smiling trolley witch, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth, pushed open the compartnt door.
"Anything off the trolley, dears?" The kind trolley witch from Hufflepuff asked warmly.
Before anyone else could answer—
Having skipped breakfast and eager to show off his "money power," Harry Potter imdiately jumped up in excitent, he had enough gold galleons in his pocket to buy out the whole trolley.
"There's no Mars brand lollipops?"
Harry rummaged through the trolley, searching in vain for a brand he was familiar with. Instead, he found unfamiliar snacks like Every Flavor Beans, bubblegum, Chocolate Frogs, pumpkin pasties, giant pancakes, and popsicles. So, he simply handed over a whole gold galleon and bought a bit of everything.
"His family must be really rich," Hermione whispered quietly to Ian.
"Yeah, not just rich, absurdly rich," Ian nodded in strong agreent.
"Let's all eat together!" Harry dumped the pile of snacks onto the table and generously began handing things out. Lirim didn't hold back, he grabbed a color-changing popsicle and shoved it into his mouth.
"You guys eat too!" Harry cheerfully stuffed so snacks into Hermione and Ian's hands. Hermione got pumpkin pasties and honey cakes, while Ian ended up with three whole bags of the "life-threatening" Every Flavor Beans.
"…"
Ian quickly swapped the snacks in his hands for a box of Chocolate Frogs.
His reaction caught Harry's attention.
(To Be Continued…)
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