"This is it, Neville, hurry."
In the swaying train aisle, Hermione Granger rushed, clutching the edge of her robe, with a chubby, round-faced boy trailing behind her, his eyes slightly red, as if he'd just been crying.
Worry etched Hermione's face, her cute, white teeth biting her lower lip. She couldn't shake the memory of the silver-haired figure blocking her earlier and the commotion she'd heard leaving the room, followed by a sharp, ear-catching noise.
She hoped there was still time. At least the blond boy leading the group didn't seem unreasonable. It had only been a short while; surely they wouldn't start a fight?
Clatter—
"We're back, don't fight..."
The brown-haired girl panted, pushing open the tightly shut compartment door, nervously glancing inside. Her face froze in surprise. "Huh?"
Contrary to her tense expectations, the compartment exuded an unusually serene and friendly atmosphere.
On the floor, Ron and two other chubby boys—she remembered them as Goyle and Crabbe—frowned as they quietly pored over books.
Seated by the window on the left, Harry and the boy named Malfoy huddled together, discussing the textbook's content in hushed tones.
And opposite them, Elena rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the window. Sunlight streamed through, glinting on her silver hair as she also pored over a spellbook spread out on her lap.
What's going on?
Hermione's confusion reflected on her face. She instinctively stepped back, checking the compartment number again—definitely the right one.
"Sorry," a chubby boy with puffy eyes appeared behind Hermione, nervously saying, "I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom. Granger said, have you found my toad?"
As the compartment door opened, everyone inside simultaneously looked up, their expressions varying. But among them, Goyle and Crabbe seemed the most enthusiastic.
"Exactly! We've been waiting for you. Come see."
"If not, it's fine. Let's go find it together."
Hearing Neville, Goyle and Crabbe almost immediately abandoned their books, their faces relieved and eager as they stood up to answer, exuding extreme warmth.
"What happened here... I mean, with you..."
Hermione pointed at Goyle's still reddened forehead, asking with a puzzled expression.
"Heh, that was just a..."
Goyle touched his forehead, sheepishly smiling, about to explain when he suddenly felt a tap on his neck. "Huh?!"
Hermione distinctly saw the bulky boy freeze, his body twitching involuntarily as he promptly closed his mouth.
"Just slipped and fell by accident. Right?"
Elena snorted lightly, patting Goyle's shoulder and smiling as she explained to Hermione in a soft voice, "Then, as you can see, after discussing it, we decided to revise our coursework while waiting for you all."
Before Miss "A Hundred Thousand Whys" could ask further, Elena turned, waving to the back.
"Hey, Malfoy, I remember the toad is still with you, right?"
"Yeah, yeah! Here it is!"
Draco Malfoy nodded swiftly, quickly walking over with the toad he had on his lap.
"Neville, is this your toad?" Elena tilted her head, asking.
"Lefou! Thank God!"
Neville extended his arms ecstatically, receiving his pet toad. "Thank you so much, really, thank you. I was nearly giving up hope."
While he could only stutter out a grateful "thank you," making him seem a bit clumsy, everyone could feel Neville's effort to express joy and gratitude, especially his fellow student facing him.
What to do in this situation... Draco Malfoy had never experienced this, his father never teaching him how to handle such scenarios. The boy subconsciously glanced at Elena but found her engrossed in a whispered conversation with Hermione, completely ignoring his cues.
"Actually, it was mainly thanks to Goyle and Crabbe finding it."
Draco Malfoy's pale cheeks blushed faintly. He moved his gaze away, feeling uncomfortable. "I didn't want to look at first, but I only came when I heard about secret passages. Thank Elena for this."
"No, no, Draco was actually the most enthusiastic."
"Yeah, he even reminded us not to harm the toad when catching it."
Compared to Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe seemed more bashful. Before Neville turned, they hastily waved their hands, speaking up.
Watching the proud yet conflicted trio of Malfoy, Elena smiled knowingly—these were essentially good kids.
Even without the toad incident, in her opinion, considering the first-year train ride as described in the original, the slightly less haughty Malfoy, who reached out a hand through so many compartments, might have had a real chance of becoming friends with Potter if his tone had been less arrogant.
Clap, clap, clap.
"Alright, no need to be modest. We're all classmates now, no need to be so formal."
Elena clapped gently, interrupting the conversation between Neville and the Malfoy trio, cheerfully suggesting, "Since we've crossed paths, why don't we skip returning to our separate compartments and just hang out here?"
Pausing, Elena glanced at the dwindling snacks in the compartment, slightly concerned. "But it looks like we'll have to buy more snacks."
Although Harry had bought plenty of snacks before, it was only enough for three people. Now, with eight people squeezed into the compartment, it was clearly not enough.
"No problem, leave it to me. Goyle, come with me to buy snacks. Crabbe, bring our snacks here."
Hearing Elena, Malfoy volunteered eagerly.
"Don't worry, Elena, I can get you anything you want."
Draco Malfoy, experiencing the joy of helping others for the first time, proudly patted his chest, asserting that this small issue, solved with money, was nothing compared to the Malfoy family's resources.
Seeing Malfoy show off in front of Elena, Ron coughed softly to hold back his laughter.
"What's wrong, Weasley? You got a problem?" Draco Malfoy turned, raising an eyebrow.
These two, they're definitely on opposite sides, yet they can still banter with each other?
Elena rolled her eyes helplessly, thinking, even within the wizarding world, the rich and the poor couldn't avoid bickering. Still, this was better than being overly harmonious; otherwise, it wouldn't be as entertaining.
"Well, I just wanted to say that there's at least one magical drink you can't buy."
Ron shrugged, pointing triumphantly at the bottle of soda sitting in the corner of the table. "Never seen this, huh? I bet you've never heard of omnipresent water and the dreadful CO2, right?"
"Omnipresent water? Magical drink?" Hermione followed Ron's finger curiously, shrugging with confusion. "But that's just... plain cola, isn't it?"
"Cough, cough, cough, um, Ron..."
Now it was Elena's turn for a vigorous cough.
She could easily hoodwink Harry and Ron in front of her, but with the addition of Hermione, she couldn't continue deceiving them so
easily.
Uh oh, I've been discovered.
Elena forced a smile, looking guiltily at Hermione, who was showing an expression of astonishment.
"Actually, I think it's a muggle drink. Don't they call it 'cola'?"
"Is that so?" Ron gazed at the cola bottle suspiciously. "But it was in my dad's collection of weird wizarding drinks, and I thought it was magical."
"Oh, I remember now! That old thing!" Draco Malfoy's eyes widened in realization. "It's a muggle drink, but some pure-blood families do keep them as curiosities."
"Really?" Elena's eyes sparkled with interest.
She turned to Hermione, asking eagerly, "What do muggles use this for? Is it related to magic? Like an ancient potion or something?"
"N-no, it's just a regular beverage, meant for drinking. It's quite popular in the muggle world, especially among youngsters and teenagers."
Hermione blushed slightly, realizing that this might be the first time Elena had encountered something so mundane.
"It tastes good, especially when it's cold," Ron added enthusiastically, grabbing the bottle and taking a swig. "Refreshing!"
Seeing Ron's actions, Draco Malfoy hesitated for a moment before also reaching for the bottle and taking a sip. His eyes widened in surprise.
"This... it's not bad."
Elena tilted her head in curiosity, slowly approaching the bottle, her gaze fixated on the label that read "Cola."
She'd tried Butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and other wizarding drinks, but this was entirely new. Elena hesitated for a moment before taking the bottle, bringing it closer to examine the label.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try."
The first sip brought a peculiar mix of sweetness and fizziness that caught her off guard. Elena blinked in surprise, a wide smile slowly forming on her face.
"This... is actually quite nice."
Elena glanced at Hermione, who was smiling at her reaction. There was something heartwarming about sharing a simple, ordinary thing like a muggle beverage with her new friends.
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