On the swaying train corridor, Hannah, her face full of anxiety, led Cedric as they ran back in the direction they had come from.
Thud!
Perhaps because she was running too hastily, or maybe due to the train's rocking, Hannah accidentally tripped and fell.
Hearing the commotion beside him, Cedric turned around and helped Hannah up. "Are you okay?"
Thinking back to the tense, confrontational atmosphere between Kyle and Draco and the others when she had left, Hannah shook her head resolutely. "I'm fine. Cedric, hurry and go find Kyle and the others!"
Cedric glanced at Hannah, confirming she wasn't seriously hurt, then turned and ran off.
After Cedric left, Hannah, sitting on the floor, grimaced in pain, her little face twisting into a knot from the intense ache.
"Hiss———————" Hannah sucked in a cold breath, carefully lifting her pant leg. As expected, her left ankle was already swollen high. "It hurts so much!"
The blonde little loli rubbed her ankle with teary eyes.
On the other side, Cedric passed through the connection between two train cars and ran straight into the three who were coming back to look for Hannah.
"Ced?" Kyle hadn't expected to bump into his old acquaintance here.
"Kyle? Are you all okay?" Cedric looked Kyle up and down. "I heard from Hannah that you had a conflict with the Malfoy kid."
Kyle patted the other's shoulder. "We're fine. It's the Malfoys who have the problem. Where's Hannah?"
"She just fell. I'll take you to her."
The four hurried off to find Hannah again.
Soon, Kyle and the others found Hannah, who was leaning against the compartment wall, limping forward slowly.
"Hannah!" Hermione quickly stepped forward to support her.
Since Hannah had sprained her ankle, the group gave up on searching for Neville's toad and instead found a nearby compartment to sit in.
Helping Hannah settle into a seat, Kyle crouched down. "Let me see how bad your injury is."
Eh?
Before Hannah could react, Kyle had already lifted her pant leg.
Seeing her foot held in Kyle's hands, the blonde little loli's face instantly turned bright red, steam practically rising from her head.
A jade-green light glowed in Kyle's palm, and Hannah felt her sprained left foot as if it were soaking in warm water—the original pain gradually fading away.
"Nyaa~" The blonde little loli let out a comfortable whimper.
That embarrassing sound...
Realizing what she'd done, she instantly covered her mouth.
Fortunately, the others in the compartment didn't cast any strange glances her way.
Watching Kyle lower his head and focus intently on healing her, Hannah stared and stared until she was completely entranced.
In just a few short dozen seconds, the little loli had already imagined names for their future children.
A moment later, Kyle looked up.
"I'm not very proficient in healing magic, so this is all I can do. Your foot will still hurt a bit when walking."
"Hannah? Hannah? Hannah!" Hermione waved her hand in front of Hannah's face three times. Only then did Hannah, still immersed in her romantic fantasy, snap out of her beautiful daydream.
"Eh, what is it?" Hannah's expression was dazed.
Hermione, who had already changed out of her Muggle clothes, pointed irritably at the window. The sky outside had grown very dim.
"The train is almost at the station, and you haven't changed into your wizard robes yet."
The three other boys in the compartment had long since gone to another one to change clothes, leaving only the still-dazed Hannah unchanged.
"Oh, oh." Hannah finally came to her senses and frantically pulled her uniform from her luggage to change.
The Hogwarts Express gradually slowed down, finally coming to a stop at a dark and tiny platform.
The darkness and cold outside the compartment formed a stark contrast with the warmth inside.
In September in Britain, the temperature had already dropped to a considerably low level, especially now that it was nighttime.
Stepping out of the compartment, the night's chill made the group shiver involuntarily, pulling their robes tightly around themselves.
Only the physical training expert Kyle remained completely unfazed.
"Well then, see you in the Great Hall." Cedric waved to the other four. As a third-year student, he wouldn't join the first-years; instead, he would take a carriage from the main Hogwarts gates into the castle.
After Cedric left, the other three stuck closely behind their leader, Kyle.
They were just a group of eleven-year-old kids, leaving home alone to attend school hundreds of kilometers away at Hogwarts. Fear and nervousness were inevitable.
Fortunately, with Kyle, the experienced guide, leading them, it slightly eased their anxiety.
A beam of light swayed above the students' heads—that was Hagrid holding a lantern, over three meters tall, shouting amid the crowd: "First-year students! First-years over here!"
"Hey! Hagrid!" Kyle waved at him.
"Oh! Kyle! Have a good summer?" Hagrid spotted Kyle easily.
Among a group of first-years averaging just over 1.3 meters tall, Kyle stood out like a crane among chickens.
"Pretty good." Kyle replied.
Hagrid was busy maintaining order on the platform and ensuring no first-years were left behind, so after a quick greeting with Kyle, he hurried off.
Kyle noticed that after walking away, Hagrid greeted a skinny little kid. Under the boy's messy black bangs, a faint lightning-shaped scar was faintly visible.
That must be Harry Potter.
Above the sea of bustling heads, watching the chattering little wizards around him, Hagrid's bearded face broke into a smile.
"Come on, follow me. Any more first-years? Watch your step!"
Hagrid led the first-years down a steep, narrow path.
The road was rugged and slippery, with dense tree branches on both sides blocking the already faint moonlight, making the already difficult path even harder to navigate.
Not to mention, the little wizards were wearing long robes that somewhat hindered their movement.
Kyle turned to glance at Hannah, who was still limping along. "Can you walk on your own?"
"Uh, I can manage." Hannah replied in a soft, glutinous voice.
Seeing the girl trying to act tough, Kyle proactively crouched down. "Forget it. Hop on—I'll carry you."
Eh?
Is this really okay?!
Hannah tried her best to hide her inner excitement and obediently climbed onto Kyle's back.
Feeling the boy's sturdy, warm back, Hannah buried her face in her arms with a blissful expression.
Is this love?
If Kyle knew what she was thinking, he would absolutely toss her off his back.
Kyle wasn't a lolicon—he had no interest in an eleven-year-old flat-chested little girl.
He liked curvaceous older sisters.
Like Tsunade, Mei Terumi from Shippuuden (the Boruto version could roll as far away as possible), Konan, Hinata, Nami, Robin, Hancock, and so on.
For some reason, Hermione suddenly felt a sour twinge in her heart. She was the one who came first...
No, she was the one who met Kyle first...
Hermione turned away and walked at the front of the four-person group, out of sight, out of mind.
The path had no lights, relying solely on Hagrid's lantern for illumination. In the areas the light didn't reach, there were vines and obstacles to trip over, and sounds of little wizards slipping came from time to time.
Hermione frowned. Was there really not a single little wizard who knew to take out their wand and use Lumos to light the way?
As Kyle had said, the quality of these incoming little wizards was indeed worrying.
"Lumos." A soft white light emanated from the tip of Hermione's wand.
With the wand's glow illuminating the uneven mountain path, it became a bit easier to walk.
"Nice job, Hermione." Kyle praised.
Getting praise from Dumbledore—though not the headmaster one—was enough to make Hermione happy.
But even with the Lumos spell lighting the way, the clumsy Neville still predictably slipped.
Just as his face was about to have an intimate encounter with the ground, a hand reached out from the side and caught him in time.
"Careful, Neville."
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