"Nicely done, Harry."
Ron praised loudly.
With Ron's shout, Draco snapped back to reality and yelled angrily, "Put me down, Potter!"
Seeing Harry unmoved, Draco looked at his two henchmen behind him, "Crabbe! Gall! What are you waiting for? Just going to stand there?"
The two henchmen also snapped back and immediately prepared to rescue their boss.
Without a word, Ron leaped forward, trying to stop the two from advancing on Harry, without considering the size difference between himself and these two.
As a result, Gall gave him a push, and he stumbled back onto the chair.
"What a fool," Hermione said helplessly, glancing at Ron, who was still poised to lunge, then drew her magic wand and aimed it at Crabbe and Gall, "Petrificus Totalus!"
The two, caught off guard, were hit by Hermione's magic spell and immediately fell to the ground with two thuds.
"Amazing!" Ron praised sincerely, amazed that this little witch from a Muggle family could cast a spell to save him.
"What's that spell?" he asked.
"Petrification Spell, from 'Standard Spells, Chapter Six."
Hermione's tone was very mechanical, still holding the spell-casting position. She was aware she'd offended the son of a school board member before even starting school and had cast an evil curse on a classmate on the train...
She had read Hogwarts' school rules cover to cover and knew the consequences.
Perhaps she would be expelled upon arrival at school, she thought sorrowfully.
But Hermione didn't regret it; she didn't know what 'Mudblood' meant, but she had clearly heard the following 'stinky' words.
Ron stood up for her, and she felt she should lend him a hand.
"You stinky little Mudblood, how dare you!" Draco floated in the air, face filled with terror, "I'm going to tell my father! Have all three of you expelled!"
"So, besides your father, what else do you rely on?" Harry shrugged, "As a wizard, especially from a pure-blood family, to be defeated by me and Hermione, two people from Muggle families..."
He waved his magic wand, letting Draco fall to the ground, and walked over to look down at those frightened grey eyes.
Through those same grey eyes, Harry was reminded of the first duel wand battle when Cassandra defeated him in one round with proud, domineering grey eyes.
"Is this what you call effort?" The girl's mouth turned down, a hint of mockery in her grey eyes, "It's enough to make me sick..."
For some reason, Harry subconsciously mocked in a low voice.
"Is this what you call 'some families are much better'? It's enough to make me sick..."
To be honest, saying this, Harry suddenly felt a sense of relief.
He couldn't bear grudges against a girl, but returning the old mockery word for word to another Malfoy was indeed a beautiful thing.
Hearing Harry's mockery, Draco's anger surged, and he pulled out his magic wand from his robe.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cast a spell.
Draco's magic wand was disarmed, tracing a graceful arc before landing in Harry's hand.
"Relax, Malfoy, I'm just educating you on behalf of someone."
"Who?" Ron scratched his head curiously.
"His ancestors." Harry spread his hands.
"Cool." Ron grinned, amused by his friend's joke.
Ron laughed, but Draco did not.
He felt both angry and scared, then wronged.
He had just wanted to befriend the legendary Savior, how did it come to this?
As he thought about it, his nose tingled, and he started sobbing uncontrollably.
"I'm... I'm going to tell my father!" he sobbed.
Harry suddenly felt a bit bored, so he approached Draco with tearful eyes and shoved the wand back into his arms, lifting the Petrification Spells on Crabbe and Gall.
"Alright, Drama-co, stop your one-man show," Harry said sarcastically, "We're on a train, no daddy here, take your lackeys and leave my compartment."
Draco hiccuped, then ran out of the compartment with his followers without looking back.
Once outside, he turned back to threaten, "Just wait, the three of you will definitely be expelled! I'm telling you!"
Hearing this, Hermione's little face fell.
"What should we do," she scratched her already messy hair, "Now we're surely going to be expelled..."
"Then why did you still go against him?" Ron retorted.
"If someone would learn two more magic spells, perhaps it wouldn't have been my turn to save him," Hermione countered.
Now, with another downcast face, Ron was rebuked, wanting to argue but realizing Hermione wasn't wrong at all.
"Relax, the school won't expel us over such a small thing," Harry said indifferently, "Moreover, that Malfoy was in the wrong first; what he said was a very serious insult."
"But I don't know what it means," Hermione wrinkled her little face, "Of course, I understood it was rude, just like the person who said it is nauseating."
"It should be the most insulting thing he could think of," Ron explained on the side, "Mudblood is a derogatory term for people from Muggle backgrounds — meaning parents who can't do magic — it's a very nasty term, implying dirty, inferior blood, as low as mud, absolutely bonkers words!"
Hermione bit her lip, nodded lightly, then thanked Ron, "Thanks for speaking up for me earlier."
"N-no problem." Ron suddenly stammered, shaking his hand hurriedly.
"Alright, I'm going back now," Hermione stood up, nodded to Harry, then looked at Ron and pointed to her nose, "By the way, you have something dirty here."
"Oh." Ron belatedly realized and wiped his nose with his sleeve, "No wonder Fred said there was something dirty on my nose earlier, I thought he was lying to me."
Hermione exchanged a helpless look with Harry, noticing how much the Weasley Twins had overshadowed their youngest brother.
Shortly after Hermione left, the whistle sounded.
A voice suddenly echoed on the train.
"We'll arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train; we'll transport it to the school for you."
Harry and Ron changed into their robes. Harry noticed that his new friend's clothes were a bit short, even showing his sneakers.
Wearing old clothes was uncomfortable, Harry understood that very well.
"Let's go; time to get off the train, buddy," Ron said to Harry, their friendship rapidly growing after the skirmish.
Of course, this also included Hermione, who stood up for them in a critical moment.