"It's so hot, so hot. I want to take a shower, Lynn. I'm covered in sweat; it's so sticky."
Walking down the train corridor, Harley swung Lynn's arm back and forth. Her behavior and personality were becoming more and more like a girl's; acting coquettishly came almost naturally to her now.
"Do you really treat my home like it's your own room?"
Lynn knocked on her head. Harley stuck out her little tongue, then leaned against him, rubbing her forehead on his clothes to wipe off the sweat caused by the sun.
"You need to wash up now anyway, right?!"
Lynn spoke with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "It's not like I'm forbidding you from going."
"You two are so close. Did you grow up together?"
Cho asked with a hint of envy; she didn't have a childhood friend she had grown up with.
"No, Harley and I have only known each other for a little over two months. I guess we just get along really well."
"That's right," Harley nodded. "Actually, I like girls—girls like you, Cho, who are pretty and have a great personality."
After getting familiar with each other, Harley wasn't as nervous as before. She discovered that getting along with girls wasn't as hard as she had thought; on the contrary, it was quite relaxing.
"Well, I really like you too, Harley."
Cho affectionately linked arms with Harley. "You fly so well, Harley, just like a pixie—fast and agile. Next year, you should sign up for the Quidditch team. If you get sorted into Ravenclaw, we could even play on the field together."
"Yeah!" Harley nodded, but then suddenly felt a bit unsure. "But doesn't Ravenclaw only accept the smartest students? My grades aren't very good..."
"Lynn can memorize a book after reading it once. I have to read it several times to remember it all."
"Memorize a book after reading it once?" Cho looked at Lynn in surprise. Upon seeing him nod, she patted her chest and said to Harley:
"Don't compare yourself to a monster like that. Even among Ravenclaw students, no one can do that."
"Is that so?" Harley blinked. She had genuinely thought she was just too stupid before.
As they talked, they arrived at the door of their previous compartment. Since Lynn had told them the trolley had already passed their car, they had gone down the corridor to the two cars behind them. On their way back, they had bought some of their favorite snacks from the trolley witch.
However, when they slid the door open, there was a figure in the compartment that shouldn't have been there. Although they had left, their luggage and some items were still on the seats. The Hogwarts Express had more seats than students, so even if someone boarded at the last minute, they could definitely find a seat if they walked around a bit.
After the door opened, the boy staying in their compartment looked up in astonishment.
He had red hair, a face full of freckles, and a long nose smudged with some unidentified black dirt. His two large hands were each clutching a sandwich packed with meat. The sandwiches were already mostly eaten; when they arrived, the boy was just stuffing the last piece of a sandwich into his mouth whole.
"Cough, cough... Gulp."
The boy, choking on his food, thumped his chest hard and struggled to swallow the food in his mouth. When he saw the two pretty girls standing in front of him, his face turned red.
"We just went out for a bit." Cho glanced at the boy without any annoyance; after all, anyone could sit in the seats. "But it doesn't matter. There are only three of us, so there's empty space."
"Sorry... thanks..."
The red-haired boy, who had intended to stand up in a hurry, sighed in relief when he heard the second half of Cho's sentence. "I'm Ron Weasley, this year's—"
"Ah!!!"
Before Ron could finish, Cho let out a terrified scream.
An ugly, fur-matted, dirty-looking rat was currently lying on the table. Her coconut milk pudding, which she had left there, was now just a plate of crumbs.
Cho, genuinely frightened, screamed and turned around, hugging Lynn tightly and practically hanging off him.
Harley wasn't afraid of rats. After all, when she lived in the cupboard, she had spiders for company by her pillow, and it wasn't uncommon to hear rats gnawing on wood while she slept at night.
"I thought nobody was here... left it there... so I just..."
But Ron's stammering explanation didn't help the situation. Seeing this happen, Ron, his face flushing bright red, roughly grabbed Scabbers—who was still heartlessly eating—stuffed him into his pocket, yanked his trunk from the luggage rack, and fled out the door in a panic.
"How could he be like that!"
Harley glared angrily at the figure fleeing in embarrassment.
"It was just a misunderstanding, let it go," Lynn smoothed things over. Knowing what he did about Ron's character—this sloppy, empty-headed guy—it was normal for him to do something abstract. After all, this was the idiot who came up with the "genius" idea of "Let's drive the car to school!" It was a problem that could have been solved by sending a letter with Hedwig or waiting by the car for his parents to return, yet he insisted on making a huge mess of it.
"Are you that afraid of rats, Cho?"
Lynn patted Cho on the back and asked in her ear.
"No—" Cho's face was full of grievance. "I've used rats for experiments in class, but that rat was so dirty and disgusting. It was actually sitting on the food we were just eating, pooping while it ate!"
"Quick, help me throw that thing away!"
On the verge of tears, Cho buried her head in Lynn's shoulder. "I'm definitely going to have nightmares tonight. I can't believe someone... it's too much..."
Hearing Cho's words, Lynn, who suddenly felt a bit nauseous himself, understood why Cho had such a strong reaction. Rats weren't scary; what was scary was a filthy rat that did disgusting things. If it were a mouse like Jerry, it could actually be kept as a pet.
The ruined food box floated up silently, and Lynn used telekinesis to throw it out the window. When he opened the window, Hedwig and Sigurd lowered their altitude and he brought them inside as well.
"Scourgify!"
Cho, having calmed down a little, sniffed and pulled out her wand to give it a wave. She cleaned the compartment again, but even so, she still felt uncomfortable.
"Let's sit with you, Lynn."
Cho looked at the opposite seat with disgust. It wasn't Ron she minded, but rather the Ron who carried that filthy rat.
"There's enough room anyway, but..."
Lynn got up from his seat, locked the compartment door, and then pulled the blinds to block the view.
"Maybe you'd like to take a shower and change your mood?"
He pulled his Universal Tent out of his backpack. It didn't take up much space and fit perfectly on the opposite seat.
"Is that a travel tent? My family has one too. When my dad has free time, we go camping outside."
Cho's mood suddenly improved a bit. As a wizard living in the magical world, Cho was familiar with these things. She was no stranger to the concept of a small tent having a large interior space.
The three of them crawled into the tent. The empty interior puzzled Cho at first, but her eyes lit up when she saw Harley press a button that changed the interior decoration.
"Such a novel design, it's completely different from my family's. The bathroom is so huge!"
Seeing the hot spring pool that was large enough for people to swim in, Cho instantly became happy.
Just as she crouched down to dabble in the hot spring water, the sound of running water could already be heard from the side.
"I'm still here, Harley."
Lynn spoke with some amusement. "You're a girl."
"I forgot..."
Harley, who was enjoying the shower, turned her head and spoke somewhat bashfully, "I'll pay attention next time."
"I really hope there isn't a next time... Sigh..."
Lynn rubbed his temples in distress and let out a helpless sigh.
"Were you two like this before?" Cho's face was slightly flushed, but her expression looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. The helplessness on Lynn's face didn't seem fake, and there was no uncomfortable look in his deep black eyes.
"Probably because Harley doesn't treat me as... well... she probably doesn't treat me as a human being."
"That way of putting it... actually makes a bit of sense... Hahaha!"
Cho couldn't help but laugh out loud. It wasn't just about not treating Lynn as a man; it was something she could only do if she really didn't treat him as a person.
"Could I ask you for a favor, Cho?"
Before leaving the tent, Lynn spoke to Cho.
"Of course," Cho nodded in agreement.
"Please help me out and teach Harley how to be a girl. She's just too oblivious sometimes."
"I'll try my best."
Saying that, Cho covered her mouth and laughed again.
Lynn waited outside the tent for nearly an hour and a half before Harley and Cho slowly emerged. The two girls, fresh from their bath and smelling fragrant all over, were much closer than before. Harley's face was just very red, as if she had soaked in the hot spring pool for too long.
"So hungry, so hungry."
As soon as they came out, they clutched their stomachs and spoke. They took out the snacks they had bought earlier one by one, but after seeing the table where the rat had been, they didn't want to put the food on it.
"How about we eat inside?" Cho pointed to the tent.
"Good idea!"
"Then Lynn, you go take a shower quickly, we're starving."
"Actually, I didn't sweat much..."
"That's because you were air-dried outside."
"Fine, fine, give me two minutes."
Guys shower much faster than girls. Harley used to shower in under five minutes too, but now, the time was getting longer and longer, especially today.
Steam still lingered in the tent's bathroom, and the scent of body wash seemed to carry the sweet fragrance of the girls. But Lynn, who didn't entertain any messy thoughts, finished his personal hygiene in two minutes flat. After changing the room layout to a living room, he poked his head out to call them inside.
"Finally, we can eat!"
Cho shared the loving lunch her mother had prepared. These food boxes hadn't been taken out, so they hadn't been ruined by that filthy rat.
Mrs. Chang's cooking was excellent—Chinese cuisine, which Lynn had craved for a long time but couldn't get in England, and which the Gourmet Tablecloth rarely produced.
The food boxes, enchanted with magic, kept the dishes warm. Although the portion was small—meant for Cho alone—they shared a bit of it, and combined with the pies and snacks bought from the trolley, it was enough to fill their stomachs.
Compared to the narrow train seats, the spacious area inside the tent allowed them to lie down comfortably. Beneath them was a soft carpet that wasn't the least bit uncomfortable.
"So comfortable. I really want a nap."
Harley stretched lazily, mumbling as she narrowed her eyes. The tent, adjusted to transparent mode, allowed the sunlight from outside the train window to shine in. The warm afternoon sun on her body really did make one feel sleepy.
"Should I switch it to bedroom mode?"
"The carpet is comfy enough," Harley rolled over and spoke groggily; she was already about to drift into dreamland.
Watching her able to eat and sleep so adorably, the tent gradually fell silent.
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