The upperclassmen who came into the Great Hall one after another, discussing some non-private matters or planning to do other things, all looked at the two first-year students standing side by side with strange eyes.
Hermione felt strangely stared at, and her once-normally fair face turned bright red again. She touched her burning cheeks and realized that the two of them were too close, so she moved to the side a little, creating some distance.
She said softly, "Alright, cheer up. You haven't heard from your biological parents for so many years, there's no rush, is there? After we finish eating, I'll go with you to find Professor McGonagall. We have a Herbology class this afternoon, in a classroom in the main building."
"Yes, thank you for being with me. I feel much better." Ethan Jones wasn't the type to stay in a gloomy mood forever. He quickly adjusted his mindset and gave Hermione a bright smile.
"How's your Transfiguration class going? The first Herbology class was pretty good; Professor Sprout was very kind." He then turned to Hermione's academic questions.
When the topic of studying came up, Hermione, a top student, became excited: "I can only describe it as amazing, Ethan. During the holidays, we tried to practice Transfiguration, but the results were not very good."
But this time was different. Under Professor McGonagall's guidance, I was able to make the match change, turning it into a semi-finished product with one pointed end.
Getting excited, Hermione searched around for something the size of a matchstick to give Ethan Jones a live demonstration.
Perfect timing! He also wanted to see what the Transfiguration technique he had tried to master during the summer vacation was like. As for experiencing it firsthand, that would have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.
Soon, Hermione, unable to find a suitable item, gritted her teeth and plucked a feather from her quill, placed it on the long table, chanted the Transfiguration spell, and finally tapped the feather with her wand.
The white feather rapidly transformed into a needle with a silver metallic sheen at one end, while the other end retained the shape of a feather—a semi-transformed product.
"Wow, that's really great!" Ethan Jones clapped his hands gently in praise.
Hermione was somewhat frustrated: "I still can't perfectly turn it into a needle."
Now it was Ethan Jones's turn to comfort Hermione: "You've done very well. It's only the first lesson. I think you'll be the fastest to get to this point, right?"
Hermione smiled and said proudly, "That's true, I'm the fastest learner in the class!"
"That's fine then. By the way, Professor McGonagall didn't assign any homework?"
"Oh no, I forgot!" Hermione shrieked, looking towards the long table for the parchment she had only half-finished writing.
Ethan Jones asked this because he saw a physical ghost in the distance, secretly carrying a roll of parchment and drifting out of the Great Hall. He didn't know if it belonged to Hermione.
Upon realizing that his actions had been discovered, Peeves, who resembled a little man, quickly abandoned Hermione's homework and fled the scene.
"It's Peeves." Hermione picked up the parchment from the ground and said angrily:
"He was causing trouble when we went to class this morning, almost making me late. Now he's even trying to steal my homework! How awful!"
Hermione worked diligently, completing the essay assignment Professor McGonagall had given her on the first day: interpreting Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and copying the reduction technique.
Hermione had already borrowed a book in advance and was summarizing the contents of the book, adding her own understanding, and writing a very long assignment.
"How much homework did the professor assign? This one you wrote is already twenty inches long, and you're still not finished?" Ethan Jones began to worry that he would have to write such long assignments in class. Their Transfiguration classes were scheduled very frequently, and he was somewhat concerned.
"No, the professor only asked for twelve inches. I felt that twelve inches was too short and not enough to encompass the understanding of the laws of transfiguration."
"Alright." Ethan Jones gave in, and while waiting for the Great Hall to serve lunch, he flipped through the only book in his hand.
Five minutes before lunch, Hermione let out a long sigh and stretched her slightly sore wrists: "If I weren't still not quite used to the quill pen after all this time, I would have finished writing long ago."
She dried her homework, thought for a moment, and handed Ethan Jones the book Analysis of Gamp's Basic Transfiguration Laws that she had borrowed from the library: "You'll probably need it for your homework tomorrow. I'll lend it to you first, and you can return it to me when you're done using it tomorrow."
"Thank you very much." He gratefully put the book away.
It was almost time for lunch, and he saw a large number of first years who didn't have classes in the morning starting to enter the Great Hall.
He waved to the Slytherin trio who greeted him, then pointed at Hermione and smiled.
Hermione turned around and looked at them with a hint of disgust: "You and those guys are roommates?"
"Yes, what's wrong? You've met before?" Ethan Jones asked, puzzled.
"I saw them. Just when Neville and I were looking for Trevor, we saw the three of them go to Harry Potter's compartment and get into a fight with the two people inside," Hermione briefly recounted the chance encounter in the compartment.
Ethan Jones understood: "Draco isn't a bad person, but because he comes from a Pure-blood family, he's used to being arrogant. Once you get to know him better, you probably won't dislike him as much as you do now."
Based on what he saw in the movie and his performance yesterday, Ethan Jones felt that Draco, although he had some flaws, could actually be trained.
Hermione pursed her lips and didn't reply. Her bad impression of the three people wouldn't easily change because of Ethan Jones's words.
Soon, a large amount of delicious food appeared on the table, and the two temporarily abandoned this topic and began to discuss the taste of the food.
"It tastes good." Ethan Jones was satisfied.
"The taste is indeed good, but it's a bit monotonous. The food at lunch today isn't much different from yesterday's," Hermione commented.
"It's only been two days, there will probably be more varieties in the future."
As the two ate and chatted, they didn't notice Harry and Ron, who had come together, whispering to each other and occasionally pointing in their direction.
Ethan Jones had actually noticed it long ago, but he didn't say anything because he didn't want Hermione to associate with the two of them and experience hardships and adventures that shouldn't have been hers.
However, Hermione eventually realized something was wrong, because Ethan Jones was attracting the attention of many older girls, who were deliberately making various laughs in hopes of getting his attention.
Hermione looked at the beautifully dressed upperclassmen, then thought about herself, and fell silent.
Ethan Jones keenly sensed this, but he didn't know how to comfort her, so he remained silent.
This made Hermione even more silent.