"Have a good time at school, both of you."
Mrs. Granger leaned down and kissed Amanda and Hermione on their foreheads respectively.
"We will," Hermione said, nodding her head.
"Alright, thank you, Auntie," Amanda added from the side.
"It's about time, off you go."
Releasing Amanda and Hermione, Mrs. Granger and her husband waved to the two girls together.
"Goodbye, Mom and Dad."
"See you after the holidays, Uncle and Auntie."
After saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Amanda and Hermione pushed their luggage and quickly passed through the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
As soon as the two girls' figures disappeared, the expression on Mrs. Granger's face immediately became worried, and she reached out to touch her chest.
"Ever since Hermione came back from that Quidditch World Cup Final, my heart has been more and more uneasy."
"Those people have such heavy hostility towards us non-magical folk, Hermione..."
Seeing his wife's furrowed brows due to worry, Mr. Granger reached out and gently smoothed them out.
"Don't worry, dear, our daughter is a witch after all."
"And she's very smart, and with Amanda by her side, she'll be fine."
"I hope so." Mrs. Granger pursed her lips, her gaze fixed on the pillar at the entrance of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters for a long time without looking away.
On the other side, after passing through the platform with Hermione, Amanda looked at the crowded station before her, and a sense of familiarity surged in her heart.
Going to Hogwarts again, it's really nice.
"Amanda, Hermione, good morning."
A cheerful female voice came from behind. Amanda and Hermione turned around at the same time; Penelope, Cho Chang, and Marietta Eckmore were waving their hands vigorously at them.
"Good morning, Senior Penelope, Senior Cho Chang, and Senior Marietta."
Amanda was led forward by Hermione's hand and nodded politely to the three seniors.
"Good morning, our Twin Stars of the New Era."
Marietta Eckmore winked at the two of them, smiling both jokingly and sincerely.
"Oh, Senior Marietta, don't call us that."
Hermione's face flushed. To be honest, she was quite proud to be praised like that by the newspapers, but to be praised so by her close friends... it was really embarrassing.
"Hahaha, alright, alright, I won't say it anymore."
Marietta Eckmore waved her hand, then turned serious again, taking the luggage from the two juniors along with Cho Chang while saying,
"In the Ministry of Magic, Umbridge and Fudge are almost going crazy because of the title The Daily Prophet gave you; they both think you're gaining fame by stepping on them."
Marietta Eckmore's mother worked at the Ministry of Magic, so she could always bring Amanda and the others a lot of news about the Ministry.
"Heh, they did something wrong themselves, yet they don't want others to talk about it, or even know about it. There's no such good thing in the world."
Hermione gave a mocking smile, non-committal about Umbridge and Fudge's attitude.
What those two thought had nothing to do with her; as long as they couldn't threaten her, Amanda, or their friends, that was enough.
Following the three seniors onto the hogwarts express, Amanda and Hermione sat in the same compartment with them.
"I heard Hogwarts is hosting a big event this year," Marietta Eckmore spoke up impatiently as soon as they sat down. "But my mom refuses to tell me exactly what it is. Do you guys know?"
"No idea," Cho Chang was the first to shake her head. "My parents didn't say anything either."
"Uh, I just heard that Hogwarts is hosting a big event this year."
Penelope added quietly from the side, wondering if she was the one who knew the least among her friends.
Hermione glanced at Amanda and said nothing, while Amanda just came right out with it without any concern.
"The Triwizard Tournament."
"What?!" x3
The three seniors expressed the exact same shock as Hermione had when she first found out. After all, the past of this competition was far too 'glorious'—so 'glorious' that it had been banned for many years. And now it was actually starting again this year?
"Merlin's socks," Cho Chang rubbed her arms vigorously, feeling as if a layer of goosebumps had appeared on them. "I hope they can do a good job of protecting the Champions this time."
"It should be fine," Penelope said comfortingly after recovering. "After all, Headmaster Dumbledore is there."
Marietta Eckmore thought for a moment, then looked at Amanda. "Amanda, since all the commerce in the British Wizarding World is in your hands now, shouldn't you know what the Triwizard Tournament tasks are?"
Hearing Marietta Eckmore's question, Amanda blinked blankly. "I have indeed received purchase orders and species introduction lists from the Triwizard Tournament officials, and I can reverse-engineer the tournament tasks from them."
"However, according to the rules of the Triwizard Tournament, I cannot disclose these tasks to the public."
"We certainly don't want you to leak secrets," Marietta Eckmore quickly waved her hand to show Amanda not to misunderstand. " I'm just a bit curious, has the danger level of the tasks for this Triwizard Tournament decreased?"
Amanda fell silent for a moment, quickly pulling the tasks of past Triwizard Tournaments from her memory and comparing them with the tasks of this tournament that she had reverse-engineered.
Just two seconds later, she gave the answer in a flat tone, "Compared to past Triwizard Tournaments, the danger level of the tasks in this tournament has decreased; however, for the participating Champions, there is still a certain degree of danger."
"Well then."
Marietta Eckmore nodded understandingly. "Anyway, none of us should be participating."
Including Amanda, none of these five girls had any interest in actively walking into danger.
"I hope Harry and Ron have the same idea."
Hermione added silently from the side. For a competition that was obviously dangerous, she still hoped her friends would stay far away from it.
Especially Harry! Even without participating in this tournament, he already had enough trouble, almost one every year.
She didn't know what would happen this year, and she thought it would be better for Harry to actively stay away from that tournament.
"Who knows," Penelope shrugged. "Anyway, if they really want to participate, we can't stop them, can we?"
"Oh... true."
Hermione's face fell. If Harry and Ron really wanted to participate, she could only provide them with some help from a friend's perspective and cheer for them.
It was impossible to actually stop them by force and not let them participate.
"Harry and Ron will not participate in the Triwizard Tournament." Amanda's emotionless voice rang out, concluding the topic with extreme certainty.
"Why do you say that?" Cho Chang looked at Amanda with some curiosity. They also knew Harry and Ron, and boys of this age group, somewhat; they were generally adventurous and had some desire to show off.
Of course, this wasn't meant as a mockery, just stating a fact.
"Based on behavioral deduction and personality analysis of Harry and Ron's characters, they will be excited about this at the beginning."
"And they will imagine scenes of themselves participating and winning the tournament, but after the initial period of excitement passes, Harry will calm down and think about the dangers involved, and Ron will feel it's not worth the trouble of participating in such a tournament."
"Therefore, neither of them will participate in the Triwizard Tournament."
As soon as Amanda finished speaking, a boy's voice came from the door.
"What are you discussing? I think I just heard Harry's and my names."
Ron opened the compartment door and walked in with Harry. "By the way, I did knock just now, but you guys ignored me."
"We must have been too busy chatting to hear you." Hermione nodded understandingly, moving aside to let Harry and Ron put their luggage away.
"So what were you guys talking about just now?"
After putting away their luggage, Harry and Ron sat down and looked curiously at the five girls present.
"Uh, we were talking about whether you two would actively sign up for the Triwizard Tournament."
Marietta Eckmore withdrew her gaze from Amanda and looked at Harry and Ron, explaining to them about Hogwarts hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year.
"Whoa, cool," Ron marveled, and Harry also had a look of great interest on his face.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at their reactions. "And then Amanda said that given your personalities, you probably wouldn't participate."
Harry and Ron looked at each other upon hearing this, and Harry lowered his head to think carefully.
"If we're talking about the tournament itself... I might want to participate," he said, looking up with a slightly embarrassed expression. "Because it does sound very cool and interesting."
"But considering I have enough trouble of my own," Harry spread his hands and sighed, "I'd better not actively go looking for trouble. The Triwizard Tournament is dangerous to begin with, and if I run into something like Quirrell in first year again, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold out until someone comes to save me this time."
Whether it's cool or not is one thing, and whether one can show off is another, but in the end, life is the most important thing.
"As for me," Ron tilted his head, "if Harry doesn't participate, I definitely won't either."
"This tournament sounds like a lot of trouble. I bet you have to know a lot of spells. I don't want to learn and figure all that out by myself; it's too much trouble."
Hiss...
The other four girls present gasped, turning their gazes to Amanda at the same time.
"You really do understand Harry and Ron."
Hermione said, sounding both admiring and a bit jealous, while reaching out to gently pinch Amanda's soft cheek.
Amanda blinked, her instincts driving her to gently rub against Hermione's hand as she spoke without thinking at all.
"To understand Harry and Ron, I need to think, but to understand Hermione, I don't. And my understanding of Hermione is definitely deeper than my understanding of Harry and Ron."
Feeling the smoothness of the gentle rub on her finger and hearing Amanda's words, which were so candid they were blunt, a flush of red quickly crept onto Hermione's face.
"Ahem," she cleared her throat to hide her embarrassment, pulling Amanda and pressing her into her embrace to stop her from seeing her blushing face. "I'll take that as you being smooth-tongued."
Looking at Hermione's bright red face and Amanda being held in her arms, the other five people present all looked away at the same time.
Harry and Ron even looked at each other; why did they feel like they had just... become part of something between Amanda and Hermione?
It must be an illusion; the two of them must have just been brought up by chance.
The journey to Hogwarts was very peaceful, with no troublemakers and no Dementors coming to check.
Amanda, Hermione, and the others ate snacks and chatted, arriving at Hogwarts as night fell.
Entering the Hogwarts Great Hall, Amanda and Hermione separated and sat at the Ravenclaw Table and the Gryffindor Table respectively.
For the Start-of-term feast, Hermione felt it was better to temporarily endure one meal without switching tables.
The Sorting Ceremony began. Amanda sat in her familiar spot, "surrounded" by Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore on either side, occasionally clapping for the new students sorted into Ravenclaw.
The new students sorted into Ravenclaw House were concentrated at the very front of the long table.
The second-year students sitting next to them immediately pointed out Amanda, who was sitting near the middle of the table.
And just like the second-year students who had explained to them last year, they explained everything about Amanda to this year's new students.
Faced with the occasional glances from the new students, Amanda would politely look back at almost every one of them and give them a gentle smile.
This scene made many upper-year students sigh with emotion; this year's first-year students had really come at a good time, getting to see Amanda's smile as soon as they entered the school.
The Sorting Ceremony ended, and Headmaster Dumbledore, as usual, announced the start of the meal after a single sentence.
Amanda looked at the food that suddenly appeared on the table before her and lowered her head to eat single-mindedly.
Halfway through the meal, she suddenly heard the sound of the Great Hall doors opening and Marietta Eckmore's soft gasp beside her.
"Merlin, is that Moody? That incredibly powerful Auror."
"It seems to be him," Cho Chang was also a bit surprised as she watched Moody limp in. "But what is he doing at Hogwarts?"
Amanda slowly raised her head, her gaze lingering on Moody for a few seconds before glancing at the Staff Table.
"This year's defense against the dark arts professor has not yet taken his seat, and Mr. Moody has arrived now, so he should be this year's defense against the dark arts professor."
As soon as Amanda's flat voice fell, the Young Wizards in the Great Hall watched with their own eyes as Moody walked up to the Staff Table and was loudly announced by Headmaster Dumbledore as this year's defense against the dark arts professor.
Putting down her knife and fork to clap, Amanda mechanically moved her gaze to Moody; there was something slightly discordant about this Mr. Moody.
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