Chapter 78: Fortunately
Then, the direction of the plot completely shifted.
Ron didn't pull out Scabbers the rat—instead, he opened the first volume of Doraemon. He was so delighted by it that he eagerly shared it with Harry, who, to everyone's surprise, enjoyed it immensely. According to Harry, Luke Skywalker's school experiences gave him a strange sense of déjà vu—almost like looking into a mirror of his own life.
For the first time, Ron truly began to understand just how difficult Harry's childhood had been.
"Harry," Ron said, "if anyone asks you about your time in the Muggle world, just say it was like Luke's in Jedi Primary School!" Then he scolded Harry for comparing his cousin Dudley—his childhood bully—to Darth Vader. According to Ron, that was far too generous.
It was a pity for Alexander. In this situation, no matter how perceptive Harry was, he likely wouldn't have noticed him sitting there. So Alexander quietly sipped a cup of hot black tea and began observing Harry, borrowing the Lord God's computational power and combining it with his own proficiency in social perception.
Soon, lunchtime arrived. In the original story, this was when Harry casually mentioned Voldemort's name, oblivious to how much of a taboo it was in the wizarding world. But now, if he couldn't keep up with his studies, he might drown in a sea of Doraemon comics instead.
Harry and Ron were laughing and chatting, completely engrossed in the manga's twists and turns. If the food trolley lady—who had never been named in the original—hadn't arrived at 12:30 to interrupt them, they probably would've missed lunch entirely.
The woman, smiling sweetly with dimples in her cheeks, slid open the compartment door and asked, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"
Harry, already starving, jumped up. Ron, however, began to feel self-conscious again, muttering that he had brought a sandwich and didn't need to buy anything.
But Harry, who had never had spending money in the Muggle world, splurged: eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts, buying a bit of everything.
This stunned Alexander. He had always thought Harry bought one of each treat—but no, he had bought some of each. No wonder Malfoy's crony Goyle had been tempted and ended up getting bitten by Scabbers while rummaging through the pile of snacks.
Ron stared at the mountain of goodies Harry poured out: Berti Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Super-Bubble Bubblegum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and more.
In his hunger, Ron finally noticed Alexander sitting beside the snacks and blinked in surprise.
"W-what's wrong with you? Wait—when did you—?"
"Alexander's always been here," Harry said casually.
Alexander simply nodded in greeting while reading a book and nibbling on the sandwich Jack had packed for him.
After getting over his initial surprise, Ron couldn't help eyeing the snacks. He pulled a sandwich from his own bulging lunchbox—but Harry noticed and immediately swapped a pumpkin pasty for it. Reluctantly, Alexander was pulled into the food exchange, too.
The three of them sat together, happily munching on pies and cakes, occasionally chatting about Chocolate Frogs.
This time, Harry didn't get Dumbledore on his first Chocolate Frog card, but instead a funny wizard named Ulric the Oddball.
Curiously, the sandwiches made by Alexander and Mrs. Weasley were both ignored by Harry and Ron.
Alexander wasn't surprised. These two were kindred spirits—Harry had rarely enjoyed sweets as a child, and Ron's large family seldom indulged in snacks. For Alexander, however, even Ron's dry canned beef sandwich tasted good. Maybe Ron was just tired of them.
Later, Harry finally pulled a Dumbledore card from a Chocolate Frog, along with cards of Morgana, Hengist, Alberic Grunnion, Paracelsus, Merlin, and even the mysterious Druidess Cliodna.
Eventually, Harry emerged from his chocolate-induced euphoria and reached for the Bertie Bott's Beans. Ron warned him to be careful—not all flavors were pleasant. One time, George had gotten one that tasted like dry mucus mixed with beef.
Just then, a knock on the door interrupted them.
"Sorry, have you seen a toad? Mine's gone missing again!" A tearful boy with a round face stood there—Neville, no doubt.
Alexander noticed Neville glance briefly in his direction.
After Harry and Ron shook their heads, Neville started crying again. "It always runs away from me!"
Harry got up and tried to comfort him, and soon the compartment quieted down again. Ron grumbled that if he had a toad, he'd get rid of it as fast as possible.
"But I've already got Scabbers, so whatever."
"Scabbers? What's that?" Harry asked.
Ron didn't reply. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fat gray rat, still sleeping.
"His name's Scabbers. He's useless—just sleeps all day. Percy got an owl when he became a prefect, but my parents couldn't afford one for me, so they gave me the rat instead." Ron's ears turned red again, a sign of his growing self-consciousness.
Harry smiled but said nothing.
Just then, the compartment door opened again. A girl with bushy brown hair and large front teeth stepped inside. She was already in her Hogwarts robes and briefly glanced at the Doraemon book Ron had tried to hide.
She asked if they'd seen Neville's toad. After hearing another "no," she turned and left.
Unlike the original version, she didn't interrupt Ron's spell demonstration, didn't make a speech about her knowledge, and didn't point out any smudges on Ron's face. Her simple, polite manner left a good impression on both boys.
"So that boy's Neville."
"She's nice, though... What's her name?" Ron muttered, clearly intrigued. Alexander shook his head in amusement.
"She didn't say," Harry replied.
Then the two of them went back to devouring snacks.
Fortunately, although Hermione looked plain by adult standards and didn't seem to care much for fashion, she was nothing like the movie version played by Emma Watson. If she had been, Alexander wasn't sure he could've controlled himself.
If this were the Emma version of Hermione, it would be hard not to fangirl—uh, fanboy—over her. But this was real Hermione, not the actress, and Alexander had already made commitments to Penelope and Kate.
So thank goodness for that.
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