Harvey and Hermione politely greeted the boy Mrs. Weasley was holding onto.
"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger, a first-year student at Hogwarts."
"Harvey Ferguson, also a first-year."
"Hi, I'm Ron Weasley, a first-year as well."
Harvey's tone was noticeably cold.
He had already recognized this tall, thin, and somewhat gangly boy with the signature Weasley red hair as Ron Weasley.
This was Harry Potter's future best friend and... Hermione's future husband.
There was no way Harvey was going to be friendly toward his future romantic rival.
Ron noticed the brown-haired boy's chilly attitude.
He offered a polite greeting in return, but the atmosphere immediately turned awkward.
Ultimately, it was the socially fearless Hermione who broke the ice.
"Hey, Ron, is your mother a witch too? She must know so much magic!"
"I'm so jealous of wizarding families. My parents are both Muggles..."
"And learning magic is so difficult! I've been trying the simple Lumos charm for two weeks and still haven't gotten it..."
Hermione spoke like a machine gun, firing off questions and comments so fast that Ron didn't know which one to answer first.
Because she spoke so rapidly, the freckle-faced Ron only caught the very last part.
"Learning charms already?" Ron asked, looking bewildered. "Isn't that something you do after school starts?"
"Without a professor to teach us, how could wizards our age learn spells?"
"Besides, you don't even have wands yet. How can you practice magic without a wand?"
"Hmm?" Little Hermione's eyes narrowed.
Despite her young age, her gaze was sharp enough to be intimidating as she stared Ron down.
"Who says you can't learn magic without a wand?" she demanded.
She had been studying magic with Harvey for two whole weeks.
If magic was impossible without a wand, did that mean she had been tricked?
She had paid a "hefty" price—one kiss per session—for every two-hour "tutoring lesson" from Harvey.
Had Harvey just been taking advantage of her for free??
With her cheeks puffed out in anger, Hermione glared at Ron, making the poor boy blush.
To an eleven-year-old boy, Hermione was actually quite pretty.
Ron, who had been single for all eleven years of his life, couldn't even look the cute girl in the eye under such close interrogation.
Feeling flustered, Ron quickly stammered back:
"Of course you can't do magic without a wand. Isn't that common sense?"
"Common sense?" Hermione asked, her voice dropping an octave.
"Yes... absolute common sense!" Ron initially felt shy, but his tone became certain.
In his world, this was an undisputed truth.
When Harvey noticed Hermione shifting her suspicious gaze toward him, he knew he had to step in and explain.
"Ahem..."
Before explaining, Harvey reached out and pulled a book titled The Theory of Wandless Magic from a seven-foot-tall shelf.
"To be honest, young people are just so naive and inexperienced."
"Who says you can't cast spells without a wand? This book explains the theory of wandless magic right here."
"Look for yourself if you don't believe me!"
Harvey handed the book to Hermione to prove he wasn't talking nonsense.
"Let me see that," Hermione said, half-doubting, as she flipped through the first few pages.
She couldn't understand most of the content, but she could read the large print in the preface.
Wandless magic is a high-level magical technique. It is significantly more difficult than non-verbal spells and carries a high risk of magical backfire. Adult wizards reading this book are advised to proceed with caution...
"Adult wizards?"
After reading the preface, Hermione fell silent for a moment and took a deep, expressionless breath.
Then... she suddenly turned and landed a punch right on Harvey's nose!
"Ow..."
Harvey, who considered himself quite agile, failed to dodge Hermione's sneak attack.
In that split second, he had intended to move, but he felt as though an invisible force had pinned him in place.
He could only watch as a tiny pink fist grew larger and larger in his field of vision...
Even with his nose throbbing and hands covering his face, Harvey desperately tried to prove his innocence.
"To be honest, you just used a Body-Bind Curse on me without a wand! Is that not wandless magic?"
Harvey sounded incredibly pained and wronged.
What was wrong with this world?
Where was the trust between people?
"You were just too clumsy to dodge and now you're making excuses about a curse?"
Seeing the tears of pain in Harvey's eyes, Hermione's anger mostly evaporated, and her voice softened.
However, she still turned her head away, refusing to look at the annoying boy.
She swore she would never believe Harvey's lies ever again.
Hearing their exchange, Ron hesitated before deciding to take Harvey's side.
"Uh... Miss Hermione, actually, I noticed it too. You definitely used an accidental Body-Bind Curse..."
"Did I?" Hermione shot Ron a skeptical look.
Just as Ron was about to explain further, Mrs. Weasley walked over and called out, "Children, come here! I've finished buying the first-year textbooks!"
Hermione immediately shifted her attention to her parents, seeing them also carrying a stack of books, and hurried over to help.
"Mom, are the first-year textbooks and the books I wanted all here?"
"Of course, and Harvey, come here, your books are here too." Mrs. Granger handed out the stacks.
"Thank you, Mrs. Granger!" Harvey said politely as he took the books.
He glanced at the titles: The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, Magical Drafts and Potions, and other standard curriculum.
In Hermione's stack, there were several extra titles she had requested, such as Hogwarts: A History and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.
"Thanks, Mom!" Hermione balanced her stack of books, stroking the dragon-hide covers of some of the more mysterious-looking volumes.
She couldn't wait to open them.
After giving Ron his books, Mrs. Weasley turned to the Grangers warmly.
"Mrs. Granger, I assume you're headed to buy wands next? We've already got ours, so we'll say our goodbyes here. Let's chat again soon!"
"Of course. Goodbye, Mrs. Weasley!"
Mrs. Granger replied politely.
At this moment, Mrs. Granger felt that the Wizarding World, despite its ugly monsters, at least had some very kind and heartwarming people.