“You’re still laughing!”
Hermione’s voice was a little muffled. Wayne had bumped into her chin earlier, causing her to bite her tongue.
Now, her eyes were watering from the pain.
“This... little kid.” Wayne looked at the fuming Hermione, his smile growing wider.
“I haven't even blamed you, yet you're playing the victim, are you?”
“So, let's reason this out, who’s fault is this?”
Wayne placed *Hogwarts: A History* in his small trolley.
He turned back to face the little girl.
“I was crouched on the floor looking for a book, I didn’t move, I just stood up straight. There’s no way I could have bumped into anyone.”
“Unless you intentionally stood next to me, and stuck your head out, only then could I have hit your chin.”
“Tsk tsk...” Wayne looked at Hermione, whose face was now flushed, with suspicion, “You wouldn't be trying to scam me, would you?”
“Scam? What’s that?” Brown eyes filled with confusion, the little girl hadn't heard this word before.
“It means to extort, to blackmail, to feign injury and get compensation.” Wayne explained briefly.
Hermione immediately blew up!
“Nonsense! I'm not that kind of person!”
“I... I just also saw this book, I didn't expect you to grab it first.”
“Then why were you standing so close?” Wayne asked suspiciously.
Hermione acted as if it were natural, “This book is a bit dirty, if you put it back, it means you don’t want it, so of course I have to keep an eye on it.”
“So, that’s how it is...” Wayne nodded knowingly.
He picked up the book again, waving it in front of Hermione, “Want it...”
Hermione nodded excitedly, looking at Wayne expectantly.
She thought Wayne was going to give her the book, her gaze toward the boy softened.
Her impression of him instantly shot up.
Wayne smiled and pointed to his own face:
“Do I look good?”
Hermione nodded subconsciously, it was too early to call an eleven-year-old boy handsome, at this age, cute and pretty were the more suitable terms.
Wayne was the most beautiful child Hermione had ever seen, even more delicate than girls’ features.
“So, you think you look good, and I look good?”
“This...” Hermione was a little embarrassed.
But for the sake of this history book, she still chose to tell the truth:
“You look good...”
“Okay, I'm very happy that you complimented me.” Wayne’s smile disappeared and he turned to push his trolley away, “In return for you telling the truth, I’ll give you some news, the next batch of *Hogwarts: A History* will arrive before school starts, you’ll be able to buy it then.”
Hermione was stunned, she saw Wayne walk a distance away, then quickly chased after him.
“You’re not giving me the book?”
“Why would I give it to you, I grabbed it, it's mine.”
“Then why did you ask me all those questions?”
“Is doing a social survey wrong?”
“You!”
Hermione was furious, she finally realized that she had been tricked, she watched helplessly as Wayne checked out.
*A History of Modern Magic*, *The Rise and Fall of Dark Arts*, *Breaking Up with Ghosts*...
These were all the books she wanted.
Hermione's eyes were even a little red, because of the limitations of the Muggle currency exchange, even if she cut her allowance for a term to five Galleons.
The rest of the money was far from enough to buy all the books she wanted.
She wished she could be like this boy, buy whatever books she wanted.
Sensing the gaze on his back, Wayne secretly laughed in his heart. He had just played a prank on Hermione.
Suddenly, an idea struck Wayne.
He asked the cashier to send all the other books home by owl, and kept only *Hogwarts: A History* and *Hundreds of Herbs and their Identification and Cultivation*.
Then he looked at Hermione.
“Want to take a look? I can lend it to you?”
Due to the experience of being tricked just now, Hermione looked at Wayne cautiously, without saying a word.
Wayne didn’t mind, he said to himself, “Free lending is certainly not an option... but if someone is willing to pay some rent, I might consider it.”
Hearing this, Hermione was indeed tempted.
“How much?”
“One Sickle, for an hour.”
Hermione frowned, “That’s too expensive, I think I’ll have to pay you… one Galleon, seven Sickles, for a day.”
“Who’s letting you borrow it for a day.” Wayne took out a pocket watch and checked the time, then said:
“I have an afternoon tea appointment at Florean Fortescue’s, and I’ll be reading a book, at most two hours.”
After much hesitation, Hermione nodded.
“Deal!”
.......
On the way to the sweets shop, they both introduced themselves.
The little witch met a Hogwarts freshman of the same age for the first time, and her mouth wouldn’t stop talking the whole way.
Wayne just responded with “Oh yes”, “Oh shit” and so on, it wasn’t boring.
“Lawrence, you bought so many books, it must have cost you dozens of Galleons.” Hermione said enviously:
“You must be from a wizarding family, right? Can you tell me about wizarding life, what’s it really like?”
Being able to study magic at Hogwarts was a surprise mixed with fear for Hermione.
She was very competitive, and was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to adapt to Hogwarts, and would fall behind the children who had lived in wizarding families since they were young, becoming the bottom of the class.
Wayne shook his head, “I’m not from a wizarding family.”
“Impossible.” Hermione immediately retorted, “Even if you replaced all your necessary items with Galleons, even after exchanging seventy Galleons, there’s no way you’d have more than thirty Galleons left.”
“How could you buy so many books in one go.”
“I saw you pay just now, it was one hundred and twenty Galleons!”
Wayne remained calm, “There’s a limit to the amount of British pounds, but not gold, I exchanged these with gold.”
“What?!”
Hermione’s eyes widened, “You you you... you exchanged gold for Galleons, that’s so extravagant, your parents actually agreed?”
Wayne remained calm, “My parents are dead, I’m an orphan.”
Hermione: “......”
She found that she had never been so incoherent in her life.