Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Draco, still sitting in his compartment and engrossed in his book, was naturally unaware of the conversation between Goyle and Crabbe.

But with his current temperament, even if he did know, it probably wouldn't cause much of a ripple in his composure…

Draco gently turned a page, occasionally running his index finger over Charlie's delicate handwriting in the notebook.

Feeling the texture, the indentations pressed into the paper over countless hours, he was momentarily lost in thought.

He could almost picture it: in Hogwarts, countless late nights or early mornings… that figure, the same year as him, hunched over a desk, filling this large notebook to the brim, word by word.

A surge of inexplicable emotion welled up within him. Draco couldn't help but take a deep breath, his gaze becoming even more determined.

"I must, I must become like Uncle…"

However, just as Draco was muttering to himself, once again making a vow in his heart, a voice suddenly shattered the atmosphere he had built up.

"Hey, hello! A little boy named Neville has lost his toad. Has it run in here?"

"Huh?"

Draco frowned and, following the direction of the voice, slowly turned his head, his expression unfriendly.

He saw a girl with bushy hair, who looked about his age, standing in the doorway, speaking while looking at him.

Draco's frown deepened. He opened his mouth, just about to say something.

However, to his surprise, the girl at the door suddenly seemed to notice something. Her gaze shifted from Draco and went straight to the notebook on the table.

"Are you reading?" The girl's tone suddenly became cheerful, as if she had met a kindred spirit, her eyes brightening.

"Is that any of your business?"

Draco didn't give her any special treatment just because she was a girl. Instead, he was as sharp-tongued as usual.

Sure enough, upon hearing Draco's reply, the girl who had been so enthusiastic immediately frowned, narrowing her eyes and scanning Draco up and down.

"Really, is it me? Or is it just a tradition with you guys that you don't know how to talk to strangers properly?"

Draco didn't understand what she was talking about at all, and he had no interest in it anyway.

"Hmph…"

Draco scoffed and ignored the girl at the door, returning his gaze to his notebook, his attitude still awful.

"If you hadn't bothered me, you might never have known."

If nothing else, Draco was clearly on a different level from Ron when it came to being verbally venomous.

Almost instantly, Hermione's goodwill towards Draco plummeted like a rollercoaster, surpassing Ron's previous low in record time.

She pursed her lips, glaring fiercely at the annoying guy in the compartment, her rapid breathing revealing her anger.

At that moment, a suspicion flashed through Hermione's mind…

She wondered if giving up her place at Eton College during the summer and choosing Hogwarts, a magic school she had never heard of, had been a wise decision.

You see, for someone from a middle-to-upper-class family, with excellent living conditions, and who had been pampered by her parents since childhood, she had never experienced anything like this before!

In her neighborhood, almost everyone was polite, spoke gently, and had kind faces… at worst, they just wouldn't polish their shoes before going out.

But today—to be met with hostility from two strangers in a row, despite doing nothing wrong, was simply unimaginable to her!!

The compartment fell silent again. Just as Draco, who was watching the notebook while listening for any movement, thought she was about to leave,

the girl's voice rang out again, although this time, it lacked the friendliness from before.

"Oh, really! Let me guess why you don't like people getting close to you…"

Draco turned his head again, squinting at her with a puzzled expression.

Just as he was about to habitually say a few more words, the girl spoke first.

"Is it because you don't want to expose the fact that you can't understand what you're reading?"

Hermione answered herself, and her gaze also conveyed a hint of deliberate pity.

"How pathetic… Do you need me to tell you that the thing you're looking at is called a book, and it's spelled b-o-o-k…"

"Are you kidding me…"

Draco was stunned by this sudden counterattack, then his frown deepened, and he was about to retort.

But before he could finish, he was interrupted again.

"Yeah, no need to explain, because I know that the more people explain, the more they lack something. Have you heard the old saying:"

"Protect your pathetic self-esteem! I certainly won't tell anyone—"

………………

Draco's pupils constricted, his lips trembling slightly. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to retort several times.

But she didn't give him any chance to speak.

A string of words, one after another, like a machine gun, were fired off in one breath.

"Huff…"

Finally, after four minutes of venting, Hermione finally released all the frustration she had been holding in.

She took a long breath, then raised her eyebrows provocatively at Draco, who was still stunned, and gave a bright smile, providing a perfect conclusion to their confrontation.

"I hope you've realized your mistake… Really, no need to thank me. I'm Hermione… I look forward to the next time we meet and you can be happy."

After saying that, she ignored everything else, tossed her head, and strode out of Draco's compartment.

A long time later… Draco finally recovered from the barrage he had just endured.

His dazed eyes gradually regained their focus, then his eyelids twitched violently, and veins popped out on his forehead, revealing an incredulous expression.

"Are… are you kidding me!!"

With a "whoosh!" he sprang from his seat, no longer caring about the book. He rushed out, looking left and right for Hermione's whereabouts.

"How dare she… how dare she!"

However, she had already disappeared. The empty corridor no longer held any trace of her figure.