A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Ron continued praising Neville, much to the fury of Scabbers. His tail still ached from the earlier stomp, and now, on top of that, he was being yanked around by Ron, who kept complimenting Neville?

Annoyed, Scabbers twisted around and bit Ron's finger hard.

"Ow!" Ron yelped, flinging the rat across the compartment. Scabbers hit Harry's luggage, fell to the floor, and bumped into the table leg before finally passing out.

Gingerly, Ron tucked Scabbers back into his pocket, giving up on further teasing, and bent down with Harry to pick up the scattered snacks.

Those snacks were expensive!

With a flick of his wand, William lifted all the snacks off the floor, arranging them neatly back on the table.

"Oh, thank you, William." Ron flashed a grin that suggested they were good friends, though they'd only met a handful of times.

"I forgot my wand, or I would've used magic to turn Malfoy into a giant bat," Ron grumbled, clenching his fists.

"Oh, you can cast spells?" Hermione raised her eyebrows skeptically. "Then show us a bit of magic."

"Um?" Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, as if he hadn't noticed her until now.

Show some magic? He'd only been bragging; he didn't expect to be called out on it.

Ron was about to refuse, claiming he was injured, but under her challenging gaze and Harry's eager expression, he finally rummaged through his trunk, pulling out an old wand. 

It was worn in places, with a tuft of unicorn hair peeking out from one end.

It was Charlie's old wand, which William had seen plenty of times.

Clearing his throat, Ron set Scabbers down on the table, waved his wand, and with exaggerated flourish, and chanted; "Daisies, cream, and sunlight, turn this silly fat rat yellow!"

He pointed the wand at Scabbers, but nothing happened.

The rat remained gray, still unconscious, its little paws occasionally twitching.

"Are you sure that's even a real spell?" Hermione snorted, looking smug.

"Doesn't look like much," she added with a smirk. "I saw some real magic over the summer, practicing spells with William and all. I tried a few simple charms myself, and they all worked."

Hermione's neck stretched proudly, like a little swan. She tilted her chin, glancing at Ron and Harry.

"No one in my family can do magic, so when I got my acceptance letter, I was absolutely shocked, but thrilled too, because, I mean, Hogwarts is the finest magical school there is! I've already memorized all my textbooks. 

"Of course, I did it out of love for magic. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. What about you?"

Her rapid-fire monologue left Harry and Ron completely stunned.

William raised an eyebrow, noting that Hermione, who was usually modest and eager to learn around him, seemed to lose some of that restraint around strangers. In a way, it reflected a deep-seated insecurity.

The young wizards Hermione had met so far—except for clumsy Neville—all excelled at magic, especially William. This had given her a skewed impression that all Hogwarts students were magically gifted.

It was like the saying about a martial artist encountering only the few who could actually defeat him, creating the illusion that he wasn't skilled at all.

Hermione now had a similar crisis of confidence.

But, at the end of the day, Hermione was just an eleven-year-old girl; however bright, she was still a child.

Eager to show off another spell, Hermione reached for her wand, but William gently placed a hand on her fluffy head to stop her.

"All right, we're just here to hand out flyers. Here, take one. We should get going. Oh, and Ron, Fred has your new wand."

"See you!" William said with a wave as they left the compartment.

After they left, Ron stared after William with open admiration.

Rubbing his panda-eyed face, Harry asked, "Who is he?"

"William Stark… He's practically as famous as you are. Well, maybe not quite as famous, but he's still pretty impressive. Haven't you been reading the papers lately?" Ron replied.

"Oh, no. My aunt and uncle keep Hedwig locked up in her cage," Harry explained. "Well, Hagrid told me about him—lots of times."

"Of course! William caught a Death Eater and became the youngest person ever to win the Order of Merlin!" Ron said enviously.

"Before the Gringotts attack, he was all over the papers… He even invited my dad and brothers to this fancy banquet, which made Percy jealous all summer."

"They brought back some golden chocolates from the event. I only got one piece, but it was delicious. I imagine it's hard to come by chocolate like that."

"Is William from a wizarding family?" Harry asked.

From Ron's description and what he'd just seen, William seemed quite skilled, especially considering how Malfoy was afraid of him.

"No, he's Muggle-born, but there's always the rare prodigy," Ron said in awe.

"My brother Percy is a great student too—he became a Prefect this year—but no one calls him a genius. Percy's achievements are things my eldest brother Bill did years ago, so it's nothing special.

"But William is different. He's a true genius. Even Percy, who usually brags about himself, says so! And my other brother, Charlie—the one who studies dragons in Romania—agrees."

"Which house is he in?" Harry asked.

"Ravenclaw—the bookworm house."

"I wonder which house I'll be sorted into," Harry mused.

"Hopefully not the same one as that Granger girl. She's terrifying!" Ron huffed, imitating Hermione's haughty tone. "Did you see that look she gave us? Does being smart mean she gets to act superior?"

Harry didn't say anything, though privately, he thought that, yes, being top of the class did seem to have its perks.

Ron tossed his wand back into his trunk.

"Blame George for that spell—he totally knew it wouldn't work and tricked me on purpose."

"Or maybe it's because of my old wand," he added as an afterthought.

"William mentioned a new wand for you. Did he get it from Ollivander's?" Harry asked.

"Oh, no. Fred said Cedric made it himself."

"Who's Cedric?"

"He's a Hufflepuff, third year now. Top of his class," Ron explained.

"But… can a young wizard make wands?" Harry asked, astonished.

"I'm not sure, but George said Cedric apprenticed at Ollivander's for quite a while. They're all so talented," Ron said wistfully.

"They're a close-knit group of friends—all top-notch students, and always together. They even started a shop selling all kinds of interesting gadgets. My mom found some over the summer, so Fred started hiding their supplies under my bed."

"They even promised me a map of Hogwarts—those maps are super rare! They're selling them to others, but I'm their brother, so of course, they won't charge me."

Ron couldn't help but boast a little.

Harry picked up the flyer on the table, glancing over the products. At the top was the Hogwarts Map.

He gaped in surprise, his mouth dropping open wide enough to fit a golf ball.

Hagrid had said most young wizards were on the same level… but that might not be quite accurate.

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