Chapter 9: Bella Ciao

After practising for a while, Earnest felt sleepy and exhausted from the prior ordeal of integrating the Uzumaki physique taking over, so he decided to close his eyes and soon fell asleep.

Dora sees her brother's head falling asleep against her shoulder, so she decides to make room and give her brother a lap pillow to sleep better.

The disturbance did cause Earnest to momentarily wake up but feeling nothing unusual he decided to ignore it and fell asleep again.

Dora kept caressing his hair during the journey which made even Hermione feel jealous. But she didn't know what she was jealous of, the good sibling relationship or something else entirely.

Dora also closed the door as she didn't want her brother to be disturbed. Hermione missed this operation from Dora until a chubby round-faced boy knocked on the door to which she used a silencing spell. Hermione saw this and only then did she realize that the door was locked. Seeing that someone wanted to enter, she asked Dora in whispers, "Isn't this against school rules?"

"Yes, but many seniors do this, and also Ernie is resting now, so I don't want anyone to disturb him."

"But, shouldn't we open it?" Hermione has a look of hesitation, she doesn't want to break the school rules before even joining the school. But because of the presence of a senior, she restrained herself and didn't go into the preaching mode. If Dora was in her second or third year, she might have gotten a Hermione special on the violation of school rules, but she is a seventh-year senior, almost an adult witch.

"If you want, you can go out but I will not open the door again," Dora stated and started reading a book again while another of her hands kept caressing Earnest's hair. Dora was already a bro-con but after the accident and the guilt that she might be the cause made her extra attached to Earnest almost to the level of Maya Ikusaba from an isekai anime or Serfall Leviathan (replace siscon with brocon but the intensity is the same.)

Hermione hesitated but decided to against it and sat down ignoring the poor boy knocking on the door outside and the sound was also cancelled by the silencing charm. After some time the boy gets no response left. This also prevented Hermione from meeting the boy who lived on the train.

Around evening when Hogwarts was about to arrive, Earnest opened his eyes, his stomach making noise as he hadn't eaten anything and the Uzumaki physique requires a high amount of calories. This made Dora and Hermione snicker as they looked at the embarrassed face of Earnest.

Thankfully, Dora had some snacks from before which helped Earnest in calming his immediate hunger.

After the train stopped at Hogwarts, they made their way out, Hermione and Earnest joined the freshers, following Hagrid while Dora made her way towards the Thestral carriages. On the way, Hermione remained nervous, but Earnest assured her that nothing dangerous would happen and that she could choose her college.

Hermione also kept repeating about Hogwarts and whatever she could recall from all the books she had read.

Two more girls joined them on the boat ride, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones they were already best friends before joining Hufflepuff. But they didn't have much interactions with Earnest, just perfunctory introductions. They were also nervous and Hermione constantly showed off her knowledge and all the spells she had learned didn't help either.

Earnest also wanted to stop her but knowing the girl meant well, he couldn't frame the words that would not hurt her and also stop her, so after the boat ride he pulled her towards the back of the crowd to give her some much-needed knowledge, lest she might not make friends even in Ravenclaw, if she decides that.

"Listen, Hermione, I am your best friend. Correct?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded, not getting why they stopped and now are at the back of the crowd. She wanted to go to the front and explore the castle and also make some friends. On the train, she didn't get the chance to do so because she didn't want to leave the carriage where Earnest was resting.

And it's not like she didn't enjoy the ride, Dora helped her several times when she asked questions related to spells or potions. And also she kept peeking at Earnest's sleeping face which was also a form of enjoyment for the little witch.

"So let me be straightforward, and don't get me wrong, I enjoy your company and whenever you share these knowledge points. But other students are not like that. Listen, like you, I also didn't have many friends or almost no friends. I only have my sister"

'Well, I don't remember Dora telling me about having any friends from whatever she told me during the memory recall she gave me.'

"Or even if I had, I don't remember them. My sister might not have told you but recently I suffered from amnesia so I don't remember anything from my childhood. So I read more and listen to people more to get more things in my empty brain. Well, that's not the point, we are getting off-topic.

What I want to say is that don't show your knowledge to others. Answering questions in class is another thing, if you show your knowledge to others, they will feel inferior, believe me, or not, you are already a top student, both in the muggle and the wizarding world. If a top student kept showing their knowledge and kept telling them what they know about various things, what would other students think about it?"

"..." Hermione has no answer but from the look of hesitation, you can tell that she already had a guess.

"Arroagant and conceited. Now I know you are not arrogant, you only want to share the knowledge and I like that about you and wouldn't want to change it, but others won't like it. So instead of showing your knowledge to others, just talk about random things, like how beautiful the scenery is, what is your favourite food etc.

Listen, we like to study but other children don't, they take it as a chore, so you understand right? Also, from the boat before, Susan and Hannah didn't talk much, you can guess that they were overwhelmed by you."

Now Hermione's whole perception was broken. She always thought that she was helping others but now she understood.

"I'm sorry." She said in a low voice.

"Do you also not like it?"

"What are you talking about? I like the way you are, you can continue giving me those knowledge shots, but just restrain yourself with others. I don't want you to be hated by others. "

"I will."

After hearing that Earnest likes her the way she is, a bright smile appeared on her face, as for the rest she didn't focus on it.

She will restrain herself as she says to Earnest and she also realises her problem now, but since Earnest said that he likes her the way she is, she is more at ease with him. 'At least I can be myself in his company.'

By the time they noticed ahead, Professor McGonagall had returned and was now leading them towards the Dining hall for the Sorting ceremony.

When they entered the Hall, Hermione seeing the sky wanted to point out what she read in the History book but kept it to herself. Now she will try not to show off herself to others, only to Earnest she can show her true self. These feelings are taking a dangerous turn but no one notices it.

Earnest also looked around, he was hidden in the crowd so no one noticed him but after looking at the professors, he stared at Quirrel for a particularly long time. Quirel gives me those sinister vibes and this is probably the advantage of pure Uzumaki physique that I can sense these intentions when I focus hard. From other professors, I get a neutral sort of feeling or sometimes good.

Dumbledore also comes in this category, so he is not some kind man, but more of a neutral character. Only Hagrid and Professor Sprout have given me the best positive vibes. This means he is not the Dark Lord Dumbledore that I often encountered in those fan theories.

Then his gaze went to the Slytherin table. 'Such Exquisite tablewares, those costly robes, they stand out from the rest of the colleges. But what I see is money waiting to be robbed.

Now that I think about it, I remember a very famous Italian song from that Spanish Web Series. Although the meaning of the song is freedom and resistance, the feeling remains the same. The magic world is also rotten, if my knowledge is correct, the ministry is also a dog run by those aristocrats sitting at the top. The song might have some meaning after all, my Heist against those purebloods might also be a resistance against the already existing system.

I might be thinking too much into it but let's look forward to Slytherin.

As the Sorting Hat completed its song, Earnest started humming his own tune, the same tune of that Italian Song. Initially, only Hermione and those close to him were able to hear it.

But everyone at Slytherin's Table felt a chill on their backs as a lone student among the freshers looked towards them humming a song.