Chapter 12

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"You laugh?" Hermione's voice was slightly slurred when Wayne bumped her chin, causing her to bite her tongue. Tears of pain were almost flowing now.

"This... kid." Wayne looked at the angry Hermione, and his smile grew stronger. "I haven't held you accountable yet, but you are the first to complain, right?"

"Then let's discuss whose problem it is." Wayne put "Hogwarts: A History" in his trolley and turned back to look at Hermione. 

"I was squatting on the ground looking for a book and didn't move. I just stood up, and there was no way I could bump into anyone," Wayne said. "Unless you stood next to me on purpose and stuck your head over, I couldn't have knocked your chin." 

"Tsk, tsk..." Wayne looked suspiciously at Hermione, whose face was already red. "You're not here for porcelain, are you?"

"Porcelain? What do you mean?" There was confusion in her big brown eyes. The little girl had never heard of this word. 

"It's blackmail, extortion, and intentional injury to get compensation," Wayne explained briefly. Hermione was immediately furious.

"Nonsense! I'm not that kind of person!" she exclaimed. "I... I just saw this book, but I didn't expect you to beat me to it."

"Then why were you standing so close?" Wayne asked suspiciously.

Hermione replied matter-of-factly, "This book is a little dirty. If you put it back, it means you don't want it. Of course, I have to watch it carefully."

"So that's it..." Wayne nodded understandingly. He took the book in his hand again and waved it in front of Hermione. "Do you want it?"

Hermione nodded excitedly and looked at Wayne expectantly. She thought Wayne was going to give the book to her, and her eyes softened a lot. Her impression of him instantly improved.

Wayne smiled and pointed at his face. "Do I look good?"

Hermione nodded subconsciously. It was too early to describe an eleven-year-old boy as handsome. For a child of this age, cute and beautiful were the most appropriate words. Wayne was the most beautiful child Hermione had ever seen, with even more delicate features than girls.

"Then do you think you are good-looking or I am good-looking?" Wayne asked.

"This..." Hermione was a little embarrassed. However, for the sake of the book, she chose to tell the truth. "You look good..."

"Well, I'm very happy with the compliment." Wayne's smile faded, and he turned around to push the cart away. "For the sake of your honesty, I have a message for you. The next batch of 'Hogwarts: A History' will be delivered before school starts. You can buy it then."

Hermione was dumbfounded and quickly caught up with Wayne when she saw him walking some distance away. "You won't give me the book?"

"Why should I give it to you? What I grabbed is mine."

"Then why did you ask me those questions?" Hermione asked, frustrated.

"Can't we do a social survey?" Wayne replied.

"You!" Hermione was furious, realizing she had been tricked. She watched Wayne pay for the book, along with others like "A History of Modern Magic," "The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic," and "Break with the Ghosts," which were also books she wanted.

Hermione's eyes were a little red from the restrictions on Muggle currency exchange, even though she had reduced her allowance for one semester to five galleons. It wasn't enough to spend on all the remaining books she wanted to buy.

She really wished she could be like the boy next to her and buy whatever books she wanted. Feeling eyes on him, Wayne secretly chuckled. He had teased Hermione on purpose. Suddenly, Wayne had an idea.

He asked the cashier to send all the other books home by owl, leaving only "Hogwarts: A History of the School" and "Identification and Cultivation of Hundreds of Herbs." He looked at Hermione again.

"Want to see them? I can lend them to you."

Due to the recent trick, Hermione looked at Wayne warily and said nothing. Wayne didn't mind and continued, "It's definitely not possible to borrow them for free... but if someone is willing to pay some rent, I can consider it."

Hearing this, Hermione was tempted. "How much?"

"A Sickle, an hour."

Hermione frowned. "That's too expensive. How about a whole day for one Galleon and seven Sickles?"

"Who wants to lend them for a day?" Wayne took out a pocket watch, checked the time, and said, "I'm going to have afternoon tea at Florin Dessert Shop and read for a while. I'll stay for two hours at most."

After some hesitation, Hermione nodded. "Deal!"

On the way to the dessert shop, they introduced themselves. Hermione met a fellow Hogwarts freshman for the first time, and she chatted the whole way. Wayne responded with occasional "yes" and "oh," not looking bored at all.

"Wayne, you spent dozens of galleons on so many books at once," Hermione said enviously. "You must come from a wizard family, right? Can you tell me what it's like?"

Coming to Hogwarts to learn magic was a big surprise mixed with trepidation for Hermione. Being very competitive, she was afraid she wouldn't adapt to Hogwarts and would fall behind the children from wizarding families.

Wayne shook his head. "I wasn't born into a wizard family."

"Impossible," Hermione immediately retorted. "Even if you exchange for seventy galleons after buying necessities, the remaining money can't exceed thirty galleons. How could you buy so many books at once? I saw you just paid a full one hundred and twenty galleons!"

Wayne was calm. "There's a limit on pounds, but no limit on gold. I exchanged all the money for gold."

"What?!"

Hermione's eyes widened. "You traded gold for galleons? That's extravagant. Your parents actually agreed?"

Wayne continued calmly, "My parents died long ago. I'm an orphan."

Hermione fell silent. She realized she had never felt so emotionally off before.