20 Is being a nerd contagious?

I walked parallel to the train as I headed towards the carriage where we store our luggage for the trip. As I was walking I saw a girl trying to hurl her trunk into the carriage to no avail. I came over and stood right next to her before chucking my trunk into the carriage effortlessly before walking away. Just as I was heading in to find an empty compartment for myself I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned around to find the same girl looking at me. "excuse me, can you help me put my trunk in the carriage I can't seem to do it myself as you saw," she said insinuatingly. I didn't really care and looked at her for a little while. I found her familiar before but now I know why. She was Hermione Granger from the harry potter franchise. But unlike the novels and films, she was more of a mixture between the both. She looked like the actress in the movie but she had frizzy, untamable dark hair, brown eyes, and protruding teeth which she had in the novel.

I soon snapped out of it before it got creepy and nodded. "sure, I don't mind" I said before taking her trunk out of her hands and pulling it with me before walking back to the luggage carriage again. I soon found an empty spot on top of mine and placed it there before turning around to face her. She had a happy expression as she thanked me. We both got on the train and started to look for an empty compartment and soon found one with no one in it. As we got in we took our seats opposite each other.

Before I could do anything I found Hermione's hand stretched out in front of her. "hello nice to meet you, my name is Hermione Granger," she said with a smile as she looked at me expectantly. I extended my own hand and held hers in a gentle yet firm handshake. " It is my pleasure, the name is Thomas Knight, but you can just call me Tom," I said before retracting my hand. "why did you not help me when you saw me struggling?" she asked rather abruptly. I was surprised by her straightforwardness. "because you did not ask for help. If I went around helping everyone in need I would miss the train," I said jokingly before pulling out a book from my backpack. She was surprised by the answer but couldn't find the words to rebut me.

She saw the book in my hands and looked up at me again before talking rather quickly. "I memorised all the books that we needed to buy for the year. I even went and read about the history of the school, do you think that will be enough to get the top place? or do you think it's not enough?" She asked inquisitively. I looked up at her silently before shaking my head.

She frowned at my answer. " I knew it wouldn't be enough, now I'll be behind and I'll get bad mar-" I cut her off before she could continue to ramble on. "Hermione, I can call you that right?" I asked. she stopped talking and nodded at me. "ok Hermione, I think that what you have read will be enough to pass the year in terms of theoretical knowledge. But I believe that practice is just as important. Knowledge without practice is just useless words on a page, and practice without knowledge will not only lead to accidents but will bear no fruit. I think that a balance needs to be achieved to maximise results." I said before returning my attention to the book.

Hermione seemed to have a perplexed look on her face. "maybe your right.." she murmured and opened a book herself. I didn't find it surprising that she decided to read since she was a bookworm. Soon the train started to leave which caught Hermione's attention. She had a look of awe as she stared out the window. "don't you think magic is incredible Tom? I was incredibly surprised when I received my letter of admission to Hogwarts. I didn't even know that magic existed before then. My parents are ordinary after all. Did you know you were a wizard Tom?" she asked.

Can I just read my book in peace? I complained in my head before putting the book aside. I looked up and nodded slightly. " I was born in a family of wizards but for- unexpected circumstances I was raised by normal people. In short, I know about magic beforehand but unlike magical families, I was not able to use it due to the statute of secrecy." I said half lying with a complicated look.

Hermione seemed to pick up on it and changed the topic. "statute of secrecy?" she asked curiously. I nodded, "it's something you will be informed of at school anyway so there's no harm in knowing about it earlier. It is just a law that makes sure that muggle-borns or people who are raised by muggles don't use magic outside of permitted areas such as the school, for the sole reason of keeping the existence of the magical world a secret." I said while looking at her. She seemed amazed at the information as it was something she probably didnt know about. It was normal, the books she had access to probably didnt go into detail or even mention it.

She stayed silent after that as we stared out the window to watch the passing scenery. occasionally we would smile at each other before returning to doing our own thing. About half an hour later she closed her book abruptly and looked up at me again. I sighed since I knew more questions were coming. Seeing my reaction Hermione smiled apologetically before talking. "Tom do you know what house you would like to go into? I read that Dumbledore studied in Gryffindor which would make it the best house right?" she asked as her big brown eyes stared at me waiting for my answer.