12 Emotionally incoherent!

"Dare you to laugh!"

Hermione's voice was slightly slurred as Wayne accidentally bumped her chin, causing her to bite her tongue. Tears of pain were welling up in her eyes.

Wayne looked at the angry Hermione, a mischievous smile forming on his face. "I haven't blamed you yet, but you're the first to complain, right?"

"Then, let's discuss whose problem it is," Hermione retorted.

Wayne placed "Hogwarts: A School History" in his trolley and turned to look at Hermione.

"Just now, I was squatting on the ground, looking for a book. I didn't move. I stood up, and there was no way I could have bumped into anyone," Wayne explained.

"Unless you intentionally stood next to me and stuck your head out, I could not have bumped your chin," he added.

"Tsk, tsk..." Wayne suspiciously examined Hermione, whose face had turned red. "You're not here for fraud, are you?"

"Fraud? What do you mean?" Confusion filled Hermione's big brown eyes.

"It means attempting to obtain compensation through blackmail, extortion, or intentionally causing harm," Wayne clarified.

Hermione immediately became furious. "Nonsense! I'm not that kind of person!"

"I... I just saw this book, but I didn't expect you to grab it before me," she explained.

"Then why were you standing so close?" Wayne asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

Matter-of-factly, Hermione replied, "This book is a little dirty. If you put it back, it would mean you don't want it. So, I have to keep an eye on it."

"Ah, I see," Wayne nodded with understanding. He held the book in his hand and waved it in front of Hermione. "Do you want it?"

Excitement filled Hermione's eyes, as she nodded and looked at Wayne expectantly. She thought he was going to give her the book, and her perception of him softened.

Wayne smiled and gestured towards his face. "Do I look good?"

Subconsciously, Hermione nodded. It was quite early to describe an eleven-year-old boy as handsome. For someone her age, "cute" and "beautiful" were more appropriate words.

Wayne was the most beautiful child Hermione had ever seen, with features even more delicate than the girls'. 

"In that case, you think I'm good-looking?" Wayne questioned.

Hermione blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed. However, for the sake of this history book, she chose to tell the truth. "You look good."

"Well, I'm pleased with the compliment," Wayne's smile faded as he turned around and pushed the cart away. "To be honest, I have a message for you because you were honest. The next batch of "Hogwarts: A School History" will be available before school starts. It will be delivered to you, and you can purchase it then."

Hermione was left stunned and quickly caught up with Wayne, who had walked some distance away.

"You're not giving me the book?" she asked, puzzled."Why should I give it to you? What I grabbed is mine."

"Then you still ask me these questions?"

"Can't we do a social survey?" Hermione was furious.

"You!"

Hermione was furious and then realized that she had been tricked. She watched Wayne pay the bill.

"A History of Modern Magic", "The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic", "Breaking with the Ghost".

These are the books she wants.

Hermione's eyes were a little red because of the restrictions on Muggle currency exchange, even though she had reduced her allowance for one semester to five galleons. It was far from enough to spend all the remaining money on buying books. She wanted to be like this little boy and buy whatever books she wanted.

Feeling the eyes staring at him from behind, Wayne secretly chuckled in his heart. He just teased Hermione on purpose. Suddenly, Wayne had an idea in his mind. He asked the cashier to send all the other books home by owl, leaving only the two books "Hogwarts: A History of the School" and "Identification and Cultivation of Hundreds of Herbs". Then he looked at Hermione.

"Do you want to see them? I can lend them to you?"

Due to the experience of being tricked just now, Hermione looked at Wayne warily and said nothing. Wayne didn't care and said to himself, "It's not possible to borrow them for free...but if someone is willing to pay some rent, I can consider it."

Hearing this, Hermione was indeed moved. "How much?"

"A Sickle, an hour."

Hermione frowned. "It's too expensive. I think I'll have to pay you for a day... one Galleon and seven Sickles."

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

After much hesitation, Hermione nodded. "Deal!"

On the way to the dessert shop, the two of them also introduced themselves.

The little witch met a Hogwarts freshman of the same age for the first time, and she couldn't stop talking all the way. Wayne just responded with "Oh yes" and "Oh shit" to keep the conversation going.

"Lawrence, you spent dozens of galleons on buying so many books at once," Hermione said with envy. "You must be born into a wizard family, right? Can you tell me what the life of a wizard is like?"

Being able to come to Hogwarts to learn magic was a big surprise mixed with trepidation for Hermione. She was extremely competitive and afraid that she wouldn't be able to adapt to Hogwarts, and that she would be far behind the children who had grown up in wizarding families.

Wayne shook his head. "I was not born into a wizarding family."

"Impossible," Hermione promptly objected, "Even after exchanging pounds for seventy galleons, the remaining money cannot exceed thirty galleons, excluding the necessary purchases."

"How can I possibly buy so many books at once?"

"I just saw you paying the bill, a total of one hundred and twenty galleons!"

Wayne remained calm, saying, "There may be a limit on pounds, but there is no limit on gold. I exchanged all this money for gold."

"What?!"

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, "You, you, you... exchanging gold for galleons? That's too extravagant, isn't it? Did your parents approve of this?"

Wayne replied calmly, "My parents passed away a long time ago and I am an orphan."

Hermione: "..."

She realized that today she felt emotionally detached like never before.