Chapter 28: The Face of the Animal World - 'Little Steel' (Edited)

The chubby boy sitting on the opposite side of the compartment didn't lag behind and introduced himself, "I'm Neville Longbottom, but you can call me Neville. And this is my pet, Trevor."

As he spoke, Neville held the warty toad in his hands and introduced it. Then, he looked at Bell with a look that said "We're in the same boat" and nodded vigorously. Bell felt confused.

"Do we know each other? Also, I really don't want to know the name of that toad."

As Bell's gaze turned towards Neville, the toad Trevor darted into the shadow behind Neville at full speed, trembling in fear.

Trevor had never felt so secure in the presence of his owner. He vowed never to attempt to escape again. Freedom wasn't worth it if it meant facing life-or-death situations like the one he had recently experienced. If Neville were to learn of Trevor's thoughts, would he be grateful to Bell or avoid him?

"You can call me Hermione too. Bell, did you use magic a moment ago? The first spell was 'Clean,' right? What other spells do you know? Do you come from a wizarding family? Are you good at many spells? What do you usually do at home...?"

(￣△￣;)

Seeing the excited young witch and hearing her endless questions, Bell felt a strong headache.

Oh my! Is he being punished by the gods? He just wanted to be alone for a while! Is that so difficult?

''Ugh~!''

ε=(ο｀*)))

Bell no longer knew how many times he had sighed today. To deal with the young witch's questions, he had to gather a bit of mental energy and, well, increased his height by about 2 centimeters.

"I used magic a moment ago; the first spell was 'Clean,' the second one is called 'Tergeo,' I use it to eliminate unpleasant odors. Yes, I come from a wizarding family. I know quite a bit of magic... well..."

Bell thought for a moment and finally, with a resigned tone, asked, "What's your next question?"

There's no way around it; the current Bell is completely disconnected. If it were under normal circumstances, he wouldn't forget anything after hearing it once, especially this kind of information.

But at this moment, if he can understand that someone is talking to him, it's an achievement. You can't expect much more. Bell only does it because the young witch reminds him of his sister, Shanna.

Hermione blushed. After asking all those questions, she realized she had been rude in getting so excited. She had fired off a barrage of questions in one go, which was really impolite.

However, she didn't expect Bell to answer all her questions one after another without showing impatience. This was the first time someone had responded so seriously to her questions, apart from her parents.

If Bell knew what Hermione was thinking at this moment, he would probably snort in disdain.

Such trivial questions? Over the years, his curious sister had trained and toughened him until he had nerves of steel. A thousand questions from the Mischievous Cat could no longer challenge him.

"Bell, could you show me a bit of magic?" Hermione asked eagerly, anxious to learn more magic.

━┳━━┳━

"No, it's too bothersome..." Bell lowered himself by 2 centimeters again without hesitation.

He didn't want to talk or do magic right now. He didn't want to do anything, just stay quiet like a salted fish.

"I'm so sorry..."

Watching the young witch with a pitiful expression, on the verge of tears, Bell suddenly felt like the villain stealing her lollipop. He felt a bit guilty inside.

"Phew!"

"Well, alright, alright. But I don't know what magic I should show all of a sudden. Let me think..."

After a brief silence, Bell pulled a pen from his pocket. Yes, a pen. After all, it was the 20th century, and Bell wouldn't use quills like those old-fashioned wizards. He wouldn't allow it!

Of course, except for the pen that was already enchanted. Due to its structure, enchanting a quill is a bit easier compared to a pen.

Bell slid the wand from his robe sleeve and touched the pen with it. The pen quickly transformed into a small owl, which we'll temporarily call "Little Steel." After all, even an ugly toad-like frog had its own name. As a representative of beauty in the animal world, it would be impolite for the little owl not to have a name.

Little Steel hooted twice, then rose and flew around the compartment for two turns, observing the situation inside the carriage. Finally, it perched on Hermione's shoulder and rubbed its head against the young witch's cheek.

"Coocoo"

'...'

Bell swore that this wasn't something he controlled. He was a serious person, really.

Neville looked at Bell with wide eyes, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Hadn't we agreed that we would all have brain death together? How come suddenly you've become so good at this? Traitor."

Neville felt he had been deceived, that this was a malicious lie. His young heart was deeply wounded, and he would no longer trust anyone... well, at least not without being much more cautious. Now, only the cool and damp touch of Trevor could comfort his wounded heart.

Seeing the little owl on her shoulder, Hermione stood up excitedly from her seat.

"This is amazing! Truly amazing! How did you do it? It's like Professor McGonagall! Do you know Professor McGonagall? She's the Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. I come from a Muggle family, and when I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter at first, my parents thought it was a joke, that magic didn't exist. Then, Professor McGonagall came to my house to prove that magic was real. She used her wand to turn a teacup into a rat, and my whole family was amazed."

Hermione held "Little Steel" in front of her eyes, looking at it with excitement-reddened ears.

"Little Steel" felt surprisingly like a real owl to the touch. Hermione had always thought that transfigured animals only looked similar, like illusions, and it never occurred to her that they could also feel the same. It was incredible!

While observing "Little Steel," Hermione couldn't help but make a little internal joke about Professor McGonagall. After all, both were women, and Hermione wondered why Professor McGonagall chose to transfigure a mouse when she could have chosen something else. The professor's choice left her speechless at that time.

Σ(°△°|||)︴

'...'

However, suddenly, something seemed to cross Hermione's mind. Her face went from being red with excitement to visibly pale. Even her lips turned white, and her forehead began to sweat profusely.