Chapter 14 Questions and Answers

A few moments later, Hermione returned to Luke's side.

　　"Done saying goodbye?"

　　Luke asked with a smile.

　　Hermione nodded and thanked Luke again before she noticed the crest on Luke's chest.

　　"This one is ..."

　　Luke said as he advanced towards where the train carriage was, "It's my family crest."

　　Hermione nodded silently as she followed him, if she had been a little confused before at the hostile stares that weren't appearing, she seemed to understand something now.

　　But it was only ignorance. She was still just an eleven year old after all.

　　Luke could see that something was wrong with Hermione and could only smile in relief, "Don't worry about it, you'll learn a lot of things later, just as long as you understand that Hogwarts, and a large portion of the wizards, are capable of treating everyone basically the same."

　　"It's not like you to add so many definite words to make me feel relieved."

　　Hermione spoke up a little breathlessly.

　　"The status quo will change."

　　Luke simply said this lightly, and didn't explain much more.

　　Hermione gave Luke a deep look and didn't ask any more questions.

　　The two walked into the carriage in silence and chose a small booth to sit in. Luke put his own luggage away and then helped Hermione put hers away. Neither of them offered to separate or anything like that.

　　Hermione was the only one who knew Luke at the moment. So there was no need for her to separate from Luke for the time being.

　　As for Luke, it didn't matter, he couldn't tell who would come into the compartment if Hermione wasn't with him. It would be better to keep Hermione with him, at least she was smart enough not to pretend to be a fool.

　　"Do you know a lot of magic spells?"

　　Hermione asked after she and Luke had put their bags away and sat down in a chair before speaking up.

　　"I know quite a few, I have quite a few spell books at home, I'll get it with practice."

　　Luke replied as he smoothed out Booker's hair and spoke up.

　　Luke wasn't bragging either, general magic spells were naturally nothing difficult to learn, and common magic spells were often quite simple. Of course, those who could perform variations on common spells were absolute gods. At least Luke was unable to do so for the time being.

　　As for the more complex spells, especially black magic, thanks to Luke's talent that was high enough to make Azkaban 'special recruit', he could learn them even more easily than the everyday spells.

　　Hermione looked at Booker, the little black cat on Luke's lap, and her eyes revealed a somewhat envious look. The kitten was just too cute for his own good, he just didn't seem to be too playful with people.

　　"I've been practicing some simple spells at home too, do all the students in wizarding families cast spells?"

　　Hermione was actually most concerned about the latter, she was really worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with her studies at school.

　　What if all those teachers were teaching at the pace of those students who had the basics. What if one's talent in magical spells was actually quite average. What if ...

　　Hermione could literally think of dozens of reasons why she was no longer a good problem solver. And those reasons put quite a bit of pressure on her.

　　Luke looked at Hermione's display of worry and couldn't help but feel it in his heart.

　　This son is going to be great!

　　"Don't worry, there are very few magical spells that young wizards can learn in their own families. For one thing there really is a limit to talent in this area of learning. You have a really great talent, I can feel it from the magical fluctuations in your body. For two ..."

　　Luke suddenly had a quirky smile on his face, "For young wizards in wizarding families, all they have to learn is magical spells, and basic magical theory. Tell me Hermione, would normal kids in the muggle world like the things you learn on a daily basis?"

　　Hermione was tempted to say, "Yes!"

　　But the truth was.

She was an exception in the world of normal people.

　　"No, they tend not to like maths and grammar. But I like it a lot!"

　　Hermione's face was full of pride when she said the latter sentence.

　　Luke opened his mouth and no words came out.

　　He was in no way expecting Hermione to just naturally remove herself from the category of normal children.

　　"Pretty much, students from wizarding families tend to be less enthusiastic about the idea of learning magical spells, and their greater advantage over you tends to lie in just those accumulations of ear-to-ear, common sense, or personal tips taught by mum and dad."

　　This was one of the things that made Luke quite emotional, compared to wizards like Hermione and Harry who had always lived in the muggle world, the children of the normal wizarding world lacked enough interest in such things that were readily available to them. Some of the naughty spells tend to come easily to them, and they tend to disdain the formal, serious ones.

　　In this respect, wizards are not half different from normal people.

　　"Can you give me some information about the school?" Hermione spoke again, a curious gleam in her eyes, "The senior who came to give me the orientation was only briefly introduced, showing us the magic of magic."

　　"Er, underage wizards are not allowed to cast spells outside of school under normal circumstances." Luke started by throwing Hermione a cold shower, putting an end to any thoughts of her bending the rules and sneaking inward scrolls later on during the winter and summer holidays, "The summer just past, that is, the unenrolled first years had privileges, provided of course that the magic didn't get out of hand. Those students who are in charge of guidance will be given special permission. Of course, there are time and frequency limits. And because there aren't many new students each year, even such places are few and far between."

　　Normally it would be a student who would be in charge of the orientation. Like Hagrid was already considered over-specified, UU Lookbook www.uukanshu.com not to mention Professor McGonagall. Luke also knew it was the Gunter family's face.

　　"And the four basic colleges of the school ..."

　　"I know, I've read about them from Hogwarts: a History of the School. The intelligent Ravenclaw, the brave Gryffindor, the gentle Hedgepuppy, and the noble Slytherin."

　　Hermione quickly grabbed the words and gave a 'come on, give me a compliment' look. Luke felt as though he was becoming a teacher figure in Hermione's eyes. It really did make him cry a little.

　　"Exactly, and you have a significantly gentler definition of them." Luke gave his praise as Hermione had hoped, "In less pleasant terms it could also be described as Ravenclaw who thinks all other houses are idiots; Gryffindor who thinks all other houses are crybabies; Hedgepuppy who thinks all other houses are overly stubborn; Slytherin who thinks all other houses are rubbish."

　　Hermione found the amount of information in Luke's words a little too much for her to take in for a moment.

　　Luke didn't care if she could take it or not and continued, "It's actually normal to be prejudiced. But prejudice turning into discrimination does go a bit too far. That really needs to change. There are quite good wizards born in every house. Gryffindor, where Headmaster Dumbledore came from; Slytherin has produced good and bad people, from the current headmaster, Professor Snape, to dark lords like Voldemort; Ravenclaw has had a very good wizard dueling champion and current headmaster, Professor Flivver; and the seemingly insignificant Hedgepige has produced a very good and former student whom I admire, the author of Fantastic Beasts. Where's the Fantastic Beasts' author, Professor Newt Scamander."

　　"So, which college would you like to join, Hermione?"