The two boys, along with Ron's rat, disappeared from Hermione and Dolly's sight like the wind.
Through the window, Dolly saw a startled Neville in the distance.
Neville even looked like he wanted to run away, thinking that Harry and Ron were coming to bully him.
Seeing this, Dolly couldn't help but smile.
She had been considering whether to help Neville find his toad later to get Harry and Neville acquainted earlier.
But now Harry had taken Hermione's place and brought Ron along. This would surely make the three of them friends.
This was a good thing.
In the end of the original story, Neville also became a hero-like figure, even becoming the leader in Harry's place when the main trio had to flee.
It was just that due to the plot, he never had the chance to become a member of the main trio.
Now that Harry, Ron, and Neville were together, perhaps they could form a new main trio?
Of course, Neville could hardly replace Hermione.
After all, Hermione was the external brain of the entire team, and Neville's mind could never compare to Hermione's.
However, Neville also had something Hermione could never match: that final sword strike that killed Nagini.
If Neville had developed that kind of strength earlier, he might have become the new generation's Gryffindor Sword Saint of Hogwarts.
As for the task of strategizing for the main trio, Dolly and Hermione could just do it together.
Just as Dolly was lost in thought, she suddenly felt a hand on her arm.
Dolly looked down in confusion. Hermione gave her a light squeeze, then immediately turned to face the window and let out a dissatisfied little huff.
Now Dolly smiled even more broadly.
Could that little squeeze be interpreted as Hermione being jealous?
Okay, Dolly knew she was overthinking it.
But Hermione was indeed very unhappy right now and needed her comfort.
So Dolly reached out, her hand going over Hermione's shoulder, from behind to her cheek, and then began to playfully squish it.
At first, Hermione was silent, but when her nose was being squished out of shape, she couldn't take it anymore and turned to retaliate against Dolly.
Crookshanks, who had been held like a treasure in Hermione's arms just moments before, fell backward.
But luckily, Crookshanks was agile and easily flipped himself over to land steadily on all fours.
He just looked up at the two girls squishing each other's faces, his half-lidded eyes looking suspiciously like he was rolling them.
As if to say: So they've completely forgotten about me?
I'm clearly the one who was hurt the most!
Fine. A great feline like myself won't stoop to the level of young wizards.
When the two of them were tired of playing, they held each other's hands to prevent any further counterattacks, thus reaching a truce.
Only then did Dolly say lazily with a smile, "Still angry?"
"He's just a little kid. Our big sister Hermione shouldn't lower herself to his level."
Hermione's face turned red. She pulled her hand away in annoyance and covered Dolly's mouth.
She was actually a year older than Dolly and the others, because her birthday was September 19, 1979, which meant she had just missed the previous year's start of school.
Hermione hadn't cared much about it before, but being called "big sister" by Dolly made her scalp tingle.
"Don't you ever mention this again. I'm 11, just like you guys, understand?"
With that, she carefully let go of Dolly's mouth. Seeing that Dolly didn't continue to pester her about her birthday, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She wanted to defeat others with her hard work and ability, and didn't want people to label her as an older kid bullying others.
As someone who valued her grades the most, Hermione didn't want any stain on her academic record.
"Alright, then, little sister Hermione, can you stop being angry now?"
Dolly took a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean, placed it in Hermione's mouth, her finger lightly brushing against Hermione's lips.
"If it's a good flavor, we'll let this matter drop, how about it?"
Hermione had wanted to keep a straight face, but the sweet pineapple flavor finally made her brow relax.
When she opened her mouth, a faint pineapple scent wafted out.
"Hmph, he got lucky."
Hermione beckoned to the now-lying-down Crookshanks. A resigned Crookshanks could only jump back into Hermione's arms.
But Hermione's cat-petting skills had already developed, and Crookshanks soon began to purr with satisfaction.
"I was going to apologize, but he was too emotional. He talked as if that rat was his family. Although I also value Crookshanks very much, I would never treat a classmate like that."
"At this point, I can't apologize to him anymore. I want to make that clear first."
Although she said the matter was over, Hermione still had to vent a little.
Dolly didn't speak, just fed her bean after bean.
Until Hermione began to cough violently, Dolly burst out laughing.
"What flavor is it? Let me guess, jalapeno or soap? It's not wasabi, is it?"
Hermione also grabbed a handful of the weird-flavored beans and was about to stuff them into Dolly's mouth, saying through gritted teeth, "It's a fishy seawater flavor!"
"Don't run away! I'm getting my revenge."
"Your hands are dirty. you just touched the cat."
"My Crookshanks is not dirty! Right, Crookshanks?"
Crookshanks, thrown to the ground again, rolled his eyes. This time, he decided not to come out again until they arrived.
But just as Crookshanks was about to leap up, the leisurely expression on his face suddenly disappeared, and he began to look at the door warily.
The door was suddenly opened, and a somewhat thin, gentle female voice came through. "Hello, are you Harry's sister?"
"Huh?"
Dolly patted Hermione on the head. Hermione immediately sat up straight, putting away her playful demeanor.
"You are?"
Dolly looked at the person in front of her. She actually already knew her name, but she was surprised to see her here and that she knew her relationship with Harry.
"There's no time to explain. Harry got into a conflict with someone, and the boy who was looking for the toad got hit."
"Can you go and help?"
On the other side, Neville was being helped up by Ron.
Ron's face was distorted with anger. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to charge.
But Neville held on to Ron tightly. "It's okay, I'm really okay."
"Don't provoke him. His father is very powerful!"
On the other side, the blond Malfoy was rubbing his hand, looking at the toad on the ground with some annoyance.
Just now, this toad had jumped onto his shoulder.
Although toads were also common pets, Malfoy found this disgusting creature unacceptable.
So he had his underling grab the toad and was about to cast a spell on it, partly to show off his magical skills, and partly to punish this stupid thing that didn't know its place.
But at that moment, Neville had charged over with a desperate attitude.
And out of fear, he had just punched him.
Only after hitting him did he realize that the person opposite him was one of Harry Potter's lackeys.
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