Time went by very quickly, and at around twelve-thirty, a loud clattering came from the corridor outside the compartment.
A dimpled woman with a beaming smile pushed open the sliding door and pointed at the little trolley she was pushing. Looking at the three children buried in their books, she asked, "Dears, would you like to buy some snacks from the trolley?"
Ron, whose mind had already been wandering, was the first to raise his head, but after glancing at the dazzling array of snacks on the trolley, he awkwardly chuckled and said, "No, but thank you."
Ron took out a bulging plastic bag, which was packed with several squashed sandwiches that almost immediately made one lose their appetite. Ron attempted to force his mouth into an ugly smile as he softly whispered.
"I brought sandwiches."
Ron quickly put down the sandwiches and looked out the window. Alina noticed his ears had gone red, and it was obvious that he wasn't happy about them.
"Sorry, miss, nothing from me, either."
Alina also shook her head and refused, but this was because she had already planned on freeloading.
In truth, ever since that trip to Hogwarts, Alina's little treasury had been completely confiscated.
Whether it was British pounds or Galleons, they had all been seized by those contemptible adults 'for safekeeping' so that she wouldn't run off and cause even more trouble.
Dumbledore and Benitez had both said that if Alina wanted to buy something, they just needed to tell them. As for using the money herself, she could put aside any thought of it until school started.
Thus, besides her large trunk of snacks, Alina was truly penniless. She couldn't buy anything even if she wanted to.
"Hey, Ron, if you don't mind, why don't we trade."
Glancing at the silent Ron, the silver-haired girl thought of something, walked over to her trunk, and took out a chocolate ball wrapped in golden foil that she offered to Ron.
"When I was getting on the train, I heard from Fred that Mrs. Weasley needs to take care of all seven of you. I'm guessing that her cooking is rather good."
"But..."
Ron hesitantly glanced at Alina, subconsciously wanting to hide away his bag of squashed sandwiches.
"Relax. This is ordinary chocolate, the primary product of the Italian Ferrero company. If I wasn't afraid of getting fat, I wouldn't be offering it to you."
Raising an eyebrow, Alina simply seized the bag of sandwiches from Ron's hand and threw over the chocolate ball.
After reading the Harry Potter series from Book 1 to Book 7, she found it very hard to feel any disgust for the Weasley family, this microcosm of the positive side of the Magic World.
Every time she read those books, she would always imagine that, if possible, she would make it so that this family did not have to live such an impoverished life.
After all, besides their lack of family planning, the Weasley couple had no clear blemishes as parents.
"You won't like eating them. It's canned beef in those sandwiches, so they really aren't that good."
Caught off guard, Ron shook his head and sorrowfully said.
"She doesn't have the time."
Sensing that this was somewhat inappropriate, he hastily added, "Ah, what I mean is that she has to take care of all six of us...I mean, these sandwiches aren't a good show of her cooking skills."
Ron's face went red as he stood up and tried to take back the wrinkled plastic bag.
"Ron, relax. I'm no pampered little miss. The word 'picky' doesn't even exist in my dictionary."
Alina shrugged her shoulders, opened the plastic bag, took out one of the cold sandwiches, and took a bite.
"You have to understand that when the orphanage was just opened, in order to save food for the other children, Father Benitez and I would eat black bread that was basically as hard as a stone almost every day."
A nostalgic look appeared in the girl's eyes. Benitez, who had come from Spain, was not treated like the priests who were native to Britain, and he also had a little burden that had forgotten to download the right language pack before transmigrating. In order to keep up their little orphanage, the two of them had used every method at their disposal.
One had to realize that the filthy air of London was far crueler and more nauseating than non-natives could ever imagine. Maintaining an orphanage there in the 90s was like walking through hell.
In comparison, the bullying and exclusion Harry faced as a child or Ron's impoverished family weren't even worth mentioning.
Of course, this was also a source of great comfort to Benitez. As long as he and the orphanage were still there, Alina would never stray from the correct path. Not even Dumbledore with his Unbreakable Vow could be as sure as Benitez was.
"Wait for a second! Alina, you're an orphan?!"
Ron and Harry stared in wide-eyed disbelief. In their eyes, the refined and knowledgeable silver-haired girl had nothing to do with the word 'orphan.'
"Strictly speaking, you can't say I'm an orphan. Let's not talk about this."
Alina slightly shook her head, not walking to talk too much about this topic. She smiled at Ron and pointed at the sandwich, a sincere look on her face as she gave a big thumbs-up.
"To tell the truth, the taste isn't that bad. The beef in the middle was parboiled in tomato broth, right? It's moderately salty with some tomato juice flavor.
"The cheese was also cooked so that it firmly attaches to the bread. Such great care! It's definitely not the sandwich you were talking about that was thrown together with little attention."
If the average grade for British cuisine was fifty points, Mrs. Weasley's cooking skills would be at around seventy points. The sandwich looked simple, and its appearance was nothing to be lauded.
But as a foodie, Alina could sense Mrs. Weasley's love in the slightly cooked cheese and parboiled salted beef.
"Eh? I don't get it, but I guess..."
Ron blankly nodded, his expression becoming much more natural. Although he didn't understand what Alina had said, he could at least tell that his mother's sandwiches were not as bad as he thought they were.
"If you like them, I'll let you have them. I've wanted to try this Muggle chocolate."
After carefully examining Alina's expression, Ron relaxed and waved his hand. He then began to unwrap the gold foil around the Ferrero chocolate.
Seeing Ron's expression improve, Alina continued to smile as she swallowed, the sour, salty, and cold sandwich. Love was not the same thing as culinary skill, and besides, sandwiches had always been a food made to save time. There was no whitewashing that.
But there was no need for Ron to know about any of that. In Alina's view, Ron's personality that had resulted in many people criticizing him could not be entirely attributed to this young and sensitive boy.
As a member of the iron triangle, Ron existed mostly to contrast with Harry's bravery or Hermione's intellect. From the very start, this had been a cruel arrangement that went against human nature.
No one liked living forever in the shadow of someone else, even if that person was one of your stalwart friends. This was what had led to that explosion of emotions in their fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament.
And back at home, as the youngest son, he was different from the ever-pampered Ginny and resided at the very bottom of the family hierarchy.
As he had said himself, his brothers could already serve as every possible role model. There was nothing amazing that he could do because his brothers had already done it.
Barring any sudden circumstances, Ron would never be able to use anything new. He had to wear Bill's old robes, use Charlie's old wand, and Percy had even given him his old rat. At the ball, he even had to wear ugly secondhand dress robes...
Perhaps to the Weasley couple, this was the best they could do in their impoverished circumstances, but for a child, this was unquestionably unfair.
Harry's generosity was truly a reflection of his kindhearted nature, but in Alina's view, Ron simply got a shower of wealth from some nouveau riche and the opportunity to serve as a footman, but he was not being encouraged in any way to change in the right direction.
It might even cause that suspicion that he had been abandoned to entrench itself even more.
Thus, from the very start, what Ron required was not pity, nor was it some famous celebrity.
What Ron needed was both simple and complex: an acknowledgment from society and his intimates of his 'individual' existence.
There was nothing wrong with this argument, but...
Alina had a look of struggle on her face as she glanced at the Ferrero chocolate in Ron's hand.
The outer shell of the chocolate ball was milk chocolate and hazelnut bits, and inside was a wafer, soft chocolate, and a whole hazelnut. At this distance, Alina could hear the crunching as teeth bit into the wafer.
QAQ~ (Mentally poking a finger in silent frustration)
The silver-haired girl swallowed, smiling as she took another bite of the sandwich. She really wanted to eat it! After all, this was a snack that Father Benitez had bought just for her!
Why are that moneybags still looking? Hurry and order!
She glanced at the other seat, where Harry Potter was curiously examining the snacks on the trolley, and mentally roared.
At least she could get a cup of pumpkin juice, right? She wouldn't be made to go and get another bottle of coke from her trunk, right?!