The moment he saw her, Alaric's first thought wasn't about his long-imagined strategy of making friends with main characters.
Instead, he wondered how and why the story of this "Harry Potter" world was written into a novel and then adapted into a movie in his original world.
He pondered why the movie's female lead resembled the real Hermione Granger of this world to such a great extent but wasn't an exact match.
He didn't believe that the "Harry Potter" world was created because of the existence of the "Harry Potter" series of novels and movies.
On the contrary, he was more inclined to believe that the "Harry Potter" world influenced his world, leading to the creation of these works.
Currently, he couldn't prove this point, but he believed that, with his learning and research on magic, combined with his innate talent for time and space abilities, he would undoubtedly find a way to travel between these different worlds.
He felt that with each journey through different dimensions, he would uncover the truth.
Coming back to reality, Alaric began to assess the girl standing in front of him who was very famous back in his home world.
She was an arrogant girl, like a swan with a stretched neck. In terms of appearance, she was still very cute, a beauty in the making.
"Is this cat yours?" she asked, without any pleasantries or self-introduction.
"Can I touch it?"
"Meow~" Himari whimpered, retreating into Alaric's backpack, only revealing a pair of bright eyes observing from the shadows.
"Of course not, you scared Himari." Alaric raised an eyebrow, unable to fathom what the girl had done to frighten Himari to this extent.
"Himari? Why did you give your cat such a name? Is it a magical language?" Hermione asked curiously, seemingly completely diverted.
"No, it's Japanese, meaning 'Himari.'" Alaric explained.
"Oh, you're Japanese?" Hermione nodded as if understanding.
"Not really."
"Then, why did you give your cat a Japanese name?"
"Because I like it."
Hermione's consecutive questions left Alaric somewhat bemused. He hadn't expected her curiosity to reach such levels. Fortunately, the girl stopped and shifted to another topic.
"I'm Hermione Granger," she introduced herself.
"I come from a Muggle family, and no one in my family understands magic. So when I received the acceptance letter, I was extremely surprised but also very happy because, I mean, from what I know, this is the most excellent wizarding school.
But still I've memorized all the textbooks, so I can catch up with all of you. So, what's your name?"
She spoke very fast, finishing a long paragraph of self-introduction in one breath like a rapid-firing machine gun. She also took the opportunity to show off her learning abilities.
"What a girl." Alaric sighed inwardly and then introduced himself, "I'm Alaric. I come from a Muggle orphanage, so I'm not sure if I have wizarding blood."
"Oh, and by the way, do you want to sit here?" Alaric invited.
This invitation was not only out of curiosity but also because he wanted to test whether the so-called "plot" could be changed and this experiment started with Hermione.
He planned to influence Hermione to join Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor. This would undoubtedly have a massive impact on the "plot," and the future might change drastically.
Additionally, he genuinely believed that Hermione's intelligence and eagerness to learn were more suitable for Ravenclaw—hoping that close proximity with one of the main leads would influence some of the choices was also one of his hidden intentions.
Hearing that Alaric came from a Muggle world, Hermione immediately felt that their relationship had become much closer.
She gladly accepted the invitation, sitting opposite Alaric. And they started talking about the magical world that had suddenly appeared in their lives, changing it completely.
Obviously, having read through the original "Harry Potter" books, Alaric's insights and knowledge about this world far surpassed Hermione's.
Moreover, with his extraordinary learning abilities, the young girl soon realized that maintaining her pride in this aspect was not easy.
"I have met my match…. my rival."
Hermione thought to herself, but at the same time, she acknowledged that Alaric was indeed an outstanding peer who excelled in studies and had great academic achievements.
At this moment, there was another knock on the compartment door.
Alaric opened the door, and outside stood two girls a bit older than Hermione. One had freckles with brown hair, and the other was a black-haired Asian girl. The latter seemed to be dragged along reluctantly, both holding luggage in their hands.
"Hello, my name is Marietta," the brown-haired girl introduced herself.
"This is my good friend Cho Chang. We both saw you outside and noticed you were new here, also there was still some free space in your compartment, so we thought we'd come and get acquainted."
"Hello," the black-haired girl nodded towards Alaric.
Alaric introduced himself to Marietta and Hermione, then turned to Cho Chang and said "Hello, Cho Chang, I'm Alaric."
Seeing him, Cho Chang opened her mouth in surprise.
"Hello... I didn't think you were new here, just because how calm you were while boarding the train."
"Ah, it wasn't too challenging; we simply went in the direction everyone else was heading," Alaric said with a smile.
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