Upon seeing a boy his own age gently rubbing his knee, Hermione blushed slightly, but she quickly cast her shyness aside.
She latched onto her peer, bombarding him with curious questions as he walked beside her:
"What was that spell just now? Was it a Healing Charm?
But casting a Healing Charm doesn't usually produce a golden magic circle. What was that golden circle just now?
Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hermione Granger. And you?"
Listening to the chattering voice beside his ear, Harry did not find it annoying at all. The lively Hermione reminded him of Gwen.
The young witch beside him bore a certain resemblance to Gwen—equally studious and clever.
Harry did not mind satisfying Hermione's curiosity, though he needed to alter his answers slightly.
He certainly couldn't expose any information about Kamar-Taj, at least not for the time being.
After a brief moment of thought, he provided his prepared answer:
"I'm Harry Potter. That was a Healing Charm, but not in the traditional sense.
During the summer holidays, I read *Forgotten Ancient Magic and Spells*, and I learned that some ancient magic requires a magic circle to be cast.
I made a slight modification to the Healing Charm by adding a magic circle to it, which enhances its power."
"Good heavens, you haven't even started school yet, and you can already modify spells? That's incredible!
No... wait! What did you say your name was? Harry Potter? The-Boy-Who-Lived, the one recorded in *A History of Magic*? Oh..."
Harry immediately covered Hermione's mouth with his hand, whispering a reminder:
"Shh... keep it down. I don't want anyone else finding out who I am, or I'll end up being gawked at like some zoo animal. If that happens, we might even miss the train!"
Hermione nodded eagerly like a pecking chick, and only then did Harry lower his hand.
Harry made Hermione's luggage float into the air, and the two of them walked into the train together, successfully finding an empty compartment near the seating area and placing their luggage on the overhead rack.
Once inside the compartment with no one else around, Miss Otter still spoke in a low voice:
"So you really are Harry Potter. No wonder you were able to modify a Healing Charm.
I heard you have a lightning-shaped scar on your forehead. Can I see it?"
Harry satisfied Miss Otter's curiosity by lifting his bangs to reveal the barely perceptible lightning-shaped scar.
In the past, the lightning scar had been a deep black, looking as though it had been struck by lightning, making it extremely conspicuous.
However, the Sorcerer Supreme had once told him that she had destroyed the lingering soul fragment hidden within the scar, which was why his scar was now flesh-colored and far less noticeable.
At first, Harry hadn't known what that soul fragment was, but now he suspected it had something to do with Voldemort!
After satisfying her curiosity, Hermione wanted to ask more questions—such as whether Harry had truly seen Voldemort on that day.
However, she knew from *A History of Magic* that Harry's parents had died on that very day, so Hermione held her tongue; she had no wish to make Harry recall the events of that afternoon.
Just then, the secure sliding door opened, and a tall, thin, long-nosed red-haired young wizard walked in. He pointed to the seats in front of Harry and Hermione and asked:
"Is anyone sitting here? Everywhere else is full."
Hermione shook her head. The young wizard sat by the window; he seemed unaccustomed to talking, and the moment he sat down, he stared out the window with the air of someone who suffered from social anxiety.
Suddenly, the young wizard noticed something in the reflecting glass, turned around, and pointed at Harry's forehead:
"Ouch, Merlin's beard! What's that? Is that a lightning scar?
Could you be the legendary Harry Potter?"
This young wizard had very sharp eyes; even though the color of the scar was extremely faint, he had still managed to spot it.
Harry felt a twinge of helplessness. To others, the identity of The-Boy-Who-Lived might be an honor, but to him, it was nothing more than a burden.
The Sorcerer Supreme had never needed honors bestowed upon her by others; the Sorcerer Supreme was honor itself.
Harry replied, "Yes, I am Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you."
"Hello, Harry, I'm Ron." Obviously not as tactful as Hermione, Ron asked without the slightest hesitation:
"Did You-Know-Who give you that lightning scar on your forehead?"
"Yes, but I don't remember it clearly."
"You don't remember it at all?"
"Hmm... I remember a flash of green light, a spell called 'Avada Kedavra', sorrowful parents, and a stunned Voldemort. Is that enough?"
"Ah, sorry, I... I didn't mean to." Realizing what he had just done, Ron flushed crimson with shame. He turned his head to look out the compartment window, not daring to meet Harry's gaze.
It seemed Ron's inquiry hadn't been malicious—quite unlike that blond young wizard.
Harry forgave his discourtesy.
As the future Sorcerer Supreme, Harry was remarkably resilient. Far from being terrified by his past memories, he was actively using his magic to continuously retrace that fateful night.
He was trying to extract more information from the depths of his memory so he could find Voldemort as quickly as possible and kill him.
He had already made some headway; the spell called 'Avada Kedavra' was one of them.
Yet he knew his spell differed from the genuine Killing Curse. Initially unaware that the Killing Curse's effect was to slay the soul, he had simply created his own spell based on the green magical trajectory of the Killing Curse.
Today's 'Avada Kedavra' was less a Killing Curse than a Disintegration Curse.
It was far more terrifying than the Killing Curse, capable of instantly dissolving both soul and body!
If struck by the Disintegration Curse, aside from indestructible existences like Dimensional Demon Gods, even the gods of Asgard would be slain.
Speaking of Dimensional Demon Gods, Harry felt a twinge of concern. He had found no mention of Dimensional Demon Gods in wizarding books, save perhaps for a few suspected entities.
With this thought, Harry asked Ron:
"Ron, is your whole family made up of wizards?"
"Oh, yeah, I suppose so..."
"Have you ever heard of Dimensional Demon Gods?"
"Dimensional Demon Gods?" Ron's small face crinkled up. After a moment, he shook his head. "What are Dimensional Demon Gods? I've never heard of them. What does that mean?"
Harry explained, "They are higher-dimensional beings capable of controlling an entire dimension. They can easily destroy worlds, most of them harbor deep malice toward humanity, and they can cultivate followers and borrow..."
Harry paused. He hadn't meant to mention the fact that Dimensional Demon Gods could lend out magic.
After all, loaning magic to other wizards was part of his future plans.
"That sounds terrifying. Good thing no real Dimensional Demon Gods exist." Ron patted his chest.
"Still, I have heard of creatures somewhat similar to Dimensional Demon Gods—that would be the legendary Death, though He isn't as powerful as a Dimensional Demon God, and even needs to resort to deception to gather souls."
Harry knew what Ron was talking about. Death was one of the primary targets of his attention; He was the closest thing in this world to a Dimensional Demon God.
The legends of Death and the Deathly Hallows were known to everyone in the Wizarding World. Most people assumed they were mere fairy tales, but from various clues, Harry had concluded that Death truly existed!
The Legend of Death and the Deathly Hallows:
According to legend, during a journey, the three Peverell brothers used magic to create a bridge. When they reached the middle of the bridge, Death appeared before them.
Death felt the three brothers were clever and sought to trick them out of their lives, so He announced that He would grant each of them a single wish.
The eldest brother, a pugnacious man, desired a wand more powerful than any in existence, so Death fashioned for him the Elder Wand.
The second brother, a sentimental man, wished for the power to recall the dead from the grave, so Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to him—this was the Resurrection Stone.
The youngest brother was clever and cautious; he did not trust Death and demanded something that would allow him to walk away without being followed by Death. Reluctantly, Death handed over His own Invisibility Cloak.
Later on, however, the eldest brother was murdered in a quarrel over his bravado, and the Elder Wand changed hands.
The second brother used the Resurrection Stone to summon the girl he loved, but tormented by the realization that she could not truly belong to the mortal world, he committed suicide in despair, and the Resurrection Stone was abandoned.
Only the youngest brother, wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak, lived to a ripe old age before finally shedding the cloak and greeting Death as an old friend, passing the cloak down to his descendants.