The Dragon King Bloodline of Hogwarts

Chapter 17 Daphne's Revenge

The train came to a slow, steady stop with the Hogwarts Express whistle, steam billowing from between the wheels. The platform was crowded with upperclassmen and game guards waiting to pick up the new students. When Viserys emerged from his compartment, Daphne and Draco were no longer behind him; they had returned to their respective compartments before the train came to a complete stop. Draco simply said, "See you during winter break," while Daphne remained silent.

He stepped off the train, the night air carrying the scents of pine resin and lake water. Hagrid stood at the front of the crowd, lantern in hand, his voice booming over the noise: "First-year students! This way!" The lantern light shone on his unkempt beard, and his gaze swept across the crowd, lingering briefly on Viserys before casually looking away.

Dozens of small boats were moored along the lake. As Viserys stepped onto the stern, one hand grabbed the gunwale, and Hermione steadied the swaying boat, then sat down beside him.

"How's the dragon?" she asked, her tone as if she were asking about the weather that night.

"The scales are starting to regain their luster, and the eyes have partially recovered their vision after the eye drops treatment."

"Then when you have time, could I—"

"Yes, on the weekend."

Hermione nodded. Images of Malfoy sitting next to her on the train, Greengrass with red eyes, kept replaying in her mind, each one asking, "Why won't you speak?" But she didn't want him to feel like she was interrogating him. Her lips moved, about to ask…

"Hermione!" Hannah Abbott, sitting at the bow of the boat, turned around, her round face filled with anxiety. "How did you say the Sorting system works? My brother said we have to pass the troll test, fight trolls, to get into the castle. Is that true?"

Hermione's lips closed. She glanced at Viserys, then turned to Hannah, her voice regaining its density, speed, and solid information.

"It's not a troll test. The Sorting Ceremony is conducted by a magical hat that reads your thoughts and places you into one of the four houses based on your traits: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. That hat belongs to Godric Gryffindor and is imbued with extremely complex mind magic—a kind of mental magic with judgment. I read about it in *Hogwarts: A History*, so it doesn't involve any magical combat at all. It's impossible for a first-year student to use a troll test; that wouldn't make sense."

Hannah's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"Wait, wait," she leaned forward, causing the boat to rock, "You're saying the hat can read minds? Then it can see what I'm secretly thinking."

"It can see all your thoughts," Hermione said with an undisguised satisfaction, "so it's best not to try to hide anything."

Hannah's face scrunched up, then she turned to Viserys, her eyes lighting up. "I've heard from others that you rode a dragon! Is it true? The one in Gringotts? My mother wrote to say the Gringotts story was fake, that I was too gullible. I have to write back to her saying you were on the ship, that you were the one who rode the dragon!"

Hermione opened her mouth when Hannah mentioned "riding a dragon," but Hannah spoke too quickly, and Hermione couldn't find a chance to interject. The oars sliced ​​through the water, the castle lights drew closer, and Hannah pulled Viserys aside, bombarding him with questions: Did the dragon have a name? Were they afraid of dragons when they flew? Did they breathe fire? Viserys answered each question briefly, without being perfunctory, but also without elaboration. Hermione's fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the boat several times.

The ship docked, and the new students jumped onto the stone pier, where Hagrid greeted them. As they walked towards the castle hall, Hannah was still chattering away beside Viserys, with Hermione following behind, her lips pressed tighter than usual. Neville walked over, glanced at Hermione's expression, and then quickly went to Hannah's side.

"Hannah, there's something over there," he said, pointing to a corner on the side of the stone steps, his voice trembling slightly, but each word was still clear, "It looks like a toad. Could you take a look?"

Hannah turned around and saw Hermione quicken her pace to walk to Viserys' side. She blinked.

Neville, his ears red, whispered, "Please." Hannah stared at Neville for a moment, then suddenly grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to the other side of the steps, her voice thinned by the wind as she called out, "What does your toad look like?"

Hermione walked over to Viserys and spoke very softly.

"Who are those people in the private room?"

"Someone in the Greengrass family needs what I have. She came to me not because of the Gringotts rumors, but because of her sister."

"Her sister didn't have many years left, and they found remnants of castor bean curd in France."

Hermione paused for a moment. Castor bean—that name overlapped with the French inscriptions on the walls of the Chamber of Secrets and the feminine suffix on the Gringotts ring.

"The treatment was written on the fragment, but the ingredients have been extinct. After the dragons that produced castor oil died, there was no more Valyrian dragon blood. They searched for ten years, but all the clues went cold, until news from Gringotts got out."

"...She knows you took the castor oil stuff," Hermione said, not as a question, but as a deduction.

"She made the right bet, but she doesn't know exactly what it is—the formula, the potion, the dragon's blood residue. She only knows that I have something else."

Hermione fell silent. She didn't stop walking, but her steps slowed slightly. Then she spoke, her voice even softer, not out of hesitation, but as she processed what she had just said.

"You agreed to help her because you needed her to find what castor beans left behind in France. Greengrass has been searching in France for many years; they have old files, records of aliases, and the location of tombstones—things you can't get. And for the dragon blood she needs, you have to wait for the egg to hatch."

She looked up at him.

"Just like when you made me recite those Latin texts in the secret room, it wasn't for nothing. Every time you cooperate with someone, there are conditions." She paused, "and I'm actually thinking of making an exception for you."

Viserys stopped. Hermione took a step forward before realizing he had stopped, and turned to look at him. He took a small paper bag from the inside pocket of his robe and handed it to her.

"It's for you. I wanted to give it to you on the ship, but Hannah kept talking to me, so I didn't have a chance."

Hermione looked down at the paper bag. It was a pumpkin pie, bought on the platform. The bag was slightly bulging in the wind, and the smell of butter and flour wafted out of the opening.

"...Pumpkin pie?"

"It wasn't an exchange. I didn't explain what happened earlier not because you didn't need to know, but because I hadn't had a chance yet. I don't always need to offer something in return to stand with someone, and you're not my business partner in this world."

"You're the first, the first person who came to me not because I have something that can save someone's life. The pie's getting cold."

Hermione stood there, the night wind ruffling her hair. She reached for the paper bag, the scent of pumpkin and cinnamon wafting from its opening. She looked down at it, then looked up, her eyes sparkling, but her voice trying to remain steady.

"The pie is no exception; it was already one when you asked me to find the toad on the train."

She took a bite of the pie, chewed it twice, and frowned.

"This pie isn't very tasty."

Viserys's lips twitched slightly, and he continued walking. At the end of the stone steps was the castle foyer, brightly lit, where new students lined up waiting to enter the Great Hall. Hermione followed half a step behind him, chewing on a cold pumpkin pie as she walked, a satisfied yet feigned expression on her face.

"Viserys".

Daphne stepped out of the line, her steps light and a smile on her face. She didn't look at Hermione; her gaze remained fixed on Viserys.

"Viserys, your collar isn't straight."

She walked up to him and touched the edge of his robe's collar. The movement was natural; her thumb gently smoothed out the wrinkles, tracing the curve of the collar downwards, her fingertips lingering for a moment on the front of the robe. The whole movement was two beats slow.

People were watching. Draco leaned against a stone pillar, a slight smile playing on his lips. Hermione took a step back, wiping imaginary dust from her robes with her right hand. Then she looked up, her voice steady, but her pace slightly faster than usual.

"Everyone's already in line, we need to go in."

She reached out and gently tugged at Viserys's sleeve.

Daphne's gaze finally fell on Hermione, then returned to her. She turned and walked towards the line, taking a few steps before glancing sideways at Viserys with her grey eyes over his shoulder, a smile on her lips that only the two of them could understand.

Hermione loosened Viserys's sleeve and turned to walk towards the line. After a few steps, she looked down at the half-eaten pumpkin pie in her hand, stuffed it into her mouth, puffed out her cheeks, and chewed harder than before. Then she suddenly stopped, turned around, held up the empty paper bag, and called out.

"The pumpkin pie was an exception; I actually finished it!"

Several freshmen around her turned to look at her. Hermione's face turned bright red, and she abruptly turned back, quickening her pace as she ran towards the back of the Gryffindor line, her robes nearly tripping over the stone steps.

Viserys stood still, watching the two girls walk in different directions. He stuffed the paper bag into his robe pocket and, as he passed Daphne, said something in a flat tone that only she could hear.

"Have you finished taking your revenge?"

Daphne smiled as she watched his retreating figure.

"Who told you to point a knife at me?"