"What? Everyone knows Gryffindors are just a bunch of brainless idiots."
The compartment door was shoved open.
The speaker was a boy with pale blond hair, a pale face, and a mean, pinched look about him.
Flanking him were two hulking, thick-set boys, standing guard like a pair of trolls.
"Draco Malfoy?"
"Wait, in the movies, doesn't he confront Harry at the castle entrance? Is this the Butterfly Effect?"
Basil thought, puzzled.
However, what surprised him even more was that Malfoy looked straight at him.
Not Harry?
Was he here to teach Basil a lesson?
Because his hired gun, Fenrir, failed to kill him?
Did Draco Malfoy even know about that?
It was possible.
After all, Lucius Malfoy was the kind of guy who tried to cast Avada Kedavra on Harry right outside the Headmaster's office (in the movies, at least; Basil didn't know if that happened in the books).
And Draco Malfoy would eventually become the youngest Death Eater.
Malfoy started by mocking Neville.
"Oh, look, it's Crybaby Longbottom. You want to go to Gryffindor too?"
Then he paused and spoke to Basil in a slightly more formal tone.
"You must be Granger."
"Relative of the current President of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, Finn Granger."
"The one who killed the notorious werewolf Greyback."
"You made quite a splash at the station today."
"I heard that 'Map of Power Dynamics' you were selling is actually quite accurate."
"But it's a pity." Malfoy paused again, shooting a look of utter disgust at Ron.
"You seem to have made the wrong friends. Although, I suspect some people just stuck themselves to you like chewing gum."
"In this regard, I can help you."
Malfoy extended his right hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
He gestured carelessly at his bodyguards. "And these are Crabbe and Goyle."
Facing Draco Malfoy's highly provocative introduction...
The reactions in the compartment varied.
Hermione, who also hadn't knocked before entering, looked disgusted. "How rude! Don't you know how to knock?"
Harry and Ron shot to their feet instantly.
Draco Malfoy acted as if he didn't see them at all.
He narrowed his eyes, appraising Hermione shrewdly. "Oh? And who are you?"
Hermione raised her chin, replying haughtily, "Hermione Granger!"
Malfoy instantly wiped the disdain from his eyes and looked back at Basil. "Granger? Are you two relatives?"
Ron, feeling ignored, seized the chance to mock him. "I thought your family always thought so highly of themselves?"
"Oh, I know what this is."
"My dad said your family recently had several potion shops shut down by the Ministry."
"You even lost your seat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors."
"What's the matter? Are you here to lick Basil's toes for help?"
Draco Malfoy's pale cheeks flushed a faint pink. "My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
"And you," he said, finally acknowledging Harry as if just noticing him, "I recall you're from a wizarding family too. Hanging around riff-raff like the Weasleys will rub off on you."
Harry didn't even look at Draco. "Get out! You're not welcome here!"
His attention was entirely focused on Goyle and Crabbe.
These two chubby boys reminded him of Dudley.
Especially since they were practically drooling over the pile of snacks.
Crabbe even reached his hand directly toward a Chocolate Frog.
Harry: "Put that down!"
Draco, ignoring Harry, commanded, "Ignore him! Take it. It's what you deserve!"
Crabbe grinned stupidly and shoved the Chocolate Frog into his mouth.
But a second later, Crabbe frowned. "It's a bit bitter? Like it's covered in some kind of sauce."
Having watched the show—especially the grand finale of Crabbe eating "Scabbers Sauce"—Basil finally stood up.
Stupefy!
He casually flipped them the bird (middle finger). A red light shot from his fingertip, splitting into three beams.
Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were blasted backward by the force of the Stunning Spell.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three crisp sounds echoed as they slammed into the compartment door opposite theirs.
They slid to the floor in a heap.
Draco's eyes filled with tears, his voice trembling.
"I... I'm telling my father about this!"
Leaving that threat hanging in the air, he scrambled up with Crabbe and Goyle and scurried away with his tail between his legs.
Basil rubbed his chin, thinking, "Just a little boy who cries for his daddy? Ridiculous!"
Unlike Ron, who was gloating; Harry, who was stifling a laugh; and Neville, who was smiling secretly...
Hermione frowned deeply.
She ignored Basil's vulgar hand gesture and the fact that he used wandless, non-verbal magic (which usually would have fascinated her).
Her attention was entirely focused on the potential trouble Basil might be in.
"Basil, you should be more careful! Getting into a fight before we even reach the school isn't good!"
"But... I won't tell the professor this time. Term hasn't started yet, has it?"
Ron looked at her incredulously. "Who do you think you are?! Malfoy insulted our House, and you want to tell the teacher?"
Harry and Neville also looked at her like she had a screw loose.
But Basil saw the concern hidden in her scolding. "She's just worried about me. She's afraid Draco Malfoy will report me."
"But don't worry, he doesn't have the guts. Especially since he was the one getting schooled."
Then, he looked at Hermione seriously. "But maybe don't threaten to tell the teacher in the future. We're all classmates here. Nobody likes a snitch, even if you mean well."
Hermione didn't care about the lecture.
She only noticed one thing.
Basil understood her concern!
Her heart skipped a beat, and her expression brightened instantly!
Hermione's joyful look caused a massive misunderstanding for Ron.
Just as Ron was about to say something snarky, Basil cut him off, deciding to change the subject.
"Let's introduce ourselves properly again!"
"You guys only know my name."
Hermione nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice. "Mmh-hmm! I just found out Basil's last name is Granger too!"
"But no one in my family knows magic. Actually, Basil and I aren't related at all."
Neville and Ron followed suit, stating their names.
Finally, Harry said, "I'm Harry Potter."
Hermione and Neville gasped in unison.
Hermione: "Is it really you? I know all about you!"
"You're in Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
"But it's not just those books. I've memorized all our course books!"
"The only pity is that I got Basil's book list too late."
"I wonder if the Hogwarts library has copies of those books..."
She started rattling on endlessly.
Harry and Neville's eyes glazed over; their brains went blank.
Scabbers the rat, having just wiped his butt on a Cauldron Cake, covered his ears and dove back into Ron's pocket.
Only Ron kept trying to interject with his opinions on Slytherin and the Malfoys while Hermione talked.
As for Basil, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He finally had time to analyze the numerical changes caused by his Stunning Spell on Malfoy.
Actually, the moment Draco extended his hand, the System recognized him as Basil's "friend."
After Malfoy fled, Basil obtained a Blue Quality Growth-Type Echo waiting to be activated.
He opened the Friends List and clicked on Draco's avatar. His stats appeared.
[Name: Draco Malfoy]
Race: Wizard
Health: 8
Mana/Magic: 5
Luck: 2 ~ 5
Family Traits:
Blonde Hair & Pale Skin (Awakened)
Self-Repression (Awakened)
Dark Arts Proficiency
His stats weren't anything special.
The "Family Trait" regarding appearance wasn't strange. In the wizarding world, genetics were strong.
Weasleys = Red hair, freckles.
Potters = Messy hair that never grows or gets cut.
As for "Self-Repression," Basil had a theory.
The twin sisters in his past life had mentioned that Draco Malfoy was exceptionally good at suppressing his empathy to bully others.
This was also why he learned Occlumency so quickly and effectively from his aunt Bellatrix later on.
Malfoy's Magic and Health were just slightly above average for a young wizard.
Basil had collected a lot of data at the station.
Wizard Magic stats ranged from 3 to 7.
Most first-years hovered between 3-5. Older students were 4-7.
Health ranged from 7 to 10.
This confirmed Basil's hypothesis.
Health is limited by biology.
A Level 1 Devil's Snare had 130 Health because as long as one vine survived, it lived.
But a wizard? Unless they underwent magical transformation, most wizards without defensive spells could be killed with a pitchfork.
But by that logic, a wizard should be critically injured by a single Stunning Spell.
Basil's Level 1 [Stupefy] card data was:
[Stupefy]
Level: 1
Mana Cost: 3
Effect: Shoots a red beam that knocks the target unconscious.
Damage: 3
Range: 10m (Damage decays by 1 point per meter beyond 10m)
A young wizard's Health could be as low as 7.
That meant one hit took away almost half their health.
Not to mention, Basil could 'consume' multiple times the Mana to deal multiple times the damage.
Hence, the experiment.
For Malfoy's safety, Basil didn't use his Wand or the Wand Skin bonuses.
He only cast via the [Magic Book].
Of course, this method was more flexible.
Silent, wandless, and he could split the spell's power by spending mental focus.
Using pure Mana allowed him to alter the spell's effects based on his will.
He split the spell into three beams, each dealing 1 Damage, hitting all three boys.
With his intent to "get them out of the compartment," the spell knocked them back.
He essentially turned Stupefy into Depulso (Banishing Charm).
Upon impact, Draco's Health didn't change.
Instead, a ghostly "-1" floated up behind his Mana/Magic stat.
But his actual Mana value didn't decrease.
From the outside, it looked like they had just been punched—feeling the pain of the impact and the fall.
"If my Stunning Spell damage doesn't exceed his Magic stat, it won't knock him out?"
"So... 'Magic' isn't just Spell Power... it's also Magic Resistance?"
"Wait... does that mean wizards are basically walking Magic Tanks?!"
"Ahem."
"But the books say multiple hits at once can be life-threatening. How is that calculated?"
"Does each hit get reduced by Magic Resistance individually? Or do they stack?"
"And what about Hagrid, who can tank multiple spells and run away unharmed? What would his data panel look like?"
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