The sudden voice caused Amanda's brain to pause for a moment, and she looked down at the watch on her left wrist.
Amanda had clearly felt it just now; that warm current had radiated from the watch and expanded throughout her entire body.
By the same token, the voice that had just appeared in her mind must have also been transmitted by the watch.
She had previously speculated when she saw the Little Badger and the Little Eagle on the edge of the watch.
The only ones capable of doing such a thing, hiding themselves inside the watch, should be those two among the four legendary founders.
Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw—so, were those words spoken by Lady Ravenclaw or Lady Hufflepuff just now?
Amanda thought for a while, and after determining it must have been one of them, she looked up again.
It was just a voice, and she had never heard Lady Hufflepuff or Lady Ravenclaw speak before.
Therefore, she was unable to distinguish which of the two the voice belonged to.
But regardless of which one it was, when they said someone worries and someone loves, were they referring to her?
Amanda thought about it without any feeling in her heart, and after reaching the conclusion that it probably was, she stopped thinking about the matter.
As for Lady Ravenclaw, who had just spoken, she had only suddenly sensed Amanda's situation while she was in a deep sleep to recover.
So, she had dizzily given an instinctive response and fallen back into a deep sleep immediately after.
At this moment, she was sleeping soundly with her wings spread out over the Little Badger beneath her.
And the Little Badger she was using as a pillow was also fast asleep with its eyes closed.
After a unanimous discussion, the date to go to Diagon Alley to buy books was set for next Saturday.
This way, both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Mr. and Mrs. Granger would have time to go together.
On the day of the trip to Diagon Alley, Amanda woke up early and took a sufficient amount of Galleons out of her bag that could continuously produce them.
After eating the breakfast Harry made, the seven children prepared to set off.
Because the villa Amanda rented was a Muggle residence, according to regulations, it could not be connected to the Floo Network.
Similarly, they couldn't go by riding flying broomsticks, partly because they didn't have enough flying broomsticks, and even if they did...
Seven people flying through the sky on flying broomsticks at the same time, especially through a Muggle residential area, would pose too great a risk of exposure.
After comprehensive consideration, Penelope, as the oldest of the seven children, made a difficult decision.
She led everyone to the side of the small road in front of the villa, took a deep breath, and raised her wand in front of her.
Ron, Cho Chang, and Marietta immediately understood what she wanted to do when they saw her movements, and their faces turned pale instantly.
The knight bus—the term automatically popped into Amanda's brain; it was something she had seen in books.
Raising a wand by the side of the road was the way to summon the knight bus.
It was said that it could deliver a Wizard anywhere, as long as it was on land.
Bang!
With a loud bang, a triple-decker bus that looked extremely strange stopped in front of the seven of them.
Amanda's gaze subconsciously sized up the knight bus in front of her, her mind constantly analyzing various data.
In the end, it was easy to conclude that this vehicle definitely did not conform to any common sense of the Muggle World.
Similarly, Amanda's gaze turned to the direction the knight bus had come from; the road there was more than a little narrower than the knight bus.
But the knight bus had still arrived smoothly; indeed, how could a vehicle of the Wizarding World be blocked by the width of a road?
Despite having studied at Hogwarts for a year, she hadn't even thought of this point.
She had taken it for granted that by choosing such a place, no large armored vehicles would be able to enter.
She had forgotten about the methods of the Wizarding World; it was fortunate that Hermione and the others' grades had reached the top two-thirds, successfully passing their execution time.
If any of them had failed their exams, wouldn't they have potentially faced large armored vehicles?
Taking things for granted, carelessness... Amanda followed behind Hermione onto the bus, blankly gave the conductor a Galleon, and then took the change he handed back.
I should be punished, Amanda thought with absolute certainty in her mind.
Moreover, the bad results that this assumption and carelessness could have caused were particularly serious, concerning the safety of Hermione and the others.
I should not only be punished but should be punished very severely.
Screech... a piercing sound of friction rang out, and the knight bus shot forward like an arrow from a bow, interrupting Amanda's self-criticism.
Hermione, beside her, quickly reached out her left hand to grab Amanda's arm, while her right hand tightly hugged the post of the bed they were sitting on.
The beds everyone was sitting on were being pulled along, constantly moving within the cabin.
Beside Harry, Ron's face was pale, and he looked like he was about to vomit.
Penelope, who had more experience, was able to maintain some composure and told the conductor in as steady a voice as possible that they were going to Diagon Alley.
After speaking with the conductor, Penelope turned to look at Amanda and the others, scratching her cheek a bit sheepishly.
"The knight bus... it's indeed a bit lacking in comfort to ride, but it really is fast and convenient; it's the best choice we could have made."
Cho Chang and Marietta each hugged a bedpost on one side and nodded to show their understanding, while Ron didn't even have the strength to react; he was motion sick on the knight bus.
Harry was beside him trying hard to encourage him, telling him not to vomit.
Hermione held Amanda's arm even tighter, and finally simply pulled her into her arms.
Her face also looked a bit green, but she still gave Penelope a small smile.
"It's fine, a novel experience."
Penelope gave an awkward laugh; to be honest, as for the knight bus... if the Wizards of the Wizarding World had any other travel options, they wouldn't choose this one.
Amanda was held in Hermione's arms, feeling the strong G-force and the constantly swaying position.
She also felt a desire in her stomach for food to surge upwards.
Swallowing some saliva, Amanda took a deep breath and easily suppressed this "desire."
Having been punished with "gluttony" before, she was quite skilled at suppressing the feeling of nausea.
It had to be said that although the knight bus was uncomfortable to ride, its speed was very fast.
Nestled in Hermione's arms, Amanda kept her eyes fixed on the front windshield of the knight bus.
No matter how congested the road was, the knight bus could squeeze through.
Even cars parked by the roadside, utility poles, and houses would move out of its way.
So the driver drove recklessly, without the slightest awareness of a speed limit.
It would only pause slightly when encountering someone crossing the street or a traffic light.
Was it because letting people "automatically" move aside might be discovered? Amanda made a deduction in her mind.
After the two passengers in front reached their destination, the knight bus once again came to a sudden halt; it was none other than Diagon Alley.
The seven children, all with faces as white as paper, supported each other as they stepped off the bus.
As soon as he got off the bus, Ron ran to a tree pit on the side and vomited profusely; Harry patted his back hard while trying to keep himself as far away as possible.
Penelope, Cho Chang, and Marietta supported each other, panting heavily.
Amanda's face was also somewhat pale, but her expression remained unchanged.
She didn't show any heavy breathing or nausea; she could even turn around to support Hermione.
Imitating Cho Chang's action of stroking Marietta's back, she slowly rubbed Hermione's back to help her breathe.
"Aren't... aren't you uncomfortable?" Hermione covered her chest to suppress the nausea, looking up at Amanda, who had no reaction other than a pale face.
Amanda shook her head expressionlessly, her tone indifferent. "This feeling of nausea is too weak; I won't feel like vomiting."
Hermione instinctively felt something was wrong with that sentence, but in her discomfort, she couldn't think too deeply about it.
The seven children hadn't rested for even five minutes when The Weasley Family came out of the Leaky Cauldron; they had only just seen Amanda and the others outside.
At the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Granger arrived, having just stepped out of a private car.
"Good heavens," Mrs. Granger said, looking at Hermione, who was being supported by Amanda with a pale face and constant nausea. She quickly stepped forward and handed her a Peppermint, not forgetting to give one to Amanda as well. "What happened?"
Hermione unwrapped the Peppermint and put it in her mouth; the cool taste instantly rushed into her nasal cavity and reached her brain, and the feeling of nausea was instantly pushed back quite a bit.
"Merlin... I finally feel better," Hermione sighed.
Beside her, Amanda spoke truthfully, "We came on the knight bus; that bus was driven too aggressively."
The seven children present all received Peppermints distributed by Mrs. Granger, while Mrs. Weasley gave each of them a Scourgify.
This was outside the Leaky Cauldron, where there were Ignoring Charms and Muggle-Repelling Charms, so there was no need to worry about being seen.
Behind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George walked up behind their brother with "ill intent."
"Oh! The knight bus," Fred said melodramatically.
"Remember the first time little Ronny rode it," George said, winking at Fred.
"He even cried!" they said in unison.
"What a pity," Fred shook his head.
"He didn't cry this time," George nodded in agreement.
Ron, having recovered a bit, gave them a fierce glare.
Once everyone had recovered, they all politely greeted the two pairs of parents present.
Then they walked together into the Leaky Cauldron and entered Diagon Alley.
Even after entering Diagon Alley, Mrs. Weasley was still thanking Amanda. "I'm really grateful you invited Ron; I hope he didn't cause you any trouble."
Beside them, Ron's face had already turned almost as red as his hair.
Amanda shook her head calmly, her face showing no change. "No, Ron didn't cause me any trouble."
Mrs. Weasley affectionately patted Amanda's head, while Mr. Weasley was excitedly asking Mr. and Mrs. Granger about things in the Muggle World.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger were also asking him about the Wizarding World, such as the knight bus that had just made the seven children so miserable.
After hearing Mr. Weasley talk about the knight bus, Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked at each other and both felt that perhaps Muggles were better when it came to driving.
Walking in front of them, Hermione, who was holding Amanda's arm, expressed that she felt the same way.
The first place to go in Diagon Alley was, of course, Gringotts; Harry and The Weasley Family all needed to withdraw money.
Hermione also needed to exchange the money her parents had given her for Galleons.
Amanda stood quietly beside Hermione, watching her exchange Pounds for Galleons with the goblin teller.
Cho Chang, Marietta, and Penelope stood nearby, extremely curious as they looked at the Pounds Hermione had taken out.
"Is this the currency of the Muggle World?" Marietta stood on her tiptoes to get a clear look at the banknotes in Hermione's hand.
"Yes," Mrs. Granger, who was nearby, responded gently, while reaching into her own purse to take out several banknotes of different denominations to hand to Cho Chang and the others.
The three of them took the banknotes and looked at them curiously, and Penelope nodded thoughtfully.
"This is indeed convenient; at least it's lighter than Galleons."
The three of them finished looking and handed the banknotes back to Mrs. Granger, but she waved her hand.
"Later, the four of us adults are going to a pub outside to have a drink; keep this money for yourselves to go look around, consider it my treat for ice cream, how about that?"
Since Mrs. Granger had put it that way, Cho Chang and the others couldn't refuse; they could only thank her politely and then take the banknotes to the goblin teller to experience the feeling of exchanging money themselves.
While Hermione was exchanging her money, Amanda's gaze remained on her.
Consequently, the Goblin serving her also came into her view.
She saw clearly that although the Goblin's words and sentences were very polite, its eyes were looking askance at Hermione from above.
Amanda, who knew some micro-expression analysis, subconsciously judged that this Goblin's true attitude toward Hermione was one of contempt.
When Hermione returned, Amanda looked at her smiling face, and with a pang in her brain, she spoke up involuntarily.
"That Goblin looks down on you."
The smile on Hermione's face faltered for a moment, and she nodded helplessly.
She reached out and gently hugged Amanda, resting her head on Amanda's shoulder.
"I know; I've noticed it since the first time I came to Gringotts last year. They're just like those Pure-blood families; they look down on Muggles and Muggle-born Wizards."
Amanda turned to look at Hermione without any feeling in her heart. "Aren't you angry?"
Hermione looked up at this person who never had any emotions asking if she was angry, and she smiled and shook her head with pursed lips.
"I'm not angry, because that's their prejudice, their mistake. I shouldn't hurt my own body by being angry because of someone else's mistake."
"Once I'm excellent enough, whether it's the Wizards of the Pure-blood families or these Goblins, they won't be like this anymore."
Amanda nodded indifferently, but her brain suddenly became muddled, and a jarring sensation spread through her chest.
It was as if something wanted to burst out; she seemed... somewhat urgently wanting to do something, but what did she want to do?
And why did she want to do it?
If someone could have experienced her feeling, they would have told her that this feeling was called an impulse.
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