After some scrutiny, Hermione had to admit that Cho Chang was indeed a little beauty with a very exotic charm.
Her silky-smooth long hair cascaded gently over her shoulders, and her fair skin gave off a faint luster under the sunlight, as warm and delicate as mutton-fat jade. Her deep and enchanting eyes were like bright stars in the night sky, conveying a thousand words with every blink. Beneath her high nose, those pink lips always wore a faint smile, making her unforgettable.
Most terrifyingly, the gentle and elegant temperament inherent in her bloodline from a certain great Eastern nation was something Hermione couldn't learn through effort alone.
"You must be Miss Granger, right? I've often heard Adelaide mention you. They say you're exceptionally gifted and very hardworking in your studies. I truly hope you can be sorted into Ravenclaw House."
Just as Hermione was racking her brain for a response, Cho Chang smiled and greeted her from across the way.
Hermione puffed out her chest and responded in a slightly forceful tone, "That's right, I'm Hermione Granger. I've been by Adelaide's side since she was five years old—it's no exaggeration to say that the friendship between us is incredibly deep. I am her best friend!"
Hermione deliberately emphasized the words "best friend," her gaze locked onto Cho Chang as if warning her to recognize reality and not even think about competing for Adelaide.
However, faced with such an obvious display of dominance from Hermione, Cho Chang remained quite calm and composed, a gentle smile always on her face.
She said unhurriedly, "Oh, about that, Adelaide told me all about it long ago. I'm well aware that you are her best friend in the Muggle World."
At this, Adelaide couldn't help but feel a sense of bewilderment. She thought to herself: When did I ever mention Hermione to Cho?
Yet looking at Cho's calm and unruffled appearance, it was as if she knew everything perfectly well.
Could it be... that she had casually mentioned Hermione to Cho during some inadvertent chat?
Standing to the side, Alice couldn't help but gasp, marveling inwardly that Cho Chang was indeed brilliant; her methods were truly sophisticated!
She saw that with just a few casual words, Cho Chang had cleverly added a qualifier to the "best friend" Hermione spoke of, turning it into "best friend in the Muggle World."
One had to realize that Adelaide had now completely severed ties with the Muggle World, so the influence of the "best friend" Hermione mentioned naturally diminished greatly. Meanwhile, as Adelaide's "best friend" in the Wizarding World, Cho Chang's status was slightly higher than Hermione's.
But if they both had the "best friend" qualifier, wouldn't she be inexplicably a level lower than them?
Thinking of this, Alice couldn't help but frown. Filled with indignation, she turned to Adelaide and urgently pressed, "Adelaide, what about me? Am I your best friend in Slytherin House?"
Faced with Alice's sudden question, Adelaide was clearly caught off guard and froze on the spot.
However, she quickly regained her composure and nodded subconsciously, "Um... yes, of course you are. After all, in Slytherin, I don't have any particularly close classmates besides you; most of them are just nodding acquaintances. By comparison, our relationship is indeed the closest."
Alice nodded with satisfaction and said to Hermione and Cho Chang, "Hermione, you are Adelaide's best friend in the Muggle World; Cho, you are Adelaide's best friend in Ravenclaw; and I am Adelaide's best friend in Slytherin. Alright, now we're all on the same starting line."
Both Hermione and Cho Chang were stunned by Alice's logic. Could "best friend" really be calculated this way?
Luna watched with great interest from the side. She had lived in Ottery St Catchpole Village since she was a child. Due to her eccentric personality, she couldn't make any friends among the Muggles, and the only one her age on the wizarding side was Ginny.
Ginny preferred playing with her brothers over playing with her. As an only child, Luna had no siblings. Her mother was busy with various strange spell experiments, while her father was busy finding material for their family magazine. Most of the time, Luna could only find ways to entertain herself.
However, more than the matter of friends, Luna had a question she wanted to ask even more—
"Are you Adelaide Grindelwald? The Adelaide Grindelwald who had Mr. Dumbledore send my mother a protective ring last year to save her from dying in a spell experiment?"
Adelaide nodded. That was something that happened before she started school last year.
Recalling the original story, she happened to remember that Luna's mother seemed to have died unfortunately when Luna was nine because a spell went horribly wrong. Adelaide thought that if she could let Luna's mother live, it would be a way to reverse Luna's family tragedy and make her future more carefree.
So Adelaide found Dumbledore and lied, saying she saw in a prophecy that a Witch would die in an accident caused by a spell. She also said she saw the name written on an envelope on the Witch's table in the vision—Pandora Lovegood. She wanted Dumbledore to save this Witch.
Dumbledore expressed his appreciation for her actions and promised her that he would find Pandora Lovegood and send her a magical item for protection.
Seeing Adelaide admit it, Luna calmly placed the bucket in the corner of the living room, then walked over and hugged Adelaide tightly. Because she acted so calmly and her movements were so steady and fluid, the others didn't even realize what she had done for a moment.
She hugged Adelaide and whispered, "Thank you. I really can't imagine what I would have done if I lost my mother."
Adelaide suddenly felt a bit of heartache for the Luna in the original story. When she was being bullied and her shoes were hidden, she probably thought of her mother too, right?
Luna loved her mother so much, yet in the original story, she lost her at the age of nine. At this moment, Adelaide was incredibly grateful that her past self had remembered the matter of Luna's mother.
Adelaide had rewritten the trajectory of Luna's destiny and hoped that Luna could grow up healthy from now on and experience fewer bad things.
Luna, who was two years younger than Adelaide, was half a head shorter. Adelaide took the opportunity to pull Luna into her arms, ruffled her hair, and responded gently, "No need to thank me. It's what I should have done."
Luna looked up, blinking those vacant yet beautiful large eyes, and asked, "Miss Grindelwald, can I also become your 'best friend'?"
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