Harley was speechless. James didn't have a driver's license yet he drove a high-speed sports car to pick her up. He might not care about his life, but Harley cherished hers.
"Sorry, my mom specifically told me before work to go to The Granger Family's house next door and go to school with Hermione. I won't be taking Uncle James's car."
With that, Harley walked quickly towards The Granger Family's house, not looking back no matter how James called out behind her.
Hermione, who had been standing on the sofa looking out the window, trying to find Harley, saw her new best friend almost being abducted by a strange uncle in a strange car. She couldn't help but frown.
Once Harley arrived at The Granger Family's door and successfully met up with Hermione, the two got into Mrs. Granger's family car parked in the yard.
Hermione couldn't help but ask Harley, "Harley, were you being bothered by a bad person?"
Hearing this, Harley was slightly startled at first, but she quickly realized that Hermione's question was probably because she had seen James that morning.
Harley smiled and explained, "If you're referring to the man at my doorstep this morning, that's Uncle James, my mother's friend. He's not a bad person... he just occasionally does some baffling things and is a bit silly."
Hearing Harley say this, Hermione didn't completely relax. Instead, she earnestly lectured Harley on the knowledge about child safety that is often mentioned on TV and in public service announcements.
Hermione's lengthy discourse greatly surprised Mrs. Granger, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. She hadn't expected little Hermione, who almost exclusively devoted her energy to studying various books, spent all day in her study, and rarely communicated with others, to speak so volubly in front of a new friend she had only recently met.
This made Mrs. Granger a little touched. Little Harley was indeed a lucky star sent by God to enlighten Hermione in The Granger Family. Hermione had changed since Harley moved in.
It seemed she didn't need to worry too much about Hermione having problems at school later; little Harley was by Hermione's side.
The things taught in British preschool were the absolute basics. Aside from the religious courses and the foundational parts of Latin, which Harley found somewhat new, Harley could figure out the correct answers to other subjects with her toes.
Harley's intelligence greatly astonished the preschool teachers, who praised this gifted little girl profusely, calling her a "Child Prodigy."
Meanwhile, Hermione, who was in the same class as Harley, also stood out among the students with her extensive knowledge.
To others, Harley was like a genius who stood out due to her innate talent. In contrast, Hermione was more like a diligent, hardworking Top Student with an extremely rigorous and serious attitude towards learning.
Ever since she saw Harley shine in class, Hermione was not to be outdone. She frequently raised her hand to answer questions, and her answers were almost identical to the book's content, making her practically a walking answer book.
As they grew older, Harley and Hermione were like two towering mountains, bringing immense psychological burden and pressure to the students of Notting Hill's '84 class, inspiring both awe and helplessness.
For an exceptionally gifted prodigy like Harley, everyone could comfort themselves by saying: the inherent difference in intelligence between people is truly not something that can be easily reversed or changed by human effort, so it's fine not to be as excellent as Harley.
However, when facing Hermione, the other students were speechless.
In terms of IQ alone, Hermione was merely ordinarily excellent, not a genius; her exceptional performance was entirely due to her extraordinary diligence and unyielding perseverance.
She sacrificed precious time others spent playing and immersed herself wholeheartedly in diligent study, ultimately achieving a comprehensive improvement in her abilities through persistent effort.
Effort-based Top Students like Hermione are the most feared presence for ordinary students—just imagine, if you are happily playing with other friends, and suddenly turn your head to find Hermione in a corner nearby, engrossed in reciting French words or concentrating on math problems, can you still maintain a cheerful mood and continue playing?
What's worse, Hermione was not very good at handling interpersonal relationships, especially being overly assertive and direct when communicating with others, which caused most of her classmates to dislike her. Some troublemakers even consciously started to ostracize Hermione.
(In the original work, Hermione had no friends before attending Hogwarts, and was even collectively disliked in the early first year at Hogwarts.)
Hermione always chose to directly ignore those who were jealous and scoffed at her efforts—as the saying goes, "those whose paths diverge cannot plan together"; since their views were incompatible, why waste energy getting entangled with them?
Hermione felt that having Harley by her side was enough.
If there was one thing that bothered Hermione at school, besides always being second in overall academic performance, it was that Harley was a bit too popular.
With her high emotional intelligence accumulated from her previous life and outstanding academic achievements, coupled with her cute and charming face, Harley had considerable influence among her classmates.
Every time the afternoon dismissal bell rang, countless fangirls would swarm into the classroom, surrounding Harley tightly.
Harley was also helpless. To be honest, she didn't have much in common with these children under ten years old. Her daily life was less about socializing and more about Soothing the child (Soothing the child, coaxing children).
Compared to participating in those so-called social activities, Harley preferred to spend that precious time after school comfortably lounging on the sofa at home, doing nothing, or watching cartoons while enjoying Hermione's lap pillow and sweet treats.
And when Harley was surrounded and in a dilemma, it was often Hermione's turn to step forward.
Hermione would rush into the crowd with a cold face, like a god descending, and drag Harley away—after all, Hermione had no other friends besides Harley, so she didn't need to worry too much.
Days passed like this. Aside from the occasional visits from the Marauders, her mother's Ministry of Magic colleague Aunt Zhang, and Dumbledore, who was out and about avoiding official duties, Harley hadn't really interacted with people from the magic world.
The leisurely days in the Muggle world continued until the summer of Harley's tenth year, when one day Severus returned from seeing a client and announced to Harley and Lily:
"I've got three tickets to the top-tier box for the 421st Quidditch World Cup final. We need to pack our bags before noon the day after tomorrow. We'll be going with the Malfoy Family and their daughter."
Upon hearing that Severus was taking the whole family to watch the Quidditch World Cup final live, Harley was very happy—
Wait, the Malfoy Family's daughter... who is that?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- if you want to support me you can go check it out
You can join at https://www.patreon.com/cw/catYT
if you like this fanfic, dont hesitate to drop a review
you can also give power Stones ;)