"Why are you here? Your compartment is up front," Harry asked.
Astoria looked pitiful as she replied, "When I got on the train last, a bunch of people rushed in and pushed me all the way to the back. I had no choice but to go forward one compartment at a time… The people in the back are so tall, this tall."
She stood up, tiptoed, and stretched her hands as high as she could, but still couldn't reach the height she wanted.
Harry held her by the waist and gently set her back onto the seat.
The rear compartments were for sixth- and seventh-years, who were already as tall as adults.
For this little girl, who was even shorter than her peers, they were like giants.
Astoria's cheeks turned red, and she quieted down.
She looked incredibly small—about eight or nine years old, at most.
If it were only about looking young, that would be fine. But her behavior was way too naïve. Harry was willing to bet that if this were the Muggle world, any stranger who claimed to be sent by her parents could easily trick her into following them.
Her parents had sheltered her too much, so much that her mental maturity was behind other eleven-year-olds.
Noticing how Astoria kept glancing at Hermione and Cho sitting across from them, Harry smiled and said, "These two are my friends. This is Cho, and this is Hermione."
Though they were mentally accusing Harry of having ulterior motives, Astoria's adorable appearance quickly won them over.
If Harry knew what they were thinking, he'd definitely protest with tears in his eyes.
He truly just liked Astoria as if she were a little sister.
"Hermione-jie, Cho-jie," Astoria greeted sweetly.
Both Cho and Hermione were only children; they had never had older siblings to rely on nor younger ones to take care of.
So when this little sister-like girl called them "jie" (older sister), they suddenly understood why the usually cold Harry was so gentle to her.
"Gege" (older brother) and "jiejie" (older sister)—those words struck right at the softest parts of the heart.
Harry wanted to know just how innocent Astoria really was.
He began probing with some questions.
"Astoria, do you know where we're going?"
"Yes, my mom said it's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She told me to have fun there."
Harry thought: What a mom! Definitely her real mother!
"And do you know what the four houses are?"
"I don't."
Still within the realm of acceptable. While most wizard kids from magical families knew the names of the four houses, some didn't until they arrived at school.
Harry thought for a moment, then pulled a few coins from his pocket. "Do you know what this is?"
"I do!" Astoria clapped her hands. "It's what makes our servants really happy!"
"I gave them my favorite pudding cake, and they weren't nearly as happy."
Harry was speechless. Her parents had to be something else—how else could they raise a girl like this?
"Then you must've heard of Quidditch, right?"
Astoria's confused gaze told Harry the answer right away.
To her parents, Harry could only say: I am sincerely impressed. You win. Totally.
In the wizarding world, which severely lacked entertainment, Quidditch was more famous than the NBA or the World Cup in the Muggle world.
Even wizard children who could barely read already knew about Quidditch.
Harry could only imagine the extent to which her parents had protected her.
They must've built her a beautiful little castle full of peace and tranquility, entirely disconnected from the outside world, which nurtured her pure, untainted heart.
Harry respected that, but was also curious—why had they decided to throw her from that gentle environment into the chaotic outside world?
What he didn't know was that this decision had torn her parents apart inside.
Her mother had never wanted to send her baby girl to Hogwarts to live independently. She had planned to hire private magical tutors.
And trust a pure-blood family with hundreds of years of history to have the means to hire only the very best wizards.
But her father, the head of the Greengrass family, had finally realized that his daughter needed real growth. She couldn't stay in the greenhouse forever.
The couple had even fought about it. Eventually, the mother gave in and cried, "If she comes home in six months and says she's unhappy at school, we're pulling her out immediately!"
Her father agreed. He was no less concerned about their daughter than her mother.
From a few simple questions, Harry had figured out her situation.
Her mind was fine—totally normal.
But her common sense was practically nonexistent.
In summary: she had read few books, met few people, and had even fewer social interactions.
But once she spent some time living at Hogwarts, she'd naturally catch up to her peers.
That said, she couldn't be thrown into everything all at once. The shock might traumatize her.
It reminded Harry of a textbook story he once read: a frog at the bottom of a well is suddenly told by a bird how vast the world is.
Harry suspected that the frog, unable to process the huge shift in worldview, probably just smashed into the well wall and died.
But if the bird introduced it gradually—telling it about a river, then a forest, then the continent and oceans—the frog might've accepted it.
So Harry decided to help Astoria learn slowly, acting as her guide and protector.
Was Harry always this kind-hearted? Of course not.
The main reason was because Astoria was an adorable, beautiful little girl. If she were ugly… it would've been a different story.
So yeah—looks still mattered.
Before long, a woman pushing a trolley knocked on the door. The trolley was packed with all kinds of sweets.
Astoria looked curiously at the array of treats.
Harry could tell right away—she probably didn't even know what snacks were.
He picked out a big pile… of normal snacks. After trying some of the wizard world's bizarre flavors, he'd sworn them off. But oddly enough, those weirdest treats remained incredibly popular.
It's a known fact—after eating, people tend to get sleepy. Astoria soon began yawning.
She curled up next to Harry's arm, snuggled against him, and tilted her little head to one side, falling asleep.
Harry honestly couldn't see her as an 11-year-old girl. Other first-years already understood basic boundaries between boys and girls and how to be cautious around strangers.
None of them would fall asleep leaning against someone they'd just met.
She was still just a child. Harry felt less like a big brother and more like a dad taking care of a daughter.
Hermione suddenly thought: Maybe being smart isn't everything. Because things that come naturally to a fool can be hard for a clever person to do.
Cho didn't expect this side of Harry. Maybe Harry himself hadn't noticed, but as he watched the sleeping girl beside him, he began softly humming. It wasn't a song, just a soothing sound.
That scene reminded Cho of her own father.
Night had fallen, and the long journey was nearly over.
Astoria woke up and rubbed her eyes with her small hands. "Mommy…" she mumbled.
When she realized where she was, she remembered she had been separated from her parents.
This was her first time away from them, and it was the moment she felt most lost.
Just as she was about to cry, a warm hand touched the top of her head, gently stroking her hair.
"What's wrong? Missing your mom?" Harry asked softly.
Astoria looked up at him. Seeing Harry gave her a sense of safety. Her eyes were red. "Mm."
"Your mom misses you too. If she knew you were crying, she'd be really sad," Harry said gently.
His words seemed magical. Thinking of her mother's sadness, Astoria held back her tears.
"I don't want Mommy to be sad. But… what do I do if I miss her?"
Back to the original question.
Harry was ready. "Did your mom get you an owl?"
"Mhm," she pointed to a small white owl resting quietly in a cage.
"If you miss her, you can write her a letter. She'll get it quickly and write you back."
Harry stroked her hair like he would his cat. "Just think—without even seeing them, you can still talk to your parents. Isn't that amazing?"
Maybe it was the soothing hand or the comforting words, but Astoria stopped feeling sad.
Her dimples reappeared as she imagined the scene Harry described. She beamed, "Then I want to write to Mommy right now!"
"Of course."
As long as she wasn't crying, Harry was game for anything.
He handed her parchment and a quill.
She spread the parchment on the table and held the feather quill in her tiny hand, pondering what to write.
She only wrote a few lines—just a child, after all.
"All done!" she folded the letter.
Harry slipped it into the owl's little leather pouch. "Now just tell her where to send it."
Astoria cupped the owl in her hands and giggled, "Xiao Wei, take this home for me!"
Then she tossed it out the window.
The owl soared into the night, flying far into the distance.
-
-
-
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER
⚡🦉 THE REBIRTH OF HARRY POTTER 🦉⚡
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 MAGIC REBORN! 📢
The Rebirth of Harry Potter has 100+ chapters ahead available on Patreon! ⚡📚
The wizarding world is changing.
Old destinies twist, familiar names return under new shadows, and magic itself may follow a different path this time.
🪄 A second chance.🌙 A different fate.⚡ A wizarding world reborn.
Discover the new path before public readers catch up.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System🧠 My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?🛡️ Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past🏰 Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ Vote with Power Stones for faster updates!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━