The Evil Thoughts of Hogwarts and the Genie

This seemed like a great suggestion, and Frank even said that if Edmund was too shy or didn't know any Muggle-born classmates, he would be willing to ask around at Hufflepuff for Edmund.

"Thank you, Frank. You're a really good person." Edmund shook his head. "It's not that I don't know any Muggle family classmates, I just didn't think of doing this before. I'll go ask them."

Frank saw that he looked serious and didn't seem to be a pure-blood believer, so he finally relaxed completely.

The Longbottom family, starting with Frank's grandmother, had always scorned the concept of bloodline. Although Frank felt that Edmund was very different from the other students in Slytherin, he would never continue to befriend a Muggle-born classmate if Edmund also called him a "Mudblood."

Edmund was indifferent to the children's little schemes. Whether they supported or opposed pure-blood theory, he had his own agenda.

The two continued their pleasant conversation until flight class ended, and the students from both houses returned to the Great Hall for dinner. Edmund then waved goodbye to Frank. After dinner, he turned and headed straight for the Gryffindor long table, which was now nearly empty. He found Lily Evans chatting with a few female students in the center.

Several older Gryffindors looked at him, seemingly watching what he was up to. When Edmund unceremoniously plopped down next to Alice Barth, a fellow first-year student, they also looked away in confusion.

"Hi, Barth, McDonald, Evans," Edmund said with a cheerful laugh. "I have something I'd like to ask you."

The three girls glared at him warily, which was rather hurtful.

However, this wasn't because Edmund was a Slytherin—well, that's only part of it—but more importantly, because Edmund was a friend of James Potter.

James has proven himself to be a troublemaker and a real troublemaker. He wouldn't stoop to the foolish act of pulling girls' braids, because the trouble he'd cause is far greater than that!

In Transfiguration class, he dared to mess with his own dean! In Herbalism class, he even stole Professor Sprout's leaves! And in Flight class, needless to say, his dive terrified the professor!

All of the above were achievements that James used to boast about to his friends.

Leaving aside what the cautious Remus Lupin and the seemingly timid Peter Pediru were thinking, let's just talk about his good friend Sirius Black. This guy was almost as outrageous as James himself, and within a few days the two of them became a pair of troublemakers, leaving the girls in their grade speechless as they watched the two of them jumping around every day.

Okay, okay. That's a bit of an exaggeration, really. But in the girls' late-night dorm room chats, the two boys were described as "completely impossible to communicate with" and "practically savages."

Therefore, Edmund, who was a Slytherin but got along well with Potter, was basically considered a civilized man among savages in their eyes—perhaps a little better than James, as he could barely communicate using sign language.

Unaware that he was being dragged down by James and was already being subtly disliked by the girls, Edmund was extremely polite and didn't use the same roughness he displayed when playing around with James on the girls.

Girls often find it hard to dislike a well-mannered, handsome, and rather humble boy. In Edmund's view, humans are much easier to understand than the inhuman beings who spend their days spouting riddles and offering advice.

After a polite exchange of pleasantries, he repeated what he had told Frank: he wanted to order some Muggle books about knitting, but couldn't find a way to do so.

"A knitting magazine?"

Mary McDonald frowned. She was a round-faced blonde girl who, like Lily Evans, came from a Muggle family.

"It's such a shame. After my grandmother passed away, my mother burned all her things. She said that seeing those books made her sad. No one else in my family is interested in this anymore. My father studies mathematics, and my mother has to work."

Edmund nodded. Alice Barthes gently patted Mary on the back; the girl was a dark-haired woman with deep-set eyes.

“My maternal grandfather was a Muggle. My mother said he had a very good temper and was very handsome,” Alice smiled. “But he died when I was very young. I grew up with my parents and never saw any of my grandfather’s relatives again.”

"I regret."

Edmund said he could sense Alice's sincerity, so he stopped smiling and nodded. This drew a few more glances from the girls.

"If you don't mind that it's old, I can ask my mother." Lily's expression was a little reluctant. She had seen how the Soman family behaved and found it hard to imagine that such a family could accept other people's old books.

"When she's not busy with work, she's interested in almost everything. I vaguely remember my family having one of those publications… oh dear!"

Mary playfully poked Lily twice, as if teasing her, but made something perfectly natural seem a little odd. Edmund pretended not to notice, his eyes widening in surprise:

"You're too kind, Evans!" Edmund clasped his hands together. "How much do you want? There's no reason for you to work for nothing. I'm willing to double the price, and you can also ask for a service fee. Is 5 Galleons enough for one round?"

The offer sent a chill down Mary and Alice's spines. Mary immediately regretted it—she could have earned that money too!

Lily immediately shook her head. The little witch frowned slightly, seemingly offended.

“I don’t want your money, Soman.” Lily paused. “Would you like to tell me about your shapeshifting techniques? I asked Potter before, but I… well, I didn’t understand.”

After saying this, the little witch blushed slightly. Both "asking Potter for help" and "I don't understand" were quite embarrassing for her.

But she was indeed very courageous, not only admitting to the matter herself, but also asking the eccentric Edmund for help with her studies.

This made Edmund chuckle twice, then he received three death stares in return. It seems the Gryffindor girls are getting along well.

"I thought you were going to say something else, Evans! What's wrong with talking about this? I haven't had enough of bragging yet." Despite his words, his tone was quite refreshing. "I also noticed your problem. You're about halfway there? Did you practice after class?"

Lily was a little discouraged.

"Yeah, we tried it again this afternoon." She sighed. "The results were even worse than the first time... Maybe I really don't have the talent? Maybe I need to keep practicing..."

"Stop talking about 'talent, talent' all the time. We're only 11 years old. How much worse can we be?" There can still be a significant difference. "How about this, you...you can all cast a Transfiguration spell on me again. Perhaps I can offer some suggestions that you overlooked during your discussion?"

Upon hearing this, Lily immediately put away her worries and perked up. But Mary and Alice weren't so enthusiastic; they had already inquired with the older students and learned that it was quite normal for the transformation to fail in the first class.

Edmund noticed their lack of enthusiasm and suggested they go somewhere else, as the auditorium was too noisy. Mary, seeing this, immediately made an excuse and pulled Alice away.

Lily wasn't discouraged. She looked towards Slytherin, clearly wanting to call Snape over. But she couldn't find her childhood friend, who was shrouded in darkness. The girl frowned slightly, as if puzzled... but she was also decisive, quickly tidying up her books and leaving the Great Hall with Edmund.

They walked one after the other into the courtyard of the arched bridge outside the hall. Lily broke off a branch from the hedge that was clinging to the castle wall, and as soon as they sat down on the stone bench away from the castle, Lily used her shapeshifting magic to turn the branch into a needle.

No matter how focused she was, she would always get stuck at the last step. She simply couldn't completely change the shape of the wood. Edmund held the half-finished piece for a while and immediately noticed the problem.

"Evans, I've found a problem."

"Don't call me by my last name anymore." Seeing Edmund's serious attitude, Lily quietly changed her mind. After the experience on the train, she had initially thought he was quite unreliable.

"I have an older sister, and when you call me that, it always makes me wonder who you're talking to. Okay, maybe I miss her a little... Well, I mean, maybe you could just call me by my name, like Severus called me 'Lily'."

“Alright, Lily,” Edmund readily agreed. “You can call me Edmund too. To save time, let me start with my question: When you were listening to Professor McGonagall explain Transfiguration, did you ever have any doubts? Even when you tried to convince yourself that ‘this is magic,’ did you still find it hard to believe?”

Upon hearing this, Lily paused for a moment, then blushed.

It was a bit difficult to ask such an outstanding student to admit this. But despite her embarrassment, the girl quickly regained her composure. She nodded emphatically and said with a frown:

"I can't figure out how a match can turn into a needle. I mean... I don't understand how wood can turn into metal. Does it become something that looks like metal but is actually wood, or does its material change along with it?"

After Lily finished speaking, she frowned again.

"...Stop laughing! Edmund Soman—stop laughing!"

She blushed slightly, looking like she wanted to punch Edmund a few times.