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Chapter 29: Persuasion
How lowly I am! Charles thought. My heart is soft if I could never stand seeing a girl cry. That’ll forever be my weak spot. No wonder I wasn’t ever able to pick any flowers whenever I walked by a cluster of flowers in my last life, what a pain! Hermione, oh Hermione, I have really taken a hit today. From my past life to now, I have never disguised myself as a girl before!
Forget it, I’ve already disguised myself. An arrow notched in the bow must be released!
Throwing away one’s moral principles was akin to the process of boiling a frog in water.
Taking in a deep breath, he walked into the girl’s bathroom with his head held high. The words his high school Probability teacher had abruptly entered his mind, “For every person, going to the boys or girls bathroom is an inevitable event. Aside from cleaning or fixing the bathrooms in any normal situation, going to the bathroom of the opposite gender is almost impossible. But if you were to close your eyes and pick, then the probability grows.”
As Charles slowly opened the door, a female student came walking out.
“Oh! Wrong bathroom, sorry!” Charles had cried out instinctively. Hurriedly covering himself up, he spoke, “There’s a girl crying inside. Could you do me a favor and tell her that professor McGonagall is looking for her?”
It had been fortunate that Charles’ skill at makeup had been on point. The unknown girl in front of him hadn’t realized that this cute “girl” in front of her was actually a boy. Instead, she stared suspiciously at Charles’ clothing, “Why don’t you go in and tell her yourself?”
Because of his initial mistake, Charles’ back had been drenched in sweat. But he had immediately recovered and gave a straightforward apology. “Sorry, but I angered her earlier. Now that she’s like this, I’m afraid of calling her, please!”
“Fine then!” The girl spoke.
“Thank you very much! When you tell her, could you not mention me? I don’t want her to think that I’m pretending to be professor McGonagall.”
“OK!” The girl nodded.
“Then if you could, that’d be great!”
“Don’t mention it!” The girl smiled before walking back into the girl’s bathroom.
“XXX! Ron, after this business is done and dealt with, I’m going to make mincemeat out of you.” Charles mumbled to himself. “I’ll use the Levicorpus spell first, then Diffindo, and then use Transfiguration to turn him into a rat. Then I’ll use the hover charm to bring him to the girl’s bathroom
.no wait
.since when was I that cruel
.A change of tactics then
.Whipping
.dripping candle wax
.no no, that’s even more cruel
.aaaaagh!”
“Here she is.” The girl came back, making Charles leap up in shock. After pushing Hermione forward, she gave a single line, “A friendship should be maintained nice and well.” before sensibly leaving the area.
This was the sign of a sensible person! Grabbing onto Hermione’s robes, Charles pulled her away, “We need to talk!”
“Eh?” The lolita head of Hermione begun to think of a single question, “Wasn’t professor McGonagall looking for me?”
However the number one bookworm in the school quickly realized something, “Hold on, you tricked me! Who are you!”
“It’s me, Charles!”
“Which Charles?”
“Is there any other Charles? Charles Earl Goole.”
“Don’t lie to me, you two are completely different from each other.”
“This is the Wizarding World, anything could happen, Miss Granger.” Charles undid the magic on his throat, reverting his voice back from the cutesy voice of a girl.
“I don’t believe you!” The lolita went on guard. Charles noticed that her left hand had disappeared into her robes, it appeared that she was ready to pull out her wand.
“Fine then!” Charles spoke helplessly before revealing some information that only he would know. “Several months ago, you came across the three-headed-dog. Ron and Neville knocked over my potion, and I told you that the three-headed-dog will fall asleep if you play music to it. Is that enough for you?”
“You’re really Charles?”
“Naturally! My present appearance is because of magic.”
“Goodbye then.” The girl didn’t bother mincing words and turned around to leave.
“Really now.” Charles sighed before giving a flick of his wand to cast an improved hover charm to bring a shrieking Hermione back through the air. Extending an arm, Charles grabbed onto her arm accurately.
“I really think we’re in need of a talk.” Charles spoke. “While I think your physiological problems can be resolved within the girl’s bathroom, there are still other problems that cannot be.” His words had caused Hermione to redden in the face slightly.
“Fuck, my research habits slipped out, I misspoke.”
Considering that she and Ron were currently in a Cold War type of situation, Charles didn’t bring her to the Great Hall. Instead, he brought her onto the route to the kitchens. They had first walked to the Hufflepuff Common Rooms before Charles nimbly navigated him and Hermione through a broad stone corridor only to discover a painting of a bowl with fruits. Tickling the underside of the giant green pear, it began to shake and laugh before suddenly forming a green handle. Grabbing the handle, Charles gave a tug, causing the door to open and pulled Hermione inside.
The kitchens were large and the ceiling high, almost similar in size to a conference hall. There was a mountain of twinkling pots and frying pans hanging on the wall while the other side had a single large fireplace.
“Latch” Charles spoke.
Suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard as a house elf with bat-ears, sharp nose, and a skinny body with a scarred head came to stand in between the two.
“It is an honor to serve you, Mister Goole.” The one called Latch gave a deep bow.
“Who’s this?” Hermione asked in confusion.
“This is a house elf.” Charles responded. “The kitchens at Hogwarts have hundreds of house elves in charge of it. This one is called Latch.”
“House elves, I’ve read about them in the books
” Hermione subconsciously fell back into her bookworm mode.
“I know, I know
” Charles cut her off, “I felt that the most important thing right now is to fill the stomach. I heard you haven’t eaten lunch, aren’t you hungry?”
At his mention, Hermione had finally realized her stomach was empty and her already red face grew even redder.
“What do you want to eat? The best part about eating at the kitchens is being able to order whatever you want.” Charles said.
Afterwards, Hermione ordered a steak with muffins, and at Charles’ request, she had also ordered a turkey. Charles himself ordered some hand rolled sushi.
As soon as the items were placed onto the table, Charles allowed the house elves to retreat so that the two of them could talk.
Hermione cut away at her steak with a knife, but she carried an embarrassed air around her. It was fortunate that in the previous world, Charles was an expert at breaking up the awkward mood.
“Miss Granger seems to be extremely hungry, but is that the reason why you were in the girls bathroom?”
Seeing Hermione roll her eyes, Charles continued to speak, “When I’m feeling down, I stay in the kitchens. How delicious the food is! It’s a place that brings about items of joy.” Dripping some soy sauce onto some sushi, he placed it into his mouth. The house elves were superb in the culinary arts and any cuisine possible. One could stay here and sample the common taste of any cuisine here.
“Thank you.” Hermione spoke quietly.
“What was that? I didn’t hear you.”
“Thank you!” Hermione shouted out loud. After yelling, she suddenly felt a lot better.
“Oy, thanking me doesn’t require that loud of a voice, Hermione!” Charles laughed before turning serious once more, “Ron and you aren’t of the same make. He and Harry are children that love to play, adventure, and tend to not behave. You will need patience in dealing with them.”
Charles took a sip of water before saying, “Books and rules aren’t omnipotent, you must learn to be flexible. To use the words of our peers, your way of doing things can be misconstrued to be of pride. But I know that you must feel inferior, Miss Granger, you strive to prove that you are better than the others.”
“But that is
.”
Charles looked at Granger speak while also taking a bite of his sushi rather impolitely. After swallowing, he spoke, “How delicious, do you want a bite? You’ll feel better after eating one. Don’t go exploding in anger everyday! Be calm and carry on without stress. In all honesty, everyone is close enough to each other in skill level. Of course, I am an exception, but you knew that. (Hermione rolled her eyes) Having a passion in life is good, but it’s not like everyone owes you money, so be kind and gentle to people to promote a good friendship.”
“If they don’t behave, then they’ll lose points for the house.” Hermione spoke seriously.
“I remember there’s a saying. The foolish fears regulation and actively avoids it. The wise respects regulation and exploits it. Unless there is a higher purpose, I believe that many times, you have the insight to see through the qualities of both sides, right? You should know what to do with your own problems.”
As Hermione listened, she slowly raised her knife and fork to cut away at her steak in peace.
Charles didn’t bother her and continued to put another sushi roll into his mouth and carefully savor it.