Chapter 33: Grindelwald’s Portrait Card

"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger." Hermione looked at Roger, who had just woken up in the evening, and scolded him for his behavior. "You’ve occupied half the compartment by yourself, which might cause other new students to be unable to find a seat."

"Ah... Hermione!" Roger had just woken up and didn't react immediately.

He looked at the girl in front of him and couldn't help but marvel at the coincidence. Honestly, he had chosen the compartment at random, and he had been there first.

"Could it be that I drank Felix Felicis?" Roger suddenly slapped his thigh at this thought, which startled Hermione.

"Sorry, I suddenly remembered something about potions." Roger smiled apologetically. "Roger, Roger Travis."

"Potions?" Hermione looked at him and asked bluntly, "Is it a potion that turns you into Sleeping Beauty?"

"Sleeping Beauty?" Roger asked in confusion, wondering when he had acquired such a nickname.

"We saw you sleeping so soundly, just like Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tales." Neville nodded and asked Roger for confirmation, "Roger, in fairy tales, is it the princess who kisses the prince awake?"

"Huh?" Roger’s eyes widened. What kind of fairy tale was this? He had never heard of it. Was there a book? Let him see it quickly...

"Who knows? Anyway, fairy tales are all lies." Roger saw Hermione's unnatural expression and wondered what she was thinking.

"Don't change the subject. Didn't you mention potions earlier? Why not tell us about it?" Hermione sat on the sofa, her gaze carrying a hint of judgment.

She had come to Hogwarts all by herself and could only prove her worth through intelligence and diligence. Coupled with her sharp tongue, it often made other young wizards feel uncomfortable around her. It was fortunate that her compartment-mates were Roger and Neville; otherwise, she might have been ostracized by the other students before even reaching school.

"Felix Felicis, a potion that brings good luck to the drinker."

Hermione thought for a moment, but she hadn't seen it in any of the books she had read. She had to admit that she knew very little about advanced potions.

However, Hermione wouldn't give up easily: "Just knowing the name doesn't mean you know how to make it."

"You're right, but I do know it’s part of the NEWT Potions exam. When a wizard drinks this golden potion, they feel a sense of surging energy. Its recipe is extremely complex and takes a full six months to brew." Roger looked at Hermione’s increasingly frustrated expression and said slowly, "Miss Know-It-All, perhaps you need to read some advanced potion books."

"You!" Hermione glared at Roger, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Don't be angry, I'll treat you to some snacks." Roger rubbed his stomach, feeling his appetite growing larger and larger.

He went to the trolley witch and cleared out the pumpkin pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, cauldron cakes, and more from the shelves.

"Dear, you're the second person today to clear out the shelves," the witch exclaimed, accepting the Galleons Roger handed her.

"And yet you aren't even willing to give me a discount." Roger let out a long sigh, his regretful gaze making the dear trolley witch feel embarrassed.

"Alright, child. I can give you an extra Chocolate Frog. Based on my years of collecting cards, the wizard inside is bound to be rare." The witch handed the Chocolate Frog to Roger, hoping to soothe the young wizard's resentment.

He opened the package, and the Chocolate Frog jumped out immediately, only to be caught before it could hit the floor. As Roger bit off the frog's head, the neck area kept oozing out chocolate.

"It's just chocolate, don't be so formal." Under Hermione's horrified gaze, Roger licked his lips. He had to admit that the Wizarding World's Chocolate Frogs certainly had a unique style.

"Roger, Neville's Trevor ran away, and you're here..."

"Trevor? Neville doesn't even mind." Roger opened the packaging and saw a dark wizard on the card. It was none other than the Dark Lord himself, Mr. Grindelwald, locked away in the highest cell of Nurmengard.

Compared to the mangled Chocolate Frog, Hermione and Neville were quickly drawn to the figure on the card.

They gathered around Grindelwald, discussing the description on the card. Hermione looked up inadvertently and found that Roger had already finished half the snacks. Looking at him, it seemed the other half wouldn't be enough to fill his stomach.

"Ugh..." Roger gagged, spitting out a bean that tasted like earwax. He swore he would never eat another Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean in his life.

He wasn't Forrest Gump; what did it matter to him what the next chocolate tasted like? Since the manufacturer couldn't manage their production line, he wouldn't feel bad about managing his own wallet.

"This must be fake!" Hermione exclaimed. Grindelwald's biography mentioned that he had dueled Dumbledore.

"It must be true, look at this." Neville pulled out his own collection of cards and found Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Defeated the wizard Grindelwald in 1945, discovered the 12 uses of dragon's blood, and achieved great success in alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel..."

"It really is him!" Hermione exclaimed repeatedly, while Neville couldn't take his eyes off the Dark Lord's card.

"Nicolas Flamel? For a while, I kept confusing him with Manstein." Roger nodded, realizing he had indeed remembered it wrong at the time.

"Hey, Manstein was a Nazi officer, you know," Hermione looked up at Roger. "Your European history is really poor."

"Hmm, but I think Manstein is easier to pronounce than Nicolas Flamel." Roger ate the last cauldron cake and rubbed his stomach, which was only about a third full.

"Roger, can I trade all my cards for your Grindelwald?" Neville asked cautiously.

"Ahem, Neville, don't say Grindelwald is mine; he belongs to Headmaster Dumbledore." Roger glanced at the cards Neville had pulled out; they were all common figures in the British magical world.

He realized that since Grindelwald was a continental Dark Lord, and given his special relationship with Dumbledore, his cards were rare and precious in the British magical community.

"This is a fair trade; I have no reason to disagree. But you should think it over—these are cards you've collected for a long time."

"It's okay, I have duplicates of all these, and I even have eight Dumbledores!" Neville pushed the cards toward Roger without hesitation and carefully tucked away the Grindelwald card.

Roger nodded. It was just like the game skins from his previous life; the rare items you couldn't get might be common as dirt on other servers, or even given away for free.

"It really is a cabbage-patch deal." Roger flipped through the Chocolate Frog packaging he had just opened and found three Dumbledore cards. Perhaps in the German wizarding world, Dumbledore was the rarest one.

"Neville, you must keep it safe, and whatever you do, don't let the Headmaster see it." Roger said meaningfully, and the spark of gossip ignited in Hermione nearby.

"Roger, is there a story between the greatest white wizard and Grindelwald?" Hermione intuitively connected the two, imagining a bizarre couple in her mind.

"Perhaps it's not a story, but an accident? But I can tell you that they once had a blood pact." Roger marveled at her keen intuition; women might truly be born detectives.

"A blood pact? What's that?" Hermione's eyes lit up at the words. "Dumbledore and Grindelwald have a secret!"