14: Chapter 14 Drowsiness and Mutations on the Train

After the Hogwarts Express passed over a series of low hills, the light outside the window dimmed.

The atmosphere in the compartment was much quieter than it had been in the morning.

Draco didn't mention Harry again, nor did he bring up Weasley.

He leaned back in his seat, holding a directory of pure-blood families, flipped through two pages, and then put it down.

He couldn't focus on reading.

The things Allen had said were still turning in his mind.

"Don't treat Harry as a target."

"Have your own circle."

"Observe first, don't rush to establish authority."

These words weren't pleasant to hear, but they were more useful than the pleasantries at his father's banquets.

Draco didn't want to admit that he was taking advice from a Potter on how to act, but he wanted to embarrass himself at Hogwarts even less.

Crabbe finished the last cauldron cake and felt his pockets.

They were empty.

Goyle flipped a Chocolate Frog card back and forth and asked, "This Dumbledore moves, why doesn't he come out of the card?"

Draco held back his annoyance. "Because he isn't you."

Goyle thought for a moment and nodded. "That's good."

Allen sat by the window and hadn't spoken for a long time.

Draco looked over and found him with his eyes closed, his head resting against the compartment wall, breathing steadily.

Sleeping again.

From this morning until now, this guy was only awake when he was insulting others, calculating accounts, or undermining him; he could close his eyes at any other time.

Draco had seen lazy people and people who pretended to be profound, but he had never seen anyone like Allen.

"Is he always like this?" Draco asked.

Crabbe glanced at Allen. "Maybe he's sleepy."

"No kidding."

Draco frowned.

No matter how comfortable the Hogwarts Express was, it wasn't a bedroom.

Most first-years were either excited or nervous on their first trip to school.

Allen, however, was like someone who had been stuffed into the carriage by his family to be shipped off.

He sat up and called out across the table, "Potter."

Allen didn't react.

Draco called again, "Allen Potter."

Still no reaction.

Crabbe lowered his voice. "Is he dead asleep?"

Goyle said seriously, "He's still alive, his chest is moving."

Draco glared at him. "I can see that."

He got up, walked over to Allen, and waved his hand in front of his eyes.

It was useless.

Allen's consciousness had long since sunk into his Portable Space.

That space was more stable than it had been in the morning.

The piles of books, cauldrons, and potion bottles were all in their places, and the Void coiled on the stone slab, its silver vertical pupils staring at the boundary.

The boundary was pushing outwards.

It wasn't shattering, nor was it out of control, but rather expanding inch by inch.

The invisible edge pressed outward, stretching the original 120-square-meter area, adding a few steps of width to the blank space.

Allen stood in the center of the space, not rushing to move.

The fusion brought about by sleep was progressing.

The jolting of the train and the sounds from the outside world were all blocked out.

Here, there was no nonsense from Draco, no chewing sounds from Crabbe, and no outrageous questions from Goyle.

Truly peaceful.

Beside the ebony box, the cracked pocket watch lit up.

The Thestral tail hair wand also reacted, with a slight vibration coming from the wand body.

The Void raised its head, flicked its tongue, and crawled toward the edge of the space.

It didn't scurry around; it just circled the newly expanded area once and finally stopped beside the boundary.

Allen watched that line.

One hundred and twenty-three.

One hundred and twenty-four.

One hundred and twenty-five.

The space stopped.

This number wasn't exaggerated, but it was enough to prove one thing: after entering the magical world, the fusion speed of the spatial laws was accelerating.

Hogwarts hadn't been reached yet, but there was already a reaction on the train.

The magical field of the school itself was likely more valuable than he had anticipated.

Outside.

Draco was already becoming impatient.

"He can't really not hear me, can he?"

Crabbe leaned in. "Should I give him a push?"

Draco looked at Allen. "Be gentle."

Crabbe reached out his hand.

Just as his palm touched the area in front of Allen's shoulder, before it had truly landed, the air in the compartment shifted.

The next second, Crabbe's entire hand was repelled.

Slap.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was quite clear.

Crabbe clutched the back of his hand and took half a step back, looking down to see a patch of red.

"Hiss—"

Goyle was so startled he slammed his Chocolate Frog card onto the table. "Did you hit him?"

Crabbe glared at him. "I didn't touch him!"

Draco had seen it too.

Crabbe's hand was still a bit away from Allen's shoulder, yet it had been blocked by something.

There was no wand, no incantation, and no chanting.

Allen was still sleeping.

That was the most troublesome part.

Draco didn't step forward again.

He stood where he was, staring at Allen for a few seconds, and a very realistic question popped into his mind.

If a person could defend against others even while asleep, then what could he actually do when he was awake?

Goyle swallowed hard. "Draco, does he know how to use non-verbal spells?"

"First-years don't know non-verbal spells."

Draco said, but then felt that statement wasn't quite solid.

Ordinary first-years certainly wouldn't.

But Allen Potter hadn't seemed like an ordinary first-year since he boarded the train.

Crabbe rubbed the back of his hand, complaining softly, "I was just going to give him a nudge."

Draco sat back down opposite them and lowered his voice. "Don't touch him again."

Goyle nodded. "I wasn't planning on touching him anyway."

Crabbe glanced at him. "You were just trying to take the candy under his trunk a moment ago."

"I thought that was yours."

"I don't have any candy left."

Draco closed his eyes.

Being with these two for too long made it easy to suspect that the Malfoy Family's strategy for making friends was flawed.

Allen opened his eyes at that moment.

He woke up quickly, with no confusion, and didn't ask what had happened.

He just glanced at the back of Crabbe's hand.

"What happened to your hand?"

Crabbe opened his mouth.

Draco spoke first. "He wanted to wake you up."

Allen looked at Crabbe. "With your hand?"

Crabbe held back for a long time. "What else would I use?"

"Your brain."

Goyle nodded. "That is indeed difficult."

Crabbe turned his head. "Whose side are you on?"

Draco didn't laugh out loud, but his expression relaxed somewhat.

Allen flexed his wrist and said casually, "I don't like people getting too close when I'm asleep."

Draco stared at him. "So people automatically bounce off you?"

"It's a constitution issue."

"What kind of constitution?"

"A constitution that's easily woken up."

Draco was speechless.

This explanation was a very perfunctory brush-off, but he couldn't find a reason to press further.

The Malfoy Family valued discretion, especially when they hadn't yet figured out the other party's trump cards.

He changed his line of questioning. "Did you study magic before?"

Allen leaned back against the window. "Does Hogwarts not accept transfer students from Muggle primary schools?"

Goyle asked quietly, "Do they?"

Draco gritted his teeth. "They do not."

Allen didn't respond.

The compartment became quiet again.

But this time, the silence was different.

Draco no longer treated Allen as just a talking branch of the Potter family.

Someone who could repel Crabbe while asleep, no matter what methods were used, shouldn't be put into the "ordinary first-year" category.

The problem was, Allen wouldn't say.

He couldn't even be bothered to pretend more convincingly.

This attitude was even more annoying than showing off.

Draco pulled Crabbe's hand over to take a look; it was just red, with no bone injury.

He let out a sigh of relief, though he had to maintain his dignity. "Don't touch things randomly next time."

Crabbe was aggrieved. "You told me to be gentle."

"I told you to be gentle, not to be stupid."

Goyle put away his cards. "So what now?"

Draco looked at Allen.

Allen had already closed his eyes again.

"Don't disturb him."

After saying this, Draco was stunned himself.

Crabbe and Goyle also looked at him.

Draco added with a cold face, "I mean, don't cause trouble before we get to school."

Goyle accepted this quickly. "Oh."

Crabbe rubbed the back of his hand and moved half a seat away from Allen.

Allen wasn't asleep.

He was just closing his eyes, reviewing the situation from just now in his mind.

The passive Spatial Displacement triggered very smoothly.

Crabbe's force wasn't strong, and the deflection amplitude was small, leaving only a superficial red mark.

It hadn't exposed too much, but it was enough to make these three shut up.

The effect was good.

Draco would overthink it.

Overthinking was a good thing.

Fear was more stable than curiosity, and interests were more durable than friendship.

As long as this young Malfoy master learned to weigh the cost before getting close, the subsequent moves would be easy to play.

The train continued northward.

The sky outside the window grew darker, and the shadows of distant mountains pressed down.

In the compartment, Crabbe stopped eating, Goyle stopped asking questions, and Draco was uncharacteristically well-behaved.

Allen leaned against the window, sinking back into a light sleep.

In the Portable Space, the extra five square meters of empty space spread out quietly.

Hogwarts hadn't been reached yet.

His first layer of disguise had already made the Malfoy trio remember one thing.

When Allen Potter is asleep, it's best not to touch him either.