Arrival at the Destination!

Loren swallowed the candy in his mouth. The Chocolate Lemon Sweet-Core tasted really good.

Hermione recovered, wiped the corners of her eyes, and silently repeated to herself, Magical snacks, magical snacks...

Neville pushed open the door, intending to scold Loren. But at the last moment, he lost his nerve and froze in place. The two inside the compartment also noticed the chubby boy who had entered.

"Is there something you need?" Loren asked.

Neville stammered, "I-I thought you were bullying a First Year, but it doesn't seem like that."

Hermione blushed a little but still explained, "That Funny Candy startled me."

Neville paused, then looked at the box on the table.

"Cockroach Clusters. Want some?" Loren invited. He had a favorable impression of this chubby boy, who was timid but had still stepped forward.

Neville hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no." Even among wizards, only some people liked Cockroach Clusters.

Loren held out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Loren Morgan, a first-year student."

Neville shook his hand. "I'm Neville Longbottom, also a first-year."

Hermione spoke up as well. "I'm Hermione Granger."

After introducing themselves, the three sat down and chatted while eating snacks.

Hermione was full of curiosity about Neville, who came from a wizarding family, but Neville was shy and not good with words. Loren smoothed things over between them, and the atmosphere remained fairly pleasant.

After a while, Loren felt that something was off. He recalled the plot and looked up at Neville. At that moment, Longbottom had completely forgotten about his pet and was happily munching on Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

After waiting a while, Loren could not help reminding him, "Weren't you looking for something earlier?"

Neville slapped his forehead and cried out, "I forgot my pet was missing! I was looking for my pet!"

Hermione was still processing the implications of that sentence when Loren said, "Let's look for it together."

The three began searching the train for the toad. With no better option, they planned to ask through the compartments one by one.

Neville had already visited some of the compartments. During this time, his expression grew increasingly dejected. His earlier cheerful snacking seemed to make him feel even more guilty and self-reproachful.

"Have any of you seen a toad? Neville lost a toad." Hermione pushed open the door and spoke directly. She was getting anxious, and Neville's state had affected her mood, so her tone was not very friendly.

Harry and Ron were sitting in the compartment. Black hair, green eyes, and slightly damaged glasses; beside him sat someone with red hair and a few freckles on his face. Loren recognized them at a glance.

"We already told him, we haven't seen it." Ron sounded somewhat impatient too. He was holding up his wand, preparing to turn something yellow.

Hermione noticed it as well. "Oh. Are you casting a spell? Then let us see it." With that, she sat down directly.

Ron was dumbfounded. "Oh... all right." He woodenly waved his wand and began casting.

Daisies, sweet cream, and sunshine, turn this silly Fat Rat yellow.

Nothing happened. The gray Fat Rat slept soundly.

Loren's gaze also fell on the gray rat.

No one noticed that the blue in his pupils gradually faded, while shadows stirred in his eyes. Loren saw a layer of dim black and blood-red light drifting around the rat. This was Peter Pettigrew.

For some reason, Loren thought of that line: This little rat here...

The strange vision quickly faded. The others definitely could not see such a sight.

Loren sensed that something was strange with his eyes, but he had no idea what was going on. He decided to wait until they reached Hogwarts before dealing with it.

In the compartment, Hermione had already calmed down, fixed Harry's glasses, and introduced herself and Loren.

They were about to reach their destination. She reminded everyone to change into their robes and was preparing to say goodbye to Harry and Ron before continuing the search for Neville's toad.

Loren could not remember where Neville's toad had been found in the movie, but he had another plan. He pulled the other two away to seek help from an older student.

After walking a short distance, the three saw a pale boy with platinum-blond hair leading two boys who were slightly bigger than him toward Harry's compartment.

Hermione continued their discussion about the compartments, guessing which house she would be sorted into. She wanted Gryffindor, Ravenclaw would be fine too, but preferably not Slytherin.

Neville said his grandmother hoped he would be sorted into Gryffindor and become a brave person. But he thought he would probably go to Hufflepuff.

The three headed toward the front carriages and finally spotted their target. He also had red hair, and a shining silver letter "P" was pinned to his chest.

Loren stepped forward to greet him. "Hello, we're this year's First Years. Are you a prefect?"

The red-haired boy looked rather pleased, his eyebrows lifting high. Being recognized as a prefect by First Years seemed to be something he was proud of, but he quickly restrained himself and replied, "Yes, I'm prefect Percy Weasley. Is there something you need help with?"

Hermione's crisp voice rang out. "This is Neville. He can't find his pet toad. Could you help us look for it?"

Neville's face turned red.

Percy Weasley relaxed. It was only finding a pet. "Of course. This is no difficult task for a prefect."

He took out his wand, gave it a wave, and pointed.

Accio.

As the incantation sounded, an ugly toad flew out of Neville's pocket and landed on the ground where the wand pointed.

"Oh! I put it in my pocket, I forgot!" Neville cheered, red-faced.

Hermione exclaimed in amazement, "Was that the Accio charm?"

Percy's smile became even brighter at the praise. "You'll learn it too."

The three said goodbye to the prefect and returned to their respective compartments. Loren changed into his robes and split the unfinished candy on the table with Hermione.

"The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train. We will deliver it to the school for you." The announcement echoed through the train.

"What kind of magic is that? Amplifying Voice?" Hermione asked. The young Witch was full of enthusiasm and curiosity toward everything in the magical world.

While talking, they surged toward the carriage doors. Everyone in the entire carriage crowded around the exit, shoving and jostling as they got off. Neville was separated from them, while Loren pulled Hermione through the crowd.

After leaving the station, they followed Hagrid's calls, stumbling along a narrow path through the Woods until they reached a lake.

On a high slope across the lake stood a majestic Castle, its towers rising one after another. Its windows glimmered with beautiful light, like stars.

Four people to a boat. Loren and Hermione boarded first, Neville found them too, and the last to climb aboard was a boy with light brown hair.

At first, Loren did not pay him much attention. But when the boy introduced himself as Seamus Finnigan, Loren's eyes widened. It was you! The explosive genius!

The flotilla crossed the calm lake and passed beneath vines. Reflections rippled with the water, glittering across the surface as stars swayed in the lake.

Loren took in the scene, feeling a peculiar emotion stir within him.

Hermione was still discussing sorting on the boat when Loren casually said, "I heard there's a test when you enroll. Anyone who fails gets expelled from Hogwarts."

Hermione turned pale with fright and began muttering, "What do I do? There's still so much knowledge I haven't memorized, and I haven't finished learning the textbooks by heart. Professor McGonagall will definitely throw me out..."

Neville and Seamus beside her began to panic as well. Then Loren wore a smug expression. "Heh heh heh, I made it up. I was just scaring you. Hogwarts hasn't expelled students for many years."

Hermione immediately relaxed and gave Loren's thigh a hard smack. Loren clutched his leg and began making pained noises. Seeing him like that, Hermione felt a little guilty and was just about to speak when Loren started provoking her again. "Heh heh heh, I was pretending."

Hermione was furious and stopped paying attention to him. Neville and Seamus resumed discussing frightening rumors about sorting, frightening each other even more.

The boats reached shore like that, passed through a tunnel, crossed a stretch of grass, and arrived before the Castle's great doors, where Professor McGonagall had long been waiting.