Smith
During the rest of their journey, the four of them gathered together to talk about the Wizard Card.
Albert refined the rules of Wizard Card by drawing on his previous experience with card games. Of course, this was only a Wizard Card, but Fred, George, and Lee Jordan listened with great interest and occasionally offered their own opinions.
"You guys think that if the Wizard Card really became famous one day, how many Galleon would this notebook, which originally recorded the rules of the Wizard Card, be worth?" Albert asked his three companions in a joking tone, waving the notebook in his hand.
"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't sell it," Lee Jordan said without hesitation. "This notebook will become legendary and will be passed down along with the Wizard Card."
The group remained in a state of high excitement; Albert's description of the Wizard Card and the game's prospects was simply too wonderful. Moreover, Fred, George, and even Lee Jordan could all feel the allure of this game.
Unfortunately, there are simply too few games in the Wizarding World.
As the Hogwarts Express began to slow down, Albert and the others suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly changed into their school robes.
Shortly after, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, shrouded in rain. It was still raining outside, and Fred and George both tried to cover themselves with their cloaks. Lee Jordan took an umbrella from his suitcase and looked at Albert with a puzzled expression, asking, "You didn't bring an umbrella?"
Lee Jordan found it incredible; how could Albert, given his personality, possibly forget to bring an umbrella?
"No need, I have this!" Albert chanted a spell, raised his wand and conjured an umbrella, then smiled and reminded him, "You probably forgot, but I practiced Summoning Charm for a long time last semester. See, it's coming in handy now."
"Don't squeeze in." Lee Jordan was speechless when he saw Fred and George crowding under his umbrella.
"Albert, help me copy an umbrella," Fred called out to Albert, as it was too cramped for the three of them to be huddled under one umbrella.
"Give me your wand," Albert shouted to Fred, as it was too noisy around them.
"Don't you have a wand?" Fred asked, puzzled. But when he saw Albert holding up his wand, he understood what was going on and handed his wand to Albert.
"Geminio." Albert took Fred's wand, chanted a spell, and tapped it on Lee Jordan's umbrella, thus creating a duplicate umbrella.
Before returning it to the other party, Albert glanced at the wand again and muttered, "It's definitely not as good as mine, and the power of the spell is obviously weakened."
"What are you talking about?" Lee Jordan handed the copied umbrella to the Twins, letting them squeeze into one. The wizards behind them watched this with envy; after all, only a minority had umbrellas.
Very few people can conjure an umbrella using Summoning Charm like Albert did.
The rain was heavy and torrential, like buckets of icy water being poured over everyone's heads. The unlucky ones who hadn't brought umbrellas were soaked as soon as they got off the train. They could only hunch their shoulders, squint, and huddle in the downpour, trying to protect themselves from the rain.
"First-year students, come here!" A familiar voice rang out from not far away, and Hagrid, carrying an oil lamp, waved to the first-year students who were soaked to the bone.
As is customary, Hagrid will lead them on a traditional Crossing the Lake.
The others pushed and shoved each other as they moved forward along the platform.
Albert, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan deliberately lagged behind the group, watching the unfortunate bunch soaked to the bone with glee, making sarcastic remarks without a care in the world. George and Lee Jordan were even discussing why they didn't want to bring an umbrella.
Of course, Albert and his group weren't the only ones with umbrellas. All the students with umbrellas followed calmly at the back of the line, not wanting to squeeze in with everyone else, since there were definitely enough carriages.
The group followed the other students across a rough, muddy road, where they came into view a large number of horse-drawn carriages, each pulled by an invisible Thestral.
The shivering students hurriedly climbed onto the carriage, while Albert and his three companions boarded another. Next door Angelina and Aylia were sharing an umbrella with Shanna, who had been chatting with Albert before boarding, expressing her interest in the Duplication Charm.
"If I have time, I can teach you!" Albert said to Shanna. "This spell isn't too difficult, as long as you're willing to spend some time practicing."
"It's time to get going," Fred reminded him.
Once Albert climbed into the carriage and closed the door, the carriage lurched off, the long line of carriages moving along the path leading to Hogwarts Castle, the wheels splashing through puddles.
Albert leaned against the car window, feeling the violent jolts inside the carriage.
No one spoke; everyone crowded around the car windows, looking towards Hogwarts in the distance.
Soon after, the carriage passed through the Hogwarts gates, which featured a sculpture of a winged boar, and finally stopped at the foot of the stone steps in front of the two oak doors.
The people in the carriage ahead hurriedly climbed the stone steps and ran into the castle despite the heavy rain.
Albert, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan stepped off the carriage with umbrellas and strolled leisurely up the stone steps through the bustling crowd.
On the way, Albert helped up an unlucky guy who had slipped and fallen. The guy only said "thank you" and then hurriedly ran away.
"That guy is stupid," George muttered.
"How exactly is he stupid?" Lee Jordan asked curiously.
"Guess for yourself."
Albert ignored their bickering, stood at the doorway, and looked back towards the Black Lake, where he could vaguely see blurry lights moving toward the Boat Dock on the lake's surface.
Are the new students still Crossing the Lake?
"Albert, let's go!" George urged.
"They're here."
Albert withdrew his gaze and followed the others slowly toward the Entrance Hall, passing through two double doors into the Great Hall.
It is said that every year at the freshmen feast, the Great Hall of Hogwarts is redecorated to make it look even more magnificent and grand.
Albert walked into the Great Hall, looked up at the High Table, and sure enough, saw a stranger there.
He gave Rowena a barely perceptible nod, then sat in the seat that Lee Jordan had specially vacated for him, and also greeted Nearly Headless Nick ghost of Gryffindor, who was passing by.
"Good evening." Albert looked away and greeted his acquaintances from the same year with a smile.
"You've gotten a tan," Shanna said, looking Albert up and down. "Did you go to the beach for summer vacation?"
"The Basque Beach in France," Albert nodded. "The food there is really good, unforgettable."
"How enviable!" Shanna said with a look of envy. "Staying at home during summer vacation is so boring."
"It's pretty boring," Fred muttered. "But we spend most of the year like this, so I'm used to it."
"At least you guys can still play Quidditch," Lee Jordan couldn't help but protest.
They had only exchanged a few words when Professor McGonagall arrived with the first-year students, and the noise in the Great Hall began to fade, plunging into silence.
Before everyone's eyes, the headmaster of Gryffindor placed a tattered, dirty, and patched wizard's hat on a three-legged stool.
Then, to the astonishment of the freshmen, the Sorting Hat suddenly began to sing a new Sorting Hat's Song.
The Sorting Ceremony officially began after the singing ended.
To be honest, watching someone else's Sorting Ceremony is quite an interesting thing.
The freshmen began to be assigned to various colleges.
Well, Albert would never admit that he was actually interested in Cho Chang's appearance.
After all, in the Harry Potter story, Cho Chang is a lovely girl with an oriental appearance. However, one thing everyone has to admit is that there are differences in the aesthetic standards of Europe and Asia. No, it should be said that people from every country have different aesthetic standards.
In the eyes of most Europe, Africa and Asia probably look pretty much the same.
Fortunately, Albert did not have the face blindness problem that many Europe suffer from.
Cho Chang was in the front row. Unlike the Europe, she had a more Asia- looking face. Yes, she was indeed a lovely girl.
However, compared to Cho Chang, what Albert was more concerned about was a boy named Zacharias Smith. Albert didn't have any particular impression of the name, but he would pay special attention to the surname Smith.
Incidentally, this Smith was assigned to Hufflepuff.
Gryffindor also welcomed several new students, one of whom was Katie Bell. Albert vaguely remembered this girl; she seemed to be one of Gryffindor's three suitors.
"Is that the Rowena Smith you mentioned?" Fred asked Albert, looking curiously at the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.
"Yes, it really is him. It seems we won't have to worry about not learning anything in this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts." As Albert spoke, Angelina across from him was talking to George about Flying Broom. She hadn't bought a broom yet and wanted to hear the opinions of the other members of the team.
"The Nimbus 1700 is good; this series of brooms has always been good," Wood interjected.
"What did you buy?" Angelina asked Fred and George.
"Cleansweep Seven 5!" The Twins looked at each other and said in unison.
"Where's Albert?" Angelina asked Albert again.
"He didn't buy a flying broom," Freddie Albert replied.
"I suggest you borrow a broom from someone on the team to try it out, and then consider what to buy," Albert suggested.
However, this suggestion wasn't very good. Most people bought the Comet and Cleansweep Seven, and no one bought the Nimbus series because that series of brooms was more expensive.
"What's your budget?" Wood asked. "If it's not too high, I suggest you buy the latest Cleansweep Seven 6. Comet hasn't released a new Flying Broom in several years. Of course, the Comet 260 is also a good broom, but it's a bit slow. It's up to you to choose."
As they were talking, the last student entered Ravenclaw. After the Sorting Ceremony, Professor McGonagall took the Sorting Hat and the stool.
"Welcome to Hogwarts for the new school year!" Professor Dumbledore stood up from the High Table, smiling at all the students and opening his arms in a welcoming gesture.
"This year, I am delighted to welcome a new teacher to our team, Professor Smith, who will fill the vacancy for the Dark Arts Defense course."
A few claps rang out in the Great Hall.
"Alright, I think you're hungry too. Let's begin our meal." Dumbledore raised his spoon and tapped it lightly against the wine glass in front of him.
Suddenly, the golden plates and wine glasses in front of everyone were filled with food and drinks, Great Hall echoed with laughter and the clinking of knives and forks.
Albert wasn't very hungry, and he only picked out his favorite foods. While cutting his steak, he discussed with Nick the academic question of whether ghosts could eat.
Nick explained that ghostly feasts typically serve only rotten food, and when a ghost wants to taste the food, it will walk between the tables where the food is served.
"I guess they let the food rot so they'd taste it better," Albert said to the people next to him, which earned him a bunch of eye rolls.
After the last dessert was devoured, Dumbledore stood up once more, and the buzzing in the hall abruptly ceased.
"Alright!" Dumbledore smile, looking at everyone. "Now that everyone has eaten and drunk their fill, I have a few announcements to make."
"Mr. Filch, the gatekeeper, wants me to tell you all that this year, students are forbidden from planting garlic or bringing any garlic-related items into the castle."
When Dumbledore mentioned this, many people couldn't help but laugh, as they all remembered how someone had used garlic to prank Filch before the summer break last semester.
Fred and George managed to suppress their laughter after being kicked by Albert; both of them were holding their breath and feeling uncomfortable.
The freshmen's orientation banquet only ended when Dumbledore said that everyone should go to sleep.
"I never expected Filch to ban everyone from bringing garlic." After leaving the hall, Fred finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"What a pity, the Garlic Fried Eggs tasted pretty good," Lee Jordan said seriously.
This made Fred and George want to laugh.
Albert followed the others to the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked as they approached.
"Nonsense," Percy said, stepping forward.
The portrait suddenly sprang forward, revealing a large hole in the wall.
Everyone climbed in from here. The circular Common Room still had the same familiar furnishings, and a roaring fire was burning by the fireplace.
The boys all rushed up the spiral staircase to their respective dormitories.
Four four-poster beds stood against the wall, with dark red curtains hanging above them, and each person's trunk was placed at the foot of their respective bed.
"Goodnight." Fred was too full. He took out his pajamas from his suitcase, changed into them, and then lay down on the bed, not wanting to move.
"Good night." Albert changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed; their bedding had already been warmed by the charcoal stove.
Lying comfortably in his bed, listening to the rain outside, Albert closed his eyes and marveled at how pleasant life at Hogwarts was.