Hogwarts School

Hogwarts School

"You should know that Hogwarts has four Houses. At the end of every year, the House Cup is awarded to the House with the most points. Let's see who can earn more points for their House during our first year. Whoever earns fewer points becomes the other person's lackey. What do you think?"

Malfoy quickly considered it, though he answered casually, "What if we both end up in the same House? How would we compare?"

Harry smiled. "You don't need to worry about that. Aren't you determined to get into Slytherin? I'm not particularly hoping for Slytherin. I'm more likely to end up in Gryffindor."

Malfoy curled his lip inwardly. Influenced by his father, his impression of Gryffindor was that it had too many Muggle-born wizards, and that its students had nothing but pointless courage, no brains, and plenty of recklessness...

"What? Still haven't made up your mind? This is a perfectly fair bet. Neither of us can cheat, and every teacher can serve as a judge. Or is it that... you have no confidence in yourself? You don't dare? You're afraid of losing?" Harry sat down and spoke sharply, coldly.

Malfoy immediately became agitated. "What wouldn't I dare do? I'm a Malfoy."

"Then, what do you think...?"

"Fine..." Malfoy took a breath and forced himself to calm down. "I want to add one more condition. At the House Cup banquet, the loser has to stand in front of the teachers' platform and shout to the entire school, 'I lost. From now on, so-and-so is my boss.' What do you say?" He cast Harry a challenging look.

Harry really did pause for a moment before saying, "You seem very confident. If you're trying to scare me off this way, then I can only say you've miscalculated."

"Just wait for the day you stand on that stage. I hope your legs won't give out."

"Then it's a deal. I won't go easy on you." Harry smiled, then turned and left.

"Heh heh, you brought this on yourself. I started learning magic two years ago. Me, lose? What a joke!" As soon as Harry left, Malfoy became smug, suddenly feeling intellectually superior!

When he returned to his compartment, boredom washed over him again. Before, he'd had a Little Cutie to play with, but Hermione had already carried it away.

He had no idea where the train was now. The forest from before had vanished, and they were passing through open fields. Cows and sheep grazed in the fields, only to flash past in an instant. The wind rippled through the grass like waves!

Harry placed a package on the end of the seat nearest the door, then lay down. From there, he could see the blue sky outside and the occasional drifting white cloud. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep...

While Harry slept, he had no idea that a girl had entered.

At around four or five in the afternoon, the door was gently pushed open, and a cute girl came in. She held a white cat in her arms. It was unclear what she wanted, but when she saw Harry asleep on the seat, she was obviously a little disappointed.

Her eyes blinked, then she quietly gathered everything from the table. Looking at Harry, who knew nothing at all, a crafty smile appeared on her face. She tiptoed out. As she closed the door, the girl glanced at Harry once more—his hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose...

The girl suddenly blushed and felt her heart race. She hurriedly shut the door tightly, leaned against it, and stood there for a while. Only after the flush faded from her face did she return to her own compartment.

By the time Harry woke up, the sky had already darkened. He rubbed his eyes, pressed himself against the window, and looked outside. The fields were gone now. Patches of forest appeared from time to time, along with winding rivers and dark green hills.

"Growl..." Harry's stomach rumbled. He wanted to find something to eat on the table, only to discover that everything was gone. After thinking about it, he knew who had taken it.

"That little girl." Harry shook his head helplessly.

The scenery grew increasingly desolate. Hogwarts should be close now. There were also constant messy footsteps and laughter in the corridor outside. It seemed the students could no longer contain themselves.

Harry stepped out, intending to wander around the train. Just as he shut the door, he heard the sound of people trading fire behind him. (Luo Bei: Trading fire, not screwing!)

A haughty voice rang out. "No need to ask who you are. Just looking at that red hair tells me you're from the Weasley family. You're practically the disgrace of pure-blood families. You have so many children you can't even afford to raise them. Your wand and robes seem to have been used by your brother, haven't they? Hahaha..."

Malfoy laughed mockingly. Several children in the corridor heard him and couldn't help looking toward the red-haired boy.

Ron's face turned as red as his hair, and he had no idea how to retort. He really did feel inferior over the things Malfoy had said.

"That's still better than having your father serve the Dark Lord," Ron said shamefully.

Malfoy's expression instantly turned ugly, and he could no longer laugh. A faint flush appeared on his pale face. "Damn it." Then he lunged at Ron, and the two began to fight. Being children, their methods amounted to pulling hair, yanking clothes, and grabbing each other in the groin. They rolled around on the floor, practically inseparable.

The people watching nearby were dumbfounded. Who would have expected the plot to unfold like this? They hadn't even prepared any popcorn!

At last, someone came to their senses and tried to stop them. But no one dared rush in and pull them apart, lest they get caught in the crossfire. They could only call out from the side, "Stop fighting! Stop fighting!"

Some tried to scare them. "The prefect is coming! Get up!"

But it was useless. The two raised their heads at the same time, saw that there was no one there, and continued into the next round of battle.

Using his height advantage, Harry watched with great interest from outside the crowd. "That move's not bad—poke him in the nostrils!..." The person in front of Harry glanced back at him, then fled in terror.

Feeling that he had seen enough, Harry took out his wand. Yes, that was right, a wand. Just as he was about to use magic, he noticed Hermione standing among the spectators on the other side, with her wand in hand as well. Hermione seemed hesitant. She raised her wand several times, but ultimately gave up.

Harry smiled faintly and pointed his wand at Ron, who was pinning Malfoy down, and Malfoy. If I took a picture of their current position...

He softly shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Crack, crack!" The two froze at once like statues, unable to move.

The onlookers were stunned, then abruptly turned to stare at Harry and his wand.

Harry remained calm. "What are you looking at me for? Separate them first."

One student supporting Ron cast Harry a fearful glance and asked, "What do we do about this?"

"They'll return to normal in ten minutes."

"Oh, right." Harry's expression turned solemn.

"What...?"

Harry looked around and said seriously, "My name is Red Scarf!"

The onlookers: (⊙o⊙)...

After the crowd dispersed, Harry caught up with a girl. "Hermione!"

Hermione turned around and pretended she had only just noticed Harry. "Oh, it's you. What is it?"

Harry looked at Hermione helplessly. "Didn't you want to use magic just now? Why didn't you?"

Hermione leaned against the corridor window and sighed. "I wanted to, but I was worried my spell would go wrong."

Harry nodded as if he understood. "You must be disappointed."

"Yes!"

"If it were me, I'd be disappointed too. After all, those were two living people as spell targets. It was a rare opportunity."

Hermione said angrily, "Who thinks like that?"

Harry looked astonished. "Really? Not even a little?"

Hermione fidgeted and said shyly, "Actually, maybe a little!"

So there really was!

Harry was suddenly drawn to a building outside the window. It was a tall castle, solemn and mysterious beneath the pitch-black night sky. Not far from the castle lay a dark forest...

"Whooo..." The train blew its whistle.

They had arrived at Hogwarts!