There were no more strange incidents along the way. Harley and Ron chatted the whole journey, and she learned quite a bit about the Wizarding World. Ron also mentioned a young man named He Shenyan. Supposedly, he was the one who had captured Voldemort and changed Hogwarts's teaching methods.
There had been much discussion about him outside, but no one had ever heard of him before.
"He even made the newspaper headlines with Dumbledore!" Ron said indistinctly as he stuffed snacks into his mouth. Harley nodded thoughtfully. She was used to acting mature in front of people her own age.
She turned to look out the window. Beneath the deep purple sky, she could still vaguely make out the rolling mountains and dense forests, and the train seemed to be slowing down. Harley was still wearing the tailored suit Snape had bought her, while Ron showed no intention of changing into wizarding robes.
He wore a jacket and jeans, looking completely unrelated to the word wizard.
A voice echoed through the carriage. "We will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage in the compartments. Someone will deliver it to the school in batches."
Harley and Ron grabbed the remaining sweets and stuffed them into their pockets before squeezing into the crowded corridor. After a bout of jostling, the train came to a stop. They finally managed to squeeze out of the carriage and onto a small, dark platform.
The cold wind cut like a knife, and Harley shivered. I should've put on my coat.
A dim lamp bobbed and swayed above the students' heads. A booming voice shouted from the darkness, "First-years! Over here!"
A huge, furry face appeared in the lamplight. It belonged to a towering giant with a thick beard. Holding up the lamp, he called, "First-years! Come on! Gather over here! Anyone else? Watch your step! Follow me!"
The new students stumbled after the giant down a small, narrow path. It was pitch-black on both sides. Harley had a feeling that something was watching them in the darkness. The silver-gray little snake around her right wrist stirred.
Hardly anyone spoke along the way, except Neville, who had lost his toad and was panting heavily.
The giant led the way ahead, his booming voice audible even to the students at the back of the group. "You'll see Hogwarts in a moment! Just around this bend!"
They rounded the bend.
A loud chorus of admiration rose from the crowd.
The narrow path suddenly opened up, revealing a vast, pitch-black lake. A huge castle, dotted with countless turrets and towers, stood between two steep mountains. Its windows gleamed beneath the star-filled sky.
Harley fell in love with the place at first sight, her heart filled with an inexplicable thrill. The giant stood ahead on the path and pointed to a row of small boats by the shore. "Four to a boat! Remember, first-years! Don't overload them!"
The new students boarded one after another. Harley, Ron, Neville, and Hermione sat in the same boat. The giant took a boat by himself and asked, "Is everyone aboard?! Any first-years still not in a boat?"
Only after checking repeatedly did he shout, "Good! Let's go!"
The line of boats set off at once, gliding together over the mirror-smooth lake.
All the children fell silent, gazing up at the magnificent ancient castle. As the boats drew closer to the cliff where the castle stood, they even felt as though it was rising directly above their heads. Harley was almost entranced. She had never experienced anything like this before.
"Heads down!" the giant shouted when the boats reached the edge of the cliff. They immediately ducked.
The boats carried them through a curtain of ivy concealing an entrance in the cliff face, then traveled along a dark waterway running beneath the castle.
After a long while, they arrived at an underground harbor.
There, they disembarked and began climbing a mountain path covered in rocks and pebbles.
Guided by the giant's lamp, they continued climbing along a passage between the shore rocks, eventually reaching a damp, level patch of grass beneath the castle's shadow.
They climbed a stone staircase and gathered before the castle's heavy, broad oak doors. Beautiful carvings covered them, somehow giving off faint glimmers in the darkness.
The giant walked from the front of the group to the back, counting heads and asking whether anyone had been left behind. Only after finishing did he raise his enormous fist and pound on the heavy doors three times with all his strength.
The doors opened at once. A tall, black-haired woman in black robes stood in the doorway. Her expression was stern. Ron whispered to Harley, "Her classes are probably going to be hard."
Harley saw the woman glance their way. She quickly gave an apologetic smile and elbowed Ron.
"Professor McGonagall, all the first-years are here," the giant reported.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them inside."
So the giant was called Hagrid.
He turned and left. Harley watched his retreating figure, feeling as though a moving mountain was striding into the darkness. Professor McGonagall's voice rang out before the doors. "Follow me, children. Do not crowd together. There is plenty of room."
She had not been lying.
Professor McGonagall snapped her fingers, and many of them gasped.
Emerald-green Magic Power flowed from between the woman's fingers and pushed the doors fully open. The entrance hall inside was astonishingly vast. Harley felt it could fit her uncle's entire house.
Torches brightly illuminated the stone walls, while the ceiling soared unimaginably high. A beautiful marble staircase at the front led upstairs. They followed the woman across a stretch of floor lined with colorful banners. From an entrance on the right, Harley could hear hundreds or thousands of voices chattering noisily—the school's other students had already arrived.
But Professor McGonagall led the first-years into a small, empty room away from the hall. They all squeezed inside, standing shoulder to shoulder and looking around nervously.
Specks of starlight flowed from Professor McGonagall's hand, gathering together before bursting into a warm glow across the little room's ceiling. The first-years immediately felt the tension in their hearts vanish, along with the cold they had just felt.
The older woman in black cleared her throat sternly and said in a loud voice, "Welcome to Hogwarts, children. The start-of-term feast will begin shortly, but before that, we have a ceremony to conduct. You will be assigned to different Academies."
"There are four of them: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each Academy has its own glorious and long history. They have all produced exceptionally talented wizards."
"While you are at Hogwarts, if you obey the rules and perform well, your Academy will earn points. Otherwise, points will be deducted. At the end of every year, the Academy with the highest score will receive the supreme honor of the House Cup. I hope you can all bring glory to your own Academy."
"The assignment ceremony will begin before the entire school in a few minutes. I suggest that while you wait, you make yourselves look presentable."
Her gaze swept across the first-years' faces. It lingered on Harley for a moment, and she nodded at her.
Harley did not know what it meant, but she returned it with a bright smile. She knew there was never any harm in showing respect to those in power.
Professor McGonagall added, "We will come get you when we are ready. Wait quietly here."
With that, she left.
Ron said uneasily to Harley, "I heard from my brother that this ceremony hurts a lot, and there's a test too."
As he said it, his face turned pale.
"Just thinking about taking a test in front of so many people, I..."
He did not continue. Harley looked around and found that everyone else was just as nervous as Ron. Hermione was chattering quietly to Neville. Several people behind Harley suddenly screamed, startling Ron so badly that he jumped three feet into the air.
They turned around and found more than twenty ghosts passing through the wall behind them.
They chatted among themselves, speaking in tones that were hard to understand. One of them floated down and examined each of them carefully. The ghosts soon floated away again, as though they were hurrying off to do something.
Professor McGonagall returned before long. "Line up, children. Follow me now!"
They crossed the hall again, passed through a pair of double doors, and entered the Great Hall.
Harley had never seen such a magnificent place. Even the luxury hotel she had stayed in the night before could not compare to it.
The older students sat at four long tables, with thousands of candles floating above their heads, illuminating the entire Great Hall. The tables were covered with gleaming golden plates and goblets.
There was another long table on the raised platform at the front of the hall, where all the teachers sat. Professor McGonagall led the first-years onto the platform and had them stand in a line, facing the older students with their backs to the teachers.
Harley instinctively realized that something was about to happen.
Before you continue