"What crisis?"
Cho Chang spoke up before Ian could.
"Of course, the Sorting Ceremony."
The cool girl's gaze swept over the three of them. "There's a special test at school that determines where every student belongs."
"My family told me a few days ago that it's a terrifying experience nobody wants to remember." The blonde girl spoke with complete seriousness.
"My dad told me it would be an unforgettable memory, too. They're not going to make us fight a Dragon, are they?" Cho Chang asked, her eyes widening with worry.
Across from them,
Aurora suddenly raised her head.
Her eyes lit up.
She looked eager to try.
"What are you planning to do?"
Cho Chang seemed startled by Aurora.
"She wants to fight a Dragon."
Ian knew what the Sorting Ceremony involved, and he could see the anticipation in Aurora's eyes. He shook his head and lowered his voice. "Have you even thought about how valuable all the materials from a Dragon are? The school would never hand them out for free."
At that,
Aurora's eyes immediately dimmed.
"?????"
"?????"
The two girls across from them exchanged a look, both wearing expressions of disbelief. Were kids their age really so brave they couldn't tell what was beyond their abilities?
That was a Dragon!
"Were you born into Muggle families?"
Once the blonde girl recovered, she couldn't help blurting out the question.
"What difference does that make?"
Aurora gazed calmly at the blonde girl with her mismatched eyes.
"I'm guessing you were."
The blonde girl's voice turned even colder. She looked at Ian and Aurora with disdain. "Otherwise, you'd never say something as ridiculous as wanting to fight a Dragon."
The girl, who had only seemed aloof before, now spoke with open condescension.
"Looks like you'll be a Slytherin," Aurora said without the slightest anger.
She simply made the remark offhandedly.
"Of course I will. Remember my name: Daphne Greengrass. My whole family is Slytherin. It's the best House at Hogwarts."
"One day, I'll achieve things you could never hope to match."
The blonde girl noticed Ian taking a small metal box out of his suitcase.
"What are you doing?"
The girl named Daphne frowned at Ian.
"Go ahead. Don't mind me. I'd like to learn more about the school, too. After all, I'm just a Muggle-born orphan." Ian sighed as he pressed a button on the device.
"So you're a Mudblood."
Daphne's voice grew even more contemptuous.
"People like you will never be sorted into Slytherin. Only glorious Pure-bloods belong here. Maybe Hufflepuff will be kind enough to take you in."
Clearly,
she was a Pure-blood supremacist, a common enough sort in the wizarding world.
"Um... Greengrass, you shouldn't call our classmates that." Cho Chang frowned and tried to reason with her, but Daphne clearly didn't care.
"I'm just stating the facts. I'm not as hypocritical as you lot, pretending they're the same as us." Daphne's words grew more and more unpleasant.
She even moved her raised wand behind her back, as though she didn't want Ian and Aurora to bask in its light. Cho Chang looked awkward now, too.
"That's just your opinion."
Cho Chang was also growing angry at Daphne's remarks.
"Mm, we're not the same."
Aurora had listened in silence. She turned to look at Ian, who was watching her hand, apparently checking whether she was reaching for her wand.
"You don't need to worry. I can tolerate a situation like this."
The German Girl sighed helplessly.
She thought her friend might have misunderstood her.
"Then you're stronger than I am."
Ian put the little device back in his suitcase. Seeing that Daphne had moved the light he'd been able to use, he had no choice but to pull out his Elder Wand.
The Black Lake was terribly dark at night.
"What are you going to do?"
Aurora reacted even more strongly than Ian. She grabbed the arm holding his wand. Her mismatched eyes, usually so calm, now showed a rare hint of worry.
"Oh, are you challenging me to a duel?"
Daphne stared at the wand in Ian's hand, her expression full of disdain. Seeing this, Cho Chang hurried to tell them both to stay calm.
"I'm not the one getting carried away, and I'm not interested in a childish little duel." Ian shook his head, exasperated.
He just wanted to light up the area around them.
The light from Daphne's wand was tiny as a speck of sesame.
"Lumos!"
As Ian spoke the incantation,
light burst forth.
Brilliant white light swept through the scattered pinpricks of illumination around them. Like a rising sun, it lit up most of the lake surrounding their little boat.
"What's happening over there?!"
"My goodness! That Lumos is so bright!"
"Merlin's beard! I haven't even learned the Levitation Charm yet!"
Exclamations rose from boats all across the lake. Even Hagrid, leading the way, couldn't help turning around to stare in astonishment at Ian's boat.
"How is that possible?! You're just a Mudblood!"
The sudden light dazzled Daphne. She raised a hand to shield her eyes and cried out in disbelief.
"There's no mystery to it. If you're bad at something, practice more." As Ian sat back down, he noticed that Aurora had turned her head toward the side of the boat at some point.
The light hadn't dazzled her.
"How can your magic be so powerful?"
Cho Chang was doing her best to adjust to the brightness, but what amazed her was clearly different from what amazed the others.
She was more interested in the strength of the spell.
"Of course. The Four Founders just blessed me with their baptism."
Ian launched into another perfectly serious load of nonsense.
"..."
Cho Chang was at a loss for words.
Daphne, sitting beside her, looked furious, but she no longer dared to provoke him. She might be a Pure-blood supremacist, but she wasn't foolish enough to lose her head over it.
"He's just a Mudblood who studied in secret! Once school starts, I'll surpass him in no time!" Daphne was still seething inside, of course.
The little incident left the boat's atmosphere a bit strange.
Once everyone got used to the light shining from Ian's wand, it wasn't all that dazzling anymore.
Ian and Cho Chang chatted from time to time. Aurora remained quiet and relaxed, gazing out at the lake, while Daphne felt every moment drag on like an eternity.
"When are we getting to the school?!"
After all her eager waiting,
the boats finally reached the far shore of the Black Lake.
"Everyone, follow me!"
Hagrid led the way with his lantern. A winding path paved with gravel led to the castle gates, and he guided the young witches and wizards up the stone steps in front of the castle.
"That Lumos just now came from their boat."
"Was it that handsome boy?"
"I think it was Daphne Greengrass. My dad says she's really talented."
Though she was no longer stuck on the boat, Daphne Greengrass's ordeal clearly wasn't over. The chatter around her made her want to turn around and go home.
"Professor Snape, why are you here?" Hagrid knocked on the door with his red umbrella, only to find that the person waiting inside wasn't the ever-present Professor McGonagall.
"Do you think I'm not qualified to welcome the new students?" The black-robed man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose sneered. His sinister appearance silenced the young witches and wizards who had been whispering.
"Of course not. Well, I'll leave the first-years in your hands." Hagrid scratched his head, looking puzzled. He turned and left the castle, glancing back again and again.
"If you don't want to carry your things straight back home this very moment, then shut up and follow me." Snape's gaze lingered on Ian and Aurora for about three seconds.
Then
he coolly ordered the young witches and wizards to follow him.
Perhaps Snape's oppressive presence was simply too intimidating. As he led them onward, not one of the young witches and wizards dared to speak.
Everyone was tense and uneasy.
Even Aurora seemed a little uncomfortable—after all, she was still just a little girl.
Perhaps Ian was the only one with the mood to admire the decorations of Hogwarts' legendary old castle. J.K. Rowling had already spoiled the details of the Sorting Ceremony for him.
The traces of time were everywhere.
It was easy to tell that countless students had studied and played here over the years.
Flaming torches lined the castle's stone walls. As they ventured deeper inside, the warmth from the flames chased the cold from the young witches and wizards.
"Creak..."
As Snape pushed open the Great Hall doors,
the magnificent hall appeared before the young witches and wizards. Thousands of candles floated in midair, illuminating the entire hall as brightly as day.
Banners representing the four Houses fluttered gently overhead. The plates and goblets on the long tables gleamed in the brilliant light.
What drew everyone's attention most was the Great Hall's ceiling. Stars dotted the black, velvet-like expanse, just like the astonishingly lifelike canopy of sky they had seen over the Black Lake.
"It's beautiful."
Aurora gazed up at the ceiling without looking away.
"Powerful magic has been cast here, so it shows the same sky as the one outside..." Ian felt as though something was missing just then.
"Mm, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Good. That was more like it. Feeling satisfied, Ian turned his gaze to the raised platform at the front. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and the other professors sat upright at the staff table, awaiting the new students.
Ian was curious about all of the professors.
But
he was most curious about the unremarkable four-legged stool, and the shabby-looking pointed wizard's hat resting on it, still unnoticed by most of the crowd.
The Sorting Hat.
A thousand years of history
had been witnessed by it.
So many stories... began here.