"W-what? Run into it? Really?"
Harry looked at him in disbelief.
He was clearly hesitant.
Devero, however, was very confident.
"Harry, trust me. We're classmates. Why would I lie to you or use you? Just focus and run into it!"
Hearing that, Harry seemed to let down his guard a little.
An eleven-year-old boy with blond hair and a toad perched on his shoulder.
He looked like a little wizard... right?
Taking a deep breath,
he followed Devero's instructions
and charged straight at the stone pillar!
Thud!
Unexpectedly,
Harry ran straight into the pillar
and hit the ground in a heap.
Devero was stunned, too.
"Huh? No way. Dobby shouldn't have come here to cast a spell yet this year, should he?"
Then he saw a family of redheads bustling noisily
as they walked past.
"Mum, I need to go to the Prefect's carriage, so..."
said a tall, red-haired boy.
"Oh! Percy, you're a Prefect? How come we never knew that?!"
a pair of twins said sarcastically.
"Mum, can't I get on the train?"
A little girl tugged at her mother's hand, pleading.
"No, Ginny. You're too young."
The woman shook her head firmly.
Only then did Devero realize—
Er.
He'd apparently counted the pillars wrong.
This wasn't the right one.
Devero hurried over and helped Harry, who looked thoroughly resentful, to his feet.
"Er, sorry, Potter. I think I counted the pillars wrong. It should be that one over there."
As he spoke, he hurriedly helped Harry gather his things, which were scattered all over the ground.
But Devero really did think he'd been right to let Harry test it for him first.
After all, he wasn't pushing a luggage trolley like the other young wizards.
Otherwise, he'd have run straight into the wall.
And it would've been awful if he'd messed up his face.
Once they'd gathered the luggage,
Devero led the doubtful Harry to another stone pillar.
It was obvious that Harry didn't trust Devero much anymore.
"Don't worry. This one's definitely right."
Devero tried to reassure him.
"Look, those kids over there are heading this way."
As they spoke,
a group of red-haired children charged toward the wall.
One by one, they passed through the stone pillar without a hitch
and disappeared into the wall.
Seeing this,
Harry's doubts finally began to ease.
"Oh, dear! Were you waiting for us? You can go through now."
After the youngest boy, whose face was lightly freckled, had rushed through the wall,
the plump woman standing in front of them turned around and noticed them waiting.
She spoke to them kindly,
her face beaming with a warm smile.
She stepped aside to let them enter the station first.
Devero smiled and nodded,
then said politely,
"Thank you, ma'am. It's our first time going to Hogwarts, so we don't really know our way around. Haha, I almost ran into another pillar just now."
"Almost? I actually did run into it!"
Harry cut in indignantly,
a trace of anger still on his face.
With Mrs. Weasley's help,
Harry took a deep breath,
gathered his courage, and charged straight at the stone pillar.
At last, he passed through successfully this time
and entered Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
Devero thanked Mrs. Weasley,
then followed him through the pillar.
Mrs. Weasley watched Devero disappear.
Then she suddenly realized something.
"Why didn't that boy have any luggage?"
she murmured to herself,
her brows knitting slightly.
"Wow, so this is a wizard station platform?"
Devero felt as though he'd passed through a layer of water,
though his body hadn't gotten wet.
He had arrived in a completely different space from the one he'd just left.
Quite a few people here wore traditional wizarding robes,
making Devero feel as though he'd returned to Diagon Alley.
Of course,
most people were still dressed in Muggle clothes.
After all, parents bringing their children to school still had to pass through the Muggle station.
Under the laws designed to protect Muggles,
they tried to dress in a way that blended in with Muggle life.
As Devero looked around,
trying to find Harry
while frantically loading up traits from the people around him,
[ Ding! ]
[ Wizard Secret Realm discovered. Exploration function triggered! ]
[ Current Wizard Secret Realm: London Wizard Station! ]
[ Exploration progress: 1.1% ]
Devero froze.
He hadn't expected the station to count as a Wizard Secret Realm!
But it made sense. They might have started transporting Hogwarts students from here two hundred years ago,
after the Industrial Revolution.
It had quite a long history.
At that thought, Devero grew excited.
This station was completely different from Diagon Alley!
It was so small, and there was no Knockturn Alley to hold back his exploration progress!
Which meant
he might be able to fill up his exploration progress today!
Devero looked around.
The platform was packed with people,
all sorts of them hurrying back and forth.
Some parents were helping their children organize their luggage,
while the students excitedly discussed the coming school year.
Some had owls,
some had cats,
and some even had toads, just like Devero.
That one was probably Neville.
He probably had some pretty good traits.
But Devero didn't care about them right now.
He'd have plenty of time to load up traits once he got to Hogwarts!
In the distance,
a huge red steam train billowed white smoke,
waiting for its passengers to arrive.
Devero didn't have any luggage, either,
so he immediately started running around the platform,
racing from one end to the other.
He focused entirely on the system panel,
staring intently at his exploration progress.
Every step he took made the progress leap upward.
Zero percent!
One percent!
Five percent!
Fifteen percent!
Thirty percent!
[ Ding! ] [ Spell Proficiency Card issued! ]
Sixty percent!
[ Ding! ] [ Trait Upgrade Card issued! ]
One hundred percent!
[ Ding! ] [ Obtained Wisdom of the Sages! ]
Boom!
Standing at the edge of the platform,
Devero suddenly shuddered from head to toe!
A vast body of knowledge flooded into his mind!
It twisted together and fused into one,
containing an immense amount of information!
Even for Devero, a Magic Prodigy,
such a vast amount of knowledge was almost too much to bear.
If an ordinary eleven-year-old wizard had to bear it,
their brain would've burned out in an instant!
After clutching his head and spending a while absorbing this knowledge,
Devero slowly straightened up.
He opened the system panel and took a look.
A new entry had appeared on the panel.
[Wisdom of the Sages owned: Venerable Jueyin's Zen Meditation Method!] [Venerable Jueyin's Zen Meditation Method: Continued practice can increase the strength and recovery rate of your magic power. More importantly, this ancient method of magical cultivation can forge a closer connection between the mind and magic power, allowing you to maintain inner calm and strength when facing difficulties and challenges!]
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