The Journey to Hogwarts

Xiwen had not, in the end, spent all his time practicing spells.

Sandrine had practically dragged him to all sorts of social events: dinner at Malfoy Manor; a gathering at the Black family's 12 Grimmauld Place; meeting relatives in the Selwyn family's courtyard; visiting the Greengrass family's estate...

Sandrine had also invited people from other families to visit their attic, calling it "normal socializing."

"It's good to make more friends your own age from other families. Once school starts, you can look out for one another. And there are only so many pure-blood families. Maybe you'll take a liking to some girl, and she'll become your little girlfriend!" Sandrine said.

"Mom, I'm only eleven!" Xiwen declared helplessly.

"What's the big deal about being young? Back in your grandfather's generation, people had their marriages arranged from childhood." Sandrine did not care. "What do you think of Elshiona from the Greengrass family? She's quite a cute girl, and she has a nice personality too..."

Unable to listen to his mother's nagging any longer, Xiwen could only retreat to his room and quietly study the textbooks in advance.

Amid all the socializing and constant magical practice, two months passed in the blink of an eye.

"Remember to study hard at Hogwarts. If there's anything you don't understand, or if you run into danger, go find Professor Slughorn. He'll be more than happy to help young wizards from pure-blood families. If young wizards from other families give you trouble, tell me directly, and I'll go demand an explanation from their parents. Use the owl to keep in touch with home often. Don't get so wrapped up in studying that you forget about me..." Sandrine had rarely been this talkative, endlessly giving him instructions.

Xiwen nodded at every point, assuring his mother that she need not worry.

Suddenly, Sandrine said sternly, "Don't get too close to Dumbledore, the head of Gryffindor. When he was young, he was closely associated with the Dark Lord Grindelwald. He's an untrustworthy dark wizard. Be careful not to let him use you!"

Xiwen looked at his mother in surprise, but still nodded.

At last, they reached the spot between Platforms Nine and Ten at King's Cross Station. Many adults and children in robes were already there, pushing trolleys piled high with luggage as they lined up to run through a solid barrier. Xiwen looked at the cat carrier in one hand, then at everyone else's heaps of luggage, and truly appreciated the convenience of the Undetectable Extension Charm.

After giving his mother one final wave, Xiwen accelerated toward the metal barrier.

His vision went dark for an instant before brightening again. Looking back, he saw that he had passed through a cast-iron archway bearing the words "Platform Nine and Three-Quarters." Above the billowing smoke of the scarlet steam train hung a sign announcing that the Hogwarts Express would depart at eleven o'clock.

"Xiwen!" someone suddenly called from behind him.

Xiwen turned around and saw a pale boy with platinum-blond hair falling to his shoulders walking toward him.

"What a coincidence, Abu." Xiwen waved at him. He and Abraxas Malfoy had met during one of Sandrine's so-called normal social events before school began. Faced with Xiwen, who was also a pure-blood, Abraxas had been quite friendly, and the two got along reasonably well.

"You didn't bring any luggage? You're going to school with just a cat carrier?" Abraxas asked in confusion.

Xiwen took out a pocket watch and gave it a shake. "Undetectable Extension Charm."

Abraxas looked at Xiwen's pocket watch enviously. "That's great. I should get my father to buy me one too."

"Let's get on the train first," Xiwen said. "Want to share a compartment?"

"No problem," Abraxas said.

They had both arrived fairly early and easily found an empty compartment to sit in. Abraxas was a little bored and made idle conversation with Xiwen, while Xiwen answered only intermittently.

Not long afterward, someone knocked on the compartment door.

"Come in," Xiwen said.

A little girl with a face full of freckles pushed open the door. Seeing two boys who were clearly not much older than herself inside, she visibly perked up and asked softly, "Are you first-year students too?"

Xiwen glanced at her and gave an affirmative answer.

"My... my parents are both ordinary people, so I don't know much about this school. Can I sit with you and ask a few questions?"

Xiwen was just about to agree when Abraxas frowned the moment he heard that her parents were ordinary people. With obvious disgust, he said, "You're not welcome here, Mudblood. Stay away from us!"

The little girl's face reddened with fright. Covering her face, she ran from the compartment in tears.

Abraxas fanned the air in front of himself, then shut the compartment door. With disgust, he said, "What bad luck. Running into a Mudblood the moment I got here."

Xiwen knew that pure-bloods had a habit of discriminating against Muggle-born wizards, but he had always believed that all humanity was fundamentally the same. He had therefore always disliked the insulting term "Mudblood." He frowned and was about to tell Abraxas what he thought, when the compartment door opened again.

A girl wearing black-rimmed glasses stepped in. She wore robes with a blue collar and a blue badge pinned to the left side of her chest, bearing the words "Prefect."

She said very seriously, "I'm Miranda Goshawk, a Ravenclaw prefect. I just saw a first-year girl run out of here crying. I assume she was bullied by you."

Abraxas turned his head aside and let out a quiet, disdainful snort. Seeing the female prefect's expression darken further, Xiwen could only offer a few words in Abraxas's defense. "Senior, my friend isn't very good with strangers, so he spoke a little harshly to the girl who came in just now. I apologize on his behalf."

Miranda's expression improved slightly. "Since you haven't enrolled yet, I won't pursue the matter further this time. But I must seriously remind you that 'Mudblood' is a prohibited term at Hogwarts. If I catch you using such language again, you will certainly be punished by the professors!"

"Understood. Thank you for the reminder, Senior," Xiwen said.

After Miranda left, Xiwen looked at Abraxas and said, "Abu, I suggest you stop tossing around prohibited words like 'Mudblood.'"

Abraxas looked at him in surprise. "That doesn't sound like something the heir to the Rosier family would say."

"Breaking school rules just to gain some trivial verbal advantage doesn't seem beneficial to me," Xiwen said.

Abraxas still muttered dismissively, "My father is a school governor. I don't believe they can do anything to me for breaking such a minor rule."

Xiwen finally lost interest in the conversation and took out Magical Theory to read.

Just then, there came a sudden knock, knock at the door.

The compartment door opened, revealing a boy wearing a Slytherin prefect badge. He seemed to already know Abraxas, greeting him with easy familiarity.

"Abraxas, I saw Goshawk leaving your compartment just now, so I came to see what happened. And this is?"

"Xiwen Rosier, the Rosier family's only son. He doesn't like going out much, so you haven't met him before," Abu said. "Xiwen, this is Ignatius Prewett. Looks like he'll be our prefect from now on."

"Hello, Prefect Prewett. Care to sit down and have something to eat?" Xiwen pointed to the seat beside him.

"Hello, Rosier. 'Prefect' is far too formal. Just call me by my name." Ignatius did not stand on ceremony and dropped into the seat beside Rosier. "I saw Ravenclaw's Goshawk leaving your compartment just now. Did you have a conflict with her? Her expression didn't look too pleasant."

Abraxas said disdainfully, "Nothing much. She wanted to stand up for a Mudblood."

"It's a small matter," Ignatius said. "If she tries to cause you trouble again, come find me. I'll back you up."

Listening to the two of them, Xiwen silently sighed. It seemed that discrimination against non-pure-bloods had become deeply ingrained among pure-blood families.

Not wanting to think about it any further, he looked at Abraxas and asked, "You're so confident we'll all be sorted into Slytherin?"

"My entire family has been in Slytherin for generations, and I remember yours has too," Abraxas said. "I can't imagine what my family would think of me if I weren't sorted into Slytherin."

After chatting casually for a while longer, Ignatius left the compartment because he still had to patrol the train. Xiwen was about to resume reading when the compartment door opened once more.

A pretty girl with golden hair stepped inside.

"I had to ask Prefect Prewett to find out you were here. I finally found you, Xiwen!"