Hogwarts, Here I Come

Pushing his luggage off the platform at King's Cross Station, Li Wei spotted the numbers "9" and "10" from afar.

Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Wizards always came up with strange little tricks.

"Meow~"

Bored out of her mind in the deluxe cat house Mrs. Ethel had given her, Nami couldn't help calling out to Li Wei.

"Alright, alright. You barely weigh anything. Pushing you isn't tiring at all!"

"Stay in the house for now. If you come out, a purple cat would be way too eye-catching!"

Li Wei soothed Nami. Even his little sweetheart knew how to care for him. It truly warmed this old father's heart!

As he headed between Platforms Nine and Ten, Li Wei scanned the people in the station.

The strangely dressed adults, as well as the children pushing carts loaded with luggage and pets, were obviously all wizards.

When he saw a young wizard pushing his luggage cart straight into the third pillar between Platforms Nine and Ten, Li Wei followed right after him.

His vision went dark. When he came back to his senses, a vintage Victorian steam train stood before him!

Hogwarts, here I come!

Li Wei gripped the Elderwood Phoenix Feather Wand, chanted the spell, then flicked and lifted it.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

His luggage immediately floated into the air and followed behind him. The little thief cat, Nami, also leaped out of the cat house and bounded onto Li Wei's shoulder in a few quick jumps.

The elegant spellcasting, adorable pet, and Li Wei's outstanding appearance immediately drew the attention of many young wizards heading off to school.

They all assumed Li Wei was an upperclassman. None of them expected this calm, confident young wizard to actually be their peer.

"Li Wei, over here!"

A window on the steam train slid open, and Hannah Abbott, her golden hair braided into two pigtails, waved at Li Wei with a smile.

Li Wei smiled back at Hannah, then boarded the steam train bound for Hogwarts with Nami and his luggage.

When he pushed open the compartment door where Hannah was, he found that she was indeed alone.

With a wave of his wand, Li Wei placed his luggage on the rack, then leisurely sat down across from Hannah.

Nami also jumped in front of Hannah's pet owl, swishing her fluffy question-mark-shaped tail as she teased the owl in its cage.

"I knew you'd come by yourself, Li Wei. You're incredible, aren't you?!"

Hannah said exaggeratedly, her tone full of admiration.

Ever since learning that Li Wei had started working to earn money at such a young age, she had admired this boy her age beyond measure.

Especially since Li Wei had mastered spells that even she, despite coming from a wizarding family, had never learned. That only made her think he was even more amazing.

"The Leaky Cauldron has been really busy. I couldn't trouble Tom any more than necessary."

Li Wei answered casually.

It was just taking a train to school. In his previous life, he had ridden slow trains for days and nights on end. This was merely a long trip.

Hannah nodded. She knew how bustling the Leaky Cauldron was these days, so she dropped the subject. After gathering her thoughts for a while, she cautiously asked Li Wei:

"Did you hear? That legendary boy who survived, he's starting school with us this year too!"

Li Wei had known Hannah would bring up Harry Potter. What young wizard from first to seventh year at Hogwarts hadn't grown up hearing Harry Potter's story?

"Mm, I heard that too. Harry Potter, right?"

As he chatted with Hannah, Li Wei opened a money pouch enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm and took out Magical Drafts and Potions, preparing to read.

His talent for Potions was abysmal, so bad that only a troll could describe it. If Li Wei didn't want Severus Snape to tear him apart once school started, he could only get a head start and study hard.

In fact, Li Wei had already memorized all the other first-year textbooks through the Memory Library, just like Hermione. Calling it knowing them backward and forward would not have been an exaggeration.

But memorizing something and using it proficiently were two different matters. Like the Magical Drafts and Potions Li Wei was repeatedly studying now, its instructions for measuring ingredients while brewing potions always used vague terms like a little, a small amount, or a moment.

That left Li Wei completely baffled!

In his understanding, practical experimental work like potion brewing should have required absolute precision.

If all the terms were this vague, then there could only be one explanation: magic.

Li Wei guessed that when wizards brewed potions, they were guided by magical inspiration, almost as if they were performing some sort of ritual.

Only by following their feelings—adding ingredients when it felt right and performing each step at the time that felt right—could they brew a proper potion.

But his talent for Potions was only on the level of a troll trying to brew a potion!

Li Wei felt that his future Potions classes were probably going to be difficult.

Unless there was some way to improve his talent for Potions, those classes would surely be as disaster-ridden as a journey to retrieve sacred scriptures.

Hannah noticed that Li Wei had taken out a book, so she unconsciously lowered her voice. Yet she couldn't suppress her urge to talk and finally said:

"Li Wei, how do you think Harry Potter did it?"

"I mean, he was just a baby at the time. How could he possibly..."

At that point, Hannah swallowed and continued in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz:

"How could he defeat Voldemort instead of dying to dark magic?"

Li Wei put down his Potions textbook. If he hadn't been sitting across from Hannah, he would not have heard what the girl had said at the end.

Seeing how eager she was to talk, he knew that if he didn't have a proper conversation with her, she would probably keep chattering at him.

A calculating glint flashed through Li Wei's silver-gray eyes as he said:

"First, Hannah, I need to correct you on one point. Harry Potter is called the Boy Who Lived because he didn't die under Voldemort's spell, not because he defeated Voldemort."

"But... but..." Hannah's face reddened slightly. After stammering for a while, she finally said:

"But Harry Potter's parents already died under Voldemort's magic!"

"Harry Potter was the only one facing Voldemort. If Harry Potter didn't defeat him, then surely Voldemort didn't realize he couldn't kill Harry Potter and run away in shame, did he?"

Oh, the little girl was quite sharp-tongued and quick-witted. Li Wei laughed when he heard Hannah's words. He was a transmigrator—how could he not know the truth?

So Hannah heard Li Wei explain:

"You said it yourself. Harry Potter's parents were with him too.

"Although they both died fighting Voldemort.

"Still, if you injure the enemy by a thousand, you hurt yourself by eight hundred. As Harry Potter's parents, they fought desperately to protect their child. Could Voldemort really have been so powerful that he didn't even lose a single hair?"

"They might not have both been defeated, but I believe that fueled by love, the Potters' desperate counterattack must have left Voldemort with extremely serious injuries!"

Li Wei fabricated a reasonable explanation that was fairly close to the truth.

He couldn't reveal the actual truth. If Hannah mentioned today's conversation to someone else, it would be as though he had watched a live broadcast of the Potters' deaths. Then he would never be able to explain himself.

As Hannah listened to Li Wei's analysis, she was a little unconvinced at first. But by the end, she had to admit that he was probably right.

Compared to a one-year-old boy picking up a wand, chanting a spell, and defeating Voldemort,

she also felt it was more plausible that the Potters had fought desperately to protect their child and ultimately wounded Voldemort at the cost of their lives.

After all, if Harry Potter had possessed such powerful magic at one year old, then at eleven, wouldn't he already have been more powerful than Headmaster Dumbledore?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

Hannah had spent so many years at the Leaky Cauldron, yet Li Wei was the only young wizard her age she had ever met who was this impressive.

If Harry Potter were really as outrageous as she had imagined, he would have become the headmaster of Hogwarts or the Minister for Magic long ago. Why would he still need to come learn magic?

With that thought, Hannah Abbott's blind worship of Harry Potter diminished somewhat. Instead, she began to feel that he was rather pitiful.

He had lost his parents to Voldemort when he was so young. Maybe he even had to work to support himself, just like Li Wei.

Thinking of the tedious chores she did whenever she helped out at the Leaky Cauldron, Hannah even felt a little sorry for Harry Potter, the savior.

As the two talked, the compartment's sliding door suddenly opened, and more young wizards boarded the train.