Teasing Kids Is So Much Fun

It turned out that Neville Longbottom, who had been silent the whole time, only remembered he had a pet toad when he saw Nami.

But when he went looking for it, he discovered that Trevor was gone!

Neville was terrified out of his wits!

It was a gift from his uncle to celebrate his receiving an admission letter from Hogwarts!

Now it had vanished. Timid by nature, Neville immediately burst into tears!

"Neville, why are you crying? Who is Trevor?"

Hermione, increasingly like an older sister, asked Neville with concern.

"Tre... vor... he... he's my pet toad. He... he's gone~"

Neville explained through sobs, then burst into loud tears by the end.

His crying left Hermione Granger completely flustered, not knowing what to do.

After all, she was only an eleven-year-old girl herself. She was still a child—how could she know how to comfort one?

"Stop crying. Your toad is just lost, not dead!"

Li Wei's voice suddenly rang out. His slightly cold and impatient tone instantly made Neville choke back his sobs!

"Don't forget, we're wizards. Wizards have wizarding solutions to problems!"

Seeing that Neville had stopped crying, Li Wei's tone softened slightly as he said:

"I'll give it a try and see if magic can help you find Trevor. He's a toad, right? What color is he? How big is he? Does he have any distinguishing features?"

Li Wei intended to use the Summoning Charm to help Neville find Trevor.

But since he had never seen Trevor, he could only have Neville describe him and use his imagination to identify the target before drawing him over.

In a choked voice, Neville described Trevor's appearance and characteristics. Li Wei immediately pictured Trevor in his mind, pointed his wand outside the compartment, and shouted, "Trevor, come!"

As he spoke, he pulled his wand back slightly and immediately felt an extremely faint force tugging in the opposite direction.

Found him. Li Wei immediately increased the output of his magic!

"Look! A toad can fly!"

"What kind of magical creature is that? A flying giant frog?"

"Idiot! That's the Summoning Charm!"

Startled cries and chatter from the young wizards outside the compartment rang out as a large brown toad, its bulging eyes wide open, flew straight toward Li Wei's compartment.

Hermione quickly pushed open the door. Li Wei cut off the spell in time, and Trevor dropped neatly into Neville's arms.

"Wah, Trevor! You scared me to death!"

Neville hugged the plump toad tightly and cried with joy, his voice full of excitement.

But aside from Neville, Li Wei and the other two all leaned back instinctively. Toads really were not the sort of pets they could appreciate!

"Nami, help Neville keep an eye on Trevor!"

Li Wei instructed Purrloin. He vaguely remembered that Neville's pet seemed to have a habit of running away from home.

"Pah-shoo~"

Nami confidently patted her chest. Handling other little animals was child's play for her; she would make sure Trevor behaved himself.

"So cute!"

Watching Nami stand on her hind legs and confidently pat her little chest with her tiny paws.

Before Li Wei could even voice his praise, Hermione Granger's girlish heart had nearly melted from the cuteness!

After the episode of Neville searching for his toad, the four young wizards became much closer. Neville also joined their pre-school discussion group and began chatting with them:

"...My grandmother and uncle are both wizards, but... but I never showed any magical ability. They all thought I might be a Squib!"

"The day the admission letter arrived, everyone at home was overjoyed!"

"Trevor was the gift my uncle gave me to celebrate my admission. By the way, do you know how Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sorts students into Houses?"

"I asked my grandmother and my uncle, but none of them would tell me. They only said I would face an extremely harsh trial and had to be brave enough to face it!"

Hearing this, Hermione realized that she did not actually know how the Houses were assigned either. But this little girl would never show weakness at a time like this, so she immediately began reciting from a book:

"I carefully looked it up in Hogwarts: A History:"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is divided into four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin!"

"Each House's students have different qualities, but no matter how many times I read through the book, I couldn't find anything about how students are sorted!"

"Could it be decided by the headmaster and professors?"

After saying so much, Hermione did not actually know the answer either.

"My family said sorting involves an incredibly difficult challenge too. You have to face terrifying monsters, and only those who display excellent character can be sorted. I... I'm a little scared!"

Hannah finally gave her opinion. The little girl swung her two golden pigtails, then lowered her head in fear as she finished speaking.

The three young wizards discussed it for a long time and all offered their opinions, only to realize that none of them knew how sorting was done. They all glanced at Li Wei, who had displayed such impressive magic earlier.

Since he knew so many spells, perhaps he knew how the sorting worked.

Li Wei noticed their gazes and inwardly cursed those old wizarding bastards. They had gotten soaked in the rain themselves, yet still wanted to tear up the umbrellas of those who came after them!

It was clearly something that could be settled by putting on a hat, yet so many wizards in the Wizarding World had kept it tightly under wraps for centuries, refusing to let new students know.

Was teasing children really that fun?

At that thought, Li Wei became interested as well. A trace of amusement flashed through his silver-gray eyes, but he shook his head with feigned mystery and said:

"I don't actually know how the sorting works either, but I can analyze it for you!"

The moment Hermione and the other two heard this, they sat up straight and listened seriously as Li Wei began speaking:

"Although the wizard population is small and isolated from the outside world, it is still a complete society."

"And since it is a complete society, there must be different divisions of labor!"

"There is only one magical school in the Wizarding World of England—Hogwarts. So this so-called sorting is probably a way of assigning future social roles."

Hermione, Hannah, and Neville all became thoughtful. For eleven-year-old children, thinking about what they would do in the future was still far too distant.

Li Wei raised one finger and began analyzing them one by one:

"I read in a book that Slytherin only accepts so-called pure-blood wizards and Half-Blood wizards."

"Those people control all sorts of resources in the Wizarding World. Through connections, power, status, friendship, bloodlines, and family ties, they occupy high-ranking positions in the Ministry of Magic and monopolize the profitable businesses of the Wizarding World."

"That means most wizards who come out of Slytherin will become high officials, powerful figures, nobles, or even major merchants!"

"Like greedy snakes, they coil together and guard their own interests. Anyone who dares challenge their power and status or harm their interests will be attacked with venom."

"Slytherin is a snake that is ambitious, shrewd, and focused on profit. Perhaps that does not make them evil, but it is how they survive."

Li Wei then moved on to Gryffindor:

"If Slytherin represents the powerful and wealthy class of the Wizarding World, then Gryffindor represents its order-keeping class."

"When the powerful figures and great merchants born from Slytherin choose to harm the wizarding community as a whole for their own benefit."

"Gryffindor will bravely step forward to maintain order and oppose Slytherin's powerful elite."

"They disdain the powerful and refuse to sell their souls for profit. They are Aurors who fight crime, officials who enforce the law, and people always willing to stand up bravely for the order and justice of the Wizarding World."

"Of course, excessive bravery can sometimes become reckless courage without wisdom, making them very easy to exploit."

"Slytherin and Gryffindor make up the hidden and visible sides of the Wizarding World."

"So that's how it is," Hannah Abbott said thoughtfully.

"I heard that everyone from Slytherin becomes a dark wizard. I didn't expect they were simply a group that valued profit!"

After hearing Li Wei's analysis, Hermione commented as well:

"If every student from one House became a dark wizard, Professor Dumbledore would have shut that House down long ago!"

"My whole family is from Gryffindor," Neville said proudly after hearing Li Wei praise Gryffindor. Then, somewhat dejectedly, he asked Li Wei:

"What about Hufflepuff? I've heard it has no particular characteristics, and the most ordinary young wizards all get sorted into Hufflepuff. I'll probably be sorted into Hufflepuff too!"

Li Wei shook his head and continued his analysis:

"If Slytherin and Gryffindor, one hidden and one visible, occupy the most noticeable positions in the Wizarding World, then Hufflepuff is the part that supports the entire Wizarding World's operation."

"They may not be very conspicuous, but they are hardworking, loyal, and down-to-earth. They are the low-level employees of the Ministry of Magic, ordinary shop clerks, craftsmen, and producers."

"They make up nearly half the population of the Wizarding World. Without them, the entire Wizarding World could not function at all and would have collapsed long ago!"

"Though they work quietly and attract no attention, they are the foundation of the entire Wizarding World."

"And among that foundation, there can also emerge people as brilliant as diamonds. If you are ordinary, Hufflepuff will feel as warm as home."

Hannah and Neville both nodded. The two of them felt that being sorted into Hufflepuff would be a pretty good choice.

"What about Ravenclaw? The books say that its students love reading, learning knowledge, and are full of curiosity," Hermione asked Li Wei. Of the four Houses, this was her favorite.

"Of course, there's Ravenclaw too." Li Wei nodded and analyzed it for Hermione:

"Slytherin and Gryffindor play the bright and dark sides of the Wizarding World, while Hufflepuff, as the foundation, keeps the Wizarding World running."

"Then Ravenclaw represents the inheritance of knowledge in the Wizarding World. They are scholars, professors, experts in certain fields, authors, reporters, and writers among wizards."

"Among the wizarding community, they often serve as those who offer plans and advice."

"Knowledge itself has no good or evil, but people do. While learning knowledge, one is inevitably influenced by it. Evil knowledge in particular can easily lead someone astray."

Hermione listened to Li Wei's words, which sounded more like a warning than an analysis, and nodded thoughtfully.

"Actually," Li Wei's tone shifted as he began raising the discussion to a broader point:

"What determines what kind of person you become will always be yourself!

The Sorting Ceremony may have certain preferences, but who can guarantee that a Slytherin student will not protect order for their own interests?"

"Even if Gryffindors are willing to sacrifice themselves for order, can they truly have no ambition at all and care nothing for their own interests?"

"Hufflepuff can also produce heroes as brilliant as diamonds, and Ravenclaw students, climbing the ladder of knowledge, will always head in different directions."

"Hogwarts' four Houses are only Houses. They can never determine what kind of people we young wizards will ultimately become."

Hearing this, Hermione and the other two nodded as though they had gained some insight. Guided by Li Wei's words, they thought about which House they would enter and what kind of people they would become.

But now they also understood that only they themselves could decide their lives!

Seeing that the three little ones before him had truly taken his words to heart, the amusement in Li Wei's silver-gray eyes deepened. He began his "guess" about the Sorting Ceremony:

"I think that since the Wizarding World has such divisions of labor, there must be corresponding trials!"

"These trials may be divided into four major stages:"

"For example, the knowledge trial corresponding to Ravenclaw might require you to memorize and recite the contents of an entire book in an extremely short time, then cast the spells recorded in it!"

"Or the trial corresponding to Gryffindor might require you to face terrifying dark creatures. Only students who do not cry or run away in fear would be allowed to pass."

"Hufflepuff might require you to endure harsh conditions for a period of time, testing your endurance and tolerance."

"And Slytherin would set a goal for you. If you cannot accomplish it or obtain the target, you can only be eliminated!"

"We should take note that no book has ever mentioned what happens to Hogwarts students after they are expelled."

"I guess their memories are erased with a Memory Charm, then they are sent to the world of ordinary people—the Muggle world—and can never learn magic again!"

Hermione and Hannah were so frightened by Li Wei's final analysis that they were nearly crying, while Neville was already clutching his toad and shedding big tears!

Watching the three little ones get so thoroughly frightened by him, Li Wei's pleasure reached its peak. Unfortunately, he could not laugh and could only keep a serious expression on his face.

"Crash! Bang! Clatter~"

Just as the atmosphere in the compartment turned strange and Li Wei was considering whether to go outside for a good laugh.

A violent commotion suddenly erupted from the other compartments of the train, followed by screams and shouts!

It immediately drew the attention of Hermione, Hannah, and Neville in the compartment.