Harry Discovered

It was already dark when Ryan saw mountains and forests under a deep purple sky, and the train slowed down.

This means Hogwarts is just around the corner, and Ryan will soon be a member of it.

However, Ryan felt no joy at all. Kate certainly knew which carriage he was in, but so far, the only ones who suddenly opened the carriage door were the Weasley twins, Neville the Crybaby, Hermione the Mousetooth, and Malfoy the Arrogant and his henchmen. Kate or Penelope had not yet appeared.

Hopefully, Penelope's sudden appointment Prefect left her with no time to spare, and she had previously stated that she wanted to keep a low profile and didn't want her relationship to be exposed at school.

"I hope so!" Ryan prayed to himself, looking at Ron who was still swooning over him.

First impressions are so important. In the original story, Hermione gave Ron a bad impression, and it wasn't until they were in fourth grade that Ron truly realized that Hermione was a girl, a girl he liked and was fascinated by.

Now, her strictness, yet concern for him (as Ron thought), gives Ron a feeling of his mother, Molly Weasley. Coupled with her kindness and willingness to help her classmates, this prevents the awkward Ron from feeling guilty about liking a mother-type girl.

Ryan pretended to tap his wand, and his outer garments transformed into the black robes of Hogwarts in a flowing motion.

Harry and Ron, seeing this, didn't have time to be surprised. They took off their coats and changed into their school uniforms as well. However, Ron was indeed the tallest in the Weasley family (at the same age), and Bill's old school uniform was still a bit short for Ron, which made Ron's sneakers stick out from underneath.

Then a gentle voice suddenly rang out. "The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, and we will take it to the school for you."

Ryan trembled slightly with excitement, while Harry, who was so nervous that his stomach was churning, seemed to have misunderstood something and inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, leaving Ron still pale-faced.

Harry cleverly distracted Ron by tidying up the unfinished snacks, and inexplicably invited Ryan to join in.

Time passed quickly, and the train came to a stop. Ryan and his two companions followed the crowd in the aisle down to a dark and small platform.

"First-year students! First-year students, come this way! Harry, come this way, how are you?"

The towering Hagrid held a lantern above the students' heads, shouting to the first-year students to come to him amidst the throng of people. He even made a point of greeting Harry, who was standing next to Ryan.

"Harry? That's?"

"Harry Potter!"

"I knew it! He must be on the train!"

"That lucky kid Ron is right next to me!"

Ryan quickly tried to make himself less noticeable, and passersby and the surrounding crowd instinctively avoided Ryan and rushed towards Harry.

Hagrid's bearded face showed obvious panic. He probably didn't expect that Harry was so good at hiding, and that almost no one knew his identity yet.

"Come with me, Harry!" Ryan grabbed Harry's hand and headed straight for Hagrid, while people along the way instinctively avoided Ryan's advance.

Harry watched all this in astonishment, with Ron following closely behind.

"First-year students, follow me, watch your step! If you want to see Harry, you can watch him all you want when we get to Hogwarts!" Hagrid said with a sigh of relief as the situation somehow came under control.

However, Hagrid's words further confirmed to the students that the Harry he mentioned was the Boy Who Lived. If Ryan hadn't cleared the way ahead, the new students would probably still have been lingering on the platform late into the night.

After walking down a steep and narrow path, with dense forests on both sides, the once noisy crowd became unusually quiet because of the surrounding environment. Only the rhythmic sniffling could be heard. Ryan looked and saw that it was Neville, who was still sobbing because the toad was missing.

All the way there, Hagrid kept saying, "We're almost there, we're almost there." Finally, this time, "almost there" really meant "we're almost there."

Ooh ooh ooh!

A mix of surprise and delight rang out from the crowd. Before them lay a black lake, and on the high hillside on the opposite shore stood a majestic castle, its spires towering and its windows shimmering under the starry sky.

"Harry, you know why we have to walk and row to Hogwarts," Ryan said suddenly.

"Why?" Harry was startled by the sudden question, his mind going blank.

"The path we're walking now is the same path that the Four Founders of Hogwarts walked back then," Ryan concluded, while secretly thinking to himself that this was also a contract—a contract between the students and Hogwarts. For the next seven years, the students would grow together with this ancient castle.

"No more than four people per boat!" Hagrid shouted, pointing to a group of small boats moored on the shore.

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione boarded the ship together, while Ryan floated to the side, unnoticed. In fact, no one paid attention to Ryan now.

With Hagrid's final shout, Hagrid boarded a small boat by himself, carefully leveled the waterline, and began his journey toward Hogwarts.

"Is everyone on board?" Hagrid called out, traveling alone in his own boat. "Alright... let's go!"

As we sailed on the lake, all around was quiet.

It was truly astonishing that in the previous three years, I had never tried to view Hogwarts from this angle. On the lake, the enormous castle soared into the clouds, seemingly towering overhead, like a city in the sky.

However, it was also dangerous, because while everyone was looking up at the castle, a cliff appeared in front of them. At Hagrid's reminder, everyone lowered their heads. The ivy covering the cliff was like a curtain. After parting it, there was a hidden tunnel, which eventually led to an underground dock. This was completely different from the movie.

The ground in front of them was made of gravel and pebbles. The group headed up the tunnel together. Hagrid, while inspecting the empty ship, found Fuklai and handed him over to the overjoyed Neville.

Under Hagrid's lantern, the young wizard finally arrived at a flat, damp meadow in the shadow of the castle.

Before me stood high stone steps and a massive Oak Wood door.

The layout here is quite different from that in the movies. Even without magic, it's more like a heavily guarded military base. There are tunnels everywhere, and Hogwarts is nestled against the mountains and by the water, making it a truly impregnable city from the Middle Ages.

In terms of layout alone, ignoring magic, even Smith Castle can't compare to it, except before the existence of the Supreme God.

With the main god in charge and the layout rearranged, the terrain alone makes it difficult for anyone to break in. Moreover, the current Smith Castle has infiltrated another dimension. The fake castle in the real world is just a signpost and a distraction.

As long as the real castle remains standing, and as long as magic is used, the fake castle can be completely repaired.

I would like to thank again the students Sleepless Listening to Tides and Anxiang Shuying for their monthly tickets, and the other students for their recommendations.