Arrival

The sky darkened, and the hills and woods under the deep purple sky were draped in a dim, hazy veil.

"We will reach Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, and we will have it delivered to the school for you," a voice echoed through the train corridor several times.

"Gentlemen, I need to change my clothes. Please step outside," Hermione closed her book, stood up, and clapped her hands.

Su Er and Neville obediently walked toward the door, and Su Er considerately pulled it shut, taking care to check for any gaps.

Well, as it turned out, despite its old appearance, the Hogwarts Express was very solidly built, and the compartment door slotted seamlessly into the groove.

Coincidentally, standing diagonally opposite, separated from Su Er and his companions by two compartments, were Malfoy and his two cronies, who also seemed to have been driven out of their carriage.

The two groups of people locked eyes right then and there.

"I went to their compartment earlier to see if anyone had seen Trevor..." Neville whispered to Su Er, "and they chased me out."

Oh? Su Er narrowed his eyes.

The moment Malfoy spotted Su Er, he shrank back a little, but remembering that they were about to arrive at Hogwarts, he regained his confidence, puffed out his chest, and glared fixedly at Su Er.

If this were back home, it would probably go like this-

Malfoy: What are you looking at, what are you looking at?

Su Er: Looking at you, got a problem?

"Mr. Malfoy, it seems you still aren't quite convinced?" Su Er took the initiative, smiling.

Malfoy froze. This person knows me? If he knows me, that makes things easier. Who doesn't know that my father is a Hogwarts School Governor?

"You only won by catching me off guard. If you have the guts, come and have a duel with me at Hogwarts." Malfoy sneered. "However, yo... you've probably never even heard of what a wizard's duel is."

The few others who had also been driven out of their compartments pricked up their ears. There was a sense of gunpowder in the air.

"I think that won't be necessary, Mr. Malfoy." Su Er leisurely drew his wand. "I don't have the time to play house games with you after we get to the school."

"Come on, draw your wand, Mr. Malfoy."

Oh, a fight was about to break out! The onlookers wore expressions of eager anticipation.

Malfoy stiffened, but with Su Er pressing the issue, wouldn't he look a bit cowardly if he didn't draw his wand?

As the sole heir of the illustrious Malfoy family, his father always said that the glory of Malfoy must be guarded by him.

Malfoy drew his wand. After all, he was a pure-blood himself, destined to enter Slytherin and leave a heavy, colorful stroke in the history of Hogwarts.

"Then let's try it out," he said.

"I admire your courage, Mr. Malfoy." Su Er flicked his wrist, spinning his wand into a flourish, and softly chanted a spell. A speck of red light instantly burst from the tip of his wand.

Only, he deliberately aimed slightly off target-after all, they were almost at Hogwarts, and making things all bloody right before the Sorting would not be good.

"Oh..." gasped the bystanders.

Malfoy felt the magic brush past his ear and shoot straight into the carriage wall, and his face grew even stiffer. He wanted to return the spell, but he had hardly practiced any decent magic at home; most of them were mischievous hexes that posed very little threat.

"What are you lot doing!" A tall, thin youth with a prominent red badge pinned to his chest hurried over and shouted loudly.

"We'll be at Hogwarts soon, stop causing trouble," he said with a serious expression.

His striking red hair revealed his identity.

"It's nothing," Su Er put his wand away. "I was just playing a little game with Mr. Malfoy."

"Right, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Hmph." Malfoy stiffened his face and let out a cold snort, then jammed his wand back into its holster.

"You'd better hope so." The tall, thin youth looked suspiciously between the two of them. "Hurry back to your compartments and change your clothes, the train is already slowing down!"

"Clack." The compartment door behind Su Er opened. Hermione was wearing her well-fitted Wizard robes, holding her fluffy hair, and tilting her head. "Why is it so noisy? What happened?"

"Nothing," Su Er smiled. "Neville, it's time for us to change our clothes too."

Malfoy, standing outside the compartment, turned around at the same time. Unnoticed by anyone, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Clack"-this time it was the sound of Malfoy pulling open his compartment door.

Then came a chorus of girls' screams and a clatter of crashing sounds, accompanied by a cry of pain from Malfoy, which echoed for a long time.

Boys changed clothes much faster than girls; Su Er and Neville simply took off their coats, slipped their Wizard robes on, and that was that.

Just as they were stuffing their discarded clothes back into their trunks,

the train slowly came to a halt. Faintly through the window, they could see a pitch-black platform and a dim, swaying lantern ahead and to the side.

Students shoved and jostled, pouring out of the train doors en masse.

It was only when Su Er and the other two got off that they saw that lantern was being held by a tall man with a dense beard.

"First-years, over here!" he called out at the top of his lungs. "Harry, how are you doing?"

There was only one person in the entirety of Hogwarts with such a robust build-the keeper of the Forbidden Forest, the half-giant Hagrid.

It might be a good idea to get to know him; after all, Hagrid was definitely near the top of the Hogwarts wealth rankings.

Su Er noticed that a portion of the students split off from the first-years after getting off the train, heading in a different direction, from where the sound of horse whinnies could faintly be heard.

"First-years, come on, follow me. Watch your step," Hagrid said in a booming voice.

That lantern began to sway unsteadily as it moved forward.

People followed Hagrid all the way, slipping and sliding down a steep, narrow path. Hermione and Neville tightly grabbed the hem of Su Er's robe on the left and the right the entire way, terrified that they would take a wrong step and fall into the darkness beside the path.

"Just around this bend, and you'll see Hogwarts," Hagrid shouted from ahead. "Watch your step, there's a dip here."

Then, the people who had rounded the corner ahead first let out a resounding-"Ooh!"

After turning the corner, the narrow path suddenly opened up into a black lake. Perched high on a cliff across the lake stood a majestic castle, its forest of spires vanishing into the dark, with window after window glowing with enchanting yellow light.

"So beautiful." Hermione's eyes reflected points of starlight.

It truly was breathtaking; no matter how many years passed, this scene would forever remain deeply etched in memory.

"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid pointed to a crude dock not far away built from a few pieces of wood, where dozens of small black boats were packed tightly together.

Su Er, Hermione, and Neville naturally climbed into one boat, accompanied by an unfamiliar, slightly plump brown-haired girl.

"Is your toad still around?" Su Er glanced at the top of Neville's head after getting into the boat and asked kindly.

"Right here." Neville patted his pocket and said with a smile, though his smile quickly faded. "Huh? Where's Trevor?"

Hermione patted Neville's arm and pointed at the top of his head.

Ah, Neville's toad seemed to have an unusual fondness for perching on heads.

Hagrid sat in a boat all by himself, taking the lead as he guided the fleet to cut across the calm surface of the Black Lake.

Hermione looked around with curiosity, and her questions started up again.

"Nobody's rowing, how is it moving?"

"Don't ask, when in doubt it's magic, Miss Questions!" Su Er patted the top of Hermione's head. Didn't she see that everyone was being quiet?

Hermione puffed out her cheeks, slapped Su Er's hand away, and shot Su Er a stealthy glare.

Everyone quietly gazed up at the towering castle. As their boats cleaved through the shimmering ripples of the Black Lake and arrived right beneath the cliff where the castle stood, the fortress seemed to float directly above their heads.

"Heads down!" Hagrid's voice called out from the front.

Carrying the little wizards who had ducked their heads, the boats passed through a curtain of ivy that covered the face of the cliff and came to a stop in a place resembling an underground harbor.

After conscientiously checking the head count, Hagrid led them up a tunnel carved into the rock, finally arriving at a damp patch of grass in the shadow of the castle.

At last, they stopped before a massive oak door, with faint light seeping through the cracks.

Hogwarts Castle, we have arrived!