The Ferryman and Harry

The train pulled into the station. Guided by a voice issuing instructions through a loudspeaker, the new students changed into their robes, took their wands, left their luggage behind, and disembarked. Following the towering Hagrid, they left the station and headed toward the lake.

The path was fairly level, but night had already fallen, and the air by the lake was thick with dampness. The Young Wizards were all freezing, huddling as they lined up and made their way to the dock.

Standing among the crowd, Sean could clearly see Millicent mingling with Malfoy and Pansy. Those kids all came from pure-blood families and supported pure-blood ideology. It was hardly surprising that birds of a feather flocked together. But as Sean watched them, Malfoy and the others turned to look at him as well. Seeing that Sean was observing them, Malfoy let out a cold sneer. Though he said nothing, his meaning was unmistakable.

After stretching a little, Sean prepared to wait quietly for the boats.

There were not many first-years at Hogwarts, and before long, it was Sean's turn to board.

"Everyone, pay attention. Each boat can hold no more than four people. Once it's full, don't get on. It wouldn't be good if you fell into the lake and froze stiff."

Sean was the first to board. He had only just sat down when a startled cry rang out behind him. Then a head slammed into his back, knocking Sean off balance and nearly sending him into the lake.

Just as Sean was about to see who had crashed into him, Hagrid's rough voice rang out. "Harry, are you all right? Are you hurt?"

The person who had bumped into Sean straightened up, nodded apologetically at him, and then said to Hagrid, "I'm fine, Hagrid. I just tripped by accident. I'm all right."

"Harry, be careful. Don't fall into the water."

"Okay, Hagrid. I know."

Harry rubbed his head, turned to Sean, and said apologetically, "Sorry, I tripped just now and accidentally ran into you. Are... are you all right?"

Looking at the Harry who was apologizing to him, then at Ron climbing aboard, Sean had been wondering when he would meet this world's Child of Destiny. He had not expected it to happen so soon.

Sean shook his head lightly. "I'm fine. It was just a bump, nothing serious. You two should be careful, though. Don't fall into the water."

"Thanks... Um, nice to meet you. My name's Harry. What's yours?"

Harry Potter, who had only just entered the Magical World, was still quite innocent. Although he had already encountered pure-blood trash like Malfoy, when he met the kind Sean and found himself sharing a boat with him, he wanted to get acquainted.

"You can call me Sean."

Sean had no intention of becoming close friends with Harry. During Harry's years at Hogwarts, it would probably be the period with the most accidents in the school's past several decades, perhaps even century. Getting close to him would inevitably mean being dragged into extremely dangerous situations. Sean thought being casual acquaintances was perfectly fine.

"I'm Ron. I saw Malfoy glaring at you just now. Did you offend him?"

The Weasley family and the Malfoy family were both pure-blood families, but their positions could not have been more different. Naturally, Ron and Malfoy, being the same age, were quite hostile toward each other. Ron had seen Malfoy direct hostility at Sean earlier, so he wanted to ask what had happened.

"I don't know either. Maybe he looks down on me because both my parents are Squibs."

Ron looked shocked. Seeing how calm Sean was, without looking around in wonder like the others, he had assumed Sean's parents were wizards.

Seeing Ron's surprise, Harry looked at Sean in confusion and asked, "Sean, what's a Squib?"

After thinking for a moment, Sean replied, "Simply put, Squib is a somewhat discriminatory term for descendants of wizarding families who have no magic. But among wizards in the Magical World, Squib is considered a normal term. They do not think of it as an insult. Of course, perhaps they feel that people born into wizarding families without magic deserve such a name."

Only a small number of wizards in the Magical World could truly view people without magic as equals. In reality, the overwhelming majority sincerely believed that, because they could wield magic, they were superior to those who could not. Perhaps many were not as openly hostile toward non-magical people as the pure-bloods were, but it was true that they looked down on them to some extent.

Sean looked at the thoughtful Harry and Ron, who had clearly been startled by his words. He did not say anything further, merely sitting quietly in the boat as it set off toward Hogwarts Castle.

One oil-lamp-lit boat after another docked at the pier by the lake at the foot of Hogwarts. Led by Hagrid, the new students stepped onto the dock, passed through a small boathouse, climbed the somewhat slippery stairs, went through the Entrance Hall, and arrived at the chamber where they would wait for the Sorting.

There, they saw a stern witch standing on the steps. Like the strictest teacher in every school, she instantly silenced the chattering first-years, who waited quietly for her to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. You may call me Professor McGonagall. The feast will begin shortly, but before the start-of-term feast, you will be assigned to one of four Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." Having said this, Professor McGonagall glanced at the slightly bedraggled students, paused briefly, and continued, "Before the Sorting Ceremony, you have some time to straighten up your appearance."

Professor McGonagall was clearly not a woman of many words. After explaining only the main points, she turned and went to prepare for the Sorting Ceremony. The Young Wizards waiting there soon became noisy again.

Sean stood beside Harry and Ron, listening to Ron chatter away. He glanced at Neville in the distance, who was holding a toad in his arms. He vaguely remembered that while Professor McGonagall had been speaking, Neville should have found his lost pet toad. But that had not happened just now, and the toad was already in Neville's arms.

Did my presence among Hogwarts's first-years cause some changes?

Some things had changed, while others still happened as they had before.

What had changed was Neville's toad. What still happened was Harry's first conflict with Malfoy—except this time, Sean, an innocent bystander, had also been swept into the range of Malfoy's mocking.

From now on, updates will be posted regularly at eleven and eleven-thirty in the morning. Also, please keep reading.