As they shared snacks, they continued chatting.
Hannah and Susan enthusiastically introduced the two “Muggle-background” first-years to the magical properties of various snacks.
For example, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans were definitely not all delicious like the woman had claimed earlier.
They could taste like bogeys or earwax.
Fizzing Whizbees could produce colorful bubbles that would not burst and could float around a classroom for an entire day.
“Oh, speaking of classes,” Justin asked indistinctly through a mouthful of Cauldron Cake, “do you know what subjects we’ll be taking? I asked Professor McGonagall, but she just told me to look at the textbooks.”
“I know we’ll have Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts…” Susan listed them off like a well-rehearsed catalog.
Just then, the compartment door was pulled open once again.
This time, a girl with thick, long brown hair stood in the doorway.
Her front teeth were slightly prominent, but her eyes were bright and sharp.
She wore a well-fitted new set of robes, standing tall with one hand on her hip.
Her expression was serious, and her tone carried an urgent, businesslike quality.
“Hello. Sorry to interrupt. Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his toad.” She spoke quickly, her eyes rapidly sweeping over everyone in the compartment, as well as the floor and beneath the seats.
Hannah and Susan shook their heads.
Justin swallowed his cake and also said he hadn’t seen it.
Henry likewise said no.
A faint expression of “Just as I thought” appeared on the girl’s face, as though she had already expected the answer but had to ask anyway because it was her responsibility.
“Thank you. If you see it, please make sure to tell him. He’s terribly worried.”
She turned to leave, but as her gaze passed over Henry’s face, it seemed to pause for half a second.
Her brows furrowed very briefly, as though she were trying to remember something, but her attention was immediately pulled away by a more important task.
She had clearly heard the commotion from the neighboring compartment and immediately turned toward it, her crisp voice ringing out once again.
“Excuse me! Has anyone seen a toad?”
“She’s certainly very efficient,” Justin commented as he watched her hurry away.
“Her name is Hermione Granger,” Hannah whispered, with the sense of exchanging information between fellow first-years.
“I heard her introduce herself at the station. She knows so much. She was already telling people about things from Hogwarts: A History before she even got on the train.”
“Sounds like she’s quite a capable person,” Susan said objectively.
Henry did not join the discussion.
He simply continued slowly chewing his Cauldron Cake.
Miss Know-It-All, huh?
Those who know, know.
That’s just how overly familiar people are.
But it had nothing to do with Henry.
“I forgot to ask Professor McGonagall, but I don’t think she’d have told me even if I had. Hannah? Hannah? Why have you gone so pale?”
Henry looked over.
Sure enough, Hannah’s little face had gone deathly white, and one of her hands was trembling continuously.
“My… my dad said that when he started school, he had to fight a werewolf…”
“I heard that from my dad too.” Susan seemed to recall something unpleasant as well.
“My mum told me she had to pass a banshee’s trial. If the rotation is followed, then this year it’s probably…”
Justin’s face went white in an instant.
He had never imagined that the situation surrounding a first-year’s entry into school could be so terrifying.
Henry suppressed a laugh.
Of course, he knew what the truth was—first they put a label on you, and then…
Oh, no, they simply sorted you into houses.
It wasn’t that frightening.
Still, he did not expose the truth and merely followed along.
“Yeah, that really is terrifying.”
“Y-you’re not afraid at all?” Justin asked shakily.
“I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to face a banshee…”
“Why be afraid?” Henry glanced at Justin.
“Aren’t banshees Irish?”
“It’s got nothing to do with Ireland… Oh!”
Justin stopped halfway through his sentence as realization dawned on him.
Indeed, the real banshee that had mourned the deaths of the Irish was the great-grandmother of the prince sitting right in front of him.
The sky gradually darkened, and outside the train windows stretched continuous mountain ranges covered in purple shadows.
The lights inside the carriage came on, bathing it in a warm glow.
Hannah and Susan gradually recovered from their fear of the house-sorting trial and began discussing with Henry and Justin the items they had brought and the preparations they might need to make for their classes.
Finally, the train slowly began to decelerate.
Accompanied by a long whistle, it came to a stop beside a small, dark wooden platform bearing a sign that read “Hogsmeade Station.”
The night wind was bitterly cold, carrying the crisp chill unique to the Scottish Highlands.
Henry had prepared thoroughly and had already changed into thick clothing.
“First-years, over here! First-years! Follow me!”
A booming, rough voice drowned out all the surrounding noise.
At the end of the platform, a huge lantern swung in the darkness, illuminating a figure built like an iron tower.
He stood out among the crowd like a moving hill.
“My goodness, he’s enormous,” Justin muttered, craning his neck upward.
His earlier excitement had been replaced by awe.
“That should be the person here to collect us,” Henry said calmly.
“We should go over.”
The first-years gathered beneath the glow of Hagrid’s lantern like startled little animals.
Many of them were seeing Hagrid for the first time and let out suppressed gasps and whispers.
Hagrid paid them no mind and called out in his booming voice, “Any more first-years? Watch your step! Follow me, and don’t fall behind!”
They followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow path, stumbling through the darkness.
Only Hagrid’s lantern and the stars overhead provided a little light.
Dense woods surrounded them on both sides.
The night wind passed through the treetops, producing a rustling sound.
Justin and many of the other first-years nervously looked around, while Hannah stayed close to Susan.
“Look down!” Hagrid called back when the narrow path suddenly opened up and a broad expanse of black water appeared before them.
It was an enormous lake, black and gleaming beneath the night sky.
On the high slope across the lake stood a majestic castle beneath the stars, its towers rising into the sky and tiny lights flickering from its windows.
Their reflections shimmered on the mirror-like surface of the lake, creating what looked like another magical world hanging upside down.
“Wow—”
A collective gasp of amazement erupted from the crowd.
Even for Hannah and Susan, who came from wizarding families, seeing Hogwarts Castle from this angle for the first time was utterly breathtaking.
Henry felt as though a familiar piece of background music had started playing beside his ears…
Of course, he was providing the soundtrack himself inside his head.
“No more than four to a boat!” Hagrid shouted, pointing toward a line of small boats moored along the shore.
The boats automatically drifted toward the bank, waiting for passengers.
Henry, Hannah, Susan, and Justin naturally boarded one boat.
It rocked gently before smoothly beginning to move toward the center of the lake on its own, gliding across the dark water and sending circles of ripples outward.
The lake was exceptionally calm, with only the faint sound of the bow cutting through the water.
Everyone fell silent as they gazed up at the castle drawing closer and closer.
It was even more magnificent up close, carrying the solemnity and mystery accumulated over a thousand years.
Henry also stared at the magical castle where he would spend the next seven years.
He felt no fear.
Instead, he was rather curious about which house he would be sorted into.
Hufflepuff, probably, he thought.
There weren’t many people as loyal and upright as him.