Chapter 424: Arrival

Bai Lang gestured for the round‑faced little wizard to sit down, and just as they had sat for a short while, before they could even start chatting— a middle‑aged witch appeared at the doorway, pushing a small food‑selling cart. "Kids, want to buy some snacks?" Bai Lang looked at the cart's dazzling array of beautifully packaged, unidentifiable treats, and the coins in his pocket jingled, announcing that they wanted to leave.

The round‑faced Neville also produced a silver Sickle, and Bai Lang promptly produced a gold Galleon, "I'll take this, this, and that." The two bought a small pile of snacks; Bai Lang recognized there were Bibi Multi‑flavor Beans and chocolate among them—if he had any expectations for British food, it was probably just desserts now.

Neville seemed unsure how to start, so Bai Lang said, "What are all these things?"

Neville was pleased someone asked him a question, especially something he knew the answer to, "Ah, this is Bibi Multi‑flavor Beans, they come in all sorts of flavors." Bai Lang let out a sound, casually grabbed a bean and popped it into his mouth, and the next moment he spat it out, "What the—what flavor is this?! Dust?" Neville widened his eyes, apparently not understanding, so Bai Lang repeated it in English, swapping the expletive for a word beginning with S.

Neville Longbottom Longbaton laughed, "Well, actually you can sometimes tell from the bean's outer color… gray beans are usually not very tasty." At that moment, the door was pushed open again, and a little witch stood outside, her brown hair fluffy, her front teeth a bit large like a rabbit's.

The girl looked at the two of them, her gaze inquisitive, "Hello, gentlemen. I'm a first‑year freshman, Hermione Granger. If there's still room here, may I sit?" At that moment the train had already started moving. "Ah, no problem, Miss Granger, please sit." Bai Lang said, and Neville had already taken the initiative to help Hermione with her luggage and set it down.

"I'm Bai Lang, of course if it's …" his words were cut off by Hermione, "I know your custom is surname first, given name second." Bai Lang then added, "In British custom you can call me Lang Bai, or you can call me White, whatever. This is Neville Longbottom Longbaton."

"Thanks, are you eating Bibi Multi‑flavor Beans and Chocolate Frog?" Miss Granger asked after sitting down. At that moment Bai Lang was tearing open a Chocolate Frog wrapper; a chocolate frog hopped out and landed on his nose, and Bai Lang reacted quickly—he lifted his nose, stretched his neck, and snapped the Chocolate Frog into his mouth in one bite. "Not bad," he said, glancing at a card inside the wrapper. "Why is the person on this moving?"

It seemed Neville had no time to answer, because the guy, upon seeing the Chocolate Frog and laughing, suddenly seemed to remember something, so Neville began rummaging through his luggage, and finally, in a sobbing voice, said, "My toad is missing." Bai Lang let out a sound, "What's a toad? Your pet? Oh, I guess it didn't go far. By the way, where did you last put it?"

Neville couldn't recall, so he said they should go look for it, "Alright, let's go look together. By the way, Neville, does your toad have any distinctive markings?" Bai Lang was a helpful youth, and besides, experiencing a magical adventure firsthand was quite fun—this time Yu Yu seemed to have chosen a good spot. Of course he didn't take a wand, and Hermione also offered that she would help look together.

So they pushed open one compartment after another, asking the little wizards if they had seen Neville's toad, but the answers were almost uniformly "no." Until Neville opened a compartment door, and two little wizards looked out—one with black hair, the other with red hair; the black‑haired one wore a shabby pair of round spectacles, while the red‑haired one held a wand, pointing at a mouse on his knee.

This time Hermione spoke up, "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville lost a toad." Both little wizards shook their heads, "Sorry, we haven't." However Hermione didn't seem ready to leave; she looked at the red‑haired boy with the wand and said, "Oh. Are you casting a spell? Then let us open our eyes."

The red‑haired boy hesitated a moment, then began chanting. Bai Lang thought the kid was probably being tricked, because what he recited sounded more like a nonsense rhyme: "Daisy, sweet cream and sunshine, turn this silly plump mouse yellow." It unsurprisingly failed.

"Are you sure that's really a spell?" Hermione asked. "It doesn't seem very effective, right? I've tried a few simple spells at home just for practice, and they all worked. No one in my family knows magic, so when I received my acceptance letter I was shocked but also thrilled, because, I mean, as far as I know this is the most prestigious magic school—all the textbooks I've memorized, of course, I just hope I can use them—my name is Hermione Granger, by the way, what are your names?" Both Neville and Bai Lang stared at Hermione; Neville truly hadn't expected the girl to be so talkative.

Then Bai Lang, unsurprised, recognized the names Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, but then he quietly slipped away with Neville, letting Hermione continue talking with the two guys. "I think Miss Granger…" Bai Lang didn't finish, but Neville nodded, indicating he understood, "Is this your toad?" Bai Lang's keen eyes pointed to a corner in the hallway.

"Ah! It's my Lucky!" Neville shouted, lunging to grab the toad, "Thank you, Mr. Lang." Bai Lang pursed his lips, not wanting to correct him. They returned to the compartment, resumed snacking, and also admired the natural scenery outside the window. Hermione entered a while later, noticing that Neville had found his toad, "Very good, Mr. Neville." However, Bai Lang and Neville soon realized they could hardly keep up with the top‑student Hermione Granger. Of course, when Miss Granger produced her wand and began reviewing the spells she had seen in books and was trying to practice, conversation resumed.

Neville's wand was also quite ordinary, essentially a large pair of chopsticks, which to Bai Lang looked like fried chopsticks. However, when Neville and Hermione asked Bai Lang to produce a wand, both were startled—because it was simply a stick, only a little shorter than the shortest Neville, reaching up to Neville's nose. Moreover, the stick was unusually sturdy, with an egg‑thin shaft and a head and tail forged from brass and steel respectively; its weight was enough to make both Neville and Hermione struggle to lift it. "Oak, dragon‑heart string, four feet long," Bai Lang boasted, "My wand is one of a kind." Then Hermione splashed him with a little cold water, "Some wizards embed their wands into canes, and how will you perform those delicate wrist movements with this wand?"

"Alright, hurry and change clothes, I think we're almost there," Hermione said before sprinting out. In the compartment there was a tiny changing room; Bai Lang and Neville only needed to take off their coats and put on the uniforms. No one wore a hat—Bai Lang thought it was too ugly, and Neville's reasons were unclear.

Hermione returned a bit later, apparently having run through almost every spot, but her clothes were already changed. The uniform robe was quite warm; it didn't feel hot in the cozy carriage, but later, after disembarking on the already dark Scottish Highlands, it should be very useful. Hermione was still the first to run out, while Bai Lang, under a deep‑purple sky, vaguely saw the outline of the station ahead—they were almost there.