Chapter 92: All Aboard (Please subscribe, please vote with monthly tickets)

Fred and George were quickly called away by Lee Jordan, who seemed to have gotten hold of something good again — his pockets were bulging, and something inside was moving.

Hermione and Jin Ni didn't return to their original compartment and sat down on this side instead; Hermione was listening intently to Ron describing the trouble he'd run into at the station.

She had arrived earlier and didn't know about the Platform Nine entrance being sealed, so she was gasping in shock as she listened.

She could hardly imagine how dreadful it would be to be late on the very first day of school.

"But why was the platform sealed?"

"Good question — that's exactly what I want to know." Ron rubbed his forehead; he and Harry had both slammed headfirst into the barrier.

If the luggage trolley hadn't broken his fall, he might have ended up with another scar on his forehead too.

"This is the Ministry of Magic's mistake — the school can't expel you."

"Of course the school can't expel us, because we made it onto the train."

"But have any of you thought about what you'd do if you hadn't made it onto the train?" Hermione suddenly asked.

The question immediately caught everyone's interest.

"Go home, and head off again tomorrow," Jin Ni said first, then shot a quick glance at Harry.

If everyone went home, would Harry have to go back to the Burrow too? she wondered, not daring to look up.

"Have Dad drive us there," Ron chimed in, his face alight with excitement. "I've been dying to try out that car's flying function."

Mr. Weasley owned a Ford Anglia, and had added all sorts of special modifications to it — like an enlarged interior and a flying function.

During the holidays, Fred and George had flown it all the way to Privet Drive in Little Whinging to rescue Harry from his cupboard.

Ron had always wanted to drive it himself at least once.

"Um, take the Knight Bus?" Harry said quietly — that was the only option he knew, having heard about it from Silven before.

"Oh, honestly, I'd rather be late a whole day than ride the Knight Bus to school," Ron said with a frown. "Silven, isn't there any other way?"

"There is," Silven said. "Go to the Ministry of Magic and apply for a Portkey to Hogsmeade, or just use the Floo Network. Once you explain the reason, they definitely won't refuse."

"That's a good one," Ron said with a smile.

It was also the most reliable option available right now.

"Wait a moment — has none of you thought about writing a letter to the professors?" Hermione said incredulously, looking at them, then glancing at Hedwig in her cage.

"Harry, you do have an owl, don't you?"

"I — I forgot," Harry said awkwardly; he truly hadn't thought to ask the professors for help.

Afterwards, everyone kept chatting enthusiastically — if something similar happened again in the future, these experiences might just come in handy.

Around noon, a chubby witch pushing a trolley passed their compartment, and Harry quickly bought a huge pile of snacks — even more than last year — piled high across the entire table.

He really liked these snacks, but the school didn't have them, so he could only stock up on the train.

But that didn't count as lunch — Lady Weasley had prepared ham sandwiches for them in advance, and Silven got one too; it tasted pretty good.

"You're lucky — Mum didn't make corned-beef sandwiches today," Ron said; he seemed to really dislike corned beef.

Silven also took out the butterbeer he'd bought at the Leaky Cauldron. He'd originally planned to buy a lunch as well, but he really couldn't stand the whole compartment reeking of garlic, so he gave up.

Butterbeer was clearly more popular than iced pumpkin juice — three full bottles were quickly polished off between the five of them, and paired with the ham sandwiches and the cauldron cakes for dessert, it barely qualified as a hearty lunch.

After lunch, the group played a few more rounds of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap together.

Silven hadn't been very interested at first, but after losing two games of chess to Ron in a row, he gradually got a bit fired up too.

The sky outside grew darker and darker, and the temperature inside the compartment dropped quite a bit.

Outside the window, they could already faintly make out, on the dark horizon in the distance, the turrets and towers of Hogwarts Castle standing tall atop the high cliffs.

Yellow lights came on inside the dim compartment.

"We're almost there," Hermione said — she remembered that last year, not long after the lights came on, the train arrived at the station.

"The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes — please leave your luggage on the train…"

The familiar announcement rang out, and Harry and the others got to work clearing the table, hurriedly throwing on their Hogwarts school robes.

The train pulled into the station, and they pushed and shoved their way down with the crowded throng.

"First years, first years over here…"

Harry instinctively started to follow Jin Ni toward Hagrid, then met the clear, innocent eyes of the new students — and Hagrid's puzzled gaze.

"Harry, you're going the wrong way." Silven grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "You're a second-year now — you don't need to take the boats."

"Sorry, I forgot." Harry hung his head and ran over beside Ron. "Why didn't you remind me?"

"I didn't expect you to move that fast either," Ron said — the moment Harry stepped off the train, he'd headed straight for Hagrid, and Ron honestly hadn't had time to react.

After parting ways with Jin Ni here, they followed a larger crowd down another rugged, muddy path, where at least a hundred carriages were parked… or rather, carriage compartments?

"Looks like we're supposed to ride these to the castle," Hermione noticed, seeing some older students boarding the carriages.

One carriage could seat exactly four people; once they were all aboard, it began to sway and lurch forward.

"It's amazing — it moves on its own," Harry said in surprise.

"Must be magic," Hermione said. "Just like the boats last year — none of us really knew how to row, did we?"

Harry nodded, thinking that made sense.

The carriage passed through two grand wrought-iron gates, then rolled up a long sloping drive, drawing closer and closer to the castle.

Finally, the carriage came to a stop. Silven was the first to step out and happened to spot the Whomping Willow not far away.

The Whomping Willow under the moonlight was still very calm, occasionally rustling its leaves as if stretching.

Silven suddenly realized something.

If Harry and Ron hadn't boarded the train this morning, wouldn't they have been flying that Ford Anglia straight into the Whomping Willow right about now?

How many branches could it have knocked off — maybe even the trunk? If he'd been standing nearby to guard it, he could have picked them all up…

Oh, no — he couldn't keep thinking about this.

Silven felt as though his heart was bleeding. He stood there in a daze until Professor McGonagall came over to urge them inside, and only then did he walk into the castle, glancing back every few steps.

……

(End of Chapter)