The light of the wands made the uneven mountain path much easier to walk.
"First-year students, look up ahead."
Hagrid felt much more relaxed now that he didn't have to pay attention to the back of the group, and he needed only half the time to reach the end of the path. He turned his head and shouted, "Past this turn, you'll get your first look at Hogwarts."
The end of the narrow path suddenly opened into a broad and glistening lake of black waters.
On the shore was a very crude pier next to which twenty-some small boats were docked. Alina was thankful that there were no paddles, as it meant that the boats were not powered by hand.
Farther off, one could see the outline of an immense building, but the light of the silver-haired girl's wand was too bright to make it out clearly.
"Nox!"
Before Hagrid could say anything, Alina smiled and chanted the charm to extinguish the light at the end of her wand, then put her wand away.
"Nox..." "Nox." Nox!"...
The other young wizards followed her actions and extinguished their wands. The 'moonlight' created by the group was thus extinguished, leaving behind only Hagrid's orange lamp.
In the serene darkness, the silhouette of Hogwarts Castle gradually grew more distinct.
On the other side of the lake, positioned on a cliff, loomed a lofty and ancient castle, its towers soaring like trees and its windows shining under the stars. An air of mystery and solemn magic took hold of every child's heart.
"Thank you."
Hagrid turned and looked down at Alina, a hint of warmth in his beetle-black eyes. As expected, there was a reason Professor Dumbledore had personally recruited this student. She was a good and very likable girl.
Once all the children had finished sighing in wonder, the giant clapped his hands and pointed at the small boats on the shore.
"Alright, four people to a boat. There's not much time left, so let's get on."
The lake waters slapped against the shore, and the sight of the small boats being jostled around was of little comfort to the children.
Ron was clearly one of the unhappier members of the crowd, but not because he was afraid of water.
Rather, ten-some minutes ago, while they were chatting (bragging) on the train, he had confidently told everyone stories he had heard from his older brothers at Hogwarts. If it had been a little brighter, one could have seen that his ears had gone red.
"Alright, I get it, Fred and George tricked me again. But I didn't think that Percy would trick me too."
Ron looked at the little black boats and grumbled, "All of them said that Hogwarts students wrote magic carriages that could move on their own to the school."
"I also heard that from my father. When the Board of Governors provides money to the school, some of it is for buying new carriages."
Draco Malfoy nodded in agreement and then glanced in disdain at the small wooden boats by the dock. "I thought that we would choose a more magical and safer way of getting to school, not taking a boat."
"Right! What if we accidentally fall into the water. I don't know how to swim."
"Shhh! I heard that every year, before the Sorting Ceremony, Hogwarts always prepares a death list..."
It was clear that after the 'Lumos Maxima' activity, the group of young wizards were much more confident and united.
With Ron and Draco grumbling and the Lumos Maxima extinguished, the area was once more cast into the cold darkness, and the members of the group began to whisper to each other. The other children who had been stepping toward the boats began to stop and look around hesitantly.
While the British Isles were surrounded by water, this didn't mean that the majority of children knew how to swim. Unlike the vast majority of creatures, humans preferred bright and warm flames to be large and open areas of water, a trait that was even more obvious among children of around eleven years old.
"Trust me. It's very safe. We do this every year."
Hagrid scratched his head in vexation, a look of helplessness behind his beard.
In truth, this happened with almost every batch of new students. Convincing them to get on the boats was always a time-consuming task, particularly for the rather ineloquent Hagrid.
"Alright, stop making trouble. Listen to me—Lumos Maxima!"
As the air by the lake grew colder and wetter, Alina sensed that Hermione was beginning to shiver, and Alina worried that she might catch a cold. Frowning, she took out her wand and reignited it.
The girl's clear and pleasant voice seemed to cast a spell on the restless children, and they instantly fell silent and began to look at the silver-haired girl.
"If you had read 'Hogwarts: A History,' you would have known that crossing the lake is a Hogwarts tradition. Each batch of first-year students must cross the lake to Hogwarts Castle on these small boats. This is to imitate the scene when the Four Founders of Hogwarts first arrived and built the school."
"But the book said, um..."
Hermione instinctively wanted to say something, but then she felt a pitch on her hand. Looking down, she saw that the warm and familiar hand had once again gripped hers.
Alina glanced at Hermione, and subtly shook her head. As she spoke, she led Hermione onto one of the swaying boats. Standing on the boat, she looked around with her lake-blue eyes and continued in a gentle voice.
"In other words, we're reenacting the journey of the Four Founders. Now, is there anyone who still wants to take those boring carriages to school?"
"Of course not."
"What's a carriage? I'm sick of them."
There was no more hesitation, and Harry and Draco boarded the small boat.
The other first-year students looked at each other, and impatiently nodded. With a solemn air, they boarded the boats without any further prompting from Hagrid.
"All onboard?"
Hagrid looked around at the shore and confirmed that no students had been left behind. He then got onto a boat by himself and pushed off from the pier. Alina sensed an extremely well-concealed ripple of magic spreading along the surface of the lake.
The boats began to glide across the mirror-like surface of the Black Lake, penetrating through its chilly mists. Hermione couldn't help but shiver and shrink further behind Alina, who was standing at the front of the boat.
The crossing of the lake was abnormally quiet. Everyone silently watched as the large castle drew closer and closer. As they approached the cliff, the soaring castle towers seemed to block out the sky, awing their hearts.
One could catch the vague glimpse of an ivy-covered corridor atop the cliffs. Alina knew that this was where Harry snapped his old wand, and it was also the place in Hogwarts where lovers most frequently walked.
While the girl was lost in her thoughts, the boat quickly passed through the ivory into a hidden and large entrance.
The boats traveled into the basement of the castle through a dark tunnel, eventually stopping at an underground dock. The ground of the dock was made of gravel and small cobblestones. They followed Hagrid and his lantern up a winding path and finally arrived at a wet and flat meadow under the shadow of the castle.
They traveled up the stone steps, and as the first-year students gathered in front of a pair of massive oak doors, Hagrid raised a large fist and knocked thrice.
The doors immediately opened, and a grim, black-haired witch wearing an inky-green robe appeared.
"First-year students, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.
"Thank you, Hagrid." Professor McGonagall nodded. She glanced at a pocket watch and said in surprise, "You're surprisingly early this year."
Based on her past experience, new students would need at least one more hour to arrive at the Entrance Hall, and if that old wizard Ogg had been leading the way, it would have taken even longer.
Half of the upper-year students were still en route and had yet to arrive at the Great Hall.
Ah, it was that cursed and frightening old cat lady who drugged and kidnapped little girls, Professor McGonagall!
Alina slightly slowed down, hoping to mix into the crowd so that she didn't appear as obvious.
But to her surprise, when she slowed down, all the other young witches and wizards simply stopped. Just like back at the lakeshore, they voluntarily allowed the girl to take the lead. In the end, the crowd had formed a strange arch around Alina.
Professor McGonagall had finished her conversation with Hagrid at this time and now profoundly glanced at the silver-haired girl. A hint of praise appeared in her eyes as she nodded and spoke in the most affectionate tone she could manage.
"Miss Alina Kaslana, so happy to see you again. I heard from Hagrid, and I presume that it was a very pretty Lumos Maxima. Very good."
These heartless little things!!! At the crucial moment, none of them had been willing to act as a human wall for her.
When Alina heard her name called, her body shivered, and her face froze. While mentally cursing and complaining, she helplessly raised her head, met Professor McGonagall's gaze, worked up a weak smile, and waved her little hand.
"Long time no see, Professor McGonagall."
It did not seem as if Professor Dumbledore had told McGonagall about the matter of her mortgaging Hogwarts.
Upon seeing that Professor McGonagall had her usual expression, Alina secretly sighed in relief. Too many grudges piled up would have made for a chilly school term indeed.