The train arrived at Hogsmeade station in the Scottish Highlands just after six in the evening, and the journey, which had lasted over seven hours, could finally be declared over.
Heh! This is Hogwarts Express?
Andy declared that he had never travelled on such a slow train in his two lifetimes.
"Don't we need to take our suitcases?" Seeing Andy and Neville walking out with empty hands, Hermione asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"No need."
Andy explained, "They'll take our luggage to the dormitories."
As they followed the flow of people off the train, it was completely dark outside.
The night sky was dotted with stars, the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds, a few wolf howls could be heard from the forest in the distance from time to time, and crows were resting on the withered trees on both sides, occasionally letting out a few creepy caws.
What a netherworld station.
Quite a few of the younger wizards were trembling with fear, Neville was on the verge of fainting, and Hermione had a tense look on her face and was just faking her composure at the moment.
"Hey Andy, I was wondering where you had been."
A familiar voice sounded from behind him, and Andy turned to look, only to see Ron walking towards him with a skinny boy with dark hair.
"I was early, so I just found a random compartment, and this is..." Andy asked.
"Hello, I'm Harry Potter." The little black-haired boy said.
"I'm Andy Collins." Andy nodded.
"Is it really you?"
Hermione looked Harry up and down, seeming to wonder a little how on earth this scrawny boy had saved the wizarding world, "I've heard about you, I've bought a few extra reference books, Modern History of Magic, The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic, and Important Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, and you're mentioned in all of them."
Here we go again, Andy helplessly held his forehead.
"Mentions of me?" Harry asked, somewhat quizzically, he had no idea how he had become such a big name in the wizarding world. When he was on the train, there was a bloke called Draco Malfoy who reached out to him and tried to force a friendship with him.
Only to be rejected by Harry.
But it might not have been taken as rejection.
Because a certain little bloke called Draco didn't seem to quite understand the meaning of the word rejection.
Ron tugged on Andy's shirt, signalling Hermione's side with his eyes, and asked in an ultra-whisper, "How did you meet her?"
"Met her on the train, we were in the same compartment," Andy replied casually.
"Merlin, I can't believe you can stand her." Ron was filled with incredulity.
"Ah..."
While the few were still exchanging words, an ear-piercing scream suddenly sounded from not far away, as if they had received some great shock.
Is someone dead?
Andy curiously looked towards that side.
Only to see a brawny man with a height of at least ten feet appearing in the grove not far away, the brawny man walked over slowly, as if he was a monster that wanted to devour people.
"First-year students, first-year students come over here!"
The giant man was carrying a lamp in his hand, swinging it back and forth over the young first-year wizard's head, "Harry, come over here, are you alright?"
Andy thought Harry might not be alright.
Unless one focuses on face value, the average child might not be very comfortable interacting with Hermione.
The giant man yelled, "My name is Rubeus Hagrid, I'm the gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. All first-year wizards come with me, are there any first-years left? Watch your step, all first years follow me."
The young wizards looked at each other as if trying to get some courage from each other. As one of the young wizards stumbled to keep up with Hagrid, the crowd finally moved slowly forward with Hagrid.
"Oh God, he's so tall." Hermione leaned closer to Andy, as if trying to get first-hand knowledge from him.
"Lumos!"
Andy waved his wand and smiled as he explained in a whisper, "He could be a half-blood giant. But just know it in your heart and don't tell anyone, they don't like that term much."
The crowd moved slowly forward and Hagrid pointed ahead and turned back, "Turn this corner, and you'll soon get your first glimpse of Hogwarts."
At the end of the narrow path was a black lake, and towering tall above the hillside on the opposite side of the lake was a lofty castle with spires of towers and windows that glimmered under the starry sky.
"No more than four people to a boat!" Hagrid bellowed, pointing to the boats on the shore of the lake.
Andy, Hermione, and Neville got into one boat, and Ron looked over and had to drag Harry into the other.
Andy noticed a small platinum blonde-haired boy leading a small chubby boy, following Harry and Ron onto the same boat.
"Hello guys, my name is Michael Corner." The last person on Andy's boat was a little boy with dark hair.
"Hello!"
The few of them greeted each other.
Once the young wizards were all on board, all the small boats automatically headed in the direction of the castle.
Everyone was silent as they stared at the castle that towered high above the clouds. As the small boats neared the cliff where the castle was located, it seemed as if the castle towered above everyone's heads.
"It's beautiful!" Andy mumbled softly.
Hogwarts Castle is definitely classy to look at, and when you consider that the castle has been around for thousands of years - even before he entered school, Andy was already looking forward to the next seven years of school life.
The boat moved on, following a dark tunnel to a cliff bank, arriving at a pier-like area.
"Hey! Check it out little guys, is this your toad?" As the young wizards disembarked, Hagrid found a golden-backed toad as he checked out the empty boat.
"Oh! Thank goodness." Neville exclaimed ecstatically.
"It sure showed up on its own," Hermione remarked as she looked at Andy.
Andy cocked his head, "I bet Neville has forgotten he has a toad."
Hermione shot Andy an angry glance but didn't say much, as she thought the same thing.
The group followed Hagrid onwards, climbing a set of stone steps, the group stopped in front of a huge oak door.
"Are everyone here?"
Hagrid shouted, raising a huge fist and knocking three times on the castle doors.
The door slowly opened, and a tall witch in emerald robes stood in front of the castle door, she looked so serious that Andy immediately thought of his head teacher when he was in school in his previous life.
Acting like an exterminator.
"First-year students, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid spoke in a tone that sounded like a frail patient.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here!"
There was no sign of Professor McGonagall moving, but the castle doors suddenly opened wide, and the young wizards followed Professor McGonagall quietly inside.
Andy beckoned for Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Harry to gather over, and then said in a voice just small enough for Professor McGonagall to hear, "Fred and George told me that Professor McGonagall has a tabby cat..."
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