Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Chapter 64: Carriage, Thestral

"Follow me, students!" a loud voice sounded.

Hagrid, who looked like a savage, was wearing a thick fur coat and holding a lantern, waiting for them on the dark platform, like a burly giant.

For students who didn't know Hagrid's inner self, his appearance was really intimidating. The noisy students immediately quieted down and followed Hagrid along the platform.

In a wide open space, there were many black carriages parked with dim lights hanging on both sides of the frames. Some of the carriages were shaking slightly.

The students boarded the carriage one after another. Wade and the others walked forward together, and suddenly they heard a greeting: "Hey, Wade, guys, this carriage is empty!"

They looked up and saw Hermione, Padma, Parvati and Neville all sitting in the same carriage. It was Padma who was speaking. She pointed to the side and saw an empty carriage parked next to it, covered with straw.

Several people climbed onto the carriage one after another. Michael was the first to wave and say, "Hello, did you have a good vacation?"

"That's great, except that someone never looks at the Friends Book," said Hermione. "I thought it would be easier to discuss things in the Friends Book! Especially when studying the Disarming Charm -"

"Oh, Hermione, wait a minute, we haven't started school yet!" Padma stopped her with a headache: "Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay? Let's talk about studying tomorrow."

Even though she was a Ravenclaw, she found Hermione's enthusiasm for learning scary.

"Let's meet at the library tomorrow afternoon!" Wade suggested, "I'm going to borrow some new books."

Hermione had no choice but to sit back down with regret, while Parvati beside her breathed a sigh of relief -

Although no one urged her to study, when she listened to the top students discussing study and she could not understand or participate in it at all, she felt as if she was trapped in an invisible glass cover and was almost suffocated.

While they were talking, Neville jumped off the carriage in a panic, holding his toad Riff tightly, and squeezed into Wade's carriage.

"Hey, Neville, there's enough of us here already!" Michael protested.

"Please, let me stay here, there are only girls over there—"

Neville begged in a low voice, looking like he had suffered a lot, but his body pushed Michael into the corner without hesitation and refused to go down no matter what.

Michael, who was forced to sit against the carriage, said angrily: "What's wrong with being with girls? The ones sitting next to you are the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts! And they are twins!"

There was crisp laughter coming from the girls, I wonder if it was because they heard what Michael said.

Neville lowered his head at a loss, not daring to look at who was laughing, and whispered: "They are always laughing - it's too embarrassing, I can't stay there alone -"

Michael cursed angrily: "Neville, you are such a hopeless idiot!"

He jumped down without hesitation while the carriage was still moving and headed straight for the girls' carriage. He got on the carriage soon and started chatting and laughing with Padma.

Neville breathed a sigh of relief and looked very impressed.

Wade and the other two couldn't help but burst out laughing. Neville chuckled and scratched his head embarrassedly.

The carriage was shaking as it moved along the uneven road. There was a musty smell in the carriage and there was a thick layer of straw under the buttocks.

Ryan couldn't help but say, "I wanted to ask this the last time I took a car, why is there not even a cushion on the car?"

When they went home for Christmas, they also took these carriages to Hogsmeade Station, but when they left the college, they were with people from their own college and had no chance to get together.

Theo guessed, "Maybe it's to follow tradition—it can't be that there's no funding, right?"

Anyone who has seen the usual dining scene at Hogwarts would not think that the school could not afford a few soft cushions.

"What else can we ask for from a school that provides food and accommodation and doesn't charge tuition? Just think of this as a test for us!" Wade said, tapping the straw pile on the car with his magic wand, and the withered straw immediately turned into thick cushions.

Several people touched the cushions and said enviously, "Ah, Transfiguration is so difficult."

Under Vader's guidance, they all did well in Charms class, but they had to rely mostly on themselves for classes like Transfiguration, and Vader had no way of instilling firm beliefs and clear images into their minds.

"Do Muggle schools charge tuition?" Theo asked curiously.

"Hmm." Wade thought about the primary school he attended and said, "Public primary schools are basically free, with only a small amount of miscellaneous fees. But private schools cost at least 10,000 pounds a year."

"Ten thousand pounds?" Theo was confused. "How much is that?"

"That's about two thousand Galleons," Vader said.

Theo was shocked: "It's so expensive, Muggles are really rich!"

Even if he was a pure-blood, his family couldn't possibly spend two thousand Galleons a year to send him to school - maybe one would need a fortune like the Malfoys to be able to afford that?

"Most Muggle students also go to public elementary schools," said Weider.

"Speaking of which, these carriages in the school are really good. They can drive automatically. Is this also an alchemical item?" Ryan asked curiously. Neville suddenly raised his head, pursed his lips, wanted to say something, but held back.

"No - it seems like there is an invisible horse pulling -" Michael leaned forward: "Listen carefully -"

Several people held their breath and listened carefully. There were hissing sounds, snorting sounds, and wings flapping the air from invisible creatures in the air.

"A horse that can become invisible—" Ryan frowned and thought: "I seem to have seen this kind of creature in a book—"

"It's the Thestrals." Vader revealed the answer.

"Yes!" Ryan clapped his hands excitedly, "It's the Thestrals! Legend has it that only people who have witnessed death can see them - that's why we can't see them!"

"--So, they are not invisible, but people can't see them?" Theo frowned and sorted out the logical relationship.

"Yep."

Wade responded casually, nodded, and looked towards the front of the carriage.

The skinny black horse had a pair of white eyes without pupils, and its face was as ferocious as a dragon. It pulled the carriage forward meekly, its huge bat wings gently folded at both sides of its body. Maybe Ryan's voice was a little loud, it raised its head a little uneasily and slightly quickened its pace.

The wheels creaked and turned, and finally stopped in front of the castle's stone steps.

Wade jumped off the carriage. The night air was so cold that his breath turned into white mist. He turned around and met the pale, empty eyes of the Night Theris.

This feeling is very strange.

No wonder in ancient times, people equated seeing the Thestrals with seeing death, believing that the Thestrals would bring disaster to those who saw them.

"What are you waiting for, Wade!" Ryan patted him on the back and stamped his feet, saying, "It's really cold today!"

The students walked into the castle impatiently, walking on the snow and stone steps. At the corner of the entrance hall, Filch glared at the children who brought mud and water into the castle.

The hall was brightly lit, and the house-elves had still prepared a sumptuous dinner. Dumbledore sat in the teacher's seat, looking at the freshmen with a smile.

(End of this chapter)