Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 259 Fourth Grade

Cassandra was still holding her face in her hands, looking as if she hadn't quite recovered, even when she boarded the train.

This was so avant-garde; her mind was in a complete uproar.

Grindelwald!

This woman!

How dare she!!!
She wanted to confront Vivi, but she had already left.

"Still thinking about Vivi?" Harry asked with concern.

Cassandra responded with a death stare.

Harry immediately fell silent and began to look out the window, pretending to be very interested in the view.

“So,” Ron suddenly asked, “Harry, are you planning to participate in the Triwizard Tournament? If it were you, I think Dumbledore would definitely make an exception and allow you to participate, after all, no one is more suitable than you—unless you don’t want to.”

“I think it’s better to give this opportunity to someone else.” Harry flipped through the Chocolate Frog cards in his hand. “I don’t need to prove myself through this kind of competition anymore—”

That makes sense, after all, Mr. Potter's legendary achievements back then are already widely known.

Harry's mindset is no longer that of a young, impetuous, and ruthless individual from Hogwarts.

Now, he prefers a peaceful life.

"The way you're talking makes me think you're in your fifties or sixties," Cassandra couldn't help but tease, then looked at Hermione, whose face showed anxiety. "Oh, Merlin's fingernail, you didn't actually believe that, did you? Granger? What a silly girl... How could a Seeker like Poot, who loves the limelight, miss such a great opportunity to make a name for himself?"

"So, do you want to or not?" Hermione looked at Harry expectantly.

Should I... or not?

Harry was also wondering whether he should go or not.
Before he could finish muttering, the Weasley twins opened the door to the cubicle.

“Hey, little Ronnie,” Fred said, waving the large package in his hand. “Look what this is! Mom said it’s for you—look, see, you’ll love it.”

"What is this?" Ron had an instinctive bad feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

“Oh, you’ll see once you open it.” The twins grinned mischievously. “Just one look—trust me, you’ll be absolutely satisfied…”

Ron became even more curious. He stood up, took the package from his two older brothers, opened it, and...

"what is this?"

He pulled a robe out of the package—or rather, a dark purple velvet dress, with a collar trimmed with what looked like moldy ruffles and matching lace on the cuffs.

Ron wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he could even smell a musty odor coming from it.

“A formal robe,” the twins chuckled. “Remember the new list this year? It said we should prepare a formal robe—Harry, you probably saw it too, right?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded. “Sirius has already prepared it for me—”

After saying that, he looked at Ron's so-called formal robe and forced himself not to laugh out loud.

But sorry, he couldn't resist.

"Hahahahaha-"

Ron's face turned even redder, and his freckles became more noticeable.

“This must be Ginny’s,” he muttered. “It’s definitely Ginny’s clothes—how could it be? How could I wear something like this?”

"Come on, Ron," Ginny said quickly. "This is what you need. Look at the size. Do you think I can even fit into this?"

That makes sense; the dress could practically cover the entire Ginny.

"Mom must be joking," Ron said, staring in disbelief at the robe. "I'll never wear that! Never!"

“Everyone has to wear them, Ron!” the Weasley twins chuckled. “Those clothes are all like that. Actually, our dad has several too. According to Mom, he wears them to respectable parties.”

"I'd rather be naked than wear it," said Ron stubbornly.

“Don’t be silly, Ronnie, my little darling.” The Weasley twins chuckled. “Of course, you have another option. You can put on this outfit now and have Colin Creevey take some pictures of you, how about that? Then we’ll go to the Elegant Wizarding Clothes Shop in Hogsmeade and buy you a robe you like, how about that?”

“I don’t think you’re that kind-hearted,” Ron said angrily, putting down the robe.

"That really breaks our hearts, little Ronnie," the twins said regretfully. "If you don't want it, then forget it. Just wear this robe and show it off to the whole school—"

"Fine, I agree," Ron said, his face flushed. "But it has to wait until we get back to school. That's my bottom line."

“Okay.” The twins exchanged a glance and gave each other a high five. “Lee Jordan got his hands on a giant scorpion from somewhere. I think we should go check it out—okay, goodbye.”

"A scorpion?"

After the twins left, Ron looked up suspiciously: "If I remember correctly, Lee Jordan seems to come up with something weird every year at the start of the school year. This scorpion... good heavens, the first year it was a spider, the second year a giant centipede, the third year a millipede, and this year a scorpion. I really doubt what it will be next year..."

“They’re all arthropods anyway,” Hermione said, frowning. “But he’s just too… eww…”

"I heard that scorpions are delicious when fried, and those big claws taste just like crabs..." Harry said from the side, "I heard it from Lee Jordan once..."

“If you dare eat that stuff, you’d better stay away from me!” Cassandra said without hesitation.

"Alright then." Harry shrugged. "Anyway, I don't have pica—"

The train was traveling on the road to Hogwarts when dark clouds gradually gathered and the sky grew increasingly dark.

I don't know how much time passed, but then thunder suddenly roared outside, and soon raindrops began to fall from the sky, hitting the car windows and forming small splashes of water.

“Looks like this year’s freshmen are in for a rough time,” Ron said gleefully. “We still have carriages, but the freshmen are in trouble; they’ll have to take a boat—hopefully Hagrid will provide them with umbrellas.”

“He will,” Hermione said, but her voice didn’t sound very firm.

They didn't arrive at Hogwarts until the sky had completely darkened and the rain had poured down.

The car door opened, and a rumble of thunder filled the air. Hermione draped her cloak over Jack the parrot, and Ron covered his owl cage with his tuxedo robe.

The students rushed off the train, heads down and eyes squinting in the pouring rain.

The rain was pouring down hard and fast, like buckets of icy water being poured over their heads.

Harry stretched out his hand and drew an armor charm above them, blocking the raindrops falling from above.

"Let's go quickly," he said.

“Magic is truly amazing,” Ron said, grinning. “I could never have imagined that the Ironclad Charm could be used in this way.”

“If you could think of that, you wouldn’t be Ron,” Hermione said from behind. They hadn’t gone far when they saw a huge figure at the other end of the platform.

"Hey, Hagrid!" Harry waved and called out, "Are you all right?"

“Hello, Harry!” Hagrid replied gruffly, waving his hand. “See you at the party if we don’t drown!”

Even in the pouring rain, they still had to follow the usual procedure: first-year students were ferried across the lake by Hagrid to enter Hogwarts Castle and experience the hardships the founder had endured.

It's a bit like forcing yourself to endure hardship when you don't have it; the "bitterness recalling sweetness" trope is common everywhere.

“Oh, I can’t believe it, crossing the lake by ferry in this weather,” Hermione said, trembling with excitement—she felt dizzy from the cold wind.

Then, they moved slowly with the flow of people, crossing the dark platform.

"How are you?" Harry turned and asked Cassandra with concern.

“I’m fine.” Cassandra held her head high, though her face was slightly pale.

It was clearly the cold weather that made her feel a little uncomfortable.

Harry took off his robe and draped it over Cassandra, saying, "Put this on; it will make you feel more comfortable."

“Okay.” Cassandra did not refuse Harry, and reached out to tighten her robes.

Outside the station, more than a hundred horse-drawn carriages were waiting for them—at least that's how Ron and Hermione saw it.

“It’s a Thestral,” Cassandra said to Harry.

They quickly climbed onto one of the vehicles, and only then did they feel relieved.

The door slammed shut, and a moment later, with a violent jolt, the long carriage rumbled off along the path leading to Hogwarts Castle, splashing and splashing along the way.

The rain pattered against the roof of the carriage, making a loud splashing sound.

“Sometimes I think about it, when I was little—” Hermione tossed her hair and laughed, “I would imagine myself on a vast ocean, with a storm raging, and I would be on a ship listening to the rain falling on the roof, with a fireplace beside me to keep me warm, and I would be reading in that kind of environment…”

“Just thinking about it makes me feel hopeless,” Ron said, shaking his red hair and flicking the last drop of water onto Hermione’s exposed thigh.

"Ouch, it's cold!" Hermione punched Ron. "Someone as ignorant as you will never understand how pleasant it would be to study in that kind of environment."

“Yes, just like you’ll never know how much fun I had playing wizard chess on the mountaintop,” Ron retorted, not to be outdone.

Hermione snorted and said nothing more.

The carriage passed through a gate with sculptures of winged wild boars on either side and drove along a wide driveway, shaking violently due to the strong wind.

Hogwarts was getting closer, and the lights in many windows shone faintly behind the thick rain curtain.

Their carriage stopped at the foot of the stone steps in front of the two oak doors. At this moment, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and the people in the carriage in front hurriedly climbed the stone steps and ran into the castle.

"Get ready to get off," Harry said, standing up. "But it looks like there's some water on the ground, so be careful not to get your shoes wet."

“Then I need to prepare,” Ron said cautiously. “It would be troublesome if I stepped into a puddle; water getting into your shoes is a very uncomfortable thing.”

“Don’t worry, Ron,” Hermione said, patting her chest. “Leave it to me. I’ve learned the drying spell. If your shoes get wet, I can dry them for you.”

"Then I will try my best to avoid it."

After Ron finished speaking, he opened the car door.

Fortunately, the wind and rain were blowing from the front of the carriage and did not blow into the carriage.

Ron assumed a long jump stance and leaped onto the steps.

He turned his head, revealing a triumphant smile.

"Ignore him," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Wait for me..."

Before they could finish speaking, an escalator appeared in front of them.

"Hurry up and get over there," Cassandra's voice rang out at the right moment. "The transformation spell probably won't last much longer; this escalator is made of water..."

They went up the escalator to the steps, where Ron had already gone into the foyer.

As soon as he turned around, he saw a red sphere growing larger and larger in his field of vision.

"Depulso (retreat the enemy three feet)!"

Ron reacted quickly, and the spell struck the red sphere swiftly.

The red ball flew backward and hit Colin Crevey in the face.

Colin was knocked backward by the force of the red ball, which exploded with a bang, filling with water and drenching him thoroughly.

Ron looked up and saw Prankster floating not far away.

He was short, wearing a colorful top hat with bells and an orange bow tie, and he floated in the air, holding a water balloon in his hand.

"Wasidisi!"

Ron's spell struck Peeves, sending him tumbling backward as the water balloon exploded in his hand.

This is a spell Lupin taught him, specifically to deal with Peeves.

"Well done, Ron!" Hermione praised.

Pipi Ghost let out an angry howl, then turned and disappeared.

"Looks like he knows who's in charge, right?" Ron said smugly, putting his wand back in his pocket.

His expression was as if he had won the Quidditch World Cup.

Just then, Professor McGonagall came out of the foyer.

“Come in with me,” Professor McGonagall said sternly, glancing around before finally fixing her gaze on Ron. “You did well just now, Mr. Weasley. If it weren’t for this situation, I would have given Gryffindor five extra points—”

“It’s not too late for you to add points now,” Ron muttered.

"What did you say?" Professor McGonagall didn't hear what Ron said.

“I say you’re right, Professor,” Ron said, spreading his hands.

(End of this chapter)