The Wind and the Wings of Hogwarts

The conductor's voice echoed throughout the carriages as the speed of the train gradually decreased; they were about to arrive at their final destination, Hogsmeade Station.

Upon hearing the train conductor's voice reminding him, Scott took out his pocket watch and checked the time.

At this moment, Roger was also awakened by the train conductor's voice. He sat in his seat and looked at the lights of Hogsmeade in the distance through the glass window.

"Let's go, Roger."

Scott called out, stood up, and pushed open the compartment door. Roger stood up, casually tugged at his robe, and the two walked to the carriage door to wait.

With a long whistle, the train slowly came to a stop, and the students sitting in the other compartments gradually came out.

The carriage doors opened, and Scott and Roger were the first to get off. They walked across the platform toward a row of dilapidated carriages parked outside the platform.

At that moment, Rupert Hagrid, the Hogwarts key keeper and hunting ground guard, was standing on the other side of the platform, calling out to the new students in his loud voice as he did every year: "First-year students! First-year students, come this way!"

His unusually tall stature made him stand out in the crowd. He held the magic lamp high in his hand, like a guiding light for the clueless freshmen.

"Look at those little guys, Hagrid is like an ostrich mother with a flock of ducklings," Roger chuckled, pointing at the toddlers.

“I remember you used to be one of the ducklings,” Scott said irritably.

Even though he said that, he still laughed.

After all, Roger's analogy... is actually quite apt.

The students around him were also amused by Roger's words.

Scott naturally turned around and greeted the girl walking behind him.

"Hello, Penelope."

Penelope Crivart, a sixth-year student in Ravenclaw like the other two, is a bright and beautiful prefect with long, curly brown hair.

“Good evening, Scott.” Peneno covered her mouth and chuckled a few more times. “Oh, and Roger, you’re making me laugh.”

"Of course, thank you for your compliment, Miss Krivat."

Roger made a very proud and exaggerated expression, which made Penelope laugh non-stop.

The three of them got into the same carriage and sat down.

Before the carriage started moving, another figure suddenly and quickly climbed up.

"Good evening, Penelope."

The tall, thin, red-haired boy got in the car and sat directly next to Penelope. He greeted her quietly, and Scott and Roger could tell that he sounded a little nervous.

Good evening, Percy.

Penelope, on the other hand, was much more generous than him.

Percy Weasley, a Gryffindor student in the same year as Peneno.

[There's definitely something fishy going on between those two!]

Roger winked at Scott.

[You don't need to tell me.]

Scott returned his gaze with a calm look.

Percy Weasley seemed to only then notice the other two people in the carriage. He raised his head slightly and said somewhat reservedly, "Hello, Davis and Trollope."

"Hello, Weasley."

Scott and Roger responded with lukewarm responses.

Just then, the carriage started moving, and Percy looked away, whispering to Penelope.

Scott and Roger, almost ignored, looked at each other and began to talk about their respective elective courses for the new school year.

Scott has taken three courses since the third grade: Ancient Runes, Arithmetic Divination, and Protecting Magical Creatures, and he has no plans to change them for the new school year.

But Roger was hesitant about whether to give up a course.

“I regret it. I think I really shouldn’t have chosen the divination class,” Roger said, distressed. “Just like Professor Trelawney said, I don’t have the ‘third eye’ at all.”

Roger initially chose divination because of his interest, but this course was so special that people without a talent for prophecy could never achieve anything through hard work.

“Perhaps you could choose to drop the course,” Scott suggested. “Go talk to Professor Flitwick; he should agree to your request.”

“Okay, I’ll go.” Roger accepted his suggestion.

“Oh, are you talking about Divination class?” Percy suddenly interjected. “Professor McGonagall said Professor Trelawney is a fraud. But it’s an easy class to get a high score, as long as you ‘predict’ your miserable future to Professor Trelawney during the exam, the more miserable the better, of course.”

After saying that, he looked at the two boys with a smug look on his face.

Scott and Roger exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

At this point, Percy added, "You know, I got twelve certificates in the OWLs (Ordinary Wizard Level Examinations) last school year."

"Oh, I know you're great, Percy."

Penelope glanced awkwardly at Scott and Roger, then began to talk about some of her fun summer experiences to distract Percy.

Neither Scott nor Roger spoke again.

When the carriage stopped in front of the Hogwarts Castle gates, the two of them quickly jumped down.

They quickened their pace toward the Great Hall, Roger muttering, "Beautiful Miss Crevat, the flower of Ravenclaw, she really has terrible taste. I know Weasley's trying to give us some useful advice, but he really doesn't know how to talk, does he?"

Scott smiled without saying a word and turned to look behind him.

A slightly chubby boy strode over from behind and squeezed between Scott and Roger, excitedly saying, "Good evening, Scott. He always seems to notice people out of sight. Can you tell me how he does that? Oh, by the way, were you talking about Penenono's boyfriend, Percy Weasley?"

Roger was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "Eddie, you're always so perceptive about these gossips, and I can't help but suspect that you have more than two ears and one mouth."

"Oh, thank you for the compliment, Roger."

Eddie proudly raised his head.

"I happen to have some breaking news!"

He smugly pulled a newspaper out of his robe and shook it.

“You know what? Potter, the Savior, and his friend Weasley missed their train back to school today. I suspect they drove a flying car to school.”

"A flying car?"

Roger reached out and snatched the newspaper from Eddie's hand; it was a freshly printed copy of the Evening Prophet.

Scott peeked at the newspaper and saw that the headline on the front page read: "Ford Anglia Can Fly, Muggles Amazed."

Roger read aloud as he walked: "Two Muggles in London are convinced they saw an old car fly past the post office building... At midday in Norfolk, while Mrs. Hattiebury was hanging laundry... Mr. Angus Fleet of Peebles reported it to the police..."

At this moment, the surrounding students also gathered around and strained their ears to listen to Roger read the newspaper.

Roger quickly finished reading the article and shoved the newspaper back into Eddie's hands: "Eddie, the newspaper didn't say that the flying car was driven by Porter and Weasley."

“But I think it’s them,” Eddie said confidently.

"Is this true? Weasley, your brother drove a flying car to school?" someone in the crowd asked Percy.

Before Percy could answer, Scott keenly looked up.

Eddie followed Scott's gaze and saw a Ford Anglia plummeting from the sky, grazing the walls of Hogwarts Castle.

"Look, the flying car is here!" Eddie shouted excitedly.

Chapter 005: Entrance Dinner and Mini Concert

Even after the students were all seated at the long table in the auditorium, everyone was still excitedly discussing the flying car.

In this atmosphere, the Sorting Hat was very unhappy that its carefully prepared new song for the year went completely unappreciated.

Scott and his roommates sat together at the long table in Ravenclaw.

Eddie was still very excited. He shouted, "Did you see that? That car hit the Whomping Willow! Oh! Poor Potter and Weasley, I wonder if they'll get smashed into mincemeat by that rabid tree and sandwiched between it and that poor car..."

“Hey!” Peneno, sitting opposite Eddie, couldn’t help but glare at him and interrupt. “Shut up, Eddie! They’ll be fine! If you’ve noticed, Professor Snape has already taken care of it!”

Eddie shrugged. "Is that so? Then let's pray to Merlin for Potter and Weasley, hoping they won't be boiled in a cauldron by an angry Professor Snape, or made into potion ingredients? Maybe the ingredients for our next Potions class will be 'Savior's' fingernails..."

At that moment, Professor McGonagall led the new students into the auditorium. Scott coughed, signaling Eddie to shut his mouth and stop spouting nonsense.

Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the faculty seating area, picked up the angry Sorting Hat from the high stool, and the Sorting Ceremony began.

Scott turned his head and saw Harry Potter and Ron Weasley standing at the entrance of the Great Hall, looking disheveled and dragging their luggage.

They were completely unaware that Professor Snape, dressed in a black robe, was standing behind them with a dark expression.

So they were quickly led away by the sneering Professor Snape.

Eddie, who was always very sensitive to such things, also saw this scene. He covered his mouth and trembled all over, afraid that he would laugh out loud.

The Sorting Ceremony continued, with Scott and his classmates giving a warm round of applause to each young wizard sorted into Ravenclaw.

As soon as the Sorting Ceremony ended, a sumptuous feast was laid out on the long table. Everyone began to eat and drink heartily.

Scott noticed again that Professor Snape had entered the Great Hall, and then Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left with him.

"Will they be alright? Will they be expelled from school?"

A faint voice sounded beside Scott.

It's Milton Grevis. He has long, smooth, light brown hair and is a very sensitive and artistic boy.

Scott sighed inwardly. Three years had passed, and he still couldn't get used to his roommate's speaking style.

“Of course they’re fine, Milton. He’s the ‘savior,’ he’ll always get a little special treatment,” Roger replied nonchalantly from the other side.

“Well, I hope they’re all alright.” Milton looked sadly at the starry sky on the Great Hall ceiling. “Whether it’s Potter and Weasley, or that poor Whomping Willow. Eddie’s words just now were horrible.”

Eddie looked like he was constipated. "Oh, Milton, I thought you should know... I was just joking about what I said earlier."

"is it?"

Milton's clear, mint-green eyes stared at Eddie.

"Yes, of course, I like to talk nonsense!"

Eddie immediately conceded defeat and began grumbling about gnawing on a chicken leg after Milton looked away.

Scott and Roger both chuckled to themselves, though neither of them were good at dealing with Milton, who was prone to bursting into tears at the drop of a hat. But seeing Eddie get his comeuppance still made them happy.

In addition, Scott had always wanted to call Milton "the English Lin Daiyu," but since no one here understood the joke, he could only label Milton as "Daiyu" in his mind.