"...New students! First-year students come over here! And you, the fifth-year transfer student, you should come as well!"
In the cold night, a bright kerosene lamp swayed above the little wizards' heads. William immediately recognized the giant holding the lamp, whose eleven-foot height nearly reached the station's ceiling—upon hearing the call, he pushed through the crowd to approach.
"You're the transfer student? William..."
At that moment, Hagrid was already surrounded by a chattering group of first-year students, but he still noticed William on the outermost edge—after all, William was quite conspicuous among a bunch of kids who only reached his thigh, since he was over 1.7 meters tall.
"Richard, William Richard, sir—"
"Oh, I'm the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts, Rubeus Hagrid." Hagrid scratched his messy long hair on his head, "Professor McGonagall told me—she said you have to cross the Black Lake by boat too because it's a tradition that every new student at Hogwarts must experience."
Tradition? Some headmaster Blake from a hundred years ago certainly didn't think that far—
William merely nodded politely on the surface, while inwardly he began silently criticizing some middle-aged man from a hundred years ago—at this time, he still had a piece of pineapple jam in his mouth, so he didn't say much.
"Come on, follow me, are there any other new students? Watch your step, everyone, alright! Now, new students, follow me!"
Hagrid called out as he walked into the darkness, and a group of dark heads followed the only source of light into a steep and muddy path. The shadows of the trees on both sides of the narrow path seemed sinister at first glance, causing the little wizards to instinctively huddle toward the center of the road—
"Ugh—"
Amidst the pushing and shoving, a cry of surprise rang out as a small red figure darted past William, causing him to instinctively reach out and grab—
"Ah—"
A cry even more miserable than before pierced everyone's eardrums.
"Lumos (Luminous Sparkle)—"
A redwood wand appeared in William's right hand, and as the dazzling white light lit up, he saw the source of the cry.
At that moment, his right hand was clutching a mass of fiery red hair, which was attached to a girl who had fallen to the ground. She was using all her strength to hold onto William's right hand—probably to make her head hurt less.
"Are you okay?" Luna, who had been walking beside William, came over and "rescued" the girl from his grasp.
"I-I'm fine..." The girl in a slightly worn-out robe took a deep breath and stood up with Luna's help, "Thank you... both." She looked at them gratefully.
Is this the little girl from the Weasley family?
William instinctively looked to the girl's side but didn't see any traces of ancient magic—all the students' luggage had been left on the train.
"—Is everything okay back there?"
Having already reached the bottom of the slope, Hagrid turned around and asked loudly.
William waved his hand at Hagrid, indicating that there was no problem. He didn't put away his wand; at that moment, he was like a firefly in the dark, and the nearby little wizards instinctively gathered toward the light.
At the end of the narrow path, a black lake suddenly unfolded. On the high slope across the lake stood a towering castle with numerous spires, each window twinkling under the starry sky.
"No more than four per boat!" Hagrid pointed to a row of boats docked by the shore. William occupied one end of one of the boats—Luna and the redheaded girl named Ginny Weasley also sat on it.
Just like Hagrid occupying one small boat on his own, William was practically two in one among this group of little wizards.
The boat glided across the calm, mirror-like surface of the black lake, and the early autumn night breeze rustled the hems of the wizard robes. William gazed at the gigantic castle not far away, a place both familiar and unfamiliar, lost in thought.
"...What is that?"
In the midst of the silent solitude, Luna looked up at the sky.
"That's... my dad's car!" Ginny exclaimed in horror. Following the direction of their gaze, William turned around—unsurprisingly, a teal-green car was heading straight for the lake, its headlights flashing on and off, indicating it wasn't in good shape.
"Get out of the way—"
A boy's voice of alarm came from inside the car. Ron felt like his throat was about to burst from yelling, and he stomped hard on the brake—but the damn thing seemed to have completely failed a few minutes ago.
"That's... that's Ginny!"
Bouncing around, Harry was on the verge of throwing up. He managed to stick his head out from the passenger seat and noticed the fiery red hair on the boat.
"I see it, Harry, but..."
Ron's face turned deathly pale as he deeply regretted the reckless decision they had made—getting expelled from Hogwarts for tardiness would have been better than crashing into the lake with Harry and dragging his sister down with them.
"Impedimenta! (Barrier Barrier)"
"Arresto Momentum! (Deceleration Stop)"
"Protego Totalum! (Total Protection)"
Seeing the car heading straight toward him, despite the vastness of the Black Lake, William waved his arm. Several spells flew from the tip of his wand, and the car's flying speed rapidly decreased, finally stopping nine feet away from William, suspended in mid-air.
"Hey—Ginny... uh, and everyone, good evening?"
Ron, still in a state of shock, didn't dare lift his foot off the brake. He awkwardly looked at the pale-faced girl on the boat—and the other two, seemingly wanting to say something, but Newton clearly wouldn't give him that much time.
"Crack—"
The car's engine made an ominous sound, and the next moment, the whole vehicle plummeted into the lake—
"Wingardium Leviosa (Levitation Charm)—"
With a wave and flick of William's wand, two soaked figures were pulled out of the lake.
"Cough cough..." Looking utterly disheveled, Harry spat out the lake water he had swallowed. He grabbed the round frame glasses hooked on his collar, "Hed... Hedwig, she's still in the cage—"
"Accio Cage—"
The iron birdcage burst out of the water and fell into William's hands. A thoroughly soaked white owl burst through the loosened cage door and fluttered onto Luna's head—it cocked its head and began preening its feathers, completely ignoring Harry's nearby apologies.
True coldness often isn't about loud quarrels.
"Splash—"
The next moment, a giant tentacle broke through the lake's surface, pushing a pile of luggage onto the water—the tip of the tentacle gave a wave before disappearing, as if greeting the little wizards—
Luna suddenly seemed excited and waved vigorously.
"Hey, what happened?"
Hagrid's small boat swayed over slowly. He looked at Harry and Ron floating on the water, his face hidden by his beard full of shock, "Harry—how did you..."
"Hagrid..."
Harry lowered his head in embarrassment—in his and Ron's original plan, they would have landed the flying car steadily on the flat ground in front of the castle, accepting Draco Malfoy's (Ron would have preferred George and Fred's) envious gazes.
But now... not only did he almost kill Ginny, but he also almost lost all their luggage—
Looking at the small boats gathering around, Harry painfully closed his eyes.
"Alright, let's not talk about this now—William, please take them both."
Hagrid reached out and took the two drenched little wizards, placing them on his boat—the waterline of the boat noticeably rose again, "We're not far from the shore, we should pick up the pace—"
The boats passed through a stone tunnel and docked at a place resembling an underground dock. On the dim dock, two figures stood side by side at the edge of the stone platform—
Severus Snape...
William immediately recognized the greasy hair reflecting some light from the oil lamp, but for some reason, he felt that Snape seemed to be in an unusually good mood today.