The twins exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Sorry, Hermione, we don't have a little brother—"
"Hey, here you go, Little Ronnie." Fred pulled out a piece of toffee from his pocket, put it in Ron's hand, and walked away with George, giggling.
"I wouldn't recommend you eat anything they give you, remember, anything." Hermione warned.
Before long, Ginny also came in from outside.
"Hi, Ginny," Ron greeted, "You haven't met Hermione yet, have you? Well, Hermione, this is my sister Ginny; Ginny, this is our good friend, Hermione Granger."
After they met each other, Hermione once again posed that soul-searching question, assuming the protagonist remained Ron.
Ginny didn't say much, just looked Ron up and down with a dangerous look.
Ron opened his mouth, but in the end, he took it all on himself.
Soon, the train arrived at the Hogwarts station.
Since they were older students, they didn't need to follow Hagrid to take boats and climb mountains like the new students did last year, experiencing the hardships of the four founders.
Hogwarts had prepared carriages for them, and after the house-elves took their luggage, the students took the carriages toward the school.
"It's so cold." Hermione rubbed her hands, "It's clearly September, really..."
"There's no way around it." Ron sniffed, "Let's go, think we'll have some hot soup in the Great Hall to warm up, oh dear, hope the welcome feast this year is as lavish—at least like last year's."
The Great Hall was brightly lit, four long tables representing the houses stretched almost from the entrance to the faculty seats.
Above the tables, thousands of candles floated in mid-air, illuminating the hall, along with banners representing the four houses—including the gold and red of Gryffindor, the blue and white of Ravenclaw, the yellow and brown of Hufflepuff, and the silver and green of Slytherin.
The long tables were adorned with gleaming golden plates and goblets. The older students were already seated, with some empty spots clearly reserved for the new students.
On the platform at the head of the hall, a long table for the faculty was set up.
Enchanted above, the night sky sparkled with constellations, giving it a mysterious look.
Before long, Professor McGonagall led the first-year students into the hall.
"Look at that," Ron said quietly, "Look at their faces; aren't they just like we were last year—not knowing we'd be tricked by the parents saying there would be some kind of duel during the sorting."
"Indeed." Harry smiled quietly.
When she reached the front of the hall, Professor McGonagall stepped onto the platform and took the Sorting Hat from the table.
Placed on a stool, everyone watched it intently, and the hat, not disappointing, quickly split its mouth open and began to sing its nonsense.
Just some old clichés from previous years, no originality, Harry almost guessed what it wanted to sing even before it started.
"I think next year we should teach it some novel songs, lest it keeps singing this stuff year after year," Fred and George said in unison.
After the hat finished singing, Professor McGonagall held a parchment filled with names and walked to its side.
"Hanna Abbo!" She shouted.
Sitting at the Hufflepuff table, Hanna Abbo stood up dumbfounded, not understanding why she was being sorted again when she had already been sorted last year.
Professor McGonagall noticed Hanna standing up and quickly scanned the list, realizing she had indeed taken the wrong list.
"Sorry, took the wrong list." Professor McGonagall apologized with a smile, took another list, and continued the sorting.
Hanna sat down, relieved, thinking she would be sorted again.
After communicating with Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall took out another list and approached the Old Hat.
"Miles Blaise!" She called.
A brown-haired boy walked out from the group of new students, sat on the chair, and Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
"Slytherin!" The Sorting Hat shouted.
"Rankel Bradley!" Professor McGonagall called again.
"Ravenclaw!"
"Colin Creevey!"
"Gryffindor!"
Harry noticed Colin Creevey wearing a camera around his neck.
To Harry's surprise, Colin Creevey spotted him immediately and walked straight over.
"Hello, Harry? I'm—I'm Colin Creevey." Colin said breathlessly, seeing Harry didn't refuse, he stepped forward timidly, "I'm honored—honored to be sorted into Gryffindor, the same house as you. Do you think... um, could we, not... may I take a photo of you?"
Saying that, Colin raised his camera.
No, why do you say no?
"Let's save the photo for next time, Mr. Creevey," Harry gently reminded, "You see, so many classmates are watching, this is sorting time, we can't disturb them, don't you think?"
"Oh..." Colin turned to see the classmates staring at him as if he were a fool, feeling embarrassed.
"Alright, sorry to trouble you—can I sit next to you?"
"Sit down." Harry said helplessly.
Seeing him still trying to speak, Hermione took on the duty of playing the bad cop.