Waaah...
As darkness fell, the Hogwarts Express arrived at its final stop.
After months of silence, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry welcomed another batch of new students.
Hermione chuckled as she watched a group of bewildered young wizards being herded onto the small boats by Hagrid like sheep.
"Weren't we like this last year too? Stupid and clueless, everything seemed new and exciting to us."
"Senior Granger, you're only a year older than them!" Argus reminded her with a smile.
"So what if you're a year older? Being a day older still makes you older than them!"
"Besides, I've already read 'A History of Hogwarts,' so I won't be surprised by anything I see!"
Hermione, with a smug look on her face, tossed her hair and followed her seniors into the distance.
They came to a group of carriages, and Hermione curiously touched the carriage frame.
"Argus, is this carriage enchanted? Why are there no horses?"
Give me your hand.
Argus grasped Hermione's wrist and gently guided it forward.
The strange sensation of fur traveled from her palm into Hermione's mind, sending chills down her spine.
"Ah!"
Turning her head, she was met with Argus's suppressed laughter.
"What did Granger just say about those freshmen?" Argus mimicked Hermione's tone, repeating her words in a sarcastic voice.
"I've already read 'A History of Hogwarts,' so I won't be surprised by anything I see!"
"You...you!" Hermione was both angry and embarrassed, and couldn't help but punch Argus.
Argus noticed that Hermione was shy and didn't tease her about the matter further.
He placed his hand on the carriage to explain.
"What pulls the carriage is not magic, but Thestrals."
"A magical creature that only those who have experienced death can see."
"Experiencing death?"
Hermione, curious, followed the traces Argus had left and slowly placed her hand over them.
"That's right."
In fact, this was the first time that Argus had ever seen the Thestrals in person.
Dragon head and horse body.
It had no flesh on its body, was completely black, with fur clinging tightly to its skeleton, and a pair of bat-like wings that flapped incessantly, stirring up strange gusts of wind.
"Four people in a group, get on the carriage as soon as possible!"
Urged on by the station staff, Argus, Hermione, and Padma boarded the carriage and arrived at Hogwarts Castle.
The familiar setup, the familiar scene.
This time, however, they were seated in different places.
Argus arrived at the Slytherin table and saw Gemma Farley directing the Slytherin members to take their seats. He was about to go over and say hello.
The other person, however, seemed to have seen some terrifying beast, and their smile was extremely forced.
"Am I disfigured? Why was he so terrified when he saw me?"
Argus looked at Draco behind him with a puzzled expression.
"You forgot, today is the first day of school. The freshmen need to elect a leader, and there's a leader ranking battle!"
"If the fifth-year class leader hadn't been a few days late last year, you probably would have turned the whole Slytherin upside down!"
Draco looked excited, as if he were about to become the number one leader of Slytherin.
"No one asked for leave this time, so even if he wanted to refuse, he has no excuse!"
Yeah, it's a new semester, and I'll be able to earn some achievement points again!
Argus then remembered that on the first day of school last year, he had earned a lot of achievement points by playing ranked matches.
Last time I reached the fourth grade level, if I can beat it this time, I'll get at least a few hundred achievement points!
"Stop laughing, Argus. Look at the prefect's expression. If you keep laughing, he won't even be able to sit still!"
Argus followed Draco's gaze and, sure enough, saw Gemma Farley sitting uneasily in the first seat.
One minute they're talking about this, the next they're giving instructions on that.
He barely even touched the chair.
"By the way, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start, why hasn't Harry arrived yet?"
As Draco spoke, he thought of his true love again, his eyes constantly glancing toward the Gryffindor table.
As the two were talking, Professor McGonagall led a new group of young wizards into the hall.
With a loud snap of the Sorting Hat, the Sorting Ceremony officially began.
Argus's gaze was also drawn to the Sorting Ceremony.
If I remember correctly, there seem to be several future important supporting characters among this year's freshmen.
Ginny, Astoria, Luna...
The first two are Harry's future wife and Draco's.
Luna eventually married Rolf Scamander, Newt Scamander's grandson.
Like Luna, she is also a member of Hogwarts, but from Hufflepuff House.
"What are you looking at, Argus?"
"Don't you also think there are some good-looking students among this year's freshmen?"
Fourth grader—no, it should be fifth grader now—was chuckling as he put his arm around Argus, his tone full of teasing.
"I'm warning you, Scamander, if you dare to corrupt Argus, you'll see what I do to you!"
Alexia Selwyn, who had become the top student in the fourth grade, had a warning look in her beautiful eyes.
In terms of pure strength, she might not be a match for Scamander.
However, she had many followers, including many senior students.
To deal with Scamander, you wouldn't even need to lift a finger.
"Okay, it was just a joke."
"Scamander, you should be more mindful of your image. You are, after all, the head of Slytherin and represent the reputation of Slytherin."
"He acts like a hoodlum all the time. What will the other colleges think of him?"
Argus was also somewhat helpless with Scamander.
In the past year alone, he changed four or five girlfriends.
It's no wonder Alexia had a problem with him.
"Look, it's Astoria!"
Draco's voice drew everyone's attention back to the Sorting Ceremony.
A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, just like Argus, sat on a high stool.
As if she had never experienced a similar scene before, a slight blush rose on her pretty face.
Two small dimples appeared on both sides of her cheeks, making her look exceptionally cute.
The sorting hat had barely been placed on her head when she made her choice.
Slytherin!
Upon hearing the Sorting Hat's words, Astoria breathed a sigh of relief and happily ran to the Slytherin table.
She sat down next to Daphne and excitedly greeted Argus.
Her eyes were filled with admiration.
Argus responded with a smile, "Welcome, Miss Greengrass."
Meanwhile, Snape quietly disappeared from the professor's seat.
...
Outside the school, high in the air.
Ron drove his flying car over Hogwarts Castle.
Upon seeing the castle, a smile finally appeared on Harry's face.
The next second, the flying car crashed straight into the castle!
Ron was stunned!
He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands.
"Upward! Upward!"
Harry let out a hysterical scream of terror.
Ron frantically pressed each button.
It's malfunctioning!
Harry rushed over to help control the car, but unfortunately, neither of them knew the specific operating procedures for the flying car.
After fiddling with it for ages, the car just kept going down instead of up!
"Up! Ron, watch out for the trees ahead!"
"Stop! Stop now!"
Ron took out his wand and tried to use a spell to stop the car.
Click...
The car shook, and the magic wand snapped in two.
Immediately afterwards, it crashed heavily into the willow tree!