The din inside the train was getting louder and louder; even the compartment door couldn't block out the noise.
Inside the prefects' carriage, everyone looked at each other in confusion.
Harry felt a tiny bit grateful for the appearance of that strange stream of light.
Before that, half the older students in the compartment had been staring at his scar and whispering.
"Has anything like this ever happened before?"
Everything in the wizarding world was new to Harry.
Just like how Hagrid, Ron, and the others were terrified of the name "Voldemort," while it felt completely ordinary to him. Therefore, Harry couldn't fully understand the faint unease in the eyes of Percy and the other older students at this moment.
It was out of pure curiosity that Harry asked Percy.
"No, there have never been so many 'accidents' before..."
After hesitating for a moment, Percy replied dryly. Then he turned to face his "colleagues" beside him.
"I think as prefects, we should take the lead at a time like this."
"What do you want to do?"
"Maintain order, of course, Penelope."
Once in command mode, Percy seemed much more "confident." He looked at the male and female prefects from the four houses, as well as the members of the Student Council.
"Go to each compartment as quickly as possible and tell the students to stay calm. There's nothing to panic about. I'll go to the front and ask the train driver if everything is normal."
This was a reasonable plan, and no one found fault with it.
Percy walked past a few students and reached out to open the door.
However—
Besides Harry, there was another person in the prefects' carriage who was secretly relieved that the strange light had diverted everyone's attention—Hermione Granger.
While everyone was discussing the phenomenon, Hermione quietly turned away, facing the window. She bit her lower lip and wiped her reddened eyes with the sleeve of her brand-new wizard robes. Grievance and confusion churned in her heart!
She shouldn't—she shouldn't have mistaken him!
Hermione sniffled, the events of that day flashing before her eyes.
The day after she received her acceptance letter from Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall had visited their home, proving to her family that the letter delivered by the owl wasn't a boring prank.
Professor McGonagall had taken her family to Diagon Alley and guided her in purchasing the necessary supplies for school.
After everything was done, her family decided to linger a while longer in the magical wizarding world.
Outside an ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley, that man from the last compartment had approached them proactively—she couldn't be mistaken. Such outstanding looks and polished demeanor weren't something you saw everywhere!
When that man told her family about the miraculous effects of the potion he was selling, Hermione was immediately tempted, even though those few bottles of potion would cost her parents a thousand pounds!
When they got home, her whole family tried the potion...
What happened next was that another group of people from the wizarding world came knocking on their door, waking her and her parents up after they had slept for a whole day. They told her family that they had bought fake medicine, and the wizard selling it had been sent to wizard prison.
Watching the mountains and rivers rushing backwards outside the window, Hermione blinked her red, swollen eyes.
Unless magic could turn one person into two, she hadn't mistaken him!
But... a scammer and a respected magic professor... how did these two identities intersect?
The train sped past a clear lake nestled in the mountains. Through the window, the great banyan tree in the center of the lake flashed out of Hermione's vision before it could even leave an impression.
The train is moving really fast...
A faint thought crossed Hermione's mind.
It shouldn't take long to reach Hogwarts.
If that professor didn't come to this compartment to see Harry, then after arriving at school, she would have to find him and apologize no matter what.
She had to do it. She had seen the judgmental look in the eyes of Ron's prefect brother and his classmates after hearing her call a professor a fake medicine scammer.
Outside the clear window, the pristine natural scenery became a blurred painting in Hermione's eyes.
Even without the suggestion from Ron's brother, she had to apologize—Hermione told herself.
She couldn't risk offending a school professor... What if he refused to teach her advanced magic later in her academic career?!
Hermione took a deep breath, looking at the blurred mountains, building her psychological defenses... Even if she faced severe criticism when apologizing, she had to do it.
After making up her mind, Hermione actually felt a little lighter. She blinked hard, trying to clear her vision blurred by tears.
However, everything outside the window remained blurry.
The little girl, who hadn't been in the wizarding world for long, furrowed her brow and wrinkled her delicate nose.
She blinked again...
Zzz, zzz, zzz!
The mountains and rivers beside the tracks seemed veiled in mist, indistinct and hazy. Sparks rose from the ground and "smashed" against the glass, making Hermione, who was straining her eyes, shrink back in fright!
Sparks?
Why are there sparks?
Hermione moved her pale lips.
The stream of light that had never appeared before;
The increasing number of sparks hitting the window;
The blurred landscape outside the train;
The disturbing, thunderous roar of the wind;
Hermione suddenly sucked in a cold breath and shouted immediately:
"The train is out of control!"
The prefects' carriage fell silent instantly. Neville and Ron, standing on either side of Hermione, turned to stare at her pale face... Their eyes held no fear, only dazed confusion.
"Don't be silly!"
Percy, who had already opened the door and was about to go to the front to ask about the situation, retracted his step. He turned to look at Hermione, his tone stern.
"How could the train be out of control?!"
Percy continued, "You probably don't know this, but to ensure that young wizards from all over the country can enroll smoothly, the Ministry of Magic spent a fortune building this railway line. And to ensure the safety of the students, this train—the Hogwarts Express—is protected by many powerful enchantments. It wouldn't have any problems even if it ran continuously for a year... It's not like those shoddy things Muggles make where they cut corners..."
"You'd better look out the window, Per—er, Prefect Weasley," Harry whispered through pale lips, amidst the mocking gazes directed at Hermione.
"Out the window?"
Percy glanced at Harry, then frowned in dissatisfaction as he looked at the window.
"What's out the win... Huh?!!!"
Percy's bizarre reaction drew the gazes of Penelope and the other older students. One by one, they looked out the window, and then, one by one, they fell silent.
Rain...
It must be a heavy rain, right?
It blurred the world outside, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
In the suffocating silence—
Crash!
The door connecting the engine to the carriages was smashed open from the inside. A wizard with a ridiculous mustache, face drenched in sweat and filled with despair, rushed into the passenger area. He stopped outside the prefects' carriage and roared with the loudest voice he could muster in his life:
"THE TRAIN IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!"