It took an entire afternoon for the train to reach Hogwarts. Alan had plenty of time to chat with the enthusiastic seniors.
"Hogwarts has four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is the best house. By the way, your entrance exam is to face a ten-foot-tall troll with two heads; you need to defeat it to officially enter Hogwarts to study."
Lee Jordan seemed to be a chatterbox who couldn't stay idle, constantly introducing Alan to things about Hogwarts. However, Alan didn't believe those last few words of his. Alan had read introductions about Hogwarts in books and had some understanding of the four houses. In fact, he didn't care much about which house he would be sorted into. Even if he did care, it was useless—it wasn't something he could decide anyway.
During that time, George also shared a strange toffee with Alan. After Alan ate it, his tongue felt as if it were being inflated, becoming incredibly huge to the point that his speech became slurred. The effect lasted for nearly half a minute.
Watching this comical sight, George and Fred clapped their hands, looking excited.
"It worked! The effect is stable, and the duration is precise!" Fred cheered.
"What kind of candy is this?" Alan asked, smacking his lips, a hint of sweetness still lingering in his mouth.
George explained with a smile, "Fainting Fancies. A prank product we invented; you've already seen the effect."
"Then what's the use of it?" Alan asked curiously.
Hearing this question, the twins glanced at each other.
George shrugged and answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "For pranks."
Fred added, "To be honest, it's not of much use. It won't help you pass your Potions class exam, nor will it make your wand glow brighter. But it's fun, isn't it?" He spread his arms, his face overflowing with pure joy. "So Alan, do you want to join our Prank Club?"
Lee Jordan looked puzzled. "Does Hogwarts have a club like that?"
"That's not important," Fred said righteously. "We just decided to form it."
Lee Jordan decided to ignore these two idiots. He lowered his voice and said to Alan with a hint of schadenfreude, "Don't look at how proud they are now. These two fools spent their time tinkering with Fainting Fancies during the final exams last semester, and as a result, their grades were almost all P and D."
Even though his voice was very soft, the twins seemed to have caught the keywords and began to playfully scuffle with him, huffing with indignation.
They really are three interesting people, Alan thought.
"Pat, pat."
At some point, a toad appeared in their compartment, jumping around on the floor.
"Hey, whose toad is this?" Lee Jordan said in surprise.
"Uh, didn't you guys bring it?" Alan said, confused. "It's been hopping around here for ten minutes already."
"We would never keep an ugly toad as a pet," Fred retorted. "This kind of animal is useless except as an experimental subject for spells. And it actually sells for the same price as an owl!"
Poor toad, its status really was lowly.
George tried to catch the toad. However, the moment he reached out, the toad, which had seemed clumsy, kicked its back legs and leaped with surprising agility, landing directly on top of his head. Next, it began to bounce all around the carriage, its movements frighteningly nimble. Even with three third-year students working together, they couldn't catch it.
"Wow." Alan marveled. As expected of a toad from the wizarding world, it's just different.
Suddenly, the toad changed direction and flew straight toward Alan's face!
"Wailing Curse!"
In his haste, Alan tried to use a magic he knew on the toad. One of the benefits of curse-type spells was that they automatically selected targets within range according to the user's will. Facing a fast-moving target, this was the best choice.
Almost the instant the incantation ended, the toad landed on the floor with a splat. Its body trembled violently, its limbs twitched uncontrollably, white foam kept gushing from the corners of its mouth, and a trace of dazedness remained in its bulging eyes after suffering a huge mental shock.
Alan was somewhat surprised. Although the target was just a toad, the effect of the Wailing Curse still exceeded his expectations. When he had used it on Canned Food and Fireworks before, the results hadn't been that exaggerated. Could it be that his two pets had a higher resistance to this type of magic?
Lee Jordan's eyes widened. He looked at the toad still twitching slightly on the floor, then at the calm Alan, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Cool, man. What magic did you just use? How come I've never heard of this spell? Wait, did you not use a wand?"
His questions came like a rapid-fire cannon. Fred and George also immediately crowded around, focusing their gaze on Alan.
"Uh." Alan hadn't expected the three of them to be so surprised. He explained, "A strange spell I saw in an old book. I just wanted to try the effect. It seems to work well."
He paused and changed the subject. "By the way, is not using a wand a very strange thing?"
The three were momentarily speechless at Alan's lack of common sense.
"Let me tell you, Alan," George said seriously, "only the most powerful and experienced wizards can use spells without relying on a wand."
"Maybe it was just a lucky fluke?" Alan shrugged.
"I like that metaphor." Fred chuckled. "But Alan, can you try again? Let us see what you've got."
Alan looked at the poor toad on the floor, which had just stopped twitching and still looked somewhat listless.
"Oh, sure."
He once again extended his palm toward the toad, pretending to concentrate hard on his face, and made up a nonsense incantation. It was better not to show off too much.
"Upsy daisy makka pakka!"
Alan pulled this gibberish from some corner of his mind and recited it. Naturally, the toad on the floor didn't react at all, still lying there dazed, even letting out a weak croak.
"Hmm." Alan put on a regretful look. "Doesn't seem to work."
This result seemed to make it easier for the twins and Lee Jordan to accept.
"As expected, wandless magic isn't that simple," George said as if it were a matter of course.
A first-year student who could stably perform wandless magic would be far too shocking.
Alan timely ended the discussion about his spellcasting ability and turned his attention back to the toad on the floor. "So, whose toad is this anyway? Is it wild?"