Chapter 6 : Hogwarts Express

On September 1st, the sun was exceptionally bright, as if even the heavens were celebrating the arrival of the new students.

The sky over London was clear, with a few wisps of clouds hanging on the azure wall. A refreshing breeze brushed past everyone's ears, like a soft whisper, enchanting and delightful.

Macka bought a new suitcase in Diagon Alley. It was a second-hand item from a junk shop, and the Undetectable Extension Charm inside it was somewhat damaged, reducing its space significantly. However, the permit sticker from the Ministry of Magic was still firmly attached to the inner lid.

After heavily depreciating the value of the suitcase and bargaining several times, Macka finally endured the pain and bought it. Now, he was strolling leisurely along the platform of King's Cross Station, enjoying the pleasant mood of buying it with Galleons—his luggage consisted only of an owl and a lightweight suitcase, making the journey quite enjoyable.

Soon, he arrived between platforms 9 and 10, but hesitated as he stared at the thick supporting pillar.

"Oh?" Macka reached out his hand, and indeed passed through the stone brick wall, revealing a look of surprise.

The first time was always a bit uncomfortable, although he didn't feel any pain, there was still some nervousness. With a small step forward, he found himself passing through and arriving at the real Hogwarts Express platform.

The steam from the locomotive swirled above the bustling crowd, and cats of various colors roamed under people's feet. Amidst the buzzing conversations and the noisy sounds of dragging heavy luggage, owls also screeched piercingly, responding to their owners' calls.

The owl perched on Macka's left shoulder seemed larger than the others, and was very quiet, unlike the other little ones constantly hooting. It blinked its bright eyes, looking at the crowded aisle ahead, unmoved.

Indeed, after spending some time together, Macka found that his pure black owl didn't seem to like staying in its cage. Since he released it, it had never returned.

"Marfa, let's go!" Macka gave it a rather majestic name—Marfalio, of course, shortened to "Marfa."

"Hoot." Marfa chirped softly in agreement.

The compartments were already quite crowded, and after passing through several of them without seeing anyone familiar, Macka randomly chose a less crowded one to enter.

"Good morning!" Macka stood at the door and nodded to the people inside, "Mind if I sit here?"

"Of course, please come in!" a black-haired boy immediately replied.

The boy seemed a bit reserved, not very good at communicating with others, as he fell silent again after answering.

"Would you mind introducing yourself?" Macka saw that the atmosphere in the compartment was a bit cold, so he initiated a conversation, "I'm Macka, Macka McLain. And you?"

"...Anthony Goldstein." The black-haired boy stammered, looking even more nervous.

It seemed that he really wasn't good at chatting. Macka nodded and didn't further engage with him. He had plenty of things to do! Like revising, revising, and more revising.

Taking out a copy of "A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi," Macka began reading it carefully. This thing was really thick, and the variety of plants inside was quite extensive. He had only memorized about half of it so far.

After a while, two more people entered the compartment. Apparently, because more people had joined, Anthony had been in a somewhat unnatural state from the beginning. He forced himself to look out the window, pretending to enjoy the scenery.

"Hello everyone! I'm Ernie Macmillan, nice to meet you all." The blonde boy who had just come in looked very sunny. He looked at Macka sitting opposite him and greeted loudly.

Macka nodded to him, smiled, and introduced himself, then turned to look at the last girl who had just come in.

"Um, uh..." The girl was vigorously stroking her brown hair, apparently trying to make it more compliant. It seemed she was not very satisfied with her naturally wavy hair.

"Lisa, Lisa Dubois... Oh!" She was saying when suddenly she cried out in pain, probably having pulled out a few strands of hair too forcefully.

"Hey, Macka! I say, what book are you reading?" Ernie was short and chubby, but his clothing was bright and vivid, indicating that his family background should be quite good.

However, Macka did not detect the haughty demeanor commonly found in children from wealthy families in him. He seemed like a friend worth making.

"Oh, I'm reading a textbook!" Macka held up the book and showed Ernie the cover.

"Oh! I have this book at home too, but I've never thought about reading it. It's just too thick, and the title looks quite boring." Ernie scratched his head, making his originally neat blond hair messy.

Lisa, who was sitting next to Macka, frowned at Ernie's hair but didn't say anything. She just turned her head to look at Macka.

Macka always felt that maintaining a neat appearance was a necessary task, which could make others have a good impression of oneself. After all, most people still prefer tidy dressing and clean appearance, although Macka personally felt that as long as it was comfortable, it was fine.

Lisa secretly sized up Macka, then nodded in satisfaction.

Obviously, this cute-looking girl not only had high demands on her own appearance but also on others.

After this, except for Anthony, who hardly spoke, the other three had some preliminary communication and agreed to communicate more in school. Of course, Lisa obviously preferred to talk to Macka, although the somewhat thick-skinned Ernie didn't notice.

As for the gains on this journey, apart from memorizing dozens more herbs, the only other thing might be "a hurried encounter with Miss Hermione Granger"!

However, her proud attitude, super-fast speech, and hasty code of conduct really made Macka a bit overwhelmed. After a few perfunctory sentences, Hermione hurriedly left again.

Oh, she was helping Neville look for a toad—probably, in fact, Macka barely heard clearly, as his attention was fully focused on memorizing the names of the herbs!

The Hogwarts Express traveled the entire day, and as the train gradually slowed down, it was already dark outside.

The end station of the train was set outside the back door of Hogwarts, and the new students had to take small boats across the lake to reach Hogwarts, which was probably also one of the Hogwarts traditions. Of course, if you think you have motion sickness, you can go around the lake to the front door, although it sounds a bit silly.

"Lower your heads!" When the first batch of boats approached the cliff, Hagrid shouted loudly, occupying one boat.

Everyone lowered their heads, and the boats carried them through the ivy curtains covering the front of the cliff, arriving at a secluded open entrance. They seemed to enter an underground tunnel under the castle and finally arrived at a place like an underground dock, then climbed up a stretch of rocky and pebbled ground.

In the light of Hagrid's lantern, the new students climbed up a tunnel in the rocks and finally arrived on a flat, damp grassy area beneath the shadow of the castle.

They climbed up a flight of steps and gathered in front of a huge oak door.

"Is everyone here?" Hagrid raised his massive fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door opened suddenly, revealing a tall black-haired witch in emerald green robes standing in front of the door. She looked serious, obviously not someone easily fooled.

"First-year students, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take it from here."

After all, it was Hogwarts Castle. Even the hall outside the back door was huge. Torch flames burned on a row of stone walls, and the ceiling was so high that it was almost invisible. In front was a magnificent marble staircase leading all the way up.

The noise of people came faintly from the door on the right. The other Hogwarts upperclassmen must have arrived already. But Professor McGonagall didn't take them directly inside, but led them to an empty room across the hall.

The room was not very large, and the new students were crowded together, most of them nervously observing everything around them.

Macka, naturally, was no exception. He stood with his suitcase, once being squeezed into the corner by the crowd, even Marfa, the owl, stood helplessly on top of his head.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said, "the opening feast is about to begin, but before you all take your seats in the dining hall, you must first determine which house you will be sorted into. Sorting is an important ceremony, as your house will be like your family at Hogwarts..."

Macka was squeezed to the back and didn't feel like listening carefully to Professor McGonagall's speech, just quietly waiting for everything to begin.

"...when the preparations are ready over there, I'll come to get you." Professor McGonagall said, "While waiting, please keep quiet."

Just as Professor McGonagall's voice fell silent, Macka suddenly heard a "glug" sound.

"Leaky Cauldron!" a boy's shout came from the front, leaving Macka shaking his head helplessly.

"Please keep quiet!"

Professor McGonagall repeated in a stern tone, then left the room. Immediately, Macka heard laughter from a few people in front.

"Oh—" Suddenly, there were several screams from the front.

"What's going on again?" Macka muttered to himself, leaning forward to look ahead, "Huh, that's—"