“What does 'mudblood' mean?” Harry asked Ron, hearing the word for the first time.
This was clearly a term unique to the wizarding world. Ron, being from a wizarding family, should know.
Ron immediately scrunched his eyebrows, eyes, nose, and mouth together: “It’s a bad word. It’s a slur pure-blood wizards use to discriminate against Muggle-born wizards. Only those with no manners and evil hearts would say such a thing.”
Harry nodded, indicating he understood.
“Seems like I went easy on him.” Harry said calmly.
This startled Ron.
“That was enough. After all, we haven’t started school yet. If we hit him harder, the school might revoke our admission. Let’s wait until we get to school.”
“Does it matter if we hit him after we start school?” Harry asked curiously.
“Not a big deal. Fred and George often fight with those guys from Slytherin.” Ron nodded.
A male voice echoed through the compartment.
“Five minutes to Hogwarts. Students who haven’t changed into their robes should do so now. Freshmen, please leave your luggage on the train. Your luggage will be sent to your dorm rooms.”
“That’s Percy.” Ron muttered.
Harry waved his wand, and the suitcase containing his robes automatically flew towards him.
Hearing Ron's words, he asked curiously, "Is he also your brother?"
“Yeah, he’s the Gryffindor prefect this year.” Ron was also looking for his luggage.
“Your brothers are all pretty good.” Harry found his robes and prepared to put them on.
“They are much better than me.” Ron nodded, his tone somewhat complex.
“You’re pretty good too.” Harry offered comfort.
“Really? How so?” Ron’s eyes lit up. He was eager for someone’s approval, especially from this person, the famous Harry Potter.
“Uh?” Harry’s face froze for a second. Could words of comfort be taken seriously?
He glanced at Ron, not wanting to discourage him. After a moment of thought, he said: “You have good manners.”
He had already praised him for that before. Ron clearly wanted to hear something else.
Seeing Ron still looking at him with puppy-dog eyes, Harry slightly furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and then said: “You have better social skills than me.”
Ron retracted his gaze with satisfaction. He still had two things worth bragging about.
【Easy peasy.】
Harry looked at him subtly.
Ron’s robe was a little worn, not a new one. It was a bit short, revealing his sneakers underneath.
Harry was familiar with this kind of clothing.
Before he earned money to buy new clothes for himself, he used to wear Dudley’s hand-me-downs.
Just like Ron was wearing now, old and ill-fitting.
The difference was that Harry looked like he was wearing oversized clothes, while Ron looked like the clothes were too small for him.
Based on what Ron had said before, there shouldn’t be any family conflicts in their home.
That leaves the issue of allowance.
The temperature difference between day and night in Britain is significant.
It was hot wearing one layer of clothing during the day when the sun was out. Now, at night, even wearing robes, he still felt a chill.
Hagrid was the one to pick them up, holding a giant oil lamp, illuminating the dim surroundings.
“First-year students, first-year students! Gather over here!”
All the freshmen obediently followed Hagrid’s instructions and gathered in front of him.
Harry, due to his long-term training and nutritious diet, was a head taller than his peers, making him stand out.
“Oh, Harry, are you alright?” Hagrid spotted Harry right away and greeted him.
“Hagrid, hello.” Harry smiled faintly at him.
“Alright, first-year students, follow me.” Hagrid turned around and led the way.
After crossing a small path, they needed to take a boat to get to Hogwarts.
“Four people per boat.” Hagrid said loudly.
There was Harry, Ron, the brown-haired girl with buck teeth they’d met before, and a chubby boy who seemed meek and actually was meek.
He was the girl’s Neville, as she had called him.
“Hello again.” Perhaps thinking back to the compartment where Harry had said she lacked manners, she took the initiative to greet them.
“Hello.” Ron replied rather perfunctorily.
Harry nodded, not even speaking, even more perfunctory, not trying to hide his expression at all.
It wasn't that he lacked manners, but his attention wasn’t on her, and he wasn’t even listening to what she was saying.
His keen perception could sense a large amount of magical energy hidden under the water.
There were numerous magical creatures underwater, among them one whose energy was exceptionally powerful, making Harry jump in surprise.
Its energy was like a mountain, unclimbable.
And the energy that had gradually enveloped them since they’d started down the path.
Harry didn’t sense any danger, unlike a curse.
It was more like a contract?
The History of Magic textbook had a passage on how the founders discovered Hogwarts.
Were they now going through the same journey the founders had taken, entering into a contract with Hogwarts through this ritual?
He silently felt the content of the contract.
It was probably something along the lines of the castle protecting the students, and the students protecting the castle, such as not revealing the location of the castle to Muggles.
Following Hagrid all the way to the castle gates, they were then taken over by the stern-looking Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall.
They were led to wait in front of the Great Hall.
The brown-haired otter-like girl asked nervously: “Does anyone know how they’ll, how they’ll sort us into different houses?”
Ron also nervously clenched his fist and said to Harry: “Fred told me it’s by fighting a troll to decide which house you go to.”
“No, it’s by eating as many slugs as you can.”
“How come I heard it’s by fighting a vampire?”
These young witches and wizards were making wild guesses, even the pure-blood ones didn’t know how the sorting worked.
This was probably a common prank agreed upon by all the adults.
After all, everyone had gone through this.
To make young wizards who couldn’t even cast a spell duel against dangerous creatures, no sane person would come up with such an idea.
He glanced at the otter-like girl, who had begun to nervously recite spells.
【You actually believe that? What kind of stuff is in your head.】
“It’s probably just some minor sorting magic. It’s nothing to worry about.” Harry reassured the nervous Ron.
Neville whimpered: “Then I’ll definitely be in Hufflepuff.”
Seeing Neville like that, Harry asked in confusion: “Does it matter which house you get sorted into? The teachers for all the classes are the same, right? Will there be a difference in the knowledge you learn?”
Based on what he had learned from the books, Hogwarts had four houses, corresponding to four qualities, but teaching was impartial, regardless of background.
Well, they’re all humans.
Let’s not mention a certain half-blood by name.
Neville hung his head, not daring to refute Harry’s words.
Harry frowned. Neville’s personality reminded him of his former self.
“Weakness will only make you weaker. Only by overcoming fear can you become strong.” Harry encouraged him.
“How can you say that about Neville.” The otter-like girl showed her buck teeth to Harry, clearly dissatisfied with his words.
“Did I say something wrong, Ms. Otter?” Harry turned to look at her.
The otter-like girl covered her front teeth, her face flushed red. She glared at Harry: “What otter? My name is Hermione, Hermione Granger! You didn’t listen to my introduction on the train at all.”
“I didn’t.” Harry nodded obediently, admitting it.
“So, Ms. Granger, was what I just said wrong?” He politely changed his address to her, asking again.
Hermione was left speechless.
This book-savior was exactly as she imagined him to be!