The scenery outside Hogwarts whizzed by, the fields had disappeared from the window, followed by patches of woods, rivers, and hills.
Harry stared curiously at the fat grey rat on Ron's leg, its head buried deep in a box of bertie bott's every flavor beans.
"This is Scabbers, my rat. Percy didn't want him anymore, so he gave him to me."
Perhaps it was because he had eaten the snacks Harry gave him, or perhaps Harry and Chen Yu's backgrounds were both more tragic than his own, but when Ron mentioned that his pet was Percy's cast-off, he no longer had the pitiful air he had when introducing himself earlier.
"Fred taught me a spell that can turn him yellow. Do you want to see it?"
"Yes!" Harry said loudly. Besides Hagrid, he hadn't seen anyone else cast a spell.
Ron fumbled in his trunk for a long time, pulled out an old wand, and pointed it at Scabbers, who had his head in the bertie bott's every flavor beans box and was still eating, completely oblivious.
Just as he was about to recite the spell, the compartment door opened again.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville has lost a toad."
A young girl wearing Hogwarts wizard robes entered, with thick brown hair and large front teeth. She was Hermione, Hermione Granger. Her voice was quite confident, even a little arrogant.
"No," Ron replied.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let me see."
Ron was a little flustered by the girl's reply.
"Oh... alright then," Ron cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and waved his wand: "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
A small flash of light flickered from Ron's wand, and a faint pop sounded in the air, but Scabbers' fur remained unchanged.
Ron looked at Chen Yu and Harry, shrugging his shoulders in a helpless manner.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked. "It doesn't seem to be working."
Ron frowned at Harry.
Hermione continued in her self-assured way: "Of course, I've tried a few simple word spells, and they all worked quite well."
"No one in my family is magical, so I was very surprised when I received my acceptance letter. But I was also very happy because, I mean, as far as I know, this is the best school of magic - I've memorized all the textbooks, of course, I just hope it's useful - my name is Hermione Granger, and by the way, what are your names?"
Hermione finished speaking in one breath, like a rapid-fire cannon.
Harry looked at the surprised Ron, and seeing his expression, knew that he hadn't finished memorizing the textbooks either, which made him secretly relieved.
Then he looked at Chen Yu, and seeing his calm expression, his heart tightened again: "Chen Yu, have you also memorized the books?"
"I haven't memorized them, but I've read them several times and am familiar with them. To be honest, some of the content in the books is quite interesting."
Hermione was truly a top student among top students. She said she memorized seven or eight books, and she did. When he was taking the civil service exam, he spent over a year memorizing two books and still hadn't finished.
Hearing Chen Yu's comments on the textbooks, Hermione couldn't help but take another look at him.
Ron grumbled, introducing himself: "My name is Ron Weasley."
Ron didn't like meeting top students, it always reminded him of his brothers, especially when he felt inferior to them.
"Harry Potter," Harry said.
"You're Harry?" Hermione asked. "I know all about you. You're mentioned in A History of Modern Magic, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Magical Events of the Twentieth Century."
"I'm mentioned in all of them?" Harry felt a dizzy spell coming on. No wonder all those wizards knew him; it turned out his story had been written into books. Did all wizards know he was an orphan? Harry felt the shame of having his diary read.
"Goodness, you mean you don't know? If it were me, I'd find a way to track down every book that mentioned me."
"Harry, your glasses seem to be broken. Do you need help? I just learned a spell to repair objects."
Hermione noticed that the bridge of Harry's glasses was damaged, so she took out her wand, pointed it at the bridge of Harry's nose, and chanted: "Reparo."
The break in the bridge of the glasses was immediately repaired.
Harry took off his glasses and looked at the repaired spot in disbelief.
Ron also stared in shock as Hermione repaired Harry's glasses.
Chen Yu, however, was not surprised; he had long known that Hermione would show off her skills.
After finishing the spell, Hermione reminded Chen Yu and the other two: "You'd better change into your robes. I think we'll be arriving very soon."
With that, Hermione left the compartment to help Neville find his lost toad, not forgetting to remind Ron that he had something dirty on his nose before she left.
Only after Hermione had gone far away did Ron dare to complain: "I bet she'll be sorted into Ravenclaw. I heard the students there are all bookworms and eccentrics, someone like her would fit right in at Ravenclaw. But no matter which house she's sorted into, I don't want to be with her."
Chen Yu couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ron after hearing Hermione's words.
If Hermione hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor, Harry might not even have known what the Philosopher's Stone was, and he probably wouldn't have even gotten past the Devil's Snare if he had tried to protect it.
Some people say that changing the title of "Harry Potter" to "Hermione and Her Two Flaws" would make perfect sense.
In the legendary trio of "Harry Potter," Hermione was their external brain.
If the trio didn't have Hermione to give them advice, with Harry's impulsive personality and Ron's blind trust in Harry, they might have fallen into Quirrell and Lord Voldemort's hands in their first year.
Although Ron blindly trusted Harry, he wasn't without merits. At least he had a clear self-awareness of his own position, just as Ron said to Harry when Hermione and Harry were arguing in the movie: "Are you crazy? Without her, we'd be dead in two days."
Such clear self-awareness was unparalleled.
So after Ron threw his useless wand back into his trunk, he listened to Hermione's advice and changed into his uniform.
He also told Chen Yu and Harry to change their clothes.
Chen Yu glanced out the window; it was already dark outside, and the train seemed to be slowing down.
Perhaps affected by the butterfly effect, Chen Yu directly led Harry to Platform 9 3/4, preventing the Weasley Brothers from meeting Harry. Without the loud-mouthed Weasley Brothers, and Hermione busy looking for Neville's toad, she had no time to mention Harry Potter to others. This resulted in Malfoy not hearing about Harry Potter, and thus Malfoy did not bring his two cronies to befriend Harry, ultimately avoiding the incident where the two became enemies on the train due to Ron's interference.
A loud voice came from the train: "The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train; we will take it to the school for you."
The voice was so loud, it was as if someone was speaking into a megaphone right next to his ear.
Chen Yu was startled by the loud voice.
Looking to the side, Harry and Ron's faces were a little pale, perhaps startled by the sudden voice, or perhaps they had eaten too many snacks and were nauseous from motion sickness.
After hearing the announcement, the three helped Harry put most of the leftover snacks into his trunk, only taking some candies and stuffing them into their pockets.
When the train pulled into a dark and small station, everyone got off with the crowd.
The night air here was biting cold, and Chen Yu couldn't help but sneeze.
Then he saw a tall dark figure carrying a lamp walking quickly towards them.
"First years, first years, don't be shy, quickly, keep up, quickly."
The dark figure got closer and closer. Chen Yu felt that this dark figure was three or four meters tall, and standing next to him, he felt like a dwarf.
This was Rubeus Hagrid, Dumbledore's confidant, Hogwarts' Keeper of Keys and Grounds, with a big beard and wearing an oversized moleskin coat, a half-giant.
Harry and Ron also got off the steam train. As soon as Harry saw Hagrid, he eagerly greeted him.
Hagrid's height stood out among the first-year "little sprouts," making it hard not to notice him.
"Hi, Hagrid."
"Hi, Harry." Hagrid was also very happy to see Harry, a slight smile appearing on his bearded face. Remembering that he was currently working, he sobered up and said to the first years: "Alright, first years, follow me, quickly."
With that, Hagrid turned and left, holding his lamp, telling the first years to follow.
The air was humid at night, and water vapor gathered on the path paved with small stones.
The road was dark and slippery, and the Little Wizards stumbled along behind Hagrid.
They walked down a steep, narrow path, surrounded by darkness, unable to see their surroundings at all.
The Little Wizards walked cautiously, afraid of falling and getting covered in mud.
But the vines underfoot wouldn't be so lenient with these Little Wizards; every now and then, a Little Wizard would let out a cry of surprise, followed by the sound of a fall.
Chen Yu looked at Hagrid's only dim oil lamp guiding the way ahead and couldn't help but lament Hogwarts' backwardness.
It was so dark, and they didn't even bother to install streetlights on either side.
If they kept going like this, many Little Wizards would be bruised and battered before even reaching Hogwarts.
Ron covered his nose as he walked; his was one of the cries of surprise just now.
Chen Yu sighed and took out his wand from his backpack.
"Lumos."
A soft white light bloomed from the tip of his wand, like an incandescent lamp, directly illuminating the path around them.
With the guidance of the light, the Little Wizards could see the path underfoot and were no longer afraid of tripping over vines.
Hagrid heard the light coming from behind him and let out a hearty laugh.
"Good Lumos, if the other professors saw that, they'd definitely give you a point."
Harry and Ron stared at Chen Yu's face, as if they were just meeting him.
"You can cast spells too?"
Chen Yu shrugged: "You didn't ask, did you?"
Hermione stared at Chen Yu's back with some regret. She had almost fallen just now and had forgotten that the current situation could be solved with a Lumos.
"Lumos." Hermione took out her wand, and a second "bright light" rose, making it even clearer for the Little Wizards.
Then other Little Wizards followed suit; a third, fourth, fifth... "bright light" lit up.
Although only a dozen Little Wizards knew the Lumos, it was enough to illuminate the ground as if it were daytime.
Everyone was no longer worried about tripping over the vines underfoot, and their walking speed increased significantly.
They reached the end of the path and saw a lake.
On the hillside across the lake stood a majestic castle, which was Hogwarts Castle.