The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 71 School starts

The three of them were sitting in the cubicle chatting. After a while, the door was opened from the outside and Lee Jordan walked in. He said, "I've been looking for you for a long time."

Angelina and Alia followed in. Alia said, "You only walked one and a half carriages, but Angelina and I walked more than two carriages without saying a word!"

Ada reached out and held Garlon in her arms, making room for Angelina and Alia.

"Is this the pet you bought?" Angelina sat down next to Ada and teased Garlon in her arms.

"We wanted her to buy an owl, but ended up buying this puppy," said Fred.

"This is called affinity. I picked out Garlon from among so many pets in the pet shop at first sight." Ada put Garlon in Angelina's arms. Garlon was very happy to leave Ada, and was very obedient in Angelina's arms.

George looked at the happy Garlon and teased, "Is it fate that we are not close at all? This is the first time Garlon has met Angelina and Alia, but they look more like Garlon's masters."

"If you can talk, you can say more." Lee Jordan said. He smiled happily. Just because Garlon didn't give Ada any face, he, Lee Jordan, would protect this dog.

This little blow was nothing. Ada had already made the decision. Garlon's snacks would be halved next week to see the effect. She was just so willful. The dog was hers anyway.

It was raining outside the train window, and the dense raindrops were hitting the glass window. They could no longer see the scenery passing by outside the window. They only knew that the train was moving north and they would arrive at school in the evening.

The lunch cart came down the aisle, and the seller was the same smiling witch I had seen last year. Ada and the others pooled some money and bought a stack of cauldron-shaped cakes and drinks, along with sandwiches and pies prepared by Mrs. Weasley, and the six of them had a delicious meal.

The rain outside the window didn't seem to be letting up, and there was a rumbling thunder in the sky. Startled, Garlon jumped directly onto Ada and buried his entire head in her arms.

It was getting darker and darker, and they were getting closer and closer to Hogwarts.

When the Hogwarts Express finally slowed down and stopped at the dark Hogsmeade station, the heavy rain outside the window gradually stopped. Ada and the others moved little by little with the crowd, walking across the dark platform. There were a hundred carriages waiting for them outside the station.

The first-year students had to row boats to the castle, while the other students took the carriages in front of them. It was because of this rule that Ada and other second-year students did not have to take the ferry across the lake after a rainstorm.

Between the shafts of the carriage stood strange-looking animals, which, though they could be considered horses, stood motionless in the night, looking strange and ominous.

They had no flesh on their bodies, and their black fur clung to their skeletons, so that every bone was clearly visible. Their heads were very much like those of a dragon, with pupilless white eyes that stared intently. Wings grew from the bulge between their shoulder bones.

The name of this animal is the Thestral. Ada had read about it in a book about magical animals and she recognized it at first sight.

Thestrals are animals that can only be seen by people who have seen death with their own eyes. Ada has not only seen death with her own eyes, she has even experienced it herself, so she can naturally see these Thestrals.

It is this strange quality, coupled with their bizarre appearance, that makes people regard them as symbols of bad luck, believing that they will bring all kinds of terrible disasters to anyone who sees them.

The six friends squeezed into the carriage, which was a bit moldy and smelled of musty and straw. George, the last one to get on the carriage, slammed the door shut.

A moment later, with a violent jolt, the long convoy of carriages rumbled off along the path leading to Hogwarts Castle, splashing water all the way.

Their carriage finally stopped at the stone steps in front of the two oak doors. Ada jumped off the carriage, walked up the stone steps and entered the cave-like deep hall.

Walking through the foyer and through a pair of double doors on the right, we entered the magnificent auditorium. Hundreds of candles were suspended above the tables, illuminating the entire auditorium.

Ada and the twins walked to the Gryffindor table at the end of the hall and sat down. Students who had not seen each other for a summer vacation greeted each other and shared interesting stories during the vacation. The atmosphere at the other three tables was the same as that of Gryffindor. The hall was filled with buzzing voices and chaos.

Ada looked towards the teachers' seats. Dumbledore was chatting with Flitwick, Professor Sprout was also talking to someone next to him, and Snape was still the same, with a sallow face and greasy hair.

There were only two empty seats in the teacher's seat, and those two seats belonged to Professor McGonagall and Hagrid. Hagrid should be leading the first-year students to cross the lake, and Professor McGonagall should be waiting for them.

A gray-haired professor caught Ada's attention because she had never seen him before. The professor looked a little old, dressed simply, and wore a pair of thick glasses, looking very knowledgeable.

"Do you think that old-looking stranger might be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Ada asked the twins beside her.

Fred looked at the professor and said, "That should be the case. We are just short of this professor."

"He is indeed an old man. I hope he won't ask us to read aloud from the textbook in class." George also said.

"I hope he's okay!" Angelina and Alia said together. They didn't want this seemingly kind old man to have an unfortunate accident.

The other senior students did not make as much of a fuss as the second years. They were used to the school having a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year.

Ada and her friends discussed for a while, and then the door of the auditorium opened, and everyone immediately quieted down. Professor McGonagall led a long line of first-year students to the top of the auditorium, and the sorting ceremony began.

Ada didn't pay attention to what the Sorting Hat sang, it was just about how the school was founded and some lyrics that encouraged everyone to study hard and unite. Ada didn't even pay much attention to the subsequent sorting, she only knew that a boy named Cormac McLaggen and a girl named Katie Bell were sorted into Gryffindor because the two of them sat very close to Ada.

As the tripod and the Sorting Hat were taken away by Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore stood up, looked at all the students with a smile, opened his arms and made a welcoming gesture.

"Wake up, time to hunt!" Ada grabbed the knife and fork in her hands and looked at the golden plate in front of her.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight gleaming in his beard. "Welcome back to Hogwarts! First of all, we would like to welcome Professor Grover Cecil, who will be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts this school year!"

The unfamiliar professor stood up, greeted everyone and sat down. The applause in the auditorium was not very enthusiastic.

"First years, please note that no student is allowed to enter the wooded area on the school grounds. Some of our old classmates should also remember this. In addition, the caretaker Mr. Filch also asked me to remind everyone not to perform magic in the corridors during class breaks, especially a certain old classmate."

When he said these two sentences, Dumbledore's shining eyes were always looking in the direction of Ada and the twins. It was obvious who this old classmate was referring to.

Ada lowered her head consciously and didn't look at Professor McGonagall. The twins didn't think anything of it. They thought it was Dumbledore's affirmation of them.

"One last thing. Just two words," Professor Dumbledore paused for a moment, "Eat!"

Golden plates and goblets suddenly appeared filled with food and drinks, the sound of knives and forks colliding with plates soon rang out, and laughter and joy began to echo in the auditorium.

After the opening banquet, Ada and the twins, along with the other Gryffindor students, came to the hidden entrance of the common room, where the Fat Lady, who had not been seen for a long time, was waiting for them to return.

The familiar common room, the familiar dormitory, the familiar four-poster bed, everything was the same as when I left.

(End of this chapter)