The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

With tears welling up in his eyes, Neville showed Raz the Raft in his hand, and at the same time, he recounted all the things he had seen and heard along the way.

Ravenclaw's upperclassmen teased him, and Hufflepuff's upperclassmen offered their help.

Neville recounted in one go the fact that he had met the famous savior Harry Potter in a back room.

By the end, he was almost out of breath.

"Alright, alright, it's good that we found Laifu. But it seems a bit uncomfortable. I think you don't need to hold it so tightly. It definitely can't run away from here."

Rizz nodded to Neville, and then laid out some small cakes and snacks in front of him, gesturing for him to sit down and have something to eat.

It's already noon, and judging from how busy Neville is, he probably hasn't eaten yet.

At the same time, Ariel nimbly returned to Ryze's side from behind Neville and rubbed against Ryze affectionately.

Rizz gently patted Alley's head: "You've worked hard, go and rest."

Then Ellie burrowed into his body and disappeared.

After doing all this, Rizz looked at the little girl behind Neville.

Thick, slightly messy brown hair, a pair of prominent front teeth, big brown eyes, and a fairly cute appearance.

At this moment, the other party was staring wide-eyed at the spot where Ai Li had just disappeared into his body.

Judging from her appearance, she looks a bit like a little squirrel whose treasured pine cones have been taken away in front of her, and she can only watch helplessly from the sidelines.

"Nawi, who is this?" Rizz asked, feigning ignorance.

Before Neville could explain, the little girl confidently extended her hand to Rez and began to introduce herself.

"Hermione Granger, like you, is also a new student at Hogwarts this year."

Chapter 9: The Overbearing Hermione

Reiz looked at the little girl in front of him.

Good news, it's not Hermione the Black.

Otherwise, he estimated that he would feel uncomfortable because of this for a long time to come.

After all, Emma Watson Jr. did leave a very deep impression on him back then.

It could be said that it was precisely because Hermione in the movie was so stunning from the very beginning that there were so many people who felt regretful that Harry Potter and Hermione didn't end up together.

Of course, the Hermione in front of us is no less impressive.

From Ryze's perspective, the other person's face shape and features were not bad, and their skin was also very good. They didn't have the freckles that are so highly regarded in Europe and America for some reason.

They haven't fully grown in yet, and combined with the other person's bright white front teeth, they look somewhat immature.

But the other person's eyes are very expressive, and Ryze can clearly perceive the other person's inner thoughts through changes in their eyes.

The squirrel metaphor is indeed quite apt for Hermione now.

“Hello, Miss Granger, I’m Ritz White,” Ritz said, then pretended not to know anything and asked why she had followed Neville into this compartment.

“Oh, I was also helping Neville look for his toad, and then I realized that this little elf named Ariel doesn’t seem to be in any of the books I’ve read. Even Ravenclaw and the Slytherin seniors don’t know where it comes from, so I’m a little curious.”

"If you don't mind, could you tell me what kind of creature it is?"

At this point in time, Hermione's tone of voice was indeed not very pleasing.

It was clearly a question, but it inexplicably carried an air of arrogance.

"Actually, I don't know much about Ariel's origins either, but according to Professor McGonagall, Ariel may be a magical creature that my father found in some magical ruins and left to me. Professor Barbling, who teaches ancient runes, said that it is a magical creature with a certain level of intelligence that was born after some kind of ancient rune materialized."

When Neville heard what Rez said, he began to look somewhat uneasy.

But Hermione was clearly unaware of why Rhett would specifically mention that it was Professor McGonagall who told him this, rather than his father telling him himself.

She continued to press Ryze: "Are you talking about Professor McGonagall, who teaches Shapeshifting, and the professor who teaches Ancient Runes, a course we can only take after our third year? Do you have connections with both of these professors?"

"I've only met Professor McGonagall twice, and I've written to her several times about whether I can take Ellie to Hogwarts. However, I have met Professor Babling quite a few times in the past month. She comes to see me every few days to study the runes on Ellie's head, and she has given me several introductory books on ancient runes, telling me that I must enroll in her course in my third year."

Rizzo managed to make Hermione, with her perfectionist nature and constant desire to prove herself, somewhat flustered with just two sentences.

"So, you mean you've already started learning third-grade material?"

“It’s just a basic foundation, nothing special,” Rhett said, not bothering Hermione any further.

Hearing these words, Hermione's expression did relax a bit, and she then began to explain her understanding of the first-year curriculum.

“No one in my family knows magic, so when I received my acceptance letter, my whole family was surprised. Of course, I was also very happy, after all, as far as I know, Hogwarts is the best magic school today.”

"I spent the whole summer memorizing all the textbooks and practicing a few simple spells. I think that should be enough to keep up with the pace of learning at Hogwarts, right?"

Rizz noticed that Neville's eyes had become terrified.

Clearly, Neville probably didn't even bother to preview those materials, let alone memorize them.

“I think your learning progress is already ahead of many people,” Reese said truthfully. “I would say that among our students, I think you are probably the only one who has memorized all the books before the start of the semester.”

Ryze's words made Hermione's expression turn proud.

Then she continued to speak in a somewhat arrogant yet "humble" manner: "Actually, memorizing the whole book is nothing. As long as you read those books a few more times, I'm sure I'm not the only one who can do that."

"Besides, you all grew up in wizarding families, so you should know more about magic than the average person!"

Neville was completely speechless.

Rizz blinked: "I really don't know. In fact, I only learned about Hogwarts and the wizarding world at the end of July this year."

Hermione's tone faltered for a moment.

"Your family has never mentioned Hogwarts to you?"

Rez candidly stated, "I lived at Thomas Orphanage from birth until July of this year."

"It wasn't until I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter and wrote to Professor McGonagall to inquire that she spent several days investigating my background. I learned that my father was a wizard who had disappeared before I was born, and my mother probably died shortly after I was born."

"Fortunately, my father still has a few relatives living in the magical world."

Hermione, who had been so arrogant, immediately looked downcast after hearing Ryze's words.

With such magical creatures as Aery, their clothing also looks exquisite.

Most importantly, he also has a rather handsome, fair-skinned face.

Judging from appearance alone, Hermione would never imagine that the other person was an orphan.

She quickly apologized to Raz: "I'm sorry, I didn't know about these things. After seeing your Aery, I assumed that you and Neville grew up in a wizarding family."

“It’s alright, I’m used to it,” Ryze said, waving gently at Hermione as the proud little girl lowered her head in shame.

“I’m currently staying at my cousin’s house. They’ve been very kind to me and have taught me quite a lot in the past month. But I’m not as good as you, who could memorize all the books before starting school.”

Hermione has completely lost her former imposing presence.

It should be said that because her family were all ordinary people, she felt somewhat uncertain about going to Hogwarts to study alone.

Then, not wanting to be looked down upon by those from wizarding families, she deliberately adopted this assertive posture.

And now I've run into Ryze.

Her father disappeared and her mother passed away. She grew up in an orphanage and was only reunited with her family a month ago.

She immediately realized how terrible her posture had been.

She nodded hesitantly, "Um... if you encounter any problems in your studies in the future, you can come to me. I will definitely help you if I know of any."

“Granger, you’re a really nice person,” Rizz said with a smile, thanking Hermione.

Hermione nodded somewhat awkwardly, then quickly made up an excuse to leave the cubicle.

After Hermione left, Rhett clearly sensed that Neville, who was sitting opposite him, had started to have tears in his eyes again.

"I'm sorry, did I do something bad again? If I had known, I shouldn't have brought her back," he said remorsefully, pinching Laifu, which made Laifu start squealing in frustration.

“There’s no need to feel sorry about this. This is my past. I’ve never felt ashamed of my past, and I would never try to cover it up,” Rizz said with a smile, handing over two small cakes, one to Neville and one to Ralph.

"Moreover, I learned to use my identity to gain other people's sympathy when I was six years old, because being able to eat my fill is the most important thing."

Chapter 10: Arrival at Hogwarts

After enjoying the various snacks and treats from the trolleys, Rez and Neville remained quietly in the carriage.

Rizz gave Neville a copy of Lockhart's novel, while he took out the Ancient Runes primer and notebook that Professor Babling had given him and started taking notes in it.

As the train began to slow down and the sky gradually darkened, Hermione came over again to remind them to change into their robes, as the train was about to arrive at the station.

She controlled her tone slightly this time, though it still sounded somewhat stiff.

She also mentioned with some helplessness that the famous Harry Potter had just had a fight with a pure-blooded wizard, causing quite a commotion.

"I really hope they can behave themselves; running around in the hallway is really too noisy."

After quickly reminding Rhett and Neville, Hermione went out again, perhaps to remind the other young wizards.

Ryze nimbly took out her wizard robe, which could automatically straighten its wrinkles, from her bag and put it on.

Neville changed his clothes rather hastily.

His wizard robes looked a bit messy from being packed in his suitcase, and they were slightly wrinkled when he wore them.

Ryze casually pulled out his wand and cast an Ironing Charm on Neville.

Cleaning can also serve a similar purpose, but it is obviously no match for the ironing spell, a life-changing spell specifically developed to iron clothes.

In just a few moments, Neville's robes were neatly restored.

"You're amazing! I've seen Grandma use this spell all the time, but I don't know it at all myself!"

Neville was astonished by this.

“I found these everyday spells very interesting, but they weren’t in the Hogwarts textbooks, so I learned a few simple everyday spells from my cousin.”

Rizz looked at Neville, who was wearing a wizard's robe, patted him on the back, and told him to straighten up: "Alright, Neville, you'd better be more alert. You want to be a Gryffindor student like your parents, right? Then show some Gryffindor spirit."

Neville now trusts Raz's words completely, believing that as long as he follows Raz's ideas, he will definitely become a Gryffindor student.

He stood up straight, waiting for the train to arrive at the station.

A few minutes later, the carriage became lively as the announcement came on: "The train will arrive at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train and we will deliver it to the school for you."

Amidst the throng of people, after the number of passengers in the carriage had decreased somewhat, Rez led Neville off the train at a leisurely pace, and then spotted that enormous figure, at least three meters tall, in the crowd.

I missed Hagrid in Diagon Alley last time, but now that I've actually met him, he looks much taller than in the movie.

"First-year students, first-year students, come over here!"

The enormous voice didn't need any magic spells to be heard by everyone in the station.

The upperclassmen, led by their prefects, went to the other side of the station. Once only the first-year students remained in the station, Hagrid clapped his hands, signaling them to follow him down a path beside the station.

After walking along long and narrow dark paths, the four of them then crossed the Black Lake in small boats.

Legend has it that Ravenclaw first saw a warthog in her dream that led her to a cliff by a lake. After waking up, Ravenclaw led the other three founders along a path and then took a small boat on the lake to find the cliff that appeared in her dream. They then built Hogwarts on the cliff.

Some believe that first-year wizards, by imitating the way the four founders went to Hogwarts, were also signing some kind of magical contract with Hogwarts in this ceremony, but this has never been proven.

But as the towering castle grew larger and larger in their eyes, not only these young wizards who were seeing Hogwarts for the first time, but even Reese's heart raced slightly.

After disembarking at the shore, you still need to walk up a long stone staircase to actually reach Hogwarts.

Fortunately, the young wizards were all looking forward to the life ahead, so no one felt tired at all along the way, and even Neville's eyes looked very determined.

Hagrid's task was completed when he climbed the long stairs and arrived at the huge oak door in front of Hogwarts Castle.

"Now, just wait for Professor McGonagall to come and explain the sorting process to you!"

As Hagrid spoke, the young wizards began whispering amongst themselves about the Sorting process they had been investigating.

Hogwarts' fine traditions meant that none of the young wizards knew the details of the Sorting System.

They could only guess based on a few snippets of information.

But it seems all the young wizards felt that the sorting ceremony would definitely not be too simple.

They didn't even know who was saying that Hogwarts' Sorting Ceremony involved facing a fully grown dragon, and that the Sorting would be based on the students' attitude towards the dragon.

In this atmosphere, Neville's expression gradually became uncertain again.

"Riz, aren't you worried at all? What if the Sorting Center fails?" he asked Riz in a low, somewhat timid voice.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Young wizards with magical talent need someone to teach them how to control the magic within them. Once they receive their Hogwarts acceptance letter, it means they have been accepted by Hogwarts. At least in the history I know, there has never been anyone who failed the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts.”

Given Ryze's image and demeanor, his words are inherently more convincing.