"What? Run into it? Really?"
Harry looked at this seemingly absurd suggestion, clearly hesitating.
Devereux, however, was extremely confident.
"Harry, trust me. We're classmates, why would I lie to you or use you? Just focus and run straight into it!"
Hearing this, Harry seemed to let down his guard a little.
An eleven-year-old blonde boy with a toad perched on his shoulder—no matter how you looked at it, he had to be a young wizard... right?
He took a deep breath.
Following Devereux's instructions, he charged full speed toward the stone pillar!
Thud!
To everyone's surprise, Harry crashed straight into the stone pillar, tumbling head over heels.
Devereux was dumbfounded as well.
"Huh? No way, Dobby shouldn't have come here to cast spells yet this year, right?"
Then he saw a noisy family with bright red hair walking past nearby.
"Mum, I need to get to the prefects' carriage, so..." said a tall red-haired boy.
"Oh! Percy, you're a prefect?! How did we not know?!" a pair of twins said sarcastically.
"Mum, can't I really get on the train?" a little girl tugged at her mother's hand and pleaded.
"No, Ginny, you're still too young." The woman shook her head firmly.
Only then did Devereux realize—oh. It seemed he had counted the wrong pillar. It wasn't this one.
Devereux hurried forward to help up a resentful-looking Harry.
"Uh, sorry Potter, I think I counted the wrong stone pillar. It should be the one over there." As he spoke, he hastily helped Harry gather his scattered luggage.
Still, Devereux genuinely felt that having Harry test the waters for him first was the right call. Otherwise, unlike the other young wizards, he wasn't pushing a luggage trolley—he would have smashed face-first into the wall. Ruining his looks would have been a disaster.
After packing up the luggage, Devereux brought a skeptical Harry over to another stone pillar. Clearly, Harry no longer trusted Devereux at all.
"Don't worry, this one is definitely right," Devereux tried to soothe Harry's mood. "Look, the kids from that family are all walking this way."
As they spoke, the group of red-haired children rushed toward the stone wall one by one, successfully passing through the pillar and disappearing into the stone wall.
Seeing this, Harry's lingering doubts finally eased a bit.
"Oh, dears, are you waiting for us? You can go in now."
After the youngest boy with a few freckles on his face also rushed into the wall, the plump woman in front of them turned around, saw them waiting, and spoke to them kindly with a warm smile on her face, stepping aside to let them enter the station first.
Devereux smiled, nodded, and said politely, "Thank you, ma'am. It's our first time going to Hogwarts, so we don't know the way very well—haha, I almost crashed into a different pillar just now."
"Almost? I actually *did* crash!" Harry chimed in indignantly, a trace of anger still lingering on his face.
With Mrs. Weasley's encouragement, Harry took a deep breath and summoned his courage, charging headfirst toward the stone pillar.
Finally, this time he successfully passed through the pillar and entered Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
After thanking Mrs. Weasley, Devereux dashed into the stone pillar right behind them.
Watching Devereux's disappearing back, Mrs. Weasley suddenly realized something.
"Why didn't that boy have any luggage?" she muttered to herself, her brow furrowing slightly.
***
"Wow, is this the wizarding station platform?"
Devereux felt as though he had passed through a layer of water, though his body remained dry. He arrived in a space completely different from the one before.
Many people here wore traditional wizarding robes, giving Devereux the illusion that he had returned to Diagon Alley. Of course, the majority still wore Muggle clothes; after all, parents bringing their children to school had to pass through the Muggle station. In accordance with laws protecting Muggles, they kept their attire as close to Muggle life as possible.
As Devereux looked around left and right, trying to find where Harry was while frantically loading the affixes of the passersby onto his system—
*Ding!*
*Wizarding Secret Realm discovered, Exploration feature triggered!*
*Current Wizarding Secret Realm: London Wizarding Station!*
*Exploration Progress: 1.1%*
Devereux was stunned. He never expected this station to count as a wizarding secret realm! But come to think of it, it probably started picking up Hogwarts students two hundred years ago after the Industrial Revolution. Its history was quite respectable.
At this thought, Devereux instantly grew excited. This station was completely different from Diagon Alley! It was compact, and there was no Knockturn Alley weighing down his exploration progress!
Which meant he might be able to max out his exploration progress directly today!
Devereux glanced around. The platform was bustling with all sorts of people weaving through the crowd. Some parents were helping their children sort out their luggage, while students talked excitedly about the upcoming new semester.
Some had owls, some had cats, and there was even someone with a toad, just like Devereux. That must have been Neville. He probably had some decent affixes on him.
Still, Devereux completely ignored them at the moment. Once they reached Hogwarts, he would have plenty of time to load affixes!
In the distance, a massive red steam locomotive was puffing white steam, waiting for its passengers to arrive.
Devereux didn't have any luggage, so he simply started running along the platform, sprinting from one end to the other while keeping his mind entirely focused on the system interface, staring fixedly at the exploration progress.
With every step he took, the exploration progress surged upward!
Zero percent!
One percent!
Five percent!
Fifteen percent!
...
Thirty percent!
*Ding!*
*Spell Mastery Card issued!*
...
Sixty percent!
*Ding!*
*Affix Upgrade Card issued!*
...
One hundred percent!
*Ding!*
*Obtained: Wisdom of the Sages!*
Boom!
Standing at the edge of the platform, Devereux's entire body shuddered violently!
A vast torrent of knowledge poured directly into his mind, intertwining and fusing together! The sheer volume of information contained within was terrifying. Even with Devereux's talent as a Magic Prodigy, bearing such massive knowledge was difficult. If an ordinary eleven-year-old young wizard tried to absorb this, their brain would have fried in an instant!
After clutching his head and digesting the knowledge for a moment, Devereux slowly straightened up and opened the system interface. A new entry had appeared on the panel:
*Possessed Wisdom of the Sages: Buddhaghosa's Zen Meditation Method!*
*Buddhaghosa's Zen Meditation Method: Continuous practice can enhance magic power intensity and recovery speed. More importantly, this ancient magical cultivation method allows a tighter connection to be established between the mind and magic power, enabling you to maintain inner peace and strength when facing difficulties and challenges!*