"All you young wizards in the back, hurry up and follow me to get into the boats over here. Watch your step and don't fall into the lake."
At Hagrid's call, the crowd of young wizards hurried after him toward the lakeside. Ye Feng, walking right behind Hagrid, broke out in a cold sweat when he saw Hagrid leap lightly into a small boat that looked just barely big enough to hold him.
To Ye Feng's slight surprise, although the little boat rocked violently when Hagrid landed in it, it miraculously did not capsize. This prompted Ye Feng to offer high praise for Hogwarts' boat-building craftsmanship, and he confidently jumped into a boat himself.
Seeing that Ye Feng had jumped into the little boat, the other young wizards summoned their courage and boarded the boats as well. To Ye Feng's mild surprise, Harry didn't follow him into his boat, but instead ran off with Ron to another one.
However, when Ye Feng noticed the slightly unnatural look in the eyes of Harry and Ron as they glanced at Hermione, he understood immediately: the two of them felt that Hermione was too overbearing, which was why they chose another boat after Hermione boarded with Ye Feng, rather than squeezing in with them.
"Hmm?"
Just as the small boat gently bobbed and prepared to set off, Ye Feng glanced back. This glance caused him to let out a startled cry, for he saw that Neville still hadn't found a boat and was standing anxiously on the shore, searching for something.
Even though Ye Feng hadn't finished reading the entire Harry Potter series, he still knew the great reputation of the Gryffindor Sword Saint. Moreover, compared to Harry, Ye Feng actually admired Neville more. After all, Harry had always had his path arranged for him to follow in his parents' footsteps, and he himself believed this was the right way.
Neville was different. He was naturally timid and cowardly, yet this timid and cowardly boy had drawn the holy sword of Gryffindor without hesitation for the sake of his friends, facing Voldemort head-on. Although in Ye Feng's eyes Voldemort wasn't all that impressive, to the people of the wizarding world, he was a dark lord who could make crying children stop weeping.
Under such circumstances, Neville's ability to stand up for his friends proved that he possessed truly fearless courage. Unlike Harry, who initially just wanted to escape his past environment and was pushed along step by step along a path laid out for him to follow in his parents' footsteps.
Of course, once pushed onto that path, actually going through with it was also a form of great courage, especially since he had been told from the very beginning that the scar on his forehead was left by Voldemort.
Because he admired Neville, Ye Feng was willing to lend a hand to this introverted and timid boy. With a light tap of his hand against the side of the boat, the next second, the small wooden boat—which had been gently rocking and preparing to follow Hagrid's lead vessel—came to an immediate halt.
"Neville, what are you still looking for? Why aren't you getting in?"
Neville, who was anxiously searching for any empty boats or ones occupied by familiar, friendly faces, heard Ye Feng's voice and his eyes instantly lit up. When he looked in the direction of the voice, he saw Ye Feng and Hermione almost swallowed by the darkness.
"Feng—Hermione!"
A cry came out, laced with a trembling tone and a faint sob, which instantly made Ye Feng shudder.
It wasn't because of Neville's crying tone, but because Neville had called him just by his name, combined with that slightly sobbing tremor. In that instant, Ye Feng was reminded of those melodramatic romance scenes where the male and female leads, facing life and death separation, cried out each other's names.
Looking at Neville, whose eyes were faintly swimming with tears, Ye Feng fought hard against the urge to turn around and walk away. Once Neville climbed into their boat, Ye Feng immediately spoke up: "Neville, in the future you can call me Ye Feng, Brother Feng, or Little Feng, but please don't just call me Feng, alright?"
"W-why? Is that a custom from where you're from?"
"Just think of it as a custom from where we're from." As he spoke, Ye Feng lightly rested his hand on the gunwale of the small wooden boat. The very next second after he placed his small hand on the boat, their little craft began to ripple across the water, overtaking the others from behind at a speed much faster than the rest.
With the boat already moving, Neville and the others didn't continue questioning Ye Feng about this matter. Meanwhile, on the other side of the lake.
"Is that... the young wizard Dumbledore brought back from Huaguo? Their little wooden boat..." Looking through binoculars from the other side of the lake at the small boat that had clearly fallen behind and should have been powerless to move, yet was now rapidly catching up with the main group, Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall wore a look of utter astonishment.
No sooner had Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall finished speaking than a white figure appeared behind her and walked up to her side. When that white figure followed Minerva McGonagall's gaze and caught sight of Ye Feng and the others, an expression of profound astonishment similarly flashed through his eyes.
"As expected of a young wizard from that mysterious ancient land. The magic he used is beyond even my ability to discern. It seems Hogwarts is going to become quite interesting from now on, and our young wizards won't be lonely anymore." With that, Dumbledore turned and walked back toward the Great Hall, leaving the place in the hands of Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall.
On the other side, Ye Feng, who had been curiously lowering his head to examine the pitch-black lake surface outside the boat, suddenly sensed something and looked up toward the entrance of the Great Hall. Yet after merely a single glance, he withdrew his gaze, because whether it was Dumbledore or "cat-woman" Minerva McGonagall, neither held nearly as much attraction for him as the thing trailing them beneath the lake water at that very moment.
If Ye Feng guessed correctly, the expanse they were currently crossing should be the Black Lake, and both the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest were strictly off-limits under normal circumstances.
The reason for such school rules—and the special emphasis placed on them to newly enrolled young wizards—boiled down to only one reason: to them, these two places were simply far too dangerous.
That the Forbidden Forest contained a vast number of magical creatures was something many Harry Potter fans, and even non-fans, knew very well. The reason visitors were not allowed near the Black Lake was likewise the same, except that while the Forbidden Forest held various land-based magical creatures, the Black Lake was home to all sorts of "seafood."
"Gulp—"
At this thought, Ye Feng couldn't help but swallow hard, which left Hermione—sitting right across from him—deeply puzzled. She simply couldn't understand why Ye Feng was so fascinated by this pitch-black lake surface, to the point of swallowing his saliva after staring at it for so long.
Hermione dared swear on her own intelligence that the saliva Ye Feng had just swallowed was definitely not because of thirst or anything of the sort. He was definitely hungry and wanted to eat something, because she had seen this exact kind of gaze, expression, and action more than once—and right there on the train.
Earlier on the train, that boy Ron had worn a nearly identical expression when he looked at the snacks in front of Ye Feng. Which meant...
Thinking of this, Hermione also looked in the direction of Ye Feng's gaze. Unfortunately, lacking night vision, all she could see was the inky blackness of the water. Still, true to her reputation as the brains of Harry Potter's world, Hermione's eyes merely shifted slightly as she hit upon a brilliant idea.
"Feng, is there something delicious down in the lake?"
Hearing this question from Hermione, Ye Feng—who was busy fantasizing about various "recipes"—answered instinctively, "Yeah, a huge squid! If we fished it up and made teppanyaki squid sprinkled with cumin and chili powder..."
"Sluuurp—"
As he spoke, Ye Feng couldn't help but slurp back the saliva pooling at the corner of his mouth. Hearing—and apparently understanding—Ye Feng's words, the colossal giant squid trailing beneath their little wooden boat gave an involuntary shudder before rapidly diving into the depths of the lake and disappearing.
Watching the giant squid vanish, Ye Feng withdrew his gaze with a hint of regret and sighed, "Too bad I didn't bring my fishing rod along, otherwise tonight's midnight snack would be sorted. No matter, I'll rig one up when I have time. Big squid, don't rush—I'll be fishing you up soon enough."