The gentle night breeze brushed past as the small wooden boat moved forward, gradually dispersing the light mist over the lake's surface. In the distance, across the water, the brilliantly illuminated main buildings of Hogwarts School appeared before Ye Feng and the others.
Gazing at the suddenly appearing, brightly lit cluster of spires and castle, even Ye Feng felt a slight sense of awe, while the young wizards in the other boats stared with their mouths wide open in astonishment.
"Perhaps this is why Hogwarts has always kept the tradition of having newly enrolled young wizards cross the Black Lake in small wooden boats. This scene of suddenly beholding the brilliantly lit main buildings of Hogwarts in the dead of night is truly breathtaking."
Whether this sight deeply etched itself into the hearts of the other young wizards, Ye Feng could not say, but it certainly left a profound impression on him. Perhaps years from now, the memories of Hogwarts would slowly fade, but this moment would remain vivid and fresh even decades later.
Amidst the astonishment of all the first-years, the small boat slowly drifted to the shore. The moment the wooden boat docked, the young wizards grew lively once again.
This excitement was not because they had reached their destination, but because the small dock was pitch black without a single lamp, and only a single winding path led up to the school.
During the day, it might have been fine, but this was night. Therefore, even though it wasn't raining, navigating such an overgrown path with only an oil lantern that illuminated barely a yard or two ahead was still fraught with difficulty.
"Honestly, is Hogwarts School really this poor? Why can't they pave a decent road leading to the school? And even if they didn't have the money for a road, surely they could afford a few extra lamps?" Stepping ashore, Ye Feng reached out to steady Hermione, who had nearly slipped into the water when she jumped down, and could not help but complain.
"Thank you."
Startled and shaken, Hermione offered a word of thanks after being steadied by Ye Feng, then added, "I've read the history of Hogwarts. Legend has it that this is meant to let newly enrolled young wizards experience the hardships of the four founders who established Hogwarts, so that every generation of students walks the exact path they walked back then."
"Well, I don't know how hard it was for them back then, but I certainly feel the hardship now." While Hermione was voicing her complaints, Neville also successfully disembarked from the small boat.
Although Ye Feng and his companions had started following from behind, they were still near the tail end of the group. By the time all of them had climbed ashore, the others had basically gathered and were waiting. Hagrid glanced around to make sure no one was left behind, then hoisted his oil lantern and called out in a loud voice.
"The banks are slippery, watch your footing and keep close, don't fall behind!" With that, without checking if anyone had missed his words, Hagrid turned and started walking forward along the path.
Seeing this, the young wizards panicked slightly, but quickly hurried to catch up. However, only a small fraction of them carried oil lanterns, leaving many completely unable to see where they were stepping.
If it were merely a matter of following the person ahead at a slow pace, it wouldn't have been so bad, but their guide was Hagrid.
The newly enrolled young wizards were generally around eleven years old. Even the taller ones at this age stood around four feet three or four inches, but Hagrid? He was built on a scale that looked exceptionally massive and towering even among adults.
Consequently, when Hagrid took large, sweeping strides forward, even Harry, who walked right behind him, occasionally had to break into a trot to keep up. This only threw the already flustered young wizards into an even greater panic.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a miserable shriek rang out from the procession. When Ye Feng looked in the direction of the cry, he immediately found it amusing. In the dark crowd, a golden slicked-back head was sprawled facedown on the ground, and judging by the footprints stamped onto his wizard's robes, his scream wasn't simply due to a fall.
When Ye Feng caught sight of Ron quickening his pace in the dark to catch up with Harry, a flash of understanding dawned on him.
"Knowing Ron's personality, he wouldn't go as far as secretly tripping Malfoy in the dark, but 'joining in' once he saw him fall is entirely possible, and who knows..."
Lost in thought, Ye Feng glanced at Hermione, whose heart was beating rather fast and whose breathing was a bit hurried—clearly having just done something rather thrilling. For instance, passing by someone in the dark when visibility was too poor to see clearly, and because she harbored no fondness for that person, she "didn't manage" to lend a hand, but instead "accidentally" delivered a little kick or something similar.
Since Ye Feng possessed night vision, he hadn't been startled at all and was thoroughly enjoying the show. However, this sudden commotion thoroughly frightened Hermione, who couldn't see a thing either. Combined with the lingering terror of nearly falling into the water just moments ago, she instinctively grabbed onto the fabric of Ye Feng's robes.
Feeling his clothes being grabbed, Ye Feng turned his head and saw that it was Hermione. Knowing she must have been terrified, he drew his wand.
"Lumos!"
At Ye Feng's spoken spell, a brilliant light burst from the tip of his wand, illuminating the path several yards ahead of them completely. This sight not only made Hermione's eyes light up as she clung to Ye Feng's robe in fear of falling, but it also drew gasps of admiration from the other nearby young wizards, who nodded in thanks to Ye Feng before hurrying to catch up with Hagrid's receding figure.
"Actually, before the term started, I carefully 'previewed' our courses for this year, so knowing a few simple spells is entirely reasonable."
"Entirely reasonable." Though surprised, Hermione felt a sense of relief upon remembering that she too had managed to learn several minor spells. Yet, alongside that relief, a competitive spark ignited within her—she felt she simply wasn't working hard enough.
Still, this was no time for such thoughts; they needed to catch up with the group at once.
With the path illuminated by Ye Feng's Lumos, their pace quickened considerably. Even though they had started at the very back of the line, they soon caught up with Hagrid.
Thanks to the light from Ye Feng's wand, even though the path remained rugged, they moved much faster, and before long they followed Hagrid out of the narrow winding path and into the brilliantly lit school grounds.
Gazing at the brightly illuminated architecture, all the young wizards were filled with excitement, and Ye Feng was no exception. Very soon, he would get to see the famous Sorting Hat and the ghosts wandering the halls.
"I wonder if the Sorting Hat can really peer into a person's mind and discern their character."
"Should I loosen the mental defenses of my sea of consciousness for a moment later? Otherwise, if the Sorting Hat can't probe anything at all, it might mistake me for some kind of Death Eater who sneaked in." As Ye Feng pondered this, they arrived at a set of large doors at the end of a flight of stairs, right in the center of which stood an elderly witch wearing a pointed wizard's hat.
The moment he laid eyes on this elderly witch, Ye Feng's eyes flashed brightly.
"Cats... ahem, Transfiguration is truly miraculous. I just wonder if you can transform only halfway. After all, cat ears are the essence of a catgirl, and if that's possible..." Mumbling inwardly, Ye Feng glanced sideways at Hermione.
"Pity they aren't golden, though a brown-haired little catgirl doesn't seem..."