Chapter 15: I was brainwashed before school even started
Ron awkwardly pulled out his wand; it looked old, not at all like a new student's, possibly a second-hand item, or even third-hand.
However, considering the Weasley's 'poverty,' this was not surprising.
The wand he used might have been passed down through generations, and as for how many generations, that depended on the situation.
Ron cleared his throat, flicked his wand slightly, "Sun..."
As he uttered the first word of the spell, a girl in black robes appeared at the door of their compartment, looking a bit out of breath.
"Hermione?"
"Hm?" The girl paused, as if surprised that someone here knew her, then looked towards the source of the voice.
"Aaron? You're here too?" Hermione said, a little pleased.
"Otherwise?" Aaron rolled his eyes, "I'm a Hogwarts first-year too, so it's normal for me to be on this train, right!"
"That's true." Hermione said, a bit embarrassed, "Oh, by the way, have you seen a toad? Someone named Neville lost one."
"Woo..." Abey let out a soft whine, then proudly patted its stomach.
Hermione's expression changed slightly, "Don't tell me it ate it."
Whack!
Aaron directly patted Abey on the head, "Don't misunderstand, it just ate a chocolate frog.
As for the toad you mentioned, we really haven't seen it."
"Alright!" Hermione said, then her eyes fell on Ron's wand, "You're doing magic. Can I see?"
Ron cleared his throat again, trying to make his incantation as clear as possible.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,
Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
The wand waved down, and then nothing happened, not even a single hair changed color.
Ron looked at the three people in the compartment with some embarrassment, his face slightly flushed.
Aaron's mouth twitched, "Ron, your brother must really like pranks, right?
I've read quite a few books and know quite a few spells, but this is the first time I've heard a spell like that.
Are you... sure it's a spell?"
"Uh..." Ron didn't know what to say either; he also realized he was probably tricked by Fred.
"Indeed, your spell doesn't seem to work very well." Hermione said, "Of course, I've tried a few simple spells, and they all worked quite well."
Hermione said, pulling out her wand, and sat next to Aaron, pointing the wand in her hand at Harry's broken glasses, "For example..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the black wand in her hand was pressed down by Aaron.
"Aaron, what are you doing?" Hermione said, a little displeased, her enthusiasm for casting spells diminished quite a bit.
"I just think it's best not to point spells at people when experimenting, or at least get their permission first.
It might be a bit impolite and dangerous to just go for it like that. If it succeeds, fine, but what if it fails...?"
Hermione then noticed the boy opposite her staring at her nervously, with a hint of panic in his eyes besides wariness.
"I'm sorry, can I have your glasses?"
"Oh, no problem." Harry breathed a sigh of relief, then took off his glasses and handed them to Hermione.
Hermione gently waved her wand and chanted the spell, "Oculus Reparo."
The patch on the bridge of the glasses suddenly popped out, and the bridge became new.
"It's fixed quickly." Hermione said.
Harry's eyes widened as he picked up the glasses, exchanging a surprised glance with Ron, as if he hadn't expected this proud girl's magic to be so effective.
Hermione also noticed the lightning scar on Harry's forehead and said in surprise, "How extraordinary, you are Harry Potter."
"Wait? Hermione, how do you know him?" Aaron asked, a little surprised. It was normal for Wizards to know Harry Potter, after all, this Boy-Who-Lived was a household name in the Magical World.
But Hermione was from a pure Muggle family, and she also knew Harry Potter's name, which was a bit unusual.
Muggles' understanding of the Magical World might only be slightly less than Harry Potter himself.
"By reading books! His name is in several books that record modern History of Magic." Hermione said as a matter of course.
"I see, so studious, you'll probably be sorted into Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw?" Hermione raised an eyebrow slightly, "But I want to go to Gryffindor. Dumbledore graduated from that house, so its excellence is self-evident.
What about you, Aaron? Which house do you hope to go to?"
"Me? It doesn't matter, as long as it's not Hufflepuff.
But there's a good chance I'll be sorted into Slytherin, right!"
"No, you can't go to that house!" Harry said hastily, then his face flushed, and he lowered his head to explain, "I heard Hagrid say that almost all Dark Wizards come from that house."
"Ha?" Aaron frowned, then chuckled disdainfully, "If I'm not mistaken, this Hagrid must have graduated from Gryffindor, right!
Only people from Gryffindor would hate Slytherin so much."
"But my parents also said that there are no good people in Slytherin." Ron said.
"Hm? Your parents didn't also graduate from Gryffindor, did they?"
Ron said nothing, indicating agreement.
"My goodness! You two really are... brainwashed before even starting school.
If Slytherin was really that bad, why would Hogwarts keep that house?
If Slytherin was simply dismantled, wouldn't the public safety of the Magical World greatly improve?
And as far as I know, Slytherin is the house with the best academic record among the four houses."
"No matter what, Slytherin is the worst." Ron mumbled, "You-Know-Who came from that house."
"Sigh!" Aaron sighed, "Forget it, let's wait and see!
I don't think houses have good or bad distinctions, only people do. You can't say that there isn't a single good person in the entire Slytherin, can you!"
Harry and Ron were speechless at his words. Although they disliked the house, they really couldn't deny everyone in the entire house just because they didn't like it.
"That's not wrong." Hermione, however, stood up with a smile, "I still have to help Neville find his toad, so I'll be going now.
Oh, and a reminder, you should change into your uniforms. We should be arriving soon."
Hermione paused as she walked out of the compartment. She turned back and looked at Ron, then pointed to her nose, "You have something dirty on your nose, do you know? Right here."
Ron glared at her slightly, then began to wipe it with his hand. After seeing the black on his hand, he looked at the two of them angrily, "You didn't even remind me."
"I'm sorry, you were on my left, and my eyesight isn't very good, so I didn't see it." Harry said.
"Dirty thing?" Aaron couldn't help but laugh, "I thought that was a birthmark?"
Ron:...As night fell, the express train got closer and closer to its destination, finally stopping with a long whistle.
Students of all Classes, dressed in black robes, disembarked, and the previously empty platform instantly became crowded.
However, it wasn't overly crowded, as the students' luggage was still on the train; it would be specially packed and sent to Hogwarts.
"We've arrived, first-year students please come this way.
Quickly, first-year students, don't be shy, hurry up and follow." A rough-looking Giant with a big beard was holding a lamp and speaking loudly.
"That's Hagrid." Harry excitedly introduced him to Ron and Aaron.
"A Giant?" Aaron raised an eyebrow, "Giants are quite rare these days. I've only seen them a few times in Diagon Alley. I didn't expect Hogwarts to have one too."
"He's the gamekeeper." Harry said, then waved and greeted Hagrid.