Hogwarts Raven (Harry Potter)

You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395

"Scabbers is a pet rat... it's not that filthy!" Ron immediately jumped in to defend, clearly finding this first-time meeting girl a bit annoying.

"Heh, and how can you guarantee that? It's still a rat! I happen to know several real cases where pet rats were the cause of viral outbreaks. Like that poor sixteen-year-old girl on Fleet Street in London…" Hermione, with her incredible memory and encyclopedic knowledge, proceeded to accurately list 5–6 real-life examples.

The more she spoke, the louder her voice grew and correspondingly, Neville's face grew even paler.

"I'm going to die too!" He came to this utterly despairing conclusion.

"Relax, all those cases Hermione mentioned are low-probability events. Most people aren't that unlucky… Honestly, I think you've got a higher chance of getting AIDS than you do of catching the plague…" Ian sighed, glancing at Ron, who now looked just as pale and was on the verge of tossing his sleeping rat out the window.

"As long as the possibility exists, it can't be ruled out." Hermione insisted, now considering recommending vaccines to Neville.

"So… I'm still going to die?" Neville, however, remained stuck in full-blown funeral-mode.

"…"

Ian glanced at Hermione again. At that moment, he felt like Hermione was the real-life version of a Chinese health forum, while Neville was the poor netizen who, after consulting such forums, immediately fell into health anxiety and hypochondria.

"There's a school nurse. You can totally go ask them for an opinion." At that moment, Lirim and Harry, who had been walking at the back, finally caught up.

"Oh! Heavens! You're Harry Potter!"

Under the cover of night, Ron saw Harry and immediately let out a shocked exclamation of disbelief. How he managed to spot him so quickly was anyone's guess.

"What?! It's actually Harry Potter!"

Neville was also stunned, briefly forgetting all about his "internal injuries"—

Now suddenly the Boy-Who-Lived again, Harry Potter was caught completely off guard by the enthusiastic reaction of the two.

He wasn't quite used to this kind of power fantasy plot.

Thankfully, help arrived.

"First Year students! Come over here!" Hagrid's booming voice echoed from outside the train station. He was waving a lantern over his head, gathering students as they disembarked one after another from the Hogwarts Express.

Everyone followed him onto a long road lined with lanterns.

There was still some distance between here and Hogwarts, so at the end of the road, there were at least a hundred carriages waiting, each pulled by a magical creature invisible to most people.

"Are these horseless carriages enchanted to move on their own?" Naturally, Hermione, being someone who couldn't see them, was amazed, and her exclamation instantly confused Harry Potter.

"What do you mean? There's a strange animal in front of them."

In his eyes, the magical creatures were vividly visible.

"Huh?" Hermione froze on the spot.

"They're called Thestrals." Lirim stepped in to explain.

"Only those who've seen death can see them." His eyes also fell upon the strange creatures, each carriage was drawn by a purebred Thestral.

They had no visible flesh, black skin clinging tightly to their skeletal frames. Every bone was clearly defined, displaying a macabre kind of beauty.

"Merlin's beard! Thestrals!" Ron couldn't see anything at all, but that didn't stop him from widening his eyes and eagerly trying to approach and pet these legendary beasts.

The little wizards around were also buzzing with excitement. But Ron wasn't just interested in petting creatures associated with death.

"Thestral tail feathers are prime wand-making materials. I'd love to snatch a dozen or so bundles to study wandcraft properly." Ian, of course, could see the creatures as well.

The Thestrals had dragon-like heads, eyes without pupils that glowed a milky white, and bat-like wings folded over their shoulders.

As if sensing the little wizards' blasphemous intentions, the Thestrals all turned their heads simultaneously…

And stared directly at Ian, who was still pondering which wood paired best with Thestral tail feathers.

"Kreeeehh—"

The Thestrals let out sharp, strange screeches that sounded like giant birds, perfectly synchronized. The sudden, eerie cry startled many of the young witches and wizards.

"Weird… these guys are usually so quiet. What's gotten into them today…" Hagrid, who was guiding the students onto the carriages, hurried over to calm the Thestrals down.

"Perhaps it's a form of greeting." Lirim had already walked over to Hagrid's side. He climbed into a carriage that had been vacated by fleeing students, and then smiled and waved at Ian and the others.

"How come you're more familiar with this than I am, and I'm your senior!" Ian climbed aboard, muttering complaints as he pulled Harry and Hermione up onto the Thestral-drawn carriage.

Neville and Ron tried to climb in as well—

"For safety reasons, only four to a carriage. Besides, you've got other parts of the first-year experience to go through." Hagrid stopped the two of them and pulled Harry and Hermione back down as well.

"…" Harry and Hermione, who had already gotten comfortable, now looked thoroughly speechless.

The next part of the journey wasn't unfamiliar to Ian. The Thestral carriage dropped them off on a path just outside the Hogwarts castle, after which the first-year students crossed the lake by boat. At the castle gates, a professor was already waiting.

"Why is it you again this year, Professor Snape…" Hagrid recognized the figure immediately, it was the same one he'd seen waiting last year as well.

"Heh." Snape let out a cold sneer.

Under the flickering torchlight, his gaze fell on Ian and the two people beside him.

Harry and Hermione, still overwhelmed with fear and anxiety about the magical world, had hurried to Ian's side after disembarking the boat, led by Harry's instincts.

"In a moment, that professor will take you to the Great Hall, while we older students will head back to our dormitories to rest," Ian explained, walking them through the enrollment process.

He hadn't even started introducing the topic of Sorting, when Snape had already arrived right in front of him. The professor's gloomy presence made both Harry and Hermione visibly nervous.

"I heard you couldn't keep yourself out of trouble even during the holidays."

Snape glared at Ian with undisguised hostility, before shifting his gaze to Harry and Hermione, though it lingered longest on Harry.

In those dark, shifting pupils, complex emotions flickered.

"Just like I said, he'll take you through the rest of the process." Ian, not wanting to be interrogated by Snape, tossed the words over his shoulder and slipped away like oil underfoot.

Snape, clearly in a heavy mood, didn't stop him.

"Follow me, you two oversized eleven-year-old babies." Snape gave a cold snort, tone laced with ridicule. His eyes landed on Hermione, who looked anxious after Ian's departure.

(To Be Continued…)