Chapter 27: Castle
In the evening, Coven was woken up by Penelope because he fell asleep unconsciously in the car. After all, this was the first time he had taken this kind of old-fashioned train. The feeling of swaying and swaying was simply too easy for people to feel sleepy.
"Um... Have we arrived?" Coven looked up at the dark night outside the window, got up, and stretched.
"We have arrived at Hogsmeade Station." Penelope tidied up the wrinkles on his magic robe and said, "There is still a way to go to Hogwarts. Let's get off quickly."
"How did you know?" Coven was puzzled. At the same time, he took out his wand and pointed at Penelope, "Clean up a new one."
In an instant, Penelope's robe became clean and tidy.
"Thank you. Hurry up and change into the robe." Penelope urged, "Hurry, hurry. We still have to go down and gather. The train attendant came to inform you when you were sleeping."
"Alright." Coven put away his wand, opened his suitcase, and took out the wizard's robe. He quickly put the robe on his body, and after closing the box, Coven picked up the two big suitcases one by one.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you." When Penelope saw this, he quickly slapped his forehead. "There is no need to take the luggage. The conductor said that we could just put it on the carriage. When the time comes, someone will help us send the luggage to the academy."
"Oh, okay." Coven let go and put down the suitcase again. He looked at the two owls and asked, "Don't you need the owls?"
"No, let's get out of the car." Penelope reached out and held Coven's hand, walking out of the compartment.
...
Following the stream of people, Coven and Penelope got off the train. At this time, a loud voice came from the distance.
"New students, come to me!"
Coven instantly turned around and saw a short and fat woman, a wizard, who was holding a wand to her throat, repeating the magic with a loud 'sound'. "New students, come to me!"
"Wow, that person's voice is really loud." Penelope whispered in surprise.
"The effect of the spell, that is Professor Pomona Sprout." Coven knew the other person, so he leaned close to Penelope and explained, "She's the professor of Herbology and the head of Hufflepuff."
"Do you know her?" Penelope asked.
"Basically, I know all the professors of Hogwarts." Coven nodded and then led Penelope forward. He said, "During the holidays, the professors often bring new students to the wand shop. Ollivander introduced us to each other."
As they spoke, the two of them had already arrived in front of Professor Sprout. Because more than ten new students had already gathered around them, the two of them did not squeeze through the crowd to the front.
But even so, Professor Sprout saw Coven and could not help but nod to Coven with a smile. Coven also smiled politely and nodded to her as a greeting.
"Okay, okay. Let me count." After a while, Professor Sprout stopped calling and looked at the small piles of wizard in front of her, and began to count.
Soon, the count was finished. Professor Sprout smiled and nodded. "Very good, the number of people is correct. All the new students are here. Next, follow me closely. Children, do you understand?"
Voices of different responses rang out one after another. Professor Sprout did not care. She raised her hand to support the old wizard hat with a patch on her head and turned to lead the way.
…..
After leaving the station, there was a huge lake in the distance. Along the uneven dirt road, a group of people came to the lake under Professor Sprout.
"Alright, children, we are here." Professor Sprout pointed to the lake. "Line up now. Everyone, enter the wooden boat. Each boat can take up to five people."
The new students obediently lined up to board the boat. Because Coven and Penelope were the last, when it was their turn to board the boat, only the two were on the small wooden boat.
As Professor Sprout sat on a small wooden boat alone, all the wooden boats slowly started to move. Led by the wooden boat where Professor Sprout was, they headed towards the lake.
There was a wooden pole on each wooden boat. An oil lamp hung on the top of the pole. The light could only illuminate a meter around the wooden boat. Moreover, people needed to hold the wooden pole with their hands.
Coven took over this job. He did not use any magic spells like floating spells. Because there were so many new wizards nearby, he did not want to show off his magic abilities.
The wooden boat moved slowly… More than ten minutes passed. After passing through a short stone bridge hole, the surroundings were no longer dark. There was a faint light coming from the distance ahead. Because there was a mist on the lake, no one could clearly see the scene of the light coming. It was not until the wooden boat traveled for more than ten minutes that everyone could see the source of the light…
It was a huge castle built on a cliff. Orange-yellow lights shone through the windows of the castle, illuminating the lake in front of them with a dim yellow color.
"Wow..." Penelope stared at the castle before her and couldn't help but exclaim.
At the same time, all kinds of exclamations sounded from the surrounding wooden boats. Then, the quiet environment was completely broken. The freshmen on each ship couldn't help but start discussing the castle.
Coven did not care so much about the castle. It was just a castle. It was not worthy of his surprise. However, he could not bear the excitement of Penelope beside him. He could only agree with him perfunctorily.
After a while, the discussion gradually subsided. The wooden boat traveled for more than ten minutes and finally arrived at the shore.
...
On the shore, the freshmen were led by Professor Sprout. They left the dock, walked through the road, and finally came to the bottom of the castle.
After entering the main entrance, the front was not the castle hall but two more stairs. Only then did they stop in front of a huge carved wooden door.
"Thank you for your hard work, Pomona." Professor McGonagall stood in front of the door with an old-fashioned and serious expression, nodding at Professor Sprint.
"Of course, I'll go in first." Professor Sprout responded, "I will leave the children to you."
"Well, let's go in." Professor McGonagall finished, and her eyes quickly swept across the faces of the sixty-two new students, and her gaze also stayed on Coven's face for a moment.
"Welcome to Hogwarts..."
Professor McGonagall gave her speech, then explained the matters of the branch school that the new students had to face, and briefly explained the school rules.
After Professor McGonagall finished speaking, Penelope whispered into Coven's ear, "I'm really looking forward to my future school life. By the way, Coven, do you know how to get your house?"
"I don't know. I asked a lot of people, but they didn't tell me." Coven shook his head and replied in a low voice...