Fortunately, the students were very cooperative. Except for Fred and George who were deliberately causing trouble, everyone else was quite quiet.

Finally, in the evening, the Hogwarts Express slowed down and stopped at the dark Hogsmeade station.

The car door opened, there was a rumble of thunder in the sky, and the rain fell quickly and heavily, like buckets of cold water being poured on their heads.

Kyle put on his waterproof and moisture-proof badge, and the others followed suit. Those who didn't have a badge turned themselves into an umbrella.

In short, everyone has their own way...except the first graders.

They needed to follow Hagrid across the Black Lake by boat, and were taken away as soon as they got off the boat.

"Oh, taking a boat in this weather is not a good option." Cedric shuddered, "I hope their first impression of Hogwarts won't be too bad."

They moved slowly with the crowd and came to where the carriages were parked. Kyle randomly picked the nearest one and got on, and the others followed.

A moment later, with a violent jolt, the carriage set off along the path leading to the castle, splashing water all the way.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of two oak doors. The student in front quickly jumped off the carriage and ran into the castle on the stone steps.

The hallway was warm with torches lit.

As Kyle walked in, he saw a balloon filled with water fall from the ceiling and explode above Ron's head, pouring the water all over him.

Afterwards, balloons were thrown down one after another. The people around were scared and screamed loudly, pushing each other to leave this place of trouble.

"Peeves!" an angry voice shouted. "Get down here right now!"

Professor McGonagall rushed out of the hall. The ground was too wet, and she slipped. If she tried to see, she would fall on her back...

That's why cats react so quickly. Professor McGonagall remained calm in the face of danger. She quickly reached out and grabbed the neck of a person next to her, thus stabilizing her body in time.

"Ouch... I'm sorry, Miss Granger..."

"Ahem...it's okay, Professor..." Hermione gasped, rubbing her throat.

Just now, for a moment, she seemed to see her grandmother...

"Peeves, get down here right now!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

"I didn't do anything." Peeves chuckled, throwing a few more water bombs at the second graders who had just entered. "They're already wet anyway, right? Hey, kid, don't run!"

"I'm warning you, Peeves!" Professor McGonagall said loudly, her face becoming more serious...

Peeves stuck out his tongue and threw a few last water bombs into the air, then swooshed up the marble stairs and the Gnat ran off, laughing.

"Okay, come in quickly." Professor McGonagall opened the door of the auditorium and motioned the drenched students to go in quickly, while muttering softly:

"I don't know where Peeves got so many balloons. How come he hasn't thrown them all away in the whole holiday..."

Kyle coughed lightly and walked past Professor McGonagall without saying a word.

The auditorium was still as magnificent as before, and it was specially decorated for the new semester's banquet. Lightning and thunder flashed on the enchanted ceiling, scaring some younger students into screaming.

Kyle and his friends walked over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.

Soon, the tables of other colleges were also full of people. Everyone gathered together and chattered about the interesting things that happened during the holidays.

The most mentioned topic was naturally the Quidditch World Cup. Those students who did not go to watch the game were curious about what happened and whether it was as exciting as what was said in the newspapers.

"I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will be this year." Cedric glanced at the front row of teachers, and there was not a single unfamiliar face on the table.

"Maybe they can't find anyone." Mikel said, also looking at the teachers' seats.

"Everyone knows that this position is cursed. So far, no professor has been able to survive a school year... Oh..."

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Have you noticed? Professor Snape doesn't seem to be here this year either."

He said excitedly, "Could it be that in addition to Defense Against the Dark Arts, the professor of Potions will also be changed this year? " "Oh my God, this is great!"

Snape is probably still busy dealing with Regulus's issues and has no time to attend the opening party.

"Oh, can't you let me be happy for a moment?" Mikel said faintly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the auditorium opened and everyone immediately fell silent.

Professor McGonagall led a group of first-year students into the hall.

"They are really in a mess," Cedric whispered.

The freshmen were all soaked, and it looked as if they had swam directly from the lake instead of taking a boat.

Kyle touched his chin. He thought he could talk to Dumbledore to see if he could take over the job of engraving magic patterns on those small boats.

As long as specific symbols composed of magic patterns are carved on the boat, an invisible shed can be added to the boat, thus blocking the rain.

This way, the current situation will not happen again.

Those freshmen looked really embarrassed. They didn’t even dare to look at the people around them. They just lowered their heads and walked forward silently.

As the Sorting Hat began to sing, he immediately shared his thoughts with Connor.

"That's probably not possible..." Kanna whispered, "Professor Babel can do this job, but so far, those boats are still the same, without any change."

"Let's give it a try. Maybe Professor Babel is too lazy to do it... She even wants to combine the classes together." Kyle said.

Kanna thought about it and it seemed to be true. Professor Barbling would see the principal once a year and want to combine the classes for five grades so that she would have more time to travel.

No matter how you look at it, she doesn't seem like she would waste time carving magic runes on the boat.

"Besides, we have a board of directors." Kyle continued, "It doesn't require Professor Dumbledore to pay for it himself, so he has no reason to refuse."

Connor was convinced. She nodded and said, "Then when are we going to find Professor Dumbledore?"

"There's no rush." ​​Kyle thought for a moment, "This year's freshmen have already arrived, so it's fine before the end of the semester.

How about Christmas or Easter, when we have two weeks off.”

"Okay!" said Connor.

At this time, the Sorting Hat's song just ended.

"I've never been wrong."

"Determine which house you belong to."

As the last word fell, warm applause broke out in the auditorium.

Although Kyle basically didn't hear a word, he clapped along.

Professor McGonagall unrolled a large roll of parchment.

“Whoever I call puts on his hat and sits on the stool,” she told the first-year students.

"Stuart Ackerley!"

A boy walked up and you could see he was shaking from head to toe. It was unclear if it was because of nervousness or the cold.

"Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat paused for only two seconds before shouting loudly.

The Ravenclaw table immediately erupted in applause.

…

(End of this chapter)