All Aboard!

At this moment, a knocking sound was heard. The door opened, and a red-haired little head poked in.

"Is this seat taken?" he pointed at the seat beside Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Both Harry and Kevin shook their heads. The other boy then somewhat hesitantly took a seat, putting down his luggage and immediately gazing out the window, as if he were in a different dimension than the two of them. It wasn't until he heard Kevin's address in their conversation.

"I'm Ron Weasley; are you really Harry Potter?" The boy turned to look at Harry and blurted out.

It's you, Ron Weasley, the second of those two useless guys who are also on this train. Is it fate that the two of them met again on the train, defying all odds?

"Then you're really—do you know about..." he said, pointing at Harry's forehead.

Harry adeptly brushed aside a strand of hair on his forehead, revealing the lightning-shaped scar. He had performed this action countless times over the past few days, and it seemed only Kevin was unfazed.

Ron's eyes widened. "'He Who Must Not Be Named' did that to you?"

"Yes," Harry said, "but I don't remember much about it."

"Nothing at all?" Ron asked anxiously.

"Uh, all I remember is a lot of green light; I don't remember anything else."

"It's quite impressive that you can remember the green light. Ordinary people wouldn't remember anything from when they were babies," Kevin explained and then changed the subject. "By the way, I heard that after you enter Hogwarts, there's a sorting ceremony. Muggle schools definitely don't have that. And, since you and Harry used to be classmates, I hope you don't bring back painful memories."

As soon as they started talking about Hogwarts and the Sorting, the other two became excited. Ron immediately said, "I think I'll be in Gryffindor; my whole family has been in Gryffindor. If I'm not in that house, I don't know what they'll say. But no matter what, just don't let them put me in Slytherin."

"That's where he—uh, I mean, that's where the You Know Who was, right?" Harry blurted out.

Ron nodded. "That's right, so I've been praying they don't get it wrong."

Kevin comforted him: "I heard that the sorting hat takes your own desires into account more. If you want to go to Gryffindor, just stay true to that desire. You'll end up in Gryffindor then."

Ron found it hard to believe, "Really? Do you know how Sorting is done? I heard from George and Fred that it's a difficult test, very dangerous! But they wouldn't tell me what's in it!"

Kevin smiled and said, "This is also a tradition... You'll find out later."

Ron had a rather sour expression and muttered, "Riddler, get out of Hogwarts!"

As they got further from the station, the landscape outside the window became increasingly desolate. The view outside transitioned from vast fields and farmlands to thick forests, winding rivers, and dark green hills. As the day darkened, Ron finally stopped his incessant chatter.

In this regard, Harry was definitely a good listener, as long as you ignored his incessant talking. Perhaps due to his poor treatment at the Dursleys, Harry had indulged in some retail therapy upon boarding the train. Snack wrappers were scattered all over the table. He had a stack of Chocolate Frog cards in front of him, and among them were several of Albus Dumbledore's — whether that was lucky or unlucky, no one knew.

"Get into your robes quickly; I just asked an older student, and the train is almost at the school," Kevin urged, entering the compartment, and prompting the two familiar boys. He couldn't stand Ron's endless chatter and was curious about the original characters, so he had gone for a walk.

During his walk, he came across a curly-haired girl who was searching for Neville's toad. This was Hermione Granger, the last member of the Golden Trio. She was just as cute as in the movies, but the only issue was her rather difficult temperament.

As an adult, Kevin could instantly tell that it was mainly due to her being an overachiever. In the Muggle world, Hermione had always been seen as the smart, diligent student, and she took pride in it. However, now that she had entered the magical world, her former pride couldn't be maintained. Without knowing the abilities of the others, arrogance had turned into self-doubt. As for her somewhat bossy attitude, it was merely a facade to protect her ego. Once she arrived at Hogwarts and reaffirmed her status as the top student, this protective shield would naturally disappear.

Since becoming a Legilimens/Psion, Kevin had grown increasingly perceptive of people's thoughts, and he was confident he would become an expert at navigating their minds. As of now, he didn't have any particular concerns about Hermione, except that they were all still quite young. Being ordinary friends for the time being was sufficient. If things were to progress further, it would be at least two or three years from now, a time when Hermione was at her most vulnerable and susceptible.

"Kevin, you're back! Too bad you weren't here; we had a scuffle with Malfoy. If you were with us, we could have beaten them easily," Ron complained.

Harry nodded in agreement. Despite being not particularly strong, Kevin was indeed a fighter, something he had experienced during their primary school days.

Kevin refrained from commenting. If Malfoy really provoked him, he wouldn't mind teaching the misguided young boy a lesson.

The three of them quickly changed into their robes. Ron's robes were a bit short, revealing his sneakers underneath. It seemed that Ron's older brother hadn't been as tall as the present-day Ron in his first year. Ron was quite embarrassed about it, but Kevin thought the shorter robes were rather practical. They allowed for easier movement, so he wouldn't have to worry about tripping over the hem when he took a step.

"There are five minutes left until the train arrives at Hogwarts. Please leave your luggage on the train, and we will take care of delivering it to the school," the announcer's voice echoed throughout the train.

"We're almost there, the wizarding world... I'm a bit nervous," Harry said dryly, clutching his stomach, looking rather uncomfortable.

He wasn't the only one feeling nervous. Even Ron, who came from a pure-blood background, had gone pale underneath his freckles. He remembered the horrifying information his twin brothers had told him about the Sorting ceremony.

In this anxious atmosphere, the train began to slow down and eventually came to a stop.