18. The Good Tradition Of The Sorting Ceremony, Little McGonagall Hermione

It is a long-standing tradition for wizards to intimidate newly admitted wizards during the sorting ceremony. Even young wizards from wizarding families receive no information beforehand.

Caught in the rain, I decided to tear up my children's umbrellas as well.

This fine tradition has silently endured for hundreds of years, with no one breaking the unspoken rules.

The current plan of the Twins is evidently to scare Wayne.

"Ahem!"

George cleared his throat, getting into the mood. Wayne wondered why he should be a wizard when he had such acting skills. Wouldn't it be more exciting to go to Hollywood and make a lot of money?

"I don't want to think about what I experienced... because it was too scary." Fred sighed in agreement.

"Our class requires young wizards to endure trolls for ten minutes, and their college assignments are based on their performance."

"By the way, do you know what a troll is?"

Wayne nodded cooperatively, showing a scared expression. "I know, I bought a copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'."

"That's good!" George felt happy; what he said now felt more immersive.

"Charge at the front, the bravest will be assigned to Gryffindor, the one who uses strategy will be assigned to Ravenclaw, and the one who perseveres will be assigned to Hufflepuff."

"What about Slytherin?" Wayne asked curiously.

"They," Fred rolled his eyes, "used the back door."

Cedric complained about the twins' tricks in his mind, but he still nodded seriously. "Yes, that's it."

The twins looked at him in surprise; they didn't expect Cedric to cooperate with them. Good boy, it turns out you're not as innocent as you look.

Cedric blinked innocently. "What's wrong? Is there a problem? I'm just continuing the tradition of Hogwarts. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Wayne still appeared scared, but he was sneering in his heart. It's a good thing he cheated and time-traveled; otherwise, he might have been fooled by these guys.

"Then what should I do? If it doesn't work, I can go home. I don't have a single magic spell at the moment."

Wayne vividly showed his panic, causing the three of them to nearly burst with laughter, but they continued to pretend to give him advice.

After a while, the three finally speculated that their entrance test this semester would be to defeat the ghoul before the end of the journey. If Twins and Cedric didn't mind scaring Wayne to tears, they would probably be able to catch the bus at the stop.

The train sped through the golden wheat fields and entered the vast no-man's land. Traveling at a remarkable speed of approximately one hundred kilometers per hour, the train was quite impressive for a classic car that had been in service since the last century.

Wayne took out a compass from his pocket and grabbed the parchment and a quill to write and draw.

"Wayne, what are you doing?" Twins asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm calculating the exact location of Hogwarts."

"We'll be in Scotland in about two hours."

The twins looked at each other and said in unison, "Why are you calculating that?"

"Idle time is still time wasted; you should always find something to occupy yourself," Wayne observed the compass's changing angles and quickly jotted them down.

"Since you're bored, let's play exploding cards." Fred smiled and pulled out a deck of red playing cards.

These cards appeared no different from Muggle cards, but they had explosive properties.

When you threw down four 2s and shouted "bomb," you were truly living up to the card's name.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing your homework?" Cedric, who was watching "Dark Force: Self-Defense" to pass the time, asked in a slightly helpless tone. Playing cards would undoubtedly be too noisy to focus on the read.

Fred didn't seem concerned. "We still have the whole night. What's the rush? Let's play together."

Soon, the room was filled with the sound of crackling and explosions. Unfortunately, every time the twins played the exploding cards, they nearly hit George's eyebrows.

Twins began to wonder why Wayne was so safe holding the cards but turned into a powder keg when it was their turn.

Cedric, too, looked at Wayne with suspicion.

He couldn't help but think that Wayne was using some kind of trick, much like those senior wizards who could predict when the cards would explode.

It couldn't be, though. Wayne was just a young wizard who hadn't even started school yet.

Shaking his head, Cedric dismissed this outrageous thought.

Boom, boom, boom!

The sound of knocking on the door echoed again. George, with a slightly gray face, quickly placed the cards on the table and hurriedly opened the door.

"Have you seen Trevor? Oh, sorry, that's a toad, right, Wayne?"

Standing outside the door was a girl and a slightly chubby boy. The girl was Hermione. As soon as she finished speaking, her face lit up in surprise when she saw Wayne sitting by the window.

After returning the book to Wayne, she had gone to Diagon Alley several more times but hadn't spotted him anywhere.

After boarding the train, she had looked all around but had failed to find him in the end, so she settled for finding an empty compartment to sit in."Hermione, long time no see," Wayne said, smiling and waving at the little witch. Today, Hermione looked cuter than before. Her hair was well taken care of and not left untamed.

"I looked for you after I got in the car, but I couldn't find you," Hermione quickly said. But when she noticed the chubby boy hiding behind her, she changed the subject. "Did you see a toad?"

Several people shook their heads, and Cedric tried to comfort him. "Don't worry, toads are quite intelligent. Your Trevor might just be feeling bored and went out to play. Sooner or later, he'll come back to you."

"I hope so," Neville said, on the verge of tears. "If my grandma finds out that I lost my pet before even getting to school, she'll scold me."

Having left a message to meet her after getting out of the car, Hermione continued to take Neville from carriage to carriage, inquiring about the toad.

After the two left, Fred looked at Wayne. "Do you know the little witch we just saw?"

"We met her in Diagon Alley. Why?" Wayne asked, looking puzzled.

"Nothing," Fred shook his head. Then both he and George said in unison, "Seeing that little witch is like seeing a mini Professor McGonagall!"

Wayne: "..."