Chapter 172 Smith
During the rest of the journey, the four of them got together to talk about the wizard cards.
Albert used the card games he had played before to perfect the rules of the wizard card game. Of course, this can only be regarded as the prototype of the wizard card. Fred, George and Lee Jordan listened with interest and put forward their own opinions from time to time.
"You said that one day the Wizard Card became really famous. How many galleons is this notebook that originally recorded the rules of the Wizard Card worth?" Albert shook the notebook in his hand and asked the three people in front of him in a joking tone. partner.
"If it were me, I would definitely not sell it." Lee Jordan said without hesitation: "This notebook will become a legend and be passed down together with the wizard card."
The emotions of several people have been in an excited stage. The wizard cards and the prospects of this game that Albert described to them are too good. Moreover, whether it is Fred, George, or even Lee Jordan, they can all feel the charm contained in this game.
There is no way, there are too few games in the magic world.
When the Hogwarts Express began to slow down, Albert and the others suddenly came to their senses and hurriedly changed into their school robes.
Not long after, the train stopped at Hogsmeade Station under the rain. It was still raining outside, and both Fred and George tried to cover themselves with their cloaks. Lee Jordan took out an umbrella from his suitcase, looked at Albert suspiciously and asked, "You didn't bring an umbrella?"
Lee Jordan felt incredible. With Albert’s character, how could he forget to bring an umbrella?
"No need, I have this!" Albert recited a spell, raised his wand to create an umbrella, and reminded with a smile: "You may have forgotten, I practiced summoning for a long time last semester. The curse is there. Look, it comes in handy now."
“Don’t squeeze over.” Seeing Fred and George huddled under his umbrella, Lee Jordan was immediately speechless.
“Albert, help me make a copy of an umbrella.” Fred shouted to Albert. The three of them were too crowded under one umbrella.
“Give me your wand,” Albert shouted to Fred. There was too much noise around him.
"Don't you have a wand?" Fred was puzzled, but when he saw Albert holding up the wand, he understood what was going on, and handed his wand to Albert.
“Copy in pairs.” Albert took Fred’s wand, chanted a spell, knocked it on Lee Jordan’s umbrella, and helped to copy an umbrella.
Before returning it to the other party, Albert glanced at the wand again and muttered, "Sure enough, without my help, the power of the spell has been significantly weakened."
“What are you talking about?” Lee Jordan handed the replica umbrella to the twins and asked them to grab one themselves. When the wizards behind him saw this scene, their faces were full of envy. After all, there were only a few people carrying umbrellas.
There are even fewer people who can use the summoning spell to make an umbrella like Albert.
It rained hard and fast, like buckets of cold water pouring on everyone's heads. The unlucky ones who didn't bring an umbrella got wet as soon as they got out of the train. They could only lower their heads in the pouring rain. , squinting his eyes and shrinking his body, trying to resist the rain on his head.
“First-year students, come here!” A familiar voice came from not far away. Hagrid, holding an oil lamp, waved to the first-year students who were soaked in the rain.
As usual, Hagrid will lead them on a traditional journey across the lake.
Others were pushing each other forward along the platform.
Albert, Fred, George and Lee Jordan deliberately fell behind the team, gloating at the group of unlucky people who were soaked in the rain and making sarcastic remarks carelessly. George and Lee Jordan were still discussing. What's the reason why they don't want to bring an umbrella?
Of course, Albert and the others were not the only ones with umbrellas. The students who had umbrellas followed the team calmly and did not want to squeeze in with everyone else. Anyway, the number of carriages was definitely enough.
A few people followed other students through a rough and muddy road, and what they saw was a large number of carriages, each of which was pulled by an invisible Thestral horse.
The trembling students hurriedly climbed onto the carriage, while the four of Albert boarded one. Next door, Angelina and Aaliya were sharing an umbrella with Shanna, who was still chatting with Albert before getting on the bus. Chatting very casually, expressing interest in the copying spell.
"I can teach you if I have time!" Albert said to Shanna, "This spell is not too difficult, as long as you are willing to spend some time practicing."
“It’s time to go,” Fred reminded.
After Albert climbed into the carriage and closed the door, the carriage stumbled off. The long carriage team moved along the path leading to Hogwarts Castle. The wheels ran over the water and splashed a lot of water.
Albert leaned against the car window, feeling the violent jolts in the car.
No one spoke, everyone gathered near the car window and looked at Hogwarts in the distance.
Soon after, the carriage passed through the Hogwarts gate with a winged boar sculpture, and finally stopped at the foot of the stone steps in front of the two oak doors.
The people in the carriage in front have hurriedly climbed the stone steps and ran into the castle despite the heavy rain on their heads.
Albert, Fred, George and Lee Jordan got off the carriage under umbrellas and walked leisurely up the stone steps among the hurried crowd.
Halfway, Albert picked up an unlucky guy who had slipped. The other person just said "thank you" and hurried away again.
“That guy is so stupid,” George muttered.
“What’s a stupid way?” Lee Jordan asked curiously.
“Guess for yourself.”
Albert ignored the quarrel between the two and stood at the door, looking back in the direction of the black lake. He could vaguely see vague lights on the lake moving towards the dock.
Are the new students still crossing the lake?
“Albert, let’s go!” George urged.
"coming."
Albert withdrew his gaze, followed everyone, walked slowly towards the foyer, passed through two opposite doors and entered the auditorium.
It is said that the auditorium of Hogwarts will be re-decorated every year for the freshman banquet to make it look more splendid.
Albert walked into the auditorium, raised his head and looked at the guest seat, and sure enough, he saw a strange figure there.
He nodded inconspicuously towards Rowena, then sat in the seat specially vacated by Lee Jordan. He also took the opportunity to fight with the ghost of Gryffindor House who was passing by - Nearly Headless Nick. Say hello.
“Good evening.” Albert retracted his gaze and greeted his acquaintances in the same class with a smile.
“You’re tanned.” Shanna looked at Albert and said, “Did you go to the beach during the summer vacation?”
“The Basque beaches in France.” Albert nodded. “The food there is really good and unforgettable.”
“It’s so enviable!” Shanna said with envy on her face, “It’s quite boring to stay at home during the summer vacation.”
“It’s indeed quite boring.” Fred muttered, “But I basically spend it like this every year, so I’ve long been used to it.”
“At least you can still play Quidditch.” Lee Jordan couldn’t help but protest.
The Head of Gryffindor placed a tattered, dirty, and patched wizard's hat on a three-legged stool in full view of everyone.
Then, under the astonished eyes of the freshmen, the Sorting Hat suddenly sang a new Sorting Hat song.
After the singing ended, the sorting ceremony officially began.
To be honest, it is quite interesting to watch other people’s sorting ceremonies.
Freshmen began to be assigned to various colleges.
Well, Albert would never admit that he was actually interested in Qiu Zhang's appearance.
After all, in the Harry Potter story, Qiu Zhang is a lovely girl with oriental appearance. However, everyone has to admit that there are differences in the aesthetic values of Europeans and Asians. No, it should be said that each country has Everyone was surprised.
Perhaps in the eyes of most Europeans, Africans and Asians have similar attitudes.
Fortunately, Albert does not suffer from the face blindness that many Europeans suffer from.
Chau Zhang is in the front row. Unlike Europeans, she has more of an Asian face shape. Well, she is indeed a cute girl.
However, compared to Qiu Zhang, what concerns Albert more is a boy named Zacharis Smith. Albert has no special impression of his name, but he himself will pay special attention to the surname Smith. .
By the way, this Smith was assigned to Hufflepuff.
Gryffindor has also welcomed several new students, and Katie Bell is one of them. Albert has a little impression of this girl. She seems to be one of the three suitors of Gryffindor.
"Is that the Rowena Smith you are talking about?" Fred looked at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor curiously and asked Albert beside him.
"Well, it's indeed him. It seems that you don't have to worry about not learning anything in this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class." While Albert was speaking, Angelina opposite was talking to George about the flying broomstick. I haven’t bought a broom yet, and would like to hear the opinions of others on the team.
“The Nimbus 1700 is good, and this series of brooms has always been good.” Wood interjected.
“What did you buy?” Angelina looked at Fred and George.
“Sweep Seven Stars No. 5.” The twins looked at each other and said in unison.
“Where is Albert?” Angelina asked Albert again.
"He didn't buy a broomstick," Freddy Albert replied.
"I suggest you ask someone on the team to borrow a broom and try it out, and then think about what to buy." Albert said his suggestion.
However, this proposal is not a good one. Most people bought Comet and Sweeping Seven Stars, but no one bought Nimbus, because this series of brooms are relatively expensive.
"What's your budget?" Wood asked. "If it's not high, I suggest you buy the latest Sweep Seven Star 6. Comet has not launched a new flying broomstick for several years. Of course, the Comet 260 is also good. The broom is just a little slow, it depends on your choice."
While several people were talking, the last student entered Ravenclaw. After the sorting ceremony, Professor McGonagall took away the sorting hat and small stool.
"Welcome to Hogwarts in the new school year!" Professor Dumbledore stood up from the guest chair. He looked at all the students with a smile and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.
“I am delighted to welcome a new teacher to our team this year, Professor Smith, to fill the vacancy in the Defense Against the Dark Arts course.”
There was some applause in the auditorium.
“Okay, I think you are also hungry, let’s start eating.” Dumbledore raised his spoon and tapped the goblet in front of him.
The golden plates and goblets in front of everyone were suddenly filled with food and drinks, and the auditorium echoed with laughter and the clink of knives and forks.
Albert was not very hungry, so he chose the food he liked. While cutting the steak, he talked with Nick about the academic issue of whether ghosts can eat.
Nick said that only rotten food is usually served at ghost banquets. When the ghost wants to taste the food, it will pass between the tables where the food is served.
“I guess they let the food rot to make the taste stronger.” Albert said to the person next to him, which resulted in a lot of eye rolls.
After the last desserts were swept away, Dumbledore stood up again, and the hum of voices in the hall suddenly stopped.
"Okay!" Dumbledore looked at everyone with a smile and said, "Now that everyone has eaten and drank enough, I want to make some announcements."
“Mr. Filch, the gatekeeper, wants me to tell you that this year, students are prohibited from growing garlic and carrying garlic-related items in the castle.”
When Dumbledore talked about this, many people couldn't help but laugh. They all still remembered the time someone used garlic to prank Filch before the summer vacation last semester.
Fred and George tried not to laugh out loud after being kicked by Albert. Both of them were holding their breath and feeling uncomfortable.
…
The first-year party for freshmen was over when Dumbledore said that everyone should go to bed.
“I didn’t expect Filch to ban everyone from bringing garlic.” After leaving the hall, Fred finally couldn’t help laughing.
“It’s a pity, the garlic scrambled eggs taste pretty good.” Lee Jordan said seriously.
This statement made Fred and George want to laugh.
Albert followed everyone to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room.
“Password?” asked the Fat Lady as they approached.
“Nonsense,” said Percy, stepping forward.
The portrait suddenly bounced forward, revealing a large hole in the wall.
Everyone climbed in from here. The circular common room still had the familiar furnishings, and a blazing fire was burning by the fireplace.
The boys all rushed up the spiral staircase to their dormitories.
Four four-poster beds stand against the wall, with dark red curtains hanging from them. Everyone's boxes have been placed at the foot of their respective beds.
"Good night." Fred was too full. He took out his pajamas from his suitcase, put them on himself, and then lay down on the bed without wanting to move.
"Good night." Albert also put on his pajamas and climbed into bed. Their bedding had been warmed by a charcoal stove.
Lying on the comfortable bed, listening to the sound of rain outside, Albert closed his eyes and felt that life in Hogwarts was very pleasant.
(End of this chapter)