"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger."
The brown-haired girl's voice held a trace of imperceptible nervousness, but her gaze was firmly fixed on Nios's face.
Nios's gaze, however, fell on Azazel, who was still clutching his sleeve, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
The next second—
Bang!
A precise rap landed squarely on Azazel's forehead!
"Ow!" Azazel clutched his head and retracted his paws.
"Neos Chaos."
Nios then turned to Hermione, the cartoon eyes on his eye patch "looking" at her.
Hermione keenly noticed Nios's "management" style with Azazel, and her gaze swept over his peculiar eye patch again:
"What book were you just reading? Are your eyes… injured? Why are you covering them?"
Nios completely ignored the barrage of questions, as if they were just background noise: "What were you talking about just now?" he asked in a flat tone.
Hermione pouted slightly, a little displeased with his evasiveness, but considering it might involve privacy, she decided to answer first: "We were discussing which House we'd be sorted into."
The cartoon eyes on Nios's eye patch instantly "widened," clearly showing interest in the topic: "Which ones are there? Tell me about them."
"Hogwarts has four Houses!"
Ron eagerly answered, counting on his fingers. "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin!"
Hermione immediately added, speaking rapidly: "They represent courage, dedication, wisdom, and ambition, respectively."
Nios let out a peculiar chuckle and mumbled, "Good thing this isn't the Warhammer universe, otherwise I'd think Hogwarts was built in the Warp…"
Azazel also lowered his voice to grumble, "What are you thinking?! If it really were Warhammer, you'd be corrupted into a Chaos Spawn by the Four Gods the moment you landed!"
Harry eagerly asked, "Nios, which House do you want to go to?"
Nios didn't answer directly; instead, he looked at Harry: "What about you? Which one do you want to go to?"
Harry looked at Ron, Hermione, and Neville: "We all want to go to Gryffindor!"
Nios nodded thoughtfully, his eye patch turning towards everyone in the compartment, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Then let's all go to Gryffindor."
This clear goodwill and the sense of belonging conveyed by the word "we" brought happy smiles to the four.
"Oh! Neville!" Hermione suddenly stood up, remembering something important, "We still need to find your toad!"
Neville also snapped awake instantly, his small face falling: "Trevor!"
Watching the two anxious figures, Nios tilted his chin towards Azazel.
Azazel resignedly jumped off the table, his little wings drooping: "Sigh… every day it's either 'canning' things or moving things, and now even finding a toad falls to me…"
He grumbled as he walked over to Neville, sniffing Neville's scent, then pushed open the compartment door and ambled out.
Everyone watched Azazel's back disappear out the door, their questioning gazes all turning to Nios.
Nios gave a reassuring smile to the anxious Neville: "Azazel has a very keen nose; he should find it quickly."
"Thank you, Nios!" Neville's eyes were a little red with gratitude again.
Nios waved his hand dismissively, then did something that left everyone dumbfounded: he pulled out that metal fake wand and casually waved it in the air!
Buzz—
The space in the compartment seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, instantly doubling in size! The previously somewhat cramped space became spacious.
"Undetectable Extension Charm?!" Ron and Neville exclaimed simultaneously, their voices changing pitch.
"Undetectable Extension Charm?" Harry and Hermione repeated blankly.
Nios ignored their shocked gazes, his fingers moving slightly, as if maintaining the stability of the space.
Neville, still at the door, stammered an explanation: "This… this is a very advanced magic. My grandma said many Aurors don't even know it…"
Ron's face was a little pale, and he quickly added: "Right! And this magic is strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic! Using it without permission is illegal! My dad works at the Ministry of Magic, and they have a special team that catches people who use this charm illegally!"
Hermione instantly bristled, her academic sense of justice and reverence for rules making her jump up: "Nios! Stop it! We can't break the law!" She instinctively reached out to grab Nios's casting hand.
Harry also quickly dissuaded him: "Yeah, Nios, it's too dangerous!"
Just then, Nios put down his wand.
The space had stabilized, and the compartment was incredibly spacious.
He turned to Hermione, who had almost touched him, and said calmly, "Good thing you didn't touch me just now. Otherwise, the entire carriage would have been blown to pieces by spatial collapse."
"Hiss—" A collective gasp filled the compartment, and everyone's faces instantly turned ashen.
"Nios." Harry's voice was filled with lingering fear and disbelief. "You… where did you learn such dangerous magic?"
Nios's tone was as flat as if he were saying, "I bought a bottle of water yesterday": "Last time I went to Gringotts, that Goblin named Glock gave me an Undetectable Extension Bag. I was bored, so I took it apart and studied it, and then I knew how to do it." He paused, adding, "Just reverse-engineered it."
"Rev… Reverse-engineered?!"
Hermione's voice was so sharp it almost cracked, and her gaze towards Nios was filled with the kind of horror one would have looking at a prehistoric monster.
Ron and Neville's jaws were practically on the floor, and Harry was also dumbfounded.
"Don't listen to him brag." A resentful voice came from the doorway.
"His Undetectable Extension Charm is half-baked; it won't last long without a stabilization charm. It'll collapse on its own soon."
Azazel, holding the plump toad, wobbled in and shoved it into Neville's arms.
"Here, fatty, your precious toad. Tsk, smells like dirt."
"Trevor! Where did you run off to! Thank you, Mr. Azazel!"
Neville excitedly hugged the toad tightly.
"Nothing to… Holy crap!!!"
Before Azazel could finish the word "thank," the fake wand in Nios's hand rapidly transformed into a cold iron chain, which precisely snapped around Azazel's neck with a clatter!
Nios yanked his wrist sharply!
"Whoa!" Azazel was yanked away like a broken sack.
Immediately after, Nios delivered a swift, precise chop to the back of his neck!
Azazel's eyes instantly rolled back, a puff of white foam appeared from his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground.
Nios's movements were as fluid as if practiced a thousand times; he pulled a comical striped sleeping cap from his inner suit pocket and skillfully placed it on Azazel's head.
Then he took out a small pillow and a mini blanket, positioned the unconscious Azazel, placed the pillow under his head, and carefully covered him with the blanket, even tucking in the corners.
Having done all this, Nios finally looked up, placed his index finger to his lips, and gave the stunned quartet an incredibly gentle smile:
"Shhh… Azazel is asleep."
Everyone looked at Azazel on the table, eyes rolled back, a wisp of white foam at his mouth, wrapped in a small blanket and wearing a sleeping cap, their mouths twitching uncontrollably.
Nios turned to Hermione and Neville: "You two don't need to go back to your original compartment either. Let's all get off the train together later."
Neville nodded happily; he was more than eager to stay with his new friends.
"But… our luggage…" Hermione hesitated.
Nios looked at Ron: "Ron, if I'm not mistaken, the dorms for each House should be separate, right?"
"That's right!" Ron immediately replied. "George and Fred said that the common rooms and dorms for all four Houses are not together."
"Then that's it."
Nios spread his hands. "Before we determine our respective Houses, we can't take our luggage to the dorms, and certainly not to the Start-of-Term Feast. So, when the train arrives, there will definitely be dedicated personnel responsible for delivering our luggage directly to the corresponding House dorms. You don't need to worry about your luggage getting lost." He looked at Hermione and Neville, "You just need to make sure you don't lose yourselves."
Hermione and Neville thought about it carefully and felt that Nios made a lot of sense, so they relaxed.
Thus, the five of them squeezed into the much more spacious compartment, chatting and laughing all the way.
Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened with nightfall.
During this time, Azazel stubbornly woke up several times, attempting to protest or grumble, but each time he was met with Nios's lightning-fast, precise, and ruthless hand chop re-strikes.
"You guys should change into your robes now."
Hermione looked at the increasingly dark night outside the window and reminded them: "I think we're almost there."
She said this, standing up, preparing to leave the space for the boys to change.
Neville had been repeatedly reminded by his grandmother before getting on the train, so he had already put on his robes.
Nios, however, smiled: "No need to go out."
He raised his hand and gently pressed it to his chest.
Zzzzt—
A faint electric arc flashed, and his black suit instantly transformed into a well-fitting Hogwarts uniform.
Although Harry had seen this magical scene before, he was still incredibly shocked to see it again.
Ron was completely stunned; he began to seriously doubt whether the "Alchemy" his dad and twin brothers usually dabbled in at home was just an entry-level trick.
Nios ignored their reactions, walked in front of Harry and Ron, and grabbed each of their wrists with one hand.
Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
Two more flashes of white light!
Harry and Ron's clothes instantly vanished, replaced by brand-new Hogwarts uniforms!
Ron looked down at his new robes, excitedly touching the smooth fabric, almost crying. He finally didn't have to wear Bill's old robes! Although it seemed like he was missing a set of clothes… but it was a new robe!
Hermione and Neville watched this miraculous scene, their eyes wide with exclamation.
Not long after, the Hogwarts Express let out a long whistle—
Slowly pulling into Hogsmeade Station.