While Ron was enjoying his snacks, a chubby, tearful boy knocked on the compartment door and walked in, saying, "Excuse me…"
He sniffled. "Has anyone seen my toad?"
The three in the compartment all shook their heads, and then the boy started crying again.
"If you see it, please let me know…" The tearful boy exited the compartment.
Ron shrugged and popped the last of the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans into his mouth, then gave a loud, unmistakably cow-dung-flavored burp.
"!—" Harry, sitting beside him, held his breath, a look of indescribable surprise on his face.
"Luckily, it's just cow dung, so it's not that bad," Ivy tried to comfort Ron as best as he could.
Ron covered his nose and mouth, struggling not to empty his stomach, and barely managed to croak, "Don't say anything more…"
After Harry opened the window, he tried to change the subject to distract Ron. "Ivy! Now that you've eaten, why don't you show us the power of ancient magic?"
At Harry's words, Ron suddenly perked up, his eyes wide, staring at Ivy, eagerly awaiting his next move.
Ivy took out his pale silver wand and put on a mysterious smile.
"Watch closely…"
"Whoosh—" The compartment door swung open again. The crying little chubby boy reappeared, this time with a girl in school robes beside him.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville lost a toad…" she said, her haughty tone disappearing when she saw Ivy's face, gradually growing softer and barely audible.
It seemed that having a handsome face always earned special treatment.
"We haven't seen it…" Ron was about to continue when the girl interrupted him.
The girl with thick brown hair and prominent front teeth sat next to Ivy, staring at his wand. "Are you casting a spell? Show us what you've got!"
"Ahem—" Ivy cleared his throat. "Watch closely... Don't lose focus!"
The pale silver wand traced an elegant arc in the air before pointing upward. Bright spots of light shot from the tip, instantly filling the compartment.
"…Did it work?" the girl asked.
"Look! Your hair…" Harry shouted, pointing at the girl's hair.
Her thick locks of hair were floating in the air, resembling jellyfish drifting. The girl screamed, reaching up with her hands to try to smooth it down.
What she didn't expect was that her movements only made the hair float farther apart.
"Is this static electricity?" The girl, who was quicker than most of her age, soon figured it out.
"Wow—" Ron tried to stand up, but bounced up and hit his head on the ceiling.
"I'm flying! This is amazing!" Harry also got up from his seat, and his body began to float in midair.
A plump mouse floated out of Ron's stuffed pocket, frantically flailing its limbs, trying to find a place to land!
The only one not affected was the little chubby boy by the door, though his unshed tears seemed to be floating and swaying in the air as if they were under the spell's influence.
"You've erased gravity in this compartment!" the brown-haired girl exclaimed, pressing down her pleated skirt while shouting. "What kind of magic is this?"
"Ivy is a 144-year-old ancient wizard!" Ron answered for him, proudly. "This is ancient magic, very difficult to control!"
"Ancient magic?" The girl's tone was skeptical. "I've memorized all the textbooks and even looked at other books on the magical world, but none of them mentioned this term!"
"Then that just means you haven't read enough!" Ron said smugly, as though he was the one who had cast the gravity-erasing spell.
"Humph~" The girl scoffed, then awkwardly twisted her body in the air. "Sorry… Can you end this spell? It's a bit awkward to chat like this!"
"Of course." Ivy snapped his fingers, and everyone and everything floating in the air fell back to the ground.
Harry and Ron collided with each other, and the brown-haired girl landed awkwardly in a very undignified position.
"Scabbers!" Ron shouted, then shoved Harry aside and reached under his bottom, retrieving a fat rat.
He carefully held the rat in his hand and inspected it before saying, "Thank goodness you're alright!"
Taking advantage of the moment, the brown-haired girl scrambled to her feet and introduced herself. "That was impressive magic. I never thought magic could be used like that—I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Neville Longbottom. What are your names?"
"Ivy Doom."
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry turned to look at Ron, whose attention was still on the fat rat, so Harry had to introduce him, "The redhead is Ron Weasley."
"Harry Potter?" Hermione asked, clearly intrigued. "Though none of the books I've bought mentioned 'ancient magic,' they all coincidentally mentioned you."
Although Harry wasn't yet used to his newfound fame, he tried his best to act calm. "It's nothing that special…"
He regretted it immediately, realizing it sounded like bragging.
"Well… do you know which house you'll be sorted into?" Hermione quickly changed the topic. "I've heard Gryffindor is the best, since Dumbledore himself graduated from there. I think Ravenclaw is pretty good too."
"My whole family's in Gryffindor, so if I'm sorted into another house, Fred and George will probably laugh at me for the rest of my life." Ron had stuffed the rat back into his pocket and joined in the conversation.
"But if I'm sorted into Slytherin…" Ron shuddered. "That's where You-Know-Who was!"
"Is there a difference between the four houses?" Harry asked. Though he had bought Hogwarts, A History after Ivy's suggestion, reading was not exactly his strong suit. He'd flipped through a couple of pages before tossing it aside.
Ivy gave a simple explanation of the four houses. "They represent the qualities the four founders of Hogwarts valued most. Gryffindor values bravery, Ravenclaw values wisdom, Hufflepuff values loyalty, and…"
"Slytherin values bloodline."
Standing by the door was young Master Malfoy, along with his two lackeys.