Young wizards were constantly running back and forth in the train corridor. Anton sidestepped three angry-looking children and turned into the compartment where Ron was.
"Goodness, Anton, where have you been." Ron greeted him, holding a rat that looked like it had fainted.
Anton raised an eyebrow. The compartment was a mess, as if a fight had just broken out.
He had read many Harry Potter fanfictions, mostly focusing on Professor Snape, and didn't remember what was supposed to happen here. But thinking about the three children who had just left—a delicate-looking boy with golden hair walking in front, followed by two burly-looking sidekicks...
Got it. Harry met Draco, haha.
He casually pulled Harry Potter up from the floor, smiling brightly, "Hello, my name is Antonin Weasley, Ron's cousin. You can call me Anton."
"Harry Potter." Harry Potter was clearly very happy, thinking he was about to make another new friend.
Just then, Miss Beaver-Rat came over with a round-headed boy, pointing forcefully at Anton, "It was him, Neville, he ate your toad, just bit it to death, I saw it all!"
The little girl spoke extremely fast, rattling on like a machine gun.
"Eating a toad raw?" Harry was so scared he quickly let go of Anton's hand.
Anton's mouth twitched, and he turned to Hermione with a grin, "It was delicious!"
He bared his white teeth, which glinted in the sunlight like a beast about to devour someone, scaring Hermione into screaming and running away again.
Neville looked at him in disbelief, "You really ate my toad? That was..."
"You believe that?" Anton pouted helplessly, "That was a Chocolate Frog, she saw it wrong. You can go talk to the person who was just speaking on the loudspeaker near the engine. Since they can help us get our luggage to the school, they can probably help with a toad on the train too."
Neville's eyes lit up, "Thanks!"
He hurried off.
The train's announcement sounded again, urging the young wizards to change into their school robes as soon as possible.
Anton waved his wand, and the suitcase on the luggage rack floated down. The messy things on the floor flew back onto the table.
Ever since he mastered the Levitation Charm, he had avoided using his hands for almost everything in his daily life. Terminal laziness, no cure for it.
His own suitcase floated in front of him and opened by itself. It was also a suitcase enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, and he had already placed his school robes right on top.
"Hurry up and change."
Tossing his jacket inside, Anton deftly put on the wizarding robe bearing the Hogwarts crest.
He then saw Harry and Ron staring at him with wide eyes.
"What's wrong?" Anton touched his face, puzzled.
"Magic!" Harry exclaimed in amazement.
"I just noticed, I didn't hear you say any incantation!" Ron murmured.
"The Levitation Charm, it's in our first-year textbook. It's very simple, you can take a look when you have time." Anton explained casually, not intending to show off how powerful he was. He squinted at the compartment door as the train slowly came to a stop.
It was already nighttime. A dark, small platform, with a narrow path extending beyond it.
A man who was three meters tall stood there waiting, holding a lamp.
A slight smile touched the corners of Anton's mouth.
Hogwarts, we've arrived.
The first-year students followed Hagrid to the lakeside, rowed across in small boats, and after a series of ceremonial procedures, finally arrived at the castle's first-floor dining hall.
They were led into a small room next to the Great Hall, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.
Ghosts floated over, the old wizard among them. He cackled, tossing his head up and catching it, and even winked at Anton.
Hogwarts' previous graduates had a tacit understanding to keep the details of the Sorting Ceremony a secret from the new students.
"Fred said it would be very painful for us!" Ron said with a nervous expression.
This scared Harry quite a bit.
Some said they had to fight a dragon, some said they had to escape from a terrifying field of scarecrows, and others said they had to drink a horrifying pot of green, bubbling potion...
Every parent had their own way of scaring their children, and when all these stories came together, even the arrogant-looking Draco turned pale.
"Don't listen to their nonsense, it's just a wizard's hat." Anton kindly comforted Draco, who was standing beside him.
"After you put it on, it will judge for itself whether you can become a wizard. If it thinks you're not suitable, it will just twist your head off, that's all."
"That's all?" Draco took a step back in alarm, looking at Anton in terror.
"It's not so bad. I just saw that ghost without a head, and he's living just fine." Anton shrugged.
Draco swallowed hard, deciding that if it really was a wizard's hat, he would die before putting it on.
Harry and Ron looked at the two with strange expressions. Although they were also scared, seeing Draco tremble with fear somehow made them feel much better.
Until...
A dirty-looking wizard's hat was placed on a stool!
The young wizards who had just heard Anton's words all gasped.
The wizard's hat magically opened a mouth and began to sing:
"You may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge on what you see, I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me. ..."
The young wizards just stared blankly at the mouth, wondering if Anton was wrong.
Not getting your head twisted off, but being eaten?
So, who would be the first to walk up to this guillotine?
The tall, black-haired witch in an emerald-green robe picked up a roll of parchment and called out a name: "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced little girl with two golden pigtails stumbled out of the line and put on the hat, which completely covered her eyes.
She sat down.
No one could see her expression, but they could see her trembling with fear.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right began to clap and cheer. Hannah Abbott let out the most high-pitched scream in the history of the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony.
She scrambled out from under the hat, panting as if she had just survived a disaster.
Seeing her so emotional, the older students at the Hufflepuff table clapped even louder.
One by one, the nervous young wizards went up to be sorted.
Seamus Finnigan was so scared he gripped Harry Potter's sleeve tightly. Professor McGonagall had to call his name three times before he went up, trembling.
He put on the hat as if he were facing death, and then, the terrible thing happened.
The hat muttered on his head for almost a full minute before finally assigning him to Gryffindor.
"Another trick!" Hermione rolled her eyes, walked up with her head held high, and soon, "GRYFFINDOR."
Then the proud little girl walked straight to the Gryffindor long table.
Harry, Ron, and Draco all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Clearly, it was just someone's twisted sense of humor.
"You'll definitely be sorted into Gryffindor, you nasty, boring person!" Draco said viciously.
Anton smiled slightly and walked up.
The Sorting Hat barely had to think. "SLYTHERIN!"
Draco was stunned.
Harry and Ron were also stunned.
At the Gryffindor table, the twins who were about to clap looked at each other. "A Weasley in Slytherin?"
Fred laughed out loud, "Now that's interesting. I can't wait to write to Dad. Oh, we have a Slytherin in the family, Dad's expression will be absolutely priceless!"