The night air's chill made the crowd of young wizards shiver involuntarily.
Kate held Hermione's hand as they squeezed through the surging crowd. The icy temperature transmitting from the other girl's palm made her turn her head.
She saw Hermione's small face was pale, and her other hand was tightly wrapping her robes around herself, but clearly, this action wasn't doing enough to keep her warm.
"Rapid Rewarming!"
Kate pulled out her wand and cast a Warming Charm on her. This was originally a spell used by housewives to keep dishes warm.
Now used on Hermione, it seemed to work quite well.
Feeling as if heat had been applied to her body, Hermione's spirits lifted, and she squeezed Kate's hand firmly.
The two followed Hagrid, who was holding a lamp in the distance, moving forward through the crowd. After struggling through a narrow path, they reached the edge of a black lake.
On a high mountain slope across the lake stood a towering castle. The castle had a forest of turrets, and windows twinkled under the starry sky.
"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid shouted, pointing to a fleet of small boats moored at the shore.
Kate and Hermione naturally got into one boat, and Neville, who was with them, climbed in as well.
What surprised Kate, however, was that Pansy, who had been following Malfoy earlier, actually sat with them too.
She wanted to ask why the girl hadn't gone to Malfoy's boat, but feeling that they weren't familiar enough, she let it go.
Out on the lake surface, the dampness became much heavier. Kate noticed the faintly stiff faces of Neville and Pansy in the same boat.
Although she really wanted to pretend she didn't see it, the natural human instinct to protect young cubs compelled her to solicitously cast the Warming Charm on both of them.
"Thank you, Kate." Neville was a good child and thanked her openly and graciously.
As for Pansy, her small face regained quite a bit of rosiness, but her expression looked very conflicted.
It seemed she was still dwelling on the incident in the train compartment earlier.
Kate pretended not to notice and turned her head to gaze at the approaching mysterious castle with Hermione.
They seemed to travel along a dark tunnel to the underground of the castle, finally arriving at a place resembling an underground harbor, before climbing onto a ground of rocks and pebbles.
The students disembarked one after another. Under the illumination of Hagrid's lamp, they climbed up a tunnel in the rock face and finally reached a patch of flat, damp grass in the shadow of the castle.
Everyone climbed a flight of stone steps and gathered in front of a huge oak door.
Hagrid knocked on the door, and it opened immediately. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood before the gate.
"The first-year new students, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Professor McGonagall nodded and pulled the door wide open.
The new students followed Professor McGonagall along the stone-paved floor, all the way to a very small empty room at the other end of the hall.
Everyone swarmed in, crowding together shoulder to shoulder, the atmosphere appearing particularly tense.
Immediately after, McGonagall introduced the four Houses of Hogwarts, told them to wait there, and left the room herself.
With the only adult present gone, the young wizards who had managed to stay quiet just a moment ago began to whisper among themselves.
"Kate, which House do you want to go to?" Hermione asked this question for the third time today.
"What about you?" With things coming to a head, Kate had no mind to hide it from her anymore. "I heard the Sorting Hat classifies people based on their traits."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "In that case, do you think we will both get into Ravenclaw? I heard the students there love learning the most."
"Do students in other Houses not love learning?" Kate shook her head, finding it a bit funny. "Maybe you will be Sorted into one of the other Houses?"
Hermione tilted her head thoughtfully. "Then I hope to get into Gryffindor. I heard even Dumbledore graduated from there."
"Mn, Gryffindor, a pretty good place to go..."
Kate murmured, her gaze shifting to two boys whispering behind her. "Hey, are you two also discussing which House to go to?"
Suddenly called out by her, the black-haired boy with glasses and the red-haired boy with freckles froze for a moment.
"My name is Harry Potter. What about you guys?" Harry stepped forward first to greet them.
The red-haired boy beside him also mumbled, "I'm Ron Weasley."
Hearing this, Hermione's eyes instantly lit up. "Harry Potter? Is it really you? I know all about your affairs!"
"Kate bought me a few reference books. Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century—all these books mentioned you."
"Mentioned me?" Harry looked at her in surprise. "I've never heard of that."
Seeing a living textbook case, Hermione wanted to converse with him in high spirits, but Kate stopped her in time.
"Wait until you are Sorted, then you can get to know each other slowly."
Ron, standing to the side, looked at her strangely. "So, you guys want to go to Gryffindor too? I still don't know your names..."
"Kate Shafiq. This is Hermione Granger."
Ron frowned, as if recalling something. "Shafiq? That Shafiq family that has been gone for nearly ten years?"
He looked Kate up and down. "I remember Dad saying before that the pure-blood Shafiq family... the whole family died at the hands of the mysterious person."
As soon as these words came out, the surrounding young wizards who had been chatting among themselves turned to look at him, and at the girl whose 'whole family died' mentioned in his words.
Kate calmly scanned the surrounding gazes, which held curiosity or perhaps pity.
Before she could speak, Hermione beside her blocked the front of her. "Student Weasley, don't you think your words are very impolite?"
Ron was tongue-tied. "I... I was just stating facts!"
"Even if they are facts, they don't need to be said by you!" Hermione assumed an offensive posture, like a mother hen protecting her chick.
It was Harry beside them who hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over. "Stop talking, everyone is a student of the same school."
Saying this, he stepped forward again, extending his hand to Kate with a look of embarrassment. "Sorry, my family also died at the hands of the Dark Lord, so I thought..."
Kate lowered her eyes to look at the hand he extended, and smiled faintly. "Mr. Savior, before apologizing, you should first manage your companion well."
She originally had no likes or dislikes regarding the Golden Trio from the original work, but that youngest son of the Weasley family was indeed too loose-lipped.
"Everyone!" Professor McGonagall happened to return at that moment. "Now, form a single line and follow me!"
Kate took the opportunity to take Hermione's hand, turning to follow Professor McGonagall toward the Great Hall.
Behind them, Harry patted Ron's arm somewhat helplessly. "What you said just now was indeed not quite appropriate."
Ron looked at the pair of silhouettes with some bitterness, drooping his head for a moment. "I know. I'll apologize to her another day."
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