This is definitely the most difficult journey Ning An has ever experienced, it will soon get dark, the night will cover the sky outside the car, the lights in the box will turn on, Luna will sit on the seat next to Daphne, roll up the book "Singing and Singing", carefully put it into the school bag, and then turn her face and stare intently at everyone in the box.

She had excitedly recommended the magazine to the trio before, but after Daphne said that "Singing Against the Tune" was useless and full of weird fantasies, Luna stopped talking, and Ning An knew that her father was the editor of "Singing Contradiction".

Time always walks very slowly in painful times, and the journey from the open field to Hogsmeade Station makes people feel as if it has taken years, until the train slowly slows down, and there is a lot of chaos and noise in all directions, and everyone is busy putting their luggage and pets together, and Ning An knows that it is almost there.

Hermione silently wore the prefect's badge on her chest and placed Crook Hill on her suitcase, and the big ginger cat stretched hard, all the way, it looked like it couldn't sleep.

"What's wrong with you, Hermione?" Ning An gently took Hermione's hand and asked strangely, although Daphne's unfriendliness made Ning An feel a little embarrassed, but Hermione was unhappy, and she should be comforted.

Hermione got up from her seat, with a little force, trying to break away from Ning An's hand, but she couldn't succeed, Ning An grabbed it very hard, she glanced back at her boyfriend, sighed, didn't speak, but no longer thought about pulling her hand back from Ning An's hand.

Seeing that Daphne and Luna had already left the carriage first, Ning An stood up, approached Hermione, grabbed her hand tightly, and said apologetically:

"I'm sorry, Daphne wasn't like this before, maybe you had this conflict before, she's a Slytherin student after all—but I promise she's not malicious—"

"That's what you think?" Hermione asked thoughtfully, and Ning An blinked in confusion.

"Huh? What- I mean, yes, Daphne I'd say her, she's just a little wayward......"

"You think she's targeting me because she hates me as a Gryffindor, right?" Hermione put the suitcase down, and Crookhill lay on it, staring at her master with a pair of cat's eyes, looking at her master suspiciously, not understanding why they hadn't gone out yet.

"Isn't it?" Ning An sighed, "You guys have accumulated a lot of contradictions at the beginning, and it was all my fault at the beginning-"

Hermione stared at Ning An, shook her head with a complicated expression, and looked anxious when she wanted to speak.

"What do you want to say? Hermione? Is there anything else between you that I don't know? ”

Hermione's shoulders shook and she laughed out loud, she shook her head and looked at Ning An again

"You really don't look like Ning An in the eyes of others sometimes—" She shook her head and stroked a handful of unkempt brown hair with her hand.

"Sometimes I even suspect that you are pretending to be someone else, why can your personality change so much? Ning An, you make it more and more difficult for me to see clearly, I can't understand what kind of person you are. ”

"I'm who I am," Ning An stepped forward and gently pulled Hermione, who seemed to resist a little, but Ning An pushed slightly, and Hermione was pulled over, letting go of the suitcase in her hand, she had already changed into Hogwarts school uniform robes.

Ning An pulled Hermione into her arms, and the look on the girl's face was still complicated.

"So we're still a couple?"

Ning An opened his mouth and looked at Hermione seriously, "What do you mean?" Of course we are, always have been — why all of a sudden? ”

"Ah, I'm sorry," Hermione rubbed her head, looking very annoyed, "I'm probably too tired, my mouth is out of control, it's a stupid question, you forget." ”

She said and drilled into Ning An's arms, as if trying to feel the warmth, the aisles outside the carriage were full of people, everyone was crowded in the crowd, taking care of their luggage, and slowly moved towards the door, and some people saw the couple hugging each other, and they all smiled.

"What happened all of a sudden?"

Ning An was stunned, but still reached out to touch Hermione's back and hugged the girl tightly, although she didn't know why she suddenly became so emotional, but now there was no need to do anything other than hug each other tightly.

"Tell me about you and Daphne?" Hermione buried her head in Ning An's shoulder, and her voice drifted into Ning An's ears along the night air.

The platform was crowded, the crowd dragged boxes, in twos and threes, flowing in one direction, the chirping of owls, cats shuttling at people's feet, and some strange lizards and toad pets making strange calls in their cages.

Ning An pushed the box, looking for Daphne and Luna, Hermione left first because she needed to maintain order, Crook Hill was lying on the box at the moment, boringly sweeping his tail, looking at Ning An, remembering who this person was, it seemed to understand Ning An's identity, so it didn't mind staying with him, glanced at it, and lay down again, curled up into a big ball of ginger hair.

"Hey, Crookshan, stop sleeping, help me find where Daphne and Luna went?" Crookshank Hill didn't react

"First-year freshman...... Ask the first-year students to line up here, and all the first-year students come with me! ”

A crisp female voice was shouting, it was a witch carrying a rickety lantern, Ning An didn't know, he sighed, pulled his luggage, squeezed out the crowd, stood aside, took out his wand from his body, and recited silently

"Loud voice"

Then he gently pressed his wand to his throat and whispered, "Durmstrong's students come to me." ”

As soon as he spoke, the heavy and slow-moving crowd looked over one after another, and a small spot in the red robe immediately moved towards Ning An in the flow of people.

Ning An saw Malfoy, saw Daphne, she looked around as if she was also looking for Ning An, Luna was wearing a Hogwarts school uniform, but she mixed into Durmstrand's team as if she was making a lot of fun, causing the people around her to cast strange glances at her, but Daphne gently dragged her over and let Luna stand beside her, not knowing what she was thinking.

Ning An didn't bother to care about this, and the number of people on the platform was gradually decreasing, so he led the students to the darkened street outside Hogsmeade Station, which had been washed by the rain.

There were more than a hundred carriages parked here, and the animals pulling the carriages were very peculiar, they stood between the poles, very much like horses, but there was no flesh at all, the black fur was clinging to the skeleton, every bone was clearly visible, their heads were very similar to fire dragons, their eyes were white without pupils, and they stared intently.

Wings sprouted between the shoulder bones—black, large, tough wings that looked like they belonged to giant bats, and these animals stood motionless, silently in the darkening night, looking strange and unlucky.

Ning An was no stranger to them, the Thestrals had been able to see them clearly since he returned to Hogwarts in his second year, as well as Daphne, and he thought maybe it was because they had witnessed Caridora's death.

The students got into the carriage one after another, Ning An stood in front of an empty carriage, Thestrals stood in the hazy light of the night, the breath from his nostrils condensed into water vapor in the cold night air, Ning An reached out and gently touched the head of this strange creature, for so many years, he had never done this.

"How does it feel?" Luna seemed to be standing behind Ning An, "I mean, what do they feel like to the touch?" ”

"It's icy." Ning An recalled the previous touch and stood silently, and many memories of death inexplicably poured out from the bottom of his heart.

"Let's get in the car first." He saw Hermione running from a distance, beckoning Daphne and the others to get into the car first.

"Thank you," Hermione trotted, taking Crookshank Mountain from Ning An's hand and carrying the box into the carriage again, "Let's get in the car, why are you waiting at the door?" ”

"I'm waiting for you." Ning An smiled, took Hermione's hand, and the two got into the carriage.

The carriages creaked and staggered along the road, warning of the tall stone pillars on either side of the gate leading to the Hogwarts grounds, staring at the winged boars, the field was pitch black, no light could be seen, and Hogwarts Castle was faintly getting closer: towers were even darker against the dark night sky, and occasionally a window could be seen shining brightly above their heads.

Ning An subconsciously compared with Durmstrang, his school seemed to be more cold in style, thinking that Durmstrang's new semester should have begun, he was not there, and Pani was in charge of the daily affairs of the school, and he didn't know if there would be any trouble, but since Karkaroff and Barty? Crouch is in Durmstrang and always has good advice.

In comparison, I don't have a clue here.

He had come to Hogwarts to learn the magic of love from Dumbledore, which was crucial to resurrecting Calidora, and on the other hand, whether it was Harry's unusual departure from home or on the train, Blaise? Zabini's crazy performance made Ning An feel weird and inexplicable.

It was as if something unseen was influencing their mood, and although this was his speculation, if that was the case, then who was doing it, mystery man? Or the two who escaped? What is their purpose?

Ning An was fascinated by the thoughts, and Luna and Daphne were chatting quite speculatively across the street, and they seemed to have found a new common ground in mocking the Daily Prophet

"My dad said that the Daily Prophet always tells lies—"

"yes, they're just pieces of."

Ning An turned his head to look at Hermione, who was staring out the window at the thick darkness of the night, not saying a word.

"What are you thinking?" Ning An patted Hermione on the shoulder, "Thinking about Harry and Ron?" ”

Hermione turned her face to feel Ning An's concern, a smile on her face, and she nodded

"I'm worried, as you said, Harry has been acting very unusually lately, in fact, he's been a bit of a mystery since the summer vacation at Durmstram......"

"There's no way the mystery man hurt him at Hogwarts, don't worry." Ning An shook Hermione's hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

The carriage stopped next to the stone steps leading to the oak gate, which meant that it was time for everyone to get off, Ning An had not taken this road for many years, and almost forgot, but Hermione and Luna remembered clearly, they followed the path of the crowd, went up the stone steps, and re-entered the castle, and the Durmstrang students behind followed in turn.

The foyer, lit red with torches and echoing the footsteps of the students, walked through the stone-paved floor towards the two doors on the right that led to the auditorium, where the opening party was held.

"Wait a minute—"

However, a voice stopped Ning An, and he stopped, turning his head to see a familiar face.

Professor McGonagall looked at Ning An with a complicated face, this was also her proud protégé, she had praised Ning An for her outstanding talent in Transfiguration more than once, even for the perfect Hermione? Granger hadn't used so many flattering words, but everything was ruined that day in the Chamber of Secrets.

Perhaps the Daily Prophet can change the mainstream opinion of most people and influence their opinion, but for McGonagall, who witnessed everything that happened, it is obviously very difficult to forgive Ning An and even treat him as a good wizard.

But she's the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, and sometimes she can't do things exactly according to her own will.

"Ah, Professor McGonagall! Long time no see-" Ning An was very pleased to see McGonagall's performance, this professor he hadn't seen for a long time, no matter what, the transformation class was his favorite class.

"Please go this way, the seats assigned to you are here." After she finished speaking, she led Ning An towards the back of the foyer, and she had no intention of catching up.

Ning An walked through the small door at the back and walked into the Great Hall, which was filled with five long dining tables, four from the four Hogwarts houses, and one with a crimson tablecloth, which belonged to Durmstrang exchange students this semester, Ning An watched Malfoy, Daphne and the others sit down around that table.

The starless ceiling was still the same as the sky outside through the high windows, and candles floated above the dining table, illuminating the silvery ghosts dotted the auditorium and illuminating the excited faces of the students.

Ning An walked to the long staff desk, Dumbledore was wearing a dark purple robe covered with silver stars and was sitting in the middle of the staff desk wearing a matching hat, and was tilting his head to a woman sitting next to him, she was talking into his ear, McGonagall walked over and whispered something to Dumbledore, and then several people turned their heads and saw Ning An.

Dumbledore hurriedly got up from his golden high-backed chair and walked towards Ning'an.