Harry's answer must have made his friends uncomfortable since they just stayed silent until their carriage like the others passed two great wrought-iron gates with large columns and winged boars on top of them, looking a bit ridiculous by the posture they were represented. The coach accelerated, as the towers, walls and turrets of Hogwarts grew more and more imposing from the tiny window available. When it came to a halt, they came out and found themselves directly in front of the entrance.
Harry led the group, climbing up first the stairs which guided them into the castle itself and when they passed the huge oak front doors, the cold disappeared in an instant, proof of the magic existing in the school. They did not stay long in the Entrance Hall, as the crowd of incoming students was growing without sign of interruption. Entering the Great Hall, they all went to the Slytherin table and sat down.
Around fifteen minutes later, Professor McGonagall opened the door to the Great Hall, showing the firsties towards the sorting hat. The damn hat started to sing rather horribly. You'd think after hundreds of years doing this, he'd know how to hold a tune or something, but it was as aggravating as usual. When this affront to music was happening, Harry made sure to pick out the faces of his suspects during the sorting. The first was Colin Creevey who was then sorted in Gryffindor, followed by Ethan Glover who was sorted in Hufflepuff. Alice Morris was sorted in Gryffindor and Angela Smith in Ravenclaw. Of course, Luna Lovegood was also sorted in Ravenclaw, having spent the longest under the hat with that same dreamy look on her face, although Ginny Weasley took almost that long to be sorted in Gryffindor.
Harry recognized the four students that Clearwater was talking to in the Hogwarts Express. Colin Creevey, Ethan Glover, Alive Morris, and Angela Smith. These were his main suspects. They were obviously Muggleborns; their amazement at everything magical was rather obvious. Malfoy would have an easier time tricking some ignorant young muggleborn than a child born in this world and aware of its dangers.
The rest of the feast went as expected. They ate, and then Dumbledore started his yearly announcement, saying that the Forbidden Forest was, well, forbidden, and he announced Gilderoy Lockhart as the Defense Professor as if it wasn't in the Daily Prophet for weeks straight. The funniest one was the speculation on whether the celebrity would be able to break the 'alleged' defence curse and save the school. It was funny, imagining the ponce trying to break a curse that Voldemort, at the height of his power, put on the position. Of course, The teenage female students, being well, normal teenagers, kept sighing at the sight of the admittedly handsome celebrity. This would get annoying really quickly.
Of course, the aged headmaster was starting to say something about Quidditch tryouts, a loud bang appeared, and the enchanted ceiling showed a flying car, falling from the sky erratically. The entire room watched, gaping, as the car kept going to the other side. Ten seconds later, an enormous crashing sound reverberated across the castle.
Damn, Harry had forgotten about Longbottom and Weasley getting a flying car. Why the hell didn't they just floo to Hogsmeade or something? It wasn't that hard. In the stories, Harry's counterpart in the stories had the excuse that he didn't know much about the magical world, but Longbottom and Weasley had lived here all their lives. Was Longbottom even visited by Dobby like Harry's counterpart in the stories? Harry didn't know and honestly, he didn't care. He decided to stop bothering himself with Longbottom and his little gang. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. He definitely wasn't going to rely on the boy who lived to kill a fucking Basilisk out of sheer dumb luck. He wasn't going to rely on the story.
He had reflected during the summer, and he realized that for all his thoughts of dismissal, he was still attentive to the boy who lived's activities. Maybe it was because of the stories, or maybe it was because Harry was curious about what Longbottom would do differently. But the encounter with Quirrell taught Harry to throw the stories out of the window and stop relying on them too much. This was real life, and in this life, he had nothing to do with Longbottom.
Still, breaking the statute of secrecy this openly and coming to school on a flying car – which was illegally enchanted – was something that Harry had to notice. Honestly, Harry was sure that if it was anyone else, especially an adult, they would have been arrested and sent to Azkaban. If it was proven to be a malicious act of actively revealing the magical world to the muggles, then they could even be executed. Yeah, the enforcers of the Statute of Secrecy weren't particularly merciful and didn't take any bullshit. Fortunately for the two idiots, Longbottom was a nationwide celebrity and would probably get a slap on the wrist, and some bad publicity, of course.
The entire room unfroze when Dumbledore practically ran out of the Great Hall radiating anger and worry, followed by half the faculty. And of course, the room turned into a cacophony of noise.
Tracy looked at them with wide eyes, "Did that just happen?"
Blaise nodded, looking just as stunned, "Wanna bet they get away with it?"
"That's a sucker's bet and you know it," Harry replied.
A first-year girl who had sat next to him after being sorted, Harry didn't really remember her first name, but she was a Yaxley, asked meekly, "Is this normal?"
Harry snorted and raised his goblet filled with his coffee, "Welcome to Hogwarts kid. I hope you survive the experience."
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