It was a long-standing tradition among wizards to scare the new first-years during the Sorting Ceremony.
Even children from wizarding families wouldn't receive any real information beforehand.
If one had once been caught in the rain, of course they'd make sure to tear up their own child's umbrella too.
In a silent mutual understanding, this fine tradition had supposedly been preserved for centuries. No one had ever broken the unspoken rules.
Clearly, the twins now intended to give Wayne a good scare.
"Ahem!"
George cleared his throat and quickly slipped into character, his face wearing a serious and slightly frightened expression — so convincing that Wayne couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.
With acting skills like that, why be a wizard at all? Wouldn't it be better to go to Hollywood and become a heartthrob, earning piles and piles of dollars?
"I really hate to recall that experience… it was just too terrifying."
Fred gave a couple of appropriately sympathetic sighs.
"In our year, each young wizard had to survive ten minutes under the hands of a troll. The Sorting was based on how you performed."
"Oh, do you know what a troll is?" George added.
Wayne nodded very cooperatively and even showed a frightened expression. "I do. I bought Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
"That's great!"
George was secretly pleased. This made the story even more immersive.
"The ones who charged ahead bravely were sorted into Gryffindor, those who used clever strategies went to Ravenclaw, those who stuck to practical efforts ended up in Hufflepuff."
"What about Slytherin?" Wayne asked curiously.
"Oh, them." Fred's eyes rolled with mischief. "They got in through the backdoor."
Goddamn backdoor—Cedric inwardly mocked the twins' nonsense, but still nodded seriously on the surface.
"Exactly. That's how it was."
The twins looked at him in surprise.
They hadn't expected Cedric to play along—they'd have been fine as long as he didn't spoil their act—but now he was actually helping them.
Good lad. So even you, with your honest, thick eyebrows and big eyes, are full of wickedness inside.
Cedric blinked innocently.
What's wrong? Is there a problem?
I'm just continuing Hogwarts' glorious traditions—why are you all looking at me like that?
Wayne still looked like a frightened little baby, though inwardly he was sneering.
Not bad. If he didn't have the advantage of being a transmigrator with cheats, he might've actually fallen for their nonsense.
"Then what should I do? Maybe I should just go home—I haven't even learned a single spell yet."
Wayne acted utterly panicked and helpless. The three of them were nearly bursting with laughter, but still pretended to come up with ideas to help him.
After a while, the trio finally speculated that their entrance test this year would likely involve defeating a ghoul—and only then did they stop, reluctantly.
If they weren't worried about scaring Wayne into tears, the twins and Cedric might've gone as far as saying they'd have to wrestle a car.
The train sped past golden wheat fields and gradually entered a vast, uninhabited region. It moved quickly—likely around a hundred kilometers per hour.
For a "vintage car" that had been in service since the last century, that was already quite impressive.
Wayne pulled a compass from his pocket, then took out a piece of parchment and a quill to write and sketch.
"What are you doing, Wayne?" the twins asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm calculating Hogwarts' exact location."
"At this rate, we should be in Scotland in another two hours."
The twins exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Why are you calculating that?"
"Well, I'm just killing time. Gotta find something to do, right?" Wayne noticed the compass shifting slightly and quickly jotted it down.
"If you're that bored, let's play Exploding Snap," Fred said with a cheeky grin, pulling out a red deck of cards.
The cards looked no different from a Muggle deck—except they had a habit of exploding.
When you slam down four 2s and boldly declare, "Bomb!", it finally feels legitimate.
"Aren't you guys going to finish your homework?" Cedric asked, somewhat helpless, flipping through The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection to pass the time. If they really started playing cards, it would definitely get too noisy to concentrate.
Fred didn't care. "There's still the whole evening left, what's the rush? Come join us."
Soon, crackling explosions rang out from inside the compartment. Unfortunately, every time a card exploded, it was always in the twins' hands—once, it nearly singed George's eyebrows.
The twins were puzzled too—how come the cards were so calm when Wayne held them, but turned into powder kegs as soon as they got them?
Cedric also looked at Wayne with suspicion.
He had a feeling Wayne was doing something behind the scenes—like those upper-year students who could already tell when a card was about to blow.
Could Wayne really—
No way. He was just a little first-year who hadn't even officially started school yet.
Shaking his head, Cedric dismissed the ridiculous thought.
Knock knock knock!
The door knocked again. George, his face smudged with ash, quickly set his cards on the table and strode over to open it.
"Have you seen Trevor? Oh, that's my toad—eh? Wayne?"
At the door stood a girl and a chubby boy. The girl was Hermione. She hadn't noticed Wayne sitting by the window until after she spoke—then her face lit up with surprise.
She had returned the book to Wayne during their trip to Diagon Alley, but hadn't seen him again since. After boarding the train, she'd looked around for him, but still hadn't found him and had just picked a random compartment.
"Hermione, long time no see." Wayne smiled and waved at the young witch. Today, Hermione looked even cuter than before—her hair was clearly well-groomed instead of its usual untamed frizz.
"I looked for you after boarding, but couldn't find you," Hermione said quickly, then turned to the chubby boy behind her. "Have any of you seen a toad?"
The others all shook their heads. Cedric offered comfort: "Don't worry. Toads are very intelligent. Your Trevor probably just got bored and went out to explore. He'll come back eventually."
"I hope so..." Neville looked like he was about to cry. "If Gran finds out I lost Trevor before even getting to school, she'll kill me…"
After saying she'd come back to find them later, Hermione continued moving down the train with Neville, checking each compartment.
Once they were gone, Fred looked over at Wayne.
"You know that little witch?"
"Met her in Diagon Alley. Why?" Wayne asked, a bit puzzled.
"No reason," Fred shook his head. Then he and George said in perfect unison:
"Looking at that little witch feels just like looking at a mini Professor McGonagall!"
Wayne : "..."