A young witch poked her head into the carriage, her question echoing. She had shaggy brown hair and slightly oversized front teeth. Then, as if realizing her impoliteness, she said, "Excuse me, my name is Hermione Granger. I'm looking for a toad named Trevor..."
Her eyes darted around the corners of the carriage, quickly noticing the copy of Walking with Vampires next to Ryan. "By Gilderoy Lockhart? I've read that book, too. It's fantastic!" she said excitedly.
"Oh, that's true, after you strip away the boring bits..." Ryan stood up and looked at Hermione. "Miss Granger, what did you say? A toad named Trevor?"
Hermione was about to argue with Ryan—who could say a masterpiece like Walking with Vampires was boring? But after hearing Ryan's question, she returned to the point.
"Yes, it's Neville Longbottom's pet—he's a young wizard starting school this year, just like me..." She briefly explained the situation. That was her explanation.
"I see." Ryan nodded and raised his hand. Hermione saw his wand spring forth from his sleeve, radiating a four-colored glow. Then, Ryan waved gently. "Accio Trevor the Toad!"
Hermione heard exclamations of "Oh, what's that?" and "Oh my god, that's disgusting!" from the corridor outside the train. Then, she saw a pitch-black toad fly into the carriage, her jaws dropped in awe. Ryan flicked his wand, and the toad hovered in front of him.
"Hmm... I think someone's hot chocolate on the train is in trouble." Ryan glanced at the toad, tutted softly, and then pointed his wand at it again—Hermione noticed that the black hot chocolate on the toad quickly disappeared.
Finally, Ryan waved his wand, and the toad landed in Hermione's hand. But by then, Hermione was frozen in place.
"So... Ryan, what are you doing..."
It wasn't just her— even the usually frisky Weasley twins and the calm Cho had widened their eyes.
"The Summoning Charm and the Cleansing Charm?" the twins asked in unison. "And... is that silent casting what I just witnessed?" As children of wizarding families, they naturally recognized these two common spells.
Hermione shuddered upon hearing this.
"The Summoning Charm? I've seen it in the Charms Supplement, and it's a spell you learn in fourth grade!" she exclaimed. "The Cleansing Charm is documented in the Magic in Life series."
"And the Silent Spell, I also saw it in A Brief Account of Spells - An Interesting Speculation. It says that Silent Spells are extremely difficult and highly valuable spells, mastered only by gifted wizards. Hogwarts only briefly teaches Silent Spells to young wizards in their sixth year..." She recited everything she knew, as if quoting from a book. "But almost no one can learn it!"
Cho then interjected. "I heard from my father—very few young wizards can master it! I mean... very few!" She looked at Ryan in disbelief. "Even now, my father has only mastered the silent casting of fewer than five spells. Ryan..."
A first-year wizard, not yet enrolled in Hogwarts, had not only mastered the Summoning Charm—a spell only learned in fourth grade—but had even mastered the technique of silent casting? Even if the silent spells he used were relatively simple, like the Cleansing Charm, the significance of this undoubtedly shocked the four young wizards present.
But Ryan simply smiled. "Cho, remember I told you—I did a tiny bit of prep work beforehand," He said, extending his hand to indicate that it was indeed just a tiny bit.
He had considered his situation before coming to Hogwarts. His body had returned to that of an eleven-year-old, his magical powers had returned to their original state, but his spellcasting ability and understanding of magic remained unchanged.
Hiding was difficult; it was hard for him to shrink his consciousness back to his eleven-year-old self. So, with no immediate plans to tell anyone about the four teachers, Ryan's self-image was naturally clear:
A genius—among the young wizards at Hogwarts, he would undoubtedly be the most outstanding.
Turning his gaze to Hermione, he said, "Hurry and return Trevor to Neville... I think he's getting impatient."
"Uh... Oh! Right!" It took Hermione a moment to react. She looked at Ryan again, as if realizing her mastery of the book had been surpassed. "I must finish that book today!" She muttered, turning around, her fluffy brown hair like a squirrel's tail. With a clattering sound of footsteps, she and Trevor ran away.
After Hermione left, silence returned to the carriage. After the shock of Ryan's use of the Spell of the Surge and the Silent Spell, Cho now regarded his junior with curiosity. As for the Weasley twins, they had been silent since the moment they began. They stared at each other, seemingly making eye contact.
The brothers knew exactly what they had just done. If Ryan discovered...
"Hey, George, Fred," Ryan's voice reached them, but to them it sounded like the growl of a dragon. "If you're feeling guilty about secretly casting the Leg Limp Charm on me..."
The moment he finished speaking, "It was a lovely tea party, Ryan, Cho—"
"—we have things to do, so we'll be leaving!"
Like athletes at the sound of the starting gun, the Weasley twins leapt to their feet and bolted for the door. But they had only taken a few steps when...
"Petrificus Totalus!" With a flick of Ryan's wand, their bodies instantly stiffened like stone.
Bang!
Bang!
Two dull thuds followed, and their bodies slowly floated back into the carriage. "This is also a new spell I learned a while ago, and it seems to be working quite well." Ryan looked at them with a friendly smile.
"Fred, my brother—I think we're done this time."
"Oh, George... I think you're right."
The brothers winked, groaning inwardly.
Exactly. After gradually becoming acquainted with Ryan, as the self-proclaimed King of Pranks at Hogwarts, how could they not say 'hello' to their new friend?
So, when Cho temporarily left, they took the opportunity to pretend to tie their shoes and secretly cast the Limp Legs Charm on Ryan, intending to make him embarrass himself harmlessly. However, they were surprised to find that the Limp Legs Charm didn't seem to work on Ryan. And then, not long after, they witnessed Ryan's proficiency in spells, which they considered to be exaggerated.
To put it bluntly—despite being two years older, they didn't think they could even do what Ryan had just done. So, only after Ryan pointed out what they had just done did they take off running.
But it was too late.
"The Limp Legs Charm is a classic prank spell, but it's too cliché... I mean, the prank is too low-grade." Ryan smiled, extending his wand—or, in their eyes, claws—to the twins. "If it were me, I'd do this... limp legs!" He lifted the petrification spell from the twins, then flicked his wand, and the two Weasleys' legs instantly went limp as if their bones had been pulled out.
And then...
"Legs frozen!" Ryan moved his wand again, and the twins' legs were instantly locked together. This made their lower bodies look like slugs, a hilarious sight that made Cho burst out laughing.
"Wow!"
"Wow!"
At this moment, the Weasley twins, struggling and squirming like slugs, suddenly brightened their eyes and exclaimed in unison. With their keen eye for pranks, they'd already realized the joy of this spell—making someone's legs wriggle like a slug was clearly a much better way to pull off a prank than just collapsing.
"Gryffindor... ahem, as Gryffindors, of course you should learn this spell—I call it the 'Slug Legs Curse'!" Ryan said proudly. "It's a masterpiece from a master prankster!"
"Cool!" the twins exclaimed in unison!
"What's so cool about it?" Cho was practically amused—she had clearly not expected Ryan to have such a side to him.
But in reality, Ryan himself knew it well.
His teacher, the great Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts, was undoubtedly a legend. His bravery, his strength, and his wisdom were deeply rooted in everyone's hearts.
However, what the history didn't really take a note, though, was that Godric Gryffindor himself was also a true prankster, especially on a certain founder of the Slytherin House. He also generously passed on the joy of pranks... or rather, the joy of 'making people laugh'—to others, like Ryan, his disciple. As mentioned before, Ryan believed he would be the best at everything—no matter what.
"Are there any other spells?" At this moment, Fred asked excitedly.
"Of course!" Ryan waved his sleeves. "Separate left and right!" He waved his wand again, and in an instant, the twins' pants made a crisp sound.
Snap!
The pants were torn apart inch by inch.
Ryan waved his wand again: "Stand upright!" So, the pants that were torn into pieces stood up again in an instant and formed a circle. At first glance, it looked like a short skirt!
"Use the separation spell and the tent spell on the pants to manually create a gypsy skirt—this is the 'short skirt spell'! Of course, this spell is forbidden to be used on female witches!" Ryan continued to wave his wand. "Besides, combining the Bat Charm and the Tarantella Dance Charm can conjure a tap-dancing bat on a person's face—believe me, it's hilarious!"
"Combining the Scorching Heat Charm and the Swelling Charm can give someone a boil the size of a bowl!"
"The Hairiness Charm and the Immobilization Charm together are hilarious!"
He kept spouting one prank spell after another, many of which the twins had never heard of before!
As for Cho, who was listening at the side, she could only laugh silently. Amidst the noise and laughter, the scenery outside the train window flew by, and dusk gradually fell. In the distance, a quiet castle stood by the Black Lake.
The Hogwarts Express was about to arrive.
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Author's note
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