Chapter 64: Carriage, Thestral

"Follow me, students!" a loud voice sounded.

Hagrid, who looked like a wild man, was waiting for them on the dark platform, wearing a thick fur coat and holding a lantern, like a burly giant.

For students who don't understand Hagrid's inner self, his appearance is really intimidating. The originally noisy students immediately fell silent and followed Hagrid as they walked forward along the platform.

There were many dark carriages parked in a wide open space, with dim lights hanging on both sides of the carriages, and some carriages would sway slightly.

The students boarded the carriage one after another. Wade and others walked forward together, and suddenly heard a voice saying hello: "Hey, Wade, guys, this carriage is empty!"

They looked up and saw Hermione, Padma, Parvati and Neville all sitting in the same carriage. Padma was the one who spoke. She pointed to the side and saw an empty carriage parked next to it. It was covered with straw.

Several people climbed onto the carriage one after another, and Michael waved first and said, "Hello, did you have a good holiday?"

"Excellent, except that one person has never looked at the friends' account." Hermione said: "I originally thought it would be easier to discuss the problem on the friends' account! Especially when I was studying the disarming spell -"

"Oh, Hermione, wait a minute, we haven't started school yet!" Padma stopped her with a headache: "Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay? Let's talk about studying tomorrow."

Even if she was a Ravenclaw, she would still find Hermione's enthusiasm for learning intimidating.

"Meet you at the library tomorrow afternoon!" Wade suggested, "I just want to borrow some new books."

Hermione had no choice but to sit back with regret, while Parvati next to her quietly breathed a sigh of relief——

Although no one urged her to study, she felt as if she was trapped in an invisible glass cover and was about to suffocate when she listened to the top students discussing their studies but she couldn't understand or participate at all.

While they were talking, Neville jumped out of the carriage in a panic, clutching his toad Leif tightly, and squeezed into Wade's carriage.

"Hey, Neville, we've got enough people here!" Michael protested.

"Please, let me stay here, there are girls over there——"

Neville begged in a low voice, looking like he was suffering greatly, but his body pushed Michael into the corner without hesitation, refusing to go down even if he said anything.

Michael, who was forced to sit close to the carriage, said angrily: "What's wrong with being with girls? The ones sitting next to you are the most beautiful girls in Hogwarts! They're also twins!"

There was clear laughter from the girls, not sure if it was because they heard Michael's words.

Neville lowered his head helplessly, not daring to see who was laughing, and whispered: "They are always laughing - it's so embarrassing, I can't stay there alone -"

Michael cursed angrily: "Neville, you are such a hopeless idiot!"

He jumped out of the carriage without hesitation before it moved, and went straight to the girls' carriage. After a while, I got in the car and started chatting and laughing with Padma.

Neville breathed a sigh of relief and looked very impressed.

Vader and the three of them couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Neville chuckled and scratched his head in embarrassment.

The carriage moved swaying, the road was not very smooth, and the carriage bumped along with it. There was a musty smell in the carriage, and there was a thick layer of straw under the buttocks.

Ryan couldn't help but said: "I wanted to ask the last time I took a car, why is there no cushion in this car?"

When they went home for Christmas, they also took these carriages to Hogsmeade Station. However, when they left the academy, they were with people from their own academy and had no chance to get together.

Theo guessed: "Maybe it's to follow tradition - it's not like there's no funds, right?"

Anyone who has seen the scene at Hogwarts during normal meals will not think that the school cannot afford a few soft cushions.

"A school that provides food and accommodation and does not charge tuition fees, what else can we ask for? Just think of it as a test for us!"

Wade said, lighting the straw pile on the car with his wand, and the withered yellow straw suddenly turned into a thick cushion.

Several people touched the mats and said enviously: "Oh, the transformation technique is so difficult."

Under Vader's guidance, their grades in the Charms class were all good, but most of the Transfiguration classes had to be done on their own, and Vader couldn't put firm beliefs and clear images into their minds.

"Do Muggle schools charge fees?" Theo asked curiously.

"Hmm." Wade thought about the primary school he went to and said, "Public primary schools are basically free and only charge a small amount of miscellaneous fees. But private schools cost at least 10,000 pounds a year."

"Ten thousand pounds?" Theo was confused: "How much is this?"

"About two thousand galleons," Vader said.

Theo was stunned: "It's so expensive, Muggles are really rich!"

Even if he was a pureblood, it would be impossible for his family to spend two thousand galleons a year to send him to school - maybe he would have to be as rich as the Malfoy family to afford school, right?

"Most Muggle students also go to public primary schools." Wade said.

"Speaking of which, these carriages in the school are really good and can drive automatically. Are they also alchemy items?" Ryan asked curiously. Neville suddenly raised his head, pursed his lips, and wanted to say something, but held back.

"No - it seems like there is an invisible horse pulling -" Michael probed his head: "Listen carefully -"

Several people held their breath and listened carefully. The invisible creatures in the air heard the sound of "hissing" breathing, snoring, and the sound of wings flapping the air.

"A horse that can be invisible -" Ryan frowned and thought: "I seem to have seen this kind of creature in some book -"

"It's Thestrals." Vader revealed the answer.

"Yes!" Ryan clapped his hands excitedly: "It's the Thestrals! Legend has it that only people who have witnessed death with their own eyes can see them - that's why we can't see them!"

"——So, they are not invisible, but people can't see them?" Theo frowned and sorted out the logical relationship.

"Yep."

Wade responded casually, nodded, and looked towards the front of the carriage.

The skinny black horse has a pair of white, pupilless eyes, and a face as ferocious as a dragon. It meekly pulled the carriage forward, its huge bat wings folded gently at its sides. Maybe it was because Ryan's voice was a little loud, so it raised its head uneasily and sped up its pace slightly.

The wheel turned creakingly and finally stopped in front of the stone steps of the castle.

Vader jumped out of the carriage. The night air is very cold, and the breath you exhale turns into white mist. He turned around and met Yeqi's pale, empty eyes.

This feeling is very strange.

No wonder that in ancient times, people equated seeing the Thestrals with seeing death, and believed that the Thestrals would bring disaster to those who saw them.

"What are you waiting for, Wade!" Ryan patted his back, stamped his feet and said, "It's really cold today!"

The students stepped on the snow and stone steps and couldn't wait to enter the castle. At the corner of the foyer, Filch glared angrily at the children who had brought muddy water into the castle.

The lights in the auditorium were brightly lit, and the house elves still prepared a sumptuous dinner. Dumbledore sat on the teacher's bench and looked at the new students with a smile.