Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 104 Homecoming Day

After a morning of frantic activity, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally found an empty compartment at the back of the Hogwarts Express.

"Do we have to do this every year?"

Ron, exhausted and slumped in his seat, posed a soul-searching question.

"Actually, if you find it too troublesome, I can also use Apparition."

"Never mind, never mind..."

Recalling his experience using the door key before the World Cup, Ron quickly waved his hand, declining Harry's offer. He watched as Hermione, as usual, took a book wider than her waist from her backpack and couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Hey Hermione, you've read so many books, have you found out what the secret Percy mentioned before was?"

"Do you want to participate, Weasley?"

Before Hermione could answer, Malfoy's voice rang out first. Seeing the blond boy who had appeared at the door of the private room, Ron instinctively launched into a defensive barrage of sarcastic remarks.

"What are you doing standing there? Are you trying to eavesdrop? We don't think we invited you here."

"Ha, what a joke. Do I need your invitation to go wherever I want?"

As he spoke, Malfoy opened the sliding door, which wasn't fully closed, and walked in.

"Here you go, Potter. This is what my dad asked me to give you."

Harry took the small package from Malfoy and asked with a hint of curiosity:

"What did you just say you wanted Ron to participate in?"

"Don't you all know?"

Draco glanced around at the trio, and seeing that none of them answered him, he immediately adopted a smug and arrogant expression.

"Good heavens, you haven't heard about something this important yet. Potter and Granger are one thing, but Weasley, your father works in the Ministry of Magic! Is it because your father's rank is too low to have the authority to know?"

Ron originally wanted to grab Malfoy by the collar and have a serious "reasoning" with him, but after seeing the small package Malfoy gave to Harry, he managed to suppress his impulse.

He said:

"Either explain what you're saying directly, or get out of here!"

"You really can't take a joke."

"Malfoy shrugged. Then, he waved to Crabbe and Goyle, who were waiting at the box door, sending them back to the Slytherin Prefects' box before speaking again:

"The Three-Way Battle!"

"A three-way battle for supremacy?"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron exclaimed in unison, their tones identical, but the emotions they expressed were completely different.

What exactly is the "Three Kingdoms Tournament"?

Malfoy was overjoyed to have found two opportunities to show off in front of Harry in one day, and he said with a grin:

"The Triwizard Tournament is related to three of the most prestigious schools in Europe: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My father had previously considered sending me to Durmstrang; he knows the headmaster, and Durmstrang truly has the potential to study Dark Arts..."

"Cough cough..."

Malfoy, interrupted by Harry's cough, quieted down a bit.

"The so-called Triwizard Tournament is actually a friendly competition between these three schools. The competition requires each school to select one warrior, and then they need to compete in three different magical events to determine the final winner."

"So Professor Dumbledore must have won the Triwizard Tournament?"

But he didn't.

Malfoy rolled his eyes at Hermione and said:

"The tradition of holding competitions between the three schools dates back more than 700 years, around the 13th century. Although it was initially decided that the competition would be held every 5 years, it was discontinued in 1792 because the competition was extremely dangerous and caused the deaths and injuries of many warriors in history. This year marks the first time in more than 200 years that the International Department of Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Sports have restarted the competition."

"1792? Wasn't Professor Dumbledore studying at Hogwarts by then?"

"Pfft, hahaha!"

Harry's joke about his own headmaster instantly amused everyone in the carriage, even Draco, who hated Gryffindor, temporarily forgot about maintaining the Malfoy family's authority.

......

Several hours later, the train arrived at Hogsmeade Village.

The rumbling thunder in the dark clouds stole the show from the torrential rain, and everyone, from newly enrolled wizards to older students who had started studying at Hogwarts before them, began to worry about being injured by lightning.

"Is Momo in the sky right now?"

"I think so, she seemed pretty happy."

Momo was the name Momo gave to the little thunderbird. It was because of her that Harry and Momo did not choose to use the Cloud-Dispelling Charm to clear the sky.

As Harry stepped off the train, he immediately spotted a familiar, enormous figure on the platform.

He waved loudly and shouted:

Hey! Hagrid! Long time no see!

"Long time no see, Harry!"

Haige's gruff reply sounded like a roaring bear. He waved to Harry as well, then began to beckon the first-year students to follow him across the lake to Hogwarts Castle.

"First-years, this way, follow me! Oh, and Harry, if I don't drown later, we'll meet at the party."

These words immediately caused all the new students who were arriving at Hogwarts School for the first time to show expressions of horror.

Harry didn't understand why older students always liked to scare new students, but when he looked back on this behavior as someone who had been through it, he did find a bit of mischievous pleasure in it.

"Watch out for the giant squid, Hagrid!"

"A giant squid?"

"What giant squid?"

As the young wizards chattered away, Harry smiled and climbed into the Thestrals' carriage. Hermione gave him a light pinch for scaring the wizards, but it was all worth it.

Before long, the long "caravan" set off along the path leading to Hogwarts Castle. They passed through the gates with winged boar sculptures on both sides and swayed all the way to the stone steps with two oak doors.

"Weren't the Dementors gone? Why is it still raining so hard this year?"

Ron jumped out of the carriage, covering his owl cage with his vintage tuxedo and muttering a complaint. But before Harry could come up with a reason, a huge water balloon slammed into Ron's head.

"Ouch!"

Thump, thump, thump!

The cold water bombs rained down, startling even the older students who screamed in terror.

"Scourgify." (to clean thoroughly)

Harley used the Silent Wand Charm to quietly clean up for Ron, then immediately turned his attention to a spot 20 feet above his head.

"It's Mischievous Ghost."

He said this, then gestured for Ron to take out his wand.

“I think you can teach him a lesson with the spell Professor Lupin taught us last year, Ron.”

“Waddiwasi!”

Whoosh!

A black pepper-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean shot into Peeves' throat, choking him and sending him tumbling five times. But after playing pranks on students for so many years, how could he accept being humiliated on the very first day of school?

"Pah! Pah! Pah! You little red-haired brat!"

As Peeves washed his long tongue with water from the water balloon, he cursed at Ron:

"I'm going to drench you in the water today! Take this!"

"Mischievous Ghost!"

Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor and Vice-Headmaster of Hogwarts, suddenly pushed open the door and came out.

"If you keep causing trouble like this, I'm going to tell Professor Dumbledore!"

The name Professor Dumbledore carried some weight in Pippi's ears, but only a little.

Knowing this, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already prepared to use spells to stop the water balloons. But just when they thought Peeves was about to pull off some ultimate prank, he weighed the pros and cons and then threw down a whole bunch of water balloons that flew into the castle.

"Huh? He just... left like that?"

Ignoring Ron's surprised expression, Professor McGonagall sternly addressed the students:

"Everyone, tidy your appearance and then come with me into the auditorium immediately!"

Squeak!

A brilliant golden light shone from behind the pushed-open door, and a group of ghosts, including the nearly headless Nick, the blood-soaked Barrow, and the fat monk, appeared neatly at the ends of the long tables in each academy.

The abundance of candles and extra decorations, almost like those for Christmas, made all the students aware of the new term. And seeing the large number of extra plates and goblets, Harry and his friends understood that the Triwizard Tournament was practically a done deal.

"Everyone, hurry up and take your seats to make room for the new Hogwarts students."

As soon as Professor McGonagall finished speaking, another commotion erupted at the entrance of the auditorium.

A little boy, soaking wet, shouted:

"I've fallen into the lake! I've fallen into the lake!"

Professor McGonagall, who hadn't even placed the Sorting Hat on the stool yet, was furious. She questioned Hagrid about why he hadn't waited until everyone in the banquet hall was settled before bringing the young wizards up, but Hagrid claimed that he had received a notification from Filch before bringing the new students in.

"This is complete chaos!"

Professor McGonagall shook her head and quickly walked to the center of the Great Hall, wearing her Sorting Hat.

She didn't know why Filch had become more clumsy than before since his last vacation, but since Dumbledore was willing to keep him at the school, she, as the vice-principal, couldn't say much.

“That was more than a thousand years ago, when I had just been woven into shape.”

"There were four famous wizards whose names have been passed down to this day."

"Brave Gryffindor..."

"..."

"I need to look into your mind to determine which college you belong to!"

"Stuart Ackley!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Malcolm Bardock!"

Slytherin!

......

Harry and Morpheus had never seen such an efficient Sorting Ceremony. In less than five minutes, Professor McGonagall and the Sorting Hat had assigned the young wizards who entered in 1994 to the four houses.

"Brother! I just fell into the lake, but a huge tentacle pulled me out!"

"tentacle?"

Incredulous, Colin Creevey pulled Dennis aside and asked. It turned out that the little wizard who had been shouting at the door was his brother.

"What kind of tentacles are they? Can you see them clearly?"

"It's a huge squid. Professor Hagrid said it's lived in the Black Lake for who knows how long and has always been harmless!"

"That's so cool!"

"Scourgify." (to clean up thoroughly)

While praising his younger brother, Colin drew his wand and wiped the water off Dennis. Influenced by his idol, this wizard, a year younger than Harry, had always had excellent grades.