"Rock Cake?" Annie raised an eyebrow, this name... a bit hard to understand.

But since Harry says it’s delicious, it must be right—if there’s a chance, I must try it.

The simple-minded Annie remembered Harry’s words in her heart.

"Alright, Harry, I’ll give it a try."

Ginny, Neville, and Seamus followed behind them, exchanging glances and silently mourning for this naive little girl.

No, is rock cake really something people can enjoy?

That thing could shatter your teeth into pieces with one bite...

After walking for a while, Hermione and Ron quickly caught up.

"Oh my god," Hermione said breathlessly, "If possible, I’d rather not be the Class Prefect—it’s just too tiring, with so much to manage."

"Oh, don’t be discouraged, Hermione," Harry said with a smile, "You still have to sort the new students into their dormitories after the Sorting Ceremony."

Hearing Harry’s words, Hermione and Ron both rolled their eyes.

"Alright, we know, no need to remind us, Harry!"

Everyone around laughed together, the laughter was quite mischievous.

Soon they arrived beside a row of carriages, Ron looked up and said, "It’s so interesting, last year at this time I couldn’t see what was pulling the carriages, but today I can—hey, Seamus, Neville, and Ginny, can you see them?"

"Of course we can, Ron," Ginny said, somewhat lost in thought as she looked at the Nightmares pulling the carriages.

The Nightmares appeared rather abstract; their bodies were tall but bony, entirely black, resembling a dragon-headed horse, with wide wings on their backs able to fly swiftly in mid-air.

"They’re Nightmares," Hermione began to explain to everyone, "Nightmares are an astounding Magical Creature, visible only to those who have witnessed death—thus, they were once considered omens of bad luck, supposedly bringing terrible disasters to those who see them."

"You know so much," Annie sincerely praised Hermione.

"Oh, well," Hermione said playfully, "Everyone says that about me..."

"Yes, especially Professor Snape," Ron imitated Snape’s voice, extending his tone as he said, "Miss Omniscient..."

"Haha..." Everyone burst into laughter.

After they boarded the carriages, the carriages formed a line, creaking and swaying along the road.

They passed the tall stone pillars on both sides of the gate leading to the school grounds, with winged boars on top of the columns.

Hogwarts Castle loomed closer: its tall towers appeared darker against the night sky, with occasional windows casting fiery red light above them.

The carriages clinked to a halt beside the stone steps leading to the oak door, Harry was the first to get off.

The auditorium was filled with four long college tables, above which was a starless black ceiling, identical to the view of the sky they saw through the tall windows.

Candles floated above the tables, illuminating the few silver-white ghosts in the hall, and lighting up the excited faces of the students.

They excitedly chatted, exchanged summer news, shouted greetings to friends from other colleges, and evaluated each other’s new hairstyles and outfits.

As they reached the hall, Luna departed from them to sit at the Ravenclaw table.

Annie, however, did not rush to the Slytherin table; she followed Harry to the Gryffindor table.

Once they reached the Gryffindor table, Ginny was enthusiastically pulled away by several fourth-year students.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Seamus Neville found seats together in the middle of the table, flanked by Gryffindor College’s ghost—Nearly Headless Nick—on one side, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown on the other.

The two girls greeted Ron with insincere enthusiasm, Harry guessed they must have been discussing him a second ago.

"Looks like you had a pleasant summer," Lavender Brown said with a fake smile, then turned to Annie, surprised, "Who is this? I haven’t seen her before... Is she a new transfer student?"

"You guessed right," Harry replied joyfully, "She is the student who transferred into the fifth year this year, Annie Saru."

"Ah? Fifth year?" Lavender asked in astonishment, "Shouldn’t it be sixth year? I remember Miss Grindelwald, Miss Malfoy, and Miss Swedding all transferred into sixth year, why is this student in fifth year?"

Harry thought, well, I can’t tell you Annie dropped out before finishing fourth year...

Vivi and the others transferred into sixth year because they dropped out after finishing fifth year to search for Harry.

Annie transferred into fifth year because she couldn’t suppress the Black Magic Curse in her body and had to drop out early in fourth year.

"Perhaps it’s because she’s younger," Harry improvised, "But that’s not the main point—"

He pointed towards the staff table at a woman and said, "Is she our new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

Everyone followed his direction, first looking at Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sat in the gold high-backed chair at the center of the long faculty table, as always wearing a deep purple robe adorned with silver stars, paired with a matching hat.