Crossing the Black Lake in groups of four is a traditional rite of passage for every Hogwarts opening season. It is said to emulate the founders, the Hogwarts Four, when they first crossed these waters to reach the castle.
In previous years, Hagrid had always taken a boat, but this year he chose to ride Walnut. This necessitated taking a much longer land route around the lake.
However, the thought of so many young wizards navigating the Black Lake without a guide troubled him.
"Ah, I should have prepared sooner. How about you four lead the first years, and I'll take the long way around with Walnut?" Hagrid suggested in a low voice.
"It doesn't have to be that complicated," Kane said. He pulled a mountain of materials out of Little Pumpkin's mouth, his hands moving with a speed that rivaled high-level Transfiguration.
In no ti, he had hand-crafted a massive, pancake-shaped wooden raft and launched it onto the Black Lake.
To any onlooker, this was indistinguishable from magic.
He then patted Walnut, signaling the beast to hop on.
"Wow, that's incredibly stable!" Hagrid said, pleasantly surprised.
"But how are we going to make this raft move? It doesn't have any enchantnts or a sail," Hermione asked suddenly. A terrible thought had crossed her mind.
Kane was a man notoriously lacking in "knightly virtue" and boundaries. She could absolutely see him sitting comfortably on the cow-raft while making them paddle through the water.
If Kane had known what Hermione was thinking, he would have been deeply offended.
What kind of monster did she take him for? Would he be the type to stay comfortable while leaving all the dirty, exhausting work to his friends? Absolutely not!
He stood up on the back of the cow and shouted to the crowd of first years below: "There's an opportunity to swap boats! Who wants to ride to Hogwarts with us and this big cow?"
The mont the words left his mouth, the young wizards erupted. At that age, everyone wants to be different; they'd wear mismatched socks just to stand out. They scrambled for the chance to take this unconventional ferry to the castle.
Luna wanted to try, as she truly liked Walnut, but Ginny quickly held her back. "Don't go. I don't know that senior girl very well, but I've spent enough ti with Kane over the last few weeks to know exactly how he operates. He's definitely up to sothing."
Though disappointed, Luna said nothing and remained seated in her boat.
Soon, as the fourth young wizard scrambled onto the raft, Kane pulled out his wand and used a minor spell to toss the other aspiring passengers back into their original boats.
"Alright, four spots only. That's the limit."
The four "winners" looked back at the "losers" in the standard boats with looks of pure, unadulterated triumph. Then, Kane appeared behind them with a smile and patted their shoulders.
"Is sothing wrong, senior?" the first years asked politely.
"Haha, of course not! It's a good thing," Kane said. He pulled out a single paddle, but with a swift sleight-of-hand, he separated it.
What had looked like one paddle was actually four, cleverly disguised. He handed one to each of them.
"Now, everyone take a paddle and start rowing."
The four first years: "????"
"Senior, this isn't right... doesn't this pancake have a propulsion spell?" one of them asked.
Kane patted the boy's shoulder. "Listen to yourself. If this boat had that kind of magic, would there have been any room for you? Hurry up! If you row fast, we'll get back in ti to watch your Sorting Ceremony."
With that, he scrambled back up onto Walnut's back with practiced speed. He was worried that if he stayed down there, one of the kids might actually try to hit him with a paddle.
And so, having tricked four first years into acting as manual labor, Kane sat steadily on the cow's back. He endured the "admiring" gazes of his three friends... and a fair bit of disdain.
Such thods... Hermione thought. It's a rcy Kane isn't their actual house senior.
The other first years watched in shock at the shaless figure atop the cow and the four poor souls rowing for their lives.
"See? I told you staying here was a good idea," Ginny whispered, nudging Luna.
"Mmm, indeed," Luna nodded.
Once they successfully crossed the lake, Kane hopped down. Seeing the four first years lying on the raft like exhausted rotisserie chickens, he handed each of them a piece of chocolate.
"Tsk, tsk. Poor little wizards."
Once back at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, the four of them waited for the Sorting Ceremony. Honestly, the ceremony was secondary; the real priority was the food. Perhaps because of the "stick-and-atball" lunch, they were hungrier than usual.
Soon, Professor McGonagall led the new students into the hall. They lined up like a row of nervous little quails, enduring the scrutiny of the upper years.
It was exactly like Kane's group the year before—minus the "all-out brawl" they had staged in the entrance hall.
The first day of the new term was beautiful.
Well... except for the fact that all four of the "unfortunate rowers" were sorted into Gryffindor.
They were currently staring at Kane with resentnt while whispering their grievances to the other Gryffindor seniors. But other than that, everything was perfect.
Ginny joined Gryffindor, maintaining the Weasley tradition. Luna, anwhile, was sorted into Ravenclaw. Notably, Luna didn't want to take off her cow-horn hat for the Sorting Hat; she only did so after Professor McGonagall's stern insistence.
From the perspective of the other students, it looked like the "Great Demon" of the second year, Kane, had sohow recruited a successor to continue his reign of terror in the first year.
The distinctive cow-horn hat was seen as the mark of his influence.
The sky over Ravenclaw was darkening too.
The Start-of-Term Feast lasted over an hour. Dumbledore lived up to expectations by providing another cryptic and nonsensical opening speech for the new students to puzzle over.
Once it ended, Kane detached himself from the Gryffindor crowd and headed toward the Headmaster's office.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Dumbledore, I'm coming in." Kane spoke as he entered, treating the knock more as a warning for Dumbledore to hide anything he shouldn't be seeing rather than a request for entry.
As it turned out, Dumbledore wasn't doing anything illicit; he was making milk tea.
"Kane, co try this. A warm cup of milk tea is quite cozy at night." Dumbledore pushed a cup toward him.
"Once you've had a sip, we can discuss why you chose to fly a broom to school. The Ministry has no record of you being seen by Muggles, but I don't think you're reckless enough to do that just for fun."
"So, why?" Dumbledore asked mildly.
"When we went to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, the barrier was sealed," Kane said after a sip.
"Three of you?" Dumbledore looked surprised.
"The three of us were blocked. We picked up Hermione from the train while we were on the broom."
"Enviable friendship... but Platform Nine and Three-Quarters has never been closed. Not once. So, soone didn't want you coming to Hogwarts? Who was the target?" Dumbledore murmured, frowning.
"I assu it was Harry. My fa can't compare to his," Kane said, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you examine the barrier at the ti?"
"No... because I really wanted to ride the broom to Hogwarts. A fresh experience, you know?" Kane said, a bit awkwardly.
"Understandable. You're young," Dumbledore smiled. "Knowing soone is plotting against you is enough for now. Leave the rest to .
Though, in the end, you might be the ones to solve it. Young people always have a bit more luck than the old."
Kane stood up. "Then I'll be going?"
"Get so sleep. You have classes tomorrow," Dumbledore nodded with a smile.
Kane left the office. He was indeed going to sleep well—all the way until the next morning.
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