Chapter 27: The First Lesson

Although Kyle never had to worry about delivering letters, it was still better to have an owl of his own at Hogwarts.

Because in a sense, owls and phone numbers in the Muggle world are the same, and they usually represent the identity of their owners.

This point was quite important.

To give the simplest example, Kyle's mother, Diana, works in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic. The management of this department is very strict. Except for special circumstances, the letters sent usually need to go through layers of screening.

From the identity, ownership, and status of the owl... to the name and identity of the sender, and finally to checking whether there are special substances or curses on the letter.

Once everything was clear, the letters were sent to the Department of Mysteries in the form of paper airplanes.

This was the rule, and even if Kyle sent a letter, there were no exceptions. At most, the process would go faster.

With the efficiency of the Ministry of Magic, it would take at least a day for the whole process to be completed.

But with Raton it was different.

Diana can apply for it as a special owl. The letters would be prioritized, the screening process could also be simplified a lot. She only needs to check the status of the owl, the name of the sender, and whether there were any curses on the letter. It could be completed on the spot.

Diana specifically told him this when he was at Platform 9¾, asking him to try to choose the same owl when sending letters in the future. If that didn't work, go to Diagon Alley and buy one.

Of course, it was impossible to buy one. How could Kyle waste that kind of money? Wasn't there already Raton available?

The perfect solution.

Kyle took out some owl nuts and a few bags of Murtlap rat jerky from the Mokeskin bag he carried with him and pushed them in front of the owls together with the chestnuts in his hand.

After that, he found some water, poured two bottles of owl tonic into it, stirred it well, and poured it into a stone trough next to him.

This was considered a fee for their hard work, and he couldn't let them lose their feathers in vain.

While the owls were eating, Kyle took Roton back to the castle and then walked straight towards the Hufflepuff common room.

He passed through the wooden barrel in the kitchen corridor and returned to the dormitory.

Mikel and Ryan were not here so they must have gone to the classroom.

Kyle didn't think much about it, placed Raton on the shelf next to his bed, picked up his textbook, and left.

In the common room, Kyle happened to meet Cedric who was also getting ready to go out.

"Kyle, I was just going to find you." Cedric walked over quickly and said, "What is your first class?"

"Charms." Kyle shook the "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1" in his hand and asked, "Why are you looking for me?"

"By the way, this is for you." Cedric handed a piece of parchment to Kyle:

"This is a map of Hogwarts given to me by a Prefect when I first entered school. The location of classrooms and the changing patterns of the stairs are marked on it. 

I don't need this now, so it's just right to give it to you."

Hogwarts was good in every aspect, but it was too big, and the interior even more complicated, like a big maze. Basically, all the little wizards who had just entered the school would get lost, and being late was a common occurrence.

Fortunately, the professors also knew what was going on. Except for a certain dean, the other professors turned a blind eye to this. They either verbally reprimanded, or symbolically deducted one point; they didn't care too much about it.

Kyle took the parchment and looked at it carefully.

It was just a very ordinary map, but the content was very detailed. It not only clearly marked all the routes from the Hufflepuff common room to each classroom, but also specifically indicated where one needed to wait for the stairs to turn before they could walk.

It was an inferior version of the Marauder's Map, but it was enough for Kyle.

"Thank you, I really need this." Kyle put away the map and said, "By the way, what is your first class?"

"Mine's Potion...wait, Potion!"

Cedric was suddenly startled, and ran away: "I'm leaving first, Kyle. Remember, the last thing you want to be late for in Hogwarts is the Potions class. You must remember..."

Cedric's voice became smaller and smaller, and soon disappeared at the end of the passage.

It was not difficult to see from his behavior that Snape must have left a deep trauma in his heart...or in other words, he has left a trauma in the hearts of many young wizards.

Kyle guessed that he wouldn't be able to run away either.

"What a pity. It would have been great if Harry Potter could have entered school a year earlier."

Kyle shook his head and left the common room shortly after.

…

The Charms classroom was on the third floor and could easily be found by following the map.

When he opened the door, the first thing he saw was a stack of books piled up like a staircase, and four unknown portraits hung on the wall in front of him.

They were probably some of the more famous wizards, but Kyle didn't know any of them.

On the walls on both sides were the logos of the four houses, and below were several long tables.

When Kyle got here, there were still five minutes before class started.

To be honest, it was already quite late, but there were not many students in the classroom, not even Professor Flitwick.

Kyle found a seat and sat down.

Sitting across from him were several young wizards from Ravenclaw. The students from the two houses were on the led and right, and there was a clear distinction between them.

As nine o'clock got closer and closer, little wizards pushed the door open one after another and came in panting.

Kyle also saw Kanna, but unfortunately, the little witch ignored him entirely and walked past him angrily.

At 8:59, Mikel and Ryan also arrived.

"Thank God, I'm not late."

Mikel started panting as soon as he sat down and complained to Kyle.

"We got lost."

"God, Hogwarts is a maze. We were originally going to the third floor, but when we were on the second floor, the staircase suddenly changed its position. After we went up, we ended up on the fifth floor inexplicably."

"Then we started walking down again, and after walking for a long time we realized we were still on the fifth floor."

"We finally came down, but we returned to the second floor... Do you have any idea, Kyle, we've climbed the stairs for thirty minutes, and my legs almost broke!"

The more Mikel spoke, the more aggrieved he became. He was almost crying.

"Wait a minute, it's too complicated, slow down a little." Kyle rubbed his forehead. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure out how the two of them could walk down without moving.

Even with no sense of direction, they should be able to distinguish between up and down.

Wandering in circles was already in the realm of metaphysics, which was not the same as magic.

Moreover, there were no records of this in the map Cedric gave him.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it for now." Kyle, who really couldn't figure it out, decided to give up and turned around to ask, "Then how did you find this place in the end."

"We were brought here." Mikel blushed, pointed to the opposite side, and said, "We met a new Ravenclaw student on the fifth floor. She pulled us down the spiral stairs and... asked if we were going to Charms class, and if so we could come with her."

Kyle glanced subconsciously and realized that Mikel was actually referring to Cho Chang of Ravenclaw.

(End of chapter)