Chapter 27: First Class

Although Kyle never had to worry about delivering letters personally, having his own owl at Hogwarts was still a good idea. In the wizarding world, owls served a similar function to phone numbers in the Muggle world—they often represented the identity of their owner. And that was still quite important.

Take, for instance, Kyle's mother, Diana, who worked in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. This department had very strict security protocols, and letters sent there were meticulously screened. The Ministry would check everything—from the identity and status of the owl, to the sender's details, and even the letter itself, ensuring there were no hidden Jinxes or magical substances. Only after everything was confirmed would the letter be delivered to the Department of Mysteries, often in the form of a paper airplane. Even Kyle's letters weren't exempt from this process, though they were expedited due to his connection.

With the efficiency of the Ministry of Magic, this entire screening process could take at least a day. But with Ratton, things were different. Diana could apply to have him registered as a special owl. This status would grant priority processing, and the screening could be simplified. Instead of the full inspection, they would only need to verify the owl's status, the sender's identity, and perform a basic check for Jinxes, all of which could be done on the spot.

Diana had reminded Kyle of this when they were at Platform 9¾, telling him to use the same owl consistently for his letters, or else he'd need to buy one from Diagon Alley. Naturally, Kyle had no intention of buying an owl when he already had Ratton. Problem solved.

Kyle took some owl nuts from his Mokeskin pouch, along with a few bags of Murtlap-dried rat jerky, and offered them to the group of owls.

He also grabbed some water, added two bottles of owl tonic, stirred it well, and poured the mixture into a stone trough nearby. This was their payment for the trouble—they couldn't be expected to lose their feathers for nothing.

While the owls feasted, Kyle took Ratton back to the castle and headed straight for the Hufflepuff common room. Passing the barrels in the kitchen corridor, he returned to the dormitory, but Mikel and Ryan were already gone, likely off to class. Not giving it much thought, Kyle placed Ratton on the shelf beside his bed, grabbed his textbooks, and left.

In the common room, he ran into Cedric, who was also getting ready to head out.

"Kyle, I was just about to look for you," Cedric said, approaching quickly. "What's your first class?"

"Charms," Kyle replied, shaking the Standard Book of Spells, Beginner's Level in his hand. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, right! Here," Cedric said, handing Kyle a piece of parchment. "This is a map of Hogwarts that the class rep gave me when I first enrolled. It marks the classrooms and some of the stairway changes. I don't need it anymore, so I figured you could use it."

Hogwarts was impressive in many ways, but it was undeniably huge and confusing. The interior was like a maze, and it wasn't uncommon for first-years to get lost. Being late to class, as a result, was a common issue. Fortunately, most professors were understanding of this, and aside from one strict dean, they tended to either turn a blind eye, give a light verbal warning, or deduct a point or two, without taking it too seriously.

Kyle unfolded the parchment and examined it closely. Though it was just an ordinary map, it was incredibly detailed. It clearly marked all the routes from the Hufflepuff common room to each classroom and even indicated where to wait for the stairs to shift before continuing. It was like a simplified version of a live map, but good enough for Kyle's needs.

"Thanks, I really needed this," Kyle said as he tucked the map away. "By the way, what class do you have first?"

"I have Potions... Wait, Potions!" Cedric's eyes widened in sudden realization, and before Kyle could say anything more, Cedric took off running. "I'll go ahead, Kyle! Just remember—never be late for Potions class! That's the most important thing at Hogwarts!"

Cedric's voice faded as he disappeared down the corridor, his panic clear from his hurried departure. Kyle couldn't help but think Snape must have left a deep psychological scar on Cedric—or perhaps on many young wizards. He suspected he might not be able to escape Snape's wrath either.

"Too bad Harry Potter didn't enroll a year earlier. That would've been great," Kyle muttered to himself, shaking his head. With that, he left the common room, heading to his first class.

...

Charms Classroom was on the third floor, and it was easy for Kyle to find, thanks to the map Cedric had given him. As he entered the classroom, the first thing he noticed was a stack of books arranged in the shape of a staircase, with four portraits of wizards hanging on the wall. Though they were likely famous figures, Kyle didn't recognize any of them. On either side of the room, the emblems of the four Hogwarts houses were displayed, while further inside were long tables for the students.

When Kyle arrived, there were still five minutes before class began. He wasn't early, but surprisingly, there weren't many students in the room yet, and even Professor Flitwick was nowhere to be seen. Kyle found a seat, noting that the room was divided between Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, with the latter sitting opposite him.

As nine o'clock approached, more students rushed in, panting from their sprint to class. Kyle spotted Kanna among them, but unfortunately, she stormed past him without a word. At exactly 8:59, Mikel and Ryan stumbled in, just barely on time.

"Thank goodness, we're not late," Mikel panted as he collapsed into his seat next to Kyle. He was out of breath, but that didn't stop him from launching into a complaint. "We got lost."

"My goodness, Hogwarts is a real maze," he continued, shaking his head. "We were supposed to head to the third floor, but the stairs shifted when we were on the second floor, and somehow, we ended up on the fifth floor!"

Ryan nodded in agreement, chiming in, "Then we started walking back down, but it took us forever to realize we were still stuck on the fifth floor."

Mikel threw his hands up in frustration. "We finally made it down, but we ended up back on the second floor! Kyle, we climbed those stairs for thirty whole minutes—my legs are about to give out!"

As Mikel became more and more agitated, he was practically on the verge of tears.

"Wait a minute, this doesn't make sense. Give me a second," Kyle said, rubbing his forehead, trying to make sense of their story. Even if someone was lost, it should still be easy to tell whether they were going up or down. What they were describing seemed more like some bizarre metaphysical phenomenon than magic. And there hadn't been anything about this in the map Cedric gave him.

"Forget it, never mind," Kyle eventually said, giving up on figuring out the mystery. "So how did you guys end up here?"

"We were brought here," Mikel admitted, his face turning red as he pointed across the room. "We bumped into a first-year Ravenclaw on the fifth floor. She helped us down the revolving staircase and asked if we were headed to the Charms Class. She said we could follow her."

Kyle glanced in the direction Mikel was pointing and saw the student sitting with her classmates and realized Mikel was referring to Ravenclaw's Cho Chang.