Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

Gryffindor first-years' second class was History of Magic, undoubtedly the most boring course at Hogwarts—bar none.

The History of Magic classroom was located on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle. After their first class, the Gryffindor first-years had twenty minutes of free time.

However, because Albert had spent so long talking with Professor Flitwick, the four of them had no time to waste and had to hurry to the History of Magic classroom.

By the time the four arrived at the History of Magic classroom in a rush, caretaker Argus Filch had already come over to unlock the door. After all, Professor Binns was a ghost and couldn't exactly open it for everyone.

Gryffindor shared History of Magic with Ravenclaw, and before class began, everyone sat in their seats chatting.

Ignoring the twin brothers fooling around beside him, Albert took a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from his pocket, picked out a blue one, and tossed it into his mouth. After chewing it, he found it was blueberry flavored.

"Not bad luck," Albert muttered. As he pulled out History of Magic from his bag, he also took out Nineteenth Century Charms Selection and used reading as cover to browse through his skill list.

After Charms class, Albert had discovered that he had gained another skill: Charms Theory.

In Albert's memory, basic skills like this were quite useful, so he immediately raised Charms Theory to Level 1. As he carefully recalled the extra knowledge of charm theory that had appeared in his mind, he could not help frowning. The effects of raising it by just one level seemed rather limited.

How should he put it?

His understanding of charm theory had indeed improved, but Albert still felt that it was only so-so. Most of the knowledge was not difficult to understand once someone pointed it out, which gave him the illusion that it was nothing special.

While pondering the Lumos spell, Albert picked up another Every Flavor Bean and tossed it into his mouth as though he were eating chocolate.

The next moment, he covered his mouth as a fiery taste spread through it.

Damn it. The bean he had just eaten was chili flavored. Albert was nearly overwhelmed by the spice and swore he would never eat these things while distracted again.

"What's wrong with you?" Fred noticed the change in Albert's expression.

"Every Flavor Bean. Chili flavored." Albert pointed at the little box on the table. The beans they had bought on the train last time still had not been finished.

"Every bite is an experience in great adventure." Fred laughed gleefully, not forgetting to mock Albert in the advertising-slogan tone of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Albert shot the guy in front of him a fierce glare, then took another caramel from his pocket and popped it into his mouth to ease the burning sensation. He casually handed the Every Flavor Beans to Fred.

"You need to be especially careful when eating Every Flavor Beans." Fred picked one up, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed. "Spinach flavored."

"Mine's strawberry flavored," George announced happily.

"I eat these all the time..." Lee Jordan also leaned over, picked one out, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Every Flavor Beans. Want some?" Albert asked, shaking the box at the others.

The words had barely left his mouth when Lee Jordan cried out from beside him.

"Rotten egg flavor. That's disgusting." The Black boy's face twisted up as he spat the chewed-up bean from his mouth onto the floor.

A Ravenclaw girl beside him gave Lee Jordan a look of disgust.

Noticing her gaze, Lee Jordan looked a little embarrassed and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Scourgify." Albert raised his wand, pointed it at Lee Jordan's vomit, and casually tossed him a fruit candy.

"I'm never eating Every Flavor Beans again," Lee Jordan swore.

"You've said that more than once," George teased. "He just ate another one. It was orange marmalade flavored."

After Lee Jordan's incident, everyone kept their distance from Albert's little box of Every Flavor Beans. They did not want to eat anything strange.

"What spell did you just use?" The Ravenclaw girl introduced herself. "My name is Katrina McDougal."

"Hello, Katrina. I'm Albert Anderson." Albert put another piece of chocolate into his mouth, and only after chewing it did the fiery taste gradually fade. "That was the Scouring Charm, a very useful spell."

"Most first-years aren't as good at magic as you are, even if their families taught them in advance. And..." Katrina glanced at the copy of Nineteenth Century Charms Selection Albert was reading. "I'd say the Sorting Hat definitely put you in the wrong house."

"There's nothing bad about Gryffindor." Albert did not take her words to heart. "Besides... I come from a Muggle family."

"That's impossible. Only children from wizarding families would have relatives teaching them magical knowledge in advance." Katrina looked rather stunned.

"I heard... that to enter the Ravenclaw Common Room, you need to answer a question..." Albert stiffly changed the subject. He did not want to argue about his bloodline.

"That's right. You need to answer a question from the Eagle-shaped bronze knocker before you're allowed into the Ravenclaw Common Room." Katrina studied Albert suspiciously and asked, "But I'm curious—how did you know that? A lot of people don't know how to enter the other houses' common rooms."

"I happened to hear a Ravenclaw student complaining about not being able to answer a question and being left outside the Common Room or something," Albert made up casually.

"Oh!" Katrina was still somewhat suspicious of Albert. After all, the chances of coming across something like that were slim.

"Don't you think Albert can chat with anyone?" George muttered quietly from beside them.

Fred nodded repeatedly, and Lee Jordan agreed as well. He reached into the box and took another Every Flavor Bean. The guy actually liked them quite a lot.

Albert glared at the three of them, then cleared his throat and asked, "Tell me, what interesting questions have you run into?"

"Which came first, the phoenix or fire?" Katrina chose a question whose answer she happened to know.

"What do you think?" Albert turned to look at the twin brothers.

"I think the phoenix came first?" Fred said.

"That's what I think too," George immediately echoed.

"Why?" Lee Jordan asked in confusion.

"Of course we guessed!" the twins said in unison. Their utterly matter-of-fact expressions made everyone laugh.

Albert could not help laughing too.

"What about you?" Katrina asked again.

"In the Muggle world, there's a similar question." Albert did not answer directly and continued, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

"What's the answer?" Katrina asked curiously. She felt she had already guessed it.

"The chicken came first," Albert replied. Sure enough, the answer was different from what Katrina had expected.

"Why?"

Albert explained, "How could an egg appear out of nowhere?"

Katrina shook her head. "That reason isn't enough."