We Are Ravenclaw

Everyone stood up. Ravenclaw's male prefect, Quim Grey, and female prefect, Penelope Clearwater, called for the first-year students to gather.

The two arranged the new students into two neat lines by gender. Once the noisy Gryffindors had left the Great Hall, they counted everyone to make sure no one had been left behind before leading the group outside.

Following the prefects through the bustling Great Hall and down a long corridor, they arrived inside a tower. While they waited for a misplaced marble spiral staircase to return to position, Penelope introduced Ravenclaw's Common Room.

"Our Common Room is located in the highest tower in all of Hogwarts. The climb is a little tiring, but you won't have to worry about navigating those messy staircases. At worst, you'll run into a situation like this and just have to wait a while."

As she spoke, the staircase finished repositioning itself, and everyone climbed the spiral stairs toward the top. The staircase was exceptionally steep, and by the time even Sean was feeling dizzy from the climb, the group finally stopped.

Before them stood a massive wooden door. It was completely bare, save for a bronze Eagle Head Knocker where the handle should have been.

Penelope wore a proud smile. "This is Ravenclaw's Common Room, but we differ from the other Houses. As Ravenclaws, who excel at thinking, we don't use passwords. Instead, you need to answer a question correctly."

"Answer a question?" someone asked in confusion.

Penelope nodded seriously. "That's right. Ravenclaw hopes that those who come after us will continue thinking. As long as you answer correctly, even students from other Houses may enter. But if you can't answer, then I'm sorry—even if you're a Ravenclaw, you'll have to wait outside until someone comes to save you."

With that, she stepped forward, lifted the knocker, and rapped it once. The bronze eagle head spoke in an ethereal, gentle female voice. "You have arrived at a fork in the road. The two paths lead respectively to Truth Village and Lie Village. The people of Truth Village only tell the truth, while the people of Lie Village only lie. One villager from each village stands guard at the fork, but you do not know which is which. If you may ask only one person one question, how do you choose the path to Truth Village?"

A classic truth-and-lie logic puzzle. Sean only needed a moment of thought to find the answer. This was probably one of the simplest kinds of logic riddles.

Penelope stood smiling by the door and asked the new students, "Would anyone like to give it a try?"

Having been selected for Ravenclaw, most of the first-years present were rather proud, and they all began racking their brains.

Sean glanced at Hermione in the line opposite him. The girl's brows were tightly furrowed. Her right hand gestured against her left palm while she muttered under her breath.

After waiting for a while and seeing no one step forward, Sean finally took a light step ahead.

"May I try, Miss Clearwater?"

"Of course." Penelope moved aside. The newcomer who had worn the Sorting Hat for thirty minutes had left a deep impression on her, and his polite manner made an excellent first impression as well.

Sean walked up to the eagle head and quietly gave his answer. "You can ask either person which path leads to the village they come from."

"Correct," said the eagle head, and the wooden door opened.

Sean smiled. It seemed the Eagle Head Knocker's accepted answers were not entirely strict about airtight logic. His answer, strictly speaking, did have a flaw.

Of course, if it had not been accepted, Sean had other answers.

For example: "Which path would the other guard say leads to the path behind you?"

Or: "Does the guard at the fork leading to Truth Village tell the truth?"

It did not matter whom he asked. A little roundabout reasoning would do the trick.

"Excellent." Both prefects gave a few light claps. In previous years, very few new students could answer the question correctly. Besides, today's question was quite difficult; even upper-year students would need some time to think it through.

It seemed the Sorting Hat had made a perfectly normal choice when it spent thirty minutes deciding.

Sean smiled and gave a slight bow. Honestly, he thought this kind of question was quite simple. The other Ravenclaws should be able to solve it too if they thought for a while.

If you wanted to stump an Englishman, all you needed was an arithmetic problem.

A system of two linear equations would do.

Under the admiring gazes of several new students, Sean entered Ravenclaw's Common Room.

It was a large circular room. The Common Room had arched windows, and blue and bronze silk hangings covered the walls. Stars were painted across the domed ceiling, and the dark blue carpet below was patterned with stars as well. Tables, chairs, and bookcases stood across the floor. In a niche opposite the door stood a white marble statue of one of Hogwarts' founders: Rowena Ravenclaw.

Sean walked over and silently regarded the statue for a while before giving it a slight bow.

That was the respect a great pioneer deserved.

When he raised his head, he caught a fleeting glance from nearby. Sean did not find its owner, but it was no great matter, and he quickly put it out of his mind.

After the prefects finished their welcoming speech for the new students, Sean said goodbye to Hermione and entered the area where the boys' dormitories were located.

He and his five roommates—Anthony Goldstein, Kevin Entwhistle, Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot, and Terry Boot—found their six-person dormitory.

After washing up, Sean collapsed onto his four-poster bed with its hanging curtains. Before long, his roommates had drifted off to sleep. After all, they had been exhausted by the day.

Sean was equally tired, but he had not forgotten that he still had a golden item to inspect.

Excitedly, he opened the system panel.

Name: Sean Wallop (born to a Muggle Family, bloodline unknown)

Magical Items: Wand (purple): made of elm wood, with a Dragon Heartstring core, ...

Charms Talent: 4 (Study hard, and there's still hope)

...

Below the talents, the spells he had learned also appeared in the list.

Repairing Charm: Lv0, Proficiency (186/1000)

Quieting Charm: Lv0, Proficiency (207/1000)

Lighting Charm...

A whole pile of Lv0 spells appeared on the list, but most had only a few points of proficiency. After all, his Spell Talent was average.

Furthermore, although Sean's Transfiguration Talent was extremely high, Transfiguration required ten thousand proficiency points even at level zero. His self-study had not produced much progress.

Of course, now was not the time to think about that. At Hogwarts, proficiency would certainly grow much faster than through self-study.

Sean only wanted to see what he had drawn.

Opening his inventory, he immediately found the golden item.

Magical Creature Egg (golden) (unhatched)

Sean: ...That's it?

Shamelessly asking for some votes~ Putting out a bowl~