Ravenclaw's Welcome Gift

Lunchtime arrived quickly.

Perhaps because of the upper-year students' scare tactics last night, a far higher proportion of Ravenclaw first-years arrived at the Great Hall on time than those from the other Houses.

By then, Andrew had finally found his dormmates and introduced himself to them. As for their personalities and temperaments, they would only become clear once they got to know one another better.

Hopefully, none of them are peeping Toms, or delivering future manuscripts will be a serious problem...

Andrew even considered asking magic for help—but unfortunately, as a first-year, he could not simply learn a spell whenever he wanted.

While he was having a brief chat with his four dormmates, an upper-year boy approached him. "Taylor, after the first class this afternoon, go to the fifth classroom beside the spiral staircase at the far left end of the third floor. Group meeting."

At the same time Andrew received the notice, two of his other dormmates were also notified by other groups. As for the remaining two, no one came to bother them before it ended.

I wonder whether they were eliminated during the group selection or have already decided not to take sides.

He obviously was not about to spoil the mood by asking. After a hurried goodbye following lunch, he prepared for his afternoon classes.

By the afternoon classes, there was an obvious change in seating arrangements. Unlike that morning, when everyone had randomly picked a seat while looking forward to class, that afternoon, most people had found seats according to the groups they had joined, while the rest had roughly grouped themselves by dormitory...

This is way too divisive...

The first class that afternoon was Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall's performance was no less impressive than Professor Flitwick's, and her animal transformations made Andrew forget the issue of the House becoming overly fragmented that he had been considering earlier.

Perhaps because he had done enough preparation beforehand, he earned five points for Ravenclaw this time—but aside from that, he gained almost nothing.

Professor McGonagall practically broke down every point of knowledge as she explained it. It was an exhausting teaching method. Its benefit was that it ensured most students understood, but for Andrew, who had already taught himself quite a lot, it was all too ordinary.

I need to be a little thicker-skinned and try asking the professors about the questions I've accumulated through self-study after class...

He put on an attentive expression and added Transfiguration self-study to his schedule.

Then, after class, he grabbed his bag and shamelessly rushed up behind Professor McGonagall, directly asking her every question he had accumulated during his holiday self-study.

Just as he had expected, Professor McGonagall answered his questions with almost no hesitation, and the warning he had expected never came.

"You do have some thoughts of your own, Mr. Taylor."

After confirming that he had no further questions, Professor McGonagall gave a slight nod. "How about this? Go borrow these two books from the library."

A quill flew out by itself and wrote the titles on a blank sheet of parchment. "Read the first two chapters of this one and one chapter of the other, then submit a paper on each to me. As soon as possible."

"Yes, Professor."

A smile appeared on Andrew's face.

After putting away the parchment, he immediately dashed to the third floor and made it to the empty classroom in time.

About ten minutes later, an upper-year student entered the classroom.

"First-years, good. Follow me."

He looked at the first-years present, nodded, then turned and led the way out.

Andrew and the others looked at one another before following him.

Soon, they stopped outside a larger classroom. Two upper-year students were already sitting inside with a box.

"Are you expecting something?"

As the first-years crowded in, the upper-year student seated to the right of the box looked at them disdainfully. "Don't tell me you thought the assessment ended after last night, and you could start fantasizing about joining the Ministry of Magic with the upper-years?"

"Do you know what kind of selection we went through?"

"The Ministry of Magic only recruits so many people each year. Did you expect to receive a job offer from the Ministry just by waiting around like idiots?"

"Don't be stupid—even if people who enter the Ministry prioritize sticking together with members of the same club, use your not-entirely-stupid brains and think. Why should it be you? So many pure-bloods are watching that position!"

"Mike, you've said too much."

While Mike was berating everyone, the student on the right muttered unhappily.

"We have nothing to do with the Ministry of Magic, and nothing to do with any clubs. We're here only to sell you some things that may help you in school life."

"This is a fair deal. Every item is worth its price."

As he spoke, he opened the box.

There was not much inside—three or four notebooks, a thick stack of materials, a large bottle of potion, and a box of Exploding Snap cards. Andrew did not recognize the exact items, but he could roughly identify them.

"The prices are all listed. These are merely magical items that can help you. The prices are transparent. Anyone willing to buy only needs to pay the Galleons and can take them away."

He folded his hands on the table. "So, who among you is willing to buy something?"

What the hell?

Andrew calmly surveyed his surroundings. Scammers are already targeting first-years?

So all that urgency yesterday was just to start scamming first-years out of their money?

No, that doesn't make sense. They're putting in way too much effort... And they deliberately set up a seemingly fair system. Why go to all that trouble for this?

Having been shaped by the internet, Andrew had seen scam tactics at least thirty years ahead of this lot—these little tricks before him were primitive beyond belief.

Whatever they're after, I can't turn hostile and accuse them outright. Even if they're scammers, they're upper-year scammers with wands. If there were only one, I could consider ambushing him and knocking away his wand, but with this many, forget it.

"Sorry," Andrew said. "If I'm willing to pay more Galleons, could I gain more friendship?"

"There is no friendship, sir. This is just an ordinary transaction."

"Then what if I'm absolutely taken with one of the items and am willing to pay a high price for it?"

"Then naturally..."

"I need to go back to the common room to get my money. It's in my trunk."

Andrew hurriedly added.

"Of course you can."

Idiot...

He cursed inwardly, then ran out the door toward the common room. "I'll be right back!"

As soon as he passed through the corridor, he turned and headed down another hallway. He planned to take a detour back to the room they had agreed on earlier, then report this to a professor.

Sure enough—when he found that classroom, the person in charge was still fuming.

"As Ravenclaws, the first day hasn't even ended, and you still managed to get lost?"