Some Other Ravenclaw Daily Life

"Going to the library again?"

"Yeah."

Andrew packed up his bag and answered as if it were only natural.

"God... It's only the second week of term, and you practically live in the library already."

Kevin sat up on his bed and looked at Andrew. "Think about it. Other than eating together and watching Quidditch once, you've spent all your free time going to the library."

I guess that's true...

Andrew paused for a moment, then realized Kevin was right—compared to the other students, his life at Hogwarts was painfully simple.

But what choice do I have... I see that noseless Voldemort with a scarf every day at meals!

Defense Against the Dark Arts was completely hopeless. He wasn't stupid enough to throw himself in that man's face, which left Transfiguration, where an excellent professor was willing to provide extracurricular guidance.

Maybe the other students found his life unbearably dull, but—he could genuinely feel himself improving at Transfiguration!

"Don't take House points so seriously—not everyone can be as freakishly good at every subject as Miss Granger."

"Exactly." Their other roommate, Bell, set down his copy of Quidditch Star. "Andrew, you need to learn to use your brains to embrace life, instead of stupidly treating books as the sole source of knowledge."

Of course I know that. If that noseless Voldemort died, I'd definitely take a good look around the Wizarding world...

But he couldn't say that.

"See? You know it too, right?"

Bell grinned as he walked over to Andrew and practically forced his bag off his shoulder. "Today—just today. One day a week, that's all. Go enjoy the Hogwarts sunshine."

"Hughes, stop reading. I even talked Andrew into it. Let's take a proper walk around the castle!"

A few minutes later, all five boys from Andrew's dormitory appeared in the castle.

"Our dorm's great in every way, but the biggest problem is that it's too high up..."

Bell led the way. "Honestly, the activity I recommend most is cards—there are all sorts of card games. But that would defeat the purpose of coming out. Spending the whole afternoon playing cards in a classroom isn't what I brought you out to experience."

But Bell was proven wrong almost immediately—there was more than one group playing cards by the Black Lake.

"They're so bad..."

After watching for a while, Bell looked utterly disgusted.

"They don't even count cards... I seriously don't understand why anyone would play cards without calculating what cards are left..."

Don't judge students from other Houses by the club members who scheme themselves to death...

Andrew gave him a light shove.

"Keep it down. They're just playing cards. You lot were completely led astray by those seasoned upperclassmen—you have to master every bit of related knowledge even to have fun."

"Of course you need to learn the knowledge. Otherwise, are you just relying on luck?"

Bell looked unconvinced. "You're so obsessed with Transfiguration. Are you saying you're not fascinated by the knowledge behind it, and just think it's fun?"

Andrew was left speechless.

"He's won," Bell said, still having time to assess the game. "The others can't stop his cards anymore."

Just as he had calculated, the game ended.

"Let's go, let's go. They're too bad..."

Bell called for them to leave with a look of disdain, and the five of them resumed wandering aimlessly across the grass.

"Over there!"

"How dare they?"

"Oh my God..."

In a somewhat secluded spot over there, more than a dozen fishing rods stood firmly by the water—if Filch saw this, his fury would turn to ecstasy in an instant.

The fishermen heard the commotion too. After turning to glance at them, they showed no intention of hiding and simply continued focusing on their rods.

But they had the confidence to do that—there were students from every House, and all of them were upperclassmen.

Slytherin students sat quietly beside Gryffindor students, staring out over the lake, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff upperclassmen argued so fiercely nearby that their faces were red.

It was bizarre and absurd in equal measure.

But considering the fishing rods in front of them, it somehow became a little more normal.

"Look all you want, just don't scare off our fish."

During a pause in the argument, one upperclassman quietly said this to the younger students before immediately resuming his fight with the person beside him.

Andrew listened to part of it and was rather speechless—the Ravenclaw was explaining the experience he had gained from related materials he had read, while the Hufflepuff upperclassman mercilessly mocked him for being full of theories yet coming back empty-handed day after day...

That sort of insult was clearly unacceptable to a theorist. Claims that the water temperature was abnormal, or that Hufflepuff had used food magic to add something to the bait, came one after another.

In any case, Andrew and the others watched for a while before quietly slipping away—during the period when seventh-years were preparing for internships, unless a sixth-year had been collectively rejected, no one really bothered to criticize them.

After that, they came across a small Hufflepuff picnic group and Ravenclaws who had infiltrated it to scam a free meal, as well as a mixed group practicing Quidditch with old brooms—everyone except Slytherin was there, though according to Bell, they were equally matched beginners...

People reading in comfortable spots, people hiding in secluded corners to date, people practicing who knew what spells, mixed groups of every sort, or separate Slytherin groups... There were so many that they nearly forgot why they had come out in the first place.

Once they were tired from walking around, they found a comfortable spot and began playing Exploding Snap.

"It's dark. To the Great Hall!"

"Let's go, let's go!"

It was only after they had settled at the dining table that everyone realized their promised leisurely stroll had ended in card games.

"Kevin, where did you get the cards?"

Before dinner began, they started settling accounts.

"Before we went out, I figured we'd definitely end up playing cards. The only question was when we'd get tired of walking around."

Kevin looked as if it were only natural. "Most of the people we'd run into would be acquaintances killing time. Considering how many people we know and the odds of borrowing cards, bringing cards was obviously the logical thing to do."

That made perfect sense, so Bell, who had been most enthusiastic about going out, immediately changed the subject. "Andrew, tell us—how did this afternoon feel?"

"Very good. Not everyone treats the library as the only place where knowledge exists... Though it also deepened my stereotypes about the Houses..."

"Huh?"

"Yeah." Andrew nodded. "Their entertainment is way too formalized. We were just taking a walk this afternoon, yet we had to write a reflection afterward... Did they think we were in class?"

"Pfft... Hahaha..."

Their corner was instantly filled with laughter.