Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

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

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

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

By the time the four arrived at the classroom in a rush, caretaker Argus Filch had already come to unlock the door. After all, Professor Binns, being a ghost, could not open it for them.

Gryffindor shared History of Magic with Ravenclaw. Before class, everyone sat in their respective seats and chatted.

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

"Not bad luck," Albert muttered. As he took out History of Magic from his bag, he also pulled out Nineteenth Century Spell Selection. Using the book as cover, he flipped through his Skill List.

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

In Albert's memories, basic skills like this were very useful, so he immediately raised Charm Theory to Level 1. As he carefully recalled the additional Charm Theory knowledge in his mind, he could not help frowning. The effects of raising it by just one level did not seem all that significant.

How should he put it?

His Charm Theory had indeed improved, but Albert still felt that it was merely 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 Charm, Albert popped another Every Flavor Bean into his mouth as though he were eating Chocolate Beans.

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

Damn it, the bean he had just eaten was chili pepper flavored. Albert was burned badly enough to swear that he would never eat these things while distracted again.

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

"Every Flavor Beans. Chili pepper flavor." Albert pointed at the little box on the desk. The Every Flavor Beans they had bought on the train last time still had not been finished.

"Every bite is a great adventure." Fred laughed gleefully, not forgetting to use the Every Flavor Beans slogan to tease Albert.

Albert shot the guy in front of him a fierce glare, then took a toffee from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth to ease the burning. 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 Flavor."

"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.

Before he had even finished speaking, Lee Jordan's voice rang out beside him.

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

A Ravenclaw girl beside him shot Lee Jordan a disgusted look.

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

"Scourgify." Albert raised his wand, pointed it at Lee Jordan's mess, 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 already," George teased. "He just ate another one. It was orange jam 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 popped another piece of chocolate into his mouth, and only after chewing did the burning sensation 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 family taught them beforehand. And..." Katrina glanced at the copy of Nineteenth Century Spell Selection Albert was reading. "I'd bet the Sorting Hat put you in the wrong house."

"There's nothing wrong with Gryffindor." Albert did not mind her words. "Besides... I come from a Muggle family."

"That's impossible. Only children from wizarding families would have relatives who taught them magic in advance." Katrina looked somewhat 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 have to answer the Eagle Bronze Door Knocker's question before you're allowed into the Ravenclaw Common Room." Katrina studied Albert suspiciously and asked, "But I'm curious, how did you know about that? Lots of people don't even know how to enter the other houses' Common Rooms."

"I happened to hear a Ravenclaw student complaining that they couldn't answer a question and got left outside the Common Room, or something like that." Albert made up an excuse casually.

"Oh!" Katrina was still somewhat suspicious of Albert. After all, the chances of encountering something like that were not high.

"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 for another Every Flavor Bean. He actually really liked eating them.

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

"Which came first, the phoenix or the 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.

"Just a guess, obviously!" the twins said in unison. Their 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 thought she had already guessed it.

"The chicken came first," Albert answered. 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."