Right on time.
Not late, with time to spare.
In the end, Ian did not give Snape a chance to ask about the recipe for the Draught of Living Death.
"Ian! Over here! Over here!"
William, the green-haired boy, had probably arrived in the classroom long ago.
He just looked rather miserable among the Young Wizards. Everyone else had gathered in groups of three or five to discuss the upcoming class, while he alone sat at a table by himself.
Perhaps the friends he had met on the Hogwarts Express were in the other two Houses, while their good roommate Michael was currently over by Slytherin, shamelessly fawning over someone.
Among all four first-year Houses at Hogwarts, only Michael and an unknown Slytherin girl had limited-edition skins. Clearly, Michael was a very traditional Little Black Guy.
"So that's why Michael didn't say anything when we were discussing which girl was the prettiest this morning."
Ian walked over to William with a look of surprise. His roommate had somehow enthusiastically laid out his textbooks for him and turned to the first section they would cover in Potions Class today.
"He's a traitor!"
William complained indignantly.
"I think it's pretty great."
The knot in Ian's heart instantly came undone, and his mood brightened.
When they had ranked the Young Witches at breakfast that morning, Michael's silence had inexplicably worried him for quite a while. Now it seemed that the Little Black Guy simply had a special love for Black Pearls.
Nothing wrong with that!
"That girl only said good afternoon to him, and it felt like she stole his soul. Slytherin doesn't welcome him at all, but he keeps going over there anyway."
"One day, he'll be conned out of every last Knut of his allowance." William kept muttering, though it was