Another Day at Hogwarts

For almost the entire night, Jon had been having a simple yet immensely broad discussion with Helga.

What Jon spoke of was something Helga had never heard before. She possessed superb magical skill and profound magical knowledge, but lacked any understanding of contemporary wizarding society.

So when Jon began laying out some of his views, Helga showed immense interest. Once the two got talking, they forgot the time entirely, leaving Jon with no energy at all for class the next day.

"What's wrong with you?"

As soon as class ended, Jon's three roommates gathered around him and asked with concern.

During History of Magic, Stephen, Scaly, and Fren had formed a circle around Jon, shielding him so he could sneak in a few naps without the teacher noticing—the ghost professor's lessons were enough to make anyone drowsy in the first place.

After all, they still had Flying Class to attend. Jon could not afford to be exhausted.

"It's nothing. I went to sleep too late yesterday. I'm fine now."

With enormous dark circles beneath his eyes, Jon's words were utterly unconvincing.

"How about we ask for leave for you next class? You can go back and sleep for a while."

Fren was worried that Jon, in that state, would not be able to control a Flying Broomstick. Flying high in the air was still rather dangerous, after all.

"That won't be necessary. I don't have much this afternoon, so I can go back and rest then. Oh, and don't go to the Great Hall at noon. I ordered food."

"All right."

The three followed Jon with lingering doubts, afraid he might suddenly keel over.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Jon remained fairly alert in the wind, and Madam Hooch did not keep them in the air for too long.

In fact, aside from students who had already played with Flying Broomsticks at home—Jon himself had only played with toy broomsticks as a child—they had only just learned to fly and were not suited to staying airborne for too long.

After class, the four of them went to the Great Hall together, not to eat lunch, but to collect a package.

In the letter Jon had sent home yesterday, he had asked his parents to buy six McDonald's meals for him. Considering that he and his roommates were all growing boys with healthy appetites—he had estimated based on how much he himself ate—Mrs. Smith had sent them one large package and one small package by Owl. Both were wrapped in thick parchment and had Warming Charms and Preserving Charms cast on them.

The smaller one was for Bella. Although Jon had not gone to see Bella during the three days since school began, he had still thought of his cousin and bought her two meals as well when ordering McDonald's.

It was not as though his family could not afford it.

Unable to find Bella in the dining hall, Jon had no choice but to ask a senior student—also Bella's classmate, whom he had seen sitting with Bella the day before yesterday—to bring it back to her. According to the girl, Bella had been called away to help by Ravenclaw's head of house.

"I never realized my cousin had that kind of magical talent. Professor Flitwick actually called her over to help?"

Jon carried the large package toward the dormitory while Stephen, Fren, and Scaly followed behind him, listening to him mutter softly, though they could not make out much of what he was saying.

"Don't you think Jon's acting strange?"

Walking a little farther back, Fren quietly said to Stephen, "He's been muttering to himself all day. I have no idea what he's saying."

"It's probably because he didn't sleep well. When I went to wake him up this morning, I found his Potions textbook open on the table. He must have been reading all night."

After Stephen shared his guess with Fren, an image of Jon as a diligent, studious, and ambitious student immediately took shape in both their minds.

"Yeah. He's a Pure-blood Wizard, yet he was sorted into Hufflepuff. Even if he acts relaxed about it, he must be under a lot of pressure!"

Scaly took two steps back and added.

The three nodded solemnly to one another, then realized that their words had placed Hufflepuff House in a lower position and hurriedly dropped the subject.

Otherwise, if Jon heard them, they would surely get another lecture.

Though school had only begun three days ago, they had already gained a deep understanding of Jon's ability to ramble.

Calling it a speech would have been putting it too mildly. It was practically a one-sided bombardment of knowledge!

The three who had experienced Jon's morning temper on their first day of class still could not understand why someone who looked so calm and scholarly had so much to say.

Still, whether Jon talked a lot or not did not affect the deliciousness of McDonald's.

The four reached an unprecedented agreement over food. They quickly finished the entire large package of meals, swept the empty boxes and cola cans into the wastebasket, and shoved Jon into his little space for a nap because he was exhausted. The remaining three went out to continue the castle exploration they had not finished yesterday.

They had the afternoon off, with only Astronomy that evening.

Stephen and the other two ran around all afternoon and lacked energy by the time class began that evening. Jon, on the other hand, who had been listless that morning, eagerly followed Professor Sinistra in observing the night sky for half the class.

Hogwarts's night sky was truly beautiful. Having barely seen any stars at night across both his lives, Jon paid considerable attention to the stars during Astronomy, earning lavish praise from Professor Sinistra for being such a diligent student.

No one else paid much attention to Jon's performance in Astronomy, though. After all, it was Astronomy. No one considered that sort of class important; passing it smoothly was enough.

Astronomy took place after dinner, and Stephen knew Jon had not eaten dinner, so he asked him after class whether he was hungry.

—If he was hungry, perhaps he could go to the kitchen and get something to eat, then bring some back for them while he was at it.

"Then why don't you go yourselves?"

Jon had rested well that afternoon and was in exceptionally high spirits. "It's not curfew yet, is it? You can just go get it yourselves. The kitchen isn't some forbidden place."

He really did not want to go to the kitchen again. Those enthusiastic House-elves had practically wanted to put him on a pedestal, and the sight of every House-elf bowing to him on Sunday still made him uncomfortable.

They were all Hufflepuff students anyway. It made no difference who went to get food.

"No, it does make a difference." Fren shook his head. "We don't know where the kitchen is."

"...The kitchen is behind a painting of fruit not far from the common room. Just tell them you're Hufflepuff students, and the House-elves will welcome you warmly."

Jon glanced around, then lowered his voice to speak to his three roommates only after confirming no one was nearby. "Don't say you know me. Last time, I told them one of you was sick, so don't give yourselves away—just bring me back two pies."