Slytherin

Lynn recalled the first time he had met Professor Foxx.

He simply could not reconcile the old man who loved playing pranks, who was both cool and somewhat adorable, with the homicidal madman Betty had described.

"Could you pass me that trifle in front of you?"

Betty looked at Lynn and asked softly.

"Uh, sure."

Lynn had actually wanted to eat the only dessert on the long table too. It was usually his favorite.

But she had just helped him out, so he did not feel right refusing.

He was still troubled by the matter of Professor Foxx, but with so little information, he could not possibly decide that Professor Foxx was a bad person based solely on someone else's account.

The people Lynn could trust now were Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

Clearly, the two of them trusted Foxx greatly, and Lynn himself had formed a good impression of him as well. Otherwise, he would not have been willing to accept his investment.

As for what had really happened with the murders...

It would be best if he could ask him in person when he had the chance. There was no need to become overly suspicious over something like this.

The atmosphere in Slytherin was actually quite good.

Most of the students here were the next generation raised through family-style education. There were certainly some who had been led astray or came from improper households, but for the most part, they were easy to get along with.

The older students told them many amusing stories about Hogwarts, and another trifle suddenly appeared in front of Lynn, making him marvel at the house-elves' thoughtfulness.

After dinner, everyone sang the Hogwarts school song together in different tunes. The result was a complete mess, but Dumbledore clearly loved it.

The freshmen were led back to their dormitories by the prefects of their respective Houses.

"Our Head of House, Professor Snape, may not have the best reputation in the school, but every Slytherin student sincerely admires him. Do you know why?"

Slytherin's dormitories were underground. Along the way, Betty explained the various professors and courses to the freshmen.

The freshmen all shook their heads to show that they did not know, and Judy explained as they walked.

"Because the reason Professor Snape makes students from other Houses dislike him is that he openly favors us. Perhaps that truly is unfair from the perspective of the other Houses, but why does the professor do that?

Aren't we Slytherin students the ones who ultimately benefit from it?

So students from any House have reason to hate him, except us. He may not always be fair, but he truly has our best interests at heart. For Slytherin, he is the best Head of House we could have."

"You may know that Gryffindor values courage, Ravenclaw favors wisdom, and Hufflepuff admires loyalty. But aside from demanding cunning and ambition, many people overlook another quality we possess: unity! The unity unique to Slytherin."

"Do you know? Everyone who enters Slytherin has the potential to become a great person. That proves Salazar Slytherin saw something unique in you. There are many rumors about our House outside these walls. They say we all enjoy studying Dark magic and claim that we use blood status as an admission standard.

"You should not believe what the Houses competing with us say. I will not deny that our House has produced some Dark wizards, but so have the other three Houses—they simply do not wish to admit it.

"Yes, we do tend to admit descendants of renowned wizarding families, but you will also find that many Slytherin students have at least one parent from a Muggle family.

"I like our House emblem very much: the great serpent. It represents cunning, strength, and the fact that it is often misunderstood."

Listening to her, the young wizards following behind her quickly formed a deep impression of Slytherin House.

Betty was undoubtedly a qualified prefect. Even Lynn's view of Slytherin House had changed significantly through her introduction.

They followed Betty to a hidden entrance in the basement.

"A password is required to enter the common room. It changes every two weeks. You are forbidden from writing it down, and you are also forbidden from passing it on to other Houses. The new password will be posted on the notice board in the common room the day before each change. The password for these two weeks is: Blood Oath."

The freshmen entered the Slytherin common room together. To be honest, it was beautiful.

The common room was located beneath the lake and was semi-transparent. Its walls were built of black Gothic marble, while the ceiling was a transparent crystal-carved half dome, through which they could see rippling water illuminated by moonlight overhead.

Green-glowing lamps hung from the ceiling on chains. There was a fireplace in the room with an exquisitely carved mantelpiece, along with several ornate chairs beside it. Occasionally, they could glimpse giant squid or strange creatures through the windows.

"Brad, could you take these gentlemen to their dormitory when you have time? I still need to look after the girls."

Betty spoke to a boy reading a newspaper in the common room.

Brad put down his newspaper and stood up. "Where is Raphael, the boys' prefect? Why are you the only one receiving the freshmen?"

"Professor Snape asked him to help prepare the materials needed for tomorrow's classes."

"What bad timing." Brad shrugged. "Leave them to me."

Lynn and the others separated from the girls there, and a new guide led them to the boys' dormitory.

Their luggage and pets had already been delivered to the foot of each bed by the house-elves.

After arriving in the dormitory, Lynn first gave Umr some water and biscuit crumbs before beginning to unpack his luggage.

The dormitory environment was quite good.

The beds were traditional four-poster beds draped in green silk curtains, with silver-thread embroidery on the bedcovers. Medieval tapestries on the walls depicted the great adventures of famous Slytherins, while silver lanterns hung from the high ceiling.

If he calmed down and listened carefully, he could even hear the soft sound of waves beneath the lake lapping against the windows outside.

After Lynn finished unpacking everything, he took out the timetable Judy had given them earlier.

They had three classes tomorrow: Charms and History of Magic in the morning, followed by Potions class in the afternoon.

Lynn did not immediately go to rest. Instead, he took out the textbooks for tomorrow's three classes and quickly reviewed the material he had already previewed during the summer.

To earn talent points in every subject, he had to perform more brilliantly than the other freshmen.

At that moment, however, an unpleasant snicker sounded beside him.

"What three-years-in-a-row genius? I think you're just a once-in-a-century mediocrity. Who studies before classes have even started? Are you afraid you'll embarrass yourself in class tomorrow?"

There were very few wizards, as could be seen from the number of freshmen admitted to Hogwarts each year.

There were only eight newly admitted Slytherin boys in this year's class, and unfortunately, Lynn had been assigned to room with that obnoxious brat Hubert.

Lynn lifted his eyes from his book and glanced at him.

He had been a teacher in his previous life. Although he had not taught children of this age, he still roughly understood how they thought.

This Hubert clearly had problems with his family education—in other words, poor family values.

Moreover, Betty had just reprimanded him at the feast because of Lynn. Feeling that he had lost face, he now wanted to win it back in front of their other two roommates.

As for his goal...

It was probably not just that Lynn came from a Muggle family and offended his sensibilities. Hubert likely also wanted to use this opportunity to establish himself as the leader among the boys of their year.

In other words, he wanted to be the big boss.

His thoughts were simple, even laughably childish, but they could still hurt people deeply. Much school bullying began by developing from things like this.

Lynn had possessed a perfect method for dealing with this sort of situation in his previous life. It would work just as well at Hogwarts, this magical school.

He looked coldly at Hubert and chuckled.

"I may be mediocre, but what about you? McLean, what exactly are you?"