Ian Campbell

The first-year Astronomy class is held every Wednesday at midnight, with the lesson taking place at the top of Hogwarts' Astronomy Tower.

The young wizards from Slytherin and Ravenclaw climbed the Astronomy Tower, all yawning. Professor Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, was already waiting for them.

"Ian Campbell!"

Professor Sinistra frowned as she called out the name of a new Ravenclaw student, but no one among the young wizards responded.

The professor's mood soured; she was unhappy that a young wizard had skipped the very first class.

"Ravenclaw loses 10 points. We'll start the class, and I'll inform Professor Flitwick of this situation tomorrow."

"It's a full moon today, be careful not to let the moonlight affect your judgment..."

Linley was setting up his telescope according to Professor Sinistra's instructions. He had some impression of the Ravenclaw student named Ian – that arrogant boy with white hair who carried an umbrella on a sunny day.

He seemed to have some secrets too, but Linley wasn't interested.

At this moment, Linley's three roommates, Hubert, Michel, and Mark, suddenly approached him.

For the past two days, Linley had either been reading or sleeping whenever he returned to the dormitory, without exchanging a single word with them. Their approach now clearly indicated some ulterior motive.

"What's up?" Linley shifted his attention from the telescope and looked at them.

Hubert seemed a bit awkward, but his two friends kept encouraging him to go forward.

Linley squinted and silently watched their performance.

Hubert finally seemed to muster up great courage and bowed to Linley.

"I was wrong, Belloc. I shouldn't have mocked you like that before. Please forgive me."

Linley stared at him for a few seconds, then smiled and helped him up, as if he had completely forgotten the unpleasantness that had occurred earlier.

"Didn't I tell you? I've long forgotten about that little misunderstanding. Let's right our capsized boat of friendship from now on and sail together forever."

Hubert didn't understand Linley's nonsensical ramblings, but he heard that Linley seemed to have truly forgiven him.

He immediately became happy.

"That's great! To celebrate our reconciliation, I specifically used my allowance to order a batch of desserts from Honeydukes. Would you be able to grace us with your presence tomorrow afternoon to share them?"

Linley's smile widened, as if he was very happy with Hubert's sincerity in apologizing.

"I'd be delighted, my friend!"

After receiving Linley's affirmative reply, Hubert and the others didn't leave but stayed with him to observe the planetary trajectories through the telescope.

The four of them chatted and laughed until the end of the Astronomy class. Linley's dormitory relationships had suddenly become so harmonious.

"Linley has truly brought a lot of face to us Slytherins these past few days. Even those Gryffindor lions speak to us with less confidence..."

Even before going to sleep, Hubert was still chattering incessantly about Linley's glorious achievements, acting as if he and Linley were the closest of friends.

A friendly night passed.

At four in the morning, Linley's biological clock forced him awake, even though he hadn't slept for four hours.

He washed up, changed into his robes, and left the dormitory as usual.

He hadn't abandoned his habit of morning runs. Cedric usually arrived by the Black Lake at five in the morning. Before that, Linley would jog around the Black Lake for less than an hour.

At five o'clock, Cedric arrived punctually. He circled Linley, who was sitting on the grass resting, looking quite surprised.

After spending more time together, Linley was no longer as polite as he was at the beginning.

"Haven't you seen a handsome guy before? What are you looking at?"

Cedric scratched his forehead and said uncertainly.

"I remember the first-year Astronomy class was at midnight on Wednesdays, right? Why are you up so early today?"

Linley also appeared somewhat listless.

"I'm used to getting up at this time every day. Anyway, I don't have any classes in the morning. At worst, I'll go back and catch up on sleep later."

Saying this, Linley seemed to suddenly think of something and perked up.

"Do you know any jinxes?"

Cedric seemed puzzled as to why Linley would suddenly ask this. He drew out his wand.

"Many young wizards at Hogwarts know a few jinxes. After all, in certain situations, these spells are actually quite useful. Locomotor Wibbly."

As he spoke, he demonstrated by casting a jinx on a frog by the lake.

The poor frog, after being hit by the spell, immediately slumped onto the ground, weakly croaking.

Linley recognized that he had used the Leg-Limping Curse. This jinx was also recorded in The Book of Curses that Professor Foxx had given him yesterday. Similarly, the Tongue-Tying Curse he had used on Hubert on the first night of school also fell under the category of jinxes, recorded within it.

"Then let's practice this today." Linley took out his wand, having decided on his target.

"Why do you suddenly want to learn jinxes?" Cedric seemed to have thought of a reason himself. "That's right, you're a Slytherin. Basically, Slytherins and Gryffindors are both fond of these jinxes."

"And why is that?" Linley raised an eyebrow.

Cedric explained, "Because your two houses often get into brawls. Jinxes can make the other party suffer a bit without causing too serious consequences."

Linley was speechless. So, in the eyes of the young wizards from the other two houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor were just two delinquent groups.

This morning, Linley finally got a taste of his talent in dark magic. Dark spells are essentially spells related to dark magic, and after Cedric demonstrated the jinxes he knew, Linley was able to cast them perfectly on his first try.

Cedric only knew three jinxes in total, and Linley managed to learn all of them within a single morning, even mastering their application. This gave him a sense of frustration he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Alright, I admit it, you're the fastest young wizard I've ever seen at learning spells."

Linley didn't think Cedric was actually praising him. "How many young wizards have you even met? If Dumbledore said that, I might actually get a little excited."

As Linley and Cedric were chatting idly by the lake, a boy came ambling along the lakeshore in the distance.

They both clearly saw the boy's appearance: striking silver hair, unnervingly pale skin, and robes that were somewhat tattered, making him look quite disheveled.

Linley recognized the boy. He had skipped Professor Sinistra's Astronomy class last night. He was a new student from Ravenclaw named Ian Campbell.

Ian stumbled past them, as if he hadn't seen them at all.

Cedric frowned and started to step forward, but Linley grabbed his arm.

"He looks like he needs help," Cedric said to Linley.

Linley shook his head. "The way he is now might involve his privacy, and it looks like he doesn't want us to help him with anything."

Hearing Linley's words, Cedric hesitated and ultimately didn't press the issue.

Ian eventually limped into the castle, disappearing from their sight.

"Okay, let's call it a day. It's about time for breakfast now."

Linley and Cedric put away their wands together. Just as they walked into the castle.

A sharp, piercing scream suddenly rang out across Hogwarts.