Ian Campbell

First-year Astronomy class was held at midnight every Wednesday, on the top of Hogwarts' Astronomy Tower.

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

"Ian Campbell!"

Professor Sinistra frowned as she called the name of a Ravenclaw first-year, but none of the young wizards answered.

The professor's expression was grim. A student had actually skipped the very first class, putting her in a terrible mood.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw. We'll begin class first. Tomorrow, I'll inform Professor Flitwick of the situation."

"Tonight is a full moon. Be careful not to let the moonlight affect your judgment..."

Lynn was setting up his telescope according to Professor Sinistra's instructions. He had some impression of that Ravenclaw named Ian—the smug white-haired boy who carried an umbrella on a sunny day.

He seemed to have some sort of secret too, but Lynn had no interest in it.

Just then, Lynn's three roommates, Hubert, Michel, and Mark, suddenly came over to him.

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

"Need something?" Lynn shifted his attention from the telescope and looked at them.

Hubert looked somewhat awkward, but the two friends beside him kept encouraging him forward.

Lynn narrowed his eyes and silently watched their performance.

Hubert finally seemed to gather tremendous courage and bowed to Lynn.

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

Lynn stared at him for several seconds, then smiled and helped him up, as though he had completely forgotten their previous unpleasantness.

"Didn't I say so? I forgot that little misunderstanding long ago. From now on, let's set our overturned boat of friendship right and sail together forever."

Hubert did not understand Lynn's nonsense, but he could tell that Lynn genuinely seemed to have forgiven him.

He immediately became happy.

"That's wonderful! To celebrate our reconciliation, I specially ordered a batch of sweets from Honeydukes with my allowance. Would you do us the honor of eating with us tomorrow afternoon?"

The smile on Lynn's face became even brighter, as though Hubert's sincere apology had delighted him greatly.

"Of course I would, my friend!"

After receiving Lynn's affirmative answer, Hubert and the others did not leave. Instead, they joined him in observing the planets' paths through their telescopes.

The four of them chatted and laughed until Astronomy class ended. Lynn's dormitory relationships had suddenly become remarkably harmonious.

"Lynn has really brought glory to Slytherin these past few days. Even those stupid lions from Gryffindor sound much less confident when they talk to us..."

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

A friendly night passed.

At four in the morning, Lynn's body clock forcibly woke him after fewer than four hours of sleep.

After washing up and changing into his robes, he left the dormitory as usual.

He had not abandoned his habit of morning runs. Cedric usually arrived at the Black Lake at five in the morning, and before then, Lynn would spend nearly an hour jogging around the lake.

At five o'clock, Cedric arrived on time. He circled around Lynn, who was resting on the grass, and looked thoroughly astonished.

After spending so much time together, Lynn was no longer as polite with him as he had been at first.

"Never seen a handsome guy before? What are you staring at?"

Cedric scratched his forehead and said uncertainly, "I thought first-year Astronomy class was at midnight every Wednesday. Why are you still up so early today?"

Lynn looked somewhat listless as well.

"I'm used to waking up at this time every day. Besides, I don't have class this morning. At worst, I can go back and catch up on sleep later."

As he said this, Lynn seemed to suddenly think of something and perked up.

"Do you know any curses?"

Cedric found it strange that Lynn would suddenly ask that. He drew his wand.

"A lot of Hogwarts students know a few curses. After all, in certain situations, they can be quite useful. Locomotor Wibbly!"

As he spoke, he demonstratively cast a curse on a frog by the lake.

The poor frog immediately went limp and sprawled flat against the ground, croaking weakly.

Lynn recognized the spell as the Leg-Limping Curse. It was also recorded in The Book of Curses Professor Foxx had given him yesterday. The Tongue-Tying Curse he had used on Hubert on the first night of term was likewise classified as a curse and recorded within it.

"Then we'll practice this today." Lynn took out his wand and picked a target.

"Why do you suddenly want to learn curses?" Cedric seemed to come up with a reason himself. "Then again, you're a Slytherin. Slytherin and Gryffindor are both especially fond of these curses."

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

Cedric explained, "Because your two Houses often get into group fights. Curses make the other side suffer a little without causing overly serious consequences."

Lynn was speechless. So, in the eyes of students from the other two Houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor were just two gangs of hooligans.

That morning, Lynn finally witnessed his own talent for Dark magic. Dark spells were essentially connected to the Dark Arts. Cedric only needed to demonstrate a curse he knew once, and Lynn could cast it successfully on his first attempt without the slightest mistake.

Cedric only knew three curses in total, yet Lynn learned all of them in a single morning and could use each one proficiently. It gave Cedric a long-forgotten sense of defeat.

"Fine, I admit it. You're the fastest spell learner I've ever seen."

Lynn did not think he was complimenting him at all. "How many young wizards have you even seen? If those words came from Professor Dumbledore, I might get excited for a while."

Just as Lynn and Cedric were chatting idly by the lake, a boy came staggering toward them along the shore in the distance.

They both saw what the boy looked like: striking silver hair, skin so pale it was frightening, and robes that were somewhat tattered. He looked utterly disheveled.

Lynn recognized him. He had skipped Professor Sinistra's Astronomy class last night. He was a Ravenclaw first-year named Ian Campbell.

Ian staggered past them, as if he had not seen them at all.

Cedric frowned and wanted to step forward, but Lynn grabbed his arm.

"He looks like he needs help." Cedric looked at Lynn.

Lynn shook his head. "The state he's in may involve his privacy, and it looks like he doesn't want us to help him with anything."

Hearing Lynn's words, Cedric hesitated for a moment before finally giving up.

Ian eventually limped into the castle and disappeared from their sight.

"All right, that's enough for today. It should be breakfast time now."

Lynn and Cedric put away their wands together, just as they entered the castle.

A shrill, piercing scream suddenly rang out through Hogwarts.