Ravenclaw Knocker: Answer Me

The appearance of the ghosts pushed the feast to a new climax.

Nearly Headless Nick drifted overhead, carrying his barely attached head, savoring the terrified expressions on the young wizards' faces below.

The Bloody Baron sat glumly at the Slytherin table, making the young wizards around him lose their appetite.

The Fat Friar was far more genial, frequently drawing bursts of laughter from the Hufflepuff table.

Ethan watched the scene with curiosity.

If anyone in this world could truly know the truth of death, it would have to be ghosts.

Unfortunately, the moment they gained that truth, they also lost the means to explore and seek further.

"What exactly lies inside a ghost... Is there a way to imprint them into a painting..."

Ethan murmured, staring fixedly at Nearly Headless Nick as he floated toward him.

Nick shuddered under the gaze, covering his head like a young girl encountering a pervert.

He spun midair and drifted elsewhere.

Can't mess with him, can't mess with him...

"So timid."

Ethan withdrew his gaze regretfully.

Just then, a voice with a thick accent sounded beside him:

"Thank goodness, you scared him off."

A brown-skinned girl at the neighboring seat was looking at him with sparkling eyes.

Earlier, she had been turned away, chatting with someone else.

Seeing Ethan look over, she broke into a cheerful grin, revealing two dimples.

"That sight really kills one's appetite, doesn't it? I'm Padma Patil, of Indian descent. I have a twin sister in Gryffindor."

The girl spoke up on her own.

Her eyes were like two black grapes, round and lively.

"I'm Ethan Vincent. Nice to meet you." Ethan replied.

Padma: "I know you. Your name spread all over the train. I heard you like painting—are you interested in doing one for us sisters—"

"Cough!"

Suddenly, a voice cut in forcefully.

A light brown-haired boy named Michael Corner leaned over, eyes gleaming as he said:

"I'm Michael Corner! Nice to meet you, Miss Patil!"

With that, Michael reached past Ethan, extending his hand straight toward Padma.

"..."

Padma's smile turned into a forced one. She nodded, ignoring Michael's hand.

Ambitious at a young age.

Ethan watched Michael, who was preening like a peacock, and nodded in approval.

The Patil sisters, in the original story, were Harry and Ron's dance partners at the Goblet of Fire ball—genuinely pretty.

Bold brows and big eyes, with an exotic flair.

Unfortunately, Michael didn't manage to get more than a few words in.

Padma turned back to continue chatting with her girlfriends.

"Well, at least I've made my face known."

Michael consoled himself.

Then his eyes swiveled to Ethan, a sly grin spreading across his face:

"But I'm sure that as long as I stick with you, I'll never run out of girls to talk to~"

"Maybe."

Ethan was noncommittal.

He focused solely on shoving the last piece of coffee pudding into his mouth, filling the gap in his second stomach.

Burp~

Satisfied.

Soon.

As the students finished eating and drinking, the food on the long tables vanished, leaving them pristine once more.

Dumbledore stepped up to the brass amplifier, and the carved golden owl lazily stretched its wings.

"Attention, attention, children. Before you return to your dormitories, I have a few things to impress upon you."

"First, the Forbidden Forest is strictly off-limits to all students. I trust you understand the dangers within."

"Second, caretaker Filch has also asked me to remind everyone not to cast magic in the corridors between classes."

"Finally, anyone who wishes to avoid an accident, a painful death, or a miserable end, please do not enter the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor."

At these words.

Low murmurs broke out among the four houses.

"Strange," Michael frowned, muttering to himself. "If the Forbidden Forest has dangerous wild animals, that's why they keep people away. But what's on the fourth floor?"

"The way he said it so vaguely just makes it more intriguing, like he's deliberately baiting people to explore."

"I bet some reckless Gryffindors are already planning to sneak into that fourth-floor corridor and have a look."

Michael grinned.

Well, that hit the mark.

Getting sorted into Ravenclaw really wasn't just about his knack for charming girls, huh.

Ethan glanced at Michael, thinking to himself.

Ethan naturally knew what was in there.

Hagrid's heartfelt contribution, Dumbledore's little surprise for the Chosen One—the Three-Headed Dog's not-so-cozy room.

A famous "Boys and Girls Charge Forward: Magic Edition."

And the prize for clearing it was the Philosopher's Stone, capable of brewing the Elixir of Life, also a treasure coveted by Voldemort.

The Philosopher's Stone...

If I ground it up, could I use it as pigment...

Michael: "Ethan, you look like you're thinking about something really dangerous."

His expression suddenly turned terrifying.

Ethan snapped back to reality, smiling warmly at Michael, and said softly, "No, you must have seen wrong."

"..."

Michael gave a dry laugh and wisely chose not to press further.

As expected of a man sorted into Azkaban—better not to ask too many questions.

After the chaotic school song ended, the opening ceremony officially concluded.

By then, the little first-years were already swaying with exhaustion.

Led by their respective house prefects, they filed out of the Great Hall and headed toward their dormitories.

"Ravenclaw first-years, please follow me," Prefect Robert Hilliard called out.

Spotting Ethan, he grinned smugly.

"I knew you'd end up in Ravenclaw."

Ethan: "Really? I thought I might go to Hufflepuff."

Robert: "Haha, that's a good joke."

Ethan: "..."

Ethan pouted indignantly.

Why!

He was such a warm-hearted, kind, good wizard—why didn't anyone think he'd go to Hufflepuff!

Ethan shot a chilly glance toward the Hufflepuff table, trying to see what made him so different from them.

Scaring several little badgers into huddling together.

"You'll find that Hogwarts truly houses some brilliant minds. Eagles perch on high cliffs—our common room sits at the very top of the tower," Robert said as he led them up the stairs.

"Unlike other houses that hide their dormitory entrances, ours is always open to the clever."

"Just answer the riddle correctly, and you're in—though this barrier has kept out every non-Ravenclaw student for a thousand years."

A first-year asked: "What if you can't answer?"

Robert smiled: "Oh, then you'll have to spend the night outside."

Several first-years immediately widened their eyes in terror.

"Haha, don't worry."

"In fact, you'll find that by the time you reach the dormitory door, plenty of students are already out there thinking. It's also a great chance to make new friends."

Ethan thought he had a point.

Because just climbing to the top of the tower took several dozen minutes.

A muscle-bound intellectual, huh?

When faced with an argument, you convince people with "reason"?

Along the way, Robert carefully introduced the history of Ravenclaw.

But soon, even his voice disappeared.

—They were all exhausted.

The group climbed in silence, panting like oxen.

"Wait, wait until I get my Flying Broomstick," Michael said breathlessly, "I'm definitely flying up to this damn tower from outside!"

"Careful you don't get Broom Rash."

Ethan muttered, earning a terrified look from Michael.

In truth, the reason no one did that was because magic had been cast outside the Ravenclaw tower.

You couldn't ride a broom through the window—you'd just fall.

Finally, when Ethan's legs started trembling, they reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room.

But.

Seeing a bunch of older students standing outside, deep in thought, the first-years' vision went dark.

They still hadn't solved the riddle...

Prefect Robert stepped forward skillfully and knocked on the bronze eagle-shaped door knocker.

The eagle's beak opened and closed, emitting a low voice:

"Light and shadow give birth to and overcome each other. If the world were left with only one, would the other still exist?"