How Can You Sleep at a Time Like This?

The next day.

It was five thirty in the morning. The sky was still dim, and Tom stood in the common room.

Through the common room's floor-to-ceiling windows, he could see the world outside, beneath the Black Lake.

With no sunlight, the lake was pitch-black. Even when he focused, he could see less than a meter ahead—just a few little fish swimming around.

Suddenly.

Something like a tentacle swept past. The water churned, and the little fish vanished in an instant.

"Truly magical," Tom couldn't help exclaiming.

Apart from marveling at the Black Lake's scenery, he was also marveling at the wonders of magic.

By all rights, with Hogwarts situated in the Scottish Highlands, in a temperate maritime climate, right beside a great lake and a forest, the air ought to be quite damp.

And he lived beneath the Black Lake, so it ought to have been soaking wet.

Yet when he got up in the morning, his bedding was completely dry. The common room was also warmer than outside, and not cold at all.

Then again, if they couldn't even manage basic damp-proofing and heating, the students would surely have made a fuss—especially since most Slytherins were young masters and misses from Pure-blood families.

"Ugh... I don't want to get up..."

At the entrance connecting the common room to the dormitory corridor, Ron lay sprawled on the floor, one leg being dragged along. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought someone was hauling away a corpse.

"What time is it, anyway? Aren't you all tired?" Even as Ron was being dragged, he clung to his blanket. He couldn't even open his eyes.

At British secondary schools, the day usually started around 8:45, with the first lesson at nine. Hogwarts' timetable was naturally much the same.

"Didn't you say you wanted me to train you? The early bird catches the worm."

"But...it's not even light out." Ron managed to crack one eye open and glanced at the pitch-black lake beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. He couldn't see a hint of light.

"You..." Tom put his hands on his hips, helpless.

He didn't know whether to call British kids fortunate or lazy. In Ron, he could see the beauty of someone who had never experienced the rat race.

"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Tom thought for a moment, then began speaking slowly.

"How can you sleep at your age? The Ravenclaws are already up practicing spells!"

"Do you know how long you have until your end-of-year exams?"

"Just nine months—that's 274 days!"

"You have 1,744 days until your O.W.L.s, and 2,474 until your N.E.W.T.s!"

"Do you know how many young wizards fail their exams each year? Without a Hogwarts diploma, do you know how hard it is to find a job out there?!"

"Didn't you call me big brother so you could secretly work hard and amaze everyone? What's with this pathetic display?!"

Tom's voice was perfectly calm, yet every word reached Ron's ears.

Ron, who had been unable to summon the energy to get up, suddenly opened his eyes wide. Tom had only said a few things, but somehow all traces of sleepiness vanished. The blanket in his arms seemed to have turned into the very embodiment of evil.

He shuddered, flung the blanket away, and stood ramrod straight in front of Tom.

"Good! You've got spirit!"

Strictly speaking, Tom had no obligation to push Ron to study. He could simply have left him alone, but he still wanted to give it a try.

If he could raise Ron and Harry into outstanding wizards, perhaps he could build himself a persona as a Genius Educator.

Professor Dumbledore would sacrifice himself when Tom was in his sixth year. By the time Tom graduated, he could seamlessly run for headmaster.

The position of Hogwarts headmaster was one of the best jobs in the entire wizarding world: lots of money, little work, and the chance to enjoy having students all over the place.

After all, Hogwarts was the only magical school in all of Great Britain. Every student passed through the headmaster's hands, and connections were a kind of wealth, too.

If Dumbledore wanted, he had enough connections and prestige to turn most of the Aurors against the Ministry in no time, under the pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials." He could completely overhaul the Ministry's leadership without lifting a finger himself.

That was also an important reason the Ministry's leadership had targeted Dumbledore in the original story. It was fortunate that Dumbledore was kindhearted and hadn't chosen to fight them.

Argus Filch.

As Hogwarts' caretaker, he was the earliest riser in the entire school, apart from the House-elves.

He usually started work at six. Besides taking care of some of the castle's cleaning, he also had to check for damage to the school's facilities overnight and get the school ready for the students to wake up.

At this hour, the only living creature he expected to see was his pet cat, Mrs. Norris.

He was making his rounds outside Hogwarts Castle when he passed the training ground near the Herbology greenhouses...

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"Huh? What's that noise? Is some student playing a prank?" Filch suddenly heard a commotion. The ground beneath his feet seemed to be trembling slightly.

He gave a sinister smile. At last, he had a chance to punish some rule-breaking children under the school's regulations.

He followed the sound...

Winter was approaching, and the sun rose late. The sky was still dim, but he could just make out a huge stone moving.

"Meow—Hiss!"

Mrs. Norris hissed, her fur standing on end.

Filch suddenly remembered Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. One magical creature was called a Big Headed Hair Monster. When it crouched on the ground, it looked just like a smooth, round stone.

But Big Headed Hair Monsters were only about thirty centimeters tall. The one before him had to be two meters tall!

And they were native to Russia. What was one doing at Hogwarts?

Could Hagrid have picked up some unusual breed from somewhere?

As Filch pondered this, the "Big Headed Hair Monster" seemed to notice him. Its huge body began slowly moving in his direction.

"Help! Headmaster Dumbledore, help!" Filch turned and ran.

He was only a Squib and couldn't perform any magic. Apart from having read a few books on magic, he was practically no different from a Muggle.

If that Big Headed Hair Monster was aggressive, there was nothing he could do against something that big but wait to die.

He hadn't even made it two steps before he seemed to remember something and immediately doubled back.

He scooped up Mrs. Norris, who was still hissing on the ground, then turned and ran again.

Before long.

News of a giant magical creature causing trouble at Hogwarts spread throughout the school.

The school bell rang in a special pattern. All the Prefects were told to get up early and keep an eye on their houses' students to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

All the professors were ready to go. Even Hagrid, who lived by the entrance to the Forbidden Forest, had been told to head out.

Hagrid scratched his head, his enormous mind filled with enormous confusion.

"Ah can't think of a single Big Headed Hair Monster Ah've ever raised!"

Dumbledore walked ahead, doing his best to reassure him gently. "I know you like Fantastic Beasts, but there are limits. Nothing serious has happened this time, so I don't blame you. Just remember to write a report afterward."

"I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore."

Before long, all the professors had arrived at the training ground.

The sun had come up, and it was a little brighter than before. They could make out the general shape of the training ground.

Just as Filch had said, there was indeed a huge stone moving, with two smaller stones following behind it.

But the huge stone was only a stone. It wasn't moving by itself. A lightly dressed child was dragging it.

Tom had a thick rope tied around the stone. He walked in front, hauling it along.

Harry and Ron were dragging the other two stones. Ron's stone was the smallest, but he had already fallen behind the other two.

The three boys, who had been exercising, stared in confusion at the crowd of professors who had gathered along the edge of the training ground.

Seriously?

We're just working out. Why did all the professors show up?