Cho Chang, Ravenclaw's Riddle

The young wizards enjoyed the feast, chatting merrily.

The teachers also exchanged the occasional word as they ate, keeping up the bonds between colleagues.

Of course, a certain greasy, black-haired man was the exception.

Snape swallowed his food in tiny bites, his gaze fixed most of the time on the Gryffindor table—more accurately, nailed to Harry.

"Minerva, congratulations. That boy ended up in Gryffindor."

Sprout said it to McGonagall with a cheerful smile.

McGonagall gently set down her knife and fork.

"Harry, that child... it seemed the Sorting Hat wanted more to put him in Slytherin."

Shaking her head, McGonagall said as if unintentionally, "But at the time, I heard Harry muttering the whole while, not Slytherin, not Slytherin..."

Hearing McGonagall's murmur, Snape's face twitched sharply. He slowly spoke, his tone slightly cold.

"He isn't suited to Slytherin either."

After that, Snape's stare at Harry grew even heavier. But Harry never once looked toward the teachers' table, so Snape never once saw those emerald-green eyes.

While Snape shut himself off beside them, McGonagall had already raised her glass and clinked it with Professor Flitwick's.

"Filius, I must congratulate you as well. Ravenclaw has gained a good student."

Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, master of Charms.

"Oh, Minerva, do you mean the child named Lucien?"

McGonagall nodded and took a sip of red wine.

"Yes. I believe you'll like this student."

"His talent is, mm, quite good."

At this point, McGonagall felt deeply regretful that Lucien had not been sorted into Gryffindor.

If Lucien had gone to Gryffindor, perhaps in a few decades, the wizarding world would have one more great wizard who had graduated from Gryffindor.

Hearing McGonagall's assessment, Flitwick was very surprised.

He knew the character of this colleague he had worked with for many years. Minerva would praise a student's seriousness and commend a student's effort, but she rarely praised a student's talent so directly and plainly.

It meant Professor McGonagall not only approved of Lucien's attitude toward study, but also greatly admired his magical talent.

This made Flitwick even more curious.

"Thank you, Minerva. I'll pay more attention to that child."

Sprout, beside them, suddenly turned her head and asked McGonagall, "I just remembered—wasn't Lucien the student who bought a whole pile of books at Flourish and Blotts that day?"

"Yes, Pomona."

"Heh, it's good to love reading. As expected of one of our Ravenclaw students."

"..."

At the Ravenclaw table.

Lucien had already finished eating and picked up his juice for a sip.

He raised his head and just happened to see Hermione looking his way, so he lifted his cup in a distant toast.

Hermione, caught by Lucien, hurriedly lowered her head and also raised her juice in return.

Then Hermione held the cup and drank, hiding her flushed little face.

Though at this distance, Lucien could not see it anyway.

The Asian girl on Lucien's right was suddenly patted by her roommate, who whispered softly by her ear, "Hey, Cho, he's finished eating. If you don't talk to him now, I'm going instead."

The girl called Cho pushed away the roommate beside her, her pretty face slightly red.

"I know, I know. Stop rushing me!"

After rolling her eyes at her roommate, Cho turned toward Lucien.

"Hello, Lucien. Let's get acquainted. I'm Cho Chang. I enrolled a year before you."

As Cho introduced herself, a trace of surprise flashed through Lucien's eyes.

So this is Cho? She's quite different from the movie version.

The Cho before him was a beautiful girl with a typically Eastern air. Her waterfall of black hair made her snow-white skin stand out even more. There were faint freckles on the tip of her nose, but they did not spoil her beauty; instead, they added a touch of playful cuteness.

"Hello, Cho. Nice to meet you."

Lucien revealed a polite smile that was impossible to fault.

Cho smiled lightly, showing a glimpse of pearly teeth.

"If there's anything you don't understand since you've only just started school, you can come ask me."

"Mm, thanks."

The roommate beside Cho suddenly pounced onto her back, resting her chin on Cho's shoulder.

"Hey, hey, junior, are you interested in Quidditch?"

"I'm telling you, Cho isn't just a great beauty—she's our House's Quidditch Seeker too!"

"Want to try joining the team? We're short on people."

A faint blush appeared on Cho's cheeks.

"Marietta!"

"Who starts recruiting someone the moment they meet? Why don't you join yourself?"

Marietta pressed her cheek against Cho's and said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "Don't you know what my flying class grades are like?"

"Besides, boys are better at sports, right, junior?"

As she spoke, Marietta even winked at Lucien.

"Quidditch does sound very interesting, but I never had the chance to try it before."

Lucien dodged Marietta's question, but she clearly had no intention of letting him off.

"Being interested is a good thing! Quidditch is really fun!"

"If you want to learn when the time comes, ask Cho to teach you."

Marietta even pushed Cho forward a little, bringing her closer to Lucien.

Lucien instead leaned back slightly, maintaining a polite distance.

"Heh, if there's a chance."

Suddenly, the leftovers on the table vanished with a whoosh, and the tabletop became as clean and gleaming as new.

Dumbledore's resonant voice rang out through the hall.

"Children, the feast is about to end. I will announce a few matters that require your attention."

"First, students are strictly forbidden from entering the Forbidden Forest."

"Second..."

Since they had all eaten and drunk their fill, the young wizards listened patiently to old Dumbledore's speech. There were only a few points, though—just the same old reminders as always.

"Now then, for the end of the feast, let us all sing the school song!"

Dumbledore used his wand as a conductor's baton, and one illusory note after another danced through the air, flowing between the teachers and students.

By the time the chorus ended, Dumbledore even wiped tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Scenes like this move me every time."

Watching this from below the platform, Lucien could only smile wryly.

He was already an old man who had lived for a century, yet his emotions were still this abundant.

Well, actually, that makes sense. In this world, a large part of magic's effect depends on a wizard's emotions.

Dumbledore himself had declared: the most powerful magic in the world was love.

As the strongest wizard of the age, it seemed there was nothing wrong with old Dumbledore having such rich emotions.

Dumbledore announced the end of the feast, and the first-years were placed under the care of their respective House prefects, who would lead them back to their House common rooms.

Ravenclaw's prefect was a tall boy named Robert Hilliard, with golden woolly curls and a pair of heavy black-framed glasses. Yet he did not have the air of a bookworm at all. Instead, he cheerfully introduced things to his juniors.

"Welcome, everyone, to Ravenclaw."

"Our House emblem is an eagle, an eagle soaring through the high skies."

"I'm not exaggerating, but our House truly has the cleverest wizards and witches..."

Amid Robert's endless introduction, the first-years arrived at Hogwarts's western tower.

After circling up a spiral staircase to the very top, an eagle-shaped bronze knocker appeared before everyone's eyes.

"If five exceedingly clever wizards obtained 100 Galleons and proposed plans one after another in order, with the first wizard proposing the distribution plan first, then all five voting on it, and the plan needing more than half the votes to pass, otherwise he would be thrown into a dragon's nest..."

"As the first wizard, how should you divide them in order to obtain the most Galleons?"

As if sensing someone approaching, a mysterious, hollow voice suddenly came from the door knocker.

Robert stepped forward and patted the knocker.

"Everyone, behind this door is our Ravenclaw common room."

"But if you want to enter, you must answer the question it asks correctly."

"Well? Does anyone want to give it a try?"

The group of young wizards began whispering among themselves.

"Is getting into the Ravenclaw common room always this much trouble?"

"If you can't answer, don't you have to sleep outside?"

"With this question, no matter what plan the first person proposes, won't it just get rejected by the others in the end, and then they'll be fed to a dragon?"

"Merlin's socks, is it too late for me to switch Houses?"

"..."

One young wizard said timidly, "I don't want a single Galleon. I'll give them all to someone else. Is that okay?"

The hollow voice still came from the door knocker.

"Incorrect."

The young wizard looked embarrassed and stepped back.

Another young wizard with a buzz cut stepped forward, his face full of disdain.

"Isn't this simple? Just hit them with four Reductos, and aren't all the Galleons mine?"

Silence. The whole place was silent for several seconds.

A voice came from the door knocker again.

"Azkaban."

In an instant, a circle of empty space opened up around the buzz-cut young wizard.

Lucien also looked the buzz-cut kid up and down.

He was Gryffindor and Slytherin material. How had he been sent here?

The Sorting Hat really was unreliable.

Robert shook his head and smiled, trying to smooth things over.

"Haha, sometimes power is also the most direct way to solve a problem."

"In the wizarding world, knowledge and power are often equal."

Robert also felt that the door knocker's question today was a little too difficult, at least not something these eleven-year-old children could solve.

So he turned around, ready to answer the door knocker. At the very least, he had to lead the younger students back in.

Just as Robert was about to open his mouth and answer, a boy's voice rang out behind him.

"Give the fifth wizard 2 Galleons, and the third wizard 1 Galleon."

"The remaining 97 Galleons..."

"All go to me."

Hearing this answer, Robert was astonished and was just about to turn around to see which younger student it was.

The door to the common room had already slowly swung open.

The hollow voice came from the door knocker.

"May your wisdom shine like the stars!"