Peeves

A famous person once said that children's education should begin with their diet. Before class, of course, they had to fill their stomachs first.

In fact, every morning from roughly six-thirty to seven-thirty, Hogwarts provided all students with a lavish breakfast buffet. The first class officially began at eight, so early-rising students had plenty of time to eat and drink their fill before heading to class at leisure.

As a certified foodie, Li Mu sprang out of bed early in the morning, refreshed and alert.

He called out to Macmillan and Finnegan twice, but his two roommates merely mumbled, rolled over, and fell back into a deep sleep. Children simply did not have the energy to compare with Li Mu, who trained year-round.

He scratched his head and ultimately chose to go to the Great Hall alone. Not only did this hall host grand holiday celebrations, but it also served as the dining place for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Then he made a bleak discovery—the long table belonging to Hufflepuff was completely empty, save for a handful of older students sitting nearby.

Cedric was among them. Seeing Li Mu, he called out, "Li, want to come eat with us? I forgot to tell you last night—more students actually prefer sleeping in, then going straight to the kitchens for some freshly baked breakfast..."

"This is Hufflepuff's unique advantage." He winked, then turned serious again. "But I think it's a bad habit that can easily lead to laziness. I'm glad to see you can get up early..."

Before Cedric could finish, a crisp voice suddenly sounded behind Li Mu. "Huh, Li Mu?!"

Li Mu turned around and saw the friends from his train compartment. Hermione, Neville, Harry, and Ron had just entered through the Great Hall's doors, apparently here for breakfast as well.

However, apart from Hermione, the other three boys had dark circles beneath their eyes and yawned nonstop. Clearly, someone had dragged them out of bed before they had fully woken up.

Seeing that it really was Li Mu, Hermione broke into a smile and pointed toward the Gryffindor table. "What a coincidence. You're here for breakfast too? Want to join us?"

"Are these the friends you knew before?" Cedric looked at the four children as well, his gaze lingering briefly on Harry Potter's forehead. Then he patted Li Mu on the shoulder. "Go on. The food all comes from the underground kitchens anyway. There's no need to divide by Houses when eating."

Hufflepuff's greatest trait was kindness, and one expression of kindness was tolerance.

"Mm..." Li Mu felt as though a weight had been lifted from his chest, and his favorable impression of Cedric soared.

Looking at the unfamiliar faces on the Hufflepuff side, Li Mu had already been torn over whether to eat with them. Now that he had received the "prefect's" approval, going to another House's table for a meal was no big deal.

In fact, just as Cedric had said, there was no need to divide by Houses during meals. Crabbe and Goyle from Slytherin often wandered around other Houses' tables, calmly sampling food from elsewhere.

As they ate the fragrant food, Harry, Ron, and Neville finally perked up. They tirelessly discussed the thrills and fears of last night's boat ride, talked about Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, laughed about the strongest wizard Gryffindor's foolish behavior, and even curiously speculated about what might be inside the Forbidden Forest...

Harry and the others had clearly not slept well last night partly because they had been too excited. Everything here was remarkable, even to Ron, who had grown up in the wizarding world.

"I think Professor Dumbledore definitely meant this—if we want to cast magic in the corridors, we just need to avoid Filch, the caretaker..." Li Mu naturally joined in as well.

"You'd better not break school rules, or else... Hmph!" Hermione beside them had already wiped her mouth. She shot Li Mu an annoyed glare. "Hurry up and eat. I don't want to be late for the first class of the term!"

By the time Hermione stood with her hands on her hips and urged them for the fifth time, the boys finally finished breakfast and rose to head to class. Then—

"...What's my first class again?"

Li Mu suddenly realized... he had no idea where he was supposed to go. Professor McGonagall had distributed the schedules to every student dormitory last night, but after glancing at his twice, he had forgotten all about it upon waking up.

More and more people filled the Great Hall, hurrying back and forth.

"Charms. It's on the fourth floor, in the corridor to the left," Hermione answered.

"Huh?!"

"Don't think about it. We checked—the entire first week is made up of large classes attended by all four Houses together." Hermione impatiently pushed Li Mu forward and pointed ahead. "Look, they've already set off."

Sure enough, Ravenclaw students were ahead of them. Li Mu spotted Hinata's neat black bob at once. After leaving the Great Hall and climbing the stairs, they saw Draco Malfoy farther ahead, with his short platinum-blond hair—and, of course, his two burly, dim-witted little followers.

They were clearly all heading in the same direction.

"You're amazing. You actually memorized the schedules for all four Houses?!" Li Mu praised sincerely.

Yet he could not help feeling a little doubtful and uneasy—this was another difference from "history." As he remembered it, there had been no large classes jointly attended by all four Houses in the original novel.

"A large class for all four Houses?..." Ron followed behind them, muttering in confusion as he dug a crumpled slip of paper out of his pocket—the schedule handed out just yesterday.

"Stop looking. It's a new reform policy this year; it never existed before." Hermione turned around and looked disdainfully at the crumpled paper. "I think it's probably so all new students can first gain an understanding of every subject together..."

Hermione had not finished speaking when she suddenly stopped and looked ahead.

The students in front of them had already come to a halt.

Li Mu felt that he must have offended some god today. He swore that he had only been distracted by Hermione's explanation and had not noticed the students ahead stopping.

He really had not meant to bump into the girl in front of him... Hinata.

Hinata glanced back, and her face instantly turned red.

Li Mu felt depressed and embarrassed. Fortunately, with the thick skin he had developed over two lifetimes, after a brief pause, he asked in what he believed was a kind, friendly, and gentle tone, "Are you okay? Why did you all suddenly stop?"

"Huh? Um... well... that..." Then, helplessly, he discovered that Hinata, standing before him with her face flushed red, kept lowering her head and poking her two index fingers together. Her pale, slender fingers tapped against each other, making her look pitiful and wronged.

Like a little white rabbit being bullied by a big bad wolf.

Several students beside Hinata, dressed in Ravenclaw's blue-green robes, turned around as well. They stared at Li Mu with expressions that were both strange and wary.

Good heavens! Li Mu was utterly frustrated. What was this supposed to be? He had absolutely no idea how to communicate with Hinata.

He stood on tiptoe and peered ahead, intending to figure out what was going on himself, but it seemed unnecessary now.

"Peeves, if you keep this up, I'm going to get the Bloody Baron! Come out!" Percy's voice came from farther ahead. He sounded furious. "In the name of a prefect, I order you to..."

Being a prefect was not especially useful. Before Percy could finish, a walking stick floated above all the new students.

(End of this chapter)