Peeves

A celebrity once said that a child's education should start with their diet. Before class, of course, you have to fill your stomach first.

In fact, every morning, around 6:30 to 7:30 AM, Hogwarts provides a lavish buffet breakfast for all students. The first class officially starts at 8 o'clock, giving early risers plenty of time to eat their fill and then head to class at their leisure.

And Li Mu, being a foodie, woke up bright and refreshed early in the morning.

He called out to Macmillan and Finnegan twice, but his two roommates just grumbled, turned over, and fell back into a deep sleep. Children's bodies lack energy, after all, and can't compare to Li Mu, who trains year-round.

He scratched his head and ultimately chose to go to the Great Hall alone. This hall not only hosts grand festive celebrations but is also the dining location for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Then, he discovered with dismay that the Hufflepuff table was empty, with only a few older students sitting at the table.

Cedric was among them. He saw Li Mu and called out, "Li, want to come eat together? I forgot to tell you last night that most students prefer to sleep in and then just grab some freshly baked delicious breakfast from the kitchen..."

"It's a unique advantage of Hufflepuff," he winked, then said seriously, "But I think it's a bad habit that easily leads to laziness. I'm glad to see you're able to get up early..."

Cedric hadn't even finished speaking when a crisp voice suddenly rang out behind Li Mu, "Oh, Li Mu?!"

Li Mu turned around and saw his companions from the train compartment. Hermione, Neville, Harry, and Ron had just entered through the Great Hall doors and looked like they were here for breakfast too.

However, except for Hermione, the other three boys had dark circles under their eyes and were yawning incessantly, clearly having been woken up by someone before they were fully rested.

Seeing that it really was Li Mu, Hermione smiled and pointed towards the Gryffindor table, "What a coincidence, you're here for breakfast too? Want to join us?"

"Are these the friends you knew before?" Cedric also looked at the four children, his gaze lingering on Harry Potter's forehead, then patted Li Mu's shoulder, "Go ahead, it's all food made in the underground kitchen. You don't have to divide by house when you eat."

The greatest trait of Hufflepuff is kindness, and one expression of kindness is tolerance.

"Okay..." Li Mu felt relieved, and his goodwill towards Cedric soared.

Looking at the unfamiliar faces on the Hufflepuff side, Li Mu was already in a dilemma, hesitating whether to eat with them. Getting the Prefect's approval at this time meant it wasn't a big deal to freeload a meal at another house.

In fact, as Cedric said, you don't have to divide by house when you eat. Crabbe and Goyle from Slytherin often wandered around the tables of other houses, nonchalantly tasting the food from other tables.

Eating the fragrant food, Harry, Ron, and Neville finally perked up. They tirelessly talked about their thrilling feelings during the boat ride last night, about the Gryffindor ghost Nearly Headless Nick, about Gryffindor's silly performance as the strongest wizard, and even curiously speculated about what was in the Forbidden Forest...

Harry and the others didn't sleep well last night, partly because they were too excited. Everything here, even for Ron, who was born and raised in the magical world, was magical.

"I think Professor Dumbledore definitely meant that—if we want to cast spells in the corridors, we just have to avoid caretaker Filch..." Li Mu naturally chimed in.

"You'd better not break the rules, otherwise... Humph!" Hermione, who was already wiping her mouth, glared at Li Mu annoyedly, "Eat quickly, I don't want to be late for the first class!"

When Hermione urged them for the fifth time, the boys finally finished breakfast, stood up, and prepared to go to class. Then—

"...What class do I have first?"

Li Mu suddenly realized... he had no idea where to go to class. Professor McGonagall had distributed the schedules to each student's dormitory in advance last night, but he had glanced at it twice and forgotten it as soon as he got up.

More and more people were in the Great Hall, coming and going in a hurry.

"Charms. The location is on the fourth floor, on the left-hand side of the corridor," Hermione answered.

"Eh?!"

"Don't even think about it, we've already researched it. The first week is all large classes with all four houses together," Hermione eagerly pushed Li Mu along, pointing ahead, "Look at them, they've already set off."

Sure enough, ahead were the Ravenclaw students. Li Mu immediately saw Hinata's neat black short hair. Leaving the Great Hall door, they saw Draco Malfoy with his platinum blonde short hair further ahead while going up the stairs—of course, along with his two burly, clumsy little followers.

They were all clearly going in the same direction.

"You're amazing, you've actually memorized the courses for all four houses?!" Li Mu exclaimed sincerely.

But in his heart, he still couldn't help but feel a little doubt and unease—this was another difference from the "history." He remembered that in the original novel, there weren't any large classes that all four houses attended together.

"Large classes for all four houses?..." Ron, following behind them, also muttered in confusion, reaching into his pocket to pull out a crumpled piece of paper—it was the timetable that had been distributed yesterday.

"Don't bother looking, it's a new reform policy this year, never happened before." Hermione turned her head, glancing disdainfully at the crumpled paper ball. "I think it's probably to give all the first-year students a general understanding of all the courses together..."

Hermione didn't finish her sentence; she suddenly stopped and looked ahead.

The students in front of them had already stopped.

Li Mu felt like he must have offended some great deity today. He could guarantee that he was just distracted by Hermione's explanation and didn't notice the students in front stopping.

He really didn't mean to bump into the girl in front of him... Hinata.

Hinata looked back, her face flushing red.

Li Mu was depressed and embarrassed. But fortunately, he had the thick skin of someone who had lived two lives. After a slight pause, he asked in what he thought was a kind, friendly, and gentle tone, "Are you okay? Why did you stop so suddenly?"

"Ah? Um... that... that..." Then he helplessly discovered that the Hinata in front of him was blushing, constantly looking down at her two index fingers, her pale fingers poking at each other, giving off a pitiful and aggrieved feeling.

It was as if a little white rabbit had been bullied by a big bad wolf.

Beside Hinata, several students wearing Ravenclaw's blue and bronze robes also turned their heads. They stared at Li Mu with expressions that were both strange and wary.

Oh my god! Li Mu was extremely depressed. What was going on? He had no idea how to communicate with Hinata.

He stood on tiptoe and looked ahead, preparing to figure out what was going on himself, but it seemed he didn't need to.

"Peeves, if you do that again, I'm going to find the Bloody Baron! Come out!" Further ahead, Percy's voice came, and it was clear that he was very angry. "I order you in the name of a Prefect..."

The identity of a Prefect was not very useful. Before Percy could finish speaking, a cane floated in the air above all the new students.

(End of this chapter)