Life at Hogwarts Begins with Chopping Trees

"I've never seen fans this obsessive. At this level of stalking, I'd call the police and have you arrested if I could." Kane gave a helpless smile as he delivered a not-so-vicious threat.

Kingsley awkwardly rubbed his nose, only just remembering that he seemed to be an Auror.

"In any case, please believe us. We mean you no harm. It is simply because of your special status as a young wizard that you need an education," Dumbledore said gently.

"Or perhaps a trip to Azkaban." Kingsley's occupational habit as an Auror kicked in. To make Kane behave, he instinctively resorted to the good-cop-bad-cop routine from the interrogation room, naturally taking on the role of the villain.

Dumbledore turned back and gave him a helpless look. Kingsley immediately found himself unable to open his mouth again. Dumbledore then turned back to Kane. "Please ignore him. In any case, I am from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a place dedicated to teaching young wizards magic. As for me, I am its headmaster. You may call me Professor Dumbledore."

"All right, no ill intentions... I can see that much. So this is just a house call? You should have sent a letter beforehand." Kane readily accepted Dumbledore's explanation. After all, there was no point in not believing him. Given the situation, he probably could not run anyway.

"Perhaps the owl carrying the letter got stuck in the air. Never mind that. Um... where are your parents?" Dumbledore asked.

"I don't have any."

"I'm very sorry. Would you mind telling me how you came to master such remarkable magic?" Dumbledore put on an apologetic expression and changed the subject.

"Is that part of the house call too?"

"Of course." Dumbledore nodded.

"Mm... an unpleasant adventure." Kane answered vaguely. Dumbledore was considerate enough to notice that Kane did not want to talk about it, so he changed the subject again.

"Since you now know that you are a wizard, you should also learn the rules of the magical world. Kingsley, you are the expert in this area."

As Dumbledore spoke, he discreetly allowed Kingsley to speak again.

With Dumbledore's words, Kane was forced to listen to Kingsley's lengthy lecture. The main point was that exposing magic would spell disaster for both the Muggle world and the wizarding world, so Kane was not to use magic in front of Muggles again. Especially not since Kane's magic was exceptionally pure Dark magic.

"But I still have to eat." Kane leaned helplessly against the wall and asked a plain yet startling question.

Dumbledore and Kingsley both froze. Kane currently earned his meals by performing magic tricks for people on the street. If they forbade him from using magic, were they supposed to let him starve to death?

Unless the Ministry of Magic or Hogwarts covered Kane's food, clothing, and lodging, they had no right to say such things.

"Perhaps you could... come to Hogwarts early." In the end, Dumbledore took responsibility for it.

After all, knowing the Ministry of Magic's bunch of vermin, if Kane stayed there for a month, he would surely become another Voldemort by the time he graduated from Hogwarts.

The people at the Ministry of Magic were extraordinarily talented at making their own people miserable.

Kane looked at Dumbledore's face, which was practically radiating sincerity, then at the enormous Hogwarts castle before him. He no longer regretted following Dumbledore back here.

Dumbledore first brought Kane to his office. "Since you have not undergone the Sorting Ceremony yet, you cannot stay in the student dormitories. Fortunately, there are two other options. Option A: you can live with me."

"I choose the second one," Kane said faintly. He was not used to sleeping with other people, and his sleeping habits were terrible. He had nearly kicked Harry out of the stairwell before. What if he kicked Dumbledore's old bones apart?

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Congratulations. You will like your new roommate. I will call Severus over at once. He is Hogwarts' Potions professor. His house at Spinner's End is being renovated this year, so he is staying at Hogwarts during the holidays. In short, I think you will like this new roommate."

As Dumbledore spoke, he summoned a silvery, illusory little bird and sent it flying out of the office. The bird returned quickly, bringing a message from the professor named Severus: if Kane was sent to stay with him, he would stuff Kane into a cauldron.

"Um... can't you just find me an empty classroom to make do in for a while?" Kane stared at Dumbledore and asked.

Dumbledore's answer was always a shake of his head. If Kane did not live under the same roof as him, how could he study the low-intensity Dark magic experiment that had continued since midnight?

These were all methods.

"Lunch and dinner are at noon and seven in the evening, respectively, in the Great Hall. Curfew is at ten at night, so remember to return. The rest of the time, you may explore Hogwarts as you please."

Dumbledore made Kane, who was not even a Hogwarts student yet, feel not the slightest bit uncomfortable. His freedom was completely maxed out.

"Oh, right. You have a second bed in your office, don't you?" Kane suddenly asked as he was leaving.

"Um... you must forgive me. These old bones of mine cannot climb to the top bunk," Dumbledore said apologetically.

"Bunk beds are wonderful." With that, Kane walked straight out of Dumbledore's office.

"This castle is pretty nice, isn't it? Eternal Realm never had anywhere you could study magic in peace. You should not have left so decisively just now. You should have made that old wizard teach you a few things in advance. What if you die tonight?" Maxwell suddenly appeared beside Kane and spoke faintly.

"No need to remind me. I already have an idea. If I merge shadows into matter in the real world, perhaps I can... make a small campfire," Kane replied.

"And after that? Don't tell me you plan to make some kind of scientific machine too?" Maxwell asked.

"Once I find a way to get some gold. For now, my plan is to get some firewood." Kane sat directly on the stair railing and slid from the eighth floor all the way down to the sixth, then went looking for the next stairwell.

Before long, he left the castle and headed toward the Forbidden Forest. He first snapped off several branches, picked up a few stones and some grass, then sat on the ground as his hands moved rapidly. In the end, he made an axe from the Earth OL closed beta version.

Just as he carried the axe into the Forbidden Forest, he suddenly remembered some not-so-pleasant memories.

"There shouldn't be tree demons in the woods around a magic school, right?"

Forget it. Chopping some small pieces of wood around the edge would be enough.

After an unknown amount of time, Hagrid led Fang out from the depths of the Forbidden Forest. He saw Kane swaying toward Hogwarts with a bundle of firewood in his arms and every pocket stuffed full of grass.

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