Occlumency

Harry was very curious about the Third Floor Corridor and the Forbidden Forest, both of which Dumbledore had forbidden them to visit.

The more adults told children not to go somewhere, the more they wanted to go. The Pandora Effect-Harry had heard the term in a movie. Before the feast was even over, he was already wondering whether to explore the Forbidden Forest or the Third Floor Corridor first.

The final part of the feast was singing the school song together.

Harry had sung plenty of school songs in primary school, so he knew the drill. School songs usually had neither difficult lyrics nor difficult melodies.

But the Hogwarts school song really opened his eyes.

It had lyrics, but no tune!

Everyone sang to their own melody, making more of a racket than politicians arguing in a movie. Yet Dumbledore, supposedly the greatest wizard alive, did not seem bothered in the slightest. In fact, he looked positively delighted.

Harry once again witnessed just how bizarre Ron's two eccentric brothers could be. They actually sang the otherwise cheerful lyrics slowly to the nonmagical "Funeral March."

Since their chosen tune was so slow, they were the last to finish.

And Dumbledore, whom Harry considered just as eccentric, actually conducted their final few bars, then clapped cheerfully when they finished, looking happier than anyone else.

The greatest wizard of the century? Perhaps.

The biggest eccentric in the wizarding world? Very likely...

Afterward, Dumbledore asked the prefects of each house to lead the students back to their respective common rooms.

On the train, Ron and Hermione had explained the prefect system, filling in gaps in each other's accounts. Prefects were part of Hogwarts' system of student self-governance. From fifth year onward, each house selected one boy and one girl from each year to serve as prefects.

After their fifth year, prefects could apply to step down-though very few did. Supposedly, fewer than ten people had done so in the past hundred years. After all, prefects rarely had any special obligations, while enjoying quite a few minor privileges and perks.

That meant a house could have as many as six prefects at once, making twenty-four across the school.

Of the school's twenty-four prefects, however, the most active was clearly Percy Weasley, who had only become a prefect that year. His voice was the loudest as he led the first-years back to the common room at Dumbledore's request.

The older students seemed intent on hanging around outside a little longer. Compared with the first-years, who were exhausted after both a boat ride and a walk, they clearly had far more energy.

It was worth mentioning that Ron knew about prefects because Percy's letter from Hogwarts that summer had informed him of his appointment. Percy had then talked about it at home for the entire summer.

Watching Percy bustle back and forth, taking particular care to look after the first-years, Harry found him rather interesting. Percy might have been a bit of a show-off, and perhaps a little fond of authority, but judging by his actions, he was indeed a competent prefect.

Harry also learned something else from him. Peeves, that seemingly very irritating ghost, appeared to be terrified of Slytherin's ghost, the Bloody Baron. As for why, that would require further investigation.

There was one thing that caught Harry's attention, though. Whether the other ghosts passed through walls or suddenly emerged from the food on the tables-such inconsiderate behavior was, of course, the work of Gryffindor ghosts such as Sir Nicholas-they never seemed able to affect physical objects.

Yet just moments earlier, when Peeves had flown swiftly down the corridor, he had made the decorative suits of armor along the sides clatter.

Entering the common room required a password, which changed at least once a week. Usually, it changed every two or three days.

Harry and the others thought that frequency would be easy enough to handle, but Neville looked rather dismayed when he heard it. On the train, Harry had noticed that Neville was not merely timid; his memory genuinely seemed poor, and he had trouble remembering things.

For example, he had only remembered Hermione's name after she repeated it three times.

The common room was a large, comfortable-looking circular room, filled with soft armchairs and small tables. There was a door on either side, leading to the boys' and girls' dormitories respectively.

The cozy surroundings made Harry feel sleepy too. He had originally wanted to find out a little more, but now drowsiness gained the upper hand.

The other young wizards were all yawning as well.

The dormitory was peculiar in every respect.

First, after passing through the door leading to the dormitories and climbing the spiral staircase, they arrived directly in their room. That was very odd. Gryffindor had six year groups, and although each year needed only one boys' dormitory and one girls' dormitory, there should still have been at least seven rooms.

Yet when Harry came up, the staircase led straight into his own dormitory.

Spatial magic?

Harry grew excited at the thought. In Neil's memories, Aegean's magic was rich and varied, taking all sorts of forms. Among the most unusual and rare were spells involving space.

But Harry knew that spatial magic existed in this world. Ron had mentioned that Percy was preparing for his Apparition test. Judging by the description, Apparition was a form of spatial magic.

It allowed someone to vanish from one place and appear in another. However, because it was highly advanced magic and carried certain risks, users had to pass a fairly strict examination and obtain a license. Using it without one was illegal.