"Of course," Morris replied calmly.
"No problem." The boy named Kyle nodded as well.
Robert smiled in satisfaction. "Good. Then I'll decide what the contest will be. May I ask whether you studied the Transfiguration Spell ahead of time over the summer?"
Morris and Kyle nodded at the same time.
"Wonderful. It seems you're both confident. Just what I'd expect of Ravenclaw students," Robert said approvingly, his gaze casually sweeping over the other first-years around them.
Two of them lowered their heads in shame-they had spent the entire summer enjoying their last days of fun and had never considered studying their textbooks in advance.
"Then the contest will be the Transfiguration Spell."
Robert walked over to a table covered in all sorts of miscellaneous objects.
"The rules are simple." He gestured for the two of them to come forward. "You can choose any object on this table to transfigure. There are no restrictions on what you turn it into, and the finer the detail, the better. In the end, everyone here will vote to decide the winner."
The older students gathered around, looking ready to enjoy the show.
They knew very well that students who could master the Transfiguration Spell before starting school were few and far between.
In their eyes, Morris and Kyle were most likely putting on a brave front.
"The Transfiguration Spell, huh?"
Morris drew his wand from his waist and waved it lightly at a silver teapot on the table.
Under everyone's gaze, the teapot began to change.
Its body became robes, its spout extended into arms, and its lid became that familiar face with its wise smile.
In just ten seconds, an exquisite miniature statue of Rowena Ravenclaw appeared on the table. Apart from a few details in the folds of her clothing, it was almost identical to the statue by the stairs.
"That's about it," Morris said with a shrug.
He did not know how good the others were, but this was already the limit of what he could currently do.
Robert stepped forward briskly and examined the miniature statue closely. "Perfect attention to detail. This is already third-year standard, Morris."
The Ravenclaw students watching all broke into applause.
The older students' faces were full of surprise.
They had come to watch someone make a fool of himself, only to unexpectedly witness the birth of a Transfiguration prodigy.
Robert, too, developed a keen interest in this first-year named Morris.
Outstanding people often had something in common.
In fact, he had been able to perform Transfiguration like this in his first year as well, so he understood that reaching this level in a short time required exceptional talent and effort.
He studied the black-haired boy before him closely-Morris's expression remained calm, as though that astonishing feat of Transfiguration had been nothing more than a casual gesture.
Could he still be hiding his true ability?
Robert shook his head, brushed aside his stray thoughts, and turned to Kyle, asking gently, "Do you still want to compete? I imagine Morris must have put in an enormous amount of effort over the summer to reach this level."
Kyle: "..."
Was there even any point in competing?
He was just an ordinary first-year.
Although he really had studied the basics of Transfiguration over the summer, that extended only to the simplest transformation: turning a match into a needle.
Looking at the lifelike miniature statue on the table, he felt a wave of helplessness.
Was this guy really a first-year?
"I concede," he said quietly.
And so Morris got his wish and obtained the only single room.
Morris put away his wand and gave Robert a slight nod. "Thank you."
"You earned it. Your room is on the top floor, dormitory seven," Robert said with a smile. "But I should remind you that while having a room to yourself is quiet, it also means you won't have roommates to look out for you. If you run into any difficulties, you can come to me anytime."
"Also, your luggage will take about another five minutes to arrive."
"Understood." Morris nodded.
His Prefect seemed like quite a friendly person.
"All right, everyone." Robert clapped his hands and announced to the group, "You can head back to your rooms now, or stay here a little longer. That's all. Dismissed!"
As it turned out, outstanding people often received special attention.
This was especially evident in Ravenclaw.
Morris had only sat down on a common room sofa for a short rest while waiting for his luggage when several students from different years came over one after another to strike up a conversation.
Morris had to answer all sorts of questions.
The Ravenclaw students seemed to enjoy this sort of thing, and their questions were all over the place:
"How did you learn the Transfiguration Spell?"
"By feel."
"What do your parents do? Are they wizards?"
"I'm an orphan."
"Then what's your wand made of?"
"Wood."
"Are you male or female?"
"Male..."
"Then do you like boys?"
"?"
Morris looked up and discovered that the person asking this question was a sweet-looking older girl.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Honestly, was she seriously asking a first-year a question like that?
Sure enough, you could not judge a book by its cover.
After dealing with the crowd of curious students, Morris climbed the stairs and entered dormitory seven.
It was a quarter-circle room, with four curtained four-poster beds spaced evenly along the curved wall, beside four enormous arched windows.
There were also two long desks, a mirror, a coat rack, and four large wardrobes.
Just as Robert had said, it was a four-person dormitory.
Now, however, Morris had the room all to himself.
What a sinfully luxurious space.
One of the beds had already been made up with white sheets, and his trunk stood quietly at its foot.
Morris walked to the window and looked outside.
The Black Lake shimmered in the dusk, and the moon was clearly visible as well. It was quite a nice view.
Next, he opened his trunk and began putting away his few personal belongings.
Only after everything was unpacked did he suddenly realize something:
Where was his cat?
Just then, a commotion came from outside the window.
Morris stepped forward and pushed the window open, and two black shapes instantly flew into the room.
A jet-black owl held an equally black cat in her talons.
The cat was twisting furiously and letting out disgruntled yowls. Unfortunately, the owl's talons had a firm grip on the scruff of its neck, leaving it utterly helpless.
"Where have you two been?"
These were clearly his pets-Guantou and Yanhua.
Yanhua casually dropped Guantou onto the carpet, gave a hoot, then turned and slipped into Morris's shadow, disappearing-after flying around outside with this stupid cat, she now needed to replenish her strength.
Guantou bared its teeth at Morris's shadow. After a bout of impotent rage, it finally dissolved into aggrieved whimpers and rolled around on the floor.
It had merely been taking a walk outside when a bird of prey had suddenly snatched it into the sky and taken him on a tour of the whole of Hogwarts.
This was pure revenge!
But that wasn't important.
What mattered was...
It glanced at Morris's shadow.
Unfair! Unfair!
They were both pets, so why didn't it have the special ability to enter shadows?
Blatant favoritism!
It looked like they weren't getting along, Morris thought.
He crouched down, gently rubbed Guantou's head, and spent quite a while soothing it.
Only after the cat had calmed down did he change into his pajamas, climb into bed, and fall fast asleep.