A New Term

"...You still need to think about it?" There was a hint of disbelief in Snape's voice.

"I worked so hard to loot all those treasures. What's wrong with not wanting to part with them?" Aya pouted, then went over to sit on the sofa in the corner and concentrated on finding a purple material she could bear to sell Snape.

Dragon blood? A dragon heart? Unicorn tears? Fairy feathers?

Aya looked through them and quickly settled on one-bat dung.

Of course, it wasn't from an ordinary bat. When Aya checked the material's description, it said the bat was a species unique to the Wizarding World, so perhaps it had some magical ability too? Its dung could dispel fear, making it an ingredient in some potions. It was also a purple material, while the bat liver from the same source was only blue.

"All right, I'll use this." It might have been dung, but it was purple dung. Aya reluctantly took it out, then pulled out the junk she was selling this time.

"Hmm... acceptable." Snape examined the material in his hand. A Potions Master like him wouldn't concern himself with the "dung" in "bat dung." After setting it aside, he looked at the materials Aya had taken out. "Valerian, Flobberworm Mucus, Horklump juice, lionfish spines, Bezoar, mistletoe berries..."

The materials varied somewhat in rarity this time, but it wasn't a major issue, Snape thought. He could count them as purchases for the school and charge them to its account. Sooner or later, these students would have a use for them.

Aya paid off her Snape-brand loan and left the dungeon with fifty Galleons still in her pocket. On the way out, she also made a sweep of the basement level.

An empty castle was perfect for running and jumping around. Usually, she might have run into the Weasley Twins, who crawled all over the castle just like her, but at this hour today, there were only three students in the entire castle. Aya felt as though her legs had slimmed down by two sizes after running around it—she was that excited.

But her time alone in the castle flew by. After it grew dark, Duoduo found Aya in a secret passage, cleaned the cobwebs and dust off her clothes, and took her to the Great Hall.

"Merlin, this is the first time I've realized how big and empty our Great Hall is," Ron muttered as he walked ahead with Harry. "We're the first ones here! Shame we can't be the first to eat."

"Forget about eating. Think about it: we have to hand in our homework tomorrow. Given the quality of our essays, I have a feeling I'll be reporting to Snape's office in the first week." Harry found a seat, and Aya sat down wherever she pleased too.

"It's all right, we've got Aya here," Ron said.

"Sorry, I already went to see Professor Snape." Aya raised her chin smugly. "I think he has a very good idea of how good my essays are, so he'll probably focus on whoever comes second to last. You're done for."

"What!" Ron's eyes widened. "Why? We're all at the bottom, so why were you pardoned?"

"Because I gave him poop."

"...Harry, could you check if my ears are still working?" Ron turned to him and asked, a little worried.

"I don't think mine are working properly either," Harry said in a daze. "What poop?"

"Bat poop."

"!" Ron's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Merlin's triangular floral underpants, how dare you! We all call him the Old Bat, but you-you went right up and hit him with that. Aren't you being a bit too reckless with your life?"

"What kind of thing is that to say? Am I that sort of person?" Aya had no self-awareness at all. "It's a purple material, whatever else it is. It's expensive!"

"Oh... so it was a potions ingredient," Harry thought, a little disappointed.

After spending so much time with Aya, they also knew that, in her eyes, some materials or items were divided into different color grades according to their rarity. To her, purple was a somewhat expensive grade of material.

The returning students arrived soon afterward. They weren't surprised to see three people already sitting in the Great Hall; after all, someone always had to be first. When most of the students had arrived, Hermione finally entered the hall, and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw them.

"Good heavens! I went through the train three times and couldn't find you! Where did you go? I was beginning to think you hadn't even got on!" Hermione sat down and started talking nonstop. "I even asked Percy to check in the prefects' compartment to see if any of the other prefects had run into you while they were patrolling!"

"We came to school by Apparition," Aya said, raising her hand and answering first. "We got here at noon!"

"That's impossible!" Hermione said in disbelief. "Hogwarts: A History says there's an Anti-Apparition Spell on Hogwarts. It's impossible!"

"Er, maybe it's because we came with Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Duoduo?" Harry scratched his head.

"Well..." Hermione hesitated. "Maybe it's a headmaster's privilege?"

But once Hermione saw that her friends were all safe at school, the worry she had carried throughout the journey finally eased. After all the older students had arrived, Professor McGonagall led the first-years into the Great Hall, and this year's Sorting Ceremony began.

Aya hardly knew any of the students in her own year; for the most part, they knew her. So throughout the Sorting Ceremony, the only result she paid attention to was Ginny's, because she was friends with Ron. Ginny was, unsurprisingly, sorted into Gryffindor, and Aya thought Ron had let out a huge sigh of relief.

The feast was as lavish as ever, with a few new dishes they hadn't had the previous year. Aya had spent the whole afternoon wandering around the castle and was already hungry, so she piled a large plate with meat and dug in.

Quite a few Gryffindor first-years looked curiously at Aya's cat ears, but Aya only wanted to fill her stomach. She had already grown used to being stared at last term.

While Aya drew the first-years' attention, the older students were also being drawn to the splendidly dressed Lockhart, who was chatting with the other professors at the staff table. Many of the girls excitedly discussed his novels and his latest magazine in hushed voices, and even Hermione joined in.

After everyone had eaten, Dumbledore briefly said a few words and sent them back to their common rooms.

Aya strolled along in the crowd, holding her belly. Ahead of her were several Weasleys, chatting with Ginny, as well as Harry and Hermione. Behind her, Lavender and Parvati were discussing the latest issue of a wizarding magazine, which contained the latest interview about Lockhart's new book.

When they reached the common room, the person at the front gave the first password of the new term, "Honeybird," and everyone poured inside.

"I still haven't memorized every single point from those books." Aya had just returned from her bath and saw that, unusually, all three of her roommates were reading. She went over curiously for a look and overheard Hermione muttering.

"What's that book about?" Aya asked, looking at the book in Hermione's hands-Voyages with Vampires. Wasn't that one of their textbooks for the term?

"A wonderful story!" Lavender answered before anyone else could. "I've never seen such an amazing adventurer!"

"He always manages to escape danger and defeat his enemies with some brilliant spells!" Parvati added. They had been thrilled ever since learning over the summer holidays that Lockhart was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"Generally speaking, when someone has that many coincidences happen to them, they can only be a prewritten protagonist," Aya said. In the past, when she had gone through storylines with players, someone had always saved her when she was on the verge of death, or she had suddenly unleashed some special ability. Only protagonists got treatment like that. She had no idea how many of the NPC friends she had met along the way had died.

"Then he's the protagonist!" Lavender cupped her face, smiling adoringly. She clearly hadn't understood what Aya meant, though that was only natural. They had long since learned to spare themselves the effort of puzzling over Aya's words.

"He's written seven books!" Parvati said too. "I went to his book signing the other day and bought his new book. It's signed!"

"Me too!" Hermione and Lavender said in unison. Aya glanced at Hermione in some surprise. She was usually busy studying most of the time, and Lavender and Parvati had always been close, so Hermione's relationship with them could only be described as a little closer than that of ordinary classmates.

"You really should read them, Aya. The stories are all wonderful." Hermione lay on her bed, holding the book she was reading. "I want to become someone that amazing someday too!"

"No thanks. I need to sleep." Aya refused outright. Even though she had bought all the novels, she hadn't even unwrapped them. For her, the book-induced Sleeping Charm was a spell that any book could trigger. For the sake of her precious time, she had better not read them.

Aya lowered her bed curtains. Her other three roommates continued leafing through Lockhart's novels, while Aya took out the diary that had advanced her quest.

Hmm, a black notebook. It looked a little old, but its pages were completely blank.

Aya didn't quite understand why something like this was a red item. She stroked her chin and examined it for a long time, even tilting the pages to check for impressions left by writing, but found nothing.

Looking at the blank notebook was actually making Aya sleepy—it was definitely because she had eaten too much at dinner.

Aya casually put the diary back in her bag. Such a precious item naturally had to go in the safest place, her system inventory. Then she pulled the covers around herself and drifted off to sleep.

On the first day of term, Aya still felt half-asleep when she woke up. But Hermione was already packing her schoolbag, and even Lavender and Parvati were fully dressed. Aya was the only one still in bed.

For a moment, she thought she had woken up late. She glanced at the clock on the wall and realized the others were simply up too early.

"Good morning, Aya. Come on, get up!" Hermione saw Aya pull back her bed curtains and greeted her cheerfully. "We want to get to the Great Hall early. They're handing out timetables today, and we might even have Dark Magic Defence Class on the first day!"

Lavender and Parvati nodded along repeatedly.

The three girls soon left. Only then did Aya crawl out of bed, her black hair sticking up in every direction. She got dressed, picked up the cat, and went downstairs.

Hermione and the others got their wish: they really did have Dark Magic Defence Class on the first day. Aya looked at the timetable she had just been handed. Today she had Herbology, Transfiguration, and Dark Magic Defence Class-play in the mud, pay attention in class, plug her nose, Aya thought.

Ah, no, she wouldn't have to plug her nose this term.

Aya perked up a little. She had slept through Quirrell's classes last term and drooled who knew how much. Whenever his class ended, Aya always had to find water to rehydrate. For that reason alone, a large water bottle occupied a slot in her inventory.

"All right, I promise Professor Lockhart won't bore you to sleep, and you won't have to plug your nose either!" Hermione tugged at Aya as she filled her bottle with water. "You don't need that much. With a bottle that size, you won't even need half!"

"No," Aya said, refusing to budge. "I'm taking precautions. One time my mouth was dry all day, and even my tail fur lost its shine."

"Then hurry up. I heard Professor Lockhart is over by the greenhouses," Hermione urged. Harry and Ron, standing behind her, both curled their lips.

Harry had lost any illusions about Lockhart after being made to pose for photographs with him at Flourish and Blotts—no, Harry had never liked the flamboyant author in the first place. Ron, meanwhile, had heard Mrs. Weasley go on about him so many times that he had long since lost patience with the name and the man it represented, not to mention that Lockhart had made their whole family buy so many sets of those horribly expensive storybooks.

"Done!" Only after filling her bottle and putting it in her inventory did Aya follow the three of them out of the castle. They crossed the somewhat muddy vegetable patch and reached the greenhouses, where quite a few students were already standing.

"He's not here," Aya said unhappily.

"Over there!" Hermione pointed to the other side. Professor Sprout was just coming across the lawn, with Lockhart beside her, apparently saying something.

"His outfit's awfully elaborate," Ron said, shaking his head.

"The textbooks we bought must have given him plenty of money," Aya said with a pout.

Lockhart was spotless from head to toe. He wore flowing turquoise robes, his blond hair shone, and a turquoise top hat with gold trim sat squarely on his head.

"Oh, hello-" Still wearing his charming smile, Lockhart greeted the students with a beaming face. "I was just discussing the uses of Mandrakes with your Professor Sprout. Of course, I studied them when I was at school too, but I wouldn't want you to think I know more about Herbology than she does. I must say, I've come across some unusual plants on my travels as well..."

"Third Greenhouse today!" Professor Sprout's voice carried a hint of anger, and she was nothing like her usual amiable self.

"He looks like a green fly, buzzing around Professor Sprout," Aya muttered to Ron. Among all her favorite professors, Professor Sprout ranked near the top. She was usually very kind, and sometimes, when she saw Aya playing in the mud, she wouldn't criticize her, only patiently tell her how to care for the plants.

When the fly saw Harry, he quickly changed targets. Paying no attention to Professor Sprout's expression, he kept Harry outside the greenhouse.

"Today we're going to repot Mandrakes. Now, who can tell me what properties Mandrakes have?" Once Professor Sprout had organized the students and got them into position, she began the lesson. Harry entered the greenhouse at that moment, only two or three minutes late.

"What did he say to you?" Ron asked quietly from behind the crowd.

"...How he became famous?" Harry was somewhat speechless. "He said I'd already appeared in the Daily Prophet because of him, and there would be more opportunities in the future. He told me to make the most of the time he's teaching here."