Class

"A good person?" Percy, drawn over by Harry's reaction, sounded surprised when he heard Aya. "Very few students would describe him as a good person. He's the professor who teaches Potions, but everyone knows he doesn't want to teach it. He wants Professor Quirrell's job. Snape is very well versed in Dark Magic."

Harry felt that Professor Snape didn't seem to like him.

Aya reluctantly finished the last bit of pudding, her stomach sticking out round and full. The rest of the desserts on the long tables vanished, and Dumbledore rose at the High Table. The Great Hall fell quiet again.

"Now, I believe everyone has had their fill. Before the feast ends, I have a few words to say. At the start of the term, I must draw your attention to a few matters." He turned his head as though surveying all the students, his gaze pausing briefly on the Gryffindor table.

"First years, take note: the woods on the grounds are forbidden to all students. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has also asked me to remind everyone not to use magic in the corridors between classes. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of this term. Anyone interested may sign up with Madam Hooch. Finally, anyone who does not wish to meet with an accident and die a painful death should stay out of the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor."

As Aya listened, she opened her quest panel to check her quests. The food had distracted her earlier, and she had completely forgotten about them.

She saw "completed" marked in green after the quest labeled "Enrollment" and clicked to complete it. The lines of text turned into starlight and entered her body, and she felt as though some of her strength had returned. She checked her personal panel: her level had changed from "level five" to "level ten," and several grayed-out skills had lit up again. Aya was delighted to see one crowd-control escape skill among them-Sensing: it allowed her to swap places with her summons.

With that skill, she could escape even if Snape caught her again!

[Integrate into life at Hogwarts: This unfamiliar life is difficult for a free spirit like you to get used to, but it is the first step toward understanding the world. Integrating into the local community is the best choice.]

Aya was a little puzzled by the newly refreshed "Integrate into life at Hogwarts" quest. She set it aside and began looking through the weapons in her bag.

Because the player liked collecting weapon appearances, the bag still held wands of various levels. She searched through the warehouse, found a level-ten wooden wand, and moved it into her bag so it would be easy to take out later.

After they sang the chaotic school song under Dumbledore's direction-Aya didn't have a music plugin and had no idea how to sing, so she could only babble along, watching the Weasley brothers in admiration as they firmly sang through the whole thing to a strange tune without going off-key-the feast finally ended.

The first years followed Percy toward the Gryffindor dormitories. If the corridors hadn't been so crowded, Aya would have wanted Xiaohua to carry her back to the common room. Every step felt difficult because she had eaten too much.

They climbed flight after flight of stairs. Aya had always been in good physical shape, and she watched with interest as they passed doors hidden behind sliding panels and curtains, as well as every portrait in the corridors. The people in them could move and travel between picture frames. As Aya walked along the corridor, a cat in one of the paintings followed her for several floors before a splendidly dressed lady finally caught it and took it back.

At last, the group stopped in front of a portrait. The woman in it was very plump and dressed in pink. She smiled at them and asked, "Password?"

"Dragon dung," Percy answered.

The portrait swung shakily aside, revealing a round opening. Every student had to crawl through it. Aya's stomach felt much better after the walk, so she managed to get through on her own without any help.

The common room was a circular room filled with sofas. Aya looked around. Quite a few older students were still sitting there chatting, but the first years still had to return to their rooms and unpack. Percy pointed the girls in the right direction, then led the boys the other way.

Aya instinctively followed Hermione, the only girl she knew. As it happened, they were in the same dormitory, along with two other girls.

"I'm Parvati Patil."

"I'm Lavender Brown."

Aya introduced herself after Hermione and observed her two new classmates. Parvati was a girl with somewhat dark skin, while Lavender's hair was naturally a little curly.

Looking at Lavender's hair, Aya thought it was what the player had called instant-noodle hair. It looked rather nice.

The dormitory was clearly in a tower. Their beds had four posts and deep crimson curtains, with some space between each bed. Aya saw the luggage Duoduo had packed for her at the foot of the bed by the window.

Although the two girls were curious about Aya, everyone was a little tired after a busy day. Parvati and Lavender had already changed into their pajamas and gone to bed, while Hermione sat at the head of her bed leafing through a thick book. Aya wasn't interested. She went out to find the washroom, bathed, then changed into her pajamas and flopped onto her bed.

Hermione's bed was next to hers, but Aya could still hear Lavender and Parvati chatting quietly some distance away. They didn't seem to have settled down from the excitement of arriving at Hogwarts. Holding Xiaohua, Aya fell asleep to the sound of their quiet conversation and turning pages.

When Aya woke the next day, Hermione was already up. Fully dressed, she had a large bag on her back that seemed to be stuffed with books, and she was about to leave the dormitory.

"Oh, good morning, Aya. I have to go. It's already seven, and I haven't previewed today's lessons yet-" Without waiting for Aya to respond, she hurried out and shut the door. The noise only made Lavender, whose bed was closest to the door, roll over.

Aya drew back only the curtain on the window side. With the head of her bed against the wall and the curtains on the other two sides closed, she had a little privacy to change.

Her stomach no longer felt so full, and she wanted to see what there was to eat in the Great Hall.

Xiaohua followed her out of the dormitory. Lavender and Parvati were starting to stir. Aya went down the spiral staircase, and when she reached the common room, the only sounds were the crackling of logs and the burning flames in the fireplace.

Aya wasn't worried about finding her way to the Great Hall. Although she hadn't paid attention to the route yesterday, Xiaohua would know it.

She followed Xiaohua downstairs. After leaving the common room, she saw quite a few students, who seemed to enjoy watching the first years navigate the moving staircases.

In the past, Aya would have shown them what qinggong was.

But now, all she could do was let the staircase carry her to another corridor. Xiaohua crouched at the junction, unwilling to leave, and Aya crouched down beside her, a little lost.

"Xiaohua, we have to take a detour. Do you still know the way?" Aya poked the back of Xiaohua's furry head. Behind her came the laughter of older students enjoying the show.

Xiaohua turned to look at Aya, and Aya understood. She stood and stepped back. Xiaohua grew to her largest size, and Aya climbed on and wrapped her arms around her neck. Ignoring the startled cries and screams of the students behind them, Xiaohua carried Aya straight off the edge of the staircase.

As everyone knew, cats had nine lives, and Xiaohua was no ordinary cat. A fall from this height wouldn't kill her. She didn't jump straight down the entire stairwell, either, but landed lightly on the stairs as she leaped downward. In less than half a minute, Aya reached the bottom safely.

Looking up, she saw dozens of round heads poking out over the stairs, cheering. Aya climbed down, and Xiaohua shrank and clambered onto her shoulder, flicking her tail. Aya stroked her and continued along the corridor ahead until she reached the Entrance Hall.

While Aya ate at the Gryffindor table, most of the first years were still nowhere to be seen. Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor, was walking among the seats handing out timetables for each year. When she saw Aya, the stern professor smiled at her and handed her a first-year timetable.

Aya frowned at the timetable in her hands. Owls flew in from outside the Entrance Hall in twos and threes, landing in front of some of the students. Aya wasn't interested in these messengers she couldn't eat. No one was going to send her anything anyway.

Astronomy? What's that? She remembered seeming to have seen an NPC use astronomy for divination before, but didn't know whether the two were related.

Herbology? What's that? Three classes a week? Is it red potions and blue potions?

History of Magic? Does magic have a history?

Charms? Is that where we learn skills? Then Professor Flitwick must be the skill instructor.

What's Transfiguration? And it's taught by Professor McGonagall, the head of our house? I only know how to customize a character's face!

Professor Snape teaches Potions Class. Percy mentioned it yesterday. That's potions, so what kind of potions are the herbs from earlier?

By the time Aya had read through the timetable, her eyes were full of confusion. She chewed the bacon in her mouth. Crispy and fragrant!

Forget it. I'll just follow everyone else later.

Aya had apparently gotten up early, though. Even after she finished her hearty breakfast, not all the first years had arrived. She didn't want to sit at the long table watching other people eat—she was full, but she still craved food—so she asked an older student where the first Transfiguration class was and headed there with Xiaohua.

When she arrived at the Transfiguration classroom, someone was already there. It was Hermione, sitting in the front row with her head buried in a book.

"Good morning, Hermione," Aya replied belatedly.

"Oh, you're here? I'm still reading. Percy was right yesterday. You really do have to start with simple Transfiguration and work your way up. I think I need to read more of the theory in the book before class, so I can manage a successful transformation later!" Hermione looked up at her, then went back to her book. "I'm so afraid I'll come last. Students with wizard parents have been learning magic since they were little!"

"Ah, you're amazing." Unable to get a word in, Aya said the first thing that came to mind. She sat down next to Hermione with Xiaohua in her arms, took out her textbook, and looked around.

There were three sparkling spots in the classroom!

Aya got up at once and went over to touch them.

The Great Hall sparkled much of the time, especially because of the eternally burning candles floating in midair, so Aya had grown less sensitive to sparkling spots.

Thanks to her daily efforts in Diagon Alley before school started, she wasn't short of money for the moment, but she still needed many more Galleons to pay Snape back, not to mention-

Who could resist a sparkling spot with something to pick up!

Hermione had no time to pay Aya any attention, so Aya made a circuit of the classroom and came away with—a few matches.

All right, better than nothing.

Aya had been prepared to find junk. It was perfectly normal to get junk from sparkling spots she could touch so easily by the roadside.

She waited in boredom until the bell rang. The classroom filled with people, and Professor McGonagall stood at the front.

"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will study at Hogwarts. I'll make this clear now: anyone who causes trouble in my class will be sent out without mercy." As Professor McGonagall spoke, she waved her wand and turned the teacher's desk into a pig, then changed it back.

Aya watched curiously. This kind of magic seemed a little like the fun items she had played with before, though it was clearly more flexible. The fun items could only turn into certain specified forms.

While Professor McGonagall explained the theory, the students around Aya bent over their desks, diligently taking notes. Aya remained unmoved, playing with her quill—she couldn't write anyway. Since she was also in the front row beside Hermione, she succeeded in attracting Professor McGonagall's attention.

After handing out matches for everyone to practice with, she came down from the front and asked sternly over the noisy incantations around them, "Miss Hawthorne, why don't you pick up that precious quill of yours and take a few notes? My notes are on the blackboard. I assume you can see them?"

Aya blinked. "Professor, I can't."

"You can't?" McGonagall's eyes widened slightly. Recalling what Dumbledore had said some time ago about Aya's background, her expression softened a little. "Let me think. Perhaps you should learn to write first? For now, take out your wand and start practicing. Come to me after class for a copy of the notes. And generally speaking, pets aren't allowed in class. I'll make an exception this once. I hope you'll remember that, all right?"

"All right, Professor." Xiaohua wasn't a pet anyway.

Aya held her wand, listened to Hermione's incantation beside her, and repeated it twice like a parrot. She thought about how Professor McGonagall had said to picture a needle in her mind—a difficult task, since she didn't know what a needle looked like. When Professor McGonagall had demonstrated earlier, it had seemed to be a thin little stick.

She recited the incantation and waved her wand. The match turned into a thin white stick. McGonagall, who had been watching Aya, noticed at once and came over. "Very good, but what is this?"

"It's a needle," Aya said confidently.

"..." Hermione looked at her in surprise. "That's not what a needle looks like. You haven't succeeded yet!"

"That is a needle," Aya said stubbornly.

McGonagall picked up the little stick and waved her wand. A standard embroidery needle appeared. She placed it in front of Aya, then gave her another match. "Now try?"

Aya frowned and studied it carefully, then cast the spell on the match.

The match twisted and transformed perfectly into a big embroidery needle.

"Very good. Five points to Gryffindor. Miss Hawthorne has successfully completed the transformation!" McGonagall announced loudly.