Hogwarts Raven

The night was as dark as ink.

The soft moonlight filtered through the window, casting its glow on the quiet bedroom. Ian's eyelashes slowly fluttered open under the gentle caress of the moonlight, and his emerald green eyes shimmered with a brilliant light.

Returning to consciousness, Ian instinctively glanced at the clock in his bedroom – no surprise, the hands of the old-fashioned wall clock were fixed at 12:07.

This had been the case for years.

Whenever he returned from the Twilight Zone, the time was always the same. The hour hand might point to different numbers, but the minute hand would always point to that number imbued with magical power.

Seven.

Ian didn't understand the secret behind it, but he knew that every week, he would have an experience almost identical to this one.

In the past, the only people he encountered in the Twilight Zone were Ariana and occasionally Pandero. This time, however, a mysterious, aristocratic witch had appeared.

"She wants me to help her find the mirror she left behind in the real world..."

Ian wasn't sure whether the witch was benevolent or malevolent. Perhaps judging a soul purely by its goodness or evilness was too simplistic. What intrigued him most was the witch's enigmatic identity.

A witch living in a mysterious castle within the Twilight Zone.

Had she once been a renowned figure in the wizarding world? After all, her aristocratic demeanor clearly wasn't something an ordinary witch could possess.

"Was she a wizard from the last century, or was she an active figure from the Middle Ages?"

Ian's understanding of the fantasy world he found himself in was limited to a few special effects-laden films and some conspiracy-laden fanfiction.

Because of this, Ian could only grasp a general sense of the many mysteries hidden within this world. The only mirror he could think of was the Mirror of Erised, which concealed the Philosopher's Stone at the beginning of the story.

It could show a person their deepest, strongest desires.

If the mysterious witch was seeking that mirror – the one that would eventually appear at Hogwarts – then perhaps Ian truly had a chance to bring it into the Twilight Zone and give it to her.

"I just don't know if I can bring such a large object into the Twilight Zone like I would bring in candy." Ian was unsure, as he had never attempted anything like it.

Honestly, Ian still didn't fully understand the special gift he had possessed since childhood. He didn't even fully grasp why he could bring candy into the Twilight Zone, yet his own bed, where he slept, didn't follow the same rule.

Of course.

To enter the Twilight Zone in his sleep must have been a very special gift – just as the mysterious witch in the Twilight Zone had said.

Ian… was special enough.

What this specialness entailed, however, only the witch could truly answer. Ian could clearly sense that the mysterious witch in the Twilight Zone was quite concerned with this fact.

"Learning magic from her…"

Ian couldn't deny that the proposal had tempted him, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the witch's intentions might not be entirely genuine. Perhaps it was just a ruse to achieve some goal related to his uniqueness.

If she truly was the former owner of the Mirror of Erised, she was certainly an ancient spirit who had lived for countless years. Her thoughts, as a spirit, might be even more difficult to comprehend than those of a living woman.

"She's also a very beautiful ghost."

"I don't need to take this risk… Magic, I can learn at school. The professors there might not be any weaker than the old witch in the dream."

Reason triumphed over greed.

Ian suppressed the stirrings of desire in his heart.

What if the other party truly was an old witch who enjoyed playing with young boys?

Or what if the so-called "playing" by the witch wasn't the same as Ian's kind of "playing"? Ian definitely wasn't willing to take that risk.

"Phew~ Namo Gatling Merlin Bodhisattva… This really can't be a gamble."

After weighing the pros and cons, Ian repositioned his pillow, closed his eyes, and fell back into a deep, restful sleep.

In the years without the chance to learn charms, the biggest benefit of having wizarding blood was that he could easily learn the method of lucid dreaming.

…

One night, a dream.

The next day, Ian woke up feeling refreshed.

With every movement, he seemed to carry just a little extra confidence, a carefree, elegant aura – no one knew what kind of beautiful dream he had conjured up for himself last night.

[Successfully improved language skills]

[Successfully improved language skills]

[Successfully improved language skills]

Before the morning sun had even risen, Ian had already started his daily studies. He had always been serious about improving his language skills.

After all.

In Ian's heart, there had always been an expectation: he hoped to use the extraordinary abilities gained from this skill to tap into the unique talents that only a few in the magical world possessed.

Communication with animals.

He was not aiming to become a Parselmouth who could communicate across species, but at least to understand animals' emotions and intentions, like Newt Scamander. Then it would be alright.

"Of course, if I could hear the voices of all living things, I wouldn't mind either." Forgive Ian, his past literary interests were quite diverse, and last night, he had dreamed of being the king of mountain bandits.

[Successfully improved language skills]

[Successfully improved language skills]

…

Just as Ian was letting his mind wander, gaining about ten points in his language skills, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed in the hallway outside his room.

There were also clattering sounds.

It was unclear which unfortunate kid had knocked something over in the hallway.

"Ian! Ian! Come! Uh… the school teacher's here again!"

Catherine's voice rang out from outside, breathless, along with the sound of small hands urgently knocking on the door. It seemed the kids were more eager about school than Ian was.

The kids gathered around Ian, chattering away, some of them even speaking with a somewhat precocious tone – orphans often grew up faster in many aspects than their peers.

"Ian! Ian! Ms. Helena is calling for you! Are you going to school?"

"Are you coming back? Can you bring us a teacher too?"

"You can use your charm to persuade those female teachers, oh!"

…

"Ian, I don't want to go to that school anymore. I'll just wait for you to teach me how to make candy! Oh, the teacher who came today looks just like the one you talked about, the one with the weird dress!"

On the way, Catherine leaned closer to Ian and whispered, sounding a bit scared. Her words made Ian, who had already been curious about which professor was coming, feel a tightness in his chest.

"Looks like the one with the weird dress?"

Is it scary?

Ian had a bad feeling.

At that moment, surrounded by a crowd of kids, Ian arrived right in front of the Director's office.

The door was open.

So.

Ian could clearly see the figure sitting across from the Director, almost shrouded in a gloomy aura. Just the back of the figure alone made the atmosphere tense and oppressive.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the dark wizards he had encountered before.

"Why is it him!?"

Ian looked dumbfounded.

"They have a big fluffy Dumbles at home! Why is this black bat here instead!!"

(End of chapter)