Once the Sorting Ceremony was over, Dumbledore clapped his hands and said softly, “Let the feast begin.” The next second, the previously empty tables were covered with food.
Witt’s eyes instantly lit up.
Professor, teach me that!
After living in Britain for so many years, what he missed most about his old home was the sheer variety of food.
Admittedly, British fish and chips tasted perfectly decent, but eating the same sort of thing day after day was more than he could bear.
There simply wasn’t enough variety.
As for cooking for himself…
perhaps because he’d been born British in this life, anything Witt cooked could only be described as technically unlikely to kill you.
Tea, on the other hand, especially black tea, was where all his talent seemed to have gone.
“Was all this done with magic too?
What year do we learn it?
Can first-years sit in on the lessons?” Witt asked excitedly.
Being rubbish at cooking didn’t matter if almighty magic could do it for you.
Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect seated near the end of the table, overheard him and explained, “The food isn’t conjured.
It’s prepared beforehand and then transported here with magic.” “Ah…” All the excitement immediately drained out of Witt.
He gloomily picked up a sausage and bit into it.
“I thought magic could do anything.” “Magic certainly cannot do everything.” A transparent head suddenly rose out of the roast chicken sitting in the middle of the table.
“A ghost!” Witt shot to his feet, whipped out his wand, and immediately moved Lily behind him as he stared warily at the apparition.
His movements were swift and fluid.
After spending more than a month risking his life in dungeons every day, Witt’s reflexes had become frighteningly fast.
At this point, he could draw his wand faster than a gunslinger could draw a revolver.
“What a quick little wizard.
Welcome to Gryffindor.” The richly dressed ghost calmly floated all the way out of the roast chicken and gave him a friendly smile.
Witt looked around.
Everyone else seemed completely accustomed to the sight.
Only then did he realise that perhaps he’d overreacted slightly.
After Witt sat down again, countless ghosts drifted freely around the Great Hall, cheerfully greeting the students.
Witt coughed awkwardly.
“This place is completely mad.” “Witt, you don’t need to be so nervous.” Lily didn’t seem frightened at all.
Instead, she was the one comforting him.
“No, no, no.” Witt immediately defended himself with a serious expression.
“This isn’t nervousness.
It’s caution.
Prudence.” “In a dangerous world like this, being cautious is absolutely essential if you want to stay alive.” Percy turned towards him.
“Hogwarts is the safest place in the world.
Nothing dangerous is going to happen to you here.” “That’s debatable.” Witt remembered a Blue-tier Elite Quest he’d drawn before.
He had been sent to rescue a girl called Myrtle from a bathroom.
The Quest location had been Hogwarts.
He’d died seven times before finally managing to complete it.
“There’s a giant snake in Hogwarts that’s thicker than I am, and anyone it looks at drops dead.” “I couldn’t even kill it with Avada Kedavra.
That thing is insanely dangerous.” It had been the first creature Witt had ever encountered that couldn’t be killed by a single Killing Curse.
The experience had left quite an impression on him.
“I’ve been at Hogwarts for five years, and I’ve never encountered any creature like that.” Percy was beginning to find Witt’s strange ramblings rather exhausting.
The boy reminded him of Professor Trelawney.
They had exactly the same sort of neurotic air about them.
The two would probably have plenty to talk about.
“Fine.
Don’t believe me.” This world was ridiculous.
Tell people the truth and nobody believed a word of it.
“Witt.” Lily tugged gently on his sleeve, stopping him from saying anything more.
She didn’t think Witt was lying.
After all, she herself had ended up here because of the very things he talked about.
But if nobody else believed him, Lily didn’t want everyone to start thinking Witt was mad.
She genuinely hoped he could fit in a little better.
After the feast, Dumbledore announced several Hogwarts rules and restrictions, followed by a few rather peculiar words.
“Nitwit!
Blubber!
Oddment!
Tweak!” Witt had absolutely no idea what any of that was supposed to mean.
Fortunately, Dumbledore wasn’t the sort of headmaster who gave endless speeches.
When he said a few words, he genuinely meant a few words.
Muggle school headmasters could really learn something from him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ “Gryffindors, this way.” As prefect, Percy gathered the first-years and led them towards Gryffindor Tower.
“Watch the staircases.
They can move at any time.” Among the group following Percy, Witt took Lily’s hand and whispered, “Those stairs look like a nightmare.
Remember to leave early tomorrow.
Professor McGonagall’s face will be terrifying if we’re late to our very first lesson.” “Mhm.” Lily studied the constantly shifting staircases and decided Witt had a point.
She certainly didn’t want to be late on her first day.
When they finally reached the Gryffindor common room, Percy called, “Everyone gather here.” Once all the students had arrived, he began explaining the sleeping arrangements.
“This is the common room.
The boys’ dormitories are on the left and the girls’ are on the right.
Your luggage has already been taken upstairs.” “First-years don’t have any lessons on Monday morning, so you’ll have plenty of time to rest.” “What?” Witt, who had been repeatedly reminding Lily that they needed to wake up early tomorrow, froze.
Seeing the teasing smile on Lily’s face, he pursed his lips unhappily.
A proper school ought to have students up at six in the morning and working until ten at night.
That was what Witt had endured back in his previous life.
Hogwarts already had ridiculously relaxed nine to five school hours, and now they didn’t even have lessons on Monday morning?
Completely unreasonable.
Witt decided he ought to make a suggestion to Dumbledore.
The school clearly needed more classes.
After Percy finished explaining the Gryffindor dormitories, he organised the students and sent the boys and girls off to find their respective rooms.
Among the crowd, Harry glanced reluctantly towards Lily before she disappeared.
This girl, who shared exactly the same name as his mother, always gave him an inexplicable feeling of warmth and familiarity.
He couldn’t help wanting to be near her.
“Stop staring.
She’s already gone.” Ron tugged Harry towards the boys’ dormitory.
“I can take you to find her after lessons tomorrow.” Ron didn’t really understand why Harry cared so much about that girl.
Maybe this was what love was like.
He didn’t understand it, but that didn’t matter.
As Harry’s friend, naturally he would help him.
The Gryffindor dormitories normally housed four students to a room.
Yet when Witt pushed open the door to his dormitory, he found only his own luggage inside.
He waited until late that night, but no roommates ever appeared.
Apparently, Dumbledore had arranged a private room for him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In the Headmaster’s office, Snape stood before Dumbledore, his dark, brooding eyes fixed intensely upon him.
He wanted a reasonable explanation.
Today’s Sorting Ceremony had felt unbearably long.
Longer, somehow, than the entire past decade of his life.
Snape could only hope that Dumbledore’s explanation wouldn’t disappoint him.
Dumbledore placed a copy of A History of Magic on the desk between them and spoke quietly.
“The Lily Evans and Severus Snape you saw at today’s Sorting Ceremony both came from twenty years ago.” “What?” Snape slammed both hands onto the desk.
“Dumbledore, are you certain you’ve not gone senile?” “Time cannot be changed.
Everyone in the wizarding world knows that.” If changing time were possible, Snape would have done so years ago.
He certainly wouldn’t have waited until now.
“I know.” Dumbledore took out a Time-Turner and gently turned it between his fingers.
“But the evidence is standing before us, isn’t it?nWhether we believe it or not, it has already happened.” “Lily…” Snape murmured the name under his breath.
“I’ll verify all of this myself.” He coldly threw down those words and turned to leave.
“Please wait.” Dumbledore stopped him.
“At present, we have no way of knowing whether Lily and the others might suddenly return to their own time.” “They appeared here together two months ago.
For now, I would prefer that you not speak to them about what happened in the future.” “Dumbledore.” Disgust entered Snape’s voice.
“Don’t forget why I came to you in the first place.” Snape had agreed to become Dumbledore’s spy for Lily.
And now Dumbledore expected him to stand by and accept Lily’s death, to make no attempt to change what had happened?
Impossible.
Snape would never allow that tragedy to happen a second time.
No matter the cost.
Dumbledore answered calmly, “Severus, you must understand that if Voldemort wins, Lily’s ultimate fate will remain exactly the same.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!