“Hannah Abbott!”
That was the first sound Linus heard upon waking up.
He opened his eyes drowsily, seeing a sky full of stars above his head.
Someone behind him was pushing his shoulder.
Linus instinctively sat up straight, wiped away his drool, turned around, and said, “Sorry about that.”
The person pushing him was a boy.
He wore brand-new black robes just like Linus, appeared to be about the same age, and had an ordinary face—except for his unusually dark eyes.
The boy didn’t say anything, merely nodding at him before returning his gaze to the center of the Great Hall ahead.
Linus didn’t think much of it.
He turned back around, then froze.
A massive hall, floating candles, a brilliant starry sky overhead, first-years in black robes, and a stern-faced witch in green robes standing in the middle of the hall—
*Transmigrated?
Hogwarts?*
As a veteran Harry Potter fan, Linus accepted this reality in a fraction of a second.
Looking down at his shrunken hands and feeling the black robes he wore, he felt a surge of excitement.
The Sorting Hat, Professor McGonagall, Hannah Abbott…
next up should be—
“Linus Sunwood!”
Professor McGonagall’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
Linus froze for a second, looked left and right, and seeing no one else responding, jogged over to the stool under the professor’s nerve-wracking gaze.
The hat was placed on his head, and a voice sounded in his ear: “Middling talent, but warm-hearted and kind…
You’re a natural Hufflepuff.”
Linus replied in his mind, *How about Gryffindor?*
“Gryffindor?” muttered the Sorting Hat.
“You don’t look all that reckless.”
Linus smiled.
*I thought courage was the one thing I didn’t lack.*
So the hat said, “A courageous child, is it?
Very well, I shall respect your decision.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
The moment the hat shouted it out, the house table on the right erupted in cheers.
Linus took off the hat and walked toward the sea of red.
As he passed the Hufflepuff table, he subconsciously glanced over.
The boy who had nudged him awake was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, watching him quietly.
Linus paused in his step.
Only then did he realize a problem: during the sorting, he hadn’t heard this boy’s name called.
*Is he a Hufflepuff?
When was he sorted?
Or did I zone out and miss it?*
Before he could figure it out, a new call echoed from behind: “Harry Potter!”
The entire hall instantly boiled over with excitement.
Linus’s attention was pulled away.
He found a seat and joined everyone in witnessing the Savior’s sorting moment.
There were already several first-years sitting at the long table.
Linus naturally sat down next to a girl with bushy brown hair—Hermione Granger.
Her prominent front teeth and proud posture made her impossible to mistake.
After Headmaster Albus Dumbledore joyfully declared his proclamation—”Nitwit!
Blubber!
Oddment!
Tweak!”—the ravenous crowd could finally begin eating.
As Linus cut into his steak, he asked, “How’s the pork chop tonight?”
Hermione looked left and right to confirm he was speaking to her, then hesitated.
“You’re cutting steak.”
“That’s why I’m asking for your opinion on the pork chop,” Linus said, rolling his eyes.
“Are we close?”
Linus turned around and flashed her a grand smile.
“Well then, Miss Hermione Granger, allow me to formally introduce myself.
My name is Linus Sunwood.
First-year Gryffindor—pleased to meet you.”
“I know that.
Professor McGonagall called your name earlier.”
“Now we’re close.”
“Well…
okay then.”
Hermione accepted this suddenly eager new friend.
Not far away, Harry and Ron were listening to Nearly Headless Nick introduce himself.
Hermione noticed Linus’s gaze and asked, “Do you want to make friends with Harry Potter too?
Why don’t you sit over there?”
“He’s not as high on my priority list as you.”
The young witch looked at him in confusion, her fork frozen midair.
Linus added, “Besides, famous as Harry Potter might be, I don’t think Miss Granger falls short in the slightest.”
Hermione put down her fork.
“Of course not.”
“With confidence like that alone, you’re bound to accomplish great things.”
Hermione was amused.
Then she asked, “So, what spells have you learned?”
Linus’s hand holding the fork suddenly stiffened.
“Please don’t bring up study topics while eating.
Afterwards, at least one of us will lose our appetite.”
He stuffed the last piece of steak into his mouth.
“It’s me this time; next time it might be you.”
Hermione laughed aloud triumphantly.
As Linus was about to keep teasing her, his peripheral vision caught the Hufflepuff table.
That boy was still sitting there, quietly eating.
As if sensing his gaze, the boy looked up at him.
Once again, it was that quiet, emotionless eye contact.
Those black eyes stared straight at him like two bottomless wells.
A strange feeling welled up in Linus’s chest.
Something suddenly struck him: during the sorting, Professor McGonagall had called Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillan…
but he had never heard this boy’s name.
*How did he end up sitting there?*
The school song began.
Dumbledore waved his wand to project golden lyrics into the air, and the crowd sang along in a discordantly chaotic mix of tunes.
As Linus sang, he cast frequent glances toward Hufflepuff.
The boy was singing too.
His lips moved, but no sound carried across.
Or rather, Linus couldn’t hear his voice at all.
When the school song finished, the food scraps on the long tables vanished, and the prefects began gathering their respective houses.
Linus stood up, his gaze locked onto the Hufflepuff section—the boy was getting up too, slowly moving toward the exit with the crowd.
Linus wanted to catch up to him, but his path was blocked by the surging crowd of Gryffindor students.
By the time he squeezed through the crowd and looked toward the doorway—
The boy was gone.
On the way back to the dormitory, Linus said to Hermione, “I think that school song was pretty good.”
Hermione looked at him in utter shock.
“As long as we change the lyrics a bit and get everyone to sing to my tune.”
“Then wouldn’t that be a completely different song?” Hermione scoffed.
A portrait on the wall suddenly interjected, “I’ve been saying for ages that my version of the lyrics should be the school song!”
“If I ever get elected Headmaster, I will certainly consider your proposal,” Linus replied with a smile.
“I look forward to that day!” The knight in the painting guffawed.
Hermione’s eyes sparkled as she listened.
Reaching the end of the corridor, Percy Weasley gave the password, and everyone crawled through the hole into the Gryffindor common room one by one.
Before entering, Linus took one last look back.
The corridor was completely empty, with only the portraits whispering among themselves.
Inside the common room, the Fat Friar floated over to greet the new Gryffindor intake.
Percy Weasley was explaining dormitory assignments to the first-years.
Linus was assigned to the same room as Harry, Ron, Neville, and Seamus.
As for Dean Thomas, Linus could only wish the guy good luck.
Having traveled all day, his roommates fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.
Lying on the soft, comfortable bed, Linus finally had time to examine the floating blue-glowing notification panel hovering before his eyes.
[Magic Skill Panel]
[Basic Disciplines] Charms (White) Lv0 [0/10] Transfiguration (White) Lv0 [0/10] Potions (White) Lv0 [0/10] Astronomy (White) Lv0 [0/10] Alchemy (White) Lv0 [0/10] Herbology (White) Lv0 [0/10]
[Special Skills] Broom Flying (White) Lv0 [0/10]
[Magic Reserves] Total Magic Lv1 [10/10]
“Very straightforward,” Linus planned quietly in his mind.
“Raise talent tier, raise individual subject levels, and expand total magic capacity.
Now here’s the question: System, where are my daily quests?
Is there a way to earn Gold Galleons?”
The system offered no response.
*At least I figured out how to dismiss this thing,* Linus muttered under his breath, preparing to sleep.
Before closing his eyes, he suddenly remembered that boy.
The boy who had nudged him awake in the Great Hall, who had pitch-black eyes, sat at the Hufflepuff table, and never took part in the Sorting ceremony.
*Who is he?
How did he get in there?
Why did no one notice anything off about him?*
Linus opened his eyes abruptly.
A terrifying thought flashed through his mind:
*If he’s a student, he should have lined up to be sorted just like me.
But he didn’t.*
*If he isn’t a student, how could he sit at the table and eat with everyone without a single person questioning him?*
*Do Hogwarts’ defensive spells not work on him?*
Linus tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
He decided he would definitely go find that boy tomorrow and get a clear answer.
What he didn’t know was—
The next morning, when he searched for that figure at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, the boy wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there on the third day either.
Every day after that, he was nowhere to be found.
It was as if that boy had never existed at all.