September 3rd—the first day of Hogwarts' official term—began with a surprising change in weather. The gloomy rain that had lasted for days finally cleared, leaving the sky bright and crisp.
Albert opened his eyes slowly, emerging from a deep sleep. He swung his legs out of bed, walked barefoot to the window, and pushed it open. A cool morning breeze swept into the dormitory.
His three roommates were still fast asleep. They had spent half the night talking about Quidditch and reading The Daily Prophet before collapsing into bed. Albert had no intention of waking them. Classes wouldn't start until nine, and dragging these night owls out of bed now would be pure cruelty.
After washing up, Albert checked his timetable, then looked through his bag to make sure he had all his textbooks, parchment, quills, and ink. Satisfied, he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed to the Gryffindor common room.
A few students were already there—first-years like himself.
"Good morning, Wilson," Albert said with a friendly nod to the girl who was deeply absorbed in Miranda Goshawk's The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. She was probably preparing for their first Charms class.
"Good morning…" The girl, Sanna Wilson, looked embarrassed. She clearly didn't know the name of the boy greeting her, even though she recognized him as a fellow first-year.
"Albert Anderson. You can call me Albert," he said casually, noticing her awkwardness. "Want to go to the Great Hall for breakfast together?"
"Oh—yes… yes, Albert!" Sanna stammered, clutching her books as she hurried to follow him out of the common room.
She didn't speak along the way, simply trailing behind him while glancing around nervously, trying her best to memorize the route.
Albert noticed her behavior and couldn't help thinking, Does she not know the way?
It was entirely possible. Even he had nearly gotten lost on the first day of university in his past life—and Hogwarts was far more confusing.
In fact, Sanna had absolutely no idea how to get to the Great Hall, which was why she'd been waiting in the common room, hoping someone else would go first. Gryffindor upper-years weren't exactly known for guiding newcomers; many even enjoyed watching first-years wander around in panic. It was a habit born from their own past suffering, and over time, it had turned into a strange, harmless sort of tradition.
Just yesterday, on Albert's way back from the kitchen, he had seen a few older students laughing after watching a group of first-years fall victim to a staircase trick. They didn't even try to help.
Of course, that was only a minority—Hufflepuffs, at least, would never do such a thing.
When they finally reached the Great Hall successfully, Sanna visibly relaxed.
Albert sat at the Gryffindor table, poured himself a glass of milk, and gulped it down in one go. When he looked up, he found Sanna staring at him, as if she wanted to speak.
"What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing. Do you… like milk?" Sanna asked, clearly trying to make conversation. No one wanted to spend the school year friendless, and Albert seemed easy to talk to.
"Like it?" Albert shook his head. "Not really. It's just a habit. I've had a glass every morning since I was seven."
Sanna blinked, impressed but unsure how to respond. Albert, meanwhile, spread jam over a slice of bread and took a large bite. Across from him, Sanna was eating a deep-fried golden egg—an undeniably British style of "fried egg." Albert privately felt that "Golden Fried Egg" suited it better. He himself much preferred a simple boiled egg.
After finishing his bread, he prepared two slices of toast, filled them with salad, bacon, and sausage to make a proper sandwich. Beside it he had a bowl of corn porridge—or rather, corn chowder, made by boiling ground corn with water and a little milk.
Compared to Daisy's corn chowder back home, the school's version was only passable. Then again, Daisy's chowder was one of her specialties.
After breakfast, Sanna and Albert talked about Charms.
"I heard Angelina say you've already learned lots of spells," Sanna said carefully. "Is that true? How did you learn them so quickly?"
"Well… first, you have to be interested," Albert said after a moment of thought. "And then, you need to spend time studying and practicing."
Interest mattered more than most people realized. When you enjoyed something, it was easy to put in the work.
"Interest…" Sanna repeated softly.
For Muggle-born students like her, Hogwarts was a complete shock. Their lives had been turned upside down, and they were expected to learn an entire magical system from scratch. Students from wizarding families were naturally far ahead.
"Don't worry too much," Albert reassured her. "Everyone starts out only fifty steps behind a hundred. Put in the time, and you'll catch up."
He paused, realizing the irony: here he was, a Gryffindor, encouraging someone to study. Not everyone was Hermione Granger—and she herself had nearly been sorted into Ravenclaw.
"You too?" Sanna asked.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Albert replied automatically.
But inside, he felt a twinge of guilt. Unlike everyone else, he had a system. He could learn through study… or by leveling up skills. If he maxed out the Wizard Bloodline, he could surpass everyone effortlessly. Yet he hadn't done that—not even claimed the Wizard's Path quest.
He was still torn about his future. Did he want to stay in the wizarding world? Or return to the Muggle world and build a life there? If he chose the latter, he'd need to save a huge amount of experience and skill points for economics and business-related skills.
Forget it. No point thinking about this now.
Albert pushed the distracting thoughts aside and opened Nineteenth-Century Spell Selection, reading slowly. For now, he was satisfied with his pace. The stored experience and skill points could be used later—when he truly needed them.