Dylan was speechless.
Based on his own reasoning, since Gryffindor had the Sword of Gryffindor and its so‑called House legacy,
then the other three Houses naturally ought to have the legacies of their founders as well.
So if he could get into Ravenclaw, he would have a chance to explore Ravenclaw's legacy.
The Sword of Gryffindor might be useful, but it was not exactly a perfect fit for him. He was not a swordfighter.
"Great! Dylan, you're in our House too!"
Amid the applause, Dylan went to sit down at the Gryffindor table and took the spot next to Neville.
He was not at all surprised that the chubby boy had also landed in Gryffindor.
But Professor McGonagall, watching him sit, was.
After her brief time with Dylan, she had been quite sure he would go to Ravenclaw.
Yet here he was in Gryffindor instead.
That said, the surprise also pleased her a little.
At least he was now one of "her" students.
At the same time,
Dumbledore, seated at the center of the staff table, narrowed his eyes slightly and let a smile curl his lips when he saw Dylan sit at the Gryffindor table.
"Ollivander is far too cautious."
Two weeks earlier, he had received a letter from Ollivander,
detailing everything that had happened when Dylan chose his wand and warning him, rather earnestly, to be careful.
To make sure Dylan did not become another Tom.
But the boy had not gone into Slytherin, nor into Ravenclaw. Instead, he had become a Gryffindor, a House of knightly spirit.
So, in Dumbledore's view, Ollivander was being oversensitive.
A wand was, after all, only an indication of magical leaning. As long as a young wizard was guided properly, Tom's tragedy would not be repeated.
"The Sorting Hat must not have been able to tell I've already learned the Unforgivable Curses."
Seeing that Dumbledore showed no sign of suspicion as he watched him, Dylan felt a little more at ease.
Occlumency was still a bit too difficult for him to tackle.
And he was afraid of outsmarting himself. If no one was suspicious of him in the first place,
and he suddenly started using Occlumency on himself,
anyone who sensed it would immediately wonder what he was hiding.
Would that not make him look even more suspicious?
"Honestly, though, those three so‑called Unforgivable Curses are really nothing special."
After an entire holiday of research,
his understanding of the three curses had grown deeper and deeper.
People might call them cruel and inhuman,
but in the era of the Founders, chaos was the word of the day.
Church purges, witch hunts…
Back then, which spell and method was not cruel?
As far as Dylan was concerned, how did Avada Kedavra and the Imperius Curse qualify as "unforgivable"?
Compared to truly vile Dark magic, they could not even get in line.
They were just a batch of fresh recruits.
"Most of those ancient Dark spells must have been lost over the years, or how else would something like Avada Kedavra end up as one of the three Unforgivables?"
Harry and the other first-years were sorted one after another.
The Sorting Ceremony did not take long.
Dumbledore gave a light wave of his hand,
and exquisite dishes appeared in front of everyone.
Neville had been hungry for a while; his eyes lit up as he grabbed his knife and fork and started on the roast in front of him.
Dylan also cut into his steak, though in a slow, absentminded way.
"If I'd been sorted into Hufflepuff, we'd probably have a feast like this every day."
If one were to draw an analogy, Hufflepuff's kitchens were basically the wizarding version of the row of food stalls at the foot of a dorm building.
Hungry? Just go downstairs and grab a bite.
In fact, living in the Hufflepuff dorms, you practically did not even have to go downstairs; step out the door and you were in the kitchen.
Whoosh.
Nearly Headless Nick glided over out of nowhere.
The House ghosts all drifted in and took their seats as well.
Dylan did not think much of it, but plenty of young witches and wizards around him—and even some second and third years—instinctively hunched their shoulders.
Nick floated past Dylan and headed straight toward Harry a few seats down.
Neville, apparently now feeling comfortable enough with Dylan to chat, finally opened up.
He was no longer quite so stiff and shy. He ate while talking, getting more animated as he went.
"You have no idea what my great-uncle did trying to prove I had magic in me!"
Dylan listened quietly, only chiming in now and then when Neville became particularly worked up.
From time to time, his eyes would drift to Harry, who sat a few places away.
Harry still looked quite shy, sitting with Ron, though the young wizards around them were clearly very interested.
Even the presence of ghosts hovering nearby could not dampen their enthusiasm for conversation.
"Dylan, you know so much magic already. You must be from a very pure wizarding family, right? I really didn't expect you to end up in Gryffindor too."
Neville's voice was not exactly quiet.
Quite a few nearby students turned to look.
Even Harry and Ron glanced over.
Hermione raised her eyebrows and gave Dylan a measuring look.
"Pure-blood? No, I'm from a Muggle family." Dylan had nothing to hide, so he answered frankly.
"Huh? A Muggle family? You're not joking, are you?" Neville froze, and Trevor croaked in his arms.
"What's there to joke about?" Dylan smiled, unconcerned.
"It's just… the magic you used along the way doesn't feel like ordinary spells at all!" Neville gaped.
"Oh, I read a lot of books and textbooks over the holidays. I taught myself those spells." Dylan said it offhandedly.
But his words shocked the surrounding Gryffindors even more and hit their confidence hard.
What kind of first-year spent the holidays self-studying magic?
Wasn't vacation supposed to be for playing?
There was, however, one girl whose eyes were sparkling—Hermione.
She raised her head, swallowed the bite of peas-and-bacon she was chewing, and looked at Dylan like she had just found a soulmate.
Yet at the same time, she could not help comparing him to herself in her mind.
When she heard Dylan say that, of all the books he had bought—especially the first-year textbooks—he had only managed to get through less than half over the entire holiday,
she did feel a certain pride.
She had already pre-studied fully half of the first-year textbooks.
And on top of that, she had read several reference books outside the curriculum as well.
But the next thing Dylan said made her freeze.
"Practicing basic magic really isn't that hard. I don't find the textbook material that difficult to understand, so I'm planning to just wait and hear the professors explain it in class."
"Outside of the textbooks, what I've really been working on is A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration. It's just that some of the issues in there are so deep—especially how to perform living Transfiguration in a stable and safe way. I'll have to ask Professor McGonagall once classes start."
What?!