Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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The next morning, Kyle was forced to rise early.
Because he hadn't drawn the curtains the night before, the sunlight streaming through the dorm's circular window shone directly into his face like a floodlight.
How could anyone sleep?
Reluctantly, Kyle dressed and stretched himself before the window.
Hogwarts Castle was situated on an uneven surface, so even though it was underground, it still had plenty of sunlight. Through the dorm's circular window, he could see the swaying grass and dandelions outside.
Kyle glanced at his two roommates, who were soundly asleep, and expressionlessly opened the window as wide as he could.
With the OWL exams in five years, how could they sleep at their age?
And it was already 7:30, which, rounding up, would be 8:50, with only a few minutes until the 9 o'clock class.
This was their first class at Hogwarts, after all, and they had to make a good impression on the professors. Being late would be a disaster.
The misty morning breeze was undoubtedly the perfect alarm clock.
"How thoughtful of me," Kyle nodded with satisfaction.
He was truly doing it for his roommates, not to get them up early with him. A Hufflepuff like him wouldn't do such a thing.
After a quick wash, Kyle left the dormitory through the common room.
It's no secret that the staircases at Hogwarts are quite unique. They seem to have a mind of their own, always changing their direction or extending to higher floors when the young wizards are most anxious, silently enjoying the desperate cries of those unfortunate ones.
Kyle had been prepared to circle the stairs several times, but he didn't know if it was because he had plenty of time or because the staircases weren't working yet.
He walked from the common room all the way to the Great Hall, and the stairs didn't change once. The entire journey was completely silent.
This disappointed Kyle somewhat, but honestly, he had actually wanted to try it.
Although it wasn't even eight o'clock yet, there were already quite a few people in the Great Hall, especially the Ravenclaw tables, which were almost full, with a few senior students from other houses sitting around.
The only Hufflepuff present was... Kyle.
As soon as he sat down, a steaming hot breakfast immediately appeared on the plate in front of him.
A glass of milk, two sausages, and a piece of bread.
It wasn't a huge meal, but it was pretty good, and if it wasn't enough, he could get more.
Kyle ate his breakfast leisurely, and soon, two familiar figures walked into the Great Hall one after the other.
"Hey, Kyle, why are you up so early?" Mikel and Ryan walked over quickly.
"I didn't want to either. I was planning to take a nap, but the dorm window was open, and the wind was so cold I couldn't sleep." Kyle calmly cut a piece of sausage and put it into his mouth.
"What about you guys? Why are you up so early too?" "Same here," Mikel said with a bitter face. "I thought you opened the window."
"The window was open when I left."
Kyle emphasized the words "when I left."
"I see, then it must have been the wind that opened it." Mikel picked up the bread and took a big bite. "But this works out well. I didn't fall asleep until the wee hours last night. If the window hadn't been open, I wouldn't have gotten up before nine.
If I'm late for my first class... I dread the consequences. I'll definitely get expelled."
Ryan nodded in agreement next to him.
Although he'd been up past eight at home, that was always because his mother had dragged him out of bed.
If he'd really been allowed to sleep until he woke naturally, he probably wouldn't have made it to his first class.
Kyle smiled and said, "Then you really have to thank the kind man who helped open the window."
"Yeah."
The two sleepy-eyed people were busy eating breakfast, and no one noticed anything wrong with what Kyle said just now.
Mikel even agreed, "It really helped a lot."
At this time, Kyle also drank the last sip of milk, stood up and said, "You guys continue eating, I'll go look around somewhere else."
"Okay." The two said in unison.
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Kyle said goodbye to his roommate, who was addicted to eating, and headed straight for the castle gates.
It was only a little after eight o'clock, still quite early for classes. While he had time, Kyle decided to take care of the pet issue first.
There was already a cat and a toad in the dorm, so he couldn't stand out.
Stepping out of the castle gates, Kyle raised his arms deftly.
Suddenly, seven or eight owls swarmed in from all directions, landing neatly on the stone steps in front of him.
"This isn't a messenger," Kyle said, looking at them. "I'm staying at Hogwarts for a long time, and while I'm there, I'd like to hire one of you as my personal messenger.
In return... all the food, at least one pack of Owl Nuts per day, at least three packs of Murtlap Rat Jerky per week, and a bottle of Owl Tonic per month... That's all for now, but if there's anything else you need, I can add more.
Also, these conditions will remain in effect even after I graduate, until it can no longer lift its wings.
So, if any of you are willing, just fly onto my shoulder."
This had nothing to do with Kyle's inherited talent.
As the wizarding world's official messengers, owls possess a natural affinity for magic. With minimal training, they can understand wizards' words.
Those at Hogwarts are among the best in this field.
While Kyle's words were a bit complex for them, with some body language, they could understand about 70% to 80% of them.
In less than a second, the owls were scrambling to fly towards Kyle's shoulder.
Some of the slower ones even attacked the owls in front of them.
Chaos ensued, feathers scattered everywhere.
Kyle scratched his head, amused and wanting to intervene, but it was too late. The situation was beyond his control.
Fortunately, the situation didn't last long.
A brown fish owl, leveraging its enormous size, easily defeated the other competitors and perched itself on Kyle's shoulder, a victor.
Kyle recognized the owl.
About three years ago, when Chris found it, it was covered in wounds and nearly dead at the entrance to the Ministry's mail box, its claws clutching an undelivered letter.
Thanks to his timely discovery, Chris immediately treated it and took it home, carefully caring for it for over two weeks.
Finally, it was revived.
Despite this, it had a long, narrow scar on its face.
This scar, caused by Dark magic, was difficult to remove. Chris and Newt were unable to do anything about it, and even feathers couldn't hide it.
Compared to other owls, it looked unusually... ugly.
But Kyle didn't care. He scratched the brown fish owl's neck feathers and smiled, "Hello, Laton."
The owl tilted its head and gently nuzzled Kyle's finger with its beak.
Laton was Kyle's nickname for it.
Since he didn't know its name at first, Kyle called it that just to make feeding easier.
To his surprise, it eventually accepted his nickname.
When Hagrid got the message and came to pick it up, he called "Saipan, Saipan" in the nearby woods for over half an hour, but it didn't respond at all.
It wasn't until Kyle whispered "Laton" nearby that it slowly flew out.
Hagrid was stunned and it took him a long time to recover. It felt like the girl he had raised with great effort had been abducted by Kyle.
He was so disappointed.
[End of the chapter]