Harry Potter: The Bard of Hogwarts

"Achoo! Achoo!"

As soon as he entered the dormitory and before finding his own bed, Ino sneezed several times in a row.

He could already guess without thinking that there were probably discussions about him outside.

Because no matter how you looked at it, he had outshone Malfoy at the Sorting Ceremony, making a stunning impression on all of Slytherin.

"Well, as expected... It's normal to be talked about."

Rubbing his sore nose, Ino surveyed the "privileged" double bedroom.

Emerald green wool woven carpets with floral designs, two single beds emitting the fragrance of pine, and thick dark green bed curtains.

Just from the side, you could tell the curtains were at least two inches thick. One could easily imagine the tranquility one would enjoy sleeping inside once these curtains were drawn.

Desk lamps, ceilings, bookshelves, study desks, sofas... Everything in the dormitory either leaned towards shades of green or cold colors.

"Well... very Slytherin indeed."

Ino found his bed, identified by a nameplate bearing his surname, and lay down after flipping over. The soft bedding briefly made him forget all his troubles.

...

Gryffindor Common Room.

The crimson lion banner representing the house hung in the air.

Several long tables were neatly arranged in the spacious common room, accompanied by comfortable sofas and armchairs. A deep brown fireplace was on the left, while on the right, there was a life-sized portrait of a witch.

If Slytherin's common room gave a feeling of mystery and coldness, Gryffindor's gave off an impression of warmth and brightness.

"Who would've thought it'd be just putting on a hat? I thought I'd be wrestling with giant monsters, but George and Fred fooled me again, as usual..."

In the dormitory, Ron sat on his bed grumbling.

Meanwhile, his roommate Dean Thomas couldn't help but speak up:

"Be grateful. At least you have your brothers at school, and three brothers at that. Unlike us... who knows when we might get picked on."

Dean, though of mixed blood, had lost his father early and had been living with his Muggle mother, so he knew well the huge difference having siblings in school made.

This remark prompted Harry, sitting nearby, to nod repeatedly.

"True, Dudley's just like that. He never dares to pick on kids with older brothers, even if the kid looks skinny."

"Well, maybe Dean's right!" Ron interjected nonchalantly.

He didn't want to continue this topic now, mainly because he didn't expect Harry to side with others this time.

But ending the topic didn't mean silence. After a moment's thought, Ron started a new round of discussion.

"Did you guys see today? That Slytherin with black hair—his Sorting was even faster than Malfoy's. Just look at it! The Sorting Hat didn't even bother touching him. I always thought Malfoy was bad enough, after all, their whole family are dark wizards."

"My grandma says the house doesn't determine a person's goodness or badness; it's what's inside a person that does."

Neville, who had been silent all along, bravely expressed his opinion.

"What else did your grandma say? She was just comforting you, afraid you'd end up in Hufflepuff and then flop," Ron retorted without turning his head.

"But I think Neville has a point! It's like in my primary school, the 'excellent class' students weren't all that excellent either."

Dean, as usual, countered Ron.

Seeing the atmosphere in the dormitory becoming somewhat awkward, Harry quickly interrupted, "Aren't you guys tired? Tomorrow's first class is Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration. Shouldn't we preview the textbook first?"

It was hard to imagine that Harry still had the concept of textbook previews in his mind just after entering Hogwarts.

"Come on, mate! Do you think they'll have us conjure dragons right away? At most, it'll be something like turning an apple, as long as we know the right spell and wave the wand," Ron chimed in with his opinion again.

To Harry, who knew nothing about magic, he surprisingly nodded in agreement after a few seconds.

At this moment, Harry preferred to trust Ron, who had grown up in the magical world, rather than contemplate textbook previews.

"You're right, Ron! There's no way they'd have us conjure dragons right away."

On the first night of enrollment, Harry completely abandoned the idea of previewing textbooks.

...

Slytherin Dormitory.

"I can't lie down anymore, if I lie down again, it will be all over..."

Ino closed his eyes and muttered words of encouragement to himself. He found that the bed in the dormitory seemed to have a magical allure that made people reluctant to get up.

Its softness could even rival the down bed at the Duke's house in the fantasy world.

So it went on for another ten minutes or so.

Ino finally freed himself from the bed's grasp and sat up at the desk.

Glancing back at the magically alluring bed, he vowed never to touch it again except for actual sleep.

Now he reviewed the day's events in his mind once again, starting from entering Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, replaying each incident and detail.

Although he had thought carefully, he still couldn't find any problems.

"Since reasoning can't beat magic, then I'll use magic to defeat magic."

Ino unbuttoned his shirt and from the inner pocket of his shirt, took out an ancient-looking die.

"This school year, I will not encounter danger! This school year, I will not encounter danger..."

After repeating the divination content three times in his mind, he decisively rolled the die.

"Ding ding ding!" The wooden die spun around, making a crisp sound against the tabletop.

On the desk, the die continued to rotate.

After about fifteen seconds...

"Phew! Time to sleep!"

Ino put away the die on the table and walked towards the bed without looking back.

Such decisiveness was entirely thanks to the divination result.

Because the number just rolled by the die was a rare '5', meaning his safety probability throughout the school year was as high as 80%.

In two years of practice, countless divinations had made him very clear that this result was almost perfect.

As for the legendary '1' and '6', they existed, but... since he obtained the die, he hadn't rolled either of these numbers.

This was normal because nothing could have absolute success or absolute failure. Therefore, achieving an 80% probability was already quite rare.

After all, most of his previous divinations had mostly resulted in '3' and '4', which were just rough estimates.

But back to the point.

Having received a reassuring result, Ino, feeling like a weight had been lifted off him, relaxed comfortably in the bed, sinking into the soft covers.

At this moment, he once again experienced the long-lost feeling of relaxation, much like when he used to travel with Teacher Hans, not worrying about anything or needing to manage anything.

Maybe it was letting go of mental burdens or perhaps the fatigue from the day's travels on the train.

In any case, not long after, rhythmic breathing could be heard from within the dark green bed curtains.

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