Shuxin's biological clock went off. She checked her watch—it was just past six.
This was the start-of-term gift Tom had given her, and Shuxin liked it very much.
Taking advantage of the fact that her laziness hadn't kicked in yet, Shuxin decided to go and see Hogwarts at six in the morning.
She had no classes this morning, and only a Charms class with Ravenclaw in the afternoon, giving Shuxin plenty of time to get familiar with the campus.
Sharpening the axe definitely wouldn't delay the work of chopping wood.
She had asked Susan out last night, but Susan said she couldn't get up. Leaving a note for Susan, Shuxin walked out of the common room.
The lights in the common room were still on, but there was no one around. Shuxin looked around and climbed out.
Skipping the Great Hall, she went straight to the kitchen and asked for two sandwiches, two pork cutlets, and a glass of soy milk.
Perhaps house-elves were born with cooking skills; even though Shuxin only described it once, what they made was no worse than Mary's.
"Please send a glass of soy milk to Professor Snape during breakfast. He used to drink it at my house and he really liked it." Seeing the elf hesitate slightly, Shuxin explained.
Professor Snape was indeed pleasantly surprised to find soy milk exclusively at his place setting.
House-elf: "Very well, Miss. Does the Miss need anything else?"
Shuxin: "No, I'll call you if I need anything. May I know your name?"
"Of course, lovely Miss, you can call me Abby. If you get hungry in your dormitory, you can call Abby's name with your wand, and Abby will be at your service." Abby even gave a gentleman's bow as he spoke.
Shuxin: "Alright, Abby, I'll remember that. It's nice to meet you. My name is Luna Field, but my family and friends like to call me Shuxin. You can call me that too."
Abby: "Dear Miss Shuxin, you really are a kind and good girl."
They were both a bit homely-looking, so why did Shuxin feel that there was a touch of cuteness mixed into this one's homeliness?
Accepting the praise from the house-elf, Shuxin took a few pieces of cake and sandwiches that she hadn't eaten last night and returned to the dormitory.
Shuxin kept only one piece of cake, leaving the rest on Susan's desk along with a note telling the three of them to remember to have breakfast when they woke up.
She brought out Ah Hui, who was still fast asleep, and fed him half the cake while eating the other half herself.
Stepping out of the common room once more, Shuxin curiously wondered what lay at the other end of the path. But she soon reached a dead end. Instead of searching for any hidden mechanisms that might lead elsewhere, she simply turned around and walked back.
Passing the junction leading to the Slytherin common room, Shuxin curiously glanced inside. Unlike Hufflepuff's yellow and black, this place was dominated by silver and green, and there seemed to be many more branching paths within.
Hufflepuff was definitely better.
Shuxin climbed up to the first floor, let Ah Hui go for a fly, and strolled around Hogwarts with a much lighter step and a cheerful mood.
Keeping pets was such a hassle; you had to worry about feeding and watering them.
The largest place on the entire first floor was the Great Hall. Aside from daily meals, the school held major events here, such as the Sorting ceremony last night.
The Great Hall had only one public entrance at the front doors. To the side of the Great Hall was a small door leading to a gloomy corridor where the faint sound of meowing could be heard.
There were also a few other rooms, perhaps classrooms of some sort.
After taking a large detour, Shuxin spotted another downward-leading staircase, which had a very Slytherin style to it.
Right here, Shuxin discovered the Potions classroom, next to which was Professor Snape's office, with a little snake sticking its tongue out on the door.
Shuxin returned to the Great Hall and set off upward.
The second floor housed Professor McGonagall's office and the Transfiguration classroom.
In addition, Shuxin found the memorable entrance to the Basilisk—an abandoned girls' bathroom.
The third floor held the Defense Against the Dark Arts office and professor's office.
Shuxin noticed that every professor's office was right next to their classroom; how convenient for them.
Shuxin also found the trophy room, filled with countless medals, trophies, and plaques of all sizes.
Shuxin didn't understand why people wouldn't just take these things home.
There were many more Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students in the staircases and corridors.
They really had it tough; they had to rush downstairs for breakfast and then climb all the way back up the stairs for classes.
She wondered if eating was allowed in the classrooms. If so, the girls in the dorm could divide the labor, with each person taking a turn bringing breakfast for a day.
The fourth floor had the Charms classroom. Huh? There wasn't a professor's office next to it after all—her newly formed conclusion was instantly overturned, what a slap in the face.
The fifth floor had nothing of importance; it seemed to consist entirely of abandoned classrooms.
The sixth floor had the prefects' bathroom—an entire floor, truly luxurious.
The seventh floor didn't reveal anything special either.
From this, it was clear that there must have been more students in the past than there were now. Perhaps originally, each house had more than one class.
The eighth floor held the Headmaster's office. Including the basement, there were nine levels in total, and the Headmaster's office was the highest point in this building.
Shuxin glanced up from the landing and didn't go any higher.
She vaguely remembered there being some very important room on the eighth floor, but whatever—anything she couldn't remember couldn't be that important. Important things, like the Basilisk, Shuxin remembered just fine.
Aside from the main building, there were many small towers. Shuxin thought of a branch with buds: there was a main stem, shooting out a small twig, which then shot out another small twig.
Gryffindor and Ravenclaw each had a tower, and both possessed distinct personalities that made them very easy to recognize.
Shuxin calculated their heights from a window and figured Gryffindor could be considered the eighth floor, while Ravenclaw spanned the seventh and eighth floors.
Ravenclaw actually had two floors to itself.
The castle had numerous corridors, bridges, and staircases—and these staircases actually moved.
You meant to climb to the fifth floor, but even though you were already on the fourth, the stairs delivered you straight to the second floor. It was simply unimaginable.
You meant to go to the Great Hall, but even though you were on the fifth floor, the stairs delivered you to the second floor. Simply unimaginable.
So tired. Passing by the Great Hall while it was still breakfast time, Shuxin went back in to grab a piece of cake to replenish her energy.
Shuxin first climbed a few of the small towers, and in one of them, she found the Divination classroom.
The tallest was the Astronomy Tower. It was even higher than Dumbledore's office, probably nine stories high, making it the highest point in the entire school.
Standing on the Astronomy Tower, one could see the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake, the sports field, the library, and the owlery.
This was a great spot. Watching the stars at night here must be wonderful too, except it was a bit too high and too far from the dormitory.
The owls had a tower entirely to their own. They stayed on the topmost floor, where the wind blew in from all directions, though thankfully they had plenty of feathers.
Shuxin picked a random owl, dropped five Knuts into the little pouch by its foot, and had it deliver a note containing only "Good morning" to Mary.
Susan had told her about this last night. Susan had thought Shuxin was so strange for asking how to use the school owls when she apparently had an owl of her own.
Why feed an owl every day when a problem could be solved once for 5 Knuts? Shuxin felt she had done nothing wrong.
She then found three more owls and wrote subscription notes for newspapers: *The Daily Prophet*, *Witch Weekly*, and *The Quibbler*.
Shuxin chose annual subscriptions for all of them because it was more cost-effective; with annual subscriptions, she didn't have to pay delivery fees to the owls. Susan had told her that too.
Strolling around, Shuxin found the "hut" belonging to a half-giant named Hagrid. There was a large dog at the door, so Shuxin didn't go over.
Looking in another direction, she spotted a large lawn. This place was definitely ideal for sunbathing.
Shuxin found a spot facing the sun and lay down. It was already past ten o'clock, so lying on the ground wasn't even cold.
"Did you see?"
"There's actually a sleeping beauty there!"
"Agh, you idiot, you woke up the sleeping beauty."
Shuxin hadn't been asleep anyway. She opened her eyes to find two identical faces with red hair hovering over her.
George 1: "Hi, pretty lady, I'm George, and he's Fred."
George 2: "I'm George, and he's Fred."
George 1 & George 2: "We're both Weasley."
Shuxin: "Hello, George, Fred. I'm Field—you can call me Shuxin. You guys are really funny, are you twins?"
"That's obvious." The two spoke in unison.
Shuxin: "Do you guys often play the 'Guess which one of us is me' game?"
"I don't like it. Fred's the one who likes it, he's more childish." Still in unison.
Shuxin was amused. "Why do you both like saying your name is George? Do you not like the name Fred?"
It was the first time the two of them had ever encountered this question, and they had no answer. Left with no choice, they started wrestling.
"Making me steal your name, take that!" Still in unison.
Watching the two of them rolling around, tumbling back and forth, and trading blows, Shuxin figured she was going to have a very pleasant journey here.