Imprisonment, oh no, I mean, Check-in

Whether Britain has good food or not is a highly controversial topic.

But adding a line like "It doesn't taste as good as the food at home" to the letter would definitely not be wrong.

Whether the house-elves in the school kitchen would beckon to the fireplace with their heads was not yet on Edmund's mind.

The entire Great Hall was filled with the clinking of cutlery and the laughter of young wizards. Compared to other houses, Slytherin was relatively quiet, but not everyone ate with decorum. Some first and second-year students would light up at the sight of food and reach for it with their bare hands, a stark contrast to Lucius and others who were exaggeratedly reserved, seemingly disgusted by the kitchen's cooking.

Among the dog owners, Edmund, who was eager to figure out "what British food is really like," ate the most different kinds of food.

"Potatoes," Edmund hummed, his words cryptic. "Potatoes..."

A gaunt ghost drifted over and silently sat down beside Edmund, staring at him with dull, cloudy eyes.

The scene was indeed somewhat amusing, but only one gray-haired freshman chuckled gleefully. Edmund looked up at the other person, made a face, then turned to greet the ghost:

"Hello. May I ask how you died?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of astonishment flickered in the ghost's dull eyes, as if it were recalling the despair and pain before its death. It glared angrily at Edmund before burrowing into the ground and disappearing.

Lucius shook his head helplessly and whispered in Edmund's ear to explain:

"He is Barrow the Blood, the ghost of Slytherin."

"The school ghost," Edmund scoffed. "Hogwarts is really interesting."

This made Lucius uncomfortable; the German wizard disapproved of the traditions of British magic schools—something Lucius wanted to refute.

Before he could come up with a weak explanation like, "The Academy Ghosts are here to toughen the wizards up, to make them braver in the face of life and death," the food vanished from his plate. Then, a variety of desserts appeared, jingling and tinkling. Edmund, with a hearty appetite, began another round of tasting, leaving Lucius with no choice but to give up.

After dessert, Dumbledore stood up again and regretfully announced to the entire faculty and student body that the previous school janitor had resigned due to old age—which elicited a cheer—before emphasizing that spells could not be cast in the corridors; the Forbidden Forest was off-limits; the Quidditch player vetting would take place in the second week; and finally, please sing the school song.

Listening to the perfunctory humming of the older students beside him, Edmund gained a new understanding of just how outrageous Hogwarts and Dumbledore were—perhaps a little too new.

Dumbledore, wielding his wand like a conductor, seemed like a mischievous old man; while in old Mr. Soman's words, the other was a more terrifying, powerful, and vicious old wizard than Grindelwald. It was as if he was constantly plotting how to break up the Soman family.

Tsk tsk.

It seems that life ahead is indeed going to be very exciting. Edmund is very much looking forward to it.

After the school song ended, it was bedtime. Prefect Lucius was the first to stand up:

"Stay close. If you get lost on your way back to the dorm," he coldly swept his gaze across the group of freshmen, "then perhaps you should reconsider whether you're really suited to be a wizard."

After saying that, he flicked his long robe and strode through the crowd with an imposing air. But it must be said that although Lucius's words were harsh, they weren't entirely wrong.

The Slytherin Commons are quite close to the Great Hall. Just turn left at the hourglass that symbolizes the House's score, and you'll see a statue of Slytherin himself. Incidentally, the statue has an eagle perched on its shoulder, a snake wrapped around its arm, and a badger and a lion on either side of its legs, looking quite harmonious. Walk past the statue and down the steps, and you'll arrive directly at the entrance to the Slytherin Commons. There's practically no chance of getting lost.

It was already night, and the further down they went, the dimmer the light became. Edmund was still unaware of what this meant. Until Lucius stopped beside a wet wall and uttered "Desire—", a supple yet robust serpent's body appeared on the wall. As it arched its body high, a hidden door appeared.

"...We're still going downhill."

Edmund mumbled something in his native tongue, and Lucius replied softly in German, "Very perceptive, Edmund—the Slytherin common room is below sea level, making it easy to defend and the safest area in the entire castle."

Uh.

But this also means that the Slytherin common room is destined to have no windows. Slytherin wizards, once inside the common room, will never see sunlight or green grass; their only companions will be the algae-green waters of the Black Lake and the rumor that "mermaids will curse wizards who peek through the windows!"

No wonder people say that Slytherin wizards are most prone to going astray; living in a dormitory here is almost the same as being in prison.

Fortunately, Edmund had plenty of experience in prison, so he rallied and continued looking down while admiring the giant paintings on the walls depicting ships battling sea monsters.

When he arrived at the actual activity area, the atmosphere was even more welcoming than he had imagined. Although the entire lounge was bathed in green light, and there were several tall and ornate water-proof windows on the far right, the indoor temperature was not low, nor was it as humid as it appeared.

It seems that Slytherin did consider the students' needs when it was first designed – if you're not good at Potions, potions to cure rheumatism aren't cheap.

"Look!" exclaimed the gray-haired freshman. "There are several Muggle skulls on the fireplace!"

Edmund glanced over there casually, but the reactions of the other freshmen besides him and Snape were much stronger. These little devils exchanged glances, some even chuckling softly. Combined with the atmosphere of the Slytherin common room, the scene was truly eerie.

Lucius Malfoy cleared his throat and gave them a cold glance. The first-years fell silent again and obeyed Lucius's instructions, heading towards their dormitories.

Edmund had hinted to Lucius at the dinner table that he wondered if he could buy a single room for 400 Galleons—not all he could afford, but all he had "stored" with Dumbledore.

If Lucius were to actually agree to pull some strings for him, Edmund could then ask the cunning white peacock to go to Dumbledore for money. Just imagining that scene made Edmund laugh himself to death.

Unfortunately, Lucius told him that was impossible. Even as the son of a school board member, Lucius Malfoy, he had to abide by the rules of Hogwarts. But he was willing to help Edmund find a more private three-person dormitory room free of charge.

"To show my respect for old Mr. Soman, Edmund. Your father accomplished countless extraordinary things; he was a great man!" Lucius said.

……hehe.

In the end, Edmund was assigned to the same dormitory room as Snape and the talkative gray-haired boy. Edmund was immediately shocked when he opened the door.

To be fair, the men's quarters in Slytherin were much better than many of the prisons he had been in. The beds looked very soft, and the floors were very dry.

But this was, after all, a student dormitory. Its slightly greenish, undecorated, cave-like roof, and its faded, old wallpaper, all exuded a poverty and shabby air that seemed out of place in Slytherin House. It made one wonder if Slytherin himself was a hard-working, hard-loving, and perhaps even reckless hero who hoped his descendants would suffer without hardship.

Undoubtedly, this kind of accommodation is... well, slightly different from what most freshmen fantasize about. Therefore, the gray-haired boy, who was still talking animatedly and happily, was stunned.

Edmund, with his ample experience in prison, and Snape, from a humble background, quickly grasped reality and decisively chose seats near the door, avoiding the middle beds. A few thuds later, their luggage appeared in their chosen spots. This marked the official start of Edmund's Hogwarts life.