A Bite of Hogwarts.

Gryffindor Common Room.

A month before the start of the term, the scarlet and gold decorated room was exceptionally quiet.

"Umm..."

A kitten-like whimper suddenly echoed from the room.

A small figure sat up from a bed near the door, stretching languidly. A waterfall of silver hair cascaded down her back as she rubbed her eyes, sleepily surveying her surroundings.

"Huh... where is this?"

Aileen yawned softly, instinctively hugging the soft velvet pillow in her arms, her eyes hazily taking in the scene.

She was lying on a warm, comfortable four-poster bed, surrounded by four or five similar beds, looking like a dormitory from a legendary elite school.

Staring blankly at the deep red flannel curtains hanging at the foot of the bed, Aileen's eyes slowly focused. She finally remembered that she had been grilling fish by the lake, then met Professor McGonagall, and their last conversation—

Hogwarts?!

"This can't be..."

Aileen leaped out of bed, her bare feet landing on the plush carpet as she rushed to the door.

Before her was a familiar circular hall, filled with soft armchairs. Opposite the unlit fireplace, two spiral staircases led to different rooms—and she was standing at the entrance of one of those rooms.

Several portraits hung on the walls of the hall. As Aileen suddenly appeared, the figures in the paintings all looked up at her, whispering amongst themselves.

"...Gryffindor Common Room?" Aileen murmured weakly, her hand on the banister at the top of the spiral staircase.

Moving magic portraits, dormitory beds, a color scheme of scarlet and gold... and this common room that had appeared countless times in her dreams in her previous life. When these pieces of information came together, it was enough for her to deduce where she was.

*Pop.*

At the same time, the air beside Aileen crackled softly.

A strange creature appeared beside her. It was small, with bat-like ears, bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls, and a rather long, flat nose.

"Miss Kaslana, welcome to Hogwarts."

It placed a hand over its chest, bowing deeply to Aileen with the elegance of a stiff butler.

A house-elf, a race conquered by wizards in ancient wars, with each one born into servitude, destined to serve their masters generation after generation.

Every house-elf belongs to a family. Generally, house-elves' magic is mainly used for household tasks, such as cleaning and cooking.

But in reality, house-elves know far more magic than that. More often, families need house-elves not for their domestic skills but for their extraordinary magic. In fact, most house-elves' magical abilities may far exceed their masters'.

"Just call me Aileen. Who are you? And is there a particular reason you're here?"

Aileen curiously glanced at the little elf's large ears. There were hundreds of house-elves like this one at Hogwarts, responsible for all the school's housework, cleaning, and cooking, but students usually didn't even notice their existence.

"Burley, miss. I am Burley, a house-elf of Hogwarts." The little elf replied, raising its head. "Professor Dumbledore asked me to wait here for you to wake up and serve as your temporary guide around the school."

"Temporary guide?"

Aileen hummed softly, raising her eyebrows as she repeated the phrase noncommittally.

The girl's azure eyes looked at Burley, and she suddenly asked, "What if I don't want a tour?"

"Professor Dumbledore said you are free to leave at any time. He is in the Headmaster's office next door. Does Aileen want to leave?" The little elf answered without hesitation.

"Hmm..."

Aileen thoughtfully glanced at the house-elf in front of her, unable to quite figure out what Dumbledore was thinking. Could it really be, as Professor McGonagall had said, that he was just inviting her to tour Hogwarts?

"...Of course not."

A smile played on her lips, and Aileen lightly tapped the wooden banister with her finger, her eyes brightening.

"This might be my only chance to enter Hogwarts. I have to take a good look around."

The girl turned around, put her hands behind her back, and hopped barefoot back to the dormitory to put on her shoes.

This was Hogwarts, filled with countless mysteries, the place where all dreams and fantasies began. During the time in her previous life when she was most obsessed with the Harry Potter series, she dreamed almost every night of wandering through every corner of the castle.

…………

The Gryffindor Common Room was located on the eighth floor of Hogwarts' main tower, connecting Gryffindor Tower to the main castle tower.

The girls' dormitory where Aileen had been sleeping was in Gryffindor Tower. From the window, she could see the distant, shimmering lake and the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Following Burley's directions, Aileen walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room through the Fat Lady's portrait—regrettably, the Fat Lady seemed to be visiting other portraits, so Aileen didn't have the chance to meet the character who appeared most often in the novels.

Not far from the Gryffindor Common Room was the Headmaster's office.

"Miss Aileen, this is Professor Dumbledore's office. He is already waiting for you inside."

Burley stretched out a skinny arm, pointing to a spiral staircase ahead.

Normally, a hideously ugly giant stone monster would guard the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Only after reciting the correct password would the stone beast jump aside and reveal the automatic spiral staircase behind it.

At the top of the stairs was a shiny oak door with a griffin-shaped brass knocker. In her previous life, many people speculated that the current Headmaster's office might have been the room used by Godric Gryffindor, one of the four founders of Hogwarts.

But at this moment, the stone beast that should have been squatting in front of the stairs had moved aside, clearing the way to the stairs behind it.

"Oh, I see."

Aileen glanced in the direction Burley was pointing and nodded politely. Without hesitation, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction. She didn't want to wake up and immediately start playing mind games with the most elusive wizard in the entire magical world. That would be too disappointing.

As for Dumbledore? Let him wait patiently. She'd find him after she'd looked around.

Standing in the middle of the corridor, the girl looked at the stairs that moved from time to time, and the figures hanging on the walls that moved back and forth like GIFs, her eyes a little dazed—Aileen suddenly realized that she might not be as determined as she thought.

When the magical world truly appeared before her, within such a tangible distance, there was a moment when she even started to fantasize about studying and living in this castle.

Closing her eyes, the silver-haired loli took a deep breath and muttered silently in her heart.

"I'm just looking around! Just this once! This is just to fulfill a dream from my previous life. After today, I will absolutely, absolutely not care about any news from the magical world!"

Opening her eyes, Aileen carefully stroked the wall in the corridor and said softly, "Hello, Hogwarts."

————

(Cute *Mysterious Journey* is begging for food, asking for recommendation tickets to support the new book, *嘤嘤嘤*!)