Chương 40: Chapter 41 : Schedule

The blond boy was sitting on the edge of his bed, his legs dangling over the side, his attention fixed on a neatly folded piece of parchment resting in his hands.

"Good morning, Anthony," Tyson greeted casually as he walked over. Anthony looked up, blinking at him, his eyes still a bit groggy from sleep.

"I wish," he replied with a sigh, sounding exasperated and tired at the same time.

"But waking up to something that sounds like a troll farting relentlessly doesn't exactly qualify as a good morning." His gaze drifted toward Terry's bed just as another thunderous snore echoed through the room. Tyson burst out laughing. That was a good one. What surprised him even more was that it had come out of Anthony's mouth.

From his interactions with the boy yesterday, Tyson had assumed he was the genteel type, like your everyday aristocrat in fantasy novels, just without the prejudice and classist tendencies. Apparently, he'd been proven wrong, which meant there was still hope for Anthony to walk the Americ—the right path!

"Where'd you go so early this morning, though?" Anthony asked, eyeing his damp hair and sweat-stained shirt.

"No offense, but you look like you've just wrestled a hippogriff."

"Just working out these old bones," Tyson said as he walked over to his trunk and flipped it open. Seeing Anthony looking at him with profound confusion, he explained while pulling out his house robes, "It's a Muggle way of exercising the body. Personally, I think it should be mandatory for wizards too. A wise man once said a wizard should be strong in both mind and body. I reckon even Rowena Ravenclaw would've agreed with that." Anthony raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I don't recall ever hearing that saying." Tyson shrugged without missing a beat.

"The words of wise men only reach the ears of other wise men. Now that you've heard them, I guess you also count as one. Congratulations." Anthony gave him a deadpan look. Tyson let out an awkward chuckle before continuing.

"Besides, you should give working out a try sometime. It might do wonders for that scholarly slouch you've got going on."

"I do not slouch," Anthony refuted more decisively than Tyson had expected. What a pity. He genuinely wanted to help him. Tyson could only spread his hands innocently.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy. My offer still stands. If you ever decide you'd like the posture of an actual noble instead of an overworked librarian, you know where to find me." A long silence followed. Anthony stared at him, clearly trying to decide whether he was being serious or just winding him up. Tyson kept his expression perfectly straight, which only made the blond boy sigh in defeat. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You're impossible." He lifted the parchment again, waving it lightly.

"In any case, this appears to be our timetable for today." Tyson blinked. Right. Penelope had mentioned the previous evening that each dormitory would receive its schedule before everyone woke up.

"Who delivered it?" he asked. After all, it sounded like far too much work to visit every dorm room in Hogwarts just to deliver a timetable. It would've made more sense to post a large copy in each common room.

"No clue," Anthony admitted, smoothing the parchment with his fingers.

"It was simply lying by the door when I woke up. Though I imagine it must've been a house-elf. My mother told me they handle the majority of the castle's more menial tasks." Tyson nodded, agreeing with Anthony's reasoning. He had more or less guessed as much. After all, only the wizarding world's unpaid workforce would willingly volunteer for such a thankless job. It probably wasn't all that laborious for them either, since they could freely Apparate within the Hogwarts grounds.

"So what are we looking at?" Tyson asked, genuinely curious.

"Double Potions with Hufflepuff from nine until eleven," Anthony read aloud.

"Followed by a free period. Then History of Magic with Slytherin at noon, after lunch." Tyson raised a thoughtful eyebrow. Snape right out of the gate? That wasn't exactly a good sign. Tyson himself had nothing to worry about, though, since his father's name wasn't James Potter. He made a mental note to warn Harry before Gryffindor's first Potions lesson and tell him to brace for impact.

Even if Harry was mentally tougher than your average eleven-year-old, being singled out by a middle-aged man who'd spent over a decade carrying a grudge for being cucked was a bit much. In fact, even Tyson wasn't confident he'd be able to handle. [A/N: Even I'm not confident] He then checked the time.

"We should head down for breakfast. It's already seven-thirty, and I'd rather not attend my first class on an empty stomach." Anthony nodded before subtly gesturing toward the other two beds. Tyson followed his gaze. Terry was still snoring loudly enough to shake the room, while Michael remained dead to the world, somehow sleeping peacefully through the noise. He immediately understood what Anthony meant. At this rate, they'd miss both breakfast and Potions. Tyson gave Anthony a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry," he said, crouching beside his trunk. After rummaging through it for a few seconds, he pulled out a small brass alarm clock.

"I've got them covered." Anthony blinked, eyeing the clock.

"What is that? Some sort of miniature clock?" Tyson chuckled.

"This, my friend, is a divine artifact crafted for the salvation of heavy sleepers. They call it an alarm clock." He turned it over in his hands, letting Anthony get a good look. Anthony leaned forward with obvious curiosity as Tyson explained how the spring-driven mechanism worked and how the bell would ring at the preset time. Anthony listened with surprising attentiveness. By the time Tyson finished, the blond boy looked genuinely impressed.

"Remarkable," he admitted with a hint of admiration.

"I wouldn't have thought Muggles capable of producing something so small, yet so practical—and without magic too. Though I was under the impression their devices generally ceased functioning in magical environments."

"Most electrical ones do," Tyson confirmed as he adjusted the alarm.

"This one's purely mechanical. It runs on good old springs and gears. No electricity involved." He set the alarm for half past eight, turned the volume to its maximum setting, then placed it on Terry's bedside table as close to the boy's ear as physically possible. Patting it once in satisfaction, Tyson nodded.

"There. That should be enough to wake even the dead." Terry let out another thunderous snore, as if agreeing with him. With everything settled, the two took a quick shower. Not together, of course. They took turns using the bathroom before changing into their Ravenclaw robes. A few minutes later, they left the dormitory together and made their way downstairs toward the Great Hall.