Neil wasn't unaware of the grim gaze from the professorship, but he asked himself if the last time he made a potentially resentful move was when he asked the stewardess thirteen times during a connecting flight in Marseille if he could have another in-flight meal — the Bordeaux wine and baddle steak are said to be superb, but the latter is only for first-class passengers, and the former is not available to minors under the age of 16...... Yes, the plastic lunch box is white with white belt, and the account is to be credited to Headmaster Dumbledore.

But then again, hatred is an impulsive and blind emotion that has no logic at all. People who have not done anything bad are inexplicably hated and even cursed, and such examples are encountered every year in the sect, and they are also an important source of income.

Remembering the scene when he was a child, when the Great Elder sprayed the victim's face with ash water in his mouth, and accidentally sprayed the dentures out as well, Neil's heart felt a little ripple of nostalgia. After earning your first pot of gold here, it's not bad to send some gifts back with the gold goods.

At this thought, the last glimmer of gloom caused by the mysterious watcher also disappeared, and for the rest of the second half of the party, he spent the rest of the party discussing with Penelope next to him the decisive role of stargazing pie in the stigmatization of British cuisine, as well as traditional British flavors such as crab pie with four long legs and crayfish pie shaped like roasted cockroaches, which are not well known internationally but are no less visually lethal.

Ravenclaw is a mecca for the inquisitive, and this unappetizing topic can attract a curious and enthusiastic audience during dinner, and although most of these young people who are interested in exploring the mysteries of magic are not familiar with cooking techniques, this does not prevent them from having their own likes and dislikes of food.

The first exchange between the old and new students turned into a celebration to expose the shady scenes of British food culture, and a few passing ghosts joined in to complain loudly about their diet dominated by potato bread, potato pie and mashed potato salad. It wasn't until the president announced the end of the opening ceremony and the new students were led back to the dormitory by the prefects of each house that everyone reluctantly ended the discussion.

A hearty tirade put Neil in a good mood, and the way to the dormitory was quiet as if eating, and even Michael Corner showed off his new wand in his ear without showing off any desire to interrupt the other.

"Oak." He shook the thin wooden stick in front of Neil's eyes, and his face was full of irrepressible pride, "Eleven inches long, and the core is a snake-body water demon scale. Ollivander said that the wand had been in the back of the house for years, and that he hadn't found a suitable owner for it - of course, there was an element of luck in it, I mean, not every wand ...... quickly."

Neil listened politely, but could see that he was not very interested, and apart from whispering a few words from time to time, his attention was always on the decorations on both sides of the corridor—the paintings, sculptures, and armor, which, though of much greater historical value than art, nevertheless looked opulent and stimulated the more mundane side of his character.

As Michael spoke, he suddenly turned his head as if he remembered something, "Hey, Neil, do you have a wand?" ”

"I have a better one." Neil looked away from the ruby shield on the wall and shook his head with a smile, looking glad to have an excuse to escape from the shadow of the root of all evil.

He flicked his sleeve and pulled a sword carved out of wood from the sleeve - considering the length, it was hard to imagine how this thing had been hidden in it so far.

"Made of peach wood that has been robbed by thunder." He raised his wooden sword and said in a vivid imitation of Mielke's tone, "Thirty-nine inches long, soaked in the long flowing water for seven seven hundred and forty-nine days, and then painted with cinnabar, the core of which is the beard that the Third Elder has grown for eight years—I secretly cut it off while he was out of his body and peeking at someone else's little widow taking a bath." ”

Michael's face flushed. He didn't hear the irony in Neil's words, but when he thought about it, he was a little too excited. However, before he could think about how to redeem it, another person's voice came from behind him:

"Hey, what's the Third Elder?"

Even from a person who had no knowledge of the Eastern system of master-apprenticeship, the question seemed so impudent that not only Michael, but even Penelope, who was walking in front, could not help frowning.

During the feast, they had already heard Neil talk about it in between explanations on how to make tofu with amaranth stalks. In traditional schools in the East, the Elder is about the same level as the Vice-Masters at Hogwarts, and given the importance that Asians place on the mentor-apprentice relationship, this may sound even more insulting to them.

The second-grader girl who asked the question didn't realize that her unintentional words had aroused the disgust of the two people, and she was still smiling and waiting for Neil's answer, but it was her friend, a dark-haired Asian girl, who seemed to sense that the atmosphere was wrong, and quietly pulled her sleeve behind her, signaling not to continue.

Neil took all the reactions of the four people in his eyes - it may be a bit of a speech problem to say this, but the ability to see things at the back of the head within five meters can only be regarded as a compulsory course in the sect...... After all, if you can't even do this, you won't be able to walk a mile in the secret realm, and I'm afraid you'll die.

He didn't mind the reckless question, but it was a heartwarming thing to see the friend he had just met today willing to get angry about his own business.

However, it was not necessary to damage the unity of the hospital for these trivial matters, or to lose potential customers because of this, before someone could not help but make a fuss, Neil first stopped and bowed slightly to the girl: "Haven't asked for advice yet?" ”

"Marietta." The girl straightened her reddened blonde curls and replied without hesitation. She had a smile on her face as if she was admiring a cherished animal, and she clearly didn't realize that she was unconsciously stepping on someone else's bottom line," said Marietta Ekmo. My mother worked in the Ministry of Magic. ”

"Magical Transportation Division, Flyway Network Administration." She added. If there were no precedent for the gaffe just now, everyone would have thought that this sentence was showing off their family background and regarded her as an arrogant and rude nasty.

Of course, even if those words were not intended to be malicious, it didn't necessarily change the fact that she was a nuisance.

"Fortunately, Miss Ekmo." The bow was a little deeper than before, showing a full but not flattering respect for power, "I have not yet had the privilege of experiencing the wonders of Floo travel, but I believe that it takes a brilliant and responsible mind to be responsible for it, and in the past, the gatekeeper was one of the most important junior officials in a country, and I heard that in the Roman Empire, Ostia ...... Oh sorry, off topic, what were we talking about? ”

"Three Elders." Michael reminded in a whispered laugh.

"Oh, by the way, thank you for your help, Mr. Kona, it's great to have you here. Did you know that the name Michael is pronounced 'Mizel' in Latin, which means 'god-like man', the angel Michael in the Old Testament...... Yes, a name that is very appropriate for you—well, Miss Ekmore, and now I'll answer your question. ”

Michael, who never thought that he would be so praised for a little thing, froze in place for a moment, and let the other party pat him on the shoulder. Penelope, who was from the perspective of a bystander, saw more, and after seeing that he would rather disguise himself as a harlequin than make everyone forget about the dispute, he could only smile wryly and swallow back Marietta's rebuke to see how Neil could solve the problem on his own.

"Miss Ekmo, you just asked, what is the Third Elder. Well, let me tell you—the Third Elder is not a thing in every sense of the word. ”

……

……

Even at Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry, most rooms still have doors as doors - it sounds like nonsense, but if you've seen the passageways hidden behind huge canvases, you'll know what I'm talking about. Enchanted portraits allow the person to speak freely through the canvas like a living person, and even move back and forth between adjacent frames in some inexplicable way.

The dormitories of the four branches have a similar entrance design, and the people in the paintings become natural guards, who will block the entrance with their own canvases and ask students to answer the corresponding password before they are allowed to enter.

In Neil's view, this design, while not useless, is clearly more important than practical, and a secret door that resists the spell of unlocking is obviously much better than a figure that can be confused, deceived, or directly destroyed by physical means.

However, he is not entirely confused, and the place where young people go to school still needs to add something romantic that makes people subconsciously shout "cool", and the hidden passage behind the canvas is at least much more reasonable than going to great lengths to feed a herd of scrawny invisible bat horses and then use them to pull the carriage only once a year on the first day of school - think of it, they could have built the station directly to the lake and omitted the horse-drawn carriage, and the people of Hogsmeade would not care if they lived at the terminal or not.

If that's what you're thinking, I'm going to disappoint you. Maybe for other colleges, just having a password is enough, but in Ravenclaw, we have higher aspirations. ”

Penelope gestured to the door in front of the dormitory, with a bronze knocker carved into the shape of an eagle.

"See that? To access the common room from here, you'll have to answer its questions. ”

"And what if I get it wrong?" Anthony Goldstein asked, trembling as he raised a hand. He was also one of the new students entering this year, but he was lucky enough to sit far away from Neil and them, and was able to finish his first dinner with a good appetite.

"Then we can only stand outside and wait for the next person to answer." Penelope gave him a sweet, unrelenting smile back, "And I'm afraid you'll have to adapt to this as soon as possible, and as a Ravenclaw student, you can't forget to make progress at any time." ”

A few of the freshmen exchanged uneasy glances, and Penelope took their reactions and shook his head as if he had seen himself two years ago.

"Well, we can't just stand outside all night, does anyone want to try their first answer? Neil, how are you? ”

“…… Well, if you insist. ”

Neil pouted, he didn't really want to make this senseless limelight - or lose this person who didn't make any gains, but he saw the budding trust in Penelo's eyes, so he could only smile wryly and nodded, and stepped forward with the students on both sides.

Sensing someone approaching, the eagle's eyes lit up, and an ethereal and quiet female voice came from within.

"What is the shadow of the night?"

The freshmen almost held their breath, their eyes wide open as they waited for his answer, which would have a direct impact on their confidence in whether they would be able to get into the dormitory every day in the future; The senior students who followed them and watched the excitement couldn't help but feel a little gloating, and couldn't wait to see their younger siblings get a good look at the strictness of the school.

Neil took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his gaze as calm as a lake in late November.

"Well, listen—there was a crow, which made a nest on the beams of the cowshed, lived for three years, laid two eggs, and one day it stole a thimble from the tailor's house and put it in his nest, and that day it was the 14th, and what was the name of his son-in-law, the farmer who raised the cattle, a Neapolitan?"

“……”

Everyone present stared at him with hellish eyes.

Ravenclaw's students are known for their intelligence, and it is not uncommon for no one to try to deal with the statue guards with their cleverness, but no trick has ever been successful in the face of the magic set up by Ravenclaw himself - the statue's job is to test the wisdom of those who enter and exit, so it will only give puzzles that require a little brain, but that does not mean that it does not have an eye for deeper tricks.

The upperclassmen have already started celebrating the good deeds and are ready to make a splash about it as a joke in the common room.

However, the statue did not react, only the blue light in its eyes flickered brightly and dimly.

It was about five minutes later, under the watchful eyes of people who could barely forget their heartbeats, that quiet voice sounded again, only this time it sounded like there was some hesitation.

“…… Andre? ”

Neil shook his head, "It's a pity, it's Anderson. ”

The light in the eagle statue's eyes suddenly went out, and the next second, the door behind it slowly opened, revealing the path to the common room.