HP: Hogwart's Journey

Although Hagrid had given Robert some unicorn hair, he wasn't done yet. Hagrid had a wealth of fascinating things here, but he didn't care about those. Earlier, Robert had tucked some books on Muggle world animals into a strap, and now, he was using them as gifts for Hagrid, along with a set of psychology books. Hopefully, the straightforward half-giant would improve a little before taking on the professor role...

"This is a bird-snake egg," Hagrid explained, "Isn't it beautiful? Pity the little creature inside will never get to see the world." He sighed, clearly upset.

He then picked up a dark green feather. "This is an augurey's feather. Too bad it can't be made into a quill, otherwise, it would sell like hotcakes."

Robert searched for a while, and finally, he spotted a large piece of dark brown bark near his pile of firewood. 

"That's the bark of a protective tree," Hagrid explained. "Part of the trunk got struck by lightning, so I dragged it back here." 

As he spoke, Hagrid pulled out a blackened log from the pile, its surface charred. "I thought this would be good firewood…"

Robert examined the bark and then the charred log. Rolling up his sleeves, he muttered a spell. The dried outer bark of the protective tree peeled away, revealing its dark, brown core.

"Well, there's still a bit of firewood in here," Robert commented, eyeing the log. Despite being over two meters long, it was no thicker than his palm—hardly enough to make decent firewood for Hagrid.

Hagrid scratched his head. "Well, you could take it if you want. The protective tree has some protective properties, though… well, it got struck by lightning…"

"Alright, thanks, Hagrid," Robert replied, suddenly reminded of a thing from the Flower Country—something called lightning-struck wood, which was mostly made from jujube, peach, or willow trees. Maybe he could trade this with someone to get something for Hagrid.

"By the way, this bark might come in handy," Robert said, eyeing the piece of bark. "Why does it look like this hasn't been affected?"

Hagrid glanced at it and said, "The charred parts fell off along the way. This is all that's left. I was planning to throw it in the furnace anyway."

Tugging at the bark, Robert had an idea—it might make a good shell for a nest...

After leaving Hagrid's place, the three of them set to work crafting something from the materials. By nightfall, they had managed to put together a rather unique creation. The dark brown cat bed looked a bit like a two-handled wooden basin, with a gold-embroidered cushion filled with unicorn belly fur, soft and fluffy.

"I think... we might not be able to give this directly to Mr. Filch?" Robert suddenly had a headache, thinking about how Mr. Filch had an almost unnatural affection for his cat. If they simply handed it over, he might think it's some dangerous object and throw it away.

The twins slapped Robert on the shoulder with lackluster enthusiasm. "Buddy, that's your job. We're starving here."

With that, they quickly disappeared down the corridor.

Robert looked conflicted but ultimately placed the bed outside Mr. Filch's office, left a note, and turned to head back to the dormitory.

The next day, on his way to the Great Hall, he passed by the caretaker's office and saw the cat bed was gone. He had no idea whether Mr. Filch had taken it or thrown it out.

Feeling aimless again, Robert, bored out of his mind, stirred his spoon in the oatmeal, just as a flurry of wingbeats suddenly sounded.

Instinctively pulling the spoon closer to his chest, a brown owl dropped a package in front of him, followed by a newspaper.

"Cornelius Fudge—New Minister of Magic."

Robert raised an eyebrow at the headline, shrugging. He eyed the package in his hands. What was this? The Prophet's prize giveaway?

Opening it, he first found a crumpled letter with a note thanking Leslie for participating in the prize drawing and winning a mysterious gift. 

Inside, there was a golden quill and a small bottle of ink.

Robert examined the quill closely, but nothing seemed special about it, except that the feather stem was engraved with strange patterns.

"This is a copying quill," Cedric said, brightening when he saw what Robert held. "I've wanted one of these for ages. They say it can automatically copy everything you read."

Robert scratched his ear, confused. "But there's already the Copying Charm... why would anyone need this?"

Cedric looked at him with a look that Robert couldn't quite decipher, staring at him until he started to feel uncomfortable. Then, Cedric sighed and said, "Because I can't cast the Copying Charm..."

Just then, the twins came running over. "Hey, Robert, we got ourselves a quill."

"I've got the shorthand quill. Fred got the doodle quill," George said, waving the quill in his hand. "I think you'll like this one."

He handed over the quill to Robert, who blinked in surprise at the purple shorthand pen. That was rare. George was lucky!

"Alright, looks like I'm not keeping this copying quill," Robert said dramatically, handing it over to George. "If you want it, it's yours. I can't use it."

George's eyes lit up when he saw the quill. "With this, I won't have to write so much when messing with Filch next time!"

Robert blinked, then chuckled helplessly. "Hey, you could use it to copy materials for your professor's homework assignments!"

"Perfect! Let's do a swap," George said, handing Robert the shorthand pen while running off with the copying quill.

Robert stared at the still quill in his hand with a touch of sadness. What was he supposed to do with this thing?

As the semester wound down, Robert spent his time in the library. Madam Pince, though strict, didn't mind as long as he didn't damage the books.

After a year of hard (and sometimes frustrating) work, at the year-end feast, Ravenclaw surprisingly won the House Cup, leaving the other three houses dumbfounded. How had Ravenclaw pulled it off?

Looking back at the year...

When Gryffindor and Slytherin fought, Ravenclaw just watched.

When Hufflepuff and Slytherin fought, Ravenclaw just watched.

When all three houses fought, Ravenclaw was still watching.

Ravenclaw: Eating melon seeds makes me happy.

Of course, this didn't mean that the Ravenclaws never stepped in. They'd secretly help Gryffindor or Hufflepuff when they were losing, calling a professor for assistance—but, with the professors' indiscriminate "help," as the other three houses lost points rapidly, Ravenclaw kept its scores intact and ended up winning.

The Eagles felt that this victory was, frankly, rather anticlimactic.

(End of Chapter)