After the mind-numbingly boring History of Magic class finally ended, the Ravenclaws all returned to their common room for some much-needed relief.
Before Halloween arrived, Robert had established a weekly tradition of setting aside one noon or evening in the common room to answer first-year questions, helping them integrate into Hogwarts life more smoothly.
This represented a special benefit that had only come about after Robert became prefect. Though Ravenclaw wasn't as coldly calculating as the "self-preservation obsessed" Slytherins, most little eagles focused exclusively on subjects they personally enjoyed and weren't particularly enthusiastic about other matters.
If these had been academic questions, that would have been perfectly fine. Out of the principle that reviewing old knowledge leads to understanding new concepts, most upperclassmen would willingly spend time providing guidance. But for practical matters like which teachers were lenient graders or proper assignment formats, they simply weren't willing to invest their precious time.
Only Robert, whose personality more closely resembled a helpful little badger, was genuinely willing to sacrifice his free time in this manner.
Sterling chose not to participate in these sessions. He lay sprawled across a table in the common room library, with "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" automatically turning its pages before him.
The legendary Bard Beedle had created numerous stories throughout his prolific lifetime, so this collection was naturally quite substantial. Sterling had been reading it intermittently throughout the summer but hadn't even completed a third of the volume.
Of that completed third, only "The Warlock and the Hopping Pot" demonstrated a high degree of connection to the dream world... Besides that particular tale, there was also a story called "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" that showed some intriguing relation.
Vivian had once mentioned that brewing the most powerful potion in her extensive knowledge required Lucky Spring water as the primary ingredient. This name bore striking similarity to "The Fountain of Fair Fortune".
However, the fountain featured in "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" actually possessed no genuine magical power, but Lucky Spring water truly contained incredible, reality-altering abilities. It could enable whoever drank it to achieve their most desired wish at that precise moment.
Even transforming from an ordinary person into a great wizard. Even bringing the dead back to life.
But like "The Fountain of Fair Fortune", accessing it required enduring various dangerous trials and gaining recognition from the "Fortune Goddess", a great wizard whose power rivalled that of both Maleficent and Vivian...
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard? You actually enjoy reading this sort of thing..." Robert finished his question-and-answer session and approached to see what Ravenclaw's two current point-earning stars were studying.
"Yes, I find it quite fascinating."
"Really? I heard these stories constantly as a child, so now I find them rather old-fashioned... By the way, since you're from a Muggle family, you should have read Andersen's fairy tales, correct? Those are what I genuinely call interesting."
"Absolutely, exactly right. Have you read the recently published 'The Dragon Witch'? Though not quite as captivating as the Sea Witch story, it's still considerably better than those old-fashioned hero-fights-dragon tales."
An unfamiliar upperclassman with numerous pimples covering his face made this observation while holding a newspaper. Yesterday's London Literary Report, which prominently featured "The Dragon Witch".
Sterling had only recently learnt that many Hufflepuff students were enthusiastic fans of his published works. They would have their parents send newspapers or story collections, then use the "Geminio" duplication charm to share copies with other devoted enthusiasts.
"Oh? The Quidditch team was training yesterday, so I haven't had time to read it yet." Robert accepted the newspaper and began reading immediately.
The story wasn't particularly lengthy, and with Robert's impressive reading speed, he finished quite quickly.
"It does feel somewhat reminiscent of Beedle the Bard's Dragon Trilogy stories, doesn't it? But it's certainly very engaging." Robert nodded approvingly.
"Prefect Robert, what exactly is this Dragon Trilogy you mentioned?"
Sterling quickly stopped Robert, who was preparing to leave. He hadn't encountered such books in his reading.
"Oh, no wonder you're unfamiliar. That's probably a nickname used primarily by wizarding families. Beedle the Bard created several of his most widely circulated story cycles: the Dragon Trilogy with dragons as central characters, the Spirit Trilogy featuring elves and magical creatures, the Magic Quintet with wizards as protagonists, and the Divine Duology concerning gods and goddesses. That's roughly how they're traditionally categorised."
He picked up the book resting in front of Sterling and flipped through the table of contents, shaking his head with obvious disappointment.
"This is a newer edition that deleted quite a few stories deemed not entirely suitable for young children. It only contains one divine volume, two dragon volumes, one spirit volume, and one magic volume."
"You should search for more complete original versions in the main school library. Those should contain the full collection."
After Robert departed, hurrying to prepare for his afternoon classes, Sterling looked down at the storybook before him and smiled knowingly.
Three, three, five, two. How remarkably coincidental that these numbers added up to exactly thirteen stories.
Thinking more carefully, they clearly corresponded to Lady Maleficent's "The Warlock and the Hopping Pot" story and what likely alluded to the Fortune Goddess in "The Fountain of Fair Fortune". These represented one dragon volume and one divine volume, respectively?
Then the remaining stories probably all corresponded to other great wizards who had mastered one of the thirteen legendary magics.
Vivian was probably featured prominently in one of the spirit volumes.
After contemplating these fascinating connections, Sterling suddenly couldn't remain seated. If it weren't for the mandatory Herbology class scheduled for this afternoon, he would want to sleep immediately and rush to ask Vivian whether the composition of the thirteen magics matched Beedle the Bard's complete story collection.
But there was still one productive thing he could accomplish right now.
Sterling made a firm decision to locate the version recording all of Beedle the Bard's works in the library immediately after Herbology class ended.
Speaking of Herbology... Sterling wasn't genuinely interested in the subject. His thorn magic might superficially resemble plant growth, but if you cut them open, they were filled with life magic flames rather than plant matter.
So this magic was actually quite sinister in nature. You might assume they were just harmless binding plants, and if you didn't struggle against them, you'd simply be restrained by thorns. But if you fought back, they transformed into flame ropes, which might not be binding living creatures anymore.
As for other botanical considerations... the most suitable fertiliser for magical herbs was dragon dung.
Sterling possessed some harmless obsessive tendencies. Not severe enough to prevent him from learning the required subject, but certainly sufficient to make him actively dislike it.
Fortunately, Professor Sprout, who taught this particular course, was reportedly a typical Hufflepuff who never made things unnecessarily difficult for students and possessed impressive knowledge.
Sterling packed up his materials and called to Hermione, who was diligently writing her Potions essay. His own Potions assignment was uniquely punitive: copying potion-brewing safety regulations ten complete times.
Terry and the other students had already departed for the greenhouse. Because they had spent time chatting with Robert and then lost themselves in contemplation, they were now the last students to leave the common room.
The freckled upperclassman also headed toward the door. When they parted ways at the portrait entrance, he seemed to suddenly remember something important and turned back to Sterling.
"You seem genuinely interested in Beedle the Bard's works?"
Seeing Sterling nod enthusiastically, he uncertainly suggested that Sterling could search for ancient books in the common room library itself.
"Beedle the Bard was actually a Ravenclaw graduate. The common room library has been a cherished tradition since Lady Ravenclaw personally decorated our common room. I mean, you could try searching through the older sections. You might discover some of his personal belongings or manuscripts."
"Of course, if he didn't protect them with preservation magic, they'd probably be far too ancient by now and might have been discarded by the house-elves working in the castle." He added as an afterthought.
"House-elves?" Hermione asked with obvious puzzlement, but the upperclassman was rushing to reach his class and didn't pause to answer.
Sterling also shook his head. He didn't know what those creatures were either.
But now he needed to add searching through the common room library's historical collection to his growing list of plans.
Beedle the Bard's personal possessions... Sterling felt a powerful premonition building.
If he could find anything directly related to the legendary bard, his magical vision might finally unveil its complete mysterious potential.
But first, they had more immediate concerns...
"Do you happen to remember which direction leads to the greenhouse?"
Hermione rolled her eyes with exasperation and pulled out Robert's crude map from her bag.
"We need to hurry. I absolutely don't want to be late for class."