"Hermione, what's wrong with Sterling?"
Neville kept his voice extremely low. Hermione paused her transfiguration work and shook her head at him with obvious concern.
She also looked toward Sterling's position. He was absently poking the iron box he'd just finished transfiguring with his wand tip, while Terry had only half his bottom perched on the stool, looking miserable as he faced the wooden block in front of him.
Terry felt their worried gazes, looked up, and mouthed silently to them: "In... a... bad... mood."
Though Sterling appeared no different from usual, even the most socially obtuse Neville could sense something was definitely wrong. His eyebrows would occasionally furrow together with tension, and he seemed absent-minded even during class.
"I think he might have encountered some difficult problem. I was just like him when I couldn't solve maths problems before coming here. Why don't you ask him directly later? I don't think you'll figure anything out just by staring," said Padma, Hermione's desk partner. She had given up completing the transfiguration assignment in class. Her talent in Transfiguration was genuinely limited. She could only practise more after class to make up for it through diligence.
Hermione and Terry exchanged meaningful glances, feeling Padma made perfect sense.
"Actually, I think... is Sterling unhappy because his bread jam fell out this morning?"
Neville leaned his head over curiously. Hermione looked at him with a completely puzzled expression, sighed deeply, and told him not to worry about Sterling's personal affairs but to focus on his own transfiguration work.
This child had good intentions, but... Gryffindors really weren't skilled at this sort of thing.
Hermione used eye signals to indicate Terry should ask Sterling directly. Terry widened his eyes in alarm, pointed at himself, and opened his mouth in shock.
Hermione nodded firmly. Terry shook his head in refusal. Hermione and Padma nodded together insistently. Terry nodded dejectedly, took a deep breath, and slowly moved over to Sterling's side.
"Sterling?"
Hearing Terry's obviously different tone, Sterling looked up. The iron box in front of him had been poked with several small holes. Strictly speaking, burnt through, since after poking a few times, he had ignited magical flames at his wand tip.
"What's wrong? Can't transfigure it properly?"
He forced a smile, but his mind was still completely focused on that diary. He felt this wasn't good but still couldn't control his thoughts.
He had sent a letter to Andrew early this morning, but as a newspaper editor, Andrew was always extremely busy. Sterling estimated he'd have to wait until tomorrow to hope for a reply.
"No, I wanted to say..."
Terry originally planned to probe tentatively, but after thinking, he decided to be completely direct.
"Did you encounter some difficult problem? You seem genuinely unhappy... we're all worried about you."
Sterling was stunned. He twisted his wand somewhat conflictedly.
"It's nothing serious; I just didn't sleep well..."
He avoided Terry's concerned gaze. He couldn't tell others about the dream world, and Ravenclaw's diary couldn't be known by a third person.
Though he was happy they cared enough to comfort him, he had to politely decline their kindness.
Terry turned to Hermione and Neville, who had been looking their way expectantly, and shook his head in defeat.
Hermione sighed with disappointment. As expected, she wasn't good at this sort of thing either.
Neville lay down, wrote a string of words on paper and threw it to Hermione. The three of them exchanged glances in the air, the note passed three times before returning to Neville's hands.
Sterling felt absolutely terrible.
Perhaps it was the morning's Transfiguration class. His lie to Terry had hurt their feelings. After class, they left together early, and even Neville didn't say goodbye to him...
He wandered aimlessly in the library. "Advanced Transfiguration Theory", which he'd wanted to read for ages, was pulled from some dusty corner, but after flipping just a few pages, he stuffed it back.
He couldn't concentrate at all.
On the first flip, Ravenclaw's diary appeared in his mind. On the second, Maleficent and Vivian appeared alternately. After closing the book, Terry's averted face seemed to appear before his eyes again.
Sterling hugged his Herbology homework and sat in a small corner. He didn't want to return to the common room to do homework. At least for this month, he didn't want to see the common room library again.
If not for that diary, how could he be so troubled now?
Sterling snapped his fingers. Bursting starlight fell on the parchment, instantly becoming a complete assignment with neat handwriting, even half an inch longer than Professor Sprout required.
This was an ancillary effect of "Stargazing Scholar". Magically produced starlight was naturally the best carrier of knowledge. Sterling only needed to recall his knowledge, and it could become reality through starlight.
This ability would be very suitable for writing, Sterling suddenly thought.
But he wasn't in the mood to write any stories now. Though in the kingdom he'd entered last night, he'd caught the scent of fascinating stories in just under five minutes.
There were no afternoon classes, so the library was crowded. Mostly Ravenclaws and Slytherins, with a few Hufflepuffs scattered about.
Gryffindors consistently disliked entering the library.
If Hermione didn't often call Neville out to preview textbooks, he'd probably prefer playing wizard chess in the common room.
Thinking of Neville and Hermione, Sterling's mood sank again.
He probably didn't notice that he'd shifted from worrying about Ravenclaw's diary to anxiety about friendships.
Sterling had very few friends.
Or rather, before coming to Hogwarts, he had no friends his own age... not because of himself, but because of Andrew.
Andrew had used his manuscript fees to enrol him in the best aristocratic school, filled mostly with children from wealthy families who looked down on Andrew, this "small newspaper editor" parent.
Sterling naturally wouldn't befriend people who disliked Andrew.
So his knowledge of friendship was sketchy. Advising others was fine since he'd read plenty of books, but when it happened to himself... complete disaster.
Neville, Hermione, Terry... these three were all friends, Sterling acknowledged, but they might have developed resentment because of this morning's incident...
Thinking of this, Sterling felt completely drained.
A quill sketched on another clean parchment, and a dragon coiled on a mountaintop appeared on paper. Sterling wrote "Maleficent" beside it, then quickly erased it.
Suddenly, he felt two gentle pokes on his back.
"Sterling? Have you finished your homework?"
Neville's head appeared from behind, looking somewhat constrained. The moment Sterling saw him, he wanted to greet him happily but quickly noticed his expression.
It felt like... he was hiding something?
Sterling narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Being stared at like this made Neville even more nervous.
"Want to go to dinner together... since you've finished your homework..."
"Alright." Sterling agreed immediately.
Neville walked ahead, becoming more relaxed as they approached the Great Hall. By the time they reached the Great Hall entrance, Hermione stood at the left side of the door, holding a Potions textbook.
"Sterling!"
Hermione called out, her voice much louder than usual. A fork clattered to the floor inside. After hearing this, her expression became more natural. She chatted casually with Sterling before they all walked into the Great Hall together.
Since it wasn't dinnertime yet, there weren't many people in the Great Hall, except at the Ravenclaw table.
There sat a conspicuous deep black "dragon" about three heads tall.
Terry and Hannah were sprinkling green sugar powder around the "dragon". Terry waved happily when he saw Sterling, calling him over enthusiastically.
Hannah, who had only been invited by Neville to help, smiled shyly before leaving quietly.
"...What's this?"
Sterling looked at the dragon-shaped cake, wanting to touch it but quickly withdrawing his hand, turning to ask Terry.
"For me?"
"Of course! This is a cake Neville asked Hannah to custom-order from Hogwarts' kitchen..."
"...I thought, though I don't know why you're unhappy, I usually feel happier when I eat something delicious..."
Neville scratched the back of his head and smiled warmly.
Hermione produced a notebook from the side, filled with many Potions knowledge points. It looked like she'd been writing for quite some time.
"I started organising this after Potions class ended... Maybe you're not worried about your Potions level, but I think at least you wouldn't like being so weak in one subject. So I rushed to finish this afternoon. I've picked out all the first-year Potions key points."
She placed the notebook carefully in Sterling's hands.
"Consider it repayment for how you've taken care of me. After I told Padma about what happened on our first day, she kept saying you've been looking after me quite a bit."
"Hey, friend, I know not all troubles can be told to others, but at least we can cheer you up."
Terry put his arm around Sterling's shoulder supportively.
"I saw you reading that 'Dragon Witch' article in the newspaper many times, so the cake design was my idea. Smile, Sterling, we've been busy all afternoon."
Sterling felt his eyes getting hot. The confusion and fear brought by that diary seemed to be washed away by this moment of genuine emotion.
"Thank you, everyone..."
A warm current seemed to flow through his heart. Where Sterling didn't notice, the sword mark originally swallowed by the dragon's imprint flashed with a faint glimmer of light.