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Day two, early morning.
Erwin woke up early in the morning.
The system, unfortunately, lacked a map function, so to avoid being late for class in the future, he could only take advantage of his free morning to familiarize himself with Hogwarts.
Throughout the castle, countless staircases and passages existed, and many of the stairs could move.
Young wizards often found themselves lost as the staircases shifted and changed direction beneath their feet.
After spending the entire morning exploring, Erwin finally figured out the routes to his Charms classroom and the Great Hall.
When he arrived at the hall for breakfast, many students were already inside.
Erwin found an empty seat at the Ravenclaw table and sat down to enjoy breakfast.
Beef patties and carrot vegetable soup, not particularly hearty, but enough to fill the stomachs of young wizards.
If he remembered correctly, the Hogwarts kitchen was located next to the Hufflepuff common room.
He'd have to visit the house-elves someday and teach them how to prepare some breakfast dishes he craved from his previous life.
After so many years, Erwin still missed those breakfasts, fried dough sticks, soy milk, and salted tofu pudding.
With the abilities of house-elves, he believed they'd master these recipes quickly.
Honestly, Erwin felt that coming to Hogwarts was simply a blessing.
As a first-year student, there weren't many classes scheduled each day.
He didn't even have classes on Thursday.
House-elves cleaned the dormitories daily, making life more comfortable than it had been at home.
While Erwin was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.
Looking up, he found Cho standing beside him with Marietta.
"Why didn't you wait for me? You're still unfamiliar with this place since you just started school, so it's easy to get lost."
Cho's slightly resentful tone reached his ears, and Erwin smiled, gesturing for Cho and Marietta to sit down.
"I got up early and had nothing else to do, so I went out to walk around and familiarize myself with the staircases."
"What classes do you have today?" Cho nodded, showing that she understood.
Then she took out her wand and tapped it lightly.
A breakfast spread appeared on the table before her.
"Professor Flitwick's Charms class, and I have to go to Astronomy class on the top floor tonight," Erwin answered.
"Professor Flitwick is a master of Charms, and he's very kind to his students."
Cho shared information about Professor Flitwick with Erwin.
Marietta added enthusiastically, "It's said that Professor Flitwick has goblin ancestry, and he was the dueling champion back in his day."
Speaking about this kind of gossip made Marietta visibly excited, constantly sharing rumors from who-knows-where.
Erwin was quite interested in this.
In his previous life, he hadn't read the original books, and he'd seen the movies many years ago.
He only remembered the main storylines and knew what the annual conflicts were.
He hadn't expected Professor Flitwick to be so accomplished.
The professor didn't have many scenes in the films.
After breakfast ended, Erwin invited Cho to go out for a walk.
They crossed the grass near the entrance, walked along a tree-lined path, and slowly made their way to the Black Lake.
The two sat down together.
Looking at the calm Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest in the distance, enjoying the fragrance brought by the breeze, it was incredibly comfortable.
Cho also liked this quiet feeling very much.
After a while, Cho had to leave for class, so the two returned to the castle together.
Cho went to her lesson, and with nothing else to do, Erwin simply returned to his dormitory to rest.
****
In the afternoon, Erwin arrived at the Charms classroom. This particular class was shared with Hufflepuff students, so he didn't see the trio or any other Gryffindors.
Students already occupied the front row, so Erwin headed to the back and sat down next to a boy.
"Good afternoon, Anthony."
The boy next to him, Anthony Goldstein, was a pure-blood wizard whose parents worked in the Department of Magical Transportation.
The two had gotten along well while walking to the common room yesterday.
"Good afternoon, Erwin."
After the two exchanged greetings, the bell for class rang.
Professor Flitwick walked in briskly.
Due to his short stature, the professor had to stand on a stack of books in order to teach at a normal height.
Pulling out a roster, Professor Flitwick began roll call.
It gave Erwin the illusion that he was back in university with a teacher checking attendance.
The roll call was completed successfully, and no young wizard was late.
Professor Flitwick put away the roster.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Charms is the most fundamental branch of modern magic. Wizards use spells to achieve their goals."
"Although the school has a Defense Against the Dark Arts class and a Transfiguration class, essentially, they are also part of Charms."
"Of course, the main content of our Charms class consists of practical spells for everyday life. For example, the Levitation Charm."
After that, Professor Flitwick waved his hand, and the desk before him floated upward, dancing gracefully as his wand moved.
"Another example, the Vanishing Spell." Professor Flitwick pointed with his wand, and the dancing desk disappeared.
The young wizards in the audience grew very excited, unable to wait to begin learning.
Seeing that his demonstration had successfully aroused the students' interest, Flitwick nodded in satisfaction.
With a small tap, the vanished desk reappeared before them, having returned to its original quiet position.
"Next, we're going to begin with our first practical lesson, the Wand-Lighting Charm."
"The incantation for the Wand-Lighting Charm is '[Lumos].' When casting the spell, grip your wand firmly and point it forward."
Professor Flitwick carefully explained the rhythm of the incantation and the proper wand movements for casting.
Then, he instructed the young wizards to begin practicing.
All the students eagerly started attempting the spell.
For a while, the sound of incantations echoed continuously throughout the classroom.
However, many students' wands showed no response at all, while those who were progressing faster managed to produce a faint glow at their wand tips before it quickly faded away.
Erwin also withdrew his wand and said softly, "[Lumos]!"
Instantly, a white light appeared at the tip of his wand, shining brilliantly.
With a thought, the orb of light transformed, constantly shifting through different colors.
"Excellent, Mr. Gaunt! Ten points to Ravenclaw."
Professor Flitwick rushed over quickly; his tone was extremely excited.
"Mr. Gaunt, I didn't expect you to succeed on your first attempt, and to have mastered the color-changing variation of the Wand-Lighting Charm as well!"
After speaking, Professor Flitwick wiped the corners of his eyes, where some moisture seemed to have gathered.
"You're too kind, Professor. I simply read the textbook in advance and practiced it a few times."
Erwin felt somewhat speechless.
A simple lighting charm had made the professor nearly tear up with excitement.
He strongly suspected that Flitwick's previous students must have been particularly challenging to teach.