When dinner was halfway through, Dumbledore, who was sitting at the head of the table, gave a brief speech about the rules at Hogwarts. He mentioned things like not wandering around the castle at night and staying away from restricted areas.
Lucas, however, rightly dismissed it as nonsense.
After all, nighttime adventures had practically become a tradition at Hogwarts. In a way, they were part of the school culture.
Once the feast ended, the Slytherin prefect led the first-year students to their common room, while Hermione and the others followed the Gryffindor prefect to their own dormitory.
Among the four Hogwarts house common rooms, Slytherin's was easily the most mysterious. The other three were located somewhere within the castle.
But Slytherin's lounge was unique—it was located beneath the Black Lake, where sunlight and moonlight never reached.
It perfectly suited the temperament of the little snakes.
When Lucas and the rest arrived at the Slytherin common room, everyone was stunned—Lucas included.
The greenish hue of the lake water filtered through the windows, blocking out natural light. Fish swam lazily past the glass, and a massive octopus occasionally slapped against it.
It felt like stepping into an aquarium.
"Everyone, remember Slytherin's password. Only with the correct password will the stone door open. The password changes every Monday," the prefect explained.
Lucas headed to the dorm room corresponding to his number and found it to be a long, narrow, and low-ceilinged space made of rough-hewn stone. A red carpet stretched across the floor like a painted path, and strange magical sculptures stood by an ornate fireplace.
It had a distinct Gothic vibe.
Not long after, Lucas received his official Slytherin uniform—a green tie and wizard robes embroidered with the House crest. It looked quite sharp.
As for his roommates, by coincidence, one of them was the first Slytherin he had befriended: Draco Malfoy.
"Looks like fate is really on our side," Lucas said, placing a thick book at the head of his bed and glancing at Draco, who stood beside him.
The other roommate was also familiar—Malfoy's ever-present sidekick, Vincent Crabbe, with arms like a gorilla's.
"Y-yeah..." Malfoy replied, clearly uneasy. If he could, he'd probably go out and ask the prefect to switch dorms.
But that wasn't an option. The prefects had already returned to their own quarters after assigning the rooms.
"Relax, I'm not going to eat either of you," Lucas said, shrugging at the stiff looks on their faces.
"After all, aren't we friends now?
Right?"
He casually took out his wand and gave it a wipe.
"Exactly!" Crabbe nodded quickly, and Malfoy mimicked him with a nervous smile.
Even though Malfoy's father was on the school's Board of Governors, Dumbledore was still the headmaster—and not even a governor could overstep too much.
Satisfied with their response, Lucas nodded and set his wand down on the thick book.
The book was titled Growing with the Ghoul, written by the adventurer Harold. Lucas had borrowed it from Hermione.
But if his hazy memory served right, that guy might've been a total fraud.
Still, the book was well-written and emotionally engaging—at the very least, it made for a decent travel read.
With a yawn, Lucas settled onto his bed and powered up his game console, ready to work on the house he'd been building in Minecraft for the past few days.
Next to him were snacks and cola, brought by his trusty frog cub.
Meanwhile, Malfoy and Crabbe sat stiffly on their beds, too nervous to speak.
The spell Lucas had casually used earlier had left too deep of an impression. Malfoy's arms were still trembling.
Where on earth had Lucas learned such magic?
As Lucas placed the final block on a matchbox-shaped house, he glanced up at the two pure-blood wizards, who looked about ready to sleep, and casually asked:
"Wanna play together?"
After all, Minecraft was made for multiplayer. Playing solo could get boring.
But upon hearing his question, Malfoy and Crabbe immediately tensed and shook their heads.
"N-no, we've got class tomorrow. Better sleep early."
"…You wanna try that answer again?" Lucas asked, picking up his wand.
"…"
In the end, they gave in under magical pressure.
Lucas tossed them each a game console and pulled out a custom-made connection cable—crafted by the frog cub using tech from the Marvel universe.
He'd had all this gear for years, but no one to play with, so it had just been collecting dust.
As the screens lit up in the dim, green-tinged room, the two boys stared in fascination. They'd never seen anything like it.
After all, they were still just kids at heart.
Once the consoles booted up, Lucas quickly taught them the basics.
When it came to games, humans learned faster than anything else. It was almost instinctual.
Soon, the pixelated cube world of Minecraft appeared before their eyes, and they were immediately hooked.
"Alright, now that you know the basics, let's go online!"
Lucas connected all three consoles with the cable.
Before long, they were in a private local network together.
"Crabbe, you're on tree-chopping duty!" Malfoy said with surprising initiative. He'd picked up the game pretty fast and figured the first priority was building a house.
Crabbe nodded and got to work while Malfoy began gathering supplies.
"Malfoy, you gather the food. I'll handle the building," Lucas said, glancing up.
He was the master architect here—no one else could match his skills.
After all, what's the point of playing Minecraft if you're not going to build an awesome house?
As time ticked past midnight, Lucas finally started feeling sleepy and exited the game first.
"I'm off. You two carry on."
In the dark, Malfoy looked at the lopsided house that resembled a matchbox, then turned to Crabbe and whispered:
"We're rebuilding that thing tomorrow."
"Go chop some more trees for me!"