Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts

Chapter Five: Life at Hogwarts Begins with Chopping Down Trees

"I've never seen such fan loyalty before. If I could, I'd call the police and have you all arrested." Kane said with a helpless smile, uttering a statement that wasn't quite harsh.

Kingsley touched his nose somewhat awkwardly, realizing he was an Auror.

"In short, please believe us, we have no ill intentions towards you. It's just that you, as a young wizard, need to be educated because of your special status," Dumbledore said gently.

“They might be sent to Azkaban.” Kingsley’s professional habit kicked in; to keep Kane in line, he subconsciously used the black-and-white cop routine from the interrogation room, naturally playing the villain.

Dumbledore glanced back with a hint of helplessness, and Kingsley felt his mouth agape. He then turned back to Kane and said, "Please ignore him. In short, I come from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a place that teaches magic to young wizards, and I am the headmaster. You can call me Professor Dumbledore."

"Alright, no ill intent... I can see that now. So this is just a home visit? You should have sent the letter beforehand." Kane readily believed Dumbledore's words; after all, there was no point in disbelieving, given the current situation, he probably couldn't escape.

“The messenger owl is probably stuck in the air. Don’t worry about it. Hmm… where are your parents?” Dumbledore asked.

"No."

"I'm sorry, but would you mind telling me how you mastered such amazing magic?" Dumbledore gave an apologetic look and began to change the subject.

"Is this also part of a home visit?"

“Of course,” Dumbledore nodded.

"Hmm... not a pleasant adventure," Kane said ambiguously, and Dumbledore, being tactful, changed the subject when he sensed Kane's reluctance to discuss it.

“Now that you know you are a wizard, you should also know the rules of the magical world, Kingsley, you are an expert in this area.”

Dumbledore spoke subtly, allowing Kingsley to speak again.

As Dumbledore finished speaking, Kane was forced to listen to Kingsley's long-winded explanation, the gist of which was that if magic were exposed, it would be a catastrophe for both the Muggle and wizarding communities. Kane was told never to use magic in front of Muggles again, especially since Kane's magic was pure dark magic, which was absolutely forbidden.

“But I still have to eat.” Kane leaned against the wall helplessly and asked this seemingly simple but profound question.

Dumbledore and Kingsley were both taken aback. Kane was currently earning a living by performing magic tricks on the street. If they didn't allow Kane to use magic, were they going to let him starve to death?

Unless the Ministry of Magic or Hogwarts provides Kane with all his food, clothing, and lodging, he can't say such things openly.

"Perhaps you can... arrive at Hogwarts ahead of time." In the end, Dumbledore took on this responsibility.

After all, given the style of those scoundrels at the Ministry of Magic, if Kane stayed there for a month, he'd be guaranteed to become another Voldemort after graduating from Hogwarts.

The people at the Ministry of Magic have a real talent for making their own people uncomfortable.

Kane glanced at Dumbledore, whose face was full of sincerity, and then looked at the enormous Hogwarts Castle in front of him. He no longer regretted following Dumbledore back here.

Dumbledore first led Kane to his office: "Since you haven't had your Sorting Ceremony yet, you can't go to the student dormitories. But fortunately, you have two options: A, you can choose to live with me."

“I choose the second one,” Kane said quietly. He wasn’t used to sleeping with other people, and he was a restless sleeper. Harry had almost been kicked out of the stairwell by him before. What if he kicked Dumbledore’s old arms and legs to pieces?

Dumbledore smiled slightly: "Congratulations, you will like your new roommate. I'll call Severus over right now. He's the Potions Professor at Hogwarts. He's having his house renovated in Spider's End this year, so he's staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Anyway, I think you'll like your new roommate."

As Dumbledore spoke, he summoned a silvery-white phantom bird that flew out of the office. The bird returned quickly, carrying a message from the professor named Severus: if Kane dared to live there, he would shove Kane into the cauldron.

"Hmm... couldn't you just find me an empty classroom to fill out for a while?" Kane asked, staring at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's answer to this was always to shake his head. How could he conduct his low-intensity dark magic experiments, which had been going on since midnight, if he didn't live under the same roof as Kane?

These are all techniques.

"Lunch and dinner are at 12 noon and 7 pm respectively, in the Great Hall. There is a curfew at 10 pm, so remember to come back. You are free to explore Hogwarts at any other time."

Dumbledore made Kane, who was not yet a Hogwarts student, feel absolutely no discomfort whatsoever; he was completely free.

"By the way, you should have a second bed in your office, right?" Kane suddenly asked as he was leaving.

"Well... you have to forgive me, my old arms and legs can't climb to the top bunk anymore," Dumbledore said apologetically.

“Bunk beds are wonderful,” Kane said, and walked straight out of Dumbledore’s office.

“This castle is really nice, isn’t it? There’s no place in the Eternal Realm where you can study magic in peace. You shouldn’t have left so decisively just now. You should have let that old wizard teach you a few tricks beforehand, otherwise what if you die tonight?” Maxwell suddenly appeared beside Kane and said quietly.

“You don’t need to remind me. I’m already making progress. Once I integrate the shadows into the matter of the real world, I might be able to… create a small campfire,” Kane replied.

"And then what? You're not planning to build a scientific machine, are you?" Maxwell asked.

"I'll figure out how to get some gold. My current plan is to get some firewood first." Kane said, sitting on the stair railing and sliding down from the eighth floor to the sixth floor in one go, before looking for the next stairwell.

He quickly left the castle and headed towards the Forbidden Forest. He first broke off a few branches, picked up some stones and grass, then sat down on the ground and swiftly wielded his hands, finally creating an axe for the Earth Online beta version.

Just as he was carrying his axe into the forbidden forest, he suddenly recalled some less pleasant memories.

"There shouldn't be any tree spirits in the woods near the magic school, right?"

.........

Never mind, chopping some small pieces of wood from the outside will be enough.

After an unknown amount of time, Hagrid emerged from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, leading Tooth. They saw Kane, carrying a bundle of firewood and with his pockets full of grass, staggering towards Hogwarts.

???

Chapter Six: I Like This Campfire

Kane didn't notice Hagrid appearing behind him, and continued to walk slowly towards the castle, carrying the firewood he had painstakingly chopped.

Suddenly he felt a lightness in his hand. He looked up and saw a big guy, nearly three meters tall and looking very honest and kind, easily lifting up the firewood for him.

"Hogwarts hasn't started yet, how did you end up here?" Hagrid asked as he took the firewood from Kane's arms.

“I was brought back by Professor Dumbledore. He doesn’t allow me to use magic outside, but I can’t survive without it, so I was brought here.” Kane readily began to speak.

The wizards I've encountered in this world—Dumbledore, Kingsley, and this three-meter-tall behemoth—all seem to be quite kind.

Does this wizard seem different from the stereotypical image of one? Could it be that everything looks like a starting village to me now that I've escaped from the Eternal Realm?

Hagrid pondered for a moment: "You are... I mean you don't have parents... no, your guardian... okay, you just need to know that I mean no harm, you're just too clumsy with words. My name is Hagrid, and I'm the game keeper at Hogwarts."

"Kaneheath, I am indeed an orphan, there's nothing to hide." Kane looked up at Hagrid, who was practically suffocating from talking, and quickly comforted him.

After all, if such a big guy really fainted here due to lack of oxygen, even he and Shadow might not be able to drag him back to the castle.

"Anyway, I'm sorry Kane... what are you doing chopping this firewood?" Hagrid began to change the subject.

“To make a campfire. It’s a pity I couldn’t find a suitable stone.” Kane said, looking at Hagrid with his dull eyes and thick dark circles. His intuition told him that this man definitely had a solution.

Sure enough, Hagrid patted his chest and said, "That's easy. I'll take you to the Black Lake later. There are lots of rocks there, and you can make a campfire next to my house. I used to like making campfires and roasting potatoes or sausages when I was in school."

Hagrid beckoned Kane toward his hut. Although it was called a hut, it could fit Hagrid, a three-meter-tall man, and looked quite imposing at first glance, even though the overall style was like... a mountain village warehouse.

"Professor Dumbledore's benefits for Hogwarts staff are a bit... stingy," Kane commented modestly.

“Strictly speaking, I was rescued from Azkaban by Dumbledore and brought here. I’m already very satisfied with a place like this, and it’s not that I’m being wronged. In the castle office, I would bump my head if I straightened up even slightly.” Hagrid put the firewood in the yard, trying to make amends for Dumbledore.

This is the second time Kane has heard of Azkaban today.

"So what exactly is this place, Azkaban?"

Hagrid instantly switched to a serious expression: "It's a wizarding prison, inside..."

“Alright, no need to say anything more.” Kane waved his hand. “Looks like we’re pretty much the same. I was also rescued from Azkaban by Dumbledore.”

Kane could recall Kingsley's incredibly catchy phrase "Azkaban" whenever he thought of him, even though he figured it was probably just to scare him, a little kid. But that didn't stop him from getting close to Haigra in this way.

Sure enough, Hagrid looked surprised and angry when he heard Kane say that: "Azkaban? How could someone as young as you be sent to Azkaban? Those Ministry of Magic bastards are getting more and more outrageous!"

"Who says otherwise? Um, Hagrid, shall we continue collecting stones?"

Hagrid said "Oh," quickly stuffed Tooth into the doghouse, and then led Kane toward the nearby Black Lake.

Besides the rocks used for making campfires, there were more pebbles, agate, plant fossils, and some jade on the shore of Black Lake. However, he didn't need any of them now, so he just picked up a few rocks and returned to Hagrid's hut.

Of course, Hagrid helped too, and he was very... honest. He used his leather coat to carry a huge amount of rocks that could have crushed Kane, and when he piled them up outside Hagrid's yard, they looked like a small grave.

Kane quickly began making a campfire, injecting shadow into the firewood beforehand. Igniting the firewood to dispel the shadow was definitely more comfortable than burning his own shadow.

If he succeeds, he can not only get a good night's sleep, but he might also be able to kill a few shadow monsters to strengthen himself and get rid of his dark circles.

Hagrid, watching Kane enthusiastically making a campfire, also took out a brand-new flint and steel from the hut. He felt that using flint and steel to start a fire was more ceremonial than using magic.

However, the moment he took out the flint and steel, he saw a dark shadow appear in Kane's hand and then attach itself directly to the campfire that had been set up.

In an instant, the campfire, which was originally ordinary and even should have been somewhat warm, suddenly appeared strange and absurd in Hagrid's eyes, even though it looked completely unchanged from the outside.

"Kane? You... what kind of magic is that?" Hagrid swallowed hard. He wasn't particularly skilled in magic, but he could still tell that the eerie shadow was definitely not some kind of orthodox magic.

“Shadow, it’s innate. That’s why I was found by Hogwarts and almost got thrown into Azkaban,” Kane said casually, then waved his hand lightly, and the campfire instantly burst into flames.

A feeling even warmer than warmth enveloped him, and this rare warm anchor in the realm of eternity allowed his long-tense nerves to relax slightly.

Hagrid was initially a little apprehensive about Kane, a natural master of dark magic, but after seeing that Kane simply used dark magic to create a special campfire that was different from ordinary campfires, and then sat there quietly in a daze, he suddenly felt that his ability to judge people with magic had become even more superb.

In short... I really deserve to die.

Seeing this, Hagrid slowly sat down on the ground. After noticing that the flames in the campfire had shrunk a bit, he picked up a piece of firewood and threw it in. However, strangely, the firewood did not change at all after being thrown into the fire, as if what he threw in was not wood, but asbestos tile that could not be lit at all.

"This is..." Hagrid looked at the piece of wood in the fire, which seemed not to exist in this texture, with some surprise.

“A little bit of mystical power is needed.” Kane imbued a shadow onto the piece of firewood, and soon the flames in the campfire burned even brighter.

Hagrid stared longingly at Kane, pointing to the pile of firewood not far away.

"No, don't use it too much, it'll make you lose sanity," Kane immediately refused.

"Losing sanity?" Hagrid heard a new word.

"You could say your brain is exhausted, and some monsters will try to kill you," Kane casually explained.

Hagrid scratched his head... Well, the little wizard's imagination is always so rich.

Kane could tell from Hagrid's embarrassed expression that he didn't believe him, but he wasn't interested in explaining any further.

Soon, the bells of Hogwarts Castle rang, and Hagrid stood up and helped Kane to his feet.

"Looks like it's lunchtime. Let's hurry over. If you can get to know Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape before you arrive at Hogwarts, I guarantee your first year will be a breeze..."

Hagrid's expression turned somewhat strange after he finished speaking: "Actually, it's okay if Professor Snape isn't familiar with him."

Chapter Seven? What? I'm starting to lose sanity?

There were only five of us eating lunch in the auditorium, so we all sat at one table.

Kane knows Dumbledore, Hagrid, and the others.

There are two more: one is Professor Severus Snape, who previously only existed in Dumbledore's stories. He's an oily-haired, grumpy professor. The other is Felch, the castle caretaker, who is probably similar to... the headmaster? He looks... a bit like a vulture.