Despite Kyle never having to worry about sending letters, at Hogwarts, it's better to have your own owl. In a sense, owls are like telephone numbers in the Muggle world — they usually represent their owner's identity.
This point is quite important.
Take the simplest example: Kyle's mother Diana works in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. This department is managed very strictly. Except in special circumstances, all incoming mail must go through multiple screenings.
From the owl's identity, ownership, and status to the sender's name, identity, and affiliation — and finally checking the letter for special substances and curses. Only after confirming everything is fine will these letters be sent to the Department of Mysteries in the form of paper airplanes.
These are the rules. Even letters sent by Kyle are no exception; at most, the process might move a bit faster. With the Ministry's efficiency, this whole process would take at least a day.
But with Stella, things are different.
Diana can register him as a special owl. Letters not only get priority processing, but the screening process can also be greatly simplified — only needing to check the owl's status, the sender's name, and whether the letter contains any curses. This can be completed on the spot.
At Platform 9¾, Diana specifically reminded him about this point, telling him to use the same owl whenever possible when sending letters, or if necessary, to buy one in Diagon Alley.
Of course, buying was definitely not an option. How could Kyle spend such unnecessary money when he already had this cute yet fearsome one? Problem solved perfectly.
He took out some owl nuts from his shapeshifting lizard skin pouch, along with several bags of rat jerky, and pushed them together with the chestnuts in his hand toward the owls. Afterward, he found some clean water, poured in two bottles of owl tonic, stirred it well, and poured it into a nearby stone trough.
This was payment for their services; he couldn't let them shed all those feathers for nothing.
While the owls were eating, Kyle took Stella back to the castle, then headed straight to the Hufflepuff common room.
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Passing through the kitchen corridor's barrels, he returned to the dormitory...
Michael and Ryan weren't there; he figured they must have gone to class already.
Kyle didn't think much about it. He placed Stella on the shelf beside his bed, grabbed his textbooks, and left.
In the common room, he happened to meet Cedric, who was also preparing to leave.
"Kyle, I was just looking for you." Cedric said as he quickly walked over, "What's your first class?"
"Charms." Kyle waved his copy of "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1" and asked, "What did you want to see me about?"
"Oh right, this is for you." Cedric handed him a piece of parchment, "This is a Hogwarts map that a prefect gave me when I first entered school. It clearly marks the locations of classrooms and shows some of the staircase movement patterns. I don't need it anymore, so it's perfect for you."
Hogwarts is great in every way except that it's too big. The interior is extremely complex, like a huge maze. Almost all first-year young wizards get lost, and being late is commonplace.
Fortunately, the professors understand this situation. Except for a certain Head of House with a green pointed hat, other professors turn a blind eye, either giving a verbal reprimand or symbolically deducting a point, without making a big deal of it.
Kyle took the parchment and examined it carefully.
It was just an ordinary map, but very detailed. It not only clearly marked all routes from the Hufflepuff common room to every classroom but also specifically noted which position the staircases needed to be in before proceeding.
It was like a low-budget version of the Marauder's Map, but sufficient for his needs.
"Thanks, I definitely need this." Kyle said, putting away the map, "By the way, what's your first class?"
"I have Potions... wait, Potions!" Cedric suddenly startled and broke into a run, "I've got to go, Kyle! Remember, at Hogwarts, the one class you absolutely cannot be late for is Potions, remember that..."
His voice grew fainter and quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.
From his reaction, it wasn't hard to tell that Snape must have left a deep psychological trauma on him — or rather, on many young wizards.
Kyle figured he wouldn't escape that fate either.
'Too bad Harry Potter couldn't have enrolled a year earlier.'
He shook his head and quickly left the common room as well.
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The Charms classroom was on the third floor, easy to find with the map.
Pushing open the door, the first thing Kyle saw was a stack of books arranged like stairs, with four unidentified portraits hanging on the wall in front. They were probably famous wizards, but he didn't recognize any of them.
On the walls to either side hung the emblems of the four houses, with several long tables below them.
When he arrived, there were still five minutes until class time. Though it wasn't exactly early, there weren't many people in the classroom yet — even Professor Flitwick hadn't arrived.
Kyle found a seat and sat down. Across from him sat several Ravenclaw students, with the two houses clearly divided left and right.
As nine o'clock approached, more young wizards pushed through the door, panting.
He also spotted Kanna, but unfortunately, the little witch completely ignored him, huffily walking past.
At 8:59, Michael and Ryan arrived just in time.
"Thank goodness we're not late." Michael sat down and caught his breath while venting his frustrations to Kyle, "We got lost. Goodness, Hogwarts is truly a maze. We were supposed to go to the third floor, but when we were on the second floor, the staircase suddenly changed position. After going up, we somehow ended up on the fifth floor. Then we tried to go back down, but after walking for ages, we discovered we were still on the fifth floor. We finally made it down, but then found ourselves back on the second floor... Do you know, Kyle? We climbed stairs for thirty whole minutes! My legs are about to break!"
He grew increasingly pitiful as he spoke, almost on the verge of tears.
"Wait, this is confusing. Let me think." Kyle rubbed his forehead, trying to understand why the two of them could walk downstairs yet remain in place.
Even someone with no sense of direction should be able to tell up from down. Going in circles like that seemed to enter the realm of the metaphysical, something different from ordinary magic.
Besides, the map Cedric gave him didn't have any information about that.
"Forget it, let's not talk about this now." Kyle decided to give up, as he couldn't figure it out. He turned and asked, "So how did you finally find your way here?"
"Someone brought us." Michael's face reddened as he pointed across, "We met a Ravenclaw first-year on the fifth floor who pulled us off the rotating staircase and asked if we were going to Charms class. If so, she said we could come with her."
Kyle instinctively glanced over and realized that Michael was referring to Cho Chang from Ravenclaw.
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