Chapter 2 Why is your cat refusing the dried fish?
Not far from Lynn's house was a narrow alley. On his first day there, while taking out the trash, he discovered a group of stray cats gathered there.
Mostly to keep themselves occupied, and partly out of pity for the cats, Lynn would feed them small treats every few days, even if Hermione didn't say anything.
Taking out the dried fish from the bag, Lynn tore it into strips and scattered them in front of the stray cats to prevent them from fighting over it.
The big and small cats ate happily. After watching for a while, Lynn himself got hungry and took out a dried fish from the bag to try it.
However, at that moment, he suddenly felt something watching him from a shadowy corner.
The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, the night sky was starless, and the moonlight was dim.
The tall walls of the alley blocked the light from the streetlights outside, and Lynn couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Then, he mustered his courage and, carrying the dried fish he hadn't yet eaten, stepped into the shadows.
The creature lurking in the shadows was also a cat.
It was a beautiful tabby cat.
It didn't look like a stray at all; its fur was clean and neat, and it had a ring of markings around its eyes like glasses.
Its limbs stood straight, and despite being a cat, it exuded a sense of majesty.
The tabby cat looked up at Lynn, giving a slight, almost human-like nod, as if it was about to do something big.
Suddenly, it froze in place.
"Why won't you eat the dried fish?
Are you afraid of those stray cats? That won't do. A cat should act like a cat."
Lynn gently patted the tabby cat's head and playfully tweaked its ears.
The tabby cat seemed completely unprepared for this situation; it was utterly stunned.
Lynn thought the cat was a little silly, so he waved the dried fish in front of it.
"Want some dried fish?"
"Dried fish, oh, delicious dried fish!"
Tabby cat: ...
"Meow meow meow, why won't you eat the dried fish?
Meow meow meow..."
The tabby cat seemed to finally recover from its shock, and its body underwent a magical change!
The fur disappeared, the body swelled, and almost in the blink of an eye, an old woman wearing a pointed hat, conspicuous square glasses, and peculiar clothing appeared before him. "...Mimi, holy crap!"
Lynn was startled by the sudden turn of events, even instinctively uttering his native tongue.
He collapsed to the ground, hands on the ground, frantically backing away in terror.
The elderly witch, standing upright, had a dark complexion, though it wasn't very noticeable in the darkness.
"Lynn Bellok, you don't need to be so alarmed," Professor McGonagall, now human, cleared her throat.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Minerva McGonagall, and I'm the Vice-Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You can call me Professor McGonagall."
Lynn seemed stunned; he leaned against the wall, with nowhere left to retreat, eyes wide, mouth agape, staring blankly at Professor McGonagall, speechless for a long time.
The stray cats in the alley had all been scared away by the earlier commotion.
Night fell quietly.
Professor McGonagall, seeing Lynn's stunned expression, calmed down and tried to put on a kind smile, her usually serious face now showing a gentle one.
Won't you let me in?" she asked. . ...
At Lynn's house.
Professor McGonagall sat on the sofa, and Lynn was diligently serving her water and tea.
It wasn't fear that stunned him, but sheer shock.
Who would have thought he hadn't traveled back in time, but had instead entered the magical world of Harry Potter?
Lynn admitted that he had indeed been terrified after the initial shock.
Because he had just... probably... perhaps... petted the head of Professor McGonagall, the Gryffindor's lioness, the notoriously strict Professor McGonagall... her cat head?
And kept wondering aloud why she refused to eat the dried fish.
Lynn felt like dying; it was so damn embarrassing, so embarrassing he could dig a Hogwarts castle out of his toes.
Thus, Lynn could only try to overcome his embarrassment with enthusiasm.
"Professor, please have some water. Hot water is very good for your health."
"These are some of my treasured snacks.
You should try these.
"Wait! I almost forgot. Don't drink the water yet. There's some mung bean soup I made in the pot. It's so thirst-quenching!"
Professor McGonagall had just picked up her teacup when she had to put it down again, her face full of exasperation.
Mr. Bellok, please have a seat and listen carefully.
Lynn smiled awkwardly, rubbed his hands together, and obediently sat down on the sofa.
Seeing that Lynn had finally calmed down, Professor McGonagall explained her purpose.
"As you can see, Mr. Bellok, I am a wizard from Hogwarts, the only and most prestigious magic school in England. Before I arrived, an owl should have delivered a letter to you."
Lynn retrieved the letter he had discovered earlier at his doorstep.
"Is this it?"
Professor McGonagall gave a small nod.
"Yes, this should have been delivered to you, but I don't know what went wrong with the owl.
But that's not important; what's important is the acceptance letter inside."
Lynn opened the envelope and saw the acceptance letter bearing the Hogwarts crest and signed by Professor McGonagall.
At the same time, a cold, emotionless voice suddenly sounded in his mind:
[Host detected as accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. System activation conditions met.]
Lynn looked very puzzled.
Today had brought him far too many surprises. He had been in this world for over ten years, and he had never imagined that he would have a system inside him.
But since such a bizarre thing as transmigrating to a magical world had happened, the appearance of a system didn't seem so unusual.
Having encountered so many strange things, Lynn was starting to become numb, and he feared that if this continued, he would turn into a bizarre shape.
Professor McGonagall didn't see Lynn's problem; on the contrary, she found his reaction normal. After all, for a Muggle, being accepted into a magic school was indeed an incredible thing.
"Mr. Bellok, I think you understand the current situation. So, are you willing to go to Hogwarts for seven years of magical studies?"
Although there was no option to refuse, Professor McGonagall still asked Lynn seriously.
The system in his mind only said one sentence and then stopped responding. Lynn didn't care about it; he wanted to deal with Professor McGonagall first.
Unsurprisingly, Lynn naturally wouldn't refuse something that countless people dreamed of—studying magic.
I would be delighted to, Professor McGonagall.
A smile appeared on Professor McGonagall's face, but then she looked around, as if she had noticed something, and frowned as she asked,
Where is your family? They should know about this.
Lynn shrugged. "I'm an orphan. My parents died when I was very young, and my guardian is my adoptive father."
A somewhat heavy expression crossed Professor McGonagall's face.
"I'm sorry to have brought up your painful memory, child, but this requires your guardian's consent."
Lynn replied readily, without the slightest hesitation.
"It's alright, Professor. He's probably not in London right now, but we can give him a call."
Lynn picked up the phone receiver from the coffee table, looked at Professor McGonagall, and asked with his eyes if this was acceptable.
Although Professor McGonagall didn't know much about Muggle matters, she clearly knew the purpose of the phone, since the entrance to the Ministry of Magic for outsiders was a phone booth.
She nodded to show it was fine, and Lynn proceeded to dial the number.
From the other end came a steady male voice.
"What is it?"
"I'll be starting a magic school in two months, it'll be about seven years.
The professor is sitting right next to me right now, and I need your information about the enrollment." Lynn got straight to the point without beating around the bush.
A few seconds of silence passed on the other end.
"Okay, I understand."
"I need your consent."
"I consent."
"Fine, that's it, really."
"Okay."
In less than half a minute, the call was over.
"This time, Professor McGonagall found herself utterly speechless.
She'd been a professor for quite some time, and had visited at least a hundred Muggle new students' homes, but she'd never seen parents so readily accept the magical world and entrust their children to them.
It didn't surprise Lynn in the least
After all, he'd carefully selected the adoptive father; a little bit of tacit understanding was natural.
(End of Chapter)