I woke up feeling refreshed and yawned softly before rolling out of bed as I always do… just to hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Ouch…"

I'd forgotten about being in an entirely different body with different rules again and paid the price.

That hurt, but at least my stomach doesn't hurt anymore!

Sweet, that means I can eat breakfast!

[[Don't overdo it.]]

I've learned my lesson!

Getting scolded immediately after waking up from a long nap is such a familiar, nostalgic feeling for me.

"Are you alright?" one of the girls sharing this room with me mumbled from her own bed. I think I woke her up when I hit the floor.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fell out of my bed, is all."

The girl grumbled a bit and turned over and away from me, seemingly annoyed by the disturbance to her sleep.

Still, that hurts!

My arm was still throbbing from falling from around six feet up on my lofted bed. Yeah, I fell off of a lofted bed; that's why the noise I'd made was so loud. I'd have to make sure I didn't do that again in the future.

I then got ready and shuffled my way to the dining hall to go get some grub!

It was a bit of a struggle to find a seat since the students here didn't seem super inviting to me. I was greeted with stares and whispers about how I'd gotten locked out of the dorm and stuff rather than happy good mornings. More of the same, really; it was clear already that I didn't exactly fit in based on some of these kids' reactions to me last night.

This was fine though, I didn't care. I found a spot off to the side by myself where I could enjoy my meal in peace.

I started by eagerly piling food on my plate, licking my lips in anticipation.

[[Dear…]]

I'll take it slow this time, okay?

[[The volume is the issue here.]]

I thought I was holding myself back enough, but it seemed Ciel didn't agree.

Shrugging off her disapproval, I grabbed another muffin off a nearby plate… and nearly dropped it when a sharp pang of pain struck my gut. My stomachache had returned with a vengeance!

Okay! Fine, I get it! I won't grab any more food!

The pain faded immediately and I slumped back into my seat, not exactly satisfied with what I'd already gathered for my meal. But, I could live with it, I suppose.

While focused on eating, someone actually joined me by sitting directly across the table. He didn't say anything and just grabbed his food and started eating too. It was the crying boy from last night; Sebastian was his name, I remembered. We made brief eye contact with each other but he continued to stay quiet as we both ate.

"You're the boy from last night." I bluntly stated out loud, hoping to strike up a conversation since the silence was getting uncomfortable after a few minutes.

The boy shrugged noncommittally and continued eating.

"And you're the girl that got locked out of the dorms."

I lightly nodded, "My name's Rimuru."

"I'm Sebastian."

"For the record, getting locked out wasn't my fault. Nobody told me the password yesterday."

"Oh, so you didn't forget it? That's what everyone is saying."

"I'm not that big of an airhead to forget a password that quickly." I shot down the idea of me being a forgetful idiot immediately. "By the way, why were you crying like that?"

"I wasn't crying," He replied without pause.

I raised an eyebrow at his lie.

"No, you were definitely crying. I saw you when you ran out of the dorm, remember?"

He waved his hands noncommittally. "You're wrong. I was just taking a walk, that's all."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure." I then set down my food to look him in the eyes. "Why'd you decide to 'take a walk' then?"

He was being so evasive and difficult and that was making me want to forcefully squeeze the information out of him.

"Are you going to eat that?" Sebastian pointed at the muffin on my plate instead of giving me any sort of answer. I responded to this by taking a large bite out of it and glaring at him while I chewed. He reeled back a little, intimidated by my gaze.

"You have very intense eyes, Rimuru," Sebastian awkwardly laughed off the tension.

"Well, I already knew that. I asked you a question though, and I expect an answer."

"I just wanted to take a walk to clear my head. There was nothing more to it."

Sebastian stood up and started walking away, leaving his breakfast only half-eaten.

"Good luck with your classes!" He brightly smiled and waved despite the fact he was clearly running away from me right now. I pressured him too much, I guess.

He did give me an answer, but one that wasn't the full truth. I could go after him, but that would mean abandoning the remainder of my food and it wasn't worth that steep price.

…

I attempted to go for seconds, before getting a prompt stomach ache. This immediately caused me to surrender to my wife's overwhelming power and authority. I suppose she was taking the realism aspect of this video-game-like adventure seriously.

Still, I wondered why Sebastian was being so secretive about a simple question. Maybe he was embarrassed about whatever made him cry. If that's the case, then telling a near-total stranger like me about what was bothering him would be out of the question.

He was quite good at dodging my questions, even when I pressured him, which was impressive for a kid his age.

I casually walked into the first class of my time here after finishing my walk down those long halls, and up and then down several of those confusing staircases.

As I walked into the classroom, I bumped into a familiar face. It was the redheaded girl named Ginny whom I'd ridden on the train with.

"Hi, Ginny!" I waved lightly at her, flashing her a friendly smile.

"Oh… um, hi…" she muttered before averting her eyes and swiftly escaping our brief interaction.

What's her problem? She was so warm and nice to me yesterday.

Then I remembered one little detail of our conversation from the day before; Ginny disliked Slytherin house. Now that I was a member of it, she wanted nothing to do with me.

Sad. This just shows why it's bad to separate kids into 'houses'. It just breeds rivalry and animosity.

Right after, I was immediately face to face, or well, face to like… robe? With a raven-haired man who looked unamused. "You are late, Tempest. Weasley."

He seemed to know both of our names already, somehow. It wasn't too surprising, though.

"Sorry, Professor Snape…" Ginny mumbled as she stared at her feet.

"Blame those weird stairs. They went and moved on me while I was using them and I got turned around; literally."

"That is no excuse. Generations of students have defeated those stairs on their first day of school."

"Well, I am sorry sir, but I guess I can't number myself among them." I matched his tone and dramatic wording with some of my own. I mean, defeating? Really? They're stairs, not dragons.

"I will forgive you both this time only. Expect punishment if you fail again."

"Yeah, Yeah. We should be sitting down then." I stepped aside for Ginny, before making my way to my own seat in the room, on the opposite side of the room. It seemed the room was segregated by sports teams, which I didn't think was particularly the best way to promote student engagement.

In my experience, that kinda thing just encouraged kids to become hardasses.

Soon after, Snape starts going on this long, pompous tirade introducing the subject of potions to us. It was all just his way to try to look intelligent and superior to win over the students, and probably intimidate them a bit too.

I vaguely wondered how potions worked in this world for a few moments, considering the magic was so broadly unimpressive. In the Cardinal World, they just worked because of simple magic circuits created by the ingredients and an infusion of magicules, which could then interact to create the effects of the potion.

I didn't think this world was strong enough to make any kind of complex magic circuit though. Certainly nothing on par with the healing potions from my world.

He started with a long list of the ingredients we'd be using this semester, and a shorter list of potions that 'every wizard must know to survive.' It seemed a bit too dramatic, considering how lowly the effects of these things were, but I brushed it off as him just being a traditional sort.

I decided I didn't need to pay that much attention, using a tiny bit of parallel processing to make a mental checklist of the ingredients and their corresponding 'important' potions, meanwhile, my physical body was more focused on wands.

I had a gander at some of the wands of children around me to see the similarities and differences. It really did seem mine was the most ornate of the bunch, and I could tell it had both a stronger will and way more magicules. So I set it on the table in front of me for the time being to inspect any other off details.

Wasn't too much, but it was certainly an eye-catcher as a few other students seemed to notice its oddities.

I heard a few murmurs behind me about how "Those eastern wands really are fancy huh… I can't tell what the core is… How could someone our age even master a wand like that…"

"Tempest, this is no time to play with your wand. Pay closer attention to my instruction, or you may never have the chance to use it." The teacher called me out specifically, even though I wasn't even the one talking. I guess he traced me as the source of the disruption.

"I was paying attention, mister." I grumbled to myself silently, feeling genuinely looked down on for the first time in decades.

"Hm?" I think he may have raised his eyebrow a kilometer alongside that tone. "If you are really so certain, then repeat everything I've listed so far."

"Hrrrm." I began to imitate his voice in a snotty accent and repeat all the ingredients he'd listed at the same BPM he did. I made sure it sounded similar enough to be recognizable. But still clearly mocking.

Being a True Dragon for so long had really given me a temper at this point, I couldn't handle any form of disrespect as well as I used to. Especially coming from a crusty old man like this.

The students in the room seemed to think my impression was pretty funny, some on both sides of the room unable to contain their giggles.

The man turned up his large nose and looked back at the board with a scowl. I was able to spot his shaky stance with Magic Sense for just a moment. He didn't let that keep up for long. "Tempest… Stay after class."

"Oooh… Foreign kid is in trouble… She's gonna get it… Snape is an old snake…" The kids did at least react to what he said, though. My guess is that he has a reputation, even outside of school.

It made me wonder how much he'd been working here.

"Quiet, or I'll keep the rest of you here after class as well." He continued with the lesson after that, but he didn't really ever get quite as loud as he had been when he started.

The class was pretty quiet otherwise, it seemed everyone knew better than to start something after me and the teach had our little stare-down. I doubt they realized I was the one in control of that situation though.

So, as the class came to an end, and Snape passed out copies of a restricted book that wasn't able to be taken off of school grounds, everyone shuffled out one by one.

I stayed in my seat quietly and took out my wand again. I realized it might be a little suspicious how odd the thing's magical presence was, but I could probably get away with it. Not like these little humans would know what Null energy is in the first place, their universe is far far too weak to even survive a drop of the stuff.

Luckily though, in my benevolent wisdom, I made the string of it perfectly safe. My best creation, if I do say so myself. Even if Ciel has already probably shown me up with it.

Someone could throw every bit of magic in this world at it, including all the matter, and it wouldn't scratch this thing. It would just get absorbed at the worst.

"Tempest. Come up here. I'd like to see your wand, but more importantly, I want to ask you a few questions." Snape sat at his desk and began rifling through records until he pulled out a folder that had my initials on the tab.

"Alright." I got up and walked up to the desk casually before leaning against one of the tables at the front of the class and setting my wand on the desk in front of him. "What do you want to know?"

Snape plucked the wand off of the table, and danced it through the air for a moment, seeming to test its weight. After that, I noticed a tiny amount of magicules get pulled into the wand from Snape's hand. The old guy reflexively dropped the wand out of his hand and looked, genuinely frightened for a moment.

"So, what is it?" I stared the man in the eyes.

"This wand is… Unique. I can tell it is of Ollivander, but I doubt you can use it. Your family has a history of using… unique… wands." I guess Ciel put a lot of effort into my fake backstory. So I quizzed her on it lightly while listening to the man talk.

"Yeah, I can use it. My family's unique abilities make it pretty easy to use." I smiled brightly. "But I don't think anyone else could. Nice try, though."

"Show me. It doesn't matter what spell, but if you've used it before you must know something." Snape looked back into the folder and pulled out a small set of pictures of a fancy-looking temple in Japan, and a few pictures of wizards and their wands. They all looked like this body, but clear inspiration was taken from some of my real family in the Cardinal World.

"Ah, so I guess they got some of those old pictures, huh?" I liked the look of everyone with piercing golden eyes like me. Let me see what some of my subordinates would look like if they were true-dragon-like. My wife did a great job.

"Yes, your family has a striking appearance." After that, Snape motioned to my wand. "Show me then, you are the most impressive Slytherin of this year. So I want to see you use your wand."

"Sure." I plucked the wand off of the table myself and decided to play a little prank on him that wasn't out of the question with the fake story I was given. Plus it let me use one skill I rarely did. True Dragon magic could cast most skills in the Cardinal World as spells, including some of my old ones.

So, an inky purple and black storm emitted from the tip of my wand as a swirling ball. It was Gluttony, as a spell. Not really anywhere near as efficient as the skill, but it was neat I could still use it.

"You… That is your family's specialty?"

"Yup. I could cast it before, but it wasn't that stable till I got this wand."

"May I cast a spell at it?... I am curious to see it steal magic, as is described here."

"Go ahead, just don't go too hard on me, teach. I'm not too good at using this." I lied through my teeth and made the ball of Gluttony expand a bit so it was an easier target.

Snape took out his own wand and whispered into it. "Expelliarmus." Alongside that, he made a flicking motion as a flash of red light exploded out of the tip and whipped toward my wand.

It attempted to pull my wand out of my hand before Gluttony manhandled it into the core of it, leading to all the magicules the spell contained deteriorating into nothing.

"Hehe. Guess I can use it good enough." I smiled a bit more brightly.

"Without incantation… I see." Snape turned back to the file and wrote something down on an affixed page for notes before glancing back over to me. "You may leave."

"You got it." I dispelled Gluttony and placed my wand into a little holster on my robes before walking to the door.

"Tempest, never disrespect me in front of the other students again. Slytherin are snakes, and they will strike at any sign of weakness. Without me here, you'd be a target of that yourself." He sounded genuine enough like he was actually looking out for me. So I guessed he wasn't a complete hardass. "Bring next month's supplies to the next class, as well." Or maybe he is.

I nodded and left the room.