"... Neville Longbottom, great, seems like everyone is here?"
"..."
No one responded. After all, it's only been three days since the start of the semester, and no one could be considered familiar. Just like the handsome blonde man standing at the doorway now, Harry's impression of him was limited to his surname and position. As their physics professor, Harry had only met him once during yesterday's afternoon class.
"Very well then, have a good rest... make sure not to wander around."
The man closed the attendance book in his hand, said nothing more, and turned to leave the dormitory, thoughtfully shutting the door as he left.
But for some reason, even though the footsteps outside had faded away, Harry continued to stare blankly at the door—this Professor Riddle always gave him a strange feeling, which was entirely different from the inexplicable sense of familiarity that "Ron, Neville, Hermione" brought him...
"... Hey, Harry? What's up with you?"
Dudley vigorously shook Harry's shoulder with his chubby hand.
"Uh, uh, what, what's going on?"
Feeling a bit dizzy, Harry blinked, trying to stop his cousin, but knowing that humans couldn't physically compete with a "wild boar's" strength.
"Oh, sorry—"
Watching the boy crouch on the ground almost about to vomit, Dudley awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, I was going to say, we're planning to play some cards—would you like to join?"
Harry turned his head blankly, seeing Ron and Neville already seated at the table in the center of the room. Perhaps noticing Harry's gaze, Ron, who was shuffling the cards, looked up, stared at the still somewhat perplexed boy, and shook his head expressionlessly—
"Potter probably doesn't know how to play. After all, he's not interested in these kids' 'games'—" the boy dragged the words mockingly.
Ron and Harry didn't get along well, but it wasn't always this way—
At least when they first met, Ron was quite friendly, while Harry's reaction was rather... well, he exaggeratedly stepped back two steps, the panic in his eyes was obvious to even a fool, as if a monster appeared before him.
After that, Harry didn't do anything to "make amends," he just stared at Ron for a long time, without even blinking.
Understandably upset for being greeted in such a manner, Ron wasn't overly angry at the time, he even invited Harry to play football the next day.
It wasn't until Harry, whose mind was still a bit confused, rejected him with "I don't play these kids' games" that Ron finally stopped showing him any friendliness. But since they were dormmates, Ron occasionally mocked him.
Watching Ron with a sour face, Harry suddenly felt a bit sad, but he quickly wiped his mouth corner, "Of course—" as Ron looked at him confusedly, he plopped down facing the boy, "Of course I'll play, what are we playing, Bridge?"
"... Yes."
Ron's hand paused slightly while shuffling cards, meeting Harry's gaze, he suddenly felt an odd sense of discomfort.
"Alright, deal the cards then."
Harry nodded. Having spent two and a half days in the library with no progress, he decided not to evade the peculiar dream anymore. Perhaps the dream was a premonition, or maybe... the wizard in the dream really existed?
The boy took a deep breath, grabbed his thirteen cards, and stared at Ron sitting across from him—if he wanted to uncover the truth, he might as well start with the dream's "best friend" for clues...
...
[September 5, Ron invited me to play cards.]
[September 7, it was hot, so I played cards when it cooled down at night. The next day I was scolded by Professor McGonagall for sleeping in class.]
[September 12, the weather turned chilly, Neville caught a cold and had a fever, played cards to accompany him.]
[September 26, returned to school from home, continued playing cards.]
[October 2, took a physics test this morning, Professor Riddle praised me, so I rewarded myself with a night of card playing.]
[October 3, played cards.]
[October 4, played cards.]
"..."
Looking at the half-filled black diary, Harry twitched his mouth corners, realizing he somewhat forgot the notebook's intended purpose... probably meant to record his research progress on that dream?
Only, it seems there were some mishaps...
"Harry, want to play cards?"
Ron's voice sounded like a charm at Harry's ear.
"Ahem, never mind, not today—" Harry quickly shook his head and continued, "Besides, Longbottom isn't back yet, three people aren't enough for fun—by the way, how's your midterm exam prep going?"
"Not playing is fine, but... midterm?" Ron stared in disbelief, "Are you crazy? Isn't that over two months away? We haven't even celebrated Halloween this year."
"But today, in the library, I ran into Hermione, she told me—"
"That Granger?"
Ron looked up, comically opened his mouth, "Come on, Harry, she's nuts, I bet she thinks the GCSE exams (General Certificate of Secondary Education) are tomorrow, don't mind her, Harry, come play... oh, right, you just said not today."
Saying this, Ron somewhat dejectedly put the already drawn deck of cards back in his pocket.
"..."