Contrary to Felix's initial assumptions, Orianna's appearance, even in her miniaturized form, caused a considerable sensation within the Ravenclaw Tower.
After all, as a "figurine" or "animated doll," she was far too exquisite, too beautifully crafted, to be ignored. Her delicate clockwork limbs moved with an uncanny grace, and her crystalline eyes seemed to hold a spark of genuine life that captivated anyone who saw her.
Felix's three roommates were immediately fascinated. They gathered around his bed, peering at the tiny mechanical girl with wide eyes. Michael Corner, ever the most inquisitive of the trio, even reached out, hoping to hold her and examine her intricate workings up close. However, Felix politely but firmly declined. Orianna, sensing the unfamiliar attention, shyly scuttled under the folds of Felix's cloak, then burrowed into his breast pocket, leaving only her golden head peeking out to "covertly observe" the curious boys.
From that day forward, Felix unexpectedly became one of the most popular students in Ravenclaw—among both boys and girls, though for different reasons.
The boys, intrigued by the tales of the marvelous "living doll," would often find excuses to approach him, hoping for a glimpse of Orianna. The girls, on the other hand, were drawn by a combination of Felix's own striking appearance, his quiet intelligence, and the undeniable charm of his other, fluffier companion, Himari, who would often be seen peeking out of his bag or perched on his shoulder.
As a result, whether he was in the Ravenclaw common room trying to study or at the long Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall during meals, a small crowd always seemed to materialize around him. The constant, chattering throng quickly became a source of considerable, though patiently borne, annoyance.
There were, however, a few welcome exceptions. Hermione, true to her studious nature, often joined him, ostensibly "to study together." Her presence was more focused and less intrusive. Cho Chang, meanwhile, gracefully navigated between her existing circle of friends and occasionally spending time near Felix, her curiosity piqued but her demeanor always polite. Felix found he didn't mind the company of these two girls; their interactions were more substantive and less about superficial fascination.
And then there was Penelope Clearwater, the beautiful and composed female prefect. She made no secret of her favorable impression of Felix, often engaging him in intelligent conversation or offering a warm smile when their paths crossed. Yet, she never once joined the throng of students who "gawked" at him or Orianna. She respected his space, a quality Felix deeply appreciated amidst the otherwise constant attention.
Due to the persistent, often overwhelming, attention from his peers, Felix found himself adopting a somewhat aloof, cool demeanor in most public situations. It was a defense mechanism, an attempt to create a small bubble of personal space and encourage the more overzealous strangers to keep a respectful distance.
The result of this tactic was, somewhat ironically, the cementing of a "cool and mysterious" image in the eyes of many. While it did deter some of the boys and girls from constantly approaching him, it had an entirely unforeseen and counterproductive effect on his popularity among the female students: it soared even higher.
Whispers of "the handsome god of Ravenclaw" or "our resident heartthrob" began to circulate. Felix was utterly bewildered by this phenomenon. He couldn't decide if these girls suffered from some form of Stockholm Syndrome or possessed a latent masochistic streak.
On the male front, his social circle remained small. To date, only his three roommates—Anthony, Terry, and Michael—had become what he would consider genuine friends. They had moved past the initial novelty of Orianna and appreciated Felix for his intellect and quiet companionship.
The Slytherin boys, however, began to consciously ostracize him, especially after word spread of his Muggle-orphanage upbringing.
"You're just a Mudblood with a pretty face, nothing more," Draco Malfoy had sneered at him in the corridor one day, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. The immediate result of this pronouncement was Malfoy finding himself suspended upside down from the corridor ceiling by an invisible force, courtesy of a silently cast "Levicorpus" from Felix. He remained there, dangling and sputtering indignantly, for the entire break between classes, until a scowling Professor Snape, alerted by other Slytherins, finally came and released him.
For this, Ravenclaw was docked ten points, but no one in his house blamed Felix. In fact, his standing among them, and particularly among the Gryffindors who heard of the incident, rose considerably.
Yet, for Felix, all this welcome or resistance, popularity or animosity, was ultimately meaningless. His primary objectives remained unchanged: to study the "plot" of this world and, more importantly, to learn magic.
Indeed, to his professors, Felix was an exemplary student. Whether it was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, Charms with Professor Flitwick, or even the often-dreaded Potions with Professor Snape, he consistently completed assignments perfectly and could answer any question posed in class with insightful precision.
Of course, he was often paired in these academic endeavors with the renowned "Miss Know-It-All," Hermione Granger. This inseparable duo of top students quickly became favorites among most of the teachers (Snape being a notable, though unsurprised, exception when it came to anyone not in Slytherin). Ravenclaw's house points had never accumulated so rapidly.
They were also frequent patrons of Madam Pince in the Hogwarts library. After classes, Felix and Hermione would almost invariably head there to continue their studies, often joined by Cho Chang, until their homework was completed and their curiosity for the day temporarily sated.
For Felix, this intense focus on learning was strangely reminiscent of his high school days in his previous life, a period he now looked back on with a certain nostalgia.
He had always been someone capable of patient, dedicated study. Now that the subject matter was not the somewhat dry curriculum of his past but the fascinating, boundless realm of magic, he wished he could dedicate every waking moment to it.
His passion for learning was so intense that it even outstripped Hermione's considerable diligence. Combined with his innate talent, Felix's academic progress soon far exceeded his current year level.
Of course, his learning process was not without its frustrations.
In his opinion, the way magical theory and practical textbooks were written in the wizarding world was remarkably illogical and inefficient.
Wizarding authors, it seemed, wrote with an astonishing degree of personal flair and a distinct lack of scientific rigor. They would often employ long, ornate, and ultimately useless rhetorical flourishes in their descriptions. Worse, they frequently interspersed their texts with lengthy personal anecdotes, detailed accounts of their own emotional states during discoveries, and records of their daily activities, making the books read less like academic treatises and more like the authors' rambling autobiographical novels.
Furthermore, the masters of the magical world seemed to choose their terminology with an almost whimsical randomness. There was no concept of standardized nomenclature in their academic circles; most technical terms relied on tradition and common usage, which often varied wildly.
Different authors would describe the same spell or magical phenomenon in completely different ways, often with such arbitrary phrasing that it left the reader utterly bewildered.
There was no equivalent of precise technical language or academic jargon. The result was that Felix often had to spend a significant amount of time after reading a book simply organizing the information—culling the estimated eighty percent of useless rhetoric and mundane diary entries, and then meticulously cross-referencing the remaining information with other texts, as it was common for two books to discuss the same spell using different names and entirely different descriptions.
Then, he would painstakingly transcribe his synthesized findings into his own notebooks, using a much more "professional," concise, and systematically structured language, complete with a consistent terminology system he was developing himself.
Although it had been less than a week since the start of term, he had already filled nearly half a thick notebook with these meticulously organized notes.
He firmly believed that his method of recording knowledge, utilizing an approach similar to academic papers and built upon his own structured lexicon, was far more concise and effective than any of the existing magical textbooks.
He estimated that by the time he achieved his primary academic goal for his time at Hogwarts—to read every single book in the Ravenclaw common room library and the main Hogwarts library within his seven years—the notes he compiled would constitute a complete and coherent codification of almost the entirety of the wizarding world's magical knowledge system.