Exploration
The following day, the Slytherin Prefects gathered all the first-year students to take them to the Great Hall for breakfast. The Prefects were waiting for Ryujin to arrive; after a while, the prefect went to his room to wake him up. They found that Ryujin was already gone. A few moments later, Ryujin arrived sweaty from his workout. He had found a perfect spot to set up his gravity chamber room in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest. The forest was out of bounds, but it did not bother Ryujin.
“Where have you been?” The prefect asked.
“Training. I always wake up before dawn,” Ryujin explained.
There was nothing the prefect could say; there was no rule about getting up early. So, he let it slide, “Well, please get ready; we are waiting on you to go to breakfast.”
At the mention of food, the young Saiyan rushed to his room, quickly showered, and dressed in his workout clothes. After Ryu ate, he would continue his training. When he was ready, Ryujin joined the first years in the Common Room. Now that all the first years were assembled, they headed to the Great Hall. Hermione stepped in with Ryujin and smiled at him, “Good morning Ryu.”
Ryu smiled at his friend, “Good morning, Hermione. How did you sleep?” Ryujin asked.
“Very well, thank you. I thought I would have difficulty sleeping in the dorm, but I fell asleep almost immediately.”
Ryujin nodded, “That's good; I'm glad you slept well.”
“How did you sleep?” Hermione asked.
“Very well. We Saiyans can sleep anywhere,” Ryu replied.
Hermione nodded, and the pair continued to the Great Hall. The minute she and Ryujin walked in, all the chatter stopped, and everyone looked at them. Ryu ignored the stares and the murmurs and led Hermione to their table. They sat down across from Blaise and Draco. Once the duo was settled, Ryujin began piling food onto his plate. The others watched as Ryu ate enough food to feed a giant.
After a while, Blaise finally spoke, “How can you eat so much and not be fat?”
Ryujin looked up from his plate, “I need to eat a lot to keep up with my metabolism. I burn a lot of energy,” He answered.
Blaise and Draco looked at each other, confused. What was a metabolism? Seeing the confused look on their faces, Hermione explained to them what metabolism meant. Draco gave Hermione a dark look, but Blaise nodded.
Ryujin noticed the look that Draco gave Hermione and glared at him, “Watch your attitude, boy; I will only tell you this once; glare at my friend like that again, and I'll rip your eyes out.”
Draco looked at Ryu wide-eyed, then smirked, “Try it, and I'll tell my father,” Malfoy threatened.
To Draco's surprise, Ryujin laughed, “As I thought, you're a coward that needs Daddy to fight his battles. How pathetic, you're nothing but a weakling and an annoyance. Please tell your father; I'm sure he's no match for me either,” Ryujin rolled his eyes, “Grow a backbone and stand up for yourself.”
Draco turned bright red as the entire Slytherin table laughed at him. Draco was going to threaten Ryujin with telling his father again but stopped himself. It suddenly dawned on him that he did hide behind his father's cloak and couldn't handle anything on his own. Draco decided that he wouldn't say anything that would allow Ryujin to ridicule him.
They continued having breakfast, but by the time Hermione finished, Ryujin was still eating. She waited politely for him to finish. Once Ryu had enough, he looked at Hermione and waited for her to speak. He knew she wanted to ask him something. Hermione cleared her throat, “Ryu, what do you plan to do now?”
“I'm going to continue my training,” He told her.
Hermione wilted a bit, “Oh. I hoped that you and I could explore the castle.”
Ryujin stared at Hermione and saw the disappointment in her eyes. He decided that his training could wait a bit, “We can go exploring, Hermione, but I must continue my training later.”
“Why do you train so much?” Hermione asked.
“It's our way. Saiyans always want to be the best they can be.”
Hermione nodded in understanding. Blaise, listening to their conversation, wondered what a Saiyan was. He had heard Ryujin mention that before but had no idea what he meant by that. Blaise looked at Draco, who was bragging about his supposed flying abilities and decided to ask Ryujin and Hermione if he could join them. Blaise may be pure blood, but he wasn't raised to hate Muggle Borns.
Blaise cleared his throat, getting the duo's attention, “Would you mind if I came with you?” He asked.
Ryujin and Hermione looked at each other. Hermione smiled, “Of course, you can come with us, Blaise. The more, the merrier.”
Ryujin frowned, “But I am warning you now, human, if you disparage Hermione, I will not be pleased.”
Blaise understood the veiled threat and nodded, “No, of course not. I have nothing against Muggle Borns like most Pure Blood. I wasn't raised in England,” Blaise explained.
Ryujin eyed Blaise for a moment, then nodded. He knew the boy wasn't lying; Ryu would have heard his heartbeat change if he was.
With that, the trio left the Great Hall and began exploring the castle and the grounds. It didn't take them long to find the Quidditch Pitch; Ryujin and Hermione looked around curiously, “What is this place?” Hermione asked.
“You've never seen a Quidditch Pitch before?” Blaise asked, then facepalmed, “No, of course, you haven't. You two were raised in the Muggle world. Quidditch is a wizarding game we play on brooms,” Blaise explained.
Seeing the confused look on his new friends' faces, Blaise elaborated. Hermione was fascinated by the game, but Ryujin was less than impressed, ‘How ridiculous, these humans have to use brooms to fly,’ Ryujin thought but said nothing. He wasn't going to reveal his true powers to strangers, even though Ryujin was becoming fond of both of them. His father had always told him not to reveal his true potential to an enemy. Ryujin didn't think his new friends would become his enemy, but he knew that the Headmaster had some devious plan for him, and there was no way Ryujin would play into Dumbledore's plot.
After seeing the Quidditch pitch, the three friends continued to explore the grounds and Castle until lunch, where once again, Ryujin ate more food than anyone thought possible. After lunch, Ryu would convince Blaise and Hermione to go into the Forbidden Forest to explore. Ryu couldn't wait to see what supposed terror lay in the forest. Maybe they'd give Ryu a challenge, but he wasn't holding his breath.