In the Hogwarts Auditorium, the other young wizards of the academy were already sitting around four long tables. The velvet-like ceiling above the tables was sparkling with starlight, and thousands of candles floating in the air lit up the dining hall. Four tables were set with glittering gold plates and goblets. At the end of the dining hall, there was another long table, which was the seat of the teachers.
"Harry, you're too slow … Why didn't you change your clothes?" Ron and the other young lions stared at Harry with their eyes wide open.
"I'll tell you later." Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table and said briefly. He was alert to find that the wizards around him were listening to his conversation with Ron. He did not want to talk about his embarrassing experience in such an occasion.
Jenny looked at her boyfriend's Muggle clothes and frowned. "And why are your clothes so wrinkled and dirty? What happened? "
"He said he had a big fall." Hermione, who was a step behind after saying goodbye to Allen and Luna, also returned to the Gryffindor table. She had completely forgotten that she was still wearing the strange anti-demon glasses on her head, which helped Harry attract a lot of attention from the young lions.
Harry really hoped that they would all think that he had done something very brave. It would be best if he faced two Death Eaters and a Dementor, but now he was a little worried that Pency Parkinson would tell her classmates in the Snake Institute, and this embarrassing experience would spread to the ears of the other Gryffindor.
Allen and Luna also sat down at the Ravenclaw table, but Helena found that she had missed the usual practice of the ghosts to scare the first-year students over the years. However, she did not give up. She still ran to the group of freshmen who were waiting to be assigned to the academy and hovered above their heads. Although this was not very useful for the young wizards who had already experienced it once.
Then, Helena, together with the other specters of the other academies, as well as the twenty or so pearl-white, translucent specters who were whispering to each other, glided across the room, passed through the wall, and left the auditorium.
The Sorting Hat's singing was similar to the previous years, but it added a few extra words about the need to unite to face the enemy, and then divided the freshmen into their respective academies.
"Did you notice that there are a lot more people coming to Ravenclaw this year than in previous years?" Fregg pointed at the Ravenclaw table, which burst into applause from time to time.
"The Sorting Hat takes into account the wishes of the wizards." Hermione recalled her experience of almost being assigned to Ravenclaw when she was a first-year student. She could not help but regret that she had blindly followed some articles that described Gryffindor as the best academy and insisted on being a student of the Lion Institute. She paused for a moment to adjust her emotions and continued, "Allen is now famous and known as the new savior. I think there will be a lot of young wizards who want to go to Ravenclaw because of this."
Neville turned his head and looked at the long tables of each academy seriously. "But they still have the least number of students. Hufflepuff still has the most students every year."
Hermione added, "The Sorting Hat doesn't just take into account the wishes of the wizards. You have to at least have some obvious characteristics. Hufflepuff accepts everyone and treats them equally, even if you don't meet their admissions criteria or have any obvious characteristics."
As the last freshman walked into Ravenclaw, the banquet officially began. The plates on the long table were instantly filled with all kinds of food. The freshmen who had never seen the 'world of wizards' were dumbfounded. Veterans like Ron, on the other hand, had already picked up a drumstick in each of his hands and started munching on it without restraint.
Jenny nudged Harry with her elbow. "Hagrid is waving at you, Harry."
Harry looked at the teacher's table. Hagrid was indeed waving at him. He smiled back at Hagrid.
Even though the hybrid giant was much better than he had been a few years ago after the experience under the umbrella, his innocence and carelessness were still very out of place when he sat next to the dignified Professor Mag.
Professor Mag was the head of Gryffindor. When they sat together, the top of her head only reached Hagrid's elbow and shoulder. At this moment, Mag showed a dissatisfied look at Hagrid's enthusiastic greeting. She nudged him with her elbow, reminding him that he should maintain his dignity as a teacher of magical animals. But unlike Jenny, she didn't use much strength. Hagrid's smile froze, and his body suddenly bent sideways, making a bigger movement …
Harry couldn't bear to look at it and looked away. He was surprised to find that the person sitting on the other side of Hagrid was the divination teacher, Professor Sybil Trelawney. As the host of a show on Harris TV, she was dressed even weirder than before. But she seemed to be much better off financially, because Harry found that her accessories, which were even weirder than the madwoman's homemade accessories, were much better than the ones she used to use.
"I'm surprised that Professor Trelawney is willing to come back to teach. Her show is so popular now," Romida Vanni said loudly. Vanni had just noticed Harry's gaze. She followed his gaze and said loudly to herself. She was satisfied that she had successfully attracted Harry's attention back to her.
Lavender Brown's attention was also attracted by Romida's words. She turned to the black-haired witch with a protruding chin, and said, "Isn't this a great thing? Professor Trelawney told me when we corresponded during the summer vacation that she didn't have much time to do the show. "
Harry looked up at Professor Trelawney and found that her frighteningly big, bulging eyes were looking at him. Harry was so scared that he quickly lowered his head.
Harry had always regarded her as a liar. He didn't expect that after the Ministry of Magic incident last semester, he learned from Dumbledore that she was the one who said the prophecy, which caused Lord Voldemort to kill his parents and try to kill himself. After knowing this, Harry was even more unwilling to stay with her. Fortunately, he didn't take the Divination class this semester.
As the banquet went on, the food on the long table was finally replaced by desserts.
Dumbledore stood up from behind the teacher's table. Above his podium was a metal shelf, and below the shelf was an owl sculpture facing the auditorium. This owl sculpture followed Dumbledore as he stood in front of the shelf and spread its folded wings. Its ginger-yellow eyes stared at all the little wizards below, and its wings shook from time to time.
"Good evening to everyone," Dumbledore said with a kind smile as the laughter that echoed in the auditorium almost immediately subsided. He opened his arms as if he wanted to hug the entire auditorium.
"What happened to his hand?" Hermione asked in astonishment. Dumbledore's right hand was charred and dry, without any vitality.
She wasn't the only one who noticed this. The auditorium was filled with whispers. Allen saw that Dumbledore could not resist the temptation and put on the ring as he had expected. After estimating the power of the curse and the speed of its erosion, Allen smiled with satisfaction. This would buy him a lot of time, and also prevent Dumbledore from choosing to use more extreme methods to stop his actions, which would cause him to have to bear the infamy of killing the world's greatest light wizard. As long as things went smoothly, when the result was a foregone conclusion, he would remove the curse for this conservative old man and allow him to enjoy his old age in peace. That would be his compensation.
Noticing the strange gazes of the others when they looked at his hand, Dumbledore only smiled gently. He shook his purple and gold sleeve and covered his injured hand.
"When I saw him during the summer vacation, his hand was like this." Harry whispered to Hermione. "I thought he had been cured long ago … or maybe Madam Pomfrey cured him."
"That hand looks like it's dead." Hermione said with a pained expression. "Some injuries can never be cured … Ancient curses … And some magic potions have no antidote … Wait! Maybe Allen and Luna have a way. They seem to have done some research on the power of curses recently. "
"… Administrator Filch asked me to tell everyone that this year, students are absolutely prohibited from bringing in any joke goods purchased from Weasley's Magic Handle Theater. Students who want to join the Quidditch Academy's football team, as usual, report your name to the dean. We are still looking for a new commentator for the Quidditch match. Those who are interested should also apply to the dean. Also, I would like to introduce a new teacher … The former Dean of Slytherin Hogwarts, Professor Horace Slughorn … I am honored to announce that he has agreed to come back and take over as the professor of magic potions. " As Dumbledore's voice fell, Slughorn stood up. His bald head shone under the candlelight, and his big belly, which was wearing a vest, cast a large shadow on the table.
"Magic potions?" Ron tilted his head and stared at Harry. "But you said …"
"At the same time, Professor Snape," Dumbledore raised his voice to drown out the people's discussion, "will be the teacher of Defense Against Black Magic."
Except for the students of Slytherin who were applauding enthusiastically, the students of the other academies wondered if they had heard wrongly. The whole auditorium heard that Snape finally got what he wanted, and there was a lot of discussion.
"No!" Harry's forgetful scream was so loud that many heads at the long tables around him turned in his direction. But he was not in the mood to care. He just stared angrily at the staff table. Why did he give the teaching position of Defense Against Black Magic to Snape in the end? Didn't everyone know all these years that Dumbledore didn't believe that he was up to the job? "
"But, Harry, didn't you tell me a few days ago that Slughorn was going to teach Defense Against Black Magic?!" Jenny asked in surprise.
"I thought it was him!" Harry said. He tried hard to remember when Dumbledore had told him, but now that he thought about it carefully, he couldn't remember at all which course Dumbledore had told him that Slughorn was going to teach. He could only recall in annoyance that Slughorn had said that his mother's grades in Magic Potions were very good when he taught her in the past.
Hermione, who had already known about this appointment from Allen and the others, was a little surprised by the Lionesses around her. "Slughorn used to teach Magic Potions in Hogwarts. Isn't this appointment normal? Not many people are willing to teach Defense Against Black Magic, and Snape has been trying to apply every year … "
"Well, there's something good about this," Harry said through gritted teeth. "Snape will leave in less than a year."
"What do you mean by that?" Ron asked.
Harry said in a fit of pique, "That job was cursed by the Lord Voldemort. No one can last more than a year … Quirrell even lost his life. I personally sincerely hope that there will be another murder case … "
"Harry! How can you say that! "Hermione reprimanded in horror.
"Next year, the old bat will probably go back to teach his Magic Potions class again." It was rare for Ron to let his little head think rationally for a while. "My dad said that Professor Slughorn even taught the Mystery Man. Before the summer vacation, when the Death Eaters were still making a ruckus, they were also trying to find him. He's too old. I think he's willing to go back to school because it's safe enough here …"
Dumbledore cleared his throat, as if he didn't realize how sensational the news he had just announced was. He didn't say anything about the teaching position, but waited for a few seconds to ensure that everyone was completely quiet before continuing. "Everyone in this auditorium knows that the Lord Voldemort and his followers …"
Then Dumbledore suddenly stopped his speech because he saw Allen standing up from Ravenclaw's long table.
White hair, unnaturally pale skin, and the somewhat evil retro magic robe made the Muggle freshmen who didn't know him shudder in fear. The auditorium was silent. Allen, who was the focus of everyone's attention, walked slowly to the faculty seats. He deliberately looked around as if he just noticed that there were no empty chairs.
Allen stood there, but there was no trace of embarrassment on his face. After all, he didn't think that he was the one who neglected.
"Come sit with me, Allen." Professor Fleevy waved to Allen, who moved to the side. Because of his small figure, the seat was more than half empty.
Dumbledore was silent for a moment as if he just noticed this. He immediately apologized. "I'm really sorry, Professor Harris. I thought that you would prefer to sit with the students because you used to sit at Ravenclaw's long table. Please forgive this old man's thoughtlessness. I'll arrange a seat for you right away. "
Allen, who looked quite intimidating after his aura, was now out of the Muggle freshmen's expectations. Not only because this wizard without a school uniform was actually a professor, but also because unlike their first impression of him, Allen just smiled in a friendly manner and said in an unusually gentle voice, "Thank you, Principal Dumbledore. You don't have to trouble yourself."
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