Chapter 710: school starts
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"You're so brave," Neville said in heartfelt admiration, giving Harry a thumbs-up, as he sat next to Harry, and Hannah and Susan Burns sat next to them.
"I thought of that on a whim, too," Harry mumbled, feeling his face start to heat up. He really didn't think about it that much, and didn't even plan to ask others to follow him, so he didn't say a word. It was Hermione who discovered his intention in time.
"That's good, lead by example," Ernie McMillan exclaimed, leaning over and patting Harry on the shoulder, looking enviously at the badge on Harry's chest.
"By the way, I don't know what changes in teaching this year?" Harry said hurriedly.
He looked in the direction of the professor's chair - it wasn't full, but Snape could be seen sitting next to Professor Slughorn, who looked at Harry with unabashed admiration. Leigh, his hands folded together; Snape's eyes were vacant, making it impossible to capture his emotions. A few places away, Professor Sprout and astronomy professor Aurora Sinista chatted in low voices, with obvious smiles on their faces.
"People haven't arrived yet, um, I think we came earlier." Susan stretched her neck and said, "But at least it is certain that Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Astronomy will not be too big. change."
"The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor hasn't changed... It's really surprising." Ernie and the others exchanged meaningful glances, and Harry knew that what was flashing in everyone's minds at the moment must be the black people who have come and gone over the years. The name of the professor of Defense of Magic.
But Harry didn't have the slightest bit of surprise in himself that Voldemort was dead, and the shadows hovering over Hogwarts had naturally disappeared.
"You say, is it true that Slughorn and Snape swap places? Snape continues to teach Potions, and Professor Slughorn teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts?"
"Unlikely," said Harry immediately.
"Why?" Hannah asked curiously.
Harry's eyes became frozen, yeah, why so sure? He can't give conclusive evidence, he just thinks this kind of thing won't happen. He couldn't help but wonder why he'd been recalling things he'd seen in the stone Pensieve so often lately. "Why don't you ask? He must have got inside information." A voice interjected.
It was Mafalda, holding a small notebook and a ballpoint pen that only Muggle shops could sell in the other hand, looking at him without blinking, as if smelling the scoop.
"Come on," Mafalda said with a look of curiosity, "I think the most likely changes are Ancient Rune and Transfiguration. Professor Hepp was appointed as the special envoy of the International Confederation of Wizards some time ago. , visited more than a dozen Ministry of Magic, and he may not have much time in the next days; the latter-Professor McGonagall probably won't teach students this year, she is the headmaster now, right?"
She said everything she knew at once, then looked at Harry inquiringly.
Harry stared back at her, presumably knowing that every word he said next would appear in the Mystery Wall tabloid, so he decided not to say a word - and he really didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop him from making up a story. A set of paradoxical statements.
"You'll find out soon enough, and it's a surprise to keep," he said in a vague, almost knowing tone. The next second Harry found himself imitating Trelawney, which made him slightly unhappy.
Neville, apparently taking Harry's words as a clue, thought hard for a while.
"Who could it be?" He frowned, looked at Harry carefully and said, "It should be someone I know, but not easily reminiscent of, so I can be surprised..." Harry looked a little nervously. He stared at him, afraid that his big words would be pierced in a while, but Mafalda was there, so he couldn't make a reminder.
Sometimes Harry thought that Ron's distant relative didn't come to school, just like some painters would run around with their drawing boards on their backs, their purpose was to collect useful material to put into their work.
"Could it be Mr. Longbottom? If so, it would be surprising enough..." Hannah Abbott guessed.
Harry moved in his heart, thinking that it was indeed possible.
"No," Neville shook his head and said confidently, "Because Professor McGonagall has really approached my father and hoped that he would teach at the school."
"Professor McGonagall invited Mr. Longbottom?" said Harry in surprise.
"Yes, but Dad refused. He didn't want to be separated from Mom, and the two of them were working together on the location of a new wizarding town," Neville explained.
After being cured by Professor Hepp, the Longbottoms first went abroad for a tour. After the outbreak of the Wizarding War, they immediately decided to contribute their own strength. When the war was over, they had no intention of joining the Ministry of Magic, but chose to open a A small shop, ready to live your own little life. Until recently, when a major event in the wizarding world was exposed, they were invited by the Ministry of Magic to act as professionals. I had heard that they were involved in sweeping the black market and smuggling trade in the UK, but what they were doing recently was the first time Harry was satisfied. Wei mentioned.
"The new wizard town—what is that?" Mafalda asked shrewdly, looking up from her notebook.
Harry thought of the recent hot news. If the two sides of the wizard and Muggle want to conduct trade, they must need a fixed location. Will it have something to do with this? But he soon found himself wanting to go wrong. "It was to settle the foreign wizards who had recently moved in," Neville said.
"The radio did mention..." Mafalda said thoughtfully.
"Auntie has a headache for them." Susan Burns interjected, "The number of registered people has exceeded 300. In order to prevent them from causing trouble, the Ministry has urgently deployed a group of people."
"It's not unusual, those people are somewhat related to the wizards on our side." Ernie McMillan said disapprovingly, "My dad said--a lot of people fled abroad during the First Wizarding War, The current situation is just the other way around, I believe there are many surnames you are familiar with, such as Shafiq."
"I have the impression that they came back before the wizarding world was fully exposed," Hannah Abbott said slowly.
Ernie shrugged.
"I didn't pay much attention..."
Mafalda left contentedly, and then she flew like a bee collecting pollen to another patch of flowers - Hermione was chatting with Luna and Ginny, following Mafalda's back, Harry watched When Ron was looking listlessly here, his expression was about to move, and he seemed to want to come over.
When Felix and Professor McGonagall appeared together, they were keenly aware of the chaos of seating in the auditorium. They sat down in large chairs and scanned the four long dining tables with serious and inquiring eyes, like lions and lions patrolling their territory. snake.
"We were pleasantly surprised by the new President of the Boys and Girls' Union, satisfied?" Snape whispered, his tone as if someone had broken into his private storage room and relocated the rows of familiar potion jars.
"I'm definitely satisfied, Severus. I'm glad to see this change in my tenure," Professor McGonagall said happily, and then she looked at Felix oddly, "It's Felix— —I have to remind you that you have an important mission today, so don’t act like nothing.”
Felix, who was talking to Slughorn about progress in improving the potion formula, turned his head and looked at her innocently.
"The branch, Felix, the branch," Professor McGonagall reminded him.
"Oh, I almost forgot I was going to conduct the sorting ceremony—thanks, Minerva." Felix stood up happily, reached for a dirty hat from the air, shook it vigorously, and then Step into the hallway.
While waiting for Hagrid to lead the freshman at the door, he met Firenze.
"Hello, Firenze," he said to the centaurs, knowing that Firenze had done a lot in persuading centaurs to join the Pan-Magic Alliance.
"Well, I wasn't going to show my face," said the centaurs sadly. "I'm not used to human food."
"Don't worry, the house-elves specially prepared fresh vegetables, all natural," Felix said. He watched the centaurs go in, Firenze's tail twitched, he didn't know whether it was irritability or nervousness, and after a few minutes passed, he heard heavy footsteps.
Hagrid's tangled, fluffy hair came into view, followed by a group of little wizards who were curious about everything, like bean sprouts that could walk on their own.
"Is everything all right, Hagrid?"
Hagrid was stunned for a moment, apparently forgetting the question of who to preside over the sorting ceremony tonight, just like Felix before him. "Oh... well..." He turned his head and shouted behind him, "Don't crowd, come in one by one in line! Felix, I've handed you new students, a lot." He said to Felix .
"By the way, I put the little house on the edge of the forbidden forest, and little Grapp is very happy."
Hagrid was referring to Grapp's temporary home at Bill and Fleur's wedding. When the wedding was over, Felix re-turned it into a painting and was brought back by Hagrid.
Felix blinked and said, "That's good."
When Hagrid left, he took the first-year students to a separate room, where he introduced them to the rules of sorting and the basics of the four colleges. Under the soft white light of the magic lamp, the excitement and anticipation on their faces were clearly seen. Felix smiled.
"Sir?" At this moment, a freshman said in a slightly trembling voice, "Are you Felix Hepp, I read your name in the newspaper."
"You can call me Professor Hepp," Felix said mildly. "Even if you can't take my class yet, you can still call me that. As for your question, I think yes, there shouldn't be a second Felix lately. Lix Hepp is in the papers more than I do. So, what's your name?"
"Locke," the freshman said quickly, "Locke Irwin."
"...oh, oh, okay, Mr. Irving. You surprise me, you happen to have the same name as a friend of mine," Felix said. "I wish you the ideal college—I mean - have a good time."
"There is still a while before the start of the branch. You can get to know each other. If nothing else happens, you will be together for seven years."
While the freshmen looked at each other and introduced themselves, the students in the auditorium were overwhelmed by the new faces that appeared one after another.
First a centaur - "Hey, Firenze!" Ron shouted from the Ravenclaw table. After a few more minutes, Filch, the castle keeper, led two people in. All the students were frightened by the tall, thin old man who led the way. He was wearing a gray robe with wisps of wire. Gray hair and beard, and glasses.
It was not until he approached that some students realized that this person was actually the bartender of the Pig's Head Bar, and therefore ignored the dignified and unsmiling witch wearing a dark green shawl behind him. But Harry would never let her go, his eyes widened at the same time as Neville, and Ron and Hermione at the table next door.
"It turned out to be Aunt Emmeline Vance," Neville breathed softly.
Aberforth Dumbledore and Emmeline Vance took a seat and were greeted by the professors. Aberforth chose to sit on the edge with no expression on his face. He picked up the fork on the table and tapped it twice. Firenze, the centaur next to him, rubbed his hoof on the ground irritably.
"Have I affected you?" Aberforth asked gruffly.
"No," Firenze said politely and rusty, his keen sense of smell smelling faintly of sheep mutton.
At this time, the students below came back to their senses and discussed it enthusiastically. Many people felt that if they had to choose one of the three to be the professor of Transfiguration, they would prefer to choose the witch who looked elegant-few people knew the identity of Aberforth. They had previously suspected that they had seen it wrong. But Harry knew better that Aberforth could never be a Transfiguration professor, because Transfiguration was a rigorous magical subject, and as far as he knew, Aberforth wasn't very good at Culture. Instead, Emmeline Vance was a talented witch, a few years older than Sirius and Amelia, and like the Longbottoms, she fought and survived two wars.
Felix took the freshman into the auditorium and stopped in front of the professor's seat. He made a small bench, put the Sorting Hat on it, and then the Sorting Hat began to sing. The old students are familiar with this set of procedures, but—
"How did the Sorting Hat sing so feeble this year?" Ron muttered. Of course, he just said it casually. As the division began, the enchanted ceiling above his head reflected the mysterious star trail - Firenze looked up - Felix took out a piece of parchment and read out the first name .
"Locke Irvine."
A freshman stumbled out of the crowd, put on the sorting hat, and after a moment—
"Ravenclaw!" shouted the Sorting Hat~www.novelhall.com~ The auditorium burst into applause. The freshman put down his hat and hesitantly got off the stool. Felix said mildly, "Choose an empty seat and sit down. The academy only affects your class schedule." So Ivan ran to the Slytherin table and sat down. Draco Malfoy, the prefect, stood up and shook his hand.
The branch was carried out in an orderly manner, and there were no surprises. At the end of the ceremony, Professor McGonagall delivered a welcome speech to the students as the principal, and simply and neatly announced several new appointments for the school this year:
"Professor Emmeline Vance will serve as a professor of Transfiguration...Professor Firenze has just returned from a trip. He has a lot of research in observing astrology and fire divination. He will serve as a branch professor of divination for passing the O.W.Ls assessment. of students choose... and that this year's Ancient Rune class will be held in Room 7. Room 7 and the underground playground will also reopen to students, both of which are managed by Aberforth Deng Mr. Bledo served as..."
Professor McGonagall swept the auditorium with serious eyes, then smiled.
"Once again, welcome everyone back. Under the current situation, I am very happy to see that everyone can be united, regardless of each other. This is our most powerful weapon. That's all I have to say. Let's start eating."
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"You're so brave," Neville said in heartfelt admiration, giving Harry a thumbs-up, as he sat next to Harry, and Hannah and Susan Burns sat next to them.
"I thought of that on a whim, too," Harry mumbled, feeling his face start to heat up. He really didn't think about it that much, and didn't even plan to ask others to follow him, so he didn't say a word. It was Hermione who discovered his intention in time.
"That's good, lead by example," Ernie McMillan exclaimed, leaning over and patting Harry on the shoulder, looking enviously at the badge on Harry's chest.
"By the way, I don't know what changes in teaching this year?" Harry said hurriedly.
He looked in the direction of the professor's chair - it wasn't full, but Snape could be seen sitting next to Professor Slughorn, who looked at Harry with unabashed admiration. Leigh, his hands folded together; Snape's eyes were vacant, making it impossible to capture his emotions. A few places away, Professor Sprout and astronomy professor Aurora Sinista chatted in low voices, with obvious smiles on their faces.
"People haven't arrived yet, um, I think we came earlier." Susan stretched her neck and said, "But at least it is certain that Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Astronomy will not be too big. change."
"The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor hasn't changed... It's really surprising." Ernie and the others exchanged meaningful glances, and Harry knew that what was flashing in everyone's minds at the moment must be the black people who have come and gone over the years. The name of the professor of Defense of Magic.
But Harry didn't have the slightest bit of surprise in himself that Voldemort was dead, and the shadows hovering over Hogwarts had naturally disappeared.
"You say, is it true that Slughorn and Snape swap places? Snape continues to teach Potions, and Professor Slughorn teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts?"
"Unlikely," said Harry immediately.
"Why?" Hannah asked curiously.
Harry's eyes became frozen, yeah, why so sure? He can't give conclusive evidence, he just thinks this kind of thing won't happen. He couldn't help but wonder why he'd been recalling things he'd seen in the stone Pensieve so often lately. "Why don't you ask? He must have got inside information." A voice interjected.
It was Mafalda, holding a small notebook and a ballpoint pen that only Muggle shops could sell in the other hand, looking at him without blinking, as if smelling the scoop.
"Come on," Mafalda said with a look of curiosity, "I think the most likely changes are Ancient Rune and Transfiguration. Professor Hepp was appointed as the special envoy of the International Confederation of Wizards some time ago. , visited more than a dozen Ministry of Magic, and he may not have much time in the next days; the latter-Professor McGonagall probably won't teach students this year, she is the headmaster now, right?"
She said everything she knew at once, then looked at Harry inquiringly.
Harry stared back at her, presumably knowing that every word he said next would appear in the Mystery Wall tabloid, so he decided not to say a word - and he really didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop him from making up a story. A set of paradoxical statements.
"You'll find out soon enough, and it's a surprise to keep," he said in a vague, almost knowing tone. The next second Harry found himself imitating Trelawney, which made him slightly unhappy.
Neville, apparently taking Harry's words as a clue, thought hard for a while.
"Who could it be?" He frowned, looked at Harry carefully and said, "It should be someone I know, but not easily reminiscent of, so I can be surprised..." Harry looked a little nervously. He stared at him, afraid that his big words would be pierced in a while, but Mafalda was there, so he couldn't make a reminder.
Sometimes Harry thought that Ron's distant relative didn't come to school, just like some painters would run around with their drawing boards on their backs, their purpose was to collect useful material to put into their work.
"Could it be Mr. Longbottom? If so, it would be surprising enough..." Hannah Abbott guessed.
Harry moved in his heart, thinking that it was indeed possible.
"No," Neville shook his head and said confidently, "Because Professor McGonagall has really approached my father and hoped that he would teach at the school."
"Professor McGonagall invited Mr. Longbottom?" said Harry in surprise.
"Yes, but Dad refused. He didn't want to be separated from Mom, and the two of them were working together on the location of a new wizarding town," Neville explained.
After being cured by Professor Hepp, the Longbottoms first went abroad for a tour. After the outbreak of the Wizarding War, they immediately decided to contribute their own strength. When the war was over, they had no intention of joining the Ministry of Magic, but chose to open a A small shop, ready to live your own little life. Until recently, when a major event in the wizarding world was exposed, they were invited by the Ministry of Magic to act as professionals. I had heard that they were involved in sweeping the black market and smuggling trade in the UK, but what they were doing recently was the first time Harry was satisfied. Wei mentioned.
"The new wizard town—what is that?" Mafalda asked shrewdly, looking up from her notebook.
Harry thought of the recent hot news. If the two sides of the wizard and Muggle want to conduct trade, they must need a fixed location. Will it have something to do with this? But he soon found himself wanting to go wrong. "It was to settle the foreign wizards who had recently moved in," Neville said.
"The radio did mention..." Mafalda said thoughtfully.
"Auntie has a headache for them." Susan Burns interjected, "The number of registered people has exceeded 300. In order to prevent them from causing trouble, the Ministry has urgently deployed a group of people."
"It's not unusual, those people are somewhat related to the wizards on our side." Ernie McMillan said disapprovingly, "My dad said--a lot of people fled abroad during the First Wizarding War, The current situation is just the other way around, I believe there are many surnames you are familiar with, such as Shafiq."
"I have the impression that they came back before the wizarding world was fully exposed," Hannah Abbott said slowly.
Ernie shrugged.
"I didn't pay much attention..."
Mafalda left contentedly, and then she flew like a bee collecting pollen to another patch of flowers - Hermione was chatting with Luna and Ginny, following Mafalda's back, Harry watched When Ron was looking listlessly here, his expression was about to move, and he seemed to want to come over.
When Felix and Professor McGonagall appeared together, they were keenly aware of the chaos of seating in the auditorium. They sat down in large chairs and scanned the four long dining tables with serious and inquiring eyes, like lions and lions patrolling their territory. snake.
"We were pleasantly surprised by the new President of the Boys and Girls' Union, satisfied?" Snape whispered, his tone as if someone had broken into his private storage room and relocated the rows of familiar potion jars.
"I'm definitely satisfied, Severus. I'm glad to see this change in my tenure," Professor McGonagall said happily, and then she looked at Felix oddly, "It's Felix— —I have to remind you that you have an important mission today, so don’t act like nothing.”
Felix, who was talking to Slughorn about progress in improving the potion formula, turned his head and looked at her innocently.
"The branch, Felix, the branch," Professor McGonagall reminded him.
"Oh, I almost forgot I was going to conduct the sorting ceremony—thanks, Minerva." Felix stood up happily, reached for a dirty hat from the air, shook it vigorously, and then Step into the hallway.
While waiting for Hagrid to lead the freshman at the door, he met Firenze.
"Hello, Firenze," he said to the centaurs, knowing that Firenze had done a lot in persuading centaurs to join the Pan-Magic Alliance.
"Well, I wasn't going to show my face," said the centaurs sadly. "I'm not used to human food."
"Don't worry, the house-elves specially prepared fresh vegetables, all natural," Felix said. He watched the centaurs go in, Firenze's tail twitched, he didn't know whether it was irritability or nervousness, and after a few minutes passed, he heard heavy footsteps.
Hagrid's tangled, fluffy hair came into view, followed by a group of little wizards who were curious about everything, like bean sprouts that could walk on their own.
"Is everything all right, Hagrid?"
Hagrid was stunned for a moment, apparently forgetting the question of who to preside over the sorting ceremony tonight, just like Felix before him. "Oh... well..." He turned his head and shouted behind him, "Don't crowd, come in one by one in line! Felix, I've handed you new students, a lot." He said to Felix .
"By the way, I put the little house on the edge of the forbidden forest, and little Grapp is very happy."
Hagrid was referring to Grapp's temporary home at Bill and Fleur's wedding. When the wedding was over, Felix re-turned it into a painting and was brought back by Hagrid.
Felix blinked and said, "That's good."
When Hagrid left, he took the first-year students to a separate room, where he introduced them to the rules of sorting and the basics of the four colleges. Under the soft white light of the magic lamp, the excitement and anticipation on their faces were clearly seen. Felix smiled.
"Sir?" At this moment, a freshman said in a slightly trembling voice, "Are you Felix Hepp, I read your name in the newspaper."
"You can call me Professor Hepp," Felix said mildly. "Even if you can't take my class yet, you can still call me that. As for your question, I think yes, there shouldn't be a second Felix lately. Lix Hepp is in the papers more than I do. So, what's your name?"
"Locke," the freshman said quickly, "Locke Irwin."
"...oh, oh, okay, Mr. Irving. You surprise me, you happen to have the same name as a friend of mine," Felix said. "I wish you the ideal college—I mean - have a good time."
"There is still a while before the start of the branch. You can get to know each other. If nothing else happens, you will be together for seven years."
While the freshmen looked at each other and introduced themselves, the students in the auditorium were overwhelmed by the new faces that appeared one after another.
First a centaur - "Hey, Firenze!" Ron shouted from the Ravenclaw table. After a few more minutes, Filch, the castle keeper, led two people in. All the students were frightened by the tall, thin old man who led the way. He was wearing a gray robe with wisps of wire. Gray hair and beard, and glasses.
It was not until he approached that some students realized that this person was actually the bartender of the Pig's Head Bar, and therefore ignored the dignified and unsmiling witch wearing a dark green shawl behind him. But Harry would never let her go, his eyes widened at the same time as Neville, and Ron and Hermione at the table next door.
"It turned out to be Aunt Emmeline Vance," Neville breathed softly.
Aberforth Dumbledore and Emmeline Vance took a seat and were greeted by the professors. Aberforth chose to sit on the edge with no expression on his face. He picked up the fork on the table and tapped it twice. Firenze, the centaur next to him, rubbed his hoof on the ground irritably.
"Have I affected you?" Aberforth asked gruffly.
"No," Firenze said politely and rusty, his keen sense of smell smelling faintly of sheep mutton.
At this time, the students below came back to their senses and discussed it enthusiastically. Many people felt that if they had to choose one of the three to be the professor of Transfiguration, they would prefer to choose the witch who looked elegant-few people knew the identity of Aberforth. They had previously suspected that they had seen it wrong. But Harry knew better that Aberforth could never be a Transfiguration professor, because Transfiguration was a rigorous magical subject, and as far as he knew, Aberforth wasn't very good at Culture. Instead, Emmeline Vance was a talented witch, a few years older than Sirius and Amelia, and like the Longbottoms, she fought and survived two wars.
Felix took the freshman into the auditorium and stopped in front of the professor's seat. He made a small bench, put the Sorting Hat on it, and then the Sorting Hat began to sing. The old students are familiar with this set of procedures, but—
"How did the Sorting Hat sing so feeble this year?" Ron muttered. Of course, he just said it casually. As the division began, the enchanted ceiling above his head reflected the mysterious star trail - Firenze looked up - Felix took out a piece of parchment and read out the first name .
"Locke Irvine."
A freshman stumbled out of the crowd, put on the sorting hat, and after a moment—
"Ravenclaw!" shouted the Sorting Hat~www.novelhall.com~ The auditorium burst into applause. The freshman put down his hat and hesitantly got off the stool. Felix said mildly, "Choose an empty seat and sit down. The academy only affects your class schedule." So Ivan ran to the Slytherin table and sat down. Draco Malfoy, the prefect, stood up and shook his hand.
The branch was carried out in an orderly manner, and there were no surprises. At the end of the ceremony, Professor McGonagall delivered a welcome speech to the students as the principal, and simply and neatly announced several new appointments for the school this year:
"Professor Emmeline Vance will serve as a professor of Transfiguration...Professor Firenze has just returned from a trip. He has a lot of research in observing astrology and fire divination. He will serve as a branch professor of divination for passing the O.W.Ls assessment. of students choose... and that this year's Ancient Rune class will be held in Room 7. Room 7 and the underground playground will also reopen to students, both of which are managed by Aberforth Deng Mr. Bledo served as..."
Professor McGonagall swept the auditorium with serious eyes, then smiled.
"Once again, welcome everyone back. Under the current situation, I am very happy to see that everyone can be united, regardless of each other. This is our most powerful weapon. That's all I have to say. Let's start eating."
"You're so brave," Neville said in heartfelt admiration, giving Harry a thumbs-up, as he sat next to Harry, and Hannah and Susan Burns sat next to them."I thought of that on a whim, too," Harry mumbled, feeling his face start to heat up. He really didn't think about it that much, and didn't even plan to ask others to follow him, so he didn't say a word. It was Hermione who discovered his intention in time."That's good, lead by example," Ernie McMillan exclaimed, leaning over and patting Harry on the shoulder, looking enviously at the badge on Harry's chest."By the way, I don't know what changes in teaching this year?" Harry said hurriedly.He looked in the direction of the professor's chair - it wasn't full, but Snape could be seen sitting next to Professor Slughorn, who looked at Harry with unabashed admiration. Leigh, his hands folded together; Snape's eyes were vacant, making it impossible to capture his emotions. A few places away, Professor Sprout and astronomy professor Aurora Sinista chatted in low voices, with obvious smiles on their faces."People haven't arrived yet, um, I think we came earlier." Susan stretched her neck and said, "But at least it is certain that Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Astronomy will not be too big. change.""The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor hasn't changed... It's really surprising." Ernie and the others exchanged meaningful glances, and Harry knew that what was flashing in everyone's minds at the moment must be the black people who have come and gone over the years. The name of the professor of Defense of Magic.But Harry didn't have the slightest bit of surprise in himself that Voldemort was dead, and the shadows hovering over Hogwarts had naturally disappeared."You say, is it true that Slughorn and Snape swap places? Snape continues to teach Potions, and Professor Slughorn teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts?""Unlikely," said Harry immediately."Why?" Hannah asked curiously.Harry's eyes became frozen, yeah, why so sure? He can't give conclusive evidence, he just thinks this kind of thing won't happen. He couldn't help but wonder why he'd been recalling things he'd seen in the stone Pensieve so often lately. "Why don't you ask? He must have got inside information." A voice interjected.It was Mafalda, holding a small notebook and a ballpoint pen that only Muggle shops could sell in the other hand, looking at him without blinking, as if smelling the scoop."Come on," Mafalda said with a look of curiosity, "I think the most likely changes are Ancient Rune and Transfiguration. Professor Hepp was appointed as the special envoy of the International Confederation of Wizards some time ago. , visited more than a dozen Ministry of Magic, and he may not have much time in the next days; the latter-Professor McGonagall probably won't teach students this year, she is the headmaster now, right?"She said everything she knew at once, then looked at Harry inquiringly.Harry stared back at her, presumably knowing that every word he said next would appear in the Mystery Wall tabloid, so he decided not to say a word - and he really didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop him from making up a story. A set of paradoxical statements."You'll find out soon enough, and it's a surprise to keep," he said in a vague, almost knowing tone. The next second Harry found himself imitating Trelawney, which made him slightly unhappy.Neville, apparently taking Harry's words as a clue, thought hard for a while."Who could it be?" He frowned, looked at Harry carefully and said, "It should be someone I know, but not easily reminiscent of, so I can be surprised..." Harry looked a little nervously. He stared at him, afraid that his big words would be pierced in a while, but Mafalda was there, so he couldn't make a reminder.Sometimes Harry thought that Ron's distant relative didn't come to school, just like some painters would run around with their drawing boards on their backs, their purpose was to collect useful material to put into their work."Could it be Mr. Longbottom? If so, it would be surprising enough..." Hannah Abbott guessed.Harry moved in his heart, thinking that it was indeed possible."No," Neville shook his head and said confidently, "Because Professor McGonagall has really approached my father and hoped that he would teach at the school.""Professor McGonagall invited Mr. Longbottom?" said Harry in surprise."Yes, but Dad refused. He didn't want to be separated from Mom, and the two of them were working together on the location of a new wizarding town," Neville explained.After being cured by Professor Hepp, the Longbottoms first went abroad for a tour. After the outbreak of the Wizarding War, they immediately decided to contribute their own strength. When the war was over, they had no intention of joining the Ministry of Magic, but chose to open a A small shop, ready to live your own little life. Until recently, when a major event in the wizarding world was exposed, they were invited by the Ministry of Magic to act as professionals. I had heard that they were involved in sweeping the black market and smuggling trade in the UK, but what they were doing recently was the first time Harry was satisfied. Wei mentioned."The new wizard townwhat is that?" Mafalda asked shrewdly, looking up from her notebook.Harry thought of the recent hot news. If the two sides of the wizard and Muggle want to conduct trade, they must need a fixed location. Will it have something to do with this? But he soon found himself wanting to go wrong. "It was to settle the foreign wizards who had recently moved in," Neville said."The radio did mention..." Mafalda said thoughtfully."Auntie has a headache for them." Susan Burns interjected, "The number of registered people has exceeded 300. In order to prevent them from causing trouble, the Ministry has urgently deployed a group of people.""It's not unusual, those people are somewhat related to the wizards on our side." Ernie McMillan said disapprovingly, "My dad said--a lot of people fled abroad during the First Wizarding War, The current situation is just the other way around, I believe there are many surnames you are familiar with, such as Shafiq.""I have the impression that they came back before the wizarding world was fully exposed," Hannah Abbott said slowly.Ernie shrugged."I didn't pay much attention..."Mafalda left contentedly, and then she flew like a bee collecting pollen to another patch of flowers - Hermione was chatting with Luna and Ginny, following Mafalda's back, Harry watched When Ron was looking listlessly here, his expression was about to move, and he seemed to want to come over.When Felix and Professor McGonagall appeared together, they were keenly aware of the chaos of seating in the auditorium. They sat down in large chairs and scanned the four long dining tables with serious and inquiring eyes, like lions and lions patrolling their territory. snake."We were pleasantly surprised by the new President of the Boys and Girls' Union, satisfied?" Snape whispered, his tone as if someone had broken into his private storage room and relocated the rows of familiar potion jars."I'm definitely satisfied, Severus. I'm glad to see this change in my tenure," Professor McGonagall said happily, and then she looked at Felix oddly, "It's Felix I have to remind you that you have an important mission today, so don't act like nothing.Felix, who was talking to Slughorn about progress in improving the potion formula, turned his head and looked at her innocently."The branch, Felix, the branch," Professor McGonagall reminded him."Oh, I almost forgot I was going to conduct the sorting ceremonythanks, Minerva." Felix stood up happily, reached for a dirty hat from the air, shook it vigorously, and then Step into the hallway.While waiting for Hagrid to lead the freshman at the door, he met Firenze."Hello, Firenze," he said to the centaurs, knowing that Firenze had done a lot in persuading centaurs to join the Pan-Magic Alliance."Well, I wasn't going to show my face," said the centaurs sadly. "I'm not used to human food.""Don't worry, the house-elves specially prepared fresh vegetables, all natural," Felix said. He watched the centaurs go in, Firenze's tail twitched, he didn't know whether it was irritability or nervousness, and after a few minutes passed, he heard heavy footsteps.Hagrid's tangled, fluffy hair came into view, followed by a group of little wizards who were curious about everything, like bean sprouts that could walk on their own."Is everything all right, Hagrid?"Hagrid was stunned for a moment, apparently forgetting the question of who to preside over the sorting ceremony tonight, just like Felix before him. "Oh... well..." He turned his head and shouted behind him, "Don't crowd, come in one by one in line! Felix, I've handed you new students, a lot." He said to Felix ."By the way, I put the little house on the edge of the forbidden forest, and little Grapp is very happy."Hagrid was referring to Grapp's temporary home at Bill and Fleur's wedding. When the wedding was over, Felix re-turned it into a painting and was brought back by Hagrid.Felix blinked and said, "That's good."When Hagrid left, he took the first-year students to a separate room, where he introduced them to the rules of sorting and the basics of the four colleges. Under the soft white light of the magic lamp, the excitement and anticipation on their faces were clearly seen. Felix smiled."Sir?" At this moment, a freshman said in a slightly trembling voice, "Are you Felix Hepp, I read your name in the newspaper.""You can call me Professor Hepp," Felix said mildly. "Even if you can't take my class yet, you can still call me that. As for your question, I think yes, there shouldn't be a second Felix lately. Lix Hepp is in the papers more than I do. So, what's your name?""Locke," the freshman said quickly, "Locke Irwin.""...oh, oh, okay, Mr. Irving. You surprise me, you happen to have the same name as a friend of mine," Felix said. "I wish you the ideal collegeI mean - have a good time.""There is still a while before the start of the branch. You can get to know each other. If nothing else happens, you will be together for seven years."While the freshmen looked at each other and introduced themselves, the students in the auditorium were overwhelmed by the new faces that appeared one after another.First a centaur - "Hey, Firenze!" Ron shouted from the Ravenclaw table. After a few more minutes, Filch, the castle keeper, led two people in. All the students were frightened by the tall, thin old man who led the way. He was wearing a gray robe with wisps of wire. Gray hair and beard, and glasses.It was not until he approached that some students realized that this person was actually the bartender of the Pig's Head Bar, and therefore ignored the dignified and unsmiling witch wearing a dark green shawl behind him. But Harry would never let her go, his eyes widened at the same time as Neville, and Ron and Hermione at the table next door."It turned out to be Aunt Emmeline Vance," Neville breathed softly.Aberforth Dumbledore and Emmeline Vance took a seat and were greeted by the professors. Aberforth chose to sit on the edge with no expression on his face. He picked up the fork on the table and tapped it twice. Firenze, the centaur next to him, rubbed his hoof on the ground irritably."Have I affected you?" Aberforth asked gruffly."No," Firenze said politely and rusty, his keen sense of smell smelling faintly of sheep mutton.At this time, the students below came back to their senses and discussed it enthusiastically. Many people felt that if they had to choose one of the three to be the professor of Transfiguration, they would prefer to choose the witch who looked elegant-few people knew the identity of Aberforth. They had previously suspected that they had seen it wrong. But Harry knew better that Aberforth could never be a Transfiguration professor, because Transfiguration was a rigorous magical subject, and as far as he knew, Aberforth wasn't very good at Culture. Instead, Emmeline Vance was a talented witch, a few years older than Sirius and Amelia, and like the Longbottoms, she fought and survived two wars.Felix took the freshman into the auditorium and stopped in front of the professor's seat. He made a small bench, put the Sorting Hat on it, and then the Sorting Hat began to sing. The old students are familiar with this set of procedures, but"How did the Sorting Hat sing so feeble this year?" Ron muttered. Of course, he just said it casually. As the division began, the enchanted ceiling above his head reflected the mysterious star trail - Firenze looked up - Felix took out a piece of parchment and read out the first name ."Locke Irvine."A freshman stumbled out of the crowd, put on the sorting hat, and after a moment"Ravenclaw!" shouted the Sorting Hat~www.novelhall.com~ The auditorium burst into applause. The freshman put down his hat and hesitantly got off the stool. Felix said mildly, "Choose an empty seat and sit down. The academy only affects your class schedule." So Ivan ran to the Slytherin table and sat down. Draco Malfoy, the prefect, stood up and shook his hand.The branch was carried out in an orderly manner, and there were no surprises. At the end of the ceremony, Professor McGonagall delivered a welcome speech to the students as the principal, and simply and neatly announced several new appointments for the school this year:"Professor Emmeline Vance will serve as a professor of Transfiguration...Professor Firenze has just returned from a trip. He has a lot of research in observing astrology and fire divination. He will serve as a branch professor of divination for passing the O.W.Ls assessment. of students choose... and that this year's Ancient Rune class will be held in Room 7. Room 7 and the underground playground will also reopen to students, both of which are managed by Aberforth Deng Mr. Bledo served as..."Professor McGonagall swept the auditorium with serious eyes, then smiled."Once again, welcome everyone back. Under the current situation, I am very happy to see that everyone can be united, regardless of each other. This is our most powerful weapon. That's all I have to say. Let's start eating."
