The opening ceremony began with Dumbledore sitting in the center of the high table, wearing a magnificent deep green robe embroidered with stars and moons.
Aiden's eye twitched slightly, and feeling Aiden's intense gaze, Dumbledore winked at him with obvious amusement.
The Sorting Hat had composed a new song this year, which Harry found quite interesting as he listened intently.
Professor McGonagall held the official parchment and began conducting this year's sorting ceremony with practiced efficiency.
"Stewart Ackerley."
A nervous young wizard walked up from among the gathered students, and Professor McGonagall placed the ancient hat carefully on his head.
"Ravenclaw!"
"Malcolm Baddock." "Slytherin!"
"Eleanor Branstone." "Hufflepuff!"
"Dennis Creevey." "Gryffindor!"
The ceremony continued with methodical precision.
Aiden wasn't particularly interested in this familiar sorting ceremony, but Harry kept looking eagerly toward the Ravenclaw table every time someone was sorted into that house.
Aiden felt a burning gaze constantly directed at him. He looked up and saw Harry staring blankly at the Ravenclaw table with obvious longing.
Harry has a crush on Cho Chang? When did this happen? Aiden's mind was full of surprised questions.
During the Quidditch match and on the train, they chatted and were practically inseparable, the system surfaced to explain.
How did I not notice something so obvious? Aiden asked with confusion.
Silly boy, you blocked the messages from your virtual personalities yourself, the system complained with obvious irritation.
Aiden's gaze turned to his consciousness island, where 999+ unread thoughts were piled up like a digital nightmare.
Uh, filter out the unimportant ones, Aiden ordered hastily.
Finally, only three critical thoughts remained floating above. Aiden checked them one by one with growing concern.
He discovered Wormtail's movements, Harry's romantic gossip, and observation records of the consciousness storm at the Quidditch match.
Wormtail had already collaborated with Voldemort to capture Bertha Jorkins. Voldemort had used extremely cruel dark magic to read Barty Crouch's secrets from Bertha Jorkins's tortured mind.
The two had killed her brutally and abducted Barty Crouch Jr. from the Crouch family home.
The three had attacked Mad-Eye Moody together, and now Barty Crouch Jr. was disguised as Moody and heading directly to Hogwarts.
Aiden deliberately skipped over Harry and Cho Chang's embarrassing gossip.
Another important matter was the consciousness sea storm observed by his virtual personalities.
Wizards, this magical group of beings, created storms not to be underestimated after possessing minds that transcended ordinary souls.
Fudge had really miscalculated this time. If it were in a peaceful and stable environment, holding large-scale events for wizards would indeed bring him a positive image and valuable political prestige, but he forgot that Britain was now increasingly turbulent with dangerous undercurrents.
The storm suddenly born in the sea of consciousness combined with the internal chaos of the British wizarding world, further intensifying the prophetic forces.
"So Voldemort's resurrection can no longer be stopped?" Aiden frowned deeply, his dragon eyes penetrating the depths of the consciousness sea to observe the larger storm gathering in the distance.
"Actually, there is a way. You could directly advance to Sequence 1 and use an Author's control over the consciousness sea to calm the storm," the system emerged to offer something completely useless.
Aiden rolled his eyes at the system's impractical suggestion and returned his attention to the real world.
The sorting had ended, and Dumbledore stood on the platform announcing dinner with traditional ceremony. Rich food instantly filled the tables in magnificent abundance.
During dinner, because of the consciousness sea storm, Aiden had little interest in the feast before him.
"My God, Aiden, are you alright? This is the first time I've seen you eat so little!" Edmund said with genuine worry.
"No, you don't understand. When you reach my level of awareness... no, when you know about these things, you probably won't be able to eat well either," Aiden shook his head with grim resignation.
"Heartbroken?" Ethan raised an eyebrow with teasing concern. "With your reputation as the Rose of Ravenclaw, you could completely have a new girlfriend every day. Don't give up the whole forest for one tree, or maybe trying something different is also possible."
"Get lost," Aiden replied, giving him an offensive gesture.
At the Gryffindor table, Nearly Headless Nick floated among the young wizards as usual.
"The Hogwarts tables can always conjure food from nowhere. What kind of magic is this?" Hermione asked Ron with obvious curiosity.
"Um, I don't know. Our family's meals are all made by Mom, and sometimes Aiden cooks too. Mom has praised Aiden's cooking several times," Ron said indifferently while grabbing a chicken leg.
"Oh, let me answer your question, Hermione," Nick said, floating over after hearing Hermione's inquiry.
"Nick, do you know this food-conjuring spell?" Hermione asked with hopeful expectation.
"No, this food is made by house-elves, just transferred to your tables with transportation magic," Nick explained matter-of-factly.
"Oh, I know about them, like Dobby," Harry nodded with recognition.
"House-elves are wizards' best helpers. They don't need wages or rest. Generally, influential wizarding families have house-elves serving them," Nick said casually.
"What! How can wizards do this? Isn't this blatant exploitation!" Hermione angrily put down her plate with moral outrage.
"Why do you say that? Isn't it natural for house-elves to serve wizards?" Ron asked, not understanding why Hermione was suddenly angry.
The furious Hermione didn't answer Ron but secretly decided to refuse this food made by exploited house-elves.
Seeing that everyone had eaten sufficiently, Dumbledore also stood up for his final address of the evening.
"Ladies and gentlemen, have you eaten your fill?"
Hermione secretly glared at Dumbledore from below the platform with newfound disgust.
"Now that you're satisfied, let me introduce this term's new professor."
Dumbledore raised his hand and pointed to a small door nearby. At the same time, ominous thunder suddenly sounded from Hogwarts' enchanted starry ceiling.
This unexpected thunder frightened many young wizards. The castle itself was in fury, someone carrying pure malice had entered Hogwarts.
In the consciousness sea, a vast castle rose from the psychic ocean, taking many young wizards' consciousness islands under its protective embrace.
The castle unconsciously emitted special fluctuations, urgently requesting the person who had communicated with it before to quickly eliminate the danger within its walls.
What, you want me to go crush him to dust right now? Aiden thought, rolling his eyes as he looked at the person about to push open the door.
A grizzled old man covered in battle scars, with a piece of flesh carved off his nose, walked in with obvious menace.
He limped noticeably, his wooden prosthetic leg ending in a clawed foot.
Walking to the middle of the Great Hall, he even took out his personal flask for a small sip.
The false Moody raised his wand and fired a spell at the ceiling. A powerful charm dispersed the dark clouds on the castle's magical ceiling.
Others on the staff table who had heard of the legendary Auror watched with mixed reactions.
"Alastor," Dumbledore said warmly, extending his hand to his supposed old friend.
"Albus, this broken ceiling needs work," the impostor complained gruffly.
"Students, I have important news to announce. Alastor Moody will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Everyone was stunned by Dumbledore's decision. Only Dumbledore and Hagrid applauded enthusiastically for the new professor.
As for Aiden, he was still seriously considering whether to take immediate action against the intruder or not.