The heavy oak doors slid open silently inwards.
Behind the doors stood a Witch in emerald green robes.
Her expression was serious, she was tall, and her black hair was meticulously coiled at the back of her head.
This image reminded Nios of his previous life's homeroom teacher.
"First-year students, Professor McGonagall."
Hagrid reported in a booming voice.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take it from here."
Professor McGonagall's voice was icy, and her gaze swept over every nervous little face.
Finally, it lingered for half a second longer on Nios's extremely conspicuous cartoon eye patch.
The young Wizards followed closely behind Professor McGonagall and entered the Castle.
The magnificent architecture, the burning torches… all these extravagant and magical sights brought a huge visual impact to these unworldly little ones, and whispers echoed through the corridor.
Professor McGonagall led them into an empty room, lit only by a few wall sconces.
The new students huddled together, nervously surveying the room.
Clap! Clap!
Professor McGonagall gently clapped her right hand twice into her left palm, the sound crisp, and the crowd slowly quieted down, dozens of eyes turning towards Professor McGonagall.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, the start-of-term feast is about to begin."
"Before you enter the Great Hall and take your seats, you need to confirm which House you will be in."
"The Sorting is a very important tradition, because during your time at school, your House will be like your home at Hogwarts."
"You will study with your Housemates, live together, and spend your free time together."
"Hogwarts has a total of four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."
"Every House has its own glorious history, and all have produced outstanding Wizards."
"During your time at Hogwarts, outstanding performance can earn points for your House, and vice versa; any rule-breaking behavior will result in points being deducted from your House."
"At the end of the year, the House with the most points will receive the House Cup, which is a great honor. I hope that no matter which House you are in, you will bring glory to it."
"In a few minutes, the Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the entire school, faculty, and students. I suggest you tidy yourselves up and look presentable while waiting."
After speaking, Professor McGonagall glanced at the cartoon eyes on Nios's eye patch.
"When the Great Hall is ready, I will come and get you."
"Please remain quiet while waiting!"
With that, Professor McGonagall turned and left the room.
"Phew—"
As soon as the door closed, the oppressive atmosphere instantly flooded out.
Most of the young Wizards exaggeratedly patted their chests, breathing heavily, as if they had just escaped from a Dragon's lair.
Nios, hands in his pockets, leaned idly against the cold stone wall, the eyes on his eye patch lazily half-closed.
"You must be Harry Potter, right?"
A deliberately raised voice suddenly rang out.
Malfoy, like a peacock surveying its territory, pushed through the crowd with his two henchmen, Goyle and Crabbe, and stopped precisely in front of Harry.
"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
"Cough!" Ron, standing nearby, couldn't hold back a snicker.
Malfoy's sharp gaze instantly fixed on Ron's face: "What? Do you find my name funny?"
He didn't even bother to wait for an answer, continuing on his own: "I don't need to ask to know who you are. Red hair, old robes, freckles all over your face, you must be a Weasley."
He disdainfully glanced at Ron's brand-new school robes and added: "It seems your family finally splurged on new robes this year?"
After mocking Ron, he turned to Harry: "Potter, you'll soon understand that Wizards also have their hierarchies."
He meaningfully glanced at Ron beside him.
"Mixing with certain… undesirable people will only lower your standing."
He extended his hand, a fake smile plastered on his face: "I'd be happy to be your guide."
Malfoy's quick change of face, his condescending and seemingly charitable tone, and especially the way he repeatedly scanned Ron with eyes that looked at trash… all of it precisely hit Harry's hot buttons, instantly reminding him of Dudley's disgusting fat face!
"Thanks." Harry's voice was icy, his eyes devoid of warmth, "But I have eyes of my own, and I can tell what's 'good' and what's… 'undesirable'!"
"Pfft!"
"Hahaha!"
The young Wizards eavesdropping around them could no longer hold back, and suppressed laughter erupted like a broken dam.
Malfoy's pale face instantly turned a pig-liver color, and he was about to retort when—
"Wow—!"
More than twenty pearly white, translucent ghosts floated into the room without warning!
"Ghosts!!!"
A few timid new students shrieked and huddled together.
The ghosts floated through the room as if no one else was there, chatting among themselves.
A plump ghost dressed in a Friar's robe said worriedly to a nobly dressed ghost nearby: "I think we should give him another chance…"
"My good Friar, haven't we given him enough chances? That dreadful Peeves has given us all nasty nicknames! And he's not even a proper ghost."
The noble ghost was speaking excitedly when he suddenly noticed the young Wizards below: "Oh? What are you little ones doing huddled here?"
The Fat Friar floated down a bit and asked kindly: "You… you must be this year's new students, standing here waiting for the Sorting?"
A few young Wizards timidly nodded.
The Fat Friar's face broke into a wide smile, "I hope you all get sorted into Hufflepuff! That's a good place!" He puffed out his chest. "I used to be in that House!"
"Move forward! The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin!"
Professor McGonagall returned, and the ghosts also passed through another wall and disappeared from the room.
Under Professor McGonagall's sharp gaze, the new students formed a crooked line and slowly walked into the Great Hall.
The five-person squad managed to stick together.
Ron led the way, Harry and Neville followed closely, while Nios and Hermione were at the end of the line.
Pushing open the Great Hall doors—
The four House tables were filled with older students.
Thousands of floating candles illuminated the entire space as bright as day, their light dancing on the silverware and goblets.
At the teachers' table at the head of the Great Hall, the Professors were already seated, their gaze calmly fixed on the students below.
Professor McGonagall led them to the small "stage" at the front of the Great Hall, having them stand with their backs to the teachers' table, facing the gaze of the older students below.
Nios looked at the older young Wizards below and the Professors behind him. He was finally starting to get interested in this Wizarding world.
"Finally… a little interesting," he murmured, a sound only he could hear.
Beside him, Hermione was looking up at the ceiling, where the starry river glittered, indistinguishable from the night sky outside the Castle.
She keenly sensed Nios's gaze, leaned closer to him, lowered her voice, and said eagerly, with a hint of showing off: "The ceiling here has been enchanted with magic, so it looks just like the outside. I read about it in 'Hogwarts: A History'."
Nios also looked up, the eyes on his eye patch "gazing" at the false starry sky.
He could feel that the magic up there was far more complex than simply displaying scenery…
At that moment, Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of them, and on the stool sat a patched, dirty Wizard's hat that looked as if it had just been dug out of a rubbish heap!
The hat, near the brim, had a palm-wide tear, like a mouth!
Then, under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, the hat's mouth opened and closed, and it began to sing!
The lyrics generally introduced the four Houses, and said that wearing it would sort young Wizards into the House most suitable for them!
After singing, it "bowed" four times to the four long tables and then became still, turning back into that dirty hat.
Nios slightly tilted his head, leaned close to Hermione's ear, lowered his voice, and solemnly posed a soul-searching question: "Hermione, based on your extensive reading, judge this: is this thing so dirty because Hogwarts is too poor to even buy a bar of soap, or because it's usually soaked in a mud pit?"
Hermione, whose palms were sweating from nervousness and whose mind was still immersed in the Sorting Hat's song, subconsciously replied: "Uh… theoretically, as such an important magical item, it should be properly stored and less likely to fall into… uh… a mud pit. So… it should be… due to a long-term lack of cleaning and maintenance."
Her voice grew softer and softer, clearly convinced by her own logic.
Nios was silent for two seconds, then threw out an even more fatal question in a heavy tone: "So… we're going to have to put this thing, which probably hasn't been washed in thousands of years and is covered in generations of seniors' dandruff and grease… onto our freshly washed, fragrant heads?"
Hermione: "…"
She was completely petrified, opening her mouth but unable to utter a single word. Her face turned from red to white to green, and her eyes stared fixedly at the hat, as if she had seen the most terrifyingly dirty thing in the world.
On the other side, Ron let out a long sigh of relief, gently nudging Harry with his elbow, and whispered to Harry: "See? Fred and George really were lying to me! It's just wearing a hat! You scared me to death, I thought we'd have to fight a Troll!"
Harry's face was strange, and he slightly tilted his head, saying to Ron in a voice like a mosquito's hum: "Just now… Nios had Neville pass a message to me…"
"Huh?" Ron leaned in curiously.
Harry's expression was pained, as if he had swallowed a slug whole. He repeated word for word: "He said… this hat might not have been cleaned since Hogwarts was founded… He suspects there are enough microorganisms breeding on it to hold a new species exhibition… And he asked us… if this counts as Hogwarts' first psychological warfare attack on new students?"
Ron: "…" He suddenly looked at the hat on the stool, which now seemed especially filthy, then stiffly touched his own fluffy, soft red hair, which he had just washed that morning.
Neville, beside him, shivered empathetically, instinctively covering his head.
Although Hermione hadn't heard the specific content, seeing Harry and Ron's expressions as if they were going to the execution grounds, and then recalling Nios's precise strike about "dandruff and grease"… she painfully closed her eyes, her shoulders trembling slightly.
And so, hundreds of older students and Professors at the teachers' table and the four House tables were astonished to find that among this year's new students, there were actually four young Wizards who, after hearing the Sorting Hat's explanation, not only didn't show relieved smiles, but instead had their brows furrowed into knots, their faces as pale as paper, and their eyes staring fixedly at the Sorting Hat, with expressions… as if they had seen something dirty!