The fruits and desserts on the golden plates had disappeared, signaling that the banquet was coming to an end.
Ivy glanced toward the staff table, where Dumbledore had already stood up, and the once noisy hall grew quiet.
"Now that everyone is well-fed and well-watered, I have a few more words to say. Before the term starts, I must address a few important points." Dumbledore's white beard quivered as his voice echoed throughout the hall. "Firstly, for the first-year students, the Forbidden Forest is strictly off-limits to students. And some of the older students, who may have forgotten, should be reminded of this as well."
Ivy knew Dumbledore was referring to the Weasley twins, but for someone who often treated the Forbidden Forest like his personal domain, Dumbledore's warning still held a bit of weight.
"Secondly, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind everyone not to perform magic in the hallways during breaks."
Ivy could understand Filch's frustration.
"Next, the tryouts for the Quidditch teams will be held in the second week of this term. Any students interested in joining their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."
A high-risk, individualistic sport. Ivy was content to watch from the sidelines; he wasn't about to participate.
"Finally, I must tell everyone, for those who do not wish to meet an untimely and painful death, please avoid the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor."
Ah, Ivy remembered this. It housed the Philosopher's Stone, the pinnacle of alchemy's achievements.
Also known as the Sorcerer's Stone, it could turn base metals into gold and grant immortality.
Its creator, Nicolas Flamel, was also famous in the Muggle world. He was known as Nicolas Flamel, and many of his alchemical writings were studied by even Newton.
Currently, Flamel and his wife were still alive, thanks to the Elixir of Life made from the Stone, though they could only be described as surviving, not thriving.
Having lost their youthful vitality, their bodies were no longer capable of much, and Ivy certainly didn't want to end up like him.
Besides, Ivy was already 144 years old. Once he figured out the ancient magic that reversed his aging, immortality would be within his reach. He might even stay forever young.
Wasn't that much better than Nicolas Flamel, who could barely shake hands due to his osteoporosis?
"Now, before you all head off to bed, let's sing the school song!" Dumbledore raised his wand and spoke loudly. The professors, who had just been eating with him at the same table, froze with smiles still on their faces.
Dumbledore lightly tapped his wand, sending a long golden light ribbon into the air, which twisted like a snake and formed lines of lyrics for the Hogwarts song.
"Each person can choose their favorite tune," Dumbledore said. "Ready, sing!"
Hogwarts ×4
Teach us knowledge, whether we're bald old men,
Or children with scraped knees, our minds can still accept new things.
Because now our minds are empty, filled with air, dead flies, and trivial things,
Teach us something of value, return what we've forgotten, we'll do our best, the rest is up to us.
We'll study hard until we turn to dust.
"Ah! Wonderful!" Ivy muttered dispassionately, "They somehow managed to make the school song sound like they were all fighting each other. Fortunately, there's only one school in all of Britain, or Hogwarts would certainly come last in a school song competition."
Dumbledore directed the Weasley twins to sing the last few verses in the tune of a "Funeral March," and then wiped away a tear, possibly of emotion, as he said with feeling, "Music, oh, music is far more charming than anything we do here! Now, it's time for bed. Off you go to your dorms."
With that, Dumbledore's words marked the end of the feast, so Ivy immediately changed his robes back to the Slytherin relic robes.
Under the guidance of the house prefects, the first-years began heading to their respective common rooms.
Ivy, Malfoy, and his two bodyguards, Cassandra and a few other first-year Slytherins, followed their female prefect, Gemma Farley, through the crowd and down a staircase leading underground.
The Slytherin common room and dormitories were located in the basement, right next to the castle's dungeons.
The entrance looked like a plain stone wall, but as soon as the Slytherin students approached, a large stone snake statue slithered out of the wall. Only by saying the correct password would the serpent transform into the entrance to the common room.
"Glory," the female prefect Gemma Farley said, and the stone serpent arched and opened, revealing the door to the common room. Before entering, Gemma turned back and reminded the first-years, "'Glory' is the password for the common room. It usually changes every two weeks, and the new password will be posted on the bulletin board inside. You'll need to check it and don't forget the password, or you'll have to wait for someone else to let you in."
The first-years nodded quietly, and Gemma led them into the Slytherin common room.
The room looked like a narrow, low-ceilinged dungeon, and in fact, most of the students' dormitories had been converted from cells.
Some lights hung from chains in the ceiling, and because they had green lampshades, the whole room had a chilly, eerie atmosphere.
However, the furniture in the common room was luxurious. As one of the houses with the highest number of pure-blooded aristocrats, Slytherin received a considerable number of donations each year from various pure-blood families. Sometimes it was velvet cushions, other times, finely crafted tables and chairs with intricate carvings.
So, while the Slytherin common room might not be the most cozy, it was the most luxurious.
The room had a large window that overlooked the Black Lake of Hogwarts. Since the Slytherin common room was underground, even during the day, the light that came through the window was limited. And now, at night, only the dark lake water could be seen.
Waiting for Ivy and the others inside the common room was another male prefect. From the badge on his chest, it was clear that, like Gemma Farley, he was also a prefect.
"Welcome! Welcome to Slytherin," the male prefect said, "Before you even started, Slytherin has won the House Cup six years in a row. This year, our task remains the same: keeping it in Slytherin."