"I think it is best to get it off my chest before you become befuddled by our excellent feast."
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued.
"As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
Dumbledore was not happy about the Dementors guarding the school, but it was the Ministry's idea. As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, he knew well that the Ministry represented rules and constraints.
With Dumbledore's influence in the wizarding world, he had to set a good example of abiding by the rules for other wizards, which was beneficial to the stability and development of the wizarding world.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added expressionlessly.
"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors."
Percy, who was sitting a few seats away from Harry, puffed out his chest and looked around impressively.
Yes, that's right, Percy had become a Gryffindor prefect, and by the looks of it, he was clearly showing off!
"On a happier note," Dumbledore continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year."
"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was some scattered, unenthusiastic applause in the Great Hall. Only the students who had been in the same compartment with him on the train applauded vigorously, and of course, Marcel was among them.
To be honest, Marcel had a good impression of this werewolf professor... well, of course, maybe it was just because he was very curious about werewolves as a species?
Lupin, sitting among all the well-dressed teachers, looked particularly shabby.
And Snape, sitting on the other side of the staff table, stared at Professor Lupin down the length of the staff table.
At Hogwarts, everyone knew that Snape had always wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, so it was normal for him to be a little angry about this.
But what was strange to everyone was that the expression on Snape's face was more than just annoyance; it was hatred. It was the same feeling as every time Snape's eyes fell on Harry.
"As to our second new appointment..."
After the less-than-enthusiastic applause for Professor Lupin died down, Dumbledore continued.
"Well... I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching post in addition to his gamekeeping duties."
As soon as Dumbledore's voice fell, Marcel was the first to applaud—he knew that he had to give Hagrid some encouragement, lest he always forget what a teacher should and should not do.
"Although it's probably useless..." Marcel thought, clapping his hands dryly.
He could hear that the applause from the Gryffindor table was particularly enthusiastic. The little lions had always had a good impression of Hagrid.
Especially Harry, who leaned forward to look at Hagrid, a happy smile on his face for him.
Hagrid turned bright red, stared at his huge hands, and his smile was hidden in his messy black beard.
Gradually, the applause died down. When Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, everyone saw Hagrid wiping his eyes with the tablecloth.
"Well, I think that's all of the important stuff," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"
…
The new term began, and everyone once again threw themselves into their intense studies.
Starting from the third year, there were elective courses.
One was Ancient Runes, one was Muggle Studies, and there were two courses related to divination—Divination and Arithmancy. Of course, one couldn't forget Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures.
Speaking of which, Marcel was not good at Divination, just as he was not good at Astronomy. But he chose both Divination and Arithmancy.
In addition, the Ancient Runes class seemed to suit Marcel very well, but he didn't even have the interest to glance at it.
As for Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures, Marcel thought about it and chose it. At least he had a pretty good relationship with Hagrid, so he had to give him this much face.
However, he only planned to take a few lessons of the two divination courses first. The specific situation would have to be considered later.
But even so, this term, Marcel was obviously much busier than ever before.
Oh, right! There was one more thing that had to be mentioned.
This term, a major event occurred in Hufflepuff House—the House Quidditch team was suddenly half-paralyzed. And the reason for its paralysis was only one: the original team members had all quit!
The first to quit were the captain Darren Chris and the chaser Charles Brown, who had graduated with honors this year. Then, the two seventh-year members quit. Due to the pressure from their families, they had to quit the team to concentrate on preparing for their N.E.W.T.s.
Thus, the Seeker, also a seventh-year—the beautiful Charlotte—also quit.
Only the sixth-year beater, Mark Baker, was left. He was helpless against this tragic situation and finally quit as well.
Just like that, the Hufflepuff House team, dramatically, had no one left.
At this point, Cedric Diggory must be mentioned. He had become a Hufflepuff prefect last year. Since he took office, it must be said, his popularity was quite good.
Who wouldn't like a boy who was full of reason, handsome, and had an elegant demeanor?
In the term that Marcel had been living a low-key life, Cedric's reputation in Hufflepuff House had risen rapidly. The little badgers often compared him with Marcel.
And it was this rapidly rising handsome prefect who, when the Hufflepuff team had such a serious problem, took the matter upon himself without hesitation.
He personally served as captain, re-recruited team members, and soon brought the completely stagnant team back to a normal training state.
He even came to Marcel many times, hoping that he could rejoin the team. Although Marcel did not agree, he always maintained a humble and elegant tone, never getting impatient or resentful because of Marcel's many refusals.
It was just that Marcel really didn't have the time to fly around on a broomstick. He had too many things to do and was simply too busy.
Case in point, he had just finished Divination class and now had to rush to the Arithmancy classroom.
To be honest, Professor Trelawney's Divination class had really confused him a bit, and this was even on the premise that he had already studied the content of Divination in advance.
"Why can the shape of tea leaves predict the future? What is the principle behind it?" Marcel was simply baffled by this.
What was worse was that all the books on Divination did not explain the principle behind it, as if it were completely an empirical subject, which made people feel suspicious.
Relatively speaking, Arithmancy was much easier to understand.
Whether it was the magical properties of numbers or the magical analysis of shapes, it was a subject with a traceable path, which really interested Marcel.
It was just that Arithmancy usually required a lot of complex calculations, a lot of formulas within formulas, which made Marcel feel like he was taking an advanced mathematics class that had gone astray academically.
But in any case, Arithmancy was obviously more to Marcel's taste than Divination.
But just as Marcel was about to give up Divination, he inadvertently remembered a sentence Professor Trelawney had said at the beginning of the class.
"You have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset: if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field..."
Yes, Divination was undoubtedly a subject that placed an abnormal emphasis on talent, and this "talent" stemmed from the extension of one's bloodline.
But this had no connection with the pure-blood theory of wizarding families. The "Sight" of Divination began with an awakening similar to atavism, which had nothing to do with whether one's bloodline was pure or not.
It was this speculation that made Marcel decide to continue taking this course that he "couldn't understand," and try to find some clues from Professor Trelawney that could be used for reference.
In addition, there was Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class.
Just yesterday, Malfoy was injured in Hagrid's class, and this matter quickly spread throughout Slytherin House. Malfoy and his two idiot cronies were working hard to spread it everywhere, trying to ruin Hagrid's reputation.
"Hagrid, are you alright?"
By Hagrid's hut, some students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were gathered in the open space, waiting for others who had not yet arrived.
Marcel came to Hagrid's side and started a conversation with him.
"Oh, I think so, I'm alright."
Hagrid obviously looked a little dejected. After all, something had gone wrong in the first lesson, which was not a good thing.
"Don't worry! It's not a big deal..." said Marcel. "But seriously, Hippogriffs are classified as 3X. I don't think they are suitable for the first lesson of the third year, are they?"
"But... but they're interesting," Hagrid argued weakly. "And they're beautiful, don't you think?"
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