"Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw!" Hermione whispered to herself.
The Sorting Hat spoke slowly, its voice thoughtful. "Ah, a studious young lady… yet not lacking in courage…"
"Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw!" Hermione continued muttering, ignoring whatever the Hat was saying.
"Er… well, if you would allow me to say just one—"
"Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw!"
"Alright, alright!" the Sorting Hat finally gave in.
"You do indeed fit there well enough… though I must say Gryffindor would suit you too. Off you go—go find your friends. Ravenclaw!"
Hermione let out a breath of relief. Her face was flushed red as she quickly removed the Hat and hurried toward the Ravenclaw table.
The young eagles burst into applause to welcome her. Ted Epiphany shifted slightly to the side to make room for her.
"How did you end up in Ravenclaw?" Ted asked. He hadn't expected the Sorting to change like that.
Hermione lifted her chin slightly, pretending modesty. "Perhaps the Sorting Hat thinks I like studying."
Soon the Sorting reached the letter H.
"Harley Quinn Potter."
When Professor McGonagall called out Harry's full name, Ted froze for a moment.
Harley… Quinn?That middle name sounded like some kind of ominous prison riddle. Not exactly the most fortunate name…
As expected, Harley was sorted into Gryffindor.
In the original story, the Sorting Hat had hesitated for quite a while—likely because of Voldemort's Horcrux influence—and had even considered placing Harry in Slytherin. But this time the decision came quickly.
It started…
And it was already over.
Harley placed the Hat down with impressive flair, flicked the hem of her wizard robes, and strode boldly toward the Gryffindor table. Then she opened her arms wide, as if basking in holy light.
"Woooooo—!"
A chorus of wild cheering erupted from the Gryffindor table, sounding like joyful howls. The little lions felt this girl was absolutely their kind of person.
The Weasley twins, in particular, were the loudest of the bunch, jumping up and down like mad.
There was also an older red-haired girl cheering enthusiastically—likely Paige Weasley.
Harley already knew them from before.
Before long, Jerry was called up.
He didn't have a surname, so he was sorted according to the first letter of his given name.
The Sorting Hat didn't hesitate—within three seconds, it shouted:
"Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor table erupted again.
Instead of being uncomfortable about the round mouse ears on both sides of Jerry's head, the Gryffindors seemed even more excited.
"We've got a mouse!"
"A real little mouse wizard!"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you…" Jerry said, deeply moved, thanking everyone one by one.
Not long afterward, it was Neville Longbottom's turn.
When Professor McGonagall called his name, the hall fell silent for a moment before whispers began spreading through the crowd.
The Sorting Hat hesitated again while resting on Neville's head.
And hesitated…
And hesitated…
Nearly five minutes passed before it finally shouted:
"Gryffindor!"
Neville hurried off the stool—forgetting to take the Hat off again.
Wait… why did I say "again"?
The familiar scene made Ted feel somewhat comforted.
"Ah! Another Longbottom!"
"The Boy Who Lived!"
The Gryffindors rushed forward to shake Neville's hand, leaving him blushing, then turning pale, then blushing again…
The situation was simply too overwhelming for him. He nearly fainted on the spot.
After Neville came a familiar name—Draco Malfoy, who was sorted into Slytherin without surprise.
By the time Ron Weasley was called, only a few students remained.
Ron was naturally sorted into Gryffindor as well.
The Sorting Ceremony soon came to an end.
Ted felt the magical connection he had sensed earlier suddenly transform into something vast and ancient before dissolving into the castle itself.
So the Enrollment Ritual Magic had been completed.
From a magical standpoint, the new students had now officially become part of Hogwarts.
The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables were next to each other, and Neville and Ron ended up sitting just behind Ted and Hermione.
Neville turned around and whispered excitedly to Ted.
"Thank you—thank you, Ted! What you said was true! I kept whispering 'Gryffindor' under my breath just like you told me—and I really got sorted into Gryffindor!"
Ted smiled gently.
"You were sorted into Gryffindor because you have precious qualities. You're brave enough. Perhaps you haven't discovered it yet—but it's always been there."
Ron grimaced.
"Why do I feel like Ted talks even more like a professor than the professors do?"
Jerry nodded enthusiastically beside him.
Hermione shot both of them a sharp glare.
What Ted said made perfect sense. What are you two complaining about?
Regardless, the Sorting Ceremony was finished.
The final results were:
Gryffindor: 10 students
Ravenclaw: 9 students
Hufflepuff: 9 students
Slytherin: 8 students
A total of 36 first-years.
The British wizarding world was clearly facing a population crisis!
Just think about it—among the four Heads of House, the Headmaster, and the professors, not a single one had children. The magical population of Britain was really heading toward trouble.
That said, this number still seemed slightly larger than in the original story.
But the canon never clearly listed the exact class roster of the 1991 intake, so Ted couldn't be certain.
However, students like Jerry, who belonged to a different race entirely, definitely didn't exist in the original timeline.
And he wasn't the only one.
In Ravenclaw's first-year class alone, there was also a gnome girl named Clara Shimmerwick.
She stood barely over one meter tall. Although she was only eleven and might grow a little more in the future… how much taller could she realistically get?
She belonged to an intelligent race from another world—the gnomes.
Rumor had it they excelled in magic, jewelry craftsmanship, and magical engineering.
Besides these two newcomers, Hogwarts had admitted several other non-human students over the past few years.
After all, it had already been eleven years since the second Celestial Convergence, when intelligent races from other worlds first appeared.
Some of those children had arrived in this world at a young age. Once they reached eleven, Hogwarts accepted them.
For example:
Guff Oasis, a second-year Hufflepuff from the horned folk.He had two horns growing from his head and a rather large nose. He looked a bit slow and gentle. Compared to his classmates, he was nearly a head and a half taller and much broader.The vibe he gave off was basically: "Second-year student, terrified of school bullying."
Muradin Copperbell, a third-year Gryffindor dwarf.At only fourteen, he already had a thick beard. In a few more years he'd probably be braiding it.
Ada Sylph, a fourth-year Ravenclaw elf girl.She was actually eighteen years old—much older than her classmates—but looked like a six- or seven-year-old child. Her voice sounded sweet and childish too.After all, elves lived three times longer than humans and matured much more slowly.
Itori, a fifth-year Hufflepuff student from the rabbit-eared folk.She was the first non-human student ever admitted to Hogwarts.At the time, Albus Dumbledore personally persuaded the Board of Governors to accept her, setting a historic precedent.
This year, having two non-human students enroll meant the proportion had increased.
The arrival of these other races posed a huge challenge for the wizarding world.
On one hand, they had to hide them carefully to avoid exposing them to Muggles.
On the other hand, it raised questions of resource distribution and competition.
These new races brought different knowledge—but they also needed living space and resources, inevitably creating rivalry.
Originally, pure-blood supremacists had been targeting Muggle-born wizards, trying to "make pure-blood great again."
But now even more unusual competitors had arrived.
As the saying goes: your industry rivals often get defeated by someone from a completely different field.
Currently, wizarding society seemed divided into three factions regarding this issue:
The Pro-Coexistence faction
The Neutral faction
The Opposition faction
Most of the opposition came from pure-blood families, while the neutral faction was the largest.
During the previous Celestial Convergence, intelligent races hadn't appeared—there had only been monsters to fight, which actually enriched magical resources.
But the convergence ten years ago had brought numerous other races.
Fortunately, their numbers were still small. Otherwise, conflict would have been inevitable.
This might become one of the greatest challenges the magical world had ever faced.
Perhaps even more dangerous than Voldemort.
…
"Hsss—ah!"
Neville suddenly clutched his forehead in pain.
Jerry quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Neville forced a smile. "It's nothing. Just a sudden headache."
Harley spoke with experience. "Probably the cold wind from when we crossed the lake."
Ron nodded immediately.
"Yeah! Eat a bit more food and you'll be fine!"
Neville felt that it probably wasn't caused by cold wind—and eating more probably wouldn't help either.
His scar had suddenly started burning, like someone stabbing it with a needle.
But the pain only lasted a few seconds before fading away.
He didn't argue with his friends' concern.
To be honest… it actually felt pretty nice to have friends worrying about him.
At that moment, Professor Quirrell, with his turban wrapped tightly around his head, sat with his back toward Neville, as if whispering to someone.
Ted smirked inwardly.
He probably has to sleep on his side every night.
Meanwhile, Severus Snape stood with his arms crossed, staring blankly at Harley as she laughed and chatted happily with her new friends.