vncnus Chapter 85 Speed things up!
Chapter 85 Speed things up!
She was a tall, stern-looking black-haired witch, about fifty years old, wearing a green robe, her lips tightly pursed, her stern gaze sweeping over the noisy first-year students.
The new students immediately fell silent, and the castle gate was completely quiet.
Hagrid coughed lightly: "Professor McGonagall..."
Professor McGonagall immediately said, "Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take over now."
"You're a full hour late!" Her voice sounded particularly cold and hard in the night wind. "You're the most outrageous class of freshmen I've ever taught!"
The freshmen were stunned for a moment, and dozens of pairs of eyes turned to look at Lucas in unison.
A furry head raised its hand; it was Hermione: "Professor, here's what happened—"
"There's no time to say more now." But Professor McGonagall interrupted her, and even though everyone was looking at Lucas, her gaze didn't linger on him for even a second.
Lucas even felt that her gaze was deliberately avoiding his.
"All the professors and upperclassmen have been starving and waiting for you! A whole hour! Don't say anything, just come with me!"
Professor McGonagall spoke very quickly. She immediately turned and led the way into the castle, her footsteps striking rapid drumbeats on the marble floor.
Before the children could even take in the enormous entrance hall, the almost endless dome, the luxurious marble staircase, and the castle's historic and exquisite carvings, they had to run after her, their noisy footsteps echoing through the hall.
Professor McGonagall, like a tour guide rushing home, strode forward while rattling off her introduction at a machine-gun pace:
"Hogwarts has four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. After you are sorted into your house, good performance earns you points, and mistakes deduct points. The house with the highest score at the end of the year wins the House Cup."
"Alright, now stick close to me, we're about to be sorted into different departments!"
What?
The freshmen, especially the Muggle-born kids, didn't understand what academy was at all, and she whirled them to the right like a gust of wind, leading them to the luxurious double doors.
"Lucas, how are we sorted into houses?" Harry nervously swallowed. "Can I go to the same house as you?"
"I'm not entirely sure either," Lucas said. "They're keeping it from us, saying it's a traditional program, a surprise. If we could choose our own college, that would be great."
Neville, pale with nervousness, followed closely behind Lucas, secretly determined to be in the same house as him. But he immediately stepped on Lucas's heel, then tripped over his own robes, and the young wizards tumbled together, groaning and groaning.
Professor McGonagall turned around angrily, but when she saw the bright red hair among the little wizards rolling around, she turned away as if she had been burned.
"Alright, stand in line now!" She stood with her back to the little wizards, silently counted a few seconds in front of the door, and then pushed it open.
Wow!
The young wizards immediately spotted the magnificent and magical grand hall, with thousands of candles floating in mid-air and an enchanted dome offering a view of the night sky, where countless stars twinkled.
Wow!
Four long tables were filled with gleaming gold platters and wine glasses, and sitting beside these luxurious tablewares—well, slumped over—was our energetic—well, listless senior.
Wait, what are they trying to do?
The freshmen witnessed a horrifying scene, and the upperclassmen shouted in protest. Those who had been slumped in their seats straightened up, their eyes gleaming, and they eagerly raised their knives and forks.
"They...they want to eat us!"
A Muggle-born child let out a scream, and everyone scrambled backward into a heap, with several children crying in fright.
"Quiet!" Dumbledore, with his long silver beard, spoke from the center of the teachers' table. His voice was steady and powerful, sweeping across the entire Great Hall, and the commotion immediately subsided.
"Children, no one will hurt you at Hogwarts."
"Older students, please put down your knives and forks. As is customary, we will wait until the sorting ceremony is over before we enjoy the opening dinner together."
"Alright, now, let's begin the Sorting Ceremony."
As the source of this chaos, Lucas was a little embarrassed. He looked at Dumbledore, who happened to be looking at him as well.
Dumbledore remained calm and nodded slightly to him, to which Lucas quickly returned the bow.
Just then, Lucas caught another gaze from the faculty seats. He turned to look and saw that the pale-faced professor, who was wearing a headscarf, had already lowered his head.
Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the hall, where a four-legged stool was placed, on which sat a patched, dirty pointed hat.
As soon as the hat split open, it sensed hundreds of hungry, green-glowing gazes below. The hat wisely changed its strategy and began to sing.
"I am the Old Man of the Hat, and I know your stomachs are rumbling!"
The tradition of dividing schools according to their characteristics must not be changed.
Gryffindor is full of courage, Hufflepuff is honest and hardworking.
Ravenclaws are intelligent, while Slytherins are shrewd.
Without further ado, just put the headband on me.
"We're so happy with the college assignments! No more worries about making a living!"
A burst of enthusiastic applause rang out in the hall.
"Now, whoever I call by name, come forward and put on your hat." Professor McGonagall unrolled a roll of parchment. "Hannah Abbott!"
Hannah was startled and instinctively looked at Lucas.
Am I the first one? Then I have no idea where Lucas went!
Professor McGonagall called again, her voice stern, and she had no choice but to stumble forward and put on her hat.
There's nothing I can do. I heard Lucas say he wanted to go to Hufflepuff...
"Hufflepuff!" Hat called out after a moment's pause.
Hannah stood up nervously and walked toward the Hufflepuff table, waving frantically at Lucas, who nodded back.
"Susan Bones!"
"Hufflepuff!"
Lucas understood; the Sorting Order was alphabetical by last name. So, with his last name, he would be ranked...
"Oh dear, Lucas. I'm MacFusty." Ellie frowned. "You're McGregor, we share the same first letter, and if we look at the second letter, I'm ahead of you."
"If we're sorting into houses based entirely on individual qualities, the order doesn't matter," Lucas sighed helplessly. "I don't even know which house I'll be assigned to. I think I'm courageous, hardworking, intelligent, and shrewd."
The nervous freshmen around him were all staring at him, and Hermione Granger rolled her eyes.
Good heavens, how can there be such a shameless person?
Even with his exceptional magical skills, unparalleled culinary artistry that won over the young wizards on the Hogwarts Express, and his adept use of food to acquire vast amounts of knowledge, he even impressed the Black Lake mermaid, who presented him with Grindelwald as a gift...
Wow, he has so many good qualities!