Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 319 Lady Toad

Hera walked briskly out of the box. He didn't have a piece of luggage, so it was extraordinarily relaxed, but Harry and the others were not troublesome, after all, there were house-elfs to help carry the luggage.They joined the crowd in the aisle together, the night air stinging on their faces.They moved slowly towards the door.

Hera could smell the fragrance of the pine trees that lined the path leading to the lake.He got off the car and came to the platform, looking around, a completely unfamiliar voice came from his ears, a crisp female voice, shouting loudly: "First-year freshmen, please come here and line up! All first-year freshmen come with me!"

It wasn't Hagrid, but Professor Graplan, who had replaced Hagrid for a period of time last year in the biology class of the patron saint. She carried a lantern and wobbled towards Hera.

Hagrid and Mrs. Maxime went to find the traces of the giants. This was the task assigned to them by Dumbledore, hoping to draw them to their side before Voldemort found them.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked loudly.

"He has more important tasks." Hera said, "We'd better get out of here quickly and go to the carriage now."

Harry followed Hera along the platform to the outside of the station, and Luna fell far behind. Fortunately, Hera could still see her figure when she turned around, so she wouldn't be left behind.Harry tugged on Hera's skirt tightly to keep them from being scattered in the crowd.

They passed through the narrow doorway and out onto the road.The rain was washing the dark street again, which made their vision even worse. Fortunately, Hera's vision was not bad, and she caught a glimpse of the carriage parked at the corner of the street.

There are about a hundred carriages pulled by Thestrals parked here, and they are used to send students above the first grade to the castle every year.Hera hurriedly opened the door and got into the carriage. He was not interested in continuing to be exposed to the rain outside, as it would mess up his hair.

Harry stopped where he was, staring blankly at the Thestrals, speechless, as if frightened by their terrifying appearance.

"Come on, Harry," said Hera, sitting in the carriage, who had already begun to steam the damp clothes.

"What's this?" Harry said, turning around eagerly, wanting to ask Hera about the Thestrals, "Why didn't I see it before—or everyone couldn't—"

"Okay, come up quickly, don't continue to rain outside." Hera pushed the car door and shouted at Harry with difficulty, the noisy rain and the bustling voices forced him to shout loudly.

Harry hesitated, but got into the carriage quickly.There were four seats in the carriage, and two more were empty, and they could wait for Ron and Hermione.

Hera was still lowering her head to straighten his cloak, and he waved his wand to steam dry the moisture on his clothes.

"I just said, what are those horse-like things?" said Harry, leaning over the carriage window and eyeing the Thestrals curiously.

Hera said perfunctorily without raising her head, "You mean Thestrals?"

"what?"

"It's nothing, it's just a magical creature." Hera finally cleaned up the cloak, and he raised his head to stare at the rain outside through the car window, "This year's freshman will be unlucky~"

Harry sat there with his forehead pressed against the window, trying to get a closer look at the Thestrals, but the rain-drenched window was smudged.

"But—why didn't I see it before, I mean it used to be the Thestrals pulling carts, but why couldn't we see it?" Harry murmured, looking at Hera curiously.

"Thestrals were once considered a symbol of inauspiciousness, and it was said that they would bring all kinds of terrible disasters to those who saw them." Hera looked at Harry's apparently pale face, and shrugged his shoulders boredly. "But it turns out that this is just a rumor. It's just that only those who have seen and understood death can see them."

"It's - but - well," said Harry.

They didn't make them wait too long, Ron and Hermione came over, and they knocked on the carriage several times before they found the carriage where Hera was.

"You all saw that Graplan?" said Ron. "What's she doing here again? Hagrid's not leaving, is he?"

"Hagrid has more important things to do," Harry pursed his lips, looking a little unhappy, before adding, "Hera just told me."

Hera nodded and explained to Hermione, "Well, he has a very important task." But that's it, he didn't plan to reveal any more information.They would always know about Hagrid's departure.

The carriages lined up, creaking and wobbling along the road.They passed the tall stone pillars on either side of the gate to the school grounds, topped with winged boars, and the grounds were dark, with Hogwarts Castle looming ever closer: a towering tower looming even darker against the dark night sky, and occasionally a window shone a fiery red blaze above their heads.

The carriage clanged to a stop beside the stone steps leading to the oak gate. Hera was the first to get out of the carriage. He rushed towards the castle in the rain. He needed to go inside to warm himself, and the journey had tortured him enough.

Hera hurried up the stone steps and entered the castle. The foyer was red with the torchlight, thinking of his footsteps, but Hera didn't pay attention at all. He walked straight across the stone-paved floor to the two doors leading to the auditorium on the right, where the opening banquet was held.

The auditorium was filled with four long college dining tables, above a starless, pitch-black ceiling, and candles floated above the dining tables, illuminating the silver-white ghosts that dotted the auditorium.

"Professor Dumbledore, I hope I'm not late." Hera walked quickly to the guest seat and whispered to Dumbledore.Dumbledore had been waiting here long ago.Dumbledore sat in a gold high-backed chair right in the middle of the staff table, wearing dark purple robes studded with silver stars and a matching hat.

"Safe all the way?"

"Ah."

"That's really nice."

"I think so." Hera nodded, "So, what is my position, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Oh, I almost forgot that, you just sit where you were before." Dumbledore pointed to the place about two or three seats away from him.

Hera walked up to the guest chair and sat down. The other professors hadn't arrived yet. Some of them were in charge of Hogwarts' magical barriers, and some of them were responsible for welcoming the new students. But he didn't have to wait too long. The professors and students came to the auditorium. The first to arrive were the students above the first grade, and they skillfully walked into the long table of their college.

"Nice to see you again." Professor Flitwick struggled to climb up the chair, which had too many books on it - so that he could reach the dinner plate while sitting on it.

"I'm also happy to see you in the new school year." Hera helped Professor Flitwick sit on the chair. He couldn't help feeling sorry for Professor Flitwick, but considering that Flitwick was the Hogwarts duel champion before, he should have been a grumpy wizard when he was young.Hera restrained her expression, lest Professor Flitwick mistakenly think that Hera was mocking him.

After a few minutes or so, the auditorium was full of boos, and in came a short, fat woman with short, curly taupe hair tied in a big ugly pink bow that matched the fuzzy pink cardigan she wore over her robes—just as ugly.

But this is not the most disgusting thing. She walked up to the guest table and raised her head, so that Hera and the others could see her face clearly.

God!How could there be such an ugly face in this world?

It was a pale, toad-like face with drooping lids and protruding eyes.

"It's really disgusting." Professor Flitwick said with a look of disgust, but he controlled the volume so well that only Hera, who was beside him, could hear clearly.

Hera silently looked away, he still wanted to eat dinner. "It's hard not to agree." Still, he agrees in a low voice.

"I heard it was assigned by the Ministry of Magic, and we just have a vacancy, Dumbledore has no room to refuse." Professor Flitwick whispered into Hera's ear.

Hera nodded, trying not to care about the toad-like woman.Fortunately, the first-year freshmen soon walked into the auditorium under the leadership of Professor McGonagall, and they were about to perform the sorting ceremony.

"Better hurry up, I've been hungry all the way." Hera rubbed her stomach and whispered to Professor Flitwick.

Professor Flitwick could hardly believe his ears, "My God! Didn't you buy snacks on the train?"

"As soon as the salesperson saw me, she closed the door directly, and she didn't even give me a chance to speak." Hera said helplessly.

The Sorting Hat has another new song this year, which no doubt took a lot of brainpower—if it had any brains.It uses singing to warn the students: Hogwarts has reached a crisis point, and the colleges must unite, otherwise it will lead to collapse.

This has been done historically, and the Sorting Hat feels it has a moral duty to spit out appropriate warnings to schools.Voldemort's return, it seems, has caused quite a bit of trouble too - it had to reimagine a new song in just two months of summer vacation, which meant the better part of last year was wasted.

Hera could almost imagine how the Sorting Hat complained about Dumbledore in the principal's office.

The sorting ceremony went very quickly, which also suited Hera's wishes. He had been waiting for a big meal at the dinner party.With Dumbledore's "Eat to your heart's content!", the dinner officially began.

There was appreciative laughter and enthusiastic applause in the Great Hall, and Dumbledore sat down squarely, throwing his long beard over his shoulders so they wouldn't get in the way of his plate.

The five long tables were suddenly filled with hunks of beef, pies, plates of vegetables, bread, jam and jugs of pumpkin juice.The table legs also groaned from being overwhelmed.

However, Hera didn't care at all, he just wanted to have a full meal, grabbed the nearest plate of ribs, and piled them on his plate one by one. The students below who noticed this were almost stunned—they had never seen such a groggy Hera.

It took about ten minutes for Hera to lean on the back of the chair with her stomach supported. This was almost the fastest meal in his life. He was completely full. He chatted with Professor Flitwick in a low voice. Of course, the topic was always inseparable from Ms. Toad. They were betting how long it would take for her to have an accident.

"I'll bet that I won't last until the end of the semester." Hera said confidently.

Professor Flitwick looked very angry, his beard was shaking, "Which person can last until the end of the semester?"

"It seems so."

"Let's just guess if she can leave Hogwarts safely." Professor Flitwick smiled slyly, and the malicious smile even made Ms. Toad shiver.

At the same time, the voices in the auditorium gradually became noisy. At this moment, Dumbledore stood up again. Hera and Professor Flitwick closed their mouths, and Qi Qi turned their faces to Dumbledore.

To be honest, Hera was already a little sleepy at the moment. He got up early today and didn't even enjoy his breakfast. Along the way, he had to be careful about the attacks of Death Eaters or Dementors. His spirit suddenly relaxed. If he didn't respect Dumbledore, Hera would have gone straight back to his office on the fourth floor.

"Okay, since we are all digesting a very rich and delicious meal, I ask everyone to be quiet for a while, and listen to me talk about the precautions for the new semester as usual." Dumbledore stood up and said slowly. The content of his speech was the same as before. Strange thing to do with it, not to mention he still has an invisibility cloak.

Hera drooped his eyelids, and he was going to go back to the office to rest after singing the school song.

However, something unexpected happened——

The Toad Girl stood up abruptly, and although she was not much taller than she was sitting, Dumbledore noticed this and stopped talking.

At this moment, Ms. Toad cleared her throat: "Cough, cough."

Only then did everyone realize that she had stood up and was about to speak.

"How dare she?" Professor Flitwick gripped the fork so hard he nearly bent it.Hera also frowned at the pink disgusting existence, "Is there something wrong with her?"

Everyone frowned subconsciously, not just Hera and Flitwick.Dumbledore only asked for a moment of surprise, and then he did it deftly, watching Lady Toad intently, as if he couldn't wait to hear her speak.

In fact, this is one of the few respects Ms. Toad has received.The vast majority of people started talking about it.After all, no wizard had ever interrupted Dumbledore before - the toad clearly didn't understand Hogwarts rules.

"It's really disgusting." Professor McGonagall's voice was undisguised, and the professors at the guest table could hear it clearly.

(End of this chapter)