Hogwarts Advanced Guide

Chapter 406 The Sorting Ceremony of the New School Year
"Good afternoon, Horace." Hera nodded towards Slughorn. "Please forgive me for coming to this carriage. I heard Savage and Prout say that there is a party here."

"Oh, it's great to have you here, I didn't even know you were on this train." Slughorn gestured, and he retracted his belly to make way for Hera.

Hera glanced at the people who had been invited. Apart from Harry, there was also the kid from the Longbottom family. He was severely tortured by Bellatrix in the Department of Mysteries. He seemed to be recovering well, and his grandma sent him to school.There was also a tall black boy, who Hera remembered as a Slytherin, and two seventh-year boys, and in the corner squeezed next to Slughorn, there was a dazed Ginny Weasley who didn't know why she was here.

"Are you going to have lunch here?" Slughorn asked warily, the fact that he barely moved his legs at all, which couldn't have been more obvious.

"Of course that would be great." Hera nodded, and sat down near the door, next to Harry and opposite to Neville.

"Well, what an honor, I didn't expect Mr. Headmaster to participate in this simple lunch." Slughorn said with some displeasure, but he quickly turned his face to Harry, "Harry, do you know these people?" He chose to ignore Hera.

Hera didn't make a sound either. In fact, he didn't want to waste too much time here. Having lunch with Slughorn was not a good experience—Hera didn't want to get too close to a bunch of students, which would make him lose his dignity.

Slughorn introduced Harry one by one, and Hera sat beside him and listened.

"Well, that's a pleasure," said Slughorn with satisfaction. "A chance to get to know you all a little bit more. Here, get a napkin. I brought my own lunch, and I remember the licorice wands on the food trucks always smelling too strong. How about some quail for a poor elderly man whose digestive system can't take it?"

"I think I'd be happy to invite you to lunch in the other compartment, if you'd like, and I'll tell the house-elf to prepare a nice lunch," Hera said softly, which made the others look away.

"Oh," said Slughorn quickly, his brow furrowed into a slight surprise, "thank you, but I think I've brought my own lunch. And you, Headmaster, do you want something to eat? I've got some quail and blue rolls here."

"Sorry, I don't think I can have lunch with you here." Hera stood up and said, "I have to go to make sure the train is safe again. You know, Horace, this journey may not be happy."

"Okay, okay." Slughorn showed a satisfied smile. "It's a pity, I wanted to have lunch with you! But since you have something else to do, we can only let you go."

"Thank you for understanding." Herald opened the door. He had basically figured out Slughorn's intentions. There was no doubt that he just wanted to say hello to these students before school started so that he could better invite them to join his slug club. Slughorn should have no other ideas.

After all, no one knew whether Slughorn might be another undercover agent Voldemort had inserted into Hogwarts.

Hera returned to the control room, where the two Aurors were nibbling on bread.After saying hello to them, Hera sat in the previous position, took out a bento from her pocket and started to enjoy it.After eating, I started snoring while sitting in a chair.

Hera spent the whole afternoon in a drowsiness, and when Hera woke up again, the train was passing through a long smoky area and entered the red sunset glow.In fact, Hera didn't wake up on her own initiative, someone came to the control room.

This is a guy who looks like an old lion, with dark brown hair and bushy eyebrows mixed with strands of gray, and a pair of sharp eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses. Although he is a little limp, he walks with a kind of striding chic, which makes people immediately feel that he is a sharp and tough guy.

"Hello, Principal Lestrange." Scrimgeour greeted Hera. He looked very serious, with his right hand in his pocket, which was bulging, and it was easy to know that there must be a wand in it.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Minister." Hera stood up and extended her right hand towards Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour was stunned for a moment, then smiled, took his hand out of his pocket, and held it with Hera. "Nice to meet you, I think this is the first time we've met, I've heard your name a long time ago."

"Nice to meet you, I think we will have more opportunities to work together in the future." Hera said.

Their hands let go quickly, and Scrimgeour put his hands in his pockets again. No one thought it was wrong, and Hera didn't care either—people coming out of the Auror's office are always a bit eccentric.There is no doubt that Scrimgeour's eccentricity is probably not to hold his wand tightly all the time.

"I didn't receive the letter until noon, so I came here in a hurry. I don't have much time, so." Scrimgeour said with a straight face, "Please explain your intention, Mr. Lestrange, why did you appear on this train. Please answer me honestly."

Hera shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I have to ensure Harry's safety. I guess most of the Ministry of Magic's staff should be busy fighting the Dark Lord. This might be their breakthrough point."

"Heroes see the same thing." Scrimgeour smiled, but it was better not to smile, because it made his face look extremely distorted.He doesn't seem very good at smiling.

"I have to admit, you are much better than I thought." Hera praised sincerely. After Scrimgeour took the stage, the "Daily Prophet" finally began to tell the truth to the masses, and published a series of protection manuals, including how to protect yourself when encountering Death Eaters—send a signal to the Auror as quickly as possible, or hide yourself in a cupboard.

"You are also much younger than I thought." Scrimgeour's eyes were filled with admiration. "Dumbledore and I have been friends for many years. Although our ideas are sometimes not so similar, this does not prevent me from thinking that he is a wizard worthy of respect."

"Thank you." Hera whispered.

"I have to leave. I just finished a battle in Hampshire. I need to go to the Ministry to check the damage." Scrimgeour glanced at Savage and Prout beside him. "The Ministry's manpower is very tight."

"Understood. Fortunately, the students only need one day to arrive at the castle." Hera nodded.

"Very well, looking forward to our next meeting, I have to go." Scrimgeour gave Savage and Prout a sharp look and then disappeared into the control room.

Savage pursed his lips, "I also want to go to the front line and fight those evil Death Eaters."

Obviously he was still very young and didn't realize how dangerous it was, but Hera was very optimistic about his blood.

"You're just an intern Auror, don't think too much, when you have more experience, you'll get what you want." Prout patted him on the back and said. "We don't want to give out a pension for nothing."

"When did the Ministry run out of money?" Savage muttered in a low voice.

Prout glanced at Hera, and said in a low voice, "Since Fudge stepped down, haven't you seen that the bonuses have decreased a lot?"

"I'm just an intern Auror, no bonus," Savage complained.

The conversation between Prout and Savage was naturally not hidden from Hera, but he didn't take it to heart.In fact it was the obvious thing, Scrimgeour was obviously a man of integrity, and he certainly wouldn't take the opportunity to exploit the pure-blood families - that would only turn them against Voldemort.If it was Fudge, I'm afraid he would blackmail a pure-blood family severely, and then distribute part of those Galleons as bonus shares to the officials of the ministry in order to consolidate his power.

The train stopped soon, and Hera got off the train after saying goodbye to the two Aurors. He saw Ron and Hermione on the platform.

"Harry might be with Slughorn." Hera thought so, turned around and disappeared on the platform.Hagrid was still holding a lamp above the students' heads, and he was calling the first year wizards to take a boat across the Black Lake, and they were about to see Hogwarts Castle for the first time.

When Hera's eyes became clear again, the scene had turned into the resplendent auditorium of Hogwarts Castle.Thousands of candles light up the dining room above the tables.Glittering gold plates and goblets stood on four tables.Hera was sitting in the middle of the first long table in the dining room - Dumbledore's original place.

Penelope was sitting next to her, and she was going to sit in a corner in a while, because she was not a member of the Hogwarts staff, she was at most Hera's secretary, and the ones sitting on Hera's left and right should be Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, but they haven't come yet.Because the students still need some time to reach the castle.

"Do you need some Bordeaux? Will you be nervous?" Penello handed over a glass of red wine, and she was worried that Hera would be too nervous to speak for a while.

Hera shook her head, but still took the red wine and placed it on the table in front of her. "I have to admit that I never thought I would sit in this position to welcome new students."

"Relax, just like Dumbledore did before, it's not that difficult." Penello said softly, and she walked behind Hera and gently rubbed his shoulders for him.

Hera shook her head, "I'm not nervous."

"Yes, yes, how could our principal Hera Lestrange be nervous?" Penello joked, but it obviously didn't work. She could clearly feel that Hera's shoulders were very hard-he was not as relaxed as he said.

There were footsteps in the hall. It was Professor Snape. His hair seemed to have not been washed for many years, and it was shiny.

"Severus, you should try Sleekeazy hair conditioner, as far as I know it works well." Hera began to talk nervously, Snape just snorted coldly and sat on Hera's left.

"I think you'd better have thought about your speech at the opening banquet." Snape said coldly.

"Of course, I've thought about it a long time ago, I've thought about it a long time ago." Hera replied with some lack of confidence. In fact, he and Penello had measured several different versions of the speech, but in the end, Hera decided to stick to his original idea, even though Penello was speechless about it.

The professors filled the seats little by little, and Penello also returned to the edge of the table and sat down. On one side of her was the divination professor Sybill Trelawney, and on the other side was the wall.

There were dense footsteps in the hall, and Hera straightened her robe to ensure that there were no wrinkles on it, ready to welcome the incoming wave of students at any time.

Hagrid was the last professor to come in. He sat on the other side of the staff table. Before taking his seat, he walked up to Hera and whispered, "The first-year students have arrived in the hall, and they are waiting for the sorting house."

"Thank you, Hagrid." Hera nodded, and he turned his head and whispered to Professor McGonagall—Professor McGonagall has been discharged from St. Mungo's hospital. Two months of recuperation has almost recovered her status, but her mental head doesn't seem to be so full. "Minerva, is your body okay?"

Professor McGonagall nodded, "Wrap it on me." She picked up a roll of parchment on the table and made a thumping sound on the floor, and walked towards the hall.

The students were chatting lively, exchanging news from the summer Daily Prophet, and shouting hello to friends from other colleges, glad they were seeing each other again in two months.

Not long after, the door leading to the hall opened, and a long pair of first-year freshmen who seemed to be in shock walked into the auditorium led by Professor McGonagall.Professor McGonagall was holding a stool in his hand with an ancient wizard's hat on it-Penello had prepared the sorting hat and placed it in the corner of the auditorium a long time ago.

The hum of conversation in the auditorium gradually subsided, and the first-year students lined up in front of the staff desks, facing the students from other grades.Professor McGonagall carefully placed the stool in front of them and stepped back to the right.

The Sorting Hat opened its mouth and bluffed in the direction of Hera.Hera nodded, indicating that the sorting ceremony could proceed.

The slit by the brim opened like a mouth, and the Sorting Hat sang loudly:
"Long ago I was a new hat,
Hogwarts hadn't been built yet,
Thought they'd never part ways,

Their desires are so identical,
Let their knowledge pass on and continue.

But they never dreamed,

Someday they will be apart from each other.

What friends are there in this world,
Can it be better than Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless you count another pair of best friends—

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
The strife then subsided,
A new confusion arises again,

Please listen carefully to my new song:

Hogwarts is in danger,
Though I shall divide you,
But it's my job,
Enemies outside the school are watching,

We must be united internally."

(End of this chapter)