Ancient wizards return to Hogwarts.

Miss Granger's unintentional words made Les's first impression of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry extremely bad.

What's wrong, are you embarrassed about being Slytherin house?

If the teachers and students of Ilvermorny heard what Les was thinking, they would definitely reply: Yes, it's very shameful.

The reason why there is no house similar to Slytherin among the four houses of Ilvermorny is certainly related to the fact that pure-bloodism is not as prevalent in North America as in the British wizarding world, and a lot of pure-blood families with hundreds of years of inheritance have been born there. But the source of all this is indeed inextricably linked to Slytherin House.

Isolt Sayer, the founder of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is a graduate of Hogwarts. She has an aunt named Gormlaith Gaunt. The surname "Gaunt" alone is enough to show that Gormlaith is a staunch pure-blood supremacist. However, James Stewart, the husband of Isolt Sayer who co-founded Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is a Muggle. When she left her aunt's house, she also took the Gaunt family heirloom, which is said to be Salazar Slytherin's wand.

It is conceivable how fierce the conflict will be between the two.

That was the closest Ilvermorny School came to destruction, but Isolt Sayre was ultimately able to defeat and kill her aunt.

Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which was born based on such a background, would have no good feelings towards Slytherin! This school rejects pure-blood supremacism from the root, and is recognized as one of the most democratic and impartial great magic schools. Naturally, there will not be a school with a setting similar to Slytherin.

Les was not aware of these stories. He only knew that Rowena and Helga had heard about what happened in Ilvermorny.

Looking at the backs of the two people who were shaking as they tried to hold back their laughter, Rice felt unwell.

Seraphina Picquery, the headmistress of Ilvermorny, was a witch who looked even older than Dumbledore. After a brief chat with Dumbledore, she led her group of students, who were dressed in blue and berry red robes, to stand in the formation of other schools.

At this point, the eight most prestigious schools in the world have gathered together, ready to participate in a grand event in the wizarding world.

Seeing that the last magic school had arrived, Karkaroff stepped forward and gave them a warm smile.

"Dumbledore, my dear old friend, it looks like everyone is here!" He said in a mellow and sweet voice, "Can we go in now? Viktor is a little hungry."

As he spoke, he waved his hand, motioning Viktor Krum to stand at the front of the Durmstrang formation.

Of course Karkaroff did it on purpose. He just wanted to take the opportunity to let Krum show up and give other schools a little Durmstrang shock.

Look! The legendary Seeker Viktor Krum is a student of Durmstrang! Do you have such an outstanding student?

When the teacher standing not far away heard the title "old friend", his eyebrows trembled fiercely: No, who are you? How can you call Dumbledore "old friend"? Are you familiar with him?

After carefully observing Karkaroff's expression and posture, Rice felt that he was shouting like that on purpose, in order to touch Dumbledore's skin. It was a common practice to raise one's status in disguise by using a familiar name - anyway, Dumbledore would never say "Who are you, buddy" in such an occasion, so he could only cooperate with him in acting.

"Of course," Dumbledore responded gently, while showing a polite but distant look. "We do have a sumptuous banquet prepared."

"That's great." Karkaroff said no more and gestured to his students to go into the castle.

Dumbledore stopped them with a smile.

"Please enter in order of distance from the gate, otherwise the line will be a mess." As Dumbledore spoke, he waved to Seraphina Picquery who was standing at the edge, making a gesture of invitation.

Seraphina Picquery smiled in response and without any hesitation, she led the students of Ilvermorny into Hogwarts Castle.

Having lived for a long time, she knew Karkaroff's background too well and naturally disliked such a guy. At the same time, she secretly lamented that Durmstrang, which once suppressed Northern Europe and cultivated ruthless people like Grindelwald, eventually declined.

After his request to cut in line was politely rejected, Karkaroff's smile was no longer so strong. He strode back to the Durmstrang queue and stopped "reminiscing" with Dumbledore.

Each school entered Hogwarts Castle in turn.

Rice's face was full of smiles as he watched the students from other schools exclaim one after another as they walked into the castle.

Hogwarts Castle, with a history of over a thousand years, is a well-deserved pearl in the wizarding world. Those wizards from other schools who are lucky enough to witness its splendor are all blessed.

Of course, the students of Hogwarts will prove next that they are worthy of such a beautiful school.

The formations of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were next to each other, so the three schools entered the castle one after the other.

As the students marched through the entrance hall and headed towards the auditorium, Karkaroff quickened his pace, unnoticedly catching up with the Hogwarts teachers and chatting with Snape at the end of the line.

After chatting for a while, he reached out and squeezed Snape's left arm affectionately, then went back to ask Krum about his well-being.

When Karkaroff pinched his arm, Snape's expression became noticeably gloomier.

Although there were seven more teachers and students from the schools, since a single magic school could only have a maximum of thirteen contestants, including the leading professors from each school, there were only less than a hundred more people.

It is quite easy for the Hogwarts Great Hall to accommodate a hundred more people.

When Rice and his friends entered the Hogwarts Great Hall, they found that students from other schools had already found a place to sit. Students from Ilvermorny and Castrobush chose the Gryffindor table at the edge, students from Vagado chose the Hufflepuff table, students from Beauxbatons and Ravenclaw sat together, and Durmstrang, who followed the Hogwarts team, chose Slytherin.

Kodosdoriz and the people from the Institute of Magic sat down wherever there were empty seats and did not gather around one table.

Durmstrang's choice made the students of Slytherin College smile: because Krum was sitting with them! If you look deeper, there is also the reason that the philosophy of Slytherin College and Durmstrang School of Magic is relatively similar.

As Rice looked at the Durmstrang students wearing heavy fur cloaks, he couldn't help but think of his old friend. Since the school was founded by his old friend, he had a good first impression of the Durmstrang students.

"We also live in a castle, but our castle is not as tall as Hogwarts. However, our campus is very large..." Some students from Durmstrang have already started chatting with students from Slytherin College.

Listening to the words of Durmstrang students, Les couldn't help but smile: Durmstrang would of course choose to build a castle. In an extremely cold place like the Nordic wilderness, the thick walls of the castle can effectively block the cold wind from the Arctic Circle.

As for why the castle was not built taller, it was his suggestion to Nelida Vukanova. After the little witch saw the Hogwarts Castle, she wanted to build a castle as big as the Hogwarts Castle as her own magic school, but was persuaded by Rice.

Because the construction of Hogwarts is actually quite large, and Nelida Vulcanova does not have a helper like Godric, she may not be able to complete the castle even if she spends half her life. And a castle that is too large will consume a lot of energy to provide lighting and heating, which will put Durmstrang's finances in an extremely dangerous state, so a smaller castle is more practical.

Nelida Vulkanova adopted Rice's suggestion and built Durmstrang's castle in less than a year. She later wanted to invite Rice to teach her students, but Rice was busy teaching at Hogwarts at that time, so he declined her invitation and only provided Durmstrang with some teaching materials and magic books.

"Hello, may I know your name? I'm Polyaco Hawthorne, a seventh-year student at Durmstrang." A boy from Durmstrang stretched his neck and started to chat with Astoria.

"Astoria Greengrass." Astoria wasn't in the mood to talk, so she just gave her name out of politeness.

When my ancestors followed Lord Salazar Slytherin and founded Hogwarts, Durmstrang didn't even exist. It's a great honor for you to tell you my name.

"Oh, the ancient and sacred Greenshade family! My ancestors, like your ancestors, studied magic under Lord Slytherin, but after graduation they moved to Northern Europe and settled down in Scandinavia." After learning that Astoria was a descendant of the Greengrass family, Polyaco widened his eyes and immediately began to make friends with Astoria.

Apparently, Astoria's bloodline is highly regarded by students at Durmstrang.

Durmstrang School is like a large Slytherin College, with high requirements for bloodline and tolerance for dark magic - this is the tone set since the school was founded. After all, the first goal of this school when it was founded was to monitor Northern Europe and ensure that the belief in the gods would not revive in this land. So they need reliable students and strong power.

Astoria responded with a polite smile: Since you went to Northern Europe after graduation, it means your level is limited and cannot be compared with your ancestor, Dragon Heart Adrian.

She was wrong, because the ancestor of the Hawthorn family was indeed sent by Rice to Northern Europe to support Nelida Vokhanova.

When Polyaco gave his last name, Rice immediately remembered his student.

'Hawthorn tree... what a distant memory.' Rice did have a student named Hawthorne, but he was not as fully recognized as Adrian. After he graduated, Rice thought that this guy was quite good, so she wrote a letter to her old friend, recommending him to work for her.

I didn't expect to meet an old friend again, this is really a pleasant surprise.

Just as Polyaco wanted to continue chatting with Astoria, Dumbledore came to the staff seat with the headmasters of other schools.

The headmasters of other schools took their seats one by one, while Dumbledore remained standing, and the hall gradually became quiet.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and distinguished guests," Dumbledore smiled at the students in the audience, "Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope and believe that you will spend a comfortable and enjoyable year here."

"The competition will officially begin at the end of the banquet, but before everyone enjoys the dinner, I would like to welcome a group of special guests. They are individual players outside the eight major magic schools who are still interested in participating in the World Youth Wizard Championship!"

As he spoke, Dumbledore drew out his wand and waved it gently. A long table as long as those of the other four major colleges appeared out of thin air in the hall. It was also decorated with golden cutlery and candlesticks, and hundreds of chairs were neatly placed around the table.

Compared to the fierce competition in major magic schools, the standards for participating in the competition as an individual or as a magic organization are much more relaxed. You only need to report to the British Ministry of Magic in advance, and then pass a simple magic level test to prove that you are a wizard to participate.

Therefore, some students from other schools who were not selected would even find loopholes to get themselves expelled from the school, and then register for the competition as individuals or as members of magic organizations - some people actually succeeded in taking this path.

But even if such people exist, the number of independent contestants does not exceed one hundred, which is not much different from the number of contestants from magic schools.

After setting up the long table, Dumbledore said loudly: "Independent contestants, please enter!"

There was a sound of footsteps in the side hall previously used for the Sorting. Mr. Henry, a representative of the Ministry of Magic, and Ludo Bagman appeared first, followed by a large group of people.

"Contestants, please come to the front of the stage and introduce yourself to everyone..." Dumbledore would definitely not let independent contestants sit down directly at their seats, as that would be too rude.

The contestants entered the auditorium one by one, stood in front of the staff seats either individually or in groups, and reported the faction to which they belonged.

"Heraklion-Patras Joint School of Magic..." "Mahabodhi Temple..." "Longhu Mountain..."

Independent contestants entered one by one, and the line in the side hall gradually shortened.

At the end, a strong red-haired man led seven young wizards into the hall. They were the last batch of independent contestants.

After seeing the man's face clearly, the smile on Rice's face disappeared.

The red-haired wizard stood in front of the staff seat, glanced at the students in front of him, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He said loudly in a resonant voice:

"The Secret Order - Godric Gryffindor - has come with seven young monks to participate in the competition!"

The auditorium suddenly fell silent.

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Here’s the update, good night everyone.