"Diana Montgomery".
Hufflepuff!
(The novel only mentions it briefly, but it still exists in the background of the movie world, prompting Ron to exclaim in front of Hermione, praising the beautiful Montgomery sisters, "Dane, in this world he's a girl!" "But he's our little brother, he's only 3 years old!")
Harry and his two friends did not recognize her.
Professor McGonagall put the list away as the name was read aloud.
The Sorting Ceremony has concluded.
The Sorting Hat and the bench automatically detached from the ground and hovered steadily in mid-air, as if they were connected to Professor McGonagall by an invisible rein, following her out of the Great Hall.
("This is spell card magic again. It's so easy and convenient. No gestures, incantations, or even a wand. It's just a thought." Dumbledore exclaimed. "Perhaps the magic of this world is the most suitable for us. The magic in the Magic Immortal World is too profound, and it mostly relies on gods and Spell Spirit. Our world doesn't have these.")
A short while later, she returned to her seat.
Then, at Dumbledore's command, the banquet began.
Plates piled high with food were Winky by the usual floating candles; golden goblets held iced yellow Pumpkin Juice that appeared out of nowhere; and salt, vinegar, gravy, and various sauces adorned the spaces between the plates and goblets.
("What's this?" Ron asked, pointing to a small dish of sausage-like things that almost every wizard had on their plate.)
(Some sorcerers who believe in the principle of "like cures like" have already figured it out.)
Harry and his two friends also wanted to ask at that moment.
Because apart from the witches at the Hufflepuff table who were mostly busy eating the food in front of them, most of the other witches at the long tables were looking at them with a mischievous gaze, as well as at the sliced, sausage-like things on their elbow plates.
Percy and the other wizards, however, looked humiliated and began to swallow them bit by bit.
"Is it bad?" Harry forked a piece and put it in his mouth. "It's chewy, but it's delicious! This is—"
After the substance was swallowed, a warm current spread from my stomach and then went straight down to an indescribable place.
"You felt it, didn't you?" Neville smiled wryly. "Dragon Whip, a dish created by the famous apothecary witch Borach, combining it with Potions. It's an aphrodisiac and kidney tonic, very beneficial to male witches' magic and fertility."
(Many viewers who love Potions were surprised to learn that Libash Borach is also a witch in this world?)
(In the dragon farm, the dragon tamer unconsciously began to look at the male fire dragon and started to ponder.)
(Dumbledore turned solemn. "An aphrodisiac? Hopefully, the dragons of this world won't become extinct because of it.")
(In the pursuit of male enhancement, humans have caused the extinction of too many species.)
(Even mummies, these dried corpses that were associated with aphrodisiacs, were almost all eaten up.)
Neville pointed to the other dishes, "These are also dishes she created, a combination of Potions and culinary skills— Magic Meal, all for male wizards to nourish their bodies."
("Interesting," Dumbledore, having read the information in Phoebe Magic Treasure Book, stroked his chin. "Potions in this world also combined with cooking, just like in the Magic Immortal World?")
(Snape glanced at the sausage on the plate. Could cooking be the future of Potions?)
"Are they all aphrodisiacs?" Harry asked in surprise, then ate a piece of Dragon Whip to calm his nerves.
Krum and Cedric have finished eating.
(Countless viewers cast envious glances, all expressing a desire to eat it, or to give it to their partners.)
(Cho Chang's face turned red with anger. He was adding this in another world—which slut was he planning to use this on?! Which Cho Chang?)
Upon hearing this, the two quickly moved their knives and forks to other foods.
Although Neville looked miserable, he didn't stop eating. "Their effects aren't as good as this plate of Dragon Whip in front of us."
Krum and Cedric slowed down their eating.
Neville sighed, "If I could eat Dragon Whip every day, every meal, I could easily recover even if I were cornered in an empty classroom by a group of witches, humiliated, and drained of my magic."
"Unfortunately, it's only held during the school term and holidays, such as banquets."
"Do they eat the same thing?" Krum asked after he had eaten more slowly.
"Of course not," Neville shook his head. "Only male wizards eat Magic Meal."
"But isn't the status of a male wizard very low?" Cedric asked.
"Hmph!" Percy, who was engrossed in eating, sneered. "The cows at high-end dairy farms are fed the same concentrated feed."
"In the eyes of those witches, there are so few male witches, how can we manage without replenishing them?"
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold, and for a moment only the sound of knives and forks clattering against plates could be heard.
Until
"Hello, gentlemen, why are you all so listless? Why don't you smile?" A phantom, milky-white head popped out from under the table.
(Nearly Headless Nick appears in the Great Hall in the same way, "Great, in this world I'm still a man!")
Its occurrence is not an isolated case.
Countless illusory, milky-white figures passed through the walls and floors and entered the Great Hall.
(The appearance of the ghost shattered the expectations of some viewers, who had thought this world would have an easier way to achieve immortality than the Magic Immortal World.)
"Hello, Nick." Percy forced a smile, then introduced him to Harry: "Sir Nicholas, the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower. You can just call him Nick."
Nick nodded slightly with an air of refinement. "Very good, Percy. You are much more polite than your two sisters."
Cedric noticed that not only Nick, but also Hufflepuff, the Fat Friar was originally a resident ghost of Slytherin, and the Bloody Baron were lingering at the long table on the wizards' side, instead of going to the long table on their school's side.
(Many viewers who noticed this also sighed, it seems that the gender antagonism in this world has even spread to ghosts.)
Harry asked it directly.
Nick looked angry. "I'm not going back until wizards can participate in the Sorting House and nine-year education is restored."
"Me too," the Fat Friar nodded.
Bloody Baron remained silent, yet he still expressed his stance.
"Recover?" Percy licked the crumbs off his plate and sneered. "It won't take long, maybe even tomorrow."
(Fifth floor of the Ministry of Magic - Department of International Magical Cooperation, Percy, ignoring the words of his other self, frowned, "Licking the plate? How could I do that?")
(A colleague shrugged, "That's normal. This is Magic Meal, isn't it? And you failed a year because of your magical abilities. Clearly, every bite is very important to you.")
("Tomorrow?" Some viewers were surprised. Such confidence—could the key to this mission really be related to Percy Weasley?)
Harry and his friends had also thought of this.
At the signal from the other two, Krum, who was the first to meet Percy in this world and was considered to be closest to Percy, casually asked, "Tomorrow? This situation can only mean that there is a problem with the Mother-Child River."
Harry chimed in, "I feel like as long as it's around, our status can't rise."
"It?" It was Neville who spoke. "It can be at Hogwarts, the safest place in the world."
"Putting something like this in a school?" Cedric was somewhat bewildered.
How is this any different from schools selling condoms and having themed sex rooms?
"Who knows, its inventor was Phineas Nigellus Black—the former headmaster of Hogwarts."
(Phineas Nigellus Black? Many viewers who knew the principal's history couldn't believe their ears.)
(He was the most unpopular headmaster in the school's history, who placed great importance on bloodline and always harbored resentment towards Muggle-born, referring to them as "Mudblood." Although he toned it down after becoming headmaster, it's hard to believe he could achieve such success.)
(Just because of a gender change?)
(Sirius, the Sirius of the headmaster, immediately ran to the family library and began reading Phineas Nigellus Black's biography.)
(But after a quick glance, apart from the newly learned fact that his older brother Sirius died when he was eight, everything else matched Sirius's understanding of him.)
Harry and his two companions also knew who this person was.
Suppressing their surprise, Harry stepped forward and asked, "Hogwarts? The Mother-Child River is still a river, isn't it? Where is something this big?"
"It's everywhere," Neville said.
("What?" Professor McGonagall could no longer contain herself. "I absolutely refuse to acknowledge this as Hogwarts.")
(Students come to school to learn magic, not to have babies!)
"The Black Lake, the underground river, the water vapor in the air—it can be said that all the 'water' in Hogwarts is a 'Mother-Child River'."
Harry and his two friends quickly put down their cups.
(Dumbledore became serious. Could the magical artifact capable of transforming all the water within Hogwarts into the "Mother-Child River" be Hogwarts itself? If Phineas Nigellus Black was merely adding a new function to this ancient and powerful magical structure, then it would make sense.)
(After all, while Phineas was excellent, he never showed the potential to create something that would influence an entire era.)
Neville continued, "The liquid form is the [Mother River], and the gaseous form is the [Child River]. The [Child River] is the most difficult to collect, as it easily turns back into the [Mother River] during the collection process."
"But for them to work, two wizards are needed to activate them with a secret spell while drinking the [Child River] and the [Mother River] respectively."
"Only witches of the right age can know this magic. They need to apply to the Ministry of Magic and seal the memory of the spell after using it."
("Why is it a seal, and not an erasure?" Dumbledore was still pondering.)
(Considering Neville's idea of omnipresence, could it be that the "Mother-Child River" has already expanded throughout the entire Earth through the water cycle?)
(This might be to prevent the technique from being lost during war, or simply to guard against male witches.)
"Bloodline potion," Cedric said.
"What are you saying?" Neville didn't understand Cedric's meaning.
Percy's expression turned serious. "You mean..."
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Cedric nodded.
"What do you mean?" Neville pressed.
"Just like the Salem Witch's bloodline potion spread across the globe via waterways, causing all future wizards to become modern wizards, could the [Mother-Child River] have also long since flowed across the globe, infecting all water sources?" Cedric's forehead broke out in a cold sweat.
"This means that as long as the spell is known and how to collect the [River of Children] is collected, the witch can still conceive even on the other side of the earth."
"No," Harry shook his head. "The principle is different. Bloodline potions work on people. They modify people directly from the source."
("How does Harry know the principles are different?" Ron frowned.)
("Idiot," Ginny said irritably, "Because if it were like Cedric thinks, the mission wouldn't work.")
("In this situation, Voldemort is completely unable to destroy the Mother-Child River.")
(Hermione stroked her chin. "It's still possible. Perhaps it's another tool that can restore the Mother-Child River to water. As long as the source is destroyed, this tool will continue to operate, and Voldemort will eventually achieve his goal.")
"The outward diffusion of the [Mother-Child River] is through water, and the energy within it that leads to conception will decrease as it operates."
"Once the magical artifact that caused the radiating water veins in the castle to become the 'Mother-Child River' is destroyed, the remaining 'Mother-Child River' will be nothing but a source without roots."
"That's it," Percy, ending the conversation.
He had also considered the possibility that the Mother-Child River had completely altered the structure of the water, replacing all the water over a century.
But he dared not think that this meant the wizard's chances of defeating the witch had decreased again.
The banquet was drawing to a close.
Dumbledore stood up. "Now that everyone has eaten and drunk their fill, let me talk about something serious."
"Everyone in this Great Hall knows that Voldemort and his entourage are stirring up trouble again, and their power is growing."
The witch fell silent, while the wizards lowered their heads, their lips trembling with suppressed joy.
"I need to emphasize that the current situation is extremely dangerous, and everyone at Hogwarts needs to be extremely careful to ensure their own safety."
"The castle's magical defenses were reinforced during the summer vacation, and we received new and more effective protection. However, every teacher and student must remain vigilant at all times and not let our guard down in the slightest."
"Therefore, I require you to strictly abide by every safety rule set by the teacher, and not to suffer lifelong regret for a moment of pleasure—especially to abide by the rule that you must not get up and go out after the designated time."
"I keep in mind that we are not necessarily the hunters, but also the prey."
"I urge you all to immediately report any unusual or suspicious situations you discover, whether on or off campus. I trust that you will restrain your behavior for your own safety and the safety of others."
Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over all the students, lingering particularly long over the wizards.
"Alright, your beds are waiting for you, as warm and comfortable as you expected. I know your priority now is to get some rest and prepare for class tomorrow. So, let's say goodnight."