Idiot! Crybaby! Scum! Twist!

The Sorting Hat's resounding cry of "GRYFFINDOR!" was like an invisible switch, instantly igniting the enthusiasm in one corner of the Great Hall.

Lin Yuan hadn't even had time to fully savor the ancient spiritual imprints of the four founders lingering in that greasy old hat before he was engulfed by a tidal wave of applause and cheers.

He walked calmly toward the red-and-gold table, countless eyes fixed on him along the way.

Some held curiosity, some scrutiny, and from the Slytherin table came undisguised displeasure, like someone who'd had a favorite toy snatched away—Draco Malfoy was glaring at him with those pale gray eyes, his expression far from friendly.

Lin Yuan couldn't care less. In fact, he found it a little amusing.

The joys and sorrows of children were always so pure and straightforward.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Ron's face was flushed with excitement as he vigorously patted the empty seat beside Lin Yuan. "Sit down, Lane! You're absolutely brilliant! That hat was on your head for almost three minutes, you know? We thought you were going to be a Sorting Hat holdout!"

"Welcome to the best house in all of Hogwarts!" Harry added sincerely, looking at Lin Yuan with a newfound sense of kinship, as if to say, "We're the same kind of people."

Lin Yuan smiled and sat down. No sooner had he settled than a figure leaned in—Hermione Granger, with her bushy brown hair.

"Lane, what did the Sorting Hat say to you in your head?" she whispered, but her eyes sparkled with an irrepressible thirst for knowledge. "Did it mention Ravenclaw? Your temperament seems very Ravenclaw. Oh, I'm not saying Gryffindor is bad—Gryffindor is wonderful, of course—I mean... from an academic perspective, your choice is a bit unexpected."

She rattled off a whole string of words, fast as if reciting a spell.

Before Lin Yuan could answer, one of the red-haired twins across from him winked and mimicked the Sorting Hat's raspy voice: "Oh, a mysterious lad from the East, let him go sit with those bookworms who only bury their heads in reading? No, no, no—that's a waste! He's got to come to us; we're just missing a chief technical officer to help us develop new prank items!"

"That's right, George," the other twin chimed in. "I bet his brain is packed with stuff a hundred times more interesting than Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1. Hey, Lane, I'm Fred, and this is George. Or I'm George and he's Fred? Who cares, you'll have plenty of time to get confused later."

The two played off each other, drawing laughter from the surrounding Gryffindors.

Lin Yuan just smiled, picked up the empty plate in front of him with composure, and said, "It told me Gryffindor has the best Pumpkin Pasties in all of Hogwarts."

This answer clearly caught everyone off guard. Even Hermione was stunned.

Just then, Albus Dumbledore rose from the head table. His silver-white beard glistened in the candlelight, and the blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles swept across the hall with a smile.

"Welcome!" he said cheerfully. "Welcome new students, and welcome back old friends to Hogwarts!"

"First-years should note that the Forbidden Forest—that dark patch of woods over there—is off-limits to all students. And some older students would do well to remember that too." As he said this, he cast a meaningful glance at the Gryffindor table, where the Weasley twins were gleefully studying a "Potato Bonsai."

"Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind everyone," he continued, "that the fourth-floor right-hand corridor in the main building is out of bounds this year. Any student who doesn't want to die a very painful death should stay away."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately exchanged tense, curious glances.

The fourth floor? What could be hidden there that Dumbledore would warn about in such a serious tone?

"Alright, now—time for the School Song!" Dumbledore suddenly switched to a jovial expression. He drew his wand and gave it a flick; a long, golden ribbon flew from the tip, twisting into lyrics in midair.

"Everyone, sing to whatever tune they like!"

And so the Great Hall was instantly drowned in a catastrophic, thousand-melody-off-key, utterly chaotic, wailing "chorus." The Weasley twins sang solemnly in a slow, funeral-march tempo. Peeves tumbled through the air, rapping in a sharp, fast-paced rhythm.

Lin Yuan didn't sing.

He just listened quietly. In his perception, which surpassed ordinary humans, this "chorus" wasn't meaningless noise.

He could sense that when a thousand wizards drove the same "text" (the School Song lyrics) with their own wills, their chaotic mental energies, amplified by Hogwarts as a massive resonator, formed a strange, intangible collective spiritual resonance filled with "belonging" and "identity."

This resonance, though faint, was subtly strengthening the spiritual bond between each student and the collective entity of "Hogwarts."

"I see. Using this seemingly absurd chaos to complete an annual collective 'spiritual contract' reinforcement and confirmation for all staff and students. A bit like... the 'Prayer' rituals in the cultivation world, just much more unrestrained in form. This old man with the white beard is definitely not simple."

When the last note was sung by the Weasley twins in a tragic, theatrical tone, Dumbledore wiped tears of laughter from his eyes with a napkin and announced loudly, "Music! A magic far beyond anything we do here! Before we dig in, I have a few words to say: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat down.

The hall erupted in thunderous applause and cheers.

Harry and Ron were doubled over with laughter. Hermione frowned, as if analyzing the grammatical structure and deeper meaning of those words.

But Lin Yuan, the moment Dumbledore spoke those words, keenly caught a trace of unusual magical fluctuation.

"Not just random nonsense." His Spiritual Sense clearly perceived that those seemingly meaningless words, when spoken, resonated strangely with the magical atmosphere of the entire hall, like a key code gently activating some kind of program.

The next second, a miracle happened.

On the four long tables, the once-empty golden plates and silver cutlery were suddenly piled high with food.

Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy... and the Pumpkin Pasties he'd just casually mentioned, giving off an enticing sweet aroma.

"Wow!" Ron's eyes went wide. Without a word, he grabbed the nearest chicken leg and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling, "I love magic!"

Harry was also stunned; he'd never seen such a lavish feast.

Hermione tried to explain it theoretically: "This is an extremely advanced Conjuration Charm, and it's group-targeted... Goodness, to maintain a spell on this scale, you'd need such immense magical power..."

Lin Yuan didn't move.

He examined the food before him with a researcher's gaze.

In his Spiritual Sense, this food wasn't "created" from nothing like 3D printing.

It was more like... "teleported" from one place to another.

"Spatial transfer? Or some kind of directed delivery system based on House-elf magic?" He picked up a roast potato, carefully sensing the residual magical traces on it. "Hmm, there's a very faint magical residue that doesn't belong to a human wizard. So the kitchens are directly below the Great Hall, using some magical passage to project the prepared food onto the tables. Efficient, energy-saving, and full of ceremony. Clever design."

He filed these analyses away in his mind, then began to enjoy dinner at a leisurely pace.

The atmosphere at the feast was lively and cheerful.

Students chatted loudly, sharing stories from their summer holidays.

Ghosts drifted out from the walls, weaving between the tables, greeting the students with their translucent bodies.

Nearly Headless Nick, the resident ghost of Gryffindor, floated over to their table and warmly welcomed the new students.

"I hope you'll win the House Cup for Gryffindor!" he said in a slightly melancholy tone, trying to adjust his head back into place, only for it to wobble and droop onto the other shoulder. "We haven't beaten Slytherin in years."

"With Harry here this year, we've definitely got this!" an upperclassman shouted.

"And Lane!" Fred or George added. "He looks like the type who'd rack up points!"

After the desserts—including various flavors of ice cream, apple pie, chocolate fudge, and jam doughnuts—had been completely cleared away, Dumbledore stood up again.

"Alright, now that everyone is full and satisfied, I have a few announcements to make before you head back to your dormitories to sleep."

"First, first-year students, please note: the Forbidden Forest on campus is open to all students... oh, I mean forbidden. Some older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore said, casting a meaningful glance in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"Additionally, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind everyone that the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor is off-limits to anyone this school year. If you don't want to die a very unpleasant death, stay far away from there."

His tone was as casual as if he were saying "the weather is nice today," but the content made the new students gasp.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look that was both terrified and excited.

Lin Yuan quietly extended a tendril of his divine sense toward that direction.

He sensed an unusual fluctuation of magical energy at the end of the fourth-floor right corridor.

It was a deliberately sealed mass of energy, a mixture of protection, confinement, and... some kind of raw life force.