The Sorting Hat

A few minutes later, more and more ghosts began to appear in the small room—tall, short, fat, thin, they came in all shapes and sizes, truly giving the first-years a surprise.

At first, the young wizards were indeed quite frightened, but they soon discovered that these ghosts were not scary at all; on the contrary, they were very friendly and greeted everyone with great enthusiasm.

To ease their nervous mood, one ghost even specially performed a little talent exclusive to ghosts, such as holding his own head in his hands.

"Cool..."

Watching that head flipping up and down, someone couldn't help but exclaim.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I have something even cooler."

The ghost seemed to be getting into the spirit, and after speaking, he tossed his head directly into the air, followed by a magnificent front flip and three-and-a-half mid-air spins, before finally landing and reaching out to catch his head steadily.

The movement was fluid, the posture elegant, and every landing point was precise to the millimeter.

Unsurprisingly, this sequence of moves won applause from everyone, Kyle included.

Talents like this weren't something you saw every day.

Brilliant, truly brilliant.

"Thank you, thank you all." The ghost circled the room, bowed slightly to the crowd, and said quite proudly, "Oh, did I forget to mention? It was with this routine that I joined the Headless Hunt. Of course, I'm not bragging; I just mean you all have a good eye."

After that, the atmosphere was completely warmed up.

The young wizards crowded around, egging him on to do another one.

The ghost didn't hold back; although he didn't perform any more high-difficulty stunts, his continuous stream of little tricks kept everyone laughing out loud.

"Hmph."

But just then, a sinister, cold sneer suddenly came from the side: "What is there to be so proud of?"

Everyone turned their heads subconsciously, only to realize that the speaker was also a ghost.

"My apologies, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington." The headless ghost also recognized his colleague in the ruff and quickly said, "I was just trying to make the children happy, I meant no offense."

"It had better be that way."

"Of course, and I sincerely hope that you, Sir, will join the Headless Hunt this year."

Nearly Headless Nick looked at the other ghost with a blank expression, then passed through the wall and left.

Distracted by this interruption, the headless ghost didn't continue his performance, shrugging his shoulders as he said, "Alright everyone, you should be starting your Sorting soon, so get yourselves ready. See you later."

With that, he also passed through the wall toward the Great Hall.

Although everyone felt it was a pity, there was nothing they could do but watch the headless ghost leave.

However, the atmosphere in the room didn't drop much.

After watching the ghost's performance, everyone was very happy and even more excited about the upcoming Sorting.

...Except for Kanna.

She was the only one in the entire room who hadn't paid any attention to the ghost's performance.

By the time Professor McGonagall returned, the little girl was still huddled in the corner, her entire person having turned almost grey-white, and she was constantly exuding an aura of pure despair.

Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall did not notice this.

"I was only gone for a moment, and you've already turned into such a mess!"

She pursed her lips, looking at the group of first-years below with a stern face, and said, "Your laughter could be heard throughout the entire hall. Is it that funny, or do you think the Sorting is a ridiculous matter?"

Professor McGonagall's voice was not loud, but everyone fell silent, hanging their heads and not daring to even breathe loudly.

This lasted for over a minute before Professor McGonagall continued: "Remember, the Sorting is a very serious matter, so please remain quiet.

Now, form a single line and follow me."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone moved, forming a line in less than a minute, and then followed closely behind Professor McGonagall.

Kanna was among them, being pulled along by Kyle, moving her feet in a daze like a walking corpse.

They walked out of the room, crossed the entrance hall, passed through a set of double doors, and finally entered the magnificent Great Hall.

Compared to the entrance hall, the Great Hall was even more grand.

The entire hall was staggering in size; even with four long tables filled with students, it didn't feel crowded in the slightest.

Luxurious golden plates and goblets were set on the tables, and thousands of candles floating in mid-air lit the place up brightly.

Looking further up, the velvet-black ceiling was dotted with stars and swirling clouds, leaving one stunned.

Someone whispered to their companion, "This place is enchanted; it looks just like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Kyle followed the sound, but lost interest after discovering the speaker was a boy.

What a pity; if he had enrolled a year later, he might have become good friends with Hermione.

The group walked until they reached the very front of the hall before stopping.

Above them was the teachers' table.

Dumbledore, in his purple robes, sat in the center, his silver-white hair and beard neatly groomed. He was currently wearing his signature half-moon spectacles, looking gently at every first-year.

Sitting beside him were the four Heads of House.

The Slytherin Head of House, Severus Snape, with his hair slicked back and gleaming.

The short-statured Ravenclaw Head of House, Filius Flitwick.

The kind-looking Hufflepuff Head of House, Pomona Sprout.

As for the Gryffindor Head of House, Professor McGonagall, her seat was currently empty as she was presiding over the Sorting Ceremony.

Including them, there were about twenty professors attending the opening feast today, but even with his best guesses, Kyle could only recognize fewer than ten; he had absolutely no impression of the rest.

This was normal, though; Hogwarts was so vast that if there were only the few professors he remembered, it would hardly be enough to go around.

Furthermore, half of the professors he did know were "one-year wonders," which made the count even smaller.

Kyle withdrew his gaze.

Just then, Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years and set a patched, brown, pointed wizard's hat upon it.

Well, let's call it brown, at least.

The hat was so filthy that even though Professor McGonagall moved with great care, a cloud of dust billowed up the moment it landed.

Moreover, under the candlelight, the hat shimmered with a greasy sheen—it was clearly caked in layers of grime—making it virtually impossible to discern its original color.

Kyle could guarantee that if this hat weren't the Sorting Hat and had appeared in his own home instead, then either he or Chris would certainly be dead.

Or perhaps, they would both be beaten to death by Diana.