New Business Opportunities

To be honest, if he had a choice, Kyle wouldn't really want to be the Prefect. On the train to school, he'd much rather stay in his compartment chatting or playing a few games of Wizard's Chess than walk around patrolling.

Fortunately, the students were very cooperative; apart from Fred and George, who were deliberately causing trouble, everyone else was quite quiet.

Finally, as evening approached, the Hogwarts Express slowed down and pulled into the dark Hogsmeade Station.

The car door opened, and a rumble of thunder came from the sky. The rain was pouring down, as if buckets of icy water were being poured over their heads.

Kyle put on his Impervius badge, and the others followed suit; those without badges conjured up umbrellas for themselves.

In short, everyone has their own methods... except for first graders.

They needed to follow Hagrid across the Black Lake by boat, and were taken away as soon as they got off the vehicle.

"Oh, taking a boat in this weather isn't a good idea," Cedric shuddered. "Hopefully, their first impression of Hogwarts won't be too bad."

They moved slowly with the crowd until they reached the carriages. Kyle randomly chose the nearest one and got in, and the others followed suit.

A moment later, with a violent jolt, the carriage set off along the path leading to the castle, splashing water all the way.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the two oak gates, and the students in front quickly jumped off the carriage and ran into the castle on the stone steps.

The Entrance Hall was warm and cozy, with torches burning in it.

As Kyle walked in, he saw a water-filled balloon fall from the ceiling and explode above Ron's head, soaking him completely.

Then, balloons were thrown down one after another, and the people around screamed in fright, pushing and shoving each other to get away from this troublesome place.

"Peeves!" an angry voice shouted, "Get down here right now!"

Professor McGonagall rushed out of the Great Hall, but the floor was so wet that she slipped and nearly fell backward to look...

That's why cats are known for their quick reflexes. Professor McGonagall remained calm under pressure, swiftly reaching out and grabbing the neck of someone nearby to regain her balance.

"Oh dear... I'm so sorry, Miss Granger..."

"Cough cough... It's alright, Professor..." Hermione said breathlessly, rubbing her throat.

For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw her grandmother...

"Peeves, get down here right now!" Professor McGonagall roared.

"I didn't do anything," Peeves chuckled, throwing a few more water bombs at the second-grade students who had just come in. "They're already soaked, aren't they? Hey, little brat, don't run away!"

"I'm warning you, Peeves!" Professor McGonagall shouted, her expression growing increasingly serious...

Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last few water bombs into the air, then darted up the Marble Staircase, cawing wickedly as he ran away.

"Alright, come in quickly." Professor McGonagall opened the Great Hall doors, gesturing for the students, who were soaked to the bone, to hurry inside, while muttering under her breath:

"I really don't know where Peeves got so many balloons from; he hasn't even thrown them all out after a whole holiday..."

Kyle coughed lightly and walked past Professor McGonagall without saying a word.

The Great Hall was still as magnificent as ever, and it had been specially decorated for the new semester banquet. The ceiling, which seemed to be under a spell, was flashing with lightning and thunder, which frightened some of the younger students into screaming incessantly.

Kyle and the others walked over to the long table in Hufflepuff and sat down.

Soon, all the tables in the other colleges were also full of people, who gathered together and chattered about the fun things that happened during the holidays.

The most frequently mentioned event was naturally the Quidditch World Cup. Students who hadn't gone to watch the games were curiously asking what had happened and whether it was as exciting as the newspapers described.

"I wonder who the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be this year." Cedric glanced at the front row of High Table; not a single face was unfamiliar.

"Maybe they can't find anyone," Mikel said, glancing also at the High Table.

"Everyone knows this position is cursed; so far, no professor has ever survived a single academic year... Oh..."

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Have you noticed? Professor Snape doesn't seem to be here this year either."

He said excitedly, "Could it be that besides Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions Class will also have a new professor this year?"

"Oh my god, this is wonderful!"

"Maybe he was just held up by something..." Kyle said, pouring cold water on the idea.

Snape is probably still busy dealing with Regulus and doesn't have time to attend the opening banquet.

"Oh, can't you just let me be happy for a little while?" Mikel said wistfully.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Great Hall doors opened, and everyone immediately fell silent.

Professor McGonagall led a group of first-year students into the Great Hall.

"They're really in a sorry state," Cedric muttered.

The freshmen were soaking wet; they looked as if they had swum directly from the lake, not by boat.

Kyle stroked his chin, thinking he could talk to Dumbledore about whether he could take on the job of engraving magic runes on those small boats.

By inscribing specific symbols with magic patterns onto a small boat, an invisible canopy can be added to the boat, thus blocking out rainwater.

This way, the current situation will not happen again.

The freshmen looked really disheveled; they didn't even dare to make eye contact with those around them, just walking forward silently with their heads down.

As soon as the Sorting Hat began singing, he immediately shared his thoughts with Kanna.

"That's probably unlikely..." Kanna said softly. "Professor Babbling could do this job, but so far, those boats are still the same as before, unchanged."

"Let's give it a try. Maybe Professor Babbling is just too lazy to do it... She even wants to combine her classes," Kyle said.

Kanna thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true. Every year, Professor Babbling would approach the principal, wanting to combine the classes for all five grades into one so that she would have more time to travel.

By all accounts, she didn't seem like the type to waste time carving magic runes on a small boat.

"Besides, we have a board of directors," Kyle continued. "Professor Dumbledore doesn't need to pay for it himself, so he has no reason to refuse."

Kanna was convinced and nodded. "Then when shall we go see Professor Dumbledore?"

"There's no rush." Kyle thought for a moment. "The new students have already arrived, so it's fine until the end of the semester."

How about Christmas or Easter? We'd have a two-week vacation then.

"Okay!" Kanna said.

Just then, the Sorting Hat's song ended.

"I've never misjudged anyone."

"Determine which college you belong to."

As the last word was uttered, enthusiastic applause erupted in the Great Hall.

Although Kyle barely listened to a word, he still clapped along.

Professor McGonagall unrolled a large roll of parchment.

"When I call someone's name, that person should put on their hat and sit on the stool," she told the first-year students.

"Stewart Ackerley!"

A boy stepped forward, and you could see that he was trembling from head to toe, whether from nervousness or from the cold, it was hard to tell.

"Ravenclaw!" the Sorting Hat shouted after only a two-second pause.

A round of applause immediately erupted at the Ravenclaw Table.