The Freshmen's Feast

"What purpose? Haven't you heard?"

Li Wei glanced at Snape, his expression strange.

"Heard what?"

Noticing Li Wei's expression, Snape's thoughts stalled for a moment—he suddenly realized that, because Li Wei had kept such a low profile, he had not updated himself on the man's situation in a long time.

"I was invited here by Dumbledore. If you don't know why, why not ask him yourself?"

Li Wei shook his head and walked away. Snape's attitude made it seem as though Li Wei had schemed desperately to force his way into teaching at Hogwarts.

Though his thoughts had changed somewhat by now, it was not Snape's place to criticize him.

After that, Snape did not come to bother Li Wei again, and he smoothly helped Filch finish decorating the Great Hall.

Before the sun had even set, they had finished everything. Li Wei had even used Scourgify to maintain the castle armor, saving Filch a great deal of trouble.

"Th-thank you. You're the new Professor Li Wei, right?"

Filch thanked him somewhat awkwardly, then solemnly reminded him.

"You should be careful of the school troublemakers, like the Weasley twins. Seeing that you're a new professor, they might play pranks on you later."

"Thank you for the warning. I will."

Li Wei nodded, not particularly bothered by Filch's attitude.

With some time to spare, he checked on the progress of his two assistants. Before he knew it, night had fallen.

"Let's stop here for now. Don't miss the freshmen's feast. Hogwarts' Sorting Ceremony is rather interesting, so you can go watch it—if you're interested, I'll ask Professor McGonagall whether she can sort you two privately as well."

Qiao Weili and Jiamer nodded and obediently followed behind Li Wei.

Upon entering the Great Hall, Jiamer instinctively let out a soft cry, while Qiao Weili also looked somewhat dazed.

They silently raised their heads toward the ceiling of the Great Hall, where hundreds of burning candles floated beneath a star-filled sky, while ghosts flickering with hazy silver light drifted among them.

Li Wei turned to look at their reactions and suddenly felt a belated pang of guilt—had he neglected other aspects of their education over the years?

Qiao Weili appeared very mature on the surface, but now it seemed more like he had been imitating Li Wei's behavior. Deep down, he was still a child.

As for Jiamer, there was no need to mention her.

"You two use the Disillusionment Charm and watch from the back. I'll come find you when it's over."

Li Wei bade them farewell and walked over to sit at the long table reserved for the teachers.

Before long, faint noises rose from outside the doors, quickly growing louder, mixed with excited cries from children.

But the sounds soon quieted again. The older students filed in like a flock of quail and quickly took their seats.

Then Professor McGonagall walked in front like a mother hen, leading one little chick after another into the hall.

As Professor McGonagall brought out a four-legged stool and placed the dirty Sorting Hat atop it, an unusual song suddenly rang out.

"You may think I'm not much to look at,

But never judge by appearances,

If you can find a hat more beautiful than me,

I'll eat myself."

The Sorting Hat's playful performance drew thunderous applause from the entire hall.

Li Wei propped his chin on one hand and watched one young wizard after another place the Sorting Hat on their heads, anxiously awaiting their destination.

Such a scene, brimming with youthful innocence and energy, was enough to make one smile wistfully just by watching. It truly was somewhat nostalgic.

While Li Wei admired the freshmen, many older students were also directing their gazes toward him.

"Cool, a new face! I bet that's our new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"He looks way too young, but he's got style. He looks like a star player on a Quidditch team. Is there anyone like that?"

"Whoever he is—do you still have any expectations for this class? I've completely given up. If you don't expect anything, you won't get hurt. I advise you to be like me and welcome the new professor with the mindset that we'll be wasting another year."

After suffering through an entire year with Professor Quirrell, the Hogwarts students had largely realized just how absurd a subject Defense Against the Dark Arts was at their school.

All of them had wasted an entire year! They had made no progress at all! Every day, they merely read boring, ridiculous legends about things like vampires in class!

The upper-year students had completely given up hope and begun looking for other ways.

In truth, it had not only been like this in recent years. Hogwarts' educational problems had long accumulated into something severe.

Even many Ministry of Magic officials could not properly cast a Shield Charm—though it was embarrassing, this was an indisputable fact of Britain's wizarding world.

Rationally speaking, Voldemort's curse really was formidable. Even Dumbledore could not break it? Or had it merely been a coincidence that had continued for decades?

Li Wei noticed a group of students discussing him, but he did not care.

After the Sorting Ceremony ended, Li Wei approached Professor McGonagall and asked if his two assistants could try the Sorting Hat as well, only to receive a stern refusal.

"The Sorting Hat is one of Hogwarts' oldest and most sacred possessions. Its duty is to sort new students, not to be 'experienced' or 'tested.'

I'm sorry, Li Wei. They are not Hogwarts students, and I will not allow them to use the Sorting Hat."

"All right, I understand."

Li Wei nodded and was about to leave when he saw Snape striding over menacingly, escorting a boy with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. Behind them trailed a shrinking red-haired boy.

"Professor McGonagall!"

Snape was about to speak when he noticed Li Wei beside her.

Visible disgust appeared on his face. Before he could do anything, Li Wei immediately left.

Only after leaving the Great Hall with his two assistants did he realize something belatedly.

Were those two the protagonists, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley?

It seemed the story had truly begun.

He turned to his two assistants.

"Sorry. It seems the Sorting Hat isn't something you can easily play with. I'll see whether there's another opportunity later."

"It's just a boring ceremony. It isn't worth your trouble."

Jiamer directly expressed her disdain for the Sorting Hat, her expression nearly icy, while Qiao Weili smiled and urged Li Wei not to dwell on it.

After the door closed, Ron let out a long, soft whistle.

"I thought we were done for." He grabbed a sandwich.

"Me too." Harry grabbed one as well.

They had traveled to school in a magical car, been seen by many Muggles, and crashed into the Whomping Willow, causing quite a bit of trouble. For a while, they had thought they would be expelled.

But Professor McGonagall had still forgiven them.

Since they received no punishment, the two quickly forgot how serious the matter had been and began talking about other things.

Ron was already preparing to brag about it, while Harry secretly felt a little proud—this was the adventurous spirit buried in Gryffindor's bones.

And today, they had one more topic to discuss.

"Harry, do you remember? That cool guy standing beside Professor McGonagall just now—I have a feeling he must be our new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."