Ravenclaw, Banquet

"Ravenclaw!!!"

This time, it was the students of the eagle house's turn to clap and cheer. A brand-new student they had never heard of before, one who had left the Sorting Hat conflicted for more than ten minutes, actually belonged to their house!

Even some students from the other houses began clapping in celebration. After all, they could count themselves as having witnessed history.

Many professors at the staff table turned their gazes toward Lucien, clearly interested in this young wizard.

Even Dumbledore no longer merely gave the polite little clap on the back of his hand that he had before. Instead, he brought both palms together in earnest, a hint of surprise and relief showing behind his crescent-shaped spectacles.

To be honest, after learning of Lucien's astonishing magical talent, Dumbledore had been somewhat worried that he would be sorted into Slytherin.

Slytherin valued talent and ambition most. It was not that all Slytherins would become bad people, but there was no denying that most of those dark wizards, those Death Eaters, had graduated from the snake house.

But now that Lucien had gone to the eagle house, it meant he still leaned more toward learning and valued the mastery of knowledge.

Lucien returned the Sorting Hat to Professor McGonagall and walked toward Ravenclaw's long table.

Seeing him approach, the young eagles' cheers grew even louder.

Ravenclaw was a house where girls outnumbered boys, with the highest proportion of girls among the four houses.

Quite a few older Ravenclaw girls by the long table had already revealed dazzling smiles.

"I said just now this junior looked very handsome, and up close, he's even more good-looking!"

"Hehe, can you not smile so weirdly? Aren't you afraid of scaring him?"

"..."

Faced with the warm welcome from his Ravenclaw classmates, Lucien gave a polite smile and nodded lightly to them.

His short dark-gold hair looked like molten gold under the lights.

His deep, dark-green eyes, like pools of still water, rippled with amusement.

His smile was clean yet dazzling, lighting up his handsome face without reservation.

Seeing Lucien's smile, some girls froze for a moment, as if forgetting what expression they were supposed to make. Other girls quickly lowered their heads to straighten their collars and fiddle with their hair, then looked up again and returned Lucien a bright smile.

A girl with golden hair and silver-rimmed glasses perched on her nose elbowed her close friend beside her.

"Hey, Sally, why don't you move over a bit and make some room?"

The girl's close friend glanced at her.

"You're graduating next year. What are you still trying to do?"

"..."

As Lucien passed by, he pretended not to hear their conversation and quickened his pace slightly.

Finding an empty seat at random, Lucien sat down directly.

On his left was a boy with short yellow hair, while on his right was a very pretty Asian girl.

When the Asian girl saw Lucien sit down, she merely smiled gently at him. Her smile was slightly shy, and she did not take the initiative to speak.

As for the short-haired boy, he was naturally familiar and immediately struck up a conversation with Lucien.

"Hi, Lucien. Let me introduce myself. I'm Terry Boot, also a first-year."

"Hello, Terry. Nice to meet you."

Terry grinned and said cheerfully, "Haha, bro, your performance was seriously amazing!"

"I just heard the seniors talking. They said that in Hogwarts history, there's never been a student who could make the Sorting Hat agonize for so long!"

Lucien chatted idly with Terry while also keeping an eye on the Sorting Hat. Harry and Ron would be up soon.

"Maybe I just have a few too many traits, so the Sorting Hat came down with decision paralysis."

"Decision paralysis?"

Terry scratched his head. He had never heard of an illness like that before, but it did sound pretty apt.

"Ah, whatever the other traits are, Lucien, your most outstanding one is definitely intelligence!"

Terry puffed out his chest, seeming proud as well to have been sorted into Ravenclaw.

On the other side, the Sorting Hat had already been placed on Harry's head.

The entire hall quieted once more, every gaze focusing on Harry.

Aside from Lucien, everyone was very curious. Which house would the Boy Who Lived be sorted into?

The Sorting Hat was silent for a while.

"Gryffindor!"

Hearing the Sorting Hat's result, the Gryffindor long table erupted with loud cheers, the young lions worked into a frenzy.

The Weasley twins were just short of jumping onto the table, waving their arms there and shouting, "We've got Harry!"

"Harry Potter!"

Harry received a roaring welcome from the lion house and was pulled straight to a seat by several boys.

When it was Ron's turn, the Sorting Hat had barely touched his fiery red hair before it called out:

"Oh, another Weasley. I know exactly where to put you!"

"Gryffindor!"

Ron completed the Sorting Ceremony as if he were just going through the motions.

As he walked toward the lion house's long table, the Weasley twins, Ron's own older brothers, merely waved to him half-heartedly.

They showed none of the enthusiasm they had for Harry. The corners of Ron's mouth drooped as he shuffled over and sat down beside Harry.

Once all the new young witches and wizards had been sorted, McGonagall lightly tapped her goblet, and the clear sound rang through the hall.

After the hall fell quiet, Dumbledore stood up.

"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts. Before the feast, I'd like to say a few words."

At that, some of the new students' faces instantly fell.

They had already arrived very late, and after crossing the dark, freezing Black Lake, the young wizards' stomachs had long since started growling.

Dumbledore's voice boomed as he began his speech.

"Idiot! Crybaby! Dregs! Twist!"

Then Dumbledore sat straight back down, and at the same time, little mountains of food appeared automatically on the long tables.

Many of the new students were stunned, both baffled by what on earth their dignified headmaster had just said and dazzled by the feast that had appeared before their eyes.

The older students beside them, however, were long used to it and began choosing their favorite foods, eating with gusto.

Among all the first-year young witches and wizards, the first to react were, as expected, Hufflepuff's little badgers.

Almost as soon as they got their food, the little badgers' cheeks puffed out.

Pair after pair of innocent eyes seemed to be saying: What are you eating for? Hurry up and start being stunned!

Terry had already stuffed chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and fried fish into his mouth, and he spoke indistinctly:

"Rosien, whad d'you fink the headmaster's words meant jush now?"

Lucien cut his steak in an orderly manner, his tone relaxed:

"Who knows? In any case, that was the shortest and most agreeable leadership speech I've ever heard."

Before transmigrating, I'd listened to God knew how many leaders' speeches, each one as long and tedious as an old woman's foot-binding cloth.

One time, we students were even standing on the field being nourished by the rain while the headmaster stood under a canopy, droning on and on...

Terry choked and stopped talking, only nodding hard, very much agreeing with Lucien's point.

At the Gryffindor long table, Hermione was listlessly poking at her food with her fork.

She turned her head to look at Ron, who was dual-wielding giant drumsticks, then at Harry, who had his head down and was wolfing food down, and couldn't help sighing.

"Whad's wrong wif you? Why're you sighing?"

Ron looked at Hermione in confusion and gnawed another bite from his drumstick as he spoke.

Seeing Ron like that, Hermione raised a hand to cover her face, then let out another heavy sigh.

"Nothing. I just envy your appetites."

"Oh."

Ron went back to battling his drumstick.

From time to time, Hermione looked toward the Ravenclaw long table, searching for Lucien.

At the same time, she also noticed that many of the girls from the eagle house were sneaking glances at Lucien.

Oh no, some of them weren't even pretending anymore, openly admiring Lucien's beauty in broad daylight.

Sigh, maybe Ravenclaw was actually better?

The study atmosphere there was better, and from the dormitory, you could even see the starry sky directly...