The Sorting Ceremony

"Quickly form a line and follow me!"

As the words fell, Professor McGonagall took the lead, walking into the hall. Li Mu and the other first-year students followed her, filing out of the small room in single file, lining up on a high platform.

On the platform was a long table, behind which sat the teachers of Hogwarts. Below the platform was a wide, bright hall, with four long tables set up, occupied by the older students from the second year and up. The ghosts that had just passed through the wall from the small room were also clearly divided, their milky-white bodies drifting around the long tables of their respective houses.

At Professor McGonagall's signal, the new students turned their backs to the teachers, faced the hall below, and lined up, each one a little nervous. Li Mu, in the crowd, could even hear Ron's heavy breathing and Hermione's low chanting of various spells.

He chuckled silently, then saw Professor McGonagall place a stool in front of the new students, with a tattered, pointed hat placed on it, a popular style of wizard's hat from the early Middle Ages.

Most of the new students stared blankly at the hat, unsure of what they would face next.

Then, suddenly, the hat began to sing a strange, discordant song. However, Li Mu's English wasn't good enough to understand the general meaning of the lyrics. He'd bet that even the average Brit wouldn't understand, as every word the hat uttered was thick with rustic slang.

When the song ended, the entire hall applauded the hat enthusiastically, and then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat again: "Now, new students, when I call your name, please put on this hat, sit on the stool, and await your assignment."

She began to call out names, and the new students were quickly and successively assigned to their respective houses.

"Hannah Abbott." – A rosy-cheeked little girl with two golden braids.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Lavender Brown." – Another little girl, with curly, dark brown hair and a bright, sweet smile on her face.

"Gryffindor!"

A thunderous cheer erupted from the first table on the left. Li Mu looked over there and immediately saw three eye-catching red-haired boys. They were Ron's three older brothers, Percy and the twin brothers Fred and George, who were shouting loudly, welcoming the new member to Gryffindor.

And the Sorting Ceremony continued.

"Millicent Bulstrode."

"Slytherin!"

"Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Hufflepuff!"

Listening to one unfamiliar name after another and the Sorting Hat's loud shouts echoing in his ears, Li Mu gradually grew bored. Perhaps it was because he had been reborn, but standing on this stage, he felt little excitement, only a slight awkwardness at being the center of attention.

He sincerely hoped that Professor McGonagall would call out the names faster, so that the Sorting Ceremony would end sooner.

One name after another, finally, among Li Mu's "carriage companions," Hermione was the first to go on stage. She muttered to herself, put on the hat, paused for a long time, and the Sorting Hat finally sorted her into Gryffindor.

After Hermione was Neville, who caused the Sorting Hat to struggle even longer, but was still sorted into Gryffindor in the end. This unlucky fellow was as nervous as ever, and ran off the stage wearing the tattered hat, tripping because he couldn't see the road clearly.

The people in the hall, including some teachers and ghosts, laughed heartily.

The Gryffindor ranks continued to grow, and Ron Weasley, from the Weasley family, took the stage next. Almost as soon as he put on the Sorting Hat, he heard the hat's voice resound throughout the hall, naturally inheriting the excellent traditions of his entire family.

Ron seemed relieved, quietly saying "Oh yeah," and ran off the stage to the Gryffindor table. Li Mu found the four redheads sitting at that table particularly glaring.

Then, finally...

"Harry Potter."

The previously jubilant atmosphere suddenly seemed to freeze, and the entire hall fell silent. After a long while, there was finally sound in the dining hall again, with people at the tables of the four houses whispering to each other, making a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees.

And Harry, already stiff, went to put on the hat. It also took him a long time; the Sorting Hat clearly pondered over him for a long while before finally shouting, "Gryffindor!"

The applause from the Gryffindor table was unprecedentedly enthusiastic, with some people even screaming exaggeratedly. The students from the other houses applauded, but also sighed with regret at the same time.

A celebrity... Li Mu had known this would happen, but he still felt a bit annoyed. He wasn't jealous; he wouldn't stoop to such childish thoughts.

But from a certain perspective, having a celebrity as a friend wasn't necessarily a good thing; they stole all the limelight.

Professor McGonagall called out a few more names, and one by one, the students around him put on the hat and headed towards the house they were assigned to. Finally, Li Mu noticed... only he and another girl were left among the new students.

He even keenly noticed that the long-bearded Headmaster Dumbledore paused his gaze on him and the girl for a moment, nodding with a smile.

There seemed to be a deeper meaning in that smile, which made Li Mu instantly shift his attention to the little girl.

Then he noticed that the girl was petite, with smooth, short black hair and black eyes and yellow skin. This made him feel particularly close to her.

Asian?... Almost immediately, a surprised thought flashed through Li Mu's mind. At the same time, he remembered what Malfoy had said in Diagon Alley, in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"I've heard! This year, Hogwarts has unprecedentedly recruited two international students from abroad..."—Malfoy had said at the time, and Li Mu had originally wanted to ask him which country the other international student was from.

Could this be the other international student?... Li Mu carefully sized up the little girl, but just then, she also looked at him. Their eyes met, and almost instantly, the black-haired girl lowered her head, her snow-white cheeks flushed with a blush.

And the next second, Li Mu's guess was confirmed.

"Hinata," Professor McGonagall called out again, frowning, obviously finding the name a bit awkward and not quite used to it.

The little girl next to Li Mu nervously ran forward, grabbed the Sorting Hat, and put it on her head. The large hat almost completely covered her head.

Then, she placed her hands on her knees, sitting obediently.

Almost as soon as she put on the Sorting Hat, the hat quickly shouted, "Ravenclaw!"

She was the fastest of all the new students, even faster than Draco Malfoy being sorted into Slytherin. But Li Mu noticed that her two delicate hands, placed on her knees, clenched tightly, with such force that even her knuckles protruded, making it unclear whether it was nervousness, surprise, or even disappointment...

She sat silently, paused for a moment, and Li Mu vaguely heard, under the cover of the Sorting Hat, that she seemed to sigh softly, as if saying "What a pity"—in fluent Mandarin.

Then she took off the hat, stood up, and slowly walked off the stage.

A round of applause rang out from the Ravenclaw table, but obviously, it couldn't compare to the momentum of the entire school applauding to welcome Harry just now.

(End of chapter)

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