Kane turned around and saw that it really was Professor McGonagall. He quickly withdrew his hand. Bole Anrera, who had fallen to the ground, showed no signs of suffocation; he merely clutched his head and cried out in pain without stop.
"Mr. Kane Hiss, I need you to explain what happened here!" Professor McGonagall looked sternly at Kane.
Kane glanced at Bole Anrera. "Perhaps... Professor McGonagall, you could ask the other instigator in this incident, Mr. Bole Anrera. He surely knows the whole story better than I do."
Professor McGonagall hurried over to Bole Anrera and first checked his physical condition. Finding that he was indeed unharmed, aside from traces of dark magic...
Well, after learning about Kane from Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall naturally did not fuss over such matters. She merely used a healing charm to return the excess blood above Bole Anrera's neck to the rest of his body.
"Now," Professor McGonagall slowly said, "I am standing between you and Kane Hiss. You may explain what happened, but I will not be questioning only you, so I need you to answer truthfully. Even if Mr. Kane Hiss attacked you, that does not give you a reason to place all the blame on him."
Kane raised an eyebrow. Although Professor McGonagall had said she would not take only one person's word for it, he still felt it was necessary to save himself some trouble and make Mr. Bole Anrera tell the truth from the outset.
With that thought, his mind stirred. Professor McGonagall's shadow, cast by the distant light and falling over Bole Anrera, seemed to come alive. It bared its fangs and claws, tore itself apart, and formed several English words.
"Watch your... shadow. Tell... the truth!"
At the sight, Bole instinctively felt that the shadow beneath his feet was an abstract bear trap. So long as the hunter called Kane Hiss wished it, it could snap shut and sever any part of him in an instant.
In the end, Bole Anrera still wanted to live, so he decided to tell the truth.
Professor McGonagall listened as he recounted how Toad Lucky had jumped onto his head, how Hermione had stood up for Neville, and how he had called her a Mudblood...
His pre-school self-study had been fairly solid. Forget Neville, that little loser, and Hermione, an obviously inexperienced young witch—even if two more random wizards had been thrown into the mix, he might not have lost.
Then Kane had suddenly stepped in. After Bole had only said a few bits of trash talk, Kane's shadow had grabbed him in its hand and begun caressing him.
As Professor McGonagall listened to Bole Anrera's explanation, her expression darkened further and further. Then she looked at the others, chiefly Kane. "Is that how it happened?"
"He was fairly honest," Kane said with a raised eyebrow.
"Mr. Anrera, for insulting a fellow student, five points will be deducted from your House after the Sorting Ceremony. Miss Granger, for bravely helping Mr. Longbottom, five points will be awarded to your House after the ceremony."
"Mr. Longbottom, please keep an eye on your frog. Finally, Mr. Hiss."
Professor McGonagall looked at Kane and sighed helplessly. "I admire that you acted to protect your fellow students, but your methods were too harsh. Please apologize to Mr. Anrera."
Kane shrugged. "No problem."
With that, he looked at Bole Anrera, standing not far away, and slowly bent at the waist. Yet his head did not lower even the slightest bit.
"Mr. Bole Anrera, I apologize for my impulsiveness just now."
As Kane's calm words fell in the entrance hall, Bole Anrera abruptly collapsed onto the floor. He could no longer feel his legs, but fortunately, he could still feel his throat and mouth.
"I accept! I accept your apology! At the same time, I'm very sorry as well. I... I shouldn't have spoken so rudely. Mr. Kane Hiss, please accept my... my apology too..." Bole Anrera said in a panic.
"Mm... I accept your apology." Kane slowly straightened up and looked down at Bole Anrera sitting on the floor.
Anyone who had just arrived and witnessed this scene would never have thought Kane was apologizing to Bole. On the contrary, it looked more like Bole was begging Kane for forgiveness.
"C-can I stand up now?" Bole Anrera asked shakily.
"You're the one too scared to stand up. That's not my doing." Kane stopped looking at Bole Anrera and walked into the crowd, where he found Harry and Ron.
"Kane, you're this." Ron held out a fist toward Kane. Then, with a pop, a thumb sprang out from it.
"Keep it low-key, keep it low-key." As Kane spoke, he noticed that Professor McGonagall was leading everyone out of the entrance hall. Eventually, the young wizards came to a stop in the middle of the Great Hall.
Professor McGonagall walked to a small stool at the front. On top of it sat a grimy linen hat. Kane recognized it; it had always been sitting atop a cabinet in Dumbledore's office.
"No way?" Kane muttered silently. Could it be that it wasn't some magical experiment in the entrance hall, but a hat? Kane looked toward Maxwell, who was standing at the front studying the hat.
Because of a few words from that man in the distance, he had spent half the time in the entrance hall making a spectacle of himself...
Suddenly, the hat began to speak.
After a burst of harsh, grating singing, Kane was certain. It really did depend on that hat.
Professor McGonagall slowly drew out a piece of parchment. "The Sorting Ceremony begins now."
She lifted her eyes from the parchment and called out to the gathered young wizards, "Hannah Abbott!"
A young witch with two braided pigtails stepped forward. The instant she put on the hat—
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Applause rang throughout the Great Hall. Kane clapped along as well, though he did not forget to look at Maxwell beside him. "What a brilliant idea you had."
Maxwell folded his arms. "You were still pretty smart. You didn't directly tell your two friends about the Sorting Ceremony we imagined, or you'd have made a complete fool of yourself."
"Even so, I'm the one who should be proud, not you," Kane said speechlessly.
"Mm-hmm."
"What are you mm-hmming for? Is Eternal Realm that idle?" Kane asked helplessly.
"As you wish."
With a boom that only Kane could hear, Maxwell vanished.
After sending Maxwell away, Kane was finally able to watch the Sorting Ceremony properly. Behind him, two sneaky figures slowly drew closer.
When a hand lightly patted Kane on the shoulder, he instinctively turned around and saw a hideous, lazily shaped toad.
Kane's voice trembled as he cursed, "Holy shit!"
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