Opening Feast

[Detected Sorting Ceremony. Loading Style MOD...]

[Loading complete. Congratulations, host, on obtaining the Style MOD!]

What did "Style" mean?

Li Wei was curious, but Penelope and Cho Chang, the two older girls, noticed him lowering his head as if checking the system. They thought he was upset over the earlier conversation.

The two beautiful older girls were kind-hearted, so naturally they could not simply stand by.

"Li Wei, what are you thinking about? Are you hungry? Don't worry, the opening feast will begin soon!"

Penelope took the initiative to divert Li Wei's attention, steering the conversation toward food, the thing boys his age cared about most.

Cho Chang, who was softer-hearted and felt even guiltier, offered up the osmanthus cake she had been reluctant to eat herself and placed it before Li Wei.

"Li Wei, try this osmanthus cake I brought back from the East. It's delicious!"

Before Li Wei could open the detailed introduction to the Style MOD, he looked up and was met with treatment that felt like heaven.

Huh?

What was going on?

Li Wei was utterly baffled. Were little boys really this popular?

Still, Li Wei did not refuse kindness that came knocking. He shared the osmanthus cake before him with the two older girls, then took a piece for himself and began eating.

Seeing Li Wei obediently eat the cake without bursting into tears, both girls breathed a sigh of relief.

Otherwise, if they made a younger student cry at the opening feast, the two of them would become famous throughout the school!

"Come to think of it, Li Wei, you're the first Hatstall Hogwarts has had in fifty years!"

Penelope glanced at Cho Chang and deliberately started a new topic.

"A Hatstall?"

Li Wei genuinely could not recall where that title came from.

Someone embarrassed by a hat?

At Penelope's meaningful look, Cho Chang explained to Li Wei.

"A Hatstall is a new student whom the Sorting Hat takes more than five minutes to place in a House."

"Such people all possess extraordinary traits and the strengths of more than one House.

"The previous Hatstall was Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat hesitated between Gryffindor and our Ravenclaw."

"In the end, Professor McGonagall herself spoke up and chose Gryffindor."

"I see," Li Wei said thoughtfully. Yet he clearly remembered that only a short time had passed after he put on the Sorting Hat. He had not expected it to have been more than five minutes.

"Are Hatstalls rare?"

Li Wei asked curiously. He had not expected the Sorting Hat to have such an effect.

"Of course! People like that all have extraordinary traits. They're very rare, and you'll definitely achieve great things in the future, just like Professor McGonagall!"

Penelope and Cho Chang spoke to Li Wei as though coaxing a child.

But the two older girls were soon proven wrong!

The Savior, the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, also took more than five minutes to be Sorted before finally being placed in Gryffindor.

"We've got Potter!"

"We've got Potter!"

The Weasley twins, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's reigning troublemakers, George Weasley and Fred Weasley, cheered in unison!

The Gryffindor table erupted in celebration as well!

Li Wei cast a lingering look at the two older girls, finding the situation rather funny. That reversal had come far too quickly!

The joy belonged to others; all he felt was noise.

Penelope and Cho Chang looked utterly embarrassed. Why had the Sorting Hat refused to follow the usual script? Their faces hurt!

"Looks like conventions exist to be broken. Thank you for looking after me, seniors."

Li Wei stepped in at the right moment to ease their embarrassment, smiling as he thanked them.

Penelope and Cho Chang also relaxed, deciding that they should never speak so absolutely again.

Before long, the Sorting Ceremony ended, and Professor McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat back to the staff table.

Headmaster Dumbledore, his white beard flowing, also made his way to the podium.

Li Wei looked toward the old wizard hailed as the greatest headmaster in Hogwarts history.

Although Headmaster Dumbledore looked like nothing more than a tall, thin old man, the magic within him was as lofty as mountains and as vast as the sea.

Driven by the ambitions of his youth, he had successively helped create two generations of Dark Lords, only to clean up the messes they left behind with his own hands.

He was a wizard who had truly infused his magical power with faith in love and justice. Yet the painful lessons of his early years had made him afraid to touch even the slightest amount of power.

The lessons brought by powerful wizards reaching for authority had left the world's strongest wizard scarred within!

Li Wei considered how he should get along with this headmaster during the next few years of life at Hogwarts.

Trust him completely? That was impossible.

This headmaster feared gaining power and willingly submitted to the restraints of rules and institutions, even when he understood that some orders issued under those rules and institutions were unreasonable.

Even if a mere flick of his wand could free him from the constraints of power, rules, and institutions, he would never choose to resist on his own initiative.

If you placed all your hopes on Headmaster Dumbledore, you were sometimes destined for disappointment!

After thinking it over, Li Wei understood.

He was a student at this school, and Professor Dumbledore was its headmaster.

As long as that relationship remained unchanged, he had nothing to fear before Professor Dumbledore.

As for anything more, it was like Hogwarts' school rules: if no one found out, then it did not count as breaking them.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stood at the podium, spread his arms, and spoke in a loud, cheerful voice.

"Welcome! Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and welcome to this year's new students!"

"I have a few words for you all, and they are:"

"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you all!"

After saying that, Dumbledore returned to his golden headmaster's chair. With a tap of his plate, countless delicious dishes instantly appeared on the tables before everyone!

"Wonderful!"

Li Wei could not help crying out. This was the most concise opening address by a headmaster that he had ever heard.

If educators around the world could keep their speeches to students this concise, humanity's future level of knowledge would surely rise by several steps!

"What did Professor Dumbledore mean?"

At the Ravenclaw table, Terry Boot, another first-year student, curiously asked an older student beside him.

"One of the world's unsolved mysteries," the older student replied with a shrug.

Li Wei could not be bothered to ponder what riddle Dumbledore was posing this time. Even though he had eaten lunch and sampled snacks on the train, he was nearly starving by now!

Wielding knife and fork, Li Wei elegantly and nimbly helped himself to all manner of food.

The Hogwarts house-elves' cooking was beyond reproach, even better than old hunchbacked Tom's.

And if the staff meals at the Leaky Cauldron could be called abundant, then Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's welcoming feast was simply a lavish banquet!

Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, steaks, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, pea shoots, carrots, gravy...

The last time Li Wei had heard so many dish names in one go was when someone had been performing a rapid-fire comic routine.

And after the main courses came all sorts of desserts, drinks, fruit puddings, soft candy, hard candy, pastries, and snacks.

He even spotted the various braised dishes he had suggested at the Leaky Cauldron. He had not expected the house-elves to keep up with the times as well!

"Eat slowly, junior!"

Cho Chang poured Li Wei a glass of pumpkin juice, afraid that he might choke.

Alone in a foreign land, especially after their earlier conversation, she felt an inexplicable older-sisterly affection toward Li Wei, who shared her Eastern features.

Now, seeing Li Wei feast so heartily and recalling that he had been an orphan without parents since childhood, she felt even more like an older sister looking after her younger brother.

"Thank you, senior."

Li Wei drank more than half the pumpkin juice in one gulp and immediately felt much better.

He decided that whenever he took the train to school or went home for holidays in the future, he had to bring several more lunch boxes. Otherwise, the Hogwarts Express would surely leave him hungry again.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Headmaster Dumbledore lightly tapped his plate again, and all the leftovers, dirty plates, and dirty bowls before them vanished.

"All right, before everyone retires, I have a few more points to emphasize!"

Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and first went through a string of tired platitudes, solemnly reviewing the school rules and discipline, with a certain pair of twins receiving special mention.

Finally, he emphasized one point in particular.

"If you do not wish to meet with an accident and die a most painful death, do not enter the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor!"

As soon as the words fell, that unexplained warning set students from all four Houses whispering among themselves.

Li Wei found it rather boring. It felt like handing Pandora a box and telling her not to open it.

With the boundless curiosity of the school's troublesome children, he absolutely did not believe that only the three protagonists in the original story had tried to enter the chamber hiding the Philosopher's Stone.

Thinking of Harry Potter enrolling this year, and of even Hagrid suspecting that Voldemort had not died, the purpose of hiding the Philosopher's Stone in the castle was obvious.

It was probably meant to lure out Voldemort, whose fate was unknown and who had remained hidden without ever showing himself.

And if possible, they could even give the Savior, Harry Potter, a brave adventure and some experience.

Li Wei also wanted to get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone and see whether the greatest creation of alchemy could trigger some rare MOD.

But that was something for the end of the term. For now, he needed to lie low and develop!

"Haah..."

Li Wei let out a long yawn. His sleepy little-boy appearance made the two older girls inwardly cry out at how adorable he was.

"All right, let us begin the final part of the opening ceremony."

The moment Dumbledore said those words, Li Wei did not even need to look to know that every professor's smile had frozen.

"Everyone, choose your favorite tune, and let us sing the school song together! Ready, sing!"

Headmaster Dumbledore drew out his wand, and ribbons streamed from its tip, twisting through the air above the Great Hall into living words.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, please teach us something...

Oh, dear god, it was unbearable noise!

The drowsy Li Wei instantly became wide awake. He wished his ears could go deaf. To spare himself the torment, he could only open his mouth and sing along, trying to use his own voice to block out the outside noise.

At that moment, Li Wei regretted more than ever that he had not practiced the Silencing Charm in advance, leaving himself to suffer such a calamity!