After Professor McGonagall's lengthy remarks, the final step was to sing the Hogwarts school song together.
The school song had no set tune; everyone could sing it to whatever rhythm they liked.
This had been inherited from Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster before last. Professor Slughorn, who had served in between, had considered it an awkward and torturous affair.
So during Professor Slughorn's tenure, he had dispensed with this part.
But Professor McGonagall had brought it back.
This gathering introduced the Hogwarts students to a batch of newcomers and two new professors.
The students were never short of things to discuss in their dormitories.
Stella returned to Gryffindor Tower under the prefect's guidance.
As she lay on her comfortable bed, her roommate Lewis could not stop chattering.
"Do you think Professor Xavier was poisoned by Snape?"
"I heard he's applied for the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for twenty years straight and been rejected every time."
Everyone in the Wizarding World knew how fixated Hogwarts' Professor Severus Snape was on that position.
Stella wholeheartedly agreed. "But his plans have fallen through again. The new Professor Howlett doesn't look like someone you'd want to mess with."
"I think he looks really cool," Lewis said. "He's like an adventurer with all sorts of stories to tell. I'm honestly envious."
The dormitory buzzed with discussion of the new professors.
Professor Howlett's dark green suit jacket, curly hair, and freshly shaved jaw shadowed with stubble all looked so stylish.
The boys unanimously agreed that Professor Howlett was highly capable.
The girls, however, preferred Professor Wick.
These two professors were nothing alike.
Professor Wick was a young man born into nobility, while Howlett was a nobleman who had fought his own way into that class.
Their entirely different temperaments had split opinions