"Perhaps you don't know me, perhaps you think I'm nothing much to look at..."
As the Sorting Hat began to sing, Harry couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
He glanced at the young witches and wizards around him. None of them seemed to show any unusual reaction, and the strange feeling in Harry's heart grew stronger and stronger.
Was this version of Hogwarts particularly off, or had Hogwarts always been like this?
How on earth did that Sorting Hat manage to sing so terribly?
Even before Harry had transmigrated, the booming singing of the guy next door, which carried through the poorly soundproofed walls when he showered, hadn't been as bizarre as the Sorting Hat's...
He didn't know how to put it.
In any case, every note and syllable from the Sorting Hat fell outside Harry's comprehension.
It didn't sound like music of this world. Harry wasn't sufficiently enlightened; perhaps he simply couldn't appreciate it...
The only thing that gave Harry any comfort was this.
Looking a little farther away, he saw Miss Malfoy's face was also full of disdain for the hat.
See? Someone else thought the same way he did.
Excellent, Miss Malfoy!
Oh well, just bear with it. The Sorting Ceremony would begin any moment now...
Hopefully nothing went wrong...
After all, aside from the three hundred [energy bars] inside the [Spellbook], and the [Spellbook] itself, which seemed like an exceedingly wondrous object...
Harry really didn't have any advantages...
His greatest asset was actually still his grasp and understanding of the original story. That would let him anticipate events and turn many situations in which he was on the back foot into ones where he held the initiative.
After all, since he had transmigrated into a novel's protagonist, surely he had to make the absolute most of all Harry's own advantages?
Looking around with a touch of melancholy, Harry slipped his hands into the pockets of his robes.
Oh?
His clothes seemed to have dried?
It looked as though, when they entered the Great Hall, either a wizard had done something or Hogwarts's own magic had dried them off from head to toe...
That was pretty nice, too. Now he wouldn't have to worry about catching a chill tonight from wearing wet clothes for too long~
As the Sorting Hat's final notes faded away...
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and Professor McGonagall took the opportunity to produce a parchment list and begin calling names one by one for the Sorting Ceremony:
"Hannah Abbott!"
At Professor McGonagall's call, a young witch with a ponytail stumbled out through the crowd and ran toward the wizard's hat on the stool.
Yes, still the great Miss Hannah Abbott.
Hearing that name, Harry inexplicably felt less unsettled inside, and he wasn't particularly anxious anymore.
Generally speaking, yes, under normal circumstances.
With Miss Hannah Abbott present, the main storyline of Hogwarts generally hadn't gone off course.
Then he was still relatively safe~
If he made good use of Dumbledore's powerful protection, perhaps he could achieve even more...
Silence.
Silence for quite a while.
Of course, it only looked like silence to Harry and the others.
In reality, the Sorting Hat was probably muttering quite a few private words to Hannah from atop her head.
Less than half a minute passed.
At last, the Sorting Hat finally announced its choice-
"Hufflepuff!"
"Phew, this world is finally a little more normal..."
Harry nodded and continued watching.
What followed did indeed proceed without incident.
Hermione went up and sat for a while, and the Sorting Hat placed her in Gryffindor House.
Neville sat up there for quite a while without the Sorting Hat reaching a decision, which gave him quite a fright.
He was a little worried that he was so stupid that the Sorting Hat was considering persuading him to leave.
Fortunately, though, the Sorting Hat wasn't such an evil object. Since Neville had come to Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat still placed him in Gryffindor House according to his personality and behavioral traits.
Of course, who knew whether Neville had discovered that Gryffindor's sacred sword was hidden inside the Sorting Hat? He simply ran off wearing it, showing no intention of taking it off even after being sorted...
Fortunately, halfway there, Neville was called back by Professor McGonagall and returned the Sorting Hat to its place.
Amid uproarious laughter from quite a few of the young witches and wizards, Neville slipped in at the Gryffindor House table, his face flushed red.
Phew, at least he had somewhere to belong now~
After the blushing Neville came Crabbe and Goyle, the two muscle-bound Barbies, who were naturally sorted straight into Slytherin House without any surprises.
Their fathers were Lucius's diehard followers, and in their generation, they naturally became Draco's diehard followers...
Those two follower families really were astonishing when it came to carrying on a tradition...
The Malfoy family had all graduated from Slytherin, going back to Abraxas Malfoy and even earlier.
Thus, there were no surprises with Crabbe and Goyle either.
After Crabbe and Goyle finished, naturally, it was the turn of that gender-swapped, decidedly off archrival-
Draco Malfoy!
Harry watched Malfoy's retreating figure, his eyes betraying no hint of what he was thinking.
However, Ron was currently clinging tightly to his arm, making Harry feel a little uncomfortable and leaving him unable to think too much.
Believe Harry, it was only normal for him to feel uncomfortable.
After all, put yourself in his shoes.
Any guy who discovered that his former best buddy had suddenly turned into a cute little redheaded girl...
And whose figure was also beginning to develop, while being sweet and intimate with him...
Who wouldn't find that strange?
It was normal for Harry to find it strange, and it was also normal for him to have thoughts that felt off.
As long as he didn't say something like, "Bro, you smell so good," it was all perfectly normal~
Barring any surprises.
Malfoy looked back and gave Harry a long, meaningful look, as though trying to make him stay, or as though she had something to tell him.
Even upon seeing Ron clinging to Harry like that, Malfoy showed no sign of displeasure.
In fact, Harry felt that Malfoy's face now seemed to hold a sense of remarkable clarity...
Of course, that sense of clarity didn't seem all that wonderful to Harry...
He kept feeling that Malfoy seemed to have come up with some strange new idea concerning him, which left Harry feeling a little as though he were sitting on pins and needles.
Seriously, this world was already a little off. If Malfoy kept pestering him on top of that...
Ah, hopefully nothing went wrong...
After taking off the Sorting Hat, Malfoy gently set it down amid the cheers of quite a few older Slytherin students.
With her head held high and her chest out, she walked straight over to the Slytherin table.
"Ah, Miss Malfoy, you've finally arrived!"
Before you continue