"Euan Abercrombie."
As the name was called, a little boy with extraordinarily large ears stepped forward.
"Gryffindor!"
The little boy ran to the Gryffindor table.
The flamboyantly dressed Weasley Twins even enthusiastically gave him a small badge.
It made Ron beside them jealous.
Soon.
After a boy named Ross Zeller was sorted into Hufflepuff.
The Sorting Ceremony ended.
Dumbledore stood up.
The noise in the Great Hall gradually subsided.
The old headmaster surveyed the room through his half-moon spectacles.
"Before you grow drowsy from stuffing yourselves with this delicious food, I must introduce a new colleague."
Dumbledore's voice was steady and gentle.
"Madam Dolores Umbridge. She will serve as deputy director of the Hogwarts Academic Affairs Office."
The moment that title landed, the students in the Great Hall erupted.
Especially the older students, who knew all too well what the Academic Affairs Office meant.
It was the central authority that controlled all club funding, class schedules, and practical assessments.
Although strict, the kind and generous Director Black never skimped on money.
Even Deputy Director Moody last term had never held up funding.
But with someone from the Ministry of Magic sent here.
That became hard to say.
Umbridge stood up, her toadlike face plastered with a sickeningly sweet smile.
She cleared her throat with a "hem, hem" that sounded like a duck stepping in mud.
"Thank you, Headmaster, for that wonderfully warm..."
She never finished.
Halfway down the Gryffindor table, two tall figures stood up together.
Fred and George Weasley.
They were not wearing standard Hogwarts uniforms.
The Marauders Power Company's "MPC" logo was embroidered in gold thread on the chest of each of their robes.
This was not merely student defiance; it also carried the negotiating confidence of commercial technical staff.
"Sorry to interrupt, lady in the pink sweater."