The wind carrying thoughts of you had blown into Hogwarts after all.
Although he had no camera, Lorne had still set up several check-in spots. After all, the evening gathering could not really be nothing but eating and drinking.
Lorne sat at the very front.
"Director, this is Hannah from Hufflepuff. We're here to check in together."
Hermione and Hannah stood side by side in front of Lorne.
In Ravenclaw's logic quiz, Hermione had come first and Hannah third.
The two knowledge-loving girls had met then and hit it off immediately, going on to take part in other challenges together.
Checking in was part of the event too. Bringing a student from another house to check in earned them a prize draw with Lorne. The prizes included, but were not limited to, props from that day's challenges, such as Beast Balls and self-writing parchment.
Seamus had drawn a Beast Ball.
"Oh," Hermione said, unfolding her slip of paper. "It's a Biting Cabbage milkshake. I had one at the food competition today."
"Mine is bitter-sweet refreshing dittany," Hannah said.
The two collected their desserts and sat down together at a nearby table.
Curfew was approaching, and Lorne decided to hold the final ceremony of the day's event.
A wrap-up and an awards presentation.
If he had not promised Dumbledore to teach these young wizards how to solve everyday problems, Lorne would never have delivered a closing speech forcing a grand moral onto such a leisurely moment. He had written so many scripts over the past few days that his wrist had begun to ache.
"Wizards of Hogwarts!" Lorne rose to his feet and called loudly from in front of everyone. "Our first extracurricular event, 'Discover your second house,' has come to a successful close. From the earlier questionnaire, I learned that when introducing yourselves, you prefer to name your house before Hogwarts."
"I wonder whether any of you have ever imagined that, at the Sorting Ceremony, a single different thought might have sent you to the other house where you scored highest today. Perhaps beneath your bravery, there also lie ambition, wisdom, and loyalty. Sorting you into houses is simply meant to let you develop your strengths and find close friends. It does not mean we should seek out only those like ourselves and reject those who are different, or distance ourselves from, hate, or even bully students from other houses."
"First and foremost, we all belong to Hogwarts. I believe that one day, we will be comrades fighting side by side. I hope that by then, we will no longer need to dwell on the colors of the battle robes at our backs."
Lorne paused briefly, and sustained applause rose from the audience. It was especially loud at the tables where young wizards from different houses sat together.
"Besides that, I believe you've also realized the importance of reading your textbooks ahead of class. In fact, the answers to many of the questions you raised in the questionnaire can be found in your textbooks. For instance, some students reported that their dormitory beds wouldn't stay in place. There is actually a corresponding spell in your textbooks."
Lorne's lips curved upward. "All right, I know I've talked too much today-now, let's invite up the top three students on each house's points leaderboard and present them with their mystery gifts!"
A rousing piece of music began to play.
While researching game music, Lorne had also made a special point of paying off the castle's ghost band to recreate the "Athletes' March."
Yes, it was the very tune played at middle-school midterm and end-of-term awards ceremonies in later years. Just hearing it made Lorne start clapping despite himself.
Harry and the others stood up from various corners of the gathering and strode over to Lorne with their heads held high.
It was worth mentioning that Ravenclaw had won the most prizes during the event. Even Neville had been overtaken by a Ravenclaw student toward the end and had to settle for second place.
The twelve lined up one after another without prompting, even arranging themselves by house and ranking.
Draco muttered, "Strange. It's like I knew where to stand as soon as the music started."
Lorne handed each of them one of the twelve wrapped Magic Mobile Phones he had prepared in advance.
Two of them were extras he had added later.
Neville received a Magic Mobile Phone tied with a red ribbon and happily held it above his head. The others held theirs in front of their chests, enjoying the applause from the audience.
Harry grinned, showing eight teeth, and saw Ron stand up excitedly in the audience.
Perhaps the joy that reached all the way to their brows made them forget to ask the most important question.
What was this thing?
The Gryffindor Common Room.
"What's this?" Ron asked, curiously fiddling with Harry's Magic Mobile Phone.
"I'm reading the instructions," Harry said, carefully studying the manual Professor Lorne had tucked inside the red ribbon. "It's a... Magic Mobile Phone?"
"A Magic Mobile Phone?" Hermione said quietly in surprise. "Aren't mobile phones a Muggle thing? I heard my dad talking about them. He said you can use them to contact other people, but they need charging and only last a few hours at a time. They're not even as good as owls."
As the only one of the trio who had not received a mystery gift, Ron had already begun urging Hermione to operate her Magic Mobile Phone so he could watch.
"I don't know how yet, Ron," Hermione said, putting away her Magic Mobile Phone. She had not even untied its ribbon. "We can work it out together tomorrow. It's too late. I need to go to bed."
Once Hermione had left, Ron could not help complaining, "She's always like this. Tomorrow's Sunday, and we haven't even got classes. What a spoilsport."
Harry ignored him and went on deciphering the instructions himself, never putting down the Magic Mobile Phone.
Inside the Slytherin Common Room.
Crabbe and Goyle eyed the square black stone in Draco's hand enviously, disparaging Gryffindor without hesitation. "That's Draco's trophy for crushing Gryffindor."
Draco had intended to agree, but he remembered Director Lorne saying that perhaps a single different thought could have made Gryffindor his house.
No. Draco shook his head. I'm a pure-blood, a proper Slytherin.
But Gryffindor is my second house... After all, his excellent results in the Gryffindor challenges had given him plenty of time in the spotlight. He would reluctantly be generous toward Gryffindor today.
"Don't say that," Draco snapped. "Are you saying Harry Potter crushed Slytherin?"
Draco paid the two no further attention. He took out his prize and studied the instructions on it.
"A Magic Mobile Phone?"
"A mobile phone?" Crabbe said scornfully. "Sounds like a Muggle product."
Goyle added from beside him, "That Director Lorne apparently never studied at Hogwarts. He's always lived in the Muggle world. This is probably something he made with magic to imitate a Muggle object."
Hearing that, Draco tossed the Magic Mobile Phone onto the table in disgust.
"Muggles have less brains than trolls. Having anything to do with Muggle things is a disgrace to pure-blood families."
He wiped his hands with a wet wipe, stood up, and returned to his dormitory.
"Crabbe, Goyle, get rid of that Muggle imitation for me."