bacchusnovels Chapter 527 The New Semester Begins
Chapter 527 The New Semester Begins
Chapter 523 The New Semester Begins (Candy Limited Edition)
I enjoyed the meal very much.
That evening, after saying "see you tomorrow" to several young wizards, Sean led Tonks to the fireplace and used Floo Powder to return to Hogwarts.
A flash of green light, and the two disappeared into the flames.
Ginny, standing to the side, stared at the direction they had disappeared in, her expression momentarily frozen.
She had assumed that Sean and Tonks would have grown somewhat distant, but the reality was quite the opposite. They still seemed very close.
This was completely different from her original guess.
So, what exactly happened that day?
Could it be that—
The next day.
Sunlight streamed in through the mottled windows of No. 12 Grimmauld Place. Despite the summer heat, the room still carried a slightly damp and cool atmosphere, making it difficult to get out of bed.
However, this day was different.
It was the first day of school at Hogwarts.
"Get up, get up! The train won't wait for anyone!" Molly urged as she ran up and down the stairs, her voice echoing throughout the entire Blake house as if amplified.
Along with Molly's voice, Mrs. Black and Kreacher's screams also rang out.
Upstairs, Ginny rubbed her eyes and sat up. Hermione was already up and changed into her school uniform, casting a cleaning charm on the cat hair stuck to her backpack. The boys weren't doing so as well; Ron's hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, and Harry was still trying to pry a lost sock out of the bed.
"Hurry up, breakfast is ready downstairs!" George said, stuffing the last bag of snot candy into his bag and giving Ron a shove. "If you dawdle any longer, I'm going to stuff you into a suitcase and take you on the train."
Ten minutes later, the group came downstairs one after another, ate a quick but hot breakfast, and then hurriedly picked up their luggage and headed for the fireplace.
"Diagon Alley - King's Cross Station"
Mrs. Molly skillfully tossed the Floo Powder into the flames, which instantly turned a dazzling green.
The group entered the flames one by one. Once everyone had arrived at the station, they passed through the dark wall and found the familiar red Hogwarts Express quietly parked on the platform, steaming.
The platform was still bustling with activity, with owls fluttering in their cages and students in their school uniforms greeting their old friends.
As soon as Harry and his friends landed, people ran over to greet them, and one or two third-year students looked excitedly at the "Hermione Granger" brooch.
"Hurry up and get on the train, let's find a window seat!" Ginny pulled Hermione towards the front of the train, while George and Fred whispered mysteriously in the last carriage.
Just as everyone was getting ready to board the train, Harry suddenly looked toward the station entrance.
It was Neville Longbottom, and a long brooch was prominently displayed on his chest.
Inside Hogwarts.
Sean and Tonks got up very early to decorate the auditorium before the students arrived.
"Are you sure Dumbledore shouldn't have come in person?" Tonks yawned as he put on his robe. "I remember Professor McGonagall was in charge last year, and they even had to change the tables twice."
"Don't worry, Dumbledore told me about it a few days ago." Sean buttoned up the last button of his robe. "To ease the tense atmosphere outside, he said this outfit has to be unique."
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Then why did you drag me along?"
"Can you really keep sleeping? Besides—" He glanced at her and smiled, "After all, we're together."
Half an hour later, the two appeared in the center of the auditorium.
The ceiling above was still a vast emptiness bathed in the morning light; the enormous long table had not yet been set up, and the four walls were bare. The empty auditorium seemed not yet ready to resume operations.
"Okay, where do we begin?" Tonks clapped his hands.
In fact, the Hogwarts Express has never met the standard of "fast".
It stops at King's Cross Station and departs around 10 a.m., but often doesn't arrive at Hogwarts in the Scottish Highlands until evening.
In that much time, if it were any other wizard's mode of transport, it might have circled the Earth's equator three times and brewed several cups of Xiangpiaopiao milk tea with Ganges water.
Compared to my previous experiences on the Hogwarts Express, this time the carriage was rather boring.
Hermione, as the prefect, went to maintain order, leaving Harry and Ron staring at each other, unsure of what to do next.
"Want to play Wizard Kill?" Ron suggested first.
Harry shook his head and then just stared blankly out the window.
Later, the atmosphere gradually became lively when Neville, Ginny, the Weasley twins, and others entered the box.
When they arrived at the auditorium, it had been decorated like a...candy house.
If every adult had a childhood dream of living in a house made of candy, then now is the time for that dream to become a reality.
The four walls were no longer cold stone bricks, but transformed into colorful frosting, looking like giant fruit candy bricks inlaid on the surface; the ceiling maintained the magical sky effect, but with a few floating colorful cotton candy clouds, and occasionally a few glowing candy beans would fall down.
Not only that, the edges of the four long tables are trimmed with colorful rims that resemble licorice strips, and each table is decorated with a chocolate fountain fixed in place by magic and a colorful candy tower. The candies will automatically fly to the students of the corresponding college according to their color.
"This—is this Hogwarts?" Neville asked, his mouth agape, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the visual shock.
"I'm starting to wonder if we've entered the wrong school," Ron said, staring intently at the "glowing butter bubblegum" floating down from the ceiling.
"If this is a dream, please don't wake me up," George muttered to himself. The next second, he reached out to grab a candy, and unsurprisingly, his hands were sprayed with syrup. "Oh, it fights back! Awesome!"
"Who set this up?" Ron couldn't help but ask. "This is even more outrageous than the dream I had at Honeydukes when I was a kid."
"Do you even need to ask?" Fred glanced at him sideways. "Guess who else in school has this kind of idea? Can they surpass George's and my idea?"
'
Harry didn't speak; a figure appeared in his mind.
As expected—
As the doors reopened, Sean and Tonks entered the auditorium one after the other.
Tonks was wearing a punk-style robe, with traces of candy and cream still on his face, while Sean looked refreshed.
"Not bad." Sean looked around, his gaze shifting between Tonks' face and the auditorium, admiring his work. "At least it satisfies your senses of sight and smell before you eat."
"Are you sure this is a welcome dinner and not a candy festival?" Professor McGonagall slowly stepped down from the professor's table, her tone as serious as ever. "I almost thought I had wandered into the kitchen of Honeydukes."
"Can I take that as a surprise?" Sean smiled.
"Of course," Professor McGonagall smiled as well.
Amidst the noise and exclamations, the senior students slowly sat down.
Next comes the highly anticipated part of the annual opening banquet: the college selection ceremony.
The Great Hall fell silent instantly, all eyes turning to the seemingly worn-out, yet actually quite remarkable, Sorting Hat. As it was solemnly placed on the bar stool, the brim twitched slightly, then slowly split open, revealing a wrinkled mouth.
As in previous years, it cleared its throat and began to sing the Sorting Song, but this year the lyrics were different.
Instead of a retrospective of the founders and their respective philosophies of the four colleges, or a passionate introduction of the colleges' glory, this presentation carried a warning.
The lyrics even summarize the events of the past few years and predict what will happen in the future: "The enemy's shadow is not far away, the old scars remain, courage, wisdom, loyalty and ambition, if we do not join hands, the light of Hogwarts will eventually be extinguished."
As the last word on the hat fell, the hall fell into a brief silence.
For a moment, especially the senior students, some were slightly stunned, and some even showed nervous expressions. In their memory, they had never heard of the Sorting Hat mentioning such words in the song.
This is unprecedented.
Sean looked at the Sorting Hat—he always felt that the old hat had probably spent the entire summer in Dumbledore's office composing, writing lyrics, and singing in order to come up with these lyrics.
Maybe... it has been waiting for this moment for a long time?
He had encountered this once before when he was still in school—during the First Wizarding War—it seems that Voldemort was more of a side effect of the hat than a serious one.
Dumbledore's relieved expression seemed to confirm this: he no longer had to listen to the Sorting Hat rehearsing in his office.
Dumbledore was the most approving of the Great Hall's decor, without exception.
Compared to the pure childlike fantasy of "living in a candy house"—even though he is already over 100 years old, he still maintains this childlike enthusiasm in a rare way.
Even when he came to inspect the auditorium at noon, he gave Sean and Tonks a lot of advice and helped them a great deal.
For example—
The "rotating peppermint tower" in the corner is his creation.
This kind of "enthusiasm" that runs through childhood, adolescence, and old age is something everyone has. If you had to find an example to compare it to, it's like how most men, no matter what age they are, still like eighteen-year-old girls.
After Professor McGonagall called roll, the long line of first-year students gradually shortened until the last student was like a drop of water merging into the river formed by the four long tables.
"Welcome to our new students!" Dumbledore announced in a booming voice, arms outstretched. "And welcome back to our old students! There will be plenty of time for lectures, but not now. Now—enjoy a good meal!"
It's Dumbledore's style as always.
It's back, everything is back.
As soon as he finished speaking, the auditorium erupted in laughter and enthusiastic applause.
Dumbledore settled back into his high-backed chair, deftly tossing his long, silvery beard over his shoulder to prevent it from falling into the dish.
Meanwhile, five long tables were suddenly piled high with delicious food: golden and crispy roast chicken, glistening steak, steaming stew and mashed potatoes, plates of brightly colored vegetables and jams, and jugs of pumpkin juice.
The heavy plates and dishes made the dining table almost groan.
"Great!" Ron exclaimed happily, his eyes shining. He grabbed the plate of ribs closest to him and piled them onto his plate one after another.
Nick, who was almost headless, hovered beside him, watching him eat with some annoyance as he practically wolfed it down.
"When was the last time the Sorting Hat did something like this?" Hermione turned to look at Nick.
“Oh, right,” Nick said cheerfully, readily averting his gaze from Ron’s mouth. “The last time I heard the Sorting Hat issue a warning was…” He tilted his head, thinking for a moment, “more than a decade ago. It always speaks out when it senses the school is in grave danger. Of course, its advice has never changed: unite and watch out for one another.”
"How can the danger be less than that?" Ron mumbled, his mouth full of roasted potatoes.
"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Nick asked politely.
Ron struggled to swallow what was in his mouth, and then repeated it.
"I said, it's just a hat, how can it know if there's danger at school?"
“I’m not quite sure,” Nick said mysteriously, “but it’s been sitting in Dumbledore’s office for years—who knows what it’s been listening to.”
"Does it really think the four houses can get along peacefully?" Harry frowned slightly.
"You shouldn't be so pessimistic," Nick said with a slight reproach. "Cooperation and unity are key. We ghosts may come from different houses, but we've always maintained a good relationship. There's competition between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but I've never thought of arguing with the Bloody Barrow."
"That's only because you're afraid of him," Ron added bluntly.
Nick, who had almost lost his head, immediately looked as if he had been greatly insulted.
"Fear? I, Sir Nicholas de Minsie Porpington, have never been cowardly in my lifetime!" He straightened his chest, his head swaying back and forth on his half-hanging neck. "Noble blood flows in my veins—"
"What blood?" Ron asked. "Are you sure you still have—?"
"That's a rhetorical device!" Nick's voice suddenly rose, his entire head trembling with rage at the severed end. "I think I still retain the freedom to speak! Even if I can never enjoy food again! But that's okay, I'm used to students joking about my death—I can tell you that!"
"Nick, that's not what he meant!" Hermione quickly interjected, glaring at Ron.
Unfortunately, Ron had stuffed too much food into his mouth at that moment and was unable to clearly express his apology. He could only mumble indistinctly, "I didn't mean to mock you—"
However, this feeble apology was clearly insufficient to soothe the ghost's pride. Nick, who had almost lost his head, snorted and suddenly rose into the air, straightened the dangling feather on his hat, and slid his head back onto his almost transparent neck. Then, he floated leisurely to the other end of the long table and sat down between the Crevie brothers, looking like he didn't want to deal with them anymore.
"Look what you've done, Ron!" Hermione hissed angrily, glaring at him as if she wanted to wash his brain clean with pumpkin juice.
Ron could only shrug helplessly, with a whole piece of pork rib stuffed in his mouth.
Meanwhile, Ginny had quietly sat down next to Hermione at some point, her face full of conflict, as if she had something to say to her.
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