Chapter 564 Return to School and New Semester

Harry wanted to defend himself when he opened his mouth. He felt that Sirius would not be knocked down by a curse, but thinking about what happened to Kino and Lockhart in their first and second years, and Lupine's inexplicable resignation at the end of the semester in his third year, Then he shut his mouth again.

During this little delay, the sorting ceremony had already begun. Professor McGonagall led a long row of first-year students to the top of the auditorium, placed a triangular stool on the ground in front of the freshmen, and placed another one on the stool. A tattered, dirty, patched wizard's hat.

The first-year students stared blankly at the strange hat, and others stared at it too.

For a moment, there was silence in the auditorium.

Then a crack near the brim opened like a mouth, and the hat suddenly sang:

"That was more than a thousand years ago, I had just been woven into shape,

There are four famous wizards whose names are passed down to this day:

Brave Gryffindor, from the barren swamp,

Beautiful Ravenclaw, from the peaceful riverside,

Merciful Hufflepuff, from the open valley,

The shrewd Slytherin comes from that quagmire.

"

The Sorting Hat's weird singing echoed throughout the auditorium.

When he heard the sentence "The four giants have injected their thoughts into me, from now on it will be up to me to select and evaluate them!" Ivan's mind moved.

According to Nick Flamel, injecting one's own thoughts and will into magic items is a very advanced alchemical technique, and it is also the bottleneck of his current alchemy learning.

Just as Ivan was thinking about it, the singing in the branch had stopped, and warm applause erupted in the auditorium.

McGonagall unfolded a large roll of parchment and read out the names on it. The freshmen who were read came forward one by one, picked up the Sorting Hat, sat on the stool, and waited for the hat to make a decision.

Ivan glanced at it for a few times and then looked away. Unfortunately, he was not a freshman and could not access the Sorting Hat. Otherwise, he could use the system identification function to see whether the hat was real or fake.

Harry on the side was not as laid-back as Ivan. He was constantly harassed by his little fanboy Colin, who was one grade below him. Although he was very impatient, Harry still responded perfunctorily.

About ten minutes later, the sorting ceremony finally ended as a new student named Kevin Whitby was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Professor McGonagall packed up the Sorting Hat and the stool and moved them away.

Professor Dumbledore stood up slowly on the teacher's bench. He looked at all the students with a smile and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"I only have two words to say to you," Dumbledore's rich voice echoed in the auditorium. He stretched out his wand and tapped it in mid-air, saying loudly.

"Eat it!"

As Dumbledore finished speaking, the empty plates on the long table were suddenly filled with various kinds of food.

"It's finally time!" Ron hurriedly grabbed the spoon on the side, scooped out a spoonful of mashed potatoes and stuffed it into his mouth. After sitting on the train all afternoon, he was already very hungry.

Ivan also put aside those complicated thoughts and began to concentrate on enjoying the meal in front of him. He cut off a juicy piece of steak and put it in his mouth to chew slowly.

Nearly headless Nick was floating around them, and he couldn't help but feel a little greedy when he saw them feasting, but ghosts couldn't eat food from living people, so they could only watch.

"Hey, you guys are really lucky today. You know, the banquet tonight was almost ruined." The almost headless Nick said sourly.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Ivan glanced sideways at the ghost and swallowed the steak in his mouth.

"There was a disturbance in the kitchen earlier. It was Peeves who was causing trouble and arguing about it. As you know, Peeves has always wanted to attend the party!"

Nick, who was almost headless, shook his head and sighed. His neck with the skin looked unstable, and he almost threw his head off, which made Ivan and others worried about him.

Fortunately, his head did not fall off in the end. After a pause, Nick, who was almost headless, continued.

"You should know Peeves's behavior. He is completely uneducated and throws food everywhere when he sees it. We held a ghost meeting to discuss this matter. The fat monk advocated giving him this chance - but Blood Man Barrow strongly disagrees, and I think he was very wise to do so."

"No wonder Peeves is causing trouble at the door," Ron said. Peeves usually wouldn't have the guts to block the door of the auditorium and tease them when school first started.

"Then, Nick, what did Peeves do in the kitchen?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's not the same old thing," Nick shrugged. "It's just wreaking havoc. Peeves made a mess. Pots and pans were thrown everywhere, and the whole kitchen was flooded with soup.

The poor house elves were so frightened by it that they drove Peeves away together and had to make another dinner, which almost delayed today's banquet! "

"That's really bad! Fortunately, Peeves was kicked out," Ron said happily. If Peeves had succeeded, everyone would have been hungry all night!

clang

Listening to Nick and Ron's words, Hermione accidentally knocked over the goblet of gin in front of her. Pumpkin juice continued to pour on the tablecloth, dyeing the white linen into a patch of orange for several days. feet, but Hermione paid no attention.

Harry and Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, and Ivan also turned his head, vaguely remembering something, and couldn't help but scream secretly in his heart.

"Did you just say that there are house elves here too?" Hermione did not look at Ivan and the others, but stared at Nick and said in a high tone.

"Right? Do you still need to say that?" Nearly Headless Nick looked at Hermione strangely, not understanding why she had such a big reaction, but he still replied truthfully, with a bit of pride in his words.

"No other house in Britain has as many house elves as here. There are more than a hundred house elves in Hogwarts!"

"Then why can't I see it usually?" Hermione frowned. In the past few years, she had only seen one house elf in Hogwarts - that was Dobby.

"Ahem!" Before the almost headless Nick could reply this time, Ivan coughed twice, attracting everyone's attention, and then helped explain.

"Hermione, house elves are the best "helpers" for wizards. They can be said to be all-round housekeepers. There are so many little wizards in Hogwarts, and there is always a need for some house elves."

"Then they are paid and have holidays?" Hermione was not fooled by Ivan and continued seriously. “And sick pay, are they included?”

When she met Dobby before, Hermione didn't realize the lowly status of house elves and thought they were similar to house elves.

But after she came into contact with Winky and Kreacher during this summer vacation, she realized that the life of these poor little guys was even harder than that of slaves!

"Sick leave and allowance? Hahaha" The floating ghost seemed to have heard some funny news, and almost choked with laughter. The wheel-shaped wrinkles tilted, and the head rolled down, covered by an inch or two of dead skin still connected to the neck. and muscles, dangling in the air.

"They don't need that, Granger!" Nick put his hanging head back on his neck and fixed it with the wheel-shaped ruff. "House elves don't need sick leave and allowances!"

"That means they have nothing but have to work hard every day? Isn't that considered slave labor?" Hermione said angrily, then turned to look at Ivan and continued to ask.

"That Dobby"

"Yes! Of course!" Ivan nodded quickly, interrupting Hermione, "Dobby gets a salary every month. I even gave him a holiday last year to let him have a good rest. A few days!”

Thanks to the book friend Ah Jin for the 5,000 starting coins, the Scarab Anthony Stark for the 500 starting coins, and the Seven Nights Snow Lie and the Fallen Heaven's Royal for the 100 starting coins.