Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

"The theories in this 'Manual of Black Magic' are too advanced and are somewhat different from modern black magic. Is this the black magic used in ancient times?"

If I had come into contact with it earlier, I might have already learned more than a dozen dark spells. Even if I encountered Death Eaters, I wouldn't have to worry about being unable to defeat them. I could also reverse the Death Eaters' tracking of me, thus improving my own safety.

Even without fighting Death Eaters, one can use these dark magic spells within Hogwarts, making them difficult to detect, and the cost of using them is actually very low.

Although the methods of using it differ from those of ultimate magic, the black magic here is not as extreme as modern black magic.

Both can harm a wizard's body, but here, the cost of black magic is partially offset by other precious things.

As Mikel read this banned book, many different thoughts arose in his mind.

He felt that modern black magic was not as powerful as this ancient forbidden book; it was more like a crude version.

But this is not right!

Modern black magic has developed for so many years, so why is it getting worse and worse? Where exactly did things go wrong?

Could it be that the transmission of black magic also ended midway?
But even Mikel didn't believe the idea when it came to him.

So many outstanding students and wizards working in the Ministry of Magic all have access to forbidden books.

Mikel didn't believe that they hadn't encountered a forbidden book about black magic while reading forbidden books.

If anyone discovers the difference, they will surely report it to the Ministry of Magic for a decision.

Thinking of this, Mikel suddenly had a flash of inspiration and his eyes opened slightly.

"I understand now. No wonder the wizarding world dislikes black magic, doesn't promote wizards learning black magic, and even lists many black magic spells as forbidden arts, allowing crude versions of black magic to circulate without being corrected."

Black magic is easily corrupted by the whispers of evil gods, and wizards who practice black magic are even more susceptible to temptation. Although powerful, it is also a poison.

In the wizarding world, only Death Eaters and Dark Wizards are generally enthusiastic about Dark Magic.

Since wizards who use dark magic are unstable elements in society, why not turn the tables and make them continue to use crude versions of dark magic?

The more frequently it is used, the shorter its lifespan!

They might not even need the Ministry of Magic to clean up the mess; they'll just dig their own grave!

Mikel genuinely thought the Ministry of Magic's plan was brilliant.

After all, ultimate magic is so difficult to learn and has such high requirements for a wizard's aptitude, while dark magic has a very powerful attack. Death Eaters and dark wizards would definitely learn dark magic if they wanted to avoid being tracked by magic.

It hastened its own death.

As Mikel's mind became more and more active, he flipped through the books faster and faster, and countless sparks of inspiration burst forth in his mind.

This "Manual of Black Magic" brought him great benefits.

Unlike ultimate magic, which can only be used when one becomes more powerful, this book can immediately help him as soon as he goes out.

Mikel turned to the last page, finished reading the entire book, and involuntarily relaxed, leaning back in his chair and letting out a long sigh.

His consciousness slowly returned from the forbidden book to the forbidden book zone.

It was at this moment that he discovered the mechanical warning sounds from the system were ringing wildly in his mind.

[Host, leave immediately! The space is about to collapse, and the system is about to run out of energy!]

[Warning! One minute countdown to spatial collapse: 60, 59, 57, 58...]

Mikel's eyelids twitched, and he quickly crushed the keepsake the professor had given him.

When he wants to leave the forbidden book area, he can teleport by crushing an object.

Just as he crushed the keepsake, McGonagall, who was about to leave the library, sensed something, frowned, and quickly raised her wand!
Let's rewind to three minutes ago.

“Mage, everyone’s gathered. Would you like to give them a few more instructions?” the wizard sitting next to her said.

McGonagall hesitated for a moment, "But we can't do without people here."

“We can call another patrolling wizard over. It shouldn’t be such a coincidence that Mikel came out while you were away.”

McGonagall pondered for a few seconds, then considered going out to greet the others.

Although she knew that with the other three deans leading the team, there wouldn't be any problems, as the vice principal, she still had to encourage them before they set off and tell them not to be nervous.

McGonagall nodded and said, "I'll go get another patrolman and have him keep watch for me for ten minutes."

The patrolling professor arrived quickly and completed the handover.

McGonagall walked out of the library.

Just as she was about to leave the library, she suddenly felt the crystal ball on the table burst out with a red light!

McGonagall frowned and quickly turned her head to look, sensing the energy fluctuations from the crystal ball that indicated the imminent collapse of space.

The two professors in front of the crystal ball were already on high alert, drawing their wands and continuously casting spells on the crystal ball, trying their best to stabilize the forbidden book area that was about to collapse and pull out the little wizards still inside.

McGonagall's eyes turned cold and stern. She immediately drew her wand and, while walking back, cast a spell on the crystal ball, joining the stable space as well.
-
Harry arrived on the first floor and found the three heads of the house in the entourage.

Moreover, it wasn't just him and Ron who joined; some of their teammates from the assessment team also joined.

This is not surprising.

Most of the students who are recruited by professors to stay on the assessment team during the holidays are excellent; mediocre ones are rare.

Ron and Harry walked into the line of students and greeted their familiar friends.

"I am full of curiosity about this trip. I don't think we will encounter any danger. I can happily pick up my deskmate and bring him back to school."

"I have never taken a long trip before. I think taking a ride on a magic train is the same as taking a long trip. I never get tired of the scenery along the way."

"With professors from the school present, what danger could there be? I also heard another piece of news: it's said that Aurors from the Ministry of Magic will be accompanying us this time, so there's even less to worry about."

The students discussed among themselves, and some of the well-informed ones even looked specifically at Harry.

"Harry, don't you need to wear the Sorting Hat?"

Harry was stunned for a moment: "What did you say? The Sorting Hat?"

Ron also looked puzzled.

Other students said, "Yeah, the Sorting Hat, didn't you receive the news?"
Even my parents mentioned this in the letter they sent me today, saying they were comfortable letting me continue to fall behind at Hogwarts because you're here, and you'll be wearing the Sorting Hat to greet the other students.

Ron and Harry looked at each other in bewilderment.

No, they had no idea about this message!
"Quiet!"

Professor Snape's voice suddenly came, his cold gaze sweeping over all the students present, finally settling on Harry with a meaningful look.

Harry quickly lowered his head, sensing Snape's gloating gaze, but he received no message whatsoever.

“The magic train is already outside the school. Now we’ll line up to go out. Harry, you stay at the back.” Ron and Harry walked slowly forward, falling to the back of the line.

Behind them were the deans of the three major academies.

Ron and Harry looked a little nervous. Ron quietly asked Harry, "You really didn't receive any messages? Why did they make it sound so convincing?"
It seems the whole world has heard that you'll be wearing the Sorting Hat to greet students arriving at Hogwarts.

“No!” Harry said, barely containing his excitement. “I haven’t received anything.”

"Besides, you've been with me the whole time. Didn't we just receive a letter from Hagrid yesterday?"

Wait, a letter?
Their eyes lit up, and Ron quickly pulled out the letter Hagrid had sent him yesterday from his pocket; thankfully, he hadn't thrown it away.

They unfolded the letter and read it from beginning to end, word by word.

In the middle of the paragraph, the two finally saw that Hagrid had written—

Following the professors' suggestion, Harry had to wear the Sorting Hat to the Magical Train. If there were Death Eaters lurking in the shadows, they wouldn't dare to act rashly once they saw the Sorting Hat.

Ron looked at Harry with some sympathy: "It seems you'll have to wear the Sorting Hat."

Harry frowned. "No, I don't want to wear it at all. Can I not go?"

"Don't go?"

Suddenly, Snape's chilling voice, like that of a viper, came from behind them, "Too late!"

The Sorting Hat appeared in Snape's hands at some point, and was then thrown into Harry's arms.

Harry hurriedly took it, clutching it tightly, but refused to put it on.

Snape looked at it for a while, then said sarcastically, "You don't have to wear it now, but you'll have to wear it once you get on the magic train."

Harry and Ron walked out of the school gates, with three professors standing behind them like a human wall, not giving any student a chance to escape.

He boarded the train in frustration with the Sorting Hat and placed it on a luggage rack.

As the three professors boarded the magic train, it quickly started moving.

Amidst the swaying and shaking, Harry took the dusty Sorting Hat off the luggage rack. He hadn't looked at it closely before, but now that he did, he still thought the Sorting Hat was very dirty.

The hat didn't look like a Gryffindor hat at all; it looked old and worn, with patched tips that drooped limply, completely unlike the gleaming hat he had imagined.

"Was this hat deliberately disguised as such? Does it have another form? When I pulled Gryffindor's sword from it, did it regain its original appearance?"

"Tsk."

A soft snort suddenly echoed in Harry's mind.

Harry looked around, thinking someone else was talking.

"Tsk tsk tsk!" The Sorting Hat suddenly twisted in Harry's hand, the wrinkled hat straightened abruptly, and a crack appeared, opening and closing like a mouth.

“My dear child! Your beautiful green eyes clearly proclaim, ‘This shabby hat is so shabby!’”

Its voice was so loud that it pierced through the carriage, and the young wizards gathered around looked up in astonishment.

Even Harry stared at it with wide eyes.

“Listen up—” the brim of his hat twitched authoritatively, “You may not think I’m pretty! I’m well aware of that!”

The rift turned towards Harry, as if glaring at him, "But never judge a book by its cover, or your clever mind won't be much different from a troll's!"

Suppressed laughter erupted in the carriage, and the students relaxed their shoulders.

Ron grinned and patted Harry's arm: "Harry, you should wear it. I think you dislike it, and it dislikes you too. You both dislike each other."

Amidst the laughter, the crumpled old hat drooped triumphantly back into Harry's palm, its cracks curving into a cunning arc.

"Harry, don't try to hide your thoughts from me. I know everything. I am the greatest hat in the world!"

"Perhaps I'm not powerful enough, but I possess immense inner strength. You've already tried, haven't you?"

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have looked down on you for being dirty and tattered. You are indeed very capable, although I was also greatly weakened afterward and had to recuperate at St. Mungo's for a while."

The Sorting Hat said, "You need to train more. Great strength requires a strong body to support it, so that you can accomplish greater things."

Harry said, "I don't know why you all have such high expectations of me, but I've always felt that I'm just an ordinary person."

"Whether you're an ordinary person or not, once you put on me, you're definitely not ordinary!" the Sorting Hat said confidently.

Ron chimed in, "You certainly do stand out."

The magic train had only been running for a short while when it suddenly stopped.

"Dudu!"

A new passenger appeared before them—it was Draco!

Draco breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he could board the magic train, and quickly walked over to Ron and Harry.

"I hope I'm not too late. I originally planned to come to Hogwarts yesterday to see if there was anything I could do to help today, but something came up and I was delayed."

I just left the manor this morning, I didn't expect you all to have already set off. Luckily we met on the road.

During this period, Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione were all in communication, and there was no sense of unfamiliarity among them.

Ron said, "You're not late, you're just in time."

Draco glanced around and asked curiously, "Where's Mikel? You wrote to me saying that your relationship with Mikel had improved a lot and that you had become friends with him. Is that true? Why isn't he here?"

Harry whispered, "Mikel has passed the honors test and become an honors student. He went to read forbidden books and hasn't come out yet."

Draco was somewhat surprised and said, "Harry, even Mikel has become an outstanding student. You guys need to hurry up. With your abilities, you should be able to become outstanding students too."

Ron said worriedly, "If we are assessed using the same standards as you, I think there is a high probability that we will not pass."

Draco thought for a moment and said, "My father told me that Hogwarts' standards for outstanding students decrease as you progress through the years. It's very difficult to become an outstanding student in the first, second, and third years, but the requirements become much more lenient after the fourth year. Why don't you wait until the fourth year to take the exam?"

Ron said, "We asked Professor McGonagall, and she reminded us of the same thing."

Draco looked around and asked curiously, "Where's Professor McGonagall? Didn't she come along either?"

Harry shook his head: "No, we haven't seen the professor for several days."

Draco said with some regret, "That's a real shame. I was hoping to talk to the professor and see if I could join the Occlumency training."

"Dudu!"

The train swayed and rattled for a while before stopping again, and another passenger boarded.

Everyone looked up and was surprised to see Lin Xia. (End of Chapter)