Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 320 The Iron-Capped King's Opponent

"Rock skin cake?" Annie raised an eyebrow. The name... was a little hard to understand.

But since Harry said it's delicious, it must be good—I must try it if I have the chance.

The naive Anne remembered Harry's words.

“Okay, Harry, I’ll try it.”

Ginny, Neville, and Seamus followed behind them, exchanging glances and silently mourning for the innocent little girl.

No, is rock-skin cake really something that people can enjoy?
If you bite into that thing, it can shatter your teeth to pieces...

Not long after they started walking, Hermione and Ron caught up with them in a great stride.

“My God,” Hermione gasped, “If I could, I’d rather not be a prefect—it’s just too tiring, and there’s so much to manage…”

“Oh, don’t be discouraged, Hermione,” Harry said with a smile. “After the Sorting Ceremony, you’ll be assigning dorm rooms to the new students.”

Hearing Harry's words, Hermione and Ron rolled their eyes together.

"Okay, we got it, no need for you to remind us, Harry!"

Several people around him laughed together, and the laughter was extremely offensive.

They soon arrived at a row of carriages. Ron looked up at one of the carriages and said, "How interesting! I didn't see any carriages at this time last year, but I see them today—hey, Seamus, Neville, and Ginny, can you see them?"

“Of course, Ron,” Ginny said, looking somewhat lost in thought at the Thestral pulling the carriage.

Thestrals have a rather abstract appearance. They are tall but thin, all black, with a dragon's head and a horse's body, and a pair of broad wings on their backs, enabling them to fly at high speeds in the air.

“It’s a Thestral.” Hermione began to explain to everyone, “Thestrals are amazing magical creatures that can only be seen by those who have witnessed death—for this reason, Thestrals were once considered an ominous sign, said to bring all sorts of terrible disasters to those who see them.”

“You know so much,” Anne praised Hermione sincerely.

“Oh dear,” Hermione said with a grin, “everyone says that about me…”

“Yes, especially Professor Snape.” Ron mimicked Snape’s voice, drawing out the words, “Miss Know-It-All…”

"Haha..." Everyone burst into laughter.

After they boarded the carriages, the carriages lined up and creaked and swayed as they traveled along the road.

They passed the tall stone pillars on either side of the gate leading to the school grounds, with winged wild boars atop the pillars.

Hogwarts Castle drew ever closer: its towering towers appeared even darker against the backdrop of the night sky, with the occasional window casting a dazzling red glow overhead.

The carriage came to a clanging stop beside the stone steps leading to the oak gate, and Harry was the first to get out.

The auditorium was filled with four long college dining tables, and the ceiling above them was pitch black without any stars, just like the sky they could see outside through the high windows.

Candles floated above the dining table, illuminating the few silvery-white ghosts that adorned the auditorium and the excited faces of the students.

They chatted excitedly, exchanging news from the summer holidays, greeting friends from other colleges loudly, and scrutinizing each other's new hairstyles and clothes.

When they entered the Great Hall, Luna left them and sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

Anne didn't rush to the Slytherin table; instead, she followed Harry to the Gryffindor table.

As soon as they reached the Gryffindor table, Ginny was dragged over and sat down by several fourth-grade students who were shouting and yelling.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Simonaway found a few seats in the center of the table and sat together. On one side of them was the ghost of Gryffindor—Nick, who was almost headless—and on the other side were Parvati Petit and Lavender Brown.

Two girls greeted Ron with feigned enthusiasm and excessive warmth, and Harry guessed that they must have been talking about Ron just a second ago.

"Looks like you had a great summer vacation," Lavender Brown said with a forced smile. She then looked at Anne and asked in surprise, "And who is this? I don't recognize her... Is she another new transfer student?"

“You guessed right,” Harry said with a grin. “This is Anne Saloo, the student who transferred to fifth grade this year.”

"Huh? Fifth grade?" Lavender asked in surprise. "Shouldn't it be sixth grade? I remember Miss Grindelwald, Miss Malfoy, and Miss Sweetine all joined in sixth grade. Why is this student in fifth grade?"

Harry thought to himself, "I can't tell you that Annie dropped out of school before finishing fourth grade either..."

Vivi and her friends were placed in sixth grade because they dropped out of school after only completing fifth grade to search for Harry.

Anne transferred to fifth grade because she dropped out of school early in fourth grade because she couldn't suppress the dark magic curse within her.

"Perhaps it's because she's quite young," Harry blurted out. "But that's not the point—"

He pointed to the woman at the faculty seating area and said, "Is she our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"

Everyone's eyes followed the direction he pointed, first landing on Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sat in the gold high-backed chair in the middle of the long faculty desk, still wearing his ever-present deep purple robe covered with silver stars and a matching hat.

He tilted his head toward the woman sitting next to him, who was speaking into his ear. Harry thought the woman looked like someone's unmarried aunt, short and stout, with short, curly, greyish-brown hair tied in a very ugly pink bow that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes.

At this moment, she turned her face slightly, picked up her wine glass, and took a sip.

Then, everyone saw a pale, toad-like face and a pair of droopy eyelids with bulging eyes.

“What a beautiful toad!” Harry exclaimed, shaking his head. “Just as beautiful as Neville’s Raeford.”

"Hey!" Neville turned back to Harry, looking annoyed. "I'm still here!"

“Oh yeah, you’re still here,” Harry said with a forced smile. “Look at her, doesn’t she look alike to your Rafe?”

Neville glanced at the old woman, then looked down at his toad, Leif, wanting to explain, but the words stuck in his throat.

no……

At once……

He looks a lot like his mother.

“Look,” Harry said, spreading his hands, “you think they look alike too, right?”

“It really does look alike.” Ron patted Neville on the shoulder with a fake smile as well. “Of course, perhaps this toad teacher will look favorably on you because of Ralph.”

"That's enough!" Neville slammed his fist on the table.

Just then, Draco came over.

"Harry, Harry!"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, turning his head.

“This woman is one of Fudge’s,” Draco said, tossing his chin at Umbridge. “It’s her, Dolores Umbridge… She looks a lot like Longbottom’s fat toad, doesn’t she?” “Not just you, we all think so,” Ron said with a smile, for the first time in his life he felt that Malfoy wasn’t so…blind after all.

At least in this respect, great minds think alike.

“My dad told me to remind you to be careful of her,” Draco said, then quietly slipped back inside.

Harry knew, of course, that this Ms. Umbridge was Fudge's woman, and he was a little annoyed because his plan to live a carefree life for three years had been ruined the moment Umbridge arrived.

Vivi's task was simply to hone his political skills at school—a wizard can certainly rely solely on magic, but wizards also have a social aspect and cannot escape the vortex of politics.

Just then, Hagrid walked in and sat down in his seat.

Upon seeing Harry, Hagrid reached out and waved to him.

Harry did the same, and even mouthed to him silently, "Rock crust cake!"

Hagrid was even happier when he saw Harry's lips move.

How could he not be happy that someone liked his rock-skin cakes, especially Harry, who was his best friend?
He decided in his heart that he must add some ingredients to the rock-skin cake.

We must make sure Harry eats happily and with peace of mind.

Anne: Ah Minos.

About half a minute later, the door to the hall opened, and a long line of first-year students, who looked shaken, walked into the hall led by Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall was carrying a stool with an old wizard's hat on it. The hat was patched upon patched, and there was a wide tear next to the frayed brim.

It was the Sorting Hat; the last time Harry saw him was the last time.

The buzzing conversations in the auditorium gradually subsided, and the first-year students lined up in front of the faculty tables, facing the students from other grades, just like every year when the new students entered school.

Professor McGonagall carefully placed the stool in front of them and then stepped back.

The faces of the first-graders gleamed pale in the candlelight, and a little boy in the middle of the line seemed to be trembling.

Looking at the little boy, Harry couldn't help but think back to when he was first sorted into his house a hundred years ago. Was he just as anxious as this little boy?

Fortunately, Gareth took care of him at the time, and he also made so many good friends at Hogwarts—of course, Cassandra was one of them.

If it weren't for Cassandra's secret help, those pure-blooded Slytherins would probably have buzzed around him like flies, harassing him.

Thinking about this, Harry felt a little nostalgic for Cassandra.

When he turned around, he wanted to look for Cassandra, but he found nothing at the Slytherin bench.

Ugh……

He sighed inwardly.

However... I'll try to visit her when I have some free time in a few days.

Thinking of this, Harry lowered his head and sniffed his robes.

There was also Cassandra's natural scent on it—it seems Cassandra had sealed some kind of spell on the robe, so that the scent would never dissipate.

When he looked up again, the slit in the brim of his Sorting Hat opened like a mouth, and then he began to sing loudly.

It's nothing more than newly made-up songs every year that people can't understand.

However, this year's songs are clearly more profound and have a strong educational value.

The lyrics highlight the necessity of unity, but it also acknowledges that the four houses of Hogwarts have not been united since Phineas Black stepped down as headmaster.

Anytime.

"We've gone a bit off-topic this year, haven't we?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I suppose so,” Harry said hesitantly, but what he didn’t mention was that he had also heard the off-topic song about the Sorting Hat back in 1889.

“I wonder if it has issued any warnings before?” Hermione said, her voice slightly uneasy.

“Yes, yes,” Nick, who was almost headless, said knowingly, leaning over Neville toward Hermione. “Back in 1889, when Phineas Black was headmaster, the Sorting Hat reminded students to stick together…”

"And then what happened?" Ron asked eagerly.

“Oh, of course the four houses are united,” Nick, who was almost headless, said with a hearty laugh.

"Huh?!" Ron was incredulous. "How is that possible? Slytherins a hundred years ago would have been even more committed to the pure-blood doctrine than they are now. How could they possibly have joined forces with other houses?"

"That's because you don't know just how awful Principal Phineas Black really is," Nick said sarcastically, almost headless, before floating away.

How annoying is it?

Ron thought for a moment, "Could anyone be as annoying as Snape?"

Principal Phineas Black, who was far away in his office, sneezed.

He was unaware that his title as "the most unpopular person in Hogwarts history" was about to be taken away from him.

"quiet!"

Professor McGonagall slammed her hand on the table with a stern expression.

The students who had been whispering to each other immediately lowered their heads or sat up straight; in short, no one dared to stroke Professor McGonagall's whiskers.

Just kidding, anyone who's blind enough to mess with Professor McGonagall will definitely be shown what a real mastermind is like.

“Euan Abercrombie!” Professor McGonagall called out the first name.

The little boy who had looked terrified earlier stumbled forward and sat down on the stool.

“Abercrombie?” Ron asked in a very low voice. “If he were in the same year as us, would you say he’s number one, or Hannah Abbott?”

“It must be Miss Abboct.” Hermione lowered her head and answered confidently. “Look, Abercrombie is Abercrombie, and Abboct is Abboct. The first and second letters are the same. As for the third letter, Abboct is B, and Abercrombie is E. So, B comes before E, so Miss Abboct comes before Abercrombie.”

"Are there any surnames that come before Abbott?" Ron asked, unwilling to give up.

“Yes,” Harry interjected. “Abbadon, the first three and Abbott are all ABB, and the fourth one’s A comes much earlier than O.”

Just then, the Sorting Hat announced the Sorting results.

"Gryffindor!"

(End of this chapter)