Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 321 Pink Toad

The branch campus expanded very quickly this year, with almost no embarrassing situations.

Not long after, it was Annie's turn.

“Anne Salo!”

Just then, Sebastian's ghost suddenly appeared in the sky above the auditorium.

Anne stood up, stepped out of the Gryffindor long bench, and sat down in a chair.

Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on Anne's head, and as she nervously and expectantly listened, the Hat opened.

With a single utterance from her embroidered mouth, she could produce half a Zapori.

"Are you ever going to stop?!" the Sorting Hat shrieked. "You never give the old man a moment's peace, do you? Fine, Slytherin! Slytherin! No one betrays their house!"

Anne clearly didn't understand what was going on and didn't know why the Sorting Hat was acting hysterically.

Professor McGonagall was clearly taken aback. She took the hat off Anne's head and sighed.

“Miss Saru,” Professor McGonagall said, “you may return to the long bench in Slytherin.”

Anne gave a soft "oh," lowered her head, and ran to the Slytherin bench, sitting down next to Daphne.

Her face was flushed red, clearly she was extremely embarrassed.

No one expected the Sorting Hat to pull this stunt.

Her tendency to cry incontinence kicked in quickly, and tears streamed down her cheeks and onto the ground.

"Are you alright?" Daphne asked with concern.

Although she didn't know who Miss Saru was, she knew that Miss Saru was brought in by Harry.

Then it's definitely necessary to... cultivate a good relationship.

This is a consensus among all Slytherins—let's not even get me started, when it comes to being pragmatic, all of Slytherins are geniuses.

At that moment, Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood up.

This is an annual tradition; after the sorting ceremony, he always stands up to welcome the new students.

“Welcome to our new students,” Dumbledore said in a booming voice, his arms outstretched and a broad smile spreading across his face. “Welcome! And welcome to our old students—welcome back! There will be plenty of time for lectures, but not now—eat up!”

A burst of applause and enthusiastic applause filled the hall. Dumbledore sat down properly, tossing his long beard over his shoulders so it wouldn't obstruct his food—a feast suddenly descended from the sky, piecing together large chunks of beef, pies, platters of vegetables, bread, jam, and jugs of pumpkin juice onto the five long tables, which groaned under the weight.

"Great!" Ron sighed with drooling, grabbed the nearest plate of chicken legs, and started piling them onto his plate, while Nick, who was almost headless, watched him with a frustrated expression.

"What did you want to say before the Sorting Ceremony?" Hermione asked the ghost. "Was it about the Hat's warning?"

“Oh, right,” Nick said, seemingly pleased to have a reason to look away from Ron, who was practically wolfing down a baked potato. “Yeah, I’ve heard the Sorting Hat warn me several times before, always when it senses great danger to the school—and of course, its advice is always the same: stay united and keep things stable.”

“Oohoo oohoo oohoo oohoo oohoo?” Ron said.

His mouth was stuffed full, and Harry thought it was already quite an achievement that he could make any sound at all.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Nick, who was almost headless, said politely, while Hermione looked disgusted.

Ron swallowed hard and said, "It's just a hat, how could it know there was danger at school?"

“Don’t underestimate the Sorting Hat, Ron,” Nick said with a grin. “None of us will underestimate it—so I think this year, right here this semester, the four houses will definitely unite, you believe me? At least I believe the Sorting Hat’s prophecy.”

“I don’t believe it.” Ron looked around and, seeing Snape already seated in the faculty section, said reassuredly, “I’d rather believe Professor Snape will wash his hair than believe the four houses will unite!”

“That’s a shame, Ron,” Harry said with a chuckle. “Of course, we’ll see how things go in the future. Who can predict what will happen?”

Ron chewed on his chicken leg, glanced back at Draco who was pointing at his prefectural badge and whose whole body was sparkling, then rolled his eyes and turned away.

The dinner in the auditorium was lavish, and Anne stopped crying after being comforted by Daphne.

Harry was interested in the steak on the table, as well as the syrupy fruit pies.

As for kidney pies, he ate quite a few of them.

Kidneys are great! You should eat more kidneys!

After a while, the students had all eaten and drunk their fill, and the hall gradually became noisy. At this moment, Dumbledore stood up once again.

The talking stopped immediately, and everyone turned to look at the principal.

"I'm really sleepy, I really am." Harry felt his eyelids drooping. "Damn Merlin's socks! Can't we skip all this and just go back to our dorms to sleep? I'm so tired..."

“Obviously not,” Hermione said, forcing a smile.

"Alright, now that we're digesting yet another incredibly delicious meal, I ask that you all be quiet for a moment and listen to my usual remarks about the new school term," said Dumbledore. "First-year students should know that the Forbidden Forest in the hunting grounds is off-limits to students—something our upperclassmen should know now as well."

At this point, everyone turned their attention to the Weasley twins... Those who knew the inside story looked at Harry meaningfully.

Yes, Harry, in his first year, caused quite a ruckus in the Forbidden Forest.

They encountered Voldemort by chance and, after a fierce battle, finally defeated him.

"Mr. Filch, the administrator, asked me—and he told me this was the 426th time—to remind you all that you are not allowed to cast spells in the hallways during breaks, and many other rules, all listed on that long list that’s posted on the door of Mr. Filch’s office."

After saying this, Dumbledore stopped and looked around.

"In addition, as usual, our teaching staff has undergone changes this year—I am happy to introduce you to our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who is none other than Ms. Dolores Umbridge!"

Dumbledore continued, "The selection for the House Quidditch team will be held at—"

However, instead of launching into his usual long speech, he abruptly stopped and looked at Professor Umbridge questioningly.

Since she wasn't much taller when she stood up than when she was sitting, no one immediately knew why Professor Dumbledore had suddenly stopped talking.

“Oh.” Harry, being the Seeker, saw things clearly. “It seems our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has some bad intentions…”

“Even a good person wouldn’t be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year,” Hermione said in a low voice as well. Just then, Umbridge suddenly cleared his throat.

At this moment, everyone finally realized that Professor Umbridge had stood up—

“I think,” Ron suddenly became very sarcastic, “that if she jumped, could she even hit Malfoy’s knee? I mean, she’s just too short.”

“Hard to say,” Hermione said, shaking her head. “I think she looks like a pink toad!”

Dumbledore's astonished expression only lasted a moment before he quickly recovered and sat back down.

The other professors were not as composed as Dumbledore. Professor Snape's face was as black as the bottom of a cauldron, and Professor McGonagall... Professor McGonagall pursed her lips into a thin line.

She had never looked so serious before, not even when the Weasley twins did something that could cost her two hundred points in Gryffindor.

This was, to say the least, the first time she had encountered such an unexpected situation since she began teaching at Hogwarts—a new professor dared to steal the headmaster's speaking rights at the freshmen welcome dinner.

I really don't know whether to call her bold or if she came prepared.

Neither of these scenarios is what Professor McGonagall wants to see.

“Oh, thank you, Headmaster,” Umbridge said in a high-pitched voice, sounding like a little girl.

It's fucking disgusting. He looks like a toad, and his voice is like that... Harry felt that dinner would be ready soon.

It spews out from above like a difficult-to-pull-out firework.

Harry didn't listen to what was said next at all.

It was so disgusting that he was afraid he would throw up his dinner.

Looking up at Ron, Ron's face was turning pale and then flushed, as if he could vomit at any moment.

Hermione, who always respected the professor, also looked rather grim. Judging from her expression, she seemed ready to pull out her wand at any moment and unleash a curse on Umbridge's chubby face.

A harmless little curse.

Just when Harry thought Umbridge should finish speaking and cancel the sealing spell, Umbridge started speaking again.

It all revolves around the Ministry of Magic; every sentence is inseparable from the Ministry of Magic.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Ron said in a low voice. “How can there be such a disgusting person? He keeps going on and on, doesn’t he know that everyone’s time is precious? Merlin’s bitter tea, I want to go back and get a good night’s sleep.”

“It seems she’s unaware of this,” Harry said from the side. “But it’s not really our business, we can just ignore her… I think the professors are the ones suffering the most right now, look… Professor Snape’s expression?”

Ron turned his head and glanced at Snape.

He noticed that Professor Snape's face was so dark it was almost unrecognizable, as if it were so gloomy it could drip water.

“I suspect Professor Snape might secretly drug Umbridge tonight, especially something that could make him mute,” Hermione whispered.

In just a few minutes, Umbridge successfully got the students of the school's most respected professor to change their way of addressing her from 'Professor Umbridge' to 'Umbridge'.

It can be considered a remarkable feat under certain circumstances.

“I have a feeling,” Harry murmured. “I think Phineas’s title of ‘most unpopular person at Hogwarts’ is about to change hands.”

“If that’s what you’re saying…” Ron thought for a moment, “I think what you said makes sense.”

Umbridge was still on stage, delivering her passionate Mandarin speech.

"...Let us keep moving forward into a new era of enlightenment, efficiency and rationality, resolutely maintaining what should be maintained, improving what needs to be improved, and abandoning what we should prohibit."

At this point, Umbridge finally sat down.

Dumbledore graciously extended his hand to applaud her, and the other professors followed suit.

When the applause erupted from the faculty seats, the students realized that the annoying new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had finished what she had to say.

“Damn it,” Ron cursed, “I need to talk to Fred and George. This year’s pranks should target Umbridge…”

“Not a bad idea.” Hermione rolled her eyes. “If you’re hoping your two twin brothers won’t graduate—or worse, get expelled.”

“I don’t think either of them really needs that diploma,” Harry said with a chuckle. “They’d rather do something they want to do than graduate from Hogwarts—”

"Really?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Is there anyone in this world who doesn't care about being fired?

Clearly, we've now entered the school song phase.

The wild school song of Hogwarts clearly had a great impact on the new students.

Even after being tormented by Umbridge for so long, the students still have a great passion for singing.

Dumbledore was clearly not annoyed by Umbridge's sudden interruption and continued to lead everyone in singing with his wand until the Weasley twins finished the last beat of the Hogwarts school song with the tune of "Ancestors, Grandfathers".

“Music,” Dumbledore wiped away his tears, “expresses something that cannot be described in words, yet it is impossible to remain silent about it.”

The words had a deeper meaning, but before the students could ponder them, Dumbledore dismissed the entire school.

Just as Ron was about to leave, Hermione suddenly called out, "Ronald! We need to take the new students back to the common room!"

Ron then realized that he had become a prefect.

“Okay!” he shouted. “Hey, all of you! Little ones!”

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped again.

"What's wrong?" Ron scratched his head.

"You're not allowed to call them little ones!" Hermione, like an angry lioness, scolded Ron before turning around with her head held high, exuding authority. "First-year students! I am the Gryffindor prefect—follow me and this Weasley prefect as we escort you back to the Gryffindor common room!"

"Haha, you guys are going to be exhausted." Harry chuckled smugly, patting Ron on the shoulder. "I'm heading back now, see you later!"

(End of this chapter)