Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 772 A Unique Sorting System

The Sorting Hat song was definitely out of the question, so Alecto Caro's condition for compromise was that the Sorting Ceremony begin immediately.

The Sorting Hat, of course, disagreed, since it would only have this one opportunity a whole year to sing the songs it had written to all the students of Hogwarts.

But there was no other way; Snape, in his capacity as headmaster of Hogwarts, agreed to the request.

So, during the Sorting Ceremony, the new Slytherin students were among the slowest to be sorted. The Sorting Hat would remain silent for a long time until the new students were getting restless and everyone was becoming impatient, at which point it would slowly begin to speak.

Later, everyone figured out the rules: if the Sorting Hat didn't announce the result for more than ten seconds, then it was definitely a new Slytherin.

At the same time, there is another thing that has also puzzled many people.

In addition to the parchment with the names of the new students written on it, Professor McGonagall also had a box in her hand.

At first, no one knew what was in the box until a Hufflepuff freshman put on the Sorting Hat.

After the Sorting Ceremony, Professor McGonagall picked a wand out of the box and handed it to him.

In an instant, a buzz of discussion filled the auditorium.

They had no idea that the Sorting Ceremony included a wand-giving ceremony; shouldn't they have bought their own wands before the start of the semester?

Although many people know that Death Eaters have taken over Diagon Alley, and freshmen have no chance to buy their own wands, it's still unreasonable to hand out wands so hastily.

Anyone who has been to Ollivanders wand shop knows that you can't just pick up any wand and use it. A wand that is not suitable for you will have almost no effect on casting spells.

But what about the freshmen—they don't even have the chance to choose their own wands? Is that really okay?

Moreover, it wasn't just the students who were confused; even the professors didn't understand.

"Minerva, may I know what you're doing?" Alecto Caro asked coldly.

"As you can see, provide wands to the new students." Professor McGonagall turned her head and said calmly, "Thanks to you, many new students were unable to buy what they needed before the start of the semester."

"Are you questioning the Dark Lord's decision?" Alecto Carlo's voice grew even colder.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not questioning, I'm strongly opposing," Professor McGonagall said, seemingly oblivious to Alecto Carona's increasingly grim expression.

"But unfortunately, you don't seem willing to take my ideas into consideration, so this is the only way I can do it." Professor McGonagall picked out another wand from the box and handed it to the freshman next to her who was carefully putting down her Sorting Hat—she had just been sorted into Gryffindor.

"And I have to do it this way. Do you expect them to master the skills of wandless spellcasting in their first year?"

Alecto Caro was speechless after being confronted, but he was unwilling to give up.

"Where did you get your wand?"

"Of course it was bought." Professor McGonagall glanced at her as if she were mentally challenged.

"There's more than just one wand shop in Diagon Alley in the wizarding world; Gregorwich is also very popular among wizards."

Beside the ceiling of the auditorium, Celen, now a cat, shifted slightly in position.

Professor McGonagall did indeed buy those wands from him at a price of seven Galleons each, paying in full without even blinking an eye.

However, when she spoke just now, she deliberately mentioned Grigovich, and Alector Caro subconsciously assumed that the wand in the box was Grigovich's work.

But in any case, this change is clearly different from their plan to use the wand to manipulate the newborn.

Alecto Caro tried to steal the wand and pretend nothing had happened, but Snape stopped him.

"The Dark Lord needs Hogwarts to function normally, and he doesn't want these professors to interfere with what he's about to do."

Snape looked at Alecto Caro expressionlessly. "I know my colleagues. They may compromise on some things for the sake of the majority of students, but they also have their bottom lines."

"Their bottom line is how many wands?" Alecto Caro scoffed dismissively.

"It's not the wand, it's the right of new students to learn magic," Snape said. "Don't forget, Hogwarts is a magic school, it teaches how to cast spells. Without a wand, those foolish new students won't learn anything at all."

“I agree with Severus,” said Barty Crouch Jr. “The plan can continue next year, but the Hogwarts professors must remain at the school until the master finds Harry Potter and Siron Ollivander.”

He sneered and continued, "They're just some unselected wands. What difference would it make if we gave them to them?"

Alecto Caro still didn't want to agree, but with a 2:1 score, she had no choice but to let Professor McGonagall continue to hand out wands to those disgusting half-bloods and mud-bloods.

After the Sorting Ceremony concluded, Alecto Caro announced a whole host of prohibitions. These included, but were not limited to, banning discussions about Death Eaters, prohibiting the formation of student organizations, forbidding cats from being kept in the castle, and requiring all correspondence to be censored—a series of outrageous rules, more numerous than in the previous years combined.

If it were someone else, and at a different time, would Filch have jumped for joy? After all, the more school rules there are, the more opportunities he has to punish students.

But the person who issued these school rules was a Death Eater who wanted to kill him. From the moment the first student walked into the Great Hall until now, Filch has never been inside; he has always stayed outside.

And if he heard about the school's rule against keeping cats, he'd probably explode—just like the other students in the auditorium.

Of the four types of pets allowed at Hogwarts, owls are too expensive, and mice and toads are too small. Therefore, cats have always been the most common and popular pet at Hogwarts.

They certainly didn't want to keep cats at Hogwarts now.

Even Xilun was stunned for a moment, wondering if he had been exposed, since he looked like a cat.

Normally, relying on the cat's body, he wouldn't stand out much in Hogwarts Castle, but if there weren't any cats left in the castle, it probably wouldn't be so easy for him to do anything.

This also explains why Alector Caro would suddenly set such an illogical rule.

Thinking of this, Xilun couldn't help but become nervous, and moved his body again to a corner where he was less likely to be discovered.

After Snape sat down, the hungry people finally got to dinner.

The food prepared by the house-elves was as plentiful as ever, and everyone enjoyed it immensely.

No one noticed that a cat was carefully stepping through the shadows in the auditorium, jumping down from the ceiling, and then squeezing out through the open door.