The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 21 The Ubiquitous Social Classes

After everyone left the Great Hall, a tall man with a prefect badge pinned to his chest stepped out from the Slytherin ranks.

"All freshmen, come this way! Move closer to me."

Adhering to the principle of keeping a low profile, Ino followed the newly enrolled snake in front of her, slowly approaching the prefect.

However, things always take unexpected turns. When the Slytherin freshmen lined up in two columns, he was placed at the very front of the line by the prefect.

Looking at Malfoy, who was also in the first row and had an expression that said "it's only natural," Ino didn't want to say a word.

I had already decided to keep a low profile and not attract attention, but I never expected that I would be tricked by the Sorting Hat so soon.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, he was tricked by Slytherin's unspoken rules again.

The deed is done, and although he was forced to stand in the center, he knows that the only thing he can do now is to do nothing and just stay quietly.

As for quietly stepping back or rashly asking for the reason... it's as if they're afraid of not being eye-catching enough.

It's worth mentioning that Gryffindor, standing nearby, seemed to be either challenging them or simply imitating them.

They also placed the newly drawn SSR savior Harry at the top of the new student list.

……

After separating from the other houses, the Slytherin freshmen, led by their prefects, walked down the winding marble staircase along the side of the corridor.

Throughout the journey, Ino kept a close eye on her surroundings.

Well, the basement was dimly lit, the staircase was like a maze, and the only means of lighting was the scattered torches on the walls. The weak light did not bring any warmth, but instead added to the gloom of the place.

He now finally understood why there were rumors that the Slytherin common room was converted from a dungeon.

Given this atmosphere, calling it a dungeon would be an exaggeration; calling it a death row cell would be more apt.

A few minutes later.

The prefect leading the way stopped in front of a stone wall, turned around and looked at the group of freshmen.

"I suppose you've all memorized the route you took here? The first step to getting into the Slytherin common room is to find this stone wall precisely."

"And the second step? I mean, how do you open it?" Malfoy asked, feigning composure.

Malfoy may have wanted to appear mature and composed, but he forgot the basics of facial expression management during conversation. His arrogant demeanor made it seem as if he was the only one in the new student group who had the right to speak.

Ino subtly shifted his feet; he now really wanted to give Malfoy a Best Supporting Role award, being used without even realizing it.

The prefect on the other side was clearly trying to intimidate the freshmen and was just looking for someone to talk to.

really!

"Very good! That's all I have to say next."

The prefect glanced at Malfoy with interest, then turned to look at all the new students:

"The second step to entering the common room is to say the correct password, but if I find out that someone has leaked the password to an outsider... hey! I'd be happy to let him experience the Slytherin tradition of punishing whistleblowers."

At this point, the prefect changed from his previous gentle demeanor to a cold and stern one, appearing even more sinister in the firelight.

Seeing the lingering fear on the faces of the new students, he knew that he had achieved his goal of establishing authority, and now it was just a matter of time before he could take over.

Thinking of this, the prefect changed his previous cold demeanor and smiled warmly at everyone:

"Of course, you've passed the Sorting Hat test and are now Slytherins, so I trust you would never do anything to leak secrets. Now listen to me, the password for the common room this month is—Glory!"

"Boom boom..."

As the prefect finished speaking, the stone wall opposite slowly opened, revealing a crack just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Overall, it's pretty much the same thing as how the Leaky Cauldron opened up Diagon Alley.

The new students passed through the stone wall one by one in the previous order.

……

mysterious!

This was Ino's first impression of the Slytherin common room.

The entire hall is rectangular, with luxurious chairs and velvet-covered sofas lining the narrow passageways. The most striking feature is at the end of the hall, where a transparent wall reveals the Black Lake on the other side.

If you look closely, you can even see schools of fish swimming at the bottom of the lake.

The Slytherin common room is predominantly dark green, which, especially against the backdrop of the Black Lake, gives it a mysterious, shipwreck-like feel.

After the freshmen had settled into their new environment, the class monitors began assigning dorm rooms.

Perhaps it was because the castle was large enough, or perhaps there was never a shortage of rooms in the dungeon.

Therefore, Slytherin dorm room assignments varied widely, ranging from as few as two people per room to as many as six people per room.

It's not hard to see here that Slytherin is a privileged class in every way, and it has even become a customary rule.

"Eno Swinburne, Draco Malfoy..."

As expected, he was once again the first to be called out, and was assigned to the same dormitory room as Malfoy.

"Destroy it... I'm tired!"

Ino no longer cared about the reactions of the others.

He now wants to know what went wrong with Slytherin, whose core is based on bloodline hierarchy, that made a stranger, "Svenburn," appear before "Malfoy."

He knew very well the origin of his surname; it was something the old nanny at the orphanage had picked out from an obscure storybook when he was six years old.

……

Half an hour later.

After completing the dormitory assignments and explaining some other matters, the class monitor turned and left.

His departure revitalized the new student body.

The freshmen no longer stood stiffly, but chatted leisurely.

Several freshmen even went to the side and chatted with some senior students sitting on the sofa. Just by looking at their similar facial features and almost identical hair color, it was not hard to find out the relationship between them.

Ino had no interest in joining this ingratiating family gathering; he just wanted to get back to his dorm as soon as possible and quietly reflect on the near-farce that had just taken place.

He ignored the probing gazes around him and walked straight to the dormitory room he had just been assigned.

……

Meanwhile, after Ino left, a fairly large discussion began in the common room.

"Draco, were you in the same compartment as Sven Bourne on the train? Tell me what kind of person he is?" Pansy suddenly asked.

Pansy seemed to have voiced everyone's thoughts, and the previously somewhat noisy environment suddenly quieted down considerably.

Even some of the older students looked at Malfoy with curiosity, seemingly eager to hear some secrets.

On the other hand, after seeing everyone's attention focused on him, Malfoy swallowed back his original refusal, now enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention.

"Ahem! Although I don't know much about Ino, the moment I saw him, I knew we were the same kind of people, true Slytherins..."

In the time that followed, Malfoy spoke as much as he could, recounting his understanding of Ino, as well as his various guesses, deductions, and hypotheses...

Of course, all these speculations and assumptions, after being processed, become so-called "established facts".

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(End of this chapter)