My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 17.017. Azkaban's Former Prisoner

It was almost exactly when the Sorting Hat touched Lynn's hair.

The tattered, dirty hat screamed as if it had been electrocuted:

"Slytherin!"

Lynn was completely stunned.

His hands were still holding the brim of the hat, and he hadn't even fully put it on his head yet.

He doesn't have any prejudice against Slytherin, but aren't you being too casual?

And is it possible for students from Muggle families to be sorted into Slytherin?

Lynn turned his head innocently to look at Professor McGonagall standing to the side.

The professor didn't seem too surprised by this, and she urged Lynn on.

"Your sorting is over, Mr. Belloc. Please put the hat back; it's the next person's turn."

Lynn had no choice but to put the Sorting Hat back on the stool and walk toward the cheering Slytherin table.

Even after she was seated, Lynn still didn't understand how the Sorting Hat made its judgment.

It didn't even say a word to itself, let alone try to understand its own thoughts.

So it realized its own talent for dark magic?

Lynn deduced a possibility in his mind.

However, this speculation is not very convincing, since although Slytherin produces many dark wizards, it has never stated that it would use dark magic talent as a criterion for selecting students.

The sorting ceremony was still ongoing, and Lynn's little incident was hardly even a minor episode in the eyes of the senior students and professors.

Every year, there are some students with very distinctive personality traits that make the Sorting Hat make a quick judgment. This phenomenon is not common, but it is not rare either.

At most, they were slightly surprised to learn that Lynn was from a Muggle family, like Professor McGonagall and Professor Fox.

It is indeed quite rare for a Muggle-born freshman to be sorted into Slytherin.

The Slytherin upperclassmen around him were quite friendly, and with a "what's done is done" attitude, Lynn stopped thinking about it and quietly watched the Sorting Ceremony continue.

"Ian Douglas Campbell!"

As Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, the silver-haired boy who had shared a carriage with Lynn on the train and was holding an umbrella in the sunshine quickly walked towards the platform.

The Sorting Hat seemed to hesitate for a long time on his head before finally sorting him into Ravenclaw.

……

"Autumn Zhang!"

An Asian girl trotted up to Professor McGonagall and hurriedly put the Sorting Hat on her head.

This was the only junior wizard Lynn knew who was in the same year as him.

Harry Potter's first love, who was also of Chinese descent.

And that little brat who was on the same boat as Lynn when crossing the lake, named Hubert McLean, actually got sorted into Slytherin just as he said.

When he stood tall and proud, like a knight who had just been knighted by the king, and came to the Slytherin table, he saw Lynn sitting calmly in his chair, and he immediately collapsed.

Just like how knights discovered that medals were worthless, since anyone could have one.

His face was flushed, and he seemed somewhat exasperated, but he still maintained at least some basic manners.

Why did you lie to me?

He sat down opposite Lynn and glared at her, demanding an explanation.

Lynn looked at him, puzzled. "What did I lie to you about?"

"Tell me your parents are Muggles!"

"That's right. Although I'm an orphan and have never met them, they have status and assets in normal society, so they should be Muggles."

"Then why were you assigned to Slytherin?!"

"How would I know?" Lynn shrugged. "Does Slytherin have a rule that they don't accept Muggle-born wizards?"

A Slytherin senior sitting nearby answered the question.

"no."

The senior shook his head, but his gaze toward Lynn was also full of strangeness.

"Slytherin has had newborns from Muggle families before, but it was very rare, maybe one every three years."

"So, does that mean I'm a once-in-three-years genius?" Lynn muttered to himself.

"In a sense, that is indeed the case."

The speaker was the Slytherin prefect, whom Lynn had introduced herself as Betty Dries when she sat down. She was a very capable-looking girl.

After the Sorting Ceremony, Headmaster Dumbledore's opening address interrupted the conversation at the Slytherin table.

"...Because of Professor Stock's unfortunate experience last semester, I have approved his resignation."

Now I'd like to introduce you to our newly appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Adrian Fawkes. He is an expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts and will also be a very competent professor.

Professor Fox smiled and waved to the young wizards from the high platform.

But strangely, there was very little applause from the young wizards below.

There was almost complete silence even at the Slytherin table.

Lynn had just raised his hand to support Fawkes when he saw that almost all the Slytherins around him had dark faces after hearing Professor Fawkes's name, and even the professors sitting on the platform didn't seem to have a good look on their faces.

Professor Fox's reputation doesn't seem to be very good.

Lynn frowned and hesitated for a moment before lowering his hand that was about to clap.

He planned to check things out when the dinner started.

Dumbledore didn't give a long speech; he simply made some necessary announcements and then declared the dinner party to begin.

As soon as he finished speaking, countless steaming dishes appeared out of thin air on the empty plate in front of Lynn, which immediately whetted the appetites of the freshmen who had traveled a long way, and they began to enjoy the food in front of them with knives and forks.

The Slytherins ate their meals slowly and deliberately, a stark contrast to the lively atmosphere of the Gryffindors on the other side.

"I thought the news was fake, but I didn't expect Professor Dumbledore to actually invite him over."

An older male student sighed.

Prefect Betty is cutting a Munich sausage.

"Isn't it ironic? If the news gets out that he's going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, it'll probably occupy the front page of the Daily Prophet for a month."

"My father warned me that if he really came to Hogwarts, I should stay away from him unless necessary, and not provoke him even if he wanted to pluck Professor Dumbledore's beard."

"Excuse me…"

Lynn cautiously joined their conversation, "Are you referring to the new Professor Fox? Is there... something wrong with him?"

Hubert, also a freshman, looked at him with disdain.

"You know nothing and yet you dare to interrupt our conversation."

Lynn looked at him speechlessly, thinking that this little brat really deserved a beating.

"Shut up! Is this how the McLean family raises their children?"

Betty, with a straight face, scolded Hubert, then explained to Lynn and the other young wizards who didn't know the details:

"Although it's not a good thing to talk about professors behind their backs, I still suggest you stay away from that new Professor Fox."

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for using the Unforgivable Curse to torture and kill five wizards.

Later, thanks to the strong pleas of our headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, and a turnaround in his case, his previous sentence was overturned by Wizengamot two years ago, and he was released early.

Cough cough cough... um, you know what I mean.

(End of this chapter)