Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 137 The Sorting Hat: Trembling with Caution, Walking on Thin Ice

"Who knows? They're such Gryffindors." Hermione didn't have a strong impression of Harry and Ron, only that they were prone to breaking school rules.

The four parted ways at the entrance of the auditorium and went to their respective college's long table to take their seats.

After sitting down at the Slytherin table, Rice glanced towards Gryffindor and indeed did not spot Harry and Ron in the crowd.

What did they go about?

Since he didn't have anything else to do, Rice simply put his hand on his chin and started thinking about what might have happened to Harry and Ron. Then he saw a car drive past the castle window.

Rice: ...

He roughly understood what Ron and Harry had done wrong. Hermione's summary of the two of them was very insightful: they were too much Gryffindor.

The Sorting Ceremony was not postponed due to the absence of the two young wizards. Professor McGonagall led a group of young wizards in as usual. Rice saw Astoria standing at the front of the line, behind her a girl with messy, waist-length dirty blonde hair.

What caught Rice's attention about the blonde girl was that she wore several unusual pieces of jewelry and had her wand tucked behind her ear. Her gray eyes looked dazed, and she exuded a distinctly eccentric air.

He had a gut feeling that the girl would be sorted into Ravenclaw because—though saying that would certainly enrage Ravenclaw—he felt that those eccentric little wizards were a good fit for Ravenclaw's school spirit.

Under Professor McGonagall's direction, the Sorting Ceremony began.

Because her surname was "G" and her given name was "A", Astoria was quickly called upon.

When she saw the Sorting Hat, she truly breathed a sigh of relief—before this, there were all sorts of rumors about how the school would sort students into houses. The most outrageous theory was that everyone had to work together to defeat a giant monster, and then be assigned to a house based on their performance in the battle.

Strange thoughts flashed through her mind as Astoria sat down on the small stool.

She could feel the gaze of nearly a thousand eyes, which made her nervous: once the Sorting results were announced in front of so many people, there would probably be no turning back.

I don't want to go to Gryffindor, I don't want to go to Hufflepuff!

As the hat was placed on her head, she remembered what Rice had said to her.

Silently repeating my name will surely make your wishes come true.

Although she didn't really believe it, she still silently repeated Rice's name a few times in her heart.

At the same time, a voice rang in her ears: "Interesting little girl, your soul... Wait, you just mentioned Rice? You know Rice—I mean Rice Lint?"

"Yes." Astoria was also quite surprised; she hadn't expected the Sorting Hat to actually react to Rice's name!

The Sorting Hat said "Oh" and then fell silent.

Upon hearing the name Rice, the Sorting Hat immediately understood that Lord Slytherin had a plan for the girl before him. It attempted to place the thread of memory onto the young wizard from the Greengrass family, according to the established contract. However, as soon as the contract magic was activated, the Sorting Hat felt a slight resistance, as if a force was resisting the thread of memory it was releasing.

Perhaps increasing the output could forcibly add the threads, but the Sorting Hat dared not do so, because it clearly sensed that this was a spell cast by Lord Slytherin, the purpose of which was to prevent it from placing the threads on this girl.

Now it dared not make any rash moves.

At this moment, Astoria was confused, not understanding why the Sorting Hat had suddenly stopped talking.

Fortunately, the Sorting Hat's silence didn't last long. After a few seconds, it spoke again and asked, "Did Rice say anything?"

Astoria: ? ? ?

What's going on? Why does it seem like the Sorting Hat values ​​Rice's opinion so much?

Astoria's intuition was correct; the Sorting Hat now feared it had misjudged Rais's intentions. According to its judgment, it intended to sort Astoria into Slytherin, but now, knowing that Lord Slytherin was paying close attention to the girl, it dared not act rashly, lest it inadvertently disrupt the Lord's plans.

What the Sorting Hat didn't know was that Rice didn't have any specific plans; he just wanted Astoria to go to the house she wanted.

"He said I'm sure I can get into the college I want." Astoria wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she still told Rice what he had said.

"Oh, so which college do you want to go to?"

"It's definitely Slytherin!"

Sorting Hat: ...

After a moment, it roared with all its might, "Slytherin!"

The Sorting Ceremony continued, and no one knew the twists and turns of the Sorting Hat's journey.

Today's opening banquet was slightly different from previous ones. The faculty seats were consistently empty; Snape was absent when the Sorting Ceremony began, and Professor McGonagall disappeared after presiding over the ceremony. Later, Dumbledore also left the Great Hall after announcing the start of the banquet, which sparked much discussion among the students.

This greatly displeased Lockhart. He had meticulously prepared a speech and a set of corresponding body postures for the opening banquet, but Dumbledore didn't give him any time to present it. After he introduced himself, Dumbledore simply announced that dinner was served!

That set of movements and that manuscript are completely scrapped!

But just as no one knew what the Sorting Hat was thinking, no one noticed Professor Lockhart's discontent.

It wasn't until the banquet ended that a rather explosive piece of news slowly spread: Harry and Ron hadn't boarded the Hogwarts Express; they had arrived in a flying car.

This sparked a heated debate. The young Gryffindor wizards thought it was incredibly cool, while the Slytherin students believed that this serious violation of the Statute of Secrecy should be punished. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students didn't have any particular opinion; they were either discussing what spell had been cast on the flying car or lamenting that Harry and Ron had missed such a lavish feast.

Lockhart, on the other hand, was devastated, lamenting that he had missed a chance to make headlines.

However, none of this mattered to Rice. He returned to his dormitory early, lay down on his bed, and fell asleep.

……

Generally speaking, few young wizards choose to study in the library on the first day of school—they are often still caught up in the lazy state of their holidays.

But there was one exception: on the first day of school, Miss Hermione Granger pushed open the library door.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, goodnight everyone~

The next update will still be at midnight.

(End of this chapter)