Hogwarts: This holy light is righteously evil.

During this brief break, Puni casually strolled around the room.

It wasn't until they got up close that Puni truly felt the powerful magic contained within Hogwarts Castle.

The furnishings inside the house and the stone walls of the room contained ancient magic that flowed out like streams, then transformed into a band of light like a galaxy, and was eventually absorbed and stored in the diary in his mind.

As expected, the magic of just one front room was not enough to turn the pages of the diary; it only added another small, lit fragment to the map.

Puni guessed that unlocking more features of the diary and exploring the secret-filled Hogwarts Castle might be a good option.

Just as Puni walked back to Qiu Zhang's side, a piercing scream suddenly rang out beside them.

"It's a ghost! This place is haunted!"

The scream startled everyone.

The freshmen all turned their attention to the few figures that floated out of the wall.

They seemed to completely disregard the stunned newcomers, arguing fiercely as they passed through another wall, leaving behind a group of bewildered young wizards.

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the ghost story...

The wooden door was opened again.

Professor McGonagall is back.

"Are you ready? Follow me, the Sorting Ceremony is about to begin."

Qiu Zhang moved closer to Puni and gently touched his arm: "Puni, which academy do you want to go to?"

Puni didn't answer directly, but instead looked down at her: "What about you? Have you thought about which academy you want to go to?"

“I want to go to Ravenclaw!” Cho Chang’s eyes lit up. “My mother graduated from Ravenclaw! She always told me how beautiful the common room was, and I really want to see the place where my mother used to be.”

Puni nodded: "I see... then I'll go to Ravenclaw too."

Upon hearing this, Marcus immediately leaned over and said, "Puni! Your full name is Puni Lestrange, right? That's a pure-blood surname. Logically speaking, you should definitely be sorted into Slytherin, right?"

On the ship, when Marcos was chatting with Qiu Zhang and the others, he mentioned Puni's surname, which surprised him.

But then he suddenly felt it was normal. Only pure-blooded nobles would bother to figure out strange, inhuman languages, right?

"What does my surname have to do with which house I go to?" Penny asked, puzzled. "Which house I go to is my decision, and don't you think Slytherin's green hat is ugly?"

All three blinked, looking somewhat bewildered.

What's so ugly about a green hat?

Wearing a green hat (being cheated on) seems pretty good!

Before the crowd could say anything more, the group had already reached the double doors of the auditorium.

Professor McGonagall raised her hand and pushed open the door.

In an instant, dazzling lights and bustling voices rushed towards me.

The young wizards stopped in their tracks, unable to resist looking up in amazement.

Inside the auditorium, four long college tables were neatly arranged, and the upperclassmen were already seated, curiously looking at the freshmen at the door.

However, these people were not the reason for their amazement.

Looking up, the dome of the auditorium is truly breathtaking.

It has been enchanted, perfectly replicating the appearance of deep space, imbued with a rich epic feel.

Under a sky studded with stars, thousands of candles floated in mid-air, yet no wax dripped down; only warm candlelight poured down, illuminating the entire auditorium as bright as day.

Professor McGonagall had already led them to the platform directly in front of the altar.

All the professors at Hogwarts are here.

Professor McGonagall conjured a four-legged stool, and then solemnly placed a dirty hat on it.

"That hat is covered in patches! What's going on?" Qiu Zhang was a little stunned.

Puni suddenly had a wicked idea and chuckled, "Maybe we should perform a 'restored to its original state' act in front of the professor?"

"Restore to its original state? A restoration spell?" Qiu Zhang was stunned for a moment, then panicked a little. "But I haven't even mastered the levitation spell yet!"

However, her voice was quickly drowned out by the Sorting Hat's sawing-like singing.

"Oh, you might not think I'm pretty..."

Chapter 19 A Divine Move! He grabbed the Sorting Hat's mouth and pulled it shut!

It's a very old-fashioned and off-key song, but it's still a song that helps students understand the four core principles of the college.

Gryffindor champions fearless courage.

Hufflepuff upholds integrity and loyalty.

Ravenclaw favors intelligent and inquisitive souls.

Slytherin favors those with ambition.

Until the song ended.

The Sorting Hat's raspy voice has finally stopped blaring.

Not many people in the auditorium were willing to applaud its singing.

Marcos leaned closer to Puni and said, "My God, this tune is off-key, worse than the giant squid in the Black Lake. I almost thought I was going to fall into the lake."

Puni nodded in deep agreement.

At this moment, Professor McGonagall stepped forward and unfolded the parchment in her hand.

"When I call your names, come forward and sit down, put on your Sorting Hats, and wait for your house assignments."

The list is arranged alphabetically by the new students' last names.

The first one to go up was a little girl, who was assigned to Hufflepuff.

A round of applause broke out.

The applause this time was much more enthusiastic than the applause for the Sorting Hat's song.

"Marcos Belby!"

"Oh! Why do I have to be so close to the front?"

Marcos's face turned pale. He forced himself to run forward and plopped down on the four-legged stool, letting Professor McGonagall put the patched Sorting Hat on his head.

The auditorium fell silent again, and all eyes turned to that direction.

The Sorting Hat muttered to itself for a long time before finally shouting at the top of its lungs.

"Ravenclaw!"

A long table on the right also erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Marcos blinked.

Is that all?

He then took off his hat with a sigh of relief, stumbled towards the long table, and didn't forget to turn back and wave to Puni.

"Katie Bell!"

The shy girl was so nervous that her fingers were trembling. She put on the Sorting Hat, and within seconds the hat announced the result.

"Gryffindor!"

Cheers immediately erupted from the Gryffindor long table, and Katie ran over, blushing.

Cho Chang, standing beside Penny, watched Kitty's retreating figure and tilted his head, wondering, "Could the Sorting Hat have put Kitty in the wrong house? Doesn't Gryffindor value courage?"

“A wise man keeps his talents hidden until the right time to act, and the same goes for courage.” Puni smiled. “Sometimes, the fire in your heart doesn’t have to be burning on your face.”

Qiu Zhang's eyes widened slightly: "Oh! You actually know about these things? My father often tells me about that ancient Eastern country at home!"

"Qiu Zhang!"

Before Puni could reply, Professor McGonagall's strong voice rang out.

Qiu Zhang paused slightly, then quickly walked forward and sat down.

The Sorting Hat hovered over her head for only a dozen seconds: "Ravenclaw!"

Cho Chang's eyes lit up, he smiled brightly, then took off his hat, solemnly handed it back to Professor McGonagall, and jogged all the way to the Ravenclaw table, where he sat down right next to Marcos.

Then she turned back to look at the new students and waved vigorously at Puni.

Puni smiled and nodded at her.

After a while, the names on the parchment were finally turned to the back row.

"Puni Blake Strange!"

Puni slowly walked forward and gave Professor McGonagall a sweet smile.

Professor McGonagall paused for a moment, then said, "Please have a seat."

Puni turned and sat down, and Professor McGonagall then placed the Sorting Hat on his head.

The wide brim of the hat had just covered his vision when an old and cunning voice exploded in his mind.

"Oh! A perfect, pure, and flawless Slytherin prospect!"

"The oldest pure bloodline flows in your veins, you have an almost obsessive pursuit of the origins of magic and power, and you harbor an ambition that will stop at nothing! At the same time, you also have a natural talent for judging situations and a desire for control?"

"Go, Si..."

The Sorting Hat was about to shout.

Puni's eyelids twitched.

You old hag, you haven't even asked my opinion before you're going to assign me to a college?

He was somewhat unhappy.

Because of his displeasure, a certain element suddenly burst forth within him, not manifesting on the surface of his body, but rather gathering entirely in his mind.

The holy light manifested as a hammer.

He slammed the Sorting Hat into his head.