Hogwarts: What are the four great masters doing?

As he got further and further away from the sarcophagus, Ryan seemed to hear an ancient song.

He could tell that it was Teacher Helga's voice.

"Weep not for those who sleep, for they have only wandered into the mist, and the web of time hides their intertwined paths."

"The wind will bring back news, and the forest will sprout new vines."

"When the holly burns in the thousandth autumn evening, when the wandering child returns to his homeland."

"We will meet again, at the mistletoe-woven door."

Then, the surrounding light and shadow gradually faded, as if the color had been taken away from a painting.

Ryan's consciousness returned to his body.

He heard the whispers of the young wizards in the audience.

"Why so long?"

"I told you, he's special!"

"Is this 'hat embarrassment'? I've only heard my parents talk about it..."

"cool!"

Chapter 17 The Sorting Result is...Hogwarts!

Hat Embarrassment is a legend that is circulated among a small number of young wizard families in Hogwarts.

Because it often only takes a short time for the Sorting Hat to determine which college a young wizard should go to.

But this situation may occur unexpectedly when encountering some special - often outstanding - little wizards.

If a young wizard's character and qualities have the characteristics of two colleges at the same time, and both are very outstanding, so that the Sorting Hat cannot make a choice for more than ten minutes, it is called "Hat Embarrassment".

But Ryan—thirty minutes had passed since he put on the Sorting Hat.

So at this moment, the little wizards below have already started talking.

Even the professors in the guest seats had all turned their eyes to Ryan, staring at this special little wizard.

"Dumbledore..."

Professor Flitwick hesitated. "I remember Minerva also experienced the Sorting Hat dilemma when she was sorted. The time it took for the Sorting Hat to do that was..."

"Twelve minutes."

Dumbledore whispered, "The Sorting Hat hesitated between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and finally chose Gryffindor."

Even in a hat trick, like Ryan's hat trick lasting more than 30 minutes... at least in the long years that Dumbledore taught, this was the first time.

“It’s really unique.”

The old wizard said happily.

But it was obvious that Ryan didn't know what "hat embarrassment" was.

When he was at Hogwarts, even the Sorting Hat had not been invented yet. The students in the colleges were assigned to different colleges after consultation between him and four teachers.

But even if he knew, Ryan wouldn't care at this moment.

"Is that all, Mr. Hat?"

At this moment, he just continued to talk with the Sorting Hat in his mind and recalled the funeral he had just seen.

After calming down a little from the intense grief of Ravenclaw's death, Ryan had realized many, many problems.

Firstly, how did Ravenclaw die?

He saw no wounds on the body, and it was impossible for a Ravenclaw in his fifties to have died of natural causes.

"Disease? Curse?"

Ryan didn't know - with Ravenclaw's magical attainments, it was hard for him to imagine what disease or curse could take her life.

besides...

"The flowers around the sarcophagus were probably given by the students of Hogwarts, but...where is Helena?"

Ryan was confused because he didn't see anyone who was supposed to be at the funeral.

Helena Ravenclaw, the biological daughter of Ravenclaw.

She studied with Ryan, who practically watched her grow up and regarded her as his own sister.

In fact, the other ring engraved with 'HR' in Ravenclaw's hand was given by Helena.

In any case, she should not miss her mother's funeral.

Of course, Ryan could also explain it - maybe Helena attended the funeral, but had already left.

but...

"Helena's absence is still explainable—but the conversation between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teachers..."

To be fair, based on Ryan's understanding of the two teachers, they are both very emotional people.

Gryffindors will be furious at the suffering of the innocent and weak, while Hufflepuffs will cry over the withering of grass.

But at Ravenclaw's funeral, they seemed too calm.

The sadness in the silence was as if they had anticipated Ravenclaw's death, but they had not expected it to come so soon.

Also, Salazar Slytherin was mentioned in their conversation, but there was clearly no anger in it.

"It turns out that Mr. Slytherin didn't leave the school because of a disagreement with the other three teachers, but for other reasons..."

The more inconsistencies Ryan discovered, the more confused he became.

So he was eager to learn more from the Sorting Hat.

"That's all, little master."

The Sorting Hat could not give him any more information: "After the funeral, I was placed in the headmaster's office - oh, there was not even a headmaster position at Hogwarts at that time, so the place was not called that at the time."

"After that, I never saw Master Gryffindor again until the first Headmaster chosen by Master Helga before her death came to the office and asked me to preside over the Sorting ceremony."

Before his death—Lian hated those words.

"I understand."

After confirming that the Sorting Hat had no further information, he did not ask any further questions.

Instead, he asked about another topic: "So, Mr. Hat... My teacher left me something at the academy. Do you know what it is?"

The Sorting Hat might not know the truth about the Big Four, but there was no doubt that what the Big Four said in the vault and what they left for him in the academy would definitely contain this truth.

"Oh, of course."

The Sorting Hat seemed happy that Ryan didn't continue to ask about those sad past events: "The four founders all left treasures at Hogwarts, and all the young wizards know this legend."

"Of course, I can tell you that the legend is true—the four masters, including the earliest Slytherin master who left, left something for their successors...that is, you!"

"Where are they?"

Ryan asked quickly.

"do not know."

The Sorting Hat said confidently: "Oh, little master - you can't expect a hat to know everything, even though I am the best hat in the world, with a soul and full of wisdom."

"I just know they're somewhere in the school, and you'll find them eventually."

So Ryan took a deep breath.

"alright, I got it."

Just as the past four teachers had taught him, he calmed his emotions and prevented his wisdom and composure from being dominated by his emotions.

After a moment, he said, "As for my identity—you'll keep it a secret for me, right?"

"Of course, the Sorting Hat never reveals any of the little wizards' secrets."

"Then please sort me into a house."

Ryan said this.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel curious.

In fact, although he was a student of the Big Four, he was even one of the founding participants of Hogwarts.

But he himself was never actually assigned to any house.

As a disciple of the Big Four, his role at Hogwarts at that time was actually more like that of a dean of studies and an outstanding graduate.

So he was really curious about which college he would be assigned to.

However, the facts were obviously different from what he expected.

"Oh, the Sorting... of course."

There seemed to be more amusement in the Sorting Hat's voice.

"The four masters have already arranged your academy... Yes, the result is undeniable."

The inner dialogue ends here.

The next moment, everyone in the auditorium heard the Sorting Hat finally announce the results of the sorting with absolute clarity.

"Hogwarts!"

Chapter 18 Dumbledore's Decision, the Most Special Student at Hogwarts

"Hogwarts!"

The loud sound of the Sorting Hat echoed throughout the entire auditorium, and the originally noisy auditorium suddenly became quiet.

Then, the little wizards were in an uproar!

"Hogwarts!?"

"What does that mean? Aren't we already at Hogwarts?"

"Merlin's eyeballs...that hat must be broken."