The Mightiest Badger at Hogwarts

As Professor McGonagall held her head high and slowly appeared with a group of freshmen who looked like chickens, the entire auditorium fell silent instantly.

Everyone, including the professors, looked at the freshmen with serious expressions.

Before arriving at Hogwarts, the freshmen had heard countless horrific experiences about the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts from their elders or companions. Now that they were stared at like this, they immediately became even more panicked. , some little girls were almost crying based on their expressions.

But what they didn't know was that everyone, including their parents, deliberately created such a terrifying and difficult atmosphere for the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony.

Scaring new students has been an unspoken rule of Hogwarts for thousands of years. No student from Hogwarts will break this tacit understanding.

In this silence, the Sorting Hat placed on the high chair at the end of the passage suddenly began to sing:

A long time ago I ordered a new hat,

Hogwarts Sea was not built at that time;

The four founders of Noble Academy,

Thought they would never part ways.

The same goal unites them,

The wishes of each other are so consistent:

To build the best magic school in the world,

Let their knowledge be passed down from generation to generation.

……

(The entire ballad will be included in the author's note)

After hat finished speaking, he became motionless again.

There was applause in the auditorium, but there were also many whispers.

"It seems a bit off topic this year, doesn't it?"

Cedric tilted his head and whispered in Link's ear.

He and Link sat together in the front row of the Hufflepuff table this year, which was a status symbol.

When Link heard this, he did not speak immediately, but frowned.

The first half of The Ballad of the Sorting Hat tells the story of the four giants of Hogwarts co-founding Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the eventual departure of Slytherin.

Everyone who has lived at Hogwarts is familiar with this story. After all, "Hogwarts: A History of the School" can be said to be a must-read book for every Hogwarts student.

The focus is on the second half of The Sorting Hat Ballad.

The Sorting Hat seems to be using this to warn the students at Hogwarts not to be divided and not to allow enemies outside the school to take advantage of the class?

This is more interesting.

According to Link's understanding, the Sorting Hat would not do such a thing under normal circumstances.

So Dumbledore taught it to say that?

If this is the case, it can be seen from this that Dumbledore's attitude towards the defection issue in Slytherin House is still inclined to be gentle.

Link couldn't help but sneer.

In his opinion, Dumbledore's approach was both outrageous and outrageous.

Link didn't believe that Dumbledore didn't know that the Slytherins simply couldn't listen to advice.

Link didn't believe that when the Slytherins really turned against Voldemort, Dumbledore wouldn't take action to correct them.

When that time comes, none of those Slytherins will end well.

If that's the case, then why don't you just hit the Slytherins before they turn, like him, so that they don't have the chance to actually turn?

hypocritical!

However, Link had to admit that although Dumbledore's approach was a bit vicious, it sounded good to people. As long as it was misinterpreted, it could easily be believed.

With this thought in mind, Link suppressed his smile and said to Cedric:

"This should be Dumbledore's warning to all of us through the mouth of the Sorting Hat. He also discovered the problems in Slytherin, which happens to prove that our plan is correct."

A smile broke out on Cedric's face when he heard this, and he nodded with satisfaction, looking very happy, just as Link expected.

While Link and Cedric were talking, the sorting ceremony had begun. One after another, the freshmen put on the sorting hats and were assigned to various houses.

The serious atmosphere in the auditorium has long since disappeared.

The old students of each college warmly welcomed their new students, which made the new students a little flattered.

You must know that one moment they thought they would undergo a series of inhuman tests, but the next moment they went directly to heaven.

Link and Cedric also stood up quickly, put on smiles and led the freshmen to their long tables, and then other old students entertained them.

This work is undoubtedly very hard, because compared to the other three houses, Hufflepuff always has the most freshmen.

This is directly related to the philosophy of the founder of Hufflepuff.

The great Ms. Hufflepuff firmly believes that it is too cruel for children to come to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with high expectations, only to return disappointed because there is no need for the school.

Therefore, under her will, Hufflepuff never refuses any young wizard who wants to join.

Slowly, the long line of freshmen disappeared.

After Professor McGonagall assigned the last student where to go, she picked up the high chair and the sorting hat and strode away. At the same time, Dumbledore also stood up.

"Welcome our new students," Dumbledore opened his arms and said in a loud voice, "Welcome our old students too, welcome back! There is plenty of time for speeches, but not now. Eat to your heart's content!"

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, delicious food suddenly fell from the sky.

The five long tables were immediately filled with large pieces of beef, pies, various vegetables, bread, jam and jugs of pumpkin juice. The long tables also groaned due to being overwhelmed.

Dumbledore came down to a roar of praise and applause, throwing his long beard over his shoulders so that it would not get in the way of his plate.

Not far away from him, the students started feasting early. After all, almost everyone was hungry after the whole day's journey.

The freshmen were particularly excited.

This was the first time in their lives that they had participated in such a unique banquet, and it was also the first time that they had seen such a straightforward and unpretentious principal. They were a little unresponsive for a while.

And every time at this time, the Hufflepuffs would smile heartily, fully displaying Hufflepuff's character of unity and loyalty, and would go forward to help the new students introduce themselves and grab food, regardless of whether they were still hungry. All the freshmen blushed.

Of course, they don't grab all kinds of food.

They would always push dishes such as pumpkin pie and pumpkin juice to Link first, and they all knew that these were Link's favorites.

This continued until the last dessert was wiped out by the students. When everyone had eaten and drank enough and started chatting, Dumbledore finally stood up again.

His appearance caused an instant silence in the auditorium. Although everyone was very sleepy after eating, they still looked at Dumbledore firmly.

"Okay, now that we are digesting another extremely rich meal, I ask everyone to be quiet for a while and listen to me talk about the precautions for the new semester as usual." Dumbledore said with a smile, "First-year students should You know, students are not allowed to enter the forbidden forest in the hunting grounds. Several of our senior classmates should also know this by now."

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, the students burst into laughter.

Because to be honest, as long as they are not particularly honest and timid students, there is no old student from the second grade who has not explored the Forbidden Forest.

Dumbledore was not angry when he saw this, and waited until everyone had finished laughing before continuing:

"Mr. Filch, the administrator, requested me. He also told me that this is the 426th time. I must remind you all that magic is not allowed in the corridors between classes, and there are many other regulations listed on that long page. It's on the list and it's taped to Mr. Filch's office door."

"In addition, there are two changes in our teaching staff this year. I am very happy to welcome back Professor Grapeland, who will teach you Care of Magical Creatures. I am also very happy to introduce Professor Umbridge, who will be our Dark Magician The new professor of Defense.”

There was a burst of sparse applause in the auditorium, and Cedric looked at Link with a questioning look, meaning whether this Umbridge was the so-called 'pressure from the Ministry of Magic' that Link said.

Link nodded slightly when he saw this and said nothing more.

Dumbledore on the stage also continued:

"The selection for the House Quidditch team will be-"

Dumbledore suddenly stopped talking and looked aside questioningly.

Everyone followed his line of sight curiously, and then noticed that Umbridge beside them had stood up at some point.

"Ahem!" Seeing that everyone's attention finally fell on her, Umbridge cleared her throat and said, "Thank you, principal, for saying such a warm welcome."

As soon as this statement came out, many people present frowned.

But it had nothing to do with the content of her words, but the sound of her voice.

Her voice was high-pitched and high-pitched, a bit like a sweet girl's voice.

This was nothing originally, but the key point was that the way a weird-looking old woman spoke with such a voice gave everyone a huge sense of contrast and nausea.

Umbridge paid no attention to the attention of everyone and continued:

"Well, I must say, it's great to be back at Hogwarts. It's such a joy to see all these cute little faces looking back at me. I'm eager to get to know you all soon, and I'm sure we will Become very good friends.”

"The Ministry of Magic has always believed that educating young wizards is a very important task. Some of the precious talents you are born with may be fruitless if they are not cultivated and exercised under careful and careful guidance. Unique to the wizarding world Ancient skills must be passed down from generation to generation, otherwise they will disappear.”

"The previous headmasters of Hogwarts have all made innovations when they were responsible for managing this historic school. This is completely appropriate, because if there is no progress, we will stagnate and decline. But at the same time, progress for the sake of progress This practice should never be encouraged, we..."

Umbridge's speech seemed to go on forever.

Since Dumbledore took charge of Hogwarts, students have never enjoyed such boring treatment.

It was precisely because of this that Umbridge was just halfway through her speech when the auditorium became noisy.

Everyone was whispering, and it seemed that just being able to continue standing here was a great honor to the fight.

The strange thing is that Dumbledore and the professors also turned a blind eye to the poor performance of the students. Even Snape and McGonagall, who used to hate the students' troubles the most, were unmoved and allowed the auditorium to become more and more chaotic. chaos.

Because the more chaos there is, the harder it will be for Umbridge to get off the stage.

It's a pity that Umbridge seems to have extremely rich experience in this area.

She completely ignored the students' state and continued her speech.

"...Because some changes have achieved good results, while other changes will be found to be poor decisions when the time comes. At the same time, some old habits will be retained, which is understandable, and some habits have become obsolete. , then it must be abandoned. Let us continue to move forward and enter a new era of enlightenment, efficiency, and reasonableness, resolutely maintain what should be maintained, and abandon what we should ban."

After saying that, Umbridge sat back, and Dumbledore immediately began to applaud - he was probably the only person present who listened carefully to the entire speech.

Dumbledore's applause was like a signal, and soon the auditorium was filled with another wave of sparse applause.

The students were very happy, but this had nothing to do with the content of Umbridge's speech. What everyone cared about was that everyone could go back to the dormitory to rest soon after her speech.

As for Dumbledore standing up and talking again?

This kind of thing is not at all the concern of the students. They all know that Dumbledore will never let them down in this regard.

"This Umbridge should not be underestimated!"

Cedric leaned to Link's side again and laughed.

Hearing this, Link nodded and said:

"You see it?"

"Of course, she just made a challenge to Dumbledore." Cedric said, "And it was a very high-level challenge. It seems that she has a lot of experience in fighting against the Communist Party. We must deal with it carefully. .”

Link saw Cedric's expression was particularly serious and said with a smile:

"You don't need to be so nervous. Umbridge alone is nothing special. In fact, she can even be our helper at some point."

"Oh?" Cedric asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry, it will be soon. You will know after a while."

After Link finished speaking, the students began to cheer - and Dumbledore's speech was completely over.

Link didn't explain to Cedric, who still had more to say. He stood up, straightened his collar and said:

"I will be responsible for guiding the new students this year."

After hearing this, Cedric stopped asking and nodded:

"Of course, if you want."

Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, the new male and female prefects of Hufflepuff, were sitting not far from Cedric, with expressions of confusion on their faces.

In order to allow the new prefects to accumulate experience, the new prefects are responsible for guiding new students, which is a common practice at Hogwarts.

Ernie and Hannah believed this, which was obviously a trick to trick people into doing work, so they were a little disappointed when they heard that Link was snatching the job.

Their thoughts could not escape Link's eyes. Seeing this, Link chuckled and shook his head:

"You guys should come along and just think of it as learning."

As soon as these words came out, Ernie and Hannah immediately came back to life.

Ernie jumped three feet high and shouted loudly:

"Yes! Senior!"