Chapter 54 Opening Ceremony
The opening dinner went on just like last year.
After the Sorting Hat sang an unpleasant song, the sorting ceremony began. The first-year students had to wear the Sorting Hat to decide which college they should study in. The hat would loudly call out the college they are most suitable for.
Among this year's first-year students is Astoria Greengrass, an acquaintance of Sherin's and Daphne's biological sister.
Daphne came to Sherrin's carriage because she had to settle her sister on the train in advance, and was wasted a lot of time there, so she asked Luna to get into Sherrin's carriage first before she and Meredith showed up. of.
Astoria's appearance is somewhat similar to Daphne's. She also has beautiful blond hair, but her face is faintly pale and weak - I heard from Daphne that the blood curse on her sister has been activated, so she has been frail and sick since she was a child. , Xie Lin still remembers that in the original work, she married Draco and gave birth to a child, but she did not survive the backlash of the blood curse and died young.
Not surprisingly, Astoria was sorted into Slytherin by the Sorting Hat, and she belonged to the same house as her sister.
It is said that there are many good talents among the Slytherin freshmen this year. Xie Lin's magic eye has seen magic fluctuations in several freshmen that surpass their peers. This is usually proof of outstanding magical talents, and it also shows that they have great talents in magic. Before entering school, he had been trained in magic by his family - Hestia Carrow, Flora Carrow... Sherin silently kept these names in mind.
Then Professor Dumbledore stood up and spoke, and the auditorium immediately fell silent.
"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shining brightly on his beard. "Welcome back to Hogwarts! I have a few things to tell you all, one of which is very important, so I thought it would be best to clarify this before your brains become muddled by your delicious feast..."
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued: "Our school currently welcomes several dementors from Azkaban. They are sent by the Ministry of Magic to perform official duties. You must already know this, because they are very important to us." The Hogwarts Express was searched."
"They are stationed at every entrance to the school," Dumbledore continued. "I must make it clear that no one is allowed to leave the school without permission while they are there. No tricks, tricks or disguises can fool the Dementors. ——Even the invisibility cloak." He added calmly, "It is the nature of the Dementors not to understand excuses and begging for mercy. Therefore, I remind everyone here not to give them a reason to harm you. I hope the prefects and our newly elected ones will do so. The Head Boy and Girl can ensure that no student comes into conflict with a dementor."
This year's Head Boy is Percy Weasley. At this moment, he puffed up his chest and looked around with dignity.
The president of the female student body is Penelope Crevat, and I heard that she has become Percy's girlfriend.
In the eyes of outsiders, the two are a good match for each other, but Xie Lin, who is familiar with the plot, is not optimistic about their relationship at all. Percy is an ambitious man, and Penelope, a Muggle-born wizard, has no regard for him. It is said that he can only be a love object, and only women who can assist his career will be his marriage partners.
Slytherin's Gemma Farley failed to win the election. Shellin already knew from Gemma's letter during the summer vacation. Gemma expressed her loss between the lines in the letter.
To be honest, Gemma is indeed very good, and she is also a very responsible and enthusiastic prefect, but if you want to compare with Penello, Penello is undoubtedly better in academic performance, so the president of the female student union fell to her The body is well deserved.
Xie Lin had already comforted Gemma when he replied to the letter. Of course, Gemma took the opportunity to propose an invitation to go out, but Xie Lin rejected it. This is not because Xie Lin dislikes Gemma being older than him, but because Xie Lin feels that there are already many girls around him, so he doesn't want to make the relationship more complicated.
"It is very gratifying," Dumbledore suddenly raised his voice, and everyone cheered up, "this year, I am pleased to welcome three new teachers to our team."
"The first one is Professor Remus Lupin. He graciously agreed to fill the vacancy in the Defense Against the Dark Arts course." There were only a few people applauding, and several teachers clapped their hands a few times and then stopped in embarrassment.
After the changes in the past two years, the students really didn't have much confidence in Dumbledore's ability to find a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And Professor Lupine looked like he was seriously ill and would collapse at the slightest sign of wind. With his patched robes, he looked exactly like Professor Quirrell in the first grade.
"Look at Professor Snape!" Daphne shouted softly.
Xie Lin looked at the professor's chair and found Professor Snape staring at Lupine with eyes that wanted to devour others.
It was obvious that due to an old feud from his youth, his opinion of Lupine had never been much better. He was probably afraid that Lupine would bring Black into the school to deal with Harry, but he did it so openly that everyone would think that he was depressed because he failed to apply for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position again.
Lu Ping's self-cultivation was not bad. Facing the terrible silence on and off the stage, he did not make any expression. He still looked at the audience with a smile, without any emotional fluctuations. Fortunately, Dumbledore came to his rescue in time and avoided this embarrassment.
"As for the second teacher," Dumbledore sighed regretfully, "our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, retired at the end of last term in order to have more time to enjoy his old arms. Old Legs. However, I am pleased to announce that his position will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take up the teaching post in addition to his duties as gamekeeper."
Everyone applauded again, this time the applause from the Gryffindor table was particularly enthusiastic.
"As for the third teacher," Dumbledore glanced at the Slytherin table vaguely. Sherlin couldn't help but hold his breath and felt nervous. Could it be that Lucius was expelled from the board of directors last year? thing, and let things change, right?
"After some discussions and hard work by the school board, Hogwarts decided to re-open the elective course Alchemy for this year's third-year students. We are very happy to invite the famous Alchemist Professor Ibinos Bock, a master of art, will serve as the teacher of this new course.”
Dumbledore pointed to a white-haired man in his seventies who was sitting on the teacher's bench, wearing a luxurious black velvet robe. He stood up and saluted the four dining tables below.
The applause this time was obviously much more enthusiastic, and the applause from the Slytherin table was the most enthusiastic.
Although Professor Bock's strength, achievements and popularity are not as good as those of Nicolas Flamel, he is still a well-known figure in the alchemy world, and is even more precious in the British wizarding world where there is a shortage of alchemists. At the International Alchemy Congress more than thirty years ago, he published a research paper on vanishing cabinets, and can be said to be an expert in the field of vanishing cabinets and space magic items.
If Schelling guessed correctly, he was responsible for repairing the disappearing cabinet in Borgin Bock's shop, but it was only because the other disappearing cabinet linked to it was lost in Hogwarts without anyone knowing. It has never been enabled.
After the dinner, when they returned to the common room, Xie Lin was attracted by Pansy, whom she hadn't seen for a summer vacation. After a summer vacation, Pansy had grown a lot taller and was already a slim girl. Behind her were Tracy, Audrey and several other girls, all of whom glanced at Xie Lin with eager eyes, causing Xie Lin to suddenly have the illusion that he had turned into Tang Monk flesh.
Pansy showed a playful smile and teased him, "Xie Lin, I heard that you were very powerful on the train. You were able to beat the dementors away. What spell did you use at that time?"
The little snakes who were returning to their rooms from the lounge couldn't help but slow down and prick up their ears to eavesdrop. Although the proud little snakes were unwilling to put down their dignity and ask Xie Lin for advice, they would not let go of anyone who could inquire. Information on ways to defend against Dementors.
"Actually, it's not a magic that needs to be kept secret. I use the Patronus Charm, which is a very unpopular and profound magic spell that can be used to resist dementors." Xie Lin said quickly, "I also use the first If you use it for the first time, it can only emit a little strong light, but it cannot form a complete physical guardian spirit. If you want to learn, I can teach you."
Several girls nodded hurriedly and said yes. A little blond girl standing behind Daphne had her admiration for Xie Lin written all over her young face. This little blond girl is Daphne's sister Astoria.
Under Daphne's introduction, Astoria was like a little fan meeting her favorite idol, getting acquainted with Xuelin with excitement on her face and shining eyes.
It can be seen that Daphne loves this sister very much. She entrusts Xie Lin without hesitation, hoping that Xie Lin can give some care to her sister. Xie Lin originally wanted to make friends with the Greengrass family through the two sisters and establish his own initial connections, so he naturally agreed without any hesitation.
The new semester has begun, and everyone is once again engaged in intense study.
There are at least two more subjects in grade 3 than in grade 2, so study time has become more compact than before.
On the morning of the first day of school, Sherrin first took a Transfiguration class with Hufflepuff.
Professor McGonagall demonstrated the Animagus and explained the principles behind it.
Animagus is known as the highest achievement in transfiguration. It allows a wizard to transform into an animal and obtain the characteristics and abilities of the animal while still retaining human consciousness, and can change back to human form at any time without a wand. . However, you cannot use magic after turning into an animal, so most of the time it can only be used for three purposes: lurking, spying on intelligence, and escaping.
These three uses are still based on the premise that there is no Animagus registration with the Ministry of Magic.
If people knew the transformation state in advance, the practicality of these three uses would be greatly reduced, and there would also be a risk of being sent to Azkaban. Even though Sirius kept saying that he was innocent and that being regarded as a Death Eater was an unjust case - if someone reported him as an illegal Animagus, he would still have to go back to Azkaban and squat.
Schelling felt that this magic was quite useless - because of the complexity of the Animagus, wizards could only transform into the form of ordinary animals. That was because the soul composition of magical creatures was more complex than that of ordinary animals. Once transformed into a magical creature, it would Causing unknown and terrible disasters.
As for small animals that turned into cats, dogs, and mice, Schelling really couldn't see any practical use. Wild cats and dogs are not common on the streets of the UK. If you become a wild dog, you risk being forcibly captured by the Muggle government.
Not to mention that the type of animal that Animagus turns into is somewhat random. Although the change of form is usually a reflection of the mind, there is no guarantee of what it will eventually become. If it turns into a stag like James Potter, it will lose its only meaning of disguise. In addition to accompanying the werewolf friend, Schelling can't think of any practical use.
You said Sirius used this to deceive the Dementors? A good brain block can also do it.
You said Sirius used this to cross the iron bars of the prison? A good Transfiguration and Shrinkage can also do it. (The premise is to know how to cast spells without a wand)
You said Sirius used this to sneak into the heavily guarded Hogwarts? A good disguise magic (referring to human body transformation or polyjuice potion) is more useful.
What's more, the change of the form of Animagus is very likely to be the same as the form of the caster's Patronus. Schelling was able to cast a complete entity Patronus at home during the summer vacation, which is one of the reasons why he decided to give up Animagus.
Next was the Charms class with Ravenclaw. Professor Flitwick explained the principle of how to use spells to affect emotions, and demonstrated five mental spells: the Happy Spell, the Sad Spell, the Rage Spell, the Anxiety Spell, and the Fear Spell. He also asked the students to write a paper on spells and emotions as homework.
Harry and his group also had their first Divination class. During lunch, the divination result of Professor Trelawney saying that she saw Harry had "Grim" spread throughout Hogwarts. Putting it together with Sirius's prison escape, many people began to avoid Harry.
Ron didn't say it, but he was very afraid of Grim in his heart. While worrying about Harry's safety, he also secretly reminded himself to be careful this semester. Hermione thought Professor Trelawney was playing tricks, and she had a quarrel with Ron because of it.
From the literal meaning of Grim, it is easy to interpret it as "unlucky", but in fact, Grim represents the god of death in the divination world, which means that anyone who sees Grim will have a "death disaster".