Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 346: Terrible Speech

Happy times are always short-lived. After the students finished their last dessert, Dumbledore snapped his fingers, and the plates and food in front of everyone disappeared.

The senior students reacted immediately, quickly closed their mouths, turned their heads quietly and looked in the direction of the podium. Although the freshmen were a little confused, they could only follow the senior students' example in this environment, closed their mouths and looked towards the podium.

"Well, now that we are digesting an extremely rich meal, I would like everyone to be quiet for a while and listen to me talk about the precautions for the new semester as usual." Dumbledore walked slowly onto the podium and said, "First-year students should know that students are not allowed to enter the forbidden forest in the hunting grounds - this should already be known by several of our senior students."

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of mischievous laughter came from the Gryffindor table, with the Weasley brothers' laughter being the loudest.

Dumbledore stretched out his hand and pressed down in the air. Then the hall became silent. He then continued:

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me for the four hundred and twenty-sixth time to remind you all that no magic is allowed in the corridors between classes..."

After that, laughter broke out in the auditorium again.

But this time Dumbledore did not stop it immediately, because even he himself laughed out loud.

"Ahem, let's continue." Dumbledore coughed twice and said, "This year, we have two changes in our teaching staff. We are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will teach you Care of Magical Creatures. (The tall female professor who led the freshmen to the boat stood up, and there was a particularly warm applause in the hall.) We are also pleased to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Umbridge did not receive as warm applause as Grubbly-Plank. There was only light, polite but not very enthusiastic applause in the hall.

Dumbledore obviously didn't want to waste any more time on Umbridge, so he said quickly:
"Tryouts for the House Quidditch team will take place at..."

"Cough cough!"

Two loud coughs interrupted Dumbledore's speech. Everyone in the hall, including Dumbledore, turned their eyes to Umbridge, who had just coughed in the faculty chair.

Dumbledore appeared to be extremely focused, as if he wanted to hear clearly every word the other party said next.

The others were not so friendly. All the professors in the faculty seats frowned, and Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, with flames seeming to spit out of her eyes.

It was obvious that Umbridge's behavior made these professors unhappy.

Since Dumbledore became the headmaster, no one has dared to interrupt him at the opening ceremony!

But in this tense atmosphere, Umbridge seemed unaware.

With a fake smile on her face, she stood up from her chair in an extremely artificial manner and said:

"Thank you, Principal, for your warm welcome."

Her voice was high and shrill, like that of a little girl, and coupled with her pink woolen coat and toad-like face, it made Mike feel strongly nauseous.

Others should have felt similarly. Mike saw with his own eyes that Franklin, who was not far away, closed his eyes in pain and turned his head away deliberately not to look at Umbridge on the stand, as if even one look at her would make him vomit out all the delicious food he had just stuffed into his stomach.

"Well, I must say, it's great to be back at Hogwarts!" Umbridge grinned, ignoring everyone's protesting looks. "It's wonderful to see all these happy little faces looking up at me!"

Franklin seemed unable to bear it any longer. His cheeks suddenly puffed up, and then he quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

After a few obvious swallowing sounds, his cheeks deflated again.

The people around Franklin pushed back with disgust on their faces, trying to stay as far away from this disgusting guy as possible, while Franklin bowed and apologized to everyone with an apologetic look on his face.

The speech on the stage was still going on, and the initial greeting session seemed to have ended, because Umbridge now had a serious expression on her face.

"The Ministry of Magic has always believed that educating young wizards is a very important matter. If some of your innate precious talents are not cultivated and trained under careful and meticulous guidance..."

Umbridge's speech was complicated and boring, and it contained many rare words that only appeared in the administrative documents of the Ministry of Magic. The listeners kept dozing off.

After listening for a while, Mike lost the desire to continue listening. He turned his head to look around and saw Franklin and others fighting together not far away.

Franklin was smirking and wiping the hand he had just covered his mouth with on other people, while the people around him were trying to dodge with a look of disgust on their faces, their mouths opening and closing. Mike guessed that they must be cursing Franklin's shameless behavior.

The same was true for everyone else in the hall, especially the Gryffindors, whose noises were loud enough to make one mistake them for a tea party.

But Umbridge on the stage completely ignored these voices and continued talking to herself.

Perhaps the quietest place in the entire auditorium was around Mike.

The students sitting next to him all sat up straight and didn't dare to say a word.

Mike knew that this was partly because of himself. Due to his current status, he did not start talking first, and the students around him naturally did not dare to start chatting.

On the other hand, Mike and his classmates were sitting right at the head of the Ravenclaw table, completely exposed to the sight of the faculty seats. These students were obviously not bold enough to make trouble under the professors' noses.

The seat at the head of each college's long table usually belongs to the person with the highest status in the college. Usually, this position belongs to the seventh-grade prefect.

But this year's senior and other students obviously felt that Mike was more qualified to sit in this position, so Mike, the fifth-year prefect, became the head of Ravenclaw.

It is worth mentioning that the person sitting below Mike was not the seventh-year senior who had stepped down in favor of someone more virtuous, but a freshman who had just been sorted into Ravenclaw House.

She was brought to Mike personally by the seventh grade class leader, and Mike did not refuse out of respect for the class leader.

At this moment, the girl with a brown mushroom head was obviously sleepy, but the serious atmosphere around her forced her to keep her eyes open wide to prevent herself from falling asleep.

Looking at the girl whose body was swaying a little, Mike put on a smile on his face.

He poked the girl gently.

But the girl suddenly straightened up like a startled cat and looked at Mike with horror.

"I'm sorry! I almost fell asleep!"

The girl's voice was soft and sticky. Mike shook his head and said:

"Don't be nervous, it should be over soon."

Then he looked at the classmates around him who also had serious expressions and said:

"Relax, everything will be alright." Upon hearing this, the students who had long been unable to bear it any longer finally let out a breath and began to whisper to each other.

Since they were at the front of the class, many students were worried that their poor performance would be reprimanded by the professors, so they frequently cast their gazes toward the faculty seats, observing the professors’ reactions.

However, to their surprise, Professor Flitwick did not make any comment on their behavior. Even Professor McGonagall, who usually regarded discipline as more important than anything else, turned a blind eye to their behavior.

This undoubtedly boosted their morale; their voices gradually became louder and smiles appeared on their faces.

And in the midst of all the chaos, Umbridge finally finished her speech.

She smiled and bowed to her classmates and professors, but all she got in response was noise and laughter. Even the professors in the teaching seats didn't give her any good looks.

It was not until Dumbledore started to applaud that the professors clapped their hands reluctantly.

It was not until then that the students in the audience finally realized that Umbridge's speech was over.

They clapped excitedly and looked extremely happy.

Seeing this, Umbridge on the podium stood up again and bowed to the students, but was booed.

"She's so self-indulgent!" said a boy next to Mike. "I bet those people were applauding just because they could go back to the lounge and rest soon!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there were many voices of agreement around them. It was obvious that everyone thought so.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge. Your speech is very inspiring." Dumbledore finally made the boos from the audience disappear. He bowed to Umbridge, who looked unhappy, and continued, "Well, as I said just now, the selection of the Quidditch team will be held on..."

Because Umbridge had delayed him for too long, Dumbledore spoke very quickly and finished what he was going to say in a very short time.

Amid the cheers of his classmates, Dumbledore officially announced the successful conclusion of the banquet.

Hearing this, Mike and the other class leaders around him stood up, pushed their chairs under the long table, and then began to leave in an orderly manner.

"Now, Ravenclaw freshmen, please gather over here!"

It was the responsibility of Mike and Patil as the new class leaders to guide the freshmen to the lounge. Mike had no intention of shirking the responsibility and simply stood beside the table and started talking.

Mike's voice was not loud and was instantly drowned out in the noisy auditorium, but under the influence of magic, all the sounds were transmitted clearly to the ears of the people around him.

Soon, a group of little rascals gathered in front of Mike.

Petil rubbed his hands nervously, hiding beside Mike without saying a word, while Mike said expressionlessly:

"Boys line up on my left, and girls line up on my right."

Following Mike's order, these little rascals quickly lined up in two rows without any delay.

Such high efficiency made Mike frown, because these freshmen in front of him seemed to be very afraid of him, especially the mushroom-headed girl who had sat next to him before, who was now trembling with fear.

After thinking for a while, Mike suddenly understood the reason for all this.

Presumably, most of these people have read the Daily Prophet during this period, which led to some misunderstandings about me.

You have to know that Fudge is not a pushover. Perhaps he wanted to take revenge on Harry and Michael for embarrassing him in court, or he simply wanted to damage their reputation so that the public would have a worse impression of them, thereby reducing the credibility of the news that Voldemort has returned.

In short, the Daily Prophet had been persistently slandering Mike and Harry throughout late August.

In it, Harry was described as a clown who was good at lying, despicable and ridiculous.

Mike's situation is even worse. The Daily Prophet directly dug up his old account of killing a dragon in the Triwizard Tournament, and also exposed many dark secrets of the Los Santos Group, whether true or false, thus directly describing Mike as a scheming, cruel and brutal black-hearted businessman with the potential to become a dark wizard.

Shaking his head helplessly, Mike was too lazy to say anything more now, so he simply pretended to be serious and said sternly:
"Now, follow me and don't fall behind!"

After saying that, Mike waved his sleeves and strode out of the auditorium, while those little kids followed Mike closely like chicks following a hen to find food.

After walking all the way to the door of the Ravenclaw common room in silence, Mike turned his head and looked at the freshmen again.

At this time, Petil, who had been following the main force, hurried forward and whispered in Mike's ear:
"No one is missing. They are all here."

Nodding silently, Mike's face finally blossomed into a brilliant smile, and he said:
"First of all, welcome to Ravenclaw!"

Mike's smile made these little kids feel a little overwhelmed, but before they could react, Mike continued:

"Ravenclaw is the best house in Hogwarts. Only the smartest students are qualified to be sorted in here! Now that you are standing here, it means that you are the best among this batch of freshmen!"

The little kids looked around excitedly, and Petil beside them even raised his head with a look of pride.

"To enter the Ravenclaw common room, you must pass a test. This is the same in every college. Unlike other colleges that require fixed passwords, our Ravenclaw tests never have fixed answers!" Mike pointed at the eagle-head door knocker, "Our test is very special. As long as you gently knock on this door knocker, you will be asked a question. The door will only open when you answer correctly!"

"Perhaps you will worry about what if the door knocker asks a question that is too difficult and you are locked out? But I want to tell you that this door knocker has magical powers. It will never ask questions that are beyond your knowledge! If you really can't answer the questions it asks, it means that you didn't pay attention in class! And for such students, I think sleeping in the cold corridor for a night is the best punishment!"

Mike's words completely extinguished the fire that had just ignited in the hearts of the little kids, and they returned to their previous shivering state.

But Mike didn't mean to comfort her at all. He put his hands behind his back, took a deep breath and said:

"Finally, I hope you can remember one sentence. This is the motto of our college's founder, Ms. Ravenclaw. It is also the motto that all of our Ravenclaw students must remember! Come, read with me: Extraordinary intelligence and talent are the most precious wealth of mankind!"

As Mike finished speaking, a series of childish voices rang out in the crowded corridor.

"Extraordinary intelligence and talent are the most precious wealth of mankind!"

Many old students passing by also heard the freshmen's words. They followed suit and shouted softly, looking at the freshmen with gentle eyes.

"This is the inheritance!"

At this moment, everyone was thinking the same thing.

(End of this chapter)