The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 389 Dinner Party
After the carriage started moving, Hermione cast her eyes forward. She looked at the animals she had discovered between the empty shafts last year with some boredom. They looked a bit like reptiles, with heads like dragons. They had no flesh on their bodies, and the black fur was tightly attached to the skeleton, with every bone clearly visible. The pupil-less eyes were white and staring intently. Bat-like wings grew from the bulge between the shoulder bones.

"I really don't understand. These carriages can obviously be powered by magic, so why does the school use these scary magical animals to pull them?" Hermione said to Ryan. She thought these animals looked a little scary and didn't know why the school used them to pull carriages for students.

"You have to know that magic can't appear out of thin air. If you want these carriages to move automatically, the cost of the carriages will increase significantly. It's not cost-effective to do this for carriages that are only used a few times a year." Ryan explained.

"Cost? Wait, that doesn't sound magical at all, although it's very realistic." Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "And I think it's a good thing that I can see them in the current situation. At least I can be prepared in this regard. Unfortunately, more and more little wizards will be able to see them in the future."

When the Thestral drove into Hogwarts and stopped in front of the castle, Ryan and Ron quickly jumped off the carriage and walked into the hall. The hall was warm, and Ryan and his friends found Harry, Ron, and Ginny sitting together in the middle of the Gryffindor table, so they sat down in the empty seats opposite them.

"Ryan, I saw a strange creature in front of the carriage, but Ron and Ginny didn't see it. Do you know what's going on?" Harry came over hurriedly and asked as soon as Ryan sat down. Ron and Ginny also pricked up their ears to listen.

"Cedric didn't die last year." Ryan's first reaction was this. Later, he remembered that he killed Crouch Jr. and Peter in front of Harry last year. He also saw death. So Ryan repeated what he had just told Hermione in the carriage.

After helping Harry with his science, Ryan looked towards the staff. Hagrid had gone to see the giants again this year, as evidenced by the absence of the oversized chair on the staff. Other than that, everything else was normal for the other professors.

The only newcomer was Umbridge, who was short and plump, with short curly mousy brown hair tied in a very ugly big pink bow that matched the fuzzy pink cardigan she wore over her robes, but really, she was too young for such a girlish look.

Wearing a dark purple robe studded with silver stars and a matching hat, Dumbledore sat on the golden high-backed chair next to her, tilting his head towards Umbridge, who was facing his The ears speak.

At this time, Professor Grubbly-Plank came out of the small door behind the staff seats and walked to the end of the table, sitting in the seat that Hagrid had originally sat in. That meant that the first-year students must have crossed the lake and arrived at the castle.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the door to the hall opened, and a long line of first-year students who looked frightened walked into the hall led by Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall was holding a stool with an old wizard's hat on it. The hat was patched up and there was a wide crack next to the brim of the hat.

The buzz of conversation in the auditorium gradually died down. First-year students lined up in front of staff tables, facing classmates from other grades. Professor McGonagall carefully placed the stool in front of them and stepped back.

The teachers and students of the whole school held their breath and waited. Then, the crack beside the brim of the hat opened like a mouth, and the Sorting Hat sang this year's song. "...Oh, know the danger, read the signs, the lessons of history warn us, our Hogwarts is facing danger, and the enemies outside the school are eyeing us. We must unite closely, otherwise everything will collapse from within..."

The hat was still again after saying that. There was applause from all around, but there were whispers in between, because the song the Sorting Hat sang this year was unusual. Usually it would only introduce the origins of the four houses and the reasons for the sorting. But this time the Sorting Hat gave a direct warning, which the students present had never encountered before.

Fortunately, the ghosts knew something. Nick, who was already headless, told them that the Sorting Hat would feel it had a moral responsibility to give the school a proper warning. This kind of situation had happened in history, but it was not a good sign. "Dark clouds are gathering over the city, threatening to destroy it! I just hope that fewer people will die this time than before." Ryan thought silently. At this time, Professor McGonagall announced the list of first-year students, and everyone's attention was quickly diverted. The buzzing discussions in the hall stopped abruptly. Professor McGonagall frowned and glanced at the four tables again, then lowered her eyes to the long piece of parchment in her hand and loudly announced the first name. "Euan Abercrombie."

Slowly, the long line of first-year students shortened a little bit. All four colleges had accepted a number of new students. Finally, Rosszer was sorted into Hufflepuff. Professor McGonagall picked up her hat and stool and strode away. At this time, Professor Dumbledore stood up and announced the start of the dinner.

The dinner was as sumptuous as always. After dinner, Dumbledore began to arrange things as he did in previous years. But when he was speaking, he was interrupted by Umbridge's cough.

Ryan only saw her face at this time. He could only say that compared with the movie, the actress chosen at that time was definitely beautified. The real Umbridge had a pale, toad-like face and a pair of droopy eyelids and bulging eyes. It made people feel extremely uncomfortable after watching it.

Her voice was high, sharp, and breathy, like a little girl's voice, which made her even more disgusting. Her tone of treating all the students as five-year-old children made all the students hate her, but she didn't care at all and began to recite a speech in a rigid tone.

"The Ministry of Magic has always believed that educating young wizards is a very important matter. Some of your innate precious talents may be fruitless if they are not cultivated and trained under careful and meticulous guidance. The ancient skills unique to the magical world must be passed down from generation to generation, otherwise they will disappear -"

This meaningless talk quickly made everyone lose interest, and the attention of the young wizards began to gradually disperse. Compared with the complete silence when Professor Dumbledore was speaking, the auditorium now seemed a little noisy.

"——Let us keep moving forward into a new era of enlightenment, efficiency and reason, firmly maintaining what should be maintained, improving what needs to be improved, and abandoning what we should prohibit." After more than ten minutes, the long and boring speech finally ended. Dumbledore began to applaud politely, and other teachers followed suit. Because most of the students were distracted, only a few people followed suit to applaud.

"This guy is the one who destroyed the Dementors in front of a bunch of jury members." Harry said to Ryan and the others, "By the way, what did she just say? It sounds like a lot of nonsense to me."

"There is something very important hidden in that nonsense." Ryan said, "It seems that the lesson we gave the Ministry of Magic during the holidays was not enough. Their goal now is to go to war with Dumbledore in an all-out way, and they have even extended their dirty hands into the school."

Harry and Ron looked confused, but Ryan was too late to explain to them. There was a sound of tables, chairs and benches colliding around them. Apparently Dumbledore had already announced the dismissal of all teachers and students in the school, because everyone stood up and prepared to leave the hall.

"We should go show the first years the way. See you later." Ryan and Hermione stood up and started shouting, "First years! Gather here."

Seeing how busy they were, Harry and Ron could only give up the idea of ​​getting to the bottom of the matter for the time being, shrugged their shoulders, and walked towards the Gryffindor Tower.

(End of this chapter)