The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 490: Opening Ceremony (Please subscribe, please bookmark, please vote)
As Neville said, Luna and Hermione's argument soon stopped. Ryan felt that one of them was emotional and the other was rational, and their personalities and habits were completely opposite. Theoretically, they should not get along at all.

But strangely, after spending several years together in the reading club, Hermione and Luna have established a strange friendship. For example, Ryan has seen Hermione carefully preparing a Christmas gift for Luna. He thinks that the two people arguing all day long is probably a special expression of their friendship.

"I really hope the food delivery car comes soon, I'm starving." Ron rubbed his stomach and muttered. The sun was in the middle of the sky outside the car window, and time had unknowingly come to noon. After most of the children graduated and became independent, the financial pressure on the Weasley family was much less, and Ron and Ginny finally didn't have to eat cheap canned beef sandwiches anymore.

Just at this moment, the door of the carriage was opened, and a third-grade girl walked in, panting.

"I'm here to give these to Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter." She stammered, and her face immediately turned red with shame as soon as her eyes met Harry's. She handed over two rolls of parchment tied with purple ribbons. Harry and Neville took the rolls with their names written on them in confusion, and the girl stumbled out of the carriage.

The parchment was an invitation, Professor Slughorn invited Harry and Neville to attend his luncheon in carriage C. Neville looked a little surprised by such an invitation, because in the past, when he was called by the professor, he was usually called to detention.

Soon after the two of them left the compartment, the dining car finally arrived. The lunch on the Hogwarts Express was very British, with sandwiches and fish and chips in addition to various pies. After finishing lunch in a hurry, Ryan and his friends went to patrol the train again, and only went to the prefect's compartment to change into school uniforms when the lights in the compartment came on.

"Where did Harry go?" Ginny asked in a somewhat worried tone when they appeared at the Gryffindor table half an hour later to watch the sorting ceremony. Because almost everyone had arrived in the hall, but Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"Didn't he come to look for you?" Neville had just finished greeting Hannah, who was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, and turned around. He was a little surprised when he heard Ginny's question and said, "When the lights in the carriage came on, we dispersed and went to change into our school uniforms. But Harry said he would come to look for you later, then he put on his invisibility cloak and disappeared. After that, I stayed with a few Hufflepuffs and didn't see Harry."

"What?" Ginny felt even more nervous now. Fortunately, the professors didn't do anything special, which made them feel more at ease. After all, if something really happened to Harry, the professors, at least Professor Dumbledore, would never sit in the middle of the long table on the stage like this.

Dumbledore wore a purple wizard robe with gold trim. After Professor Mike left with a stool and the Sorting Hat, he stood up and announced the start of the banquet. From his outstretched arms, we can see the result of Ryan's little butterfly flapping its wings: Dumbledore's two arms were intact. In the original book, Voldemort's Horcrux curse left him with only one year left in his life, which did not happen.

Unlike the story that pursues ups and downs, Ryan, as a person who really lives in this world, still seeks stability. As long as Dumbledore is alive, it means that there is a solid umbrella of protection over the heads of British wizards, which means that the entire British wizarding world is not out of control.

It does sound beautiful to turn the tide alone, but if you are not just a listener to the story, but a participant in the whole story. Then being able to play a supporting role and win in the end is what you should really pursue. Moreover, Ryan still remembered how many people died in Harry's seventh grade in the original text. Compared with being a hero, he felt that keeping those innocent people alive was the most important thing. This was also the important reason why Ryan did not leave any Death Eaters alive before: even if he could save an innocent life, he was willing to soak his hands in the blood of those villains.

While thinking about these questions, Ryan felt someone pulling his sleeve. He came to his senses and found that the start-of-term dinner had already begun. Hermione found that he was in a daze and pulled his sleeve to remind him.

The meal was very sumptuous. Ryan, who had only eaten a sandwich on the train at noon, immediately started eating. After eating a lamb chop and a few baked potatoes, Headless Nick also floated over to greet Ryan. Since Ryan began to provide ghost food to the ghosts in the castle from time to time, many ghosts became friends with him. He also learned a lot of secrets about the castle.

"By the way, this locust wood sign contains the local specialties I got in China. Ask the house-elf to put it in the kitchen later." Ryan said as he took out a wooden sign engraved with a hideous ghost face and placed it on the dining table.

"Thank you so much. I've only heard of Chinese food but never eaten it." Nick said, "By the way, where did Harry go? We spent the whole summer in the castle discussing whether he is the savior." "He may have been delayed by something and should be back soon." Ryan vaguely recalled that Harry was beaten by someone in the car, but in the end he returned safely.

Sure enough, when everyone was about to finish their main course, Harry walked in, and many people were attracted by him. Following everyone's gaze, he quickly walked to the empty seat left by Ginny and sat down.

"Where have you been - my God, what happened to your face?" Ginny said, and her exclamation made Ryan turn his head to look over. He saw that Harry's face was covered with dried blood.

"How come your face is covered in blood!" Ginny said, "Here--" She raised her wand and chanted, "Whirlwind Sweep!" The dried blood scabs were sucked away.

"Thank you." Harry looked at his face with a spoon. "Fortunately, my nose is fine."

After saying that, he looked at the people around him who were curious about him and whispered to Ginny, "I'll tell you what happened later. I'm almost starving now." He felt that if his wounds were left after a heroic battle against a large group of Dementors or Death Eaters, it would be okay, but he couldn't say that he was beaten up by Malfoy now.

Just as Harry was about to take the chicken drumstick, the dishes on the table disappeared and desserts appeared on the table. Fortunately, Ginny had just taken two chicken drumsticks and a handful of French fries from the empty plate next to her, and now she handed it directly to Harry.

Just as Harry was busy eating, Ginny nudged him gently with her elbow: "Hagrid is waving at you, Harry."

Harry looked towards the staff table and saw Hagrid waving at him. He smiled back. Hagrid and the majestic Professor McGonagall were always out of place. Professor McGonagall was the head of Gryffindor. When they sat together, her head only reached between Hagrid's elbow and shoulder. At this moment, she saw Hagrid's enthusiastic greeting and showed a dissatisfied expression. As a serious person, she thought that Hagrid's behavior was really inappropriate, so she touched Hagrid's ribs with her elbow to remind him.

Sitting on the other side of Hagrid was Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher. This was the first time Harry saw her at the opening banquet. She used to stay in her tower at this time.

Harry had always regarded her as a liar, but he didn't expect that after the battle at the Ministry of Magic last semester, he learned from Dumbledore that it was she who made the prophecy that caused Voldemort to kill his parents and try to kill himself. After knowing this, Harry was even more reluctant to stay with her - fortunately, he no longer took the Divination class this semester.

At last all the desserts were gone, and Dumbledore stood up behind the staff table. Almost immediately the laughter and chatter that echoed through the Great Hall died down.

"Good evening, everyone!" he said with a kind smile, opening his arms as if to embrace the entire auditorium.

(End of this chapter)