Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 17. Snape Wants to Care About the Sorting Ceremony
The most important thing is that with Harry's talent for Transfiguration, he can use it to create weapons for himself anytime and anywhere and use them whenever he wants - so what's the point of confiscating them?

So Professor McGonagall simply returned the things to Harry angrily and gave him a more severe warning.

"I promise you, professor, unless it is necessary." Harry understood Professor McGonagall's concerns and agreed seriously.

"You'd better," Professor McGonagall looked at Harry deeply, "By the way, don't think you can get away with it. Your detention has been arranged, starting from the third week after school."

After leaving these words, Professor McGonagall was about to open the door and return to the auditorium, but she paused for a moment before entering.

"…Nice Transfiguration."

Harry heard the faint sound of praise.

With a clang, the castle gate was closed.

"...You're amazing, Harry." Ron, who had been protecting Harry from the beginning, quietly poked his head out after seeing Professor McGonagall leave and said, "I almost stopped breathing when Professor McGonagall was talking. How could you talk to her so naturally?"

"A very good professor," Harry explained to Ron, "She has her own responsibilities to fulfill. After all, the safety of students is really important. I can understand her, but I also have my own persistence and things that must be done, so there will be some minor conflicts."

"It will get better in the future. The situation now is just that she doesn't know us well enough, and we don't know her well enough either. If she acts too kind, she won't be able to control the children."

Harry saw it clearly.

"Hey, you're just a kid, Harry," Hermione couldn't help but complain.

"You're lucky, Potter," before Harry could reply, another sneer came from the first-year team.

Harry turned around and saw Draco Malfoy looking at him viciously.

As one of the instigators of the first wave of conflicts, Draco Malfoy suffered the most beatings, especially from Ron and Neville, who directly regarded him as the main target of hatred. They would beat him severely even if they had to endure the punches of others, so Malfoy was really in a miserable state now.

Both of his eyes were blue and his nose seemed a little crooked. The most important thing was his hair. Someone had pulled out a clump of it, and he looked almost bald. There was no trace of the gentlemanly elegance and aristocratic demeanor on Malfoy at this moment. He looked so miserable.

Well, although Ron and Neville weren't looking much better at the moment.

Probably in order to teach those rascals a lesson, Professor McGonagall sent those who had broken bones after the big exercise to the school infirmary, while she ignored those who were only slightly injured with bruises on their faces - probably she wanted to let these people go through the entire opening dinner in a miserable state as a lesson.

Well, this kind of embarrassing face is often what children of eleven years old care more about.

I can only say that this hatred is huge.

"Wait for death, Potter!" Draco Malfoy said viciously, "Even if Professor McGonagall doesn't expel you, I will ask my father to expel you! My father is a member of the school board! Just go back to your Muggle relatives and continue to be a house-elf!!"

Those words were non-threatening and full of childish innocence. Harry wanted to laugh when he heard them.

But Ron and Neville next to him couldn't stand hearing such words.

"What did you say?! Malfoy! Don't you dare say that again!!"

Draco Malfoy immediately shrank behind his two lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, who also stepped forward as if ready to fight.

——Unfortunately, after Harry took a step closer, the three of them shrank back at the same time.

There was no way. After all, in that compartment on the train, Harry was the only one standing as the winner in the end. His body was covered with the blood of the losers, and he looked like a crazy barbarian.

To Malfoy and the other two, that scene was really too terrifying.

"...coward", knowing full well how to do the most harm to these brats, Harry snorted with disdain, his voice was not loud but loud enough for everyone to hear, and the mocking expression came from the true orc tradition.

Orcs are really good at taunting cowards.

Malfoy's face flushed instantly, because he even heard laughter coming from the pure-blood team next to him.

Even if he was admitted to Slytherin, he would still be embarrassed.

Draco Malfoy could no longer tolerate this because of the family training he had received over the years. When he was about to say something, the gate of the castle opened again and a man walked out - a man in a black robe.

"Sir!" Malfoy's eyes lit up, as if he saw a ray of light in the darkness. The person who came was none other than the Tiga in his mind, Snape.

"What are you doing?" Snape said faintly, "Perhaps Professor McGonagall's punishment on you is a little too light, making you feel that you can do whatever you want here without being punished..."

"Sir, it's all their fault," Malfoy immediately began to complain, "They are provoking me--"

"I told you, Draco," Snape interrupted Malfoy and said in his usual, uh, magnetic voice, "At school, you have to call me by my title. Call me professor."

"...Yes, Professor," Draco Malfoy held his breath and shut up in frustration.

——But then his eyes lit up again because he saw Snape coming up to Harry.

Is the big one coming? Malfoy is looking forward to it.

"Put your hand out," Snape said expressionlessly.

Harry obediently stretched out his hand - and then he felt something being placed in his hand.

"The nights in the castle are colder than you think," Snape said, and turned and left.

Only a heartbroken Malfoy was left, and now he just wanted to die, very much.

"…What is that, Harry?" Neville asked quietly after Snape left.

"Chocolate?" Harry broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. "It is indeed chocolate."

"So, he came here just to give you a piece of chocolate?" Ron opened his mouth and said blankly: "And what does that sentence mean?"

"I think he probably means for me to wear something thicker so as not to catch a cold?" Harry thought about it and felt that this was the only explanation.

"Oh my god, look at Malfoy's expression just now, as if he saw a savior. Look at him now, it's as if he was punched in the face again." Ron's mouth could hardly close. He was stunned. "Remember what Fred told us on the train? The matter about the Slytherin Headmaster? This is completely different from what they said."

"Seeing is believing, Ron," Harry shrugged. In Fred's description, the head of Slytherin was an old bat who always wore a black robe, had greasy hair and never washed it. He was very partial to Slytherin students and always punished Gryffindor students. He was a bad guy, and this obvious image made Ron identify with Snape the first time he appeared.

But compared to Ron, who was doubting his life, Harry knew why Snape behaved in such a completely opposite way.

It was all because of the promise Snape made before his mother's spirit a month ago and the oath he swore.

But it was obvious that this man was not very good at expressing himself. Harry could see Snape's inner struggle - and because he looked very much like his father, Snape felt even more awkward when expressing himself.

After all, his father had stolen her love away... Harry understood, he understood it too well.

At this moment, the castle gate finally opened.

--------------

Even among all the entrance dinners of Hogwarts, today's dinner is worthy of being recorded.

Unprecedentedly, there were two long tables that were not even fully occupied and were mostly empty - even in the other two colleges there were many empty seats.

This was because many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws tried to take advantage of the opportunity to seek revenge during the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin battle, but unexpectedly they were dragged deep into the battlefield and were unable to escape.

The four deans all looked unhappy, or rather, their faces could not look unhappy in front of the students.

It was not until the dinner officially began that the old students who had been scolded and punished trotted back to the long table of their college in shame - except for those who had broken bones or were seriously injured.

Those people can only spend the night taking medicine in the school hospital.

By the time Harry and the other first-year students entered the restaurant under the guidance of Professor McGonagall, the restaurant was already full of people.

Although everyone looked rather embarrassed, when these people saw the dark circles under the eyes and swollen faces of the people around Harry, laughter was inevitable - and it became louder and louder, eventually becoming a big laugh covering the entire restaurant.

Laugh at these kids, and also laugh at themselves and each other's current appearance.

Thousands of candles floating in the air were swaying with the laughter. Harry looked at the sky above his head. What should have been the ceiling now looked like a starry sky. It was a very interesting thing that the outside sky was projected by magic.

But what happened next was not very interesting. Harry only saw Professor McGonagall take out a hat, and that hat would determine which college the young wizards would live in for the next seven years - Harry did not remember what happened after that.

He only remembered that the hat suddenly started singing, but what it was singing turned into a buzzing sound and did not enter his mind.

It's ten or even nine out of ten unpleasant to the ear.

At last, only Professor McGonagall's voice remained - "Hannah Abbott!"

The Sorting Ceremony began.

"Don't go to Hufflepuff. Don't go to Hufflepuff..."

Harry could hear Neville closing his eyes and praying.

Is it that scary? Harry actually likes the Hufflepuffs in the books.

"Actually, the Sorting won't have any impact on our courses, Neville," Harry whispered, "As long as it doesn't affect what department of magic you study, it doesn't matter which college you go to."

It's not about dividing people into fire, frost, arcane or other magical departments that will affect their development throughout their lives. The Hogwarts house classification only determines where they will live next.

"But if I don't go to Gryffindor, grandma will kill me!" Neville became even more nervous.

It turned out to be due to family reasons. Harry nodded and stopped persuading her.

The sorting ceremony took longer than he expected, because when the hat touched some people it would call out the corresponding house, but for others it would take a long time to come to a conclusion, and might even drag on for more than ten or twenty minutes.

Take Hermione for example. The hat stayed on Hermione's head for almost ten minutes before it finally reluctantly called out the word "Gryffindor".

But compared to the hat's reluctance, Hermione was even more reluctant - to be precise, the little girl's face turned green.

Especially after Ron yelled, "Sure enough! You are Gryffindor!", Hermione looked like she wanted to strangle Ron.

As someone who has read a lot of books and started to admire Dumbledore, Hermione actually likes Gryffindor, but when she thinks of Harry's divination... the image of herself crying in the toilet...

Hermione felt like she was going crazy.

If Harry's divination was true, then why would I hide and cry? !
What on earth happened to Gryffindor?!

The moment the hat touched Ron's head, it called out Gryffindor, but amid the cheers of his brothers at the Gryffindor table, Ron's face was not very good - because he remembered that if Hermione's prediction was accurate, then he would be punished to stand in a gloomy corner of the classroom...

Terrible.

—"Harry Potter!"

Harry waited for a long time before his name was finally called. At this time, there were only a few people left in the line.

As the most famous freshman and the one who had caused so much trouble today, Harry walked towards the Sorting Hat amid the cheers and whistles of the crowd - just like a king walking towards his throne.

"...Want to go to Hufflepuff? I didn't expect that the child that Dumbledore always mentioned would want to go to Hufflepuff. This is quite unusual."

After putting on the hat, Harry heard a voice in his head.

"Mind reading?" Harry's eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course not," the hat rejected flatly, "They are just some superficial thoughts, such as what you are thinking about. And the sorting has nothing to do with memory. I sort you based on your personality traits and spiritual qualities that I have seen - you don't have this unique vision."

"So where do you think I should go?" Harry thought with interest.

"Without a doubt, Gryffindor!" The hat gave the answer without hesitation, "Boy, you are not born to be a quiet person! Your courage is not like that of a first-grade child at all. Even many adult wizards can't compare to you. I can't see any light of timidity in you!"

"You're driving Minerva crazy today, you know that!"

(End of this chapter)