Harry Potter: I started checking in from Diagon Alley

After all, people who are completely useless are still a minority.

The sorting hat rhetoric is repeated every year, and it has actually fooled quite a few students.

Unexpectedly, Eric didn't care about the Sorting Hat's ideas at all; he just wanted to finish the Sorting as soon as possible.

Eric genuinely doesn't care.

His attitude toward the academy was made clear as early as when he was in the carriage.

People like Eric don't believe that any group can represent them, let alone treat a college as their own home after joining it.

He was only interested in magic itself.

Rather than something as intangible as competition between colleges.

So it doesn't matter which college he goes to.

"What did you say? Whatever?" After a moment, the Sorting Hat reacted and said angrily, "Please respect my job. I am the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts, created to choose the right house for each person. How can you just do whatever you want?"

“I haven’t finished yet. You have ambition, amazing talent, excellent courage, and you treat everyone equally…” Ignoring Eric, the Sorting Hat continued, “Ah, this is really difficult for me… What are you thinking?”

“…I want to eat.” Eric said expressionlessly.

"..." The Sorting Hat persisted, "Besides eating, what else are you thinking about?"

Eric could only say helplessly, "Okay, I'm wondering what the internal structure is like after you're taken apart, who created you, and how many kinds of magic were applied to you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Sorting Hat breathed a sigh of relief, looked up and shouted, "Ravenclaw!"

……

As it turned out, Eric had underestimated Dumbledore.

The next morning, lying in his Ravenclaw dorm room, Eric was still not fully awake when he heard his roommate Lando shout in a booming voice, "My God, Eric, you're on the Daily Prophet's page!"

Eric's first reaction was, "Oh, the Daily Prophet? It's not the first time it's been on the list."

Wait, what?

Eric was a little confused, but then he realized what was happening.

Why is he in the newspaper again?

He didn't do anything.

Oh wait, he chased away the Dementors in the car yesterday.

But that was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Besides, it's impossible for a reporter to be hiding on the Hogwarts Express, is it?

I grabbed the newspaper and saw the headline on page three: "Mysterious Diagon Alley Teenager Strikes Again, Dementors Get Themselves into Trouble and Take Off."

Wow, it even rhymes!

The report not only detailed Eric's name but also included a dynamic photo of Eric commanding a giant eagle to hunt down a Dementor.

The article was signed Rita Skeeter.

Eric understood what was going on.

Rita Skeeter is a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet, the most famous kind, and also has some connections with the Ministry of Magic, making her a kind of mouthpiece.

She was, to some extent, a member of Dumbledore's network, and through Fudge's connections, the two had always benefited from each other.

Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus who can transform into a beetle and use this identity to dig up news.

Eric had confirmed through his mental stance that Rita Skeeter was definitely not present when he was on the train, and she had no reason to board it.

This report, along with such clear photos from the scene, must have been provided to Rita Skeeter by someone.

After thinking it over, it can only be that shameless Dumbledore!

All the information and reports were passed out from him.

Eric surmised that Dumbledore was trying to push him into the limelight.

To serve as a prominent figure among young wizards.

Dumbledore's intention was simple: since Eric wanted to make a fortune quietly and eliminate the negative impact, he should do the opposite and make Eric famous directly.

This is certainly not a good thing.

On the one hand, Dumbledore was still carrying out his "Savior Development Plan," trying to mold Harry into the person he wanted him to be.

Throughout this process, Harry's mental state was actually quite unstable, and he was often plagued by anxiety and fear of loss.

Now that Eric has gained fame, he can naturally relieve some of the pressure on Harry and shift people's attention to Eric.

On the other hand, if Dumbledore was the one stirring things up, then Eric would really have a hard time getting any peace and quiet.

Dumbledore's influence in the wizarding world is enormous.

Many people will follow him in any way they admire or support what he promotes.

To gain Dumbledore's approval is considered by many to be the highest honor.

Eric didn't want this, but he had no way to resist it.

Although he doesn't object to fame, no one wants to become famous in this way.

He did indeed do it; the Dementor he captured is still lying obediently in his suitcase. He can't deny that fact, can he?

The repercussions from all sides followed as Eric's name was reported again.

The bombing of Diagon Alley, the defeat of the Dementors... even being last in line at the Sorting Ceremony became the motives for some people's wild speculations.

For the rest of the day, Eric walked around campus, attracting various degrees of attention.

Some wanted to see what the person who blew up Diagon Alley looked like, some wanted him to summon a giant eagle, and others wanted his autograph.

He's now completely infamous.

Eric was glad he chose Ravenclaw when he was sorted into his house yesterday.

Ravenclaw's common room does not require a password; anyone can enter as long as they answer the question on the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker at the entrance.

This effectively isolated a significant portion of the onlookers from the other three academies.

But that still couldn't stop the people inside Ravenclaw.

Chapter 54 Unbreakable Vow

After spending the first few days of school starting, Eric realized he had misunderstood.

People from other colleges were interested in Eric simply because they wanted to see him in person.

The Ravenclaws were less interested in Eric himself and more interested in his magical abilities, which far exceeded his academic level.

These two are fundamentally different.

The former was merely to satisfy curiosity, while the latter could bring Ravenclaw House points...

That's right, Eric found himself being regarded as a human score-farming machine within Ravenclaw.

He only realized this when he accidentally overheard a small discussion among several Ravenclaw prefects one day.

“We have to protect Eric and prevent people from other schools from having an opportunity.”

"Yes, yes, especially we have to be wary of the Weasley twins from Gryffindor. They've done things like throwing rotten eggs at the top scorers of the rival schools before."

“When Eric goes to class, we try our best to escort him so that he can get used to each professor’s style as soon as possible.”

Does anyone know which subject he's best at...?

"..."

Eric suddenly appeared: "What are you guys talking about?"

The prefects were startled and quickly laughed it off. Then, taking advantage of Eric's inattention, they exchanged glances and scattered.

Only fourth-grader Cho Chang remained. He patted Eric on the shoulder and encouraged him with unusual excitement, "Do a good job! We'll all support you!"

Eric: ?

The prefects couldn't help but pay attention.

At Hogwarts, there are two trophies every year: the Quidditch Cup and the House Cup.

The Quidditch Trophy is awarded to the best Quidditch team each year.

Ravenclaw's skill in Quidditch is not insignificant, but it is at least negligible.

Looking at the whole team, only Qiu Zhang is a reliable ball finder; the other positions are not very competitive.

They are consistently ranked last, and occasionally second to last, in a state of complete dominance.

Therefore, Ravenclaw students don't even dream of their house winning the Quidditch trophy.

You can laugh a couple of times in your dreams about this kind of thing, but don't expect it in reality.

But the Academy Cup is different.

The competition for the College Cup is mainly based on students' performance on campus, with points added and deducted accordingly. At the end of the semester, the college with the highest score naturally wins the College Cup.

The most common way to earn extra points is by answering the professor's questions in class.

Ravenclaw is good at this.

Ravenclaw hasn't won either the College Cup or the Quidditch Cup in over a decade.

The first two years of the House Cup were won by Gryffindor, and even earlier, Slytherin won seven consecutive championships.

People should always have hope, shouldn't they?

Now hope has arrived!

Ravenclaw's scores have risen too fast since the start of the school year!

In just a few days, they have pulled ahead of the other three colleges by more than 20 points.

And all of this is because of Eric.

Before the start of the school year, Eric had already read through all the textbooks.

With his extraordinary mental strength, he could almost never forget these contents after just one glance.

No matter what class Eric attends, as long as Eric is present, there's basically nothing for other departments to do in that class.