The Silent Bookstore Manager at Hogwarts

"Is this Hogwarts?"

Harry, sitting on the boat, stared blankly up. Under the dim light of the boat's lamps, which barely illuminated the surroundings, they boarded the ship bound for Hogwarts. Although it was a bright moonlit night, the lake was still unfathomably dark, and their destination in the distance, the majestic castle called Hogwarts, completely captivated the attention of almost all the young wizards.

"How are you feeling?"

Red wasn't too surprised. Hogwarts was indeed much larger than De Wolf Castle, where the Silent Bookshop was located, but after moving into the Silent Bookshop, he no longer had any real expectations for such a building.

Do you think they have electricity?

Harry's face stiffened, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories. The Silent Bookstore at least had electricity, but the circuitry was rather primitive and the two children couldn't fix it. In the end, they had to spend a lot of money to hire a senior engineer at the tavern to maintain the circuitry to a barely usable level.

"Probably...it's unlikely."

Harry swallowed hard. Although their lives wouldn't be too difficult thanks to magic, the lack of electricity meant they wouldn't be very convenient.

Ron didn't understand why Harry and Red suddenly brought this up, but out of loyalty to Hogwarts, he enthusiastically explained how his brothers had described their lives there.

Their chatter continued until the giant, accompanied by his companion, handed over the reins to the tall, black-haired witch standing solemnly at the castle gate, dressed in a dark green robe. The witch's serious expression instantly silenced all the previously excited young wizards.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! The opening ceremony is about to begin, but before that, you will need to go through a ceremony to determine which house you will be attending."

Ron had told them about the four houses established by Hogwarts that represented the will of the four founders, but his subjective impressions were so strong that even Red felt he was being a bit too biased.

"The...the Sorting Ceremony," Ron whispered, his voice trembling.

"I remember my brothers saying that the Sorting Ceremony would involve us fighting a fire dragon..."

God knows how hard Red had to hold back his laughter when he heard that, especially when a group of wizards his age started talking about all sorts of Sorting Ceremony later on.

From confronting the Dementors to attacking each other and then defeating the Gargoyles, the story was exaggerated to the extreme. Red even suspected that these wizards' elders had heard the same thing from their own elders, which was why they were now telling it to tease their own children and descendants.

Professor McGonagall ignored the restless young wizards following her and simply led them to the Great Hall to prepare for the upcoming Sorting Ceremony.

Harry was initially uneasy listening to the strange and unusual Sorting Ceremony being described by the people around him, but he gradually calmed down when he saw Red's usual expression and began to comfort Ron beside him.

"Alright Ron... stop scaring yourself. We're just a bunch of first-year wizards. Even a newborn dragon could probably wipe us all out with a single burst of fire. No matter how strange the school is, it wouldn't push us into a fire pit."

Of course, the actual sorting ceremony was simpler than all freshmen imagined. A very old-fashioned hat, even patched, was used to determine which house they should be sorted into.

When Professor McGonagall appeared with the parchment, Red was pondering whether Hogwarts' interior had been magically solidified to create the illusion that the interior space was much larger than the exterior.

"Hannah Abbott!"

When Professor McGonagall began calling roll, Reid finally snapped out of his daze. He hadn't quite caught the details of the four houses, but he did remember the freshmen's comment about how good the food was at Hufflepuff.

A little girl with blonde hair and two golden braids stumbled out of the line under everyone's gaze. She seemed overly nervous, so much so that Harry, watching her, felt his heart race.

Professor McGonagall gently placed the hat on Hannah's head, and a few seconds later, the strange hat shouted loudly.

Hufflepuff

Applause erupted at the Hufflepuff table behind Red, as everyone welcomed the new student.

The Sorting Ceremony proceeded very smoothly under Miss Hannah's demonstration. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all sorted into Gryffindor. When Harry put on the Sorting Hat and the Hat called out "Gryffindor," Red felt that the shouts and applause from the Gryffindors were about to lift the entire chapel off its feet.

"Red Maxwell!"

Red calmly walked forward and sat down in a chair. As he passed Harry, he casually greeted the others. He could see that Harry seemed to subconsciously want him to be sorted into Gryffindor as well.

Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on Reid's head, and a few seconds later, the Sorting Hat's questioning voice echoed in Reid's mind.

"Strange, why can't I see anything? Why is it... a blank screen?"

Who knows?

Red sensed being watched, but he didn't take any precautions. However, for some reason, the Sorting Hat still couldn't see anything.

"So, little wizard... where do you want to go?"

The Sorting Hat seemed unable to find any flaws and could only ask helplessly. It had never seen such a strange little wizard before. He hadn't learned Occlumency, but it couldn't see anything, only a blank space, or rather... white light?

"How's Hufflepuff?"

"Why Hufflepuff?" the Sorting Hat asked rhetorically, genuinely curious, because when Hufflepuff was introduced, it was clear that it wasn't the best choice for those young wizards who liked to show off or had special talents.

"If you insist on me saying this... they seem to be eating very well?" Red tentatively asked, which earned him a loud laugh from the Sorting Hat. Red didn't know how long he and the Sorting Hat had been arguing, but in the end Red won out slightly, and the Sorting Hat willingly spoke up.

"Hufflepuff!"

The Hufflepuff students began to applaud, and the Sorting Hat took even longer than four minutes to work on Reid, which showed that Reid was definitely not an ordinary person.

Of course, what made them even happier was that someone had joined the Hufflepuff family.

"Thank you... thank you, so... when shall we start eating?" Reid's first words upon taking his seat brought smiles to the faces of all the Hufflepuff students.

"Soon...children, after the banquet officially begins, I have a few things to tell you about enrollment, and then the dinner will begin."

Unexpectedly, Dumbledore answered Red's question, which drew another round of good-natured laughter.