The mastermind behind Hogwarts

The visitor was none other than William.

The older students applauded enthusiastically, while some of the younger students, who didn't know who William was, whispered among themselves.

"It's William. He doesn't seem to be acting strangely," Lilith whispered in Moriarty's ear.

Thanks to Leon's tip, Moriarty and the others knew that William might be in some trouble.

Moriarty feigned a happy expression, as if he were seeing an old acquaintance.

But having been on high alert for a long time, William's biggest anomaly was the absence of anything unusual!

Professor Dumbledore opened his arms wide, and a smiling William said, "Welcome, welcome home again, our fine graduate, William, William Romold!"

William was impeccably dressed, wearing a brown wizard's robe with a black hat, looking clean and respectable.

However, Moriarty noticed that William was pale when he approached.

If Leon were here, he would definitely blurt out that William has lost weight.

Moriarty couldn't understand William like Leon did, and therefore didn't discover it.

William walked over to Dumbledore, winking at Moriarty as he did so, and everything seemed normal.

Dumbledore looked at the students with a broad smile, opening his arms to them, as if nothing could make him happier than seeing his students gathered together.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome everyone to Hogwarts to begin a new school year! Before the banquet begins, I'd like to say a few words."

"First thing," Dumbledore said, putting his hand on William's shoulder, "this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is William Romold, whom I think most of you have never met."

But for the older students, William is an old acquaintance. You should know his expertise in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Dumbledore looked toward the upperclassmen of the four houses, and when he got to Slytherin, he exchanged a knowing glance with Moriarty.

Now Moriarty was certain that Dumbledore knew William was possessed by Voldemort.

It's just unknown where Voldemort's remnant soul is—William didn't wrap a scarf around the back of his head, nor did he smell of garlic.

William waved to the students again, winning cheers from the older students.

Seeing the new students blinking, third-year student Soldaya introduced, "Professor William was the Slytherin prefect four years ago, and he is also our team's Quidditch captain and Hogwarts student council president."

Pansy's eyes lit up: "Our college has won the championship six times in a row, starting with Professor William's class, right?"

"That's right, and this year will be the seventh consecutive year. As long as Mr. Slytherin is around, the championship will always belong to Slytherin."

After confidently finishing speaking, Soldaya turned to look at William.

William was giving a speech; he was very warm and friendly, but Harry wasn't paying attention. When he heard Quidditch, it was as if his genes were stirring.

"Longbottom, do you know what Quidditch is?"

"You don't want to play Quidditch, do you?" Neville looked Harry up and down. "I advise you not to try. I've always kept my distance from Quidditch; my grandma never let me play it."

Harry had no choice but to give up. Then William finished speaking, and Dumbledore continued, "The second thing I want to say to everyone is—idiots! Crybabies! Trash! Twists!"

Thank you everyone!

He sat down again.

At this point, the students' plates were filled with food.

Harry was very surprised; he had never seen so many of his favorite foods laid out on the table at once.

The various delicacies emitted an enticing aroma, which the older students took for granted. They applauded and cheered hastily before starting to feast.

Harry's stomach was rumbling, but he wasn't sure whether he should just laugh off Dumbledore's last words.

"Is he a little... a little crazy?"

Neville didn't reply this time because he was craning his neck to listen to the conversation at the head of the long table.

The reason was that right after Dumbledore finished speaking, Lilith asked Moriarty what he meant.

"There are two interpretations based on the language," Moriarty said, gracefully placing his favorite food on a plate. "The word 'idiot' is often used as an insult. Ravenclaw wizards and sorceresses are usually the most intelligent, so they consider any student who doesn't get into Ravenclaw to be an idiot."

"In English-speaking countries, the word 'crying nose' is often used by teenagers to refer to 'fat,' and bad kids use it to insult and belittle their heavier peers. Gryffindor students are mostly brave and believe that students from other houses are not as brave as them."

The term "scrap" originates from the textile industry, referring to small scraps of cloth that cannot be used to make useful items. Slytherin students value completeness and unity. In the eyes of Slytherins, students from other houses are not pure-blooded wizards, but rather useless scraps.

You probably guessed who the last "twisting" refers to, right? Hufflepuff students are always focused on their work, honest and hardworking. The Hufflepuff community hopes other houses will adjust themselves and not be so stubborn.

The students nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought.

Moriarty added, "Ha, obviously our headmaster is playing another joke on us. The headmaster doesn't look down on his students; he's using a self-deprecating, ironic joke to remind us to stay united, much like the Sorting Song."

"Marcus, stop stuffing your mouth with roast pork leg. Mind your table manners."

The last sentence made everyone laugh. Moriarty usually didn't remind people that Marcus was really hungry today and was wolfing down his food.

"What's another explanation?" Lilith asked curiously, as she mixed a red and green drink.

"That's interpreted from a Latin perspective. Combining the four words in Latin, it means—May Merlin bless you!"

After saying that, Moriarty fell silent and began to eat.

The little snakes were also focused on their dinner. Jericho ate spoonful after spoonful of mashed potatoes and garlic, but his eyes kept glancing at the Gryffindor table.

Oliver Wood of the Gryphon School sensed something and looked up, meeting Jericho's gaze.

Jericho chuckled: "It seems Professor William's arrival reminds us of our very first Quidditch game."

Wood nodded. He was in fifth grade this year and had lost to Slytherin for four consecutive years, always second.

The two raised their wine glasses in a gesture that sparked interaction among many Quidditch players.

William was filled with nostalgia when he saw this scene.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his chest, and he stiffly turned his head to stare at Harry Potter.

After watching for a while, Harry seemed to notice something, looked up, and met William's gaze.

For a moment, Harry felt as if he were staring into the eyes of a snake.

At the same time, a burning pain shot through the scar on his forehead.

"Ouch!" Ha covered his forehead with one hand.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked.

"No—it's nothing."

Harry lowered his hand and looked over again. William was talking to a teacher with exceptionally smooth, black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.

"Who is that teacher who is talking to Professor William?" Harry asked Neville.

Neville glanced at Professor Snape, then quickly lowered his head. Harry thought it was strange that Neville seemed a little afraid of the teacher.

Pansy said proudly, "Who is he? Doesn't Potter even know him? He's Professor Snape, our Headmaster! The Potions Master of Hogwarts."

Harry didn't know why Pansy was targeting him, but he felt that Professor Snape didn't seem to like him at all.

Harry had already noticed Professor Snape staring at him, and staring intently into his eyes.

"What are they talking about?" Harry asked Neville again, as William and Snape continued talking.

Neville shook his head, clearly not wanting to discuss the matter.

"Why are you worrying about the professor's business? You idiot!" Pansy persisted.

Harry looked to Marcus for help, but Marcus was busy cooking. Harry could only look to Moriarty, but Moriarty couldn't see Harry at all.

He was currently engaged in a tense struggle with Lilith over the brand-new magical drink.

"No matter what you say, I won't drink this."

"Not even black stockings?"

"What do you take me for, Moriarty?!"

However, they were quickly interrupted by Tonks.

"Hey~ you naughty junior, come and try this, I specially taught the house-elves how to make whale soup, ah~"

Tonks scooped a spoonful of soup and fed it to Moriarty, adding with a grin, "Drink this, and you'll be burning with desire~"

Moriarty smacked his lips and patted Tonks's butt where no one could see. "Come to my dorm tonight and wait for me."

"The dorm room?" Violet jolted awake, lifting her head abruptly, and said half-asleep, "Okay, I'll go too."

The little snake sitting behind him belatedly exclaimed, "Merlin, you're startled! I didn't even notice someone sitting here!"

Fortunately, they're all used to it; everyone knows Violet is Moriarty's little shadow.

Tonks' arrival was like a signal; Penelope of Ravenclaw and Gemma of Slytherin rose and walked toward Moriarty.

Many freshmen watched this scene with curiosity. Harry took a little bit of each food item and chewed it heartily. Everything tasted delicious.

"Are they all Mr. Harry's girlfriends?" Harry asked quietly.

"Well, it's nothing. If you don't mind this, sir, you can say it openly." Neville was eating a dessert.

"Oh, why?" Harry said in shock. "I thought wizards were monogamous."

Neville didn't know how to answer, which involved his area of ​​ignorance.

Pansy scoffed, "Sir, you want to strengthen the Slytherin family. Unlike your family, Poot, the Slytherin family is pureblood among purebloods."

"Ahem," Soldaya coughed twice, warning, "Don't say the word 'Mudblood.' The upperclassmen warned me the same thing when I was a freshman."

Pansy immediately became obedient, and Soldaya laughed again: "Compared to this, I think you should be more concerned about your friend Draco."

Pansy and the other two looked toward Gryphon, where Draco was eating alone, taking bites slowly, clearly without any appetite.

There was another new student like that at the Slytherin table, and that was Sabine.

Harry noticed this too and tried to talk to Sabine, but before he could say three sentences, he suddenly realized that many small snakes were staring coldly at him.

Neville pulled Harry to his side. "Don't talk, just eat."

Harry suddenly felt a chill from his left. He turned his head and saw a ghost sitting next to him with vacant eyes, a gaunt appearance, and silver bloodstains on his robes!

"what!"

Harry was so startled that he stood up and almost knocked the plate over.

"Breaking!"

Pansy screamed, as if she had done something to deserve Harry's mistake.

Soldaya quickly restored order: "Sit down! This is the ghost of our academy, Lord Barrow. I'm sorry, Your Excellency, some of our freshmen are a bit timid."

Harry sat down awkwardly. Barrow the Blood Man stared at Harry for a moment and then left. Harry felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

Only then did he realize that many people were looking at him with hostility.

After a while, everyone finished eating, and the plates were clean. Percy led Ron in from the side, and Professor McGonagall took out the Sorting Hat again and sorted Ron into Gryffindor.

Professor Dumbledore stood up, added a few rules, and then had everyone sing the school song.

Only the Weasley twins sang the entire school song to the tune of "Funeral March".

This made Moriarty feel that they were grieving for Ron.

Finally, Dumbledore instructed the prefects to lead the new students back to the common rooms of their respective houses.

Moriarty stood up.

(Thank you again to Long Tang Jiuxiao for the generous donation! Congratulations on your promotion to Protector! Bonus chapter for you!)