Chapter 17: The Sorting Hat

A few minutes later, more and more ghosts began to appear in the small room, tall and short, fat and thin, all kinds of shapes. It was quite a surprise for the new students.

At first, the young wizards were truly scared, but soon they realized that the ghosts were not scary at all. Instead, they were very friendly and greeted everyone enthusiastically.

One ghost even performed a special ghost talent, like putting their hands on their head, to ease their nervousness.

"Cool…"

Looking at the head bobbing up and down, someone exclaimed involuntarily.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I have something cooler."

The ghost seemed to be in a good mood too. As he finished speaking, he flung his head out, followed by a dazzling forward somersault, a triple twist in the air, and finally landed on his hands, catching his head steadily.

The movement was smooth, the posture elegant, and every landing was perfect.

Unsurprisingly, the entire performance earned a round of applause from everyone, including Kyle.

This kind of talent was rare.

Amazing, truly amazing.

"Thank you, thank you everyone." The headless ghost bowed to everyone after circling the room, very proud of himself, "Oh, did I forget to mention that it was this very performance that got me into the Headless Hunt Club? Of course, I'm not bragging. I mean, you all have good taste."

After that, the atmosphere heated up.

The young wizards gathered around, clamoring for him to do it again.

The ghost was not stingy. Although he didn't perform the high-difficulty moves again, he did a series of little tricks that made everyone laugh.

"Heh."

But just then, a chilling chuckle came from the side, "What's so great about that?"

Everyone subconsciously turned their heads to look over. They realized that the one who spoke was also a ghost.

"I apologize, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington." The headless ghost recognized his colleague wearing the ruff collar and quickly said, "I was just trying to entertain the children, I didn't mean anything else."

"You better not."

"Of course. And I sincerely hope you'll join the Headless Hunt Club this year, sir."

Nearly Headless Nick looked at him impassively, then passed through the wall and left.

Interrupted like that, the headless ghost didn't continue his performance. He shrugged, "Alright everyone, you should start getting sorted now. Prepare yourselves. See you later."

He also passed through the wall and went to the Great Hall.

Although the young wizards were disappointed, they couldn't do anything about it. They could only watch as the headless ghost left.

But the atmosphere in the room didn't drop much.

After watching the ghost's performance, everyone was happy and even more excited about the Sorting Ceremony.

...… Except for Kanna.

She was the only one in the whole room who didn't pay attention to the ghost's performance.

Until Professor McGonagall came back, the little girl was cowering in the corner, almost turning gray. She kept emitting an aura of despair.

Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't notice.

"I was only gone for a moment, and you're all like this!"

She pursed her lips, looking sternly at the new students below, "I could hear your laughter in the Great Hall. Is it that funny? Or do you think Sorting is a ridiculous thing?"

Professor McGonagall's voice was not loud, but everyone was silent, lowering their heads, not daring to breathe.

It lasted for more than a minute before Professor McGonagall continued, "Remember, Sorting is a very serious matter. Please be quiet.

Now, line up a single file and follow me."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone moved. It didn't take a minute to form a line, and then they followed closely behind Professor McGonagall.

Kanna was among them, being pulled by Kyle. She moved her steps in a daze, like a walking corpse.

...

They walked out of the room, through the foyer, and a double door, finally entering the luxurious Great Hall.

Compared to the hall, the Great Hall was even more magnificent.

The whole hall was breathtakingly large. Even with four long tables full of students, it didn't feel crowded at all.

Luxurious gold platters and goblets were placed on the tables. Thousands of candles floating in mid-air illuminated the hall.

Above, the black velvet ceiling was dotted with stars, and clouds billowing, a sight that left people speechless.

Someone whispered to a companion beside them, "This is enchanted. It looks like the sky outside. I read it in "Hogwarts: A History"."

Kyle looked over and saw that it was a boy, and he lost interest.

It was a pity. If he had started school a year later, he would have been able to be good friends with Hermione.

Everyone walked to the very front of the Great Hall and stopped.

Above them was the professors' table.

Albus Dumbledore, wearing a purple robe, sat in the middle. His silver hair and beard were neatly styled. He was wearing his trademark half-moon glasses, looking kindly at each new student.

Sitting beside him were the four Heads of Houses.

Severus Snape, the Slytherin Head of House, with slicked-back hair.

Filius Flitwick, the Ravenclaw Head of House, was short.

Pomona Sprout, the Hufflepuff Head of House, looked very friendly.

As for Professor McGonagall, the Gryffindor Head of House, she was temporarily absent because she was hosting the Sorting.

Counting them, about twenty professors were attending the welcoming feast today. But Kyle guessed and knew only about ten of them. He had no idea who the rest were.

But that was normal. Hogwarts was so big, that it wouldn't be enough to have just the professors he remembered.

Moreover, half of the professors he knew were annual contracts. Subtract that, and there were even fewer.

...

Kyle withdrew his gaze.

Just then, Professor McGonagall had just placed a four-legged stool in front of the new students, and she placed a patched, brown, pointed wizard hat on the stool.

Well, it was kind of brown.

Because the hat was so dirty, even though Professor McGonagall's movements were very gentle, it kicked up a lot of dust when it landed.

Besides, in the candlelight, there was a sheen on the hat, clearly well-worn. It was impossible to tell its original color in this situation.

Kyle could guarantee that if this hat wasn't the Sorting Hat and had appeared in his house, either he or Chris would have died.

Or maybe, they would both be beaten to death by Diana.