The carriage passed through the gates with statues of winged boars on both sides and drove along the spacious lane. Due to the strong wind, the carriage shook violently. Bunce leaned against the window and saw Hogwarts drawing nearer, many of the lighted windows flickering dimly behind a thick curtain of rain. Their carriage stopped at the foot of the stone steps in front of the two oak doors. At this moment, a bolt of lightning streaked across the night sky. The people in the carriage in front had already begun to climb the stone steps and run into the castle. Bunce, Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped out of the carriage and ran up the stone steps, too, into the cavernous entrance hall.
"What are you doing with your wand?”said Ron, shaking his head.
Bunce did not answer, but pointed his wand at the balloon above them, and the water-filled balloon vanished.
"Thank you, Bunce," said Harry.
"You're welcome." Bance said.
Peeves, seeing that Bunce was not easy to deal with, began to hurl Water Bullets at other students. The surrounding people screamed and pushed each other, wanting to leave this place as soon as possible.
"Peeves!" shouted an angry voice."Peeves, get down here!”
Professor McGonagall, vice-headmaster and head of Gryffindor House, burst out of the Great Hall.
"Peeves, get down here right now!”bellowed Professor McGonagall, straightening her pointed hat and staring up through her square-framed glasses.
"I didn't do anything!" Giggling, Peeves hurled another water bomb at a couple of fifth-year girls, who screamed and rushed into the Great Hall. Hey, little brat! Eat my cannon!" He picked up another water bomb and aimed it at a group of second-years who had just entered.
"I'll go call the principal!" said Professor McGonagall loudly."I'm warning you, Peeves-"
Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last of the water bombs in a flurry, then zoomed up the marble staircase, cackling wildly.
"Alright, let's go!" said Professor McGonagall sharply."Into the Great Hall, quickly!”
Bunce, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the crowd through the entrance hall and through the double doors on the right.
The auditorium was still as magnificent as ever, but it had been decorated for the banquet of the new semester. Hundreds of candles were floating in the air above the table, shining on the golden plates and goblets. The four long academy tables were already filled with chattering students. Bunce, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked past the Slytherins, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs, then joined the rest of the Gryffindors at the table at the far end of the Hall. Next to them was the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. Nick's body was transparent and pearly white. Tonight he was wearing his usual tight jacket, but with a particularly large ruff. He wore this crepe for two purposes. One was to make it look more festive, and the other was to ensure that his head would not shake too much on his half-cut neck.
"Good evening." He smiled at them.
"It's alright." Bangs sat down and said.
Harry and the others had just sat down next to Bunce when a breathless voice came from across the table.
"Hello, Harry!"
It was Harry's admirer, Colin, a third-year boy who had always regarded Harry as a hero.
"Oh, hello, Colin," said Harry carefully.
"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My younger brother is also enrolled in school! My brother Dennis!" Colin said excitedly.
"Oh-that's great," said Harry.
"He's so excited!" said Colin, bouncing up and down in his chair. Will you pray for him, Harry?"
"Oh-yes," said Harry, turning to look at her."Sisters are usually in the same House, aren't they?”
"Oh, not necessarily," said Hermione. Patil's twin sister was in Ravenclaw, and they looked exactly like each other. He had thought that they would be placed together.”
"Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?”said Hermione, looking at the staff table.
"Maybe they can't find him!" Ron guessed.
"Still on the way." Bangs said while looking at the ceiling.
As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the Great Hall opened and everyone fell silent. Professor McGonagall led a long line of first years across the top of the Great Hall.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall had placed a three-legged stool on the ground in front of the new students, and on top of it was a tattered, dirty, patched wizard's hat. The first years stared blankly at it. The others also looked at it. For a moment, the auditorium was silent. Then a crack near the brim opened like a mouth, and the hat burst into song.
That was more than a thousand years ago.
I was just woven into shape,
There are four famous wizards,
Their names have been passed down to this day:
Brave Gryffindor, from the wild marsh,
Beautiful Ravenclaw, from the peaceful river,
Good-hearted Hufflepuff from the open valley,
The shrewd Slytherin came from that quagmire.
They share a dream, a wish,
At the same time, he had a bold plan.
To groom young wizards,
Hogwarts was thus founded.
Each of the four great wizards established his own school,
They had different ideas about the talents they valued in the students they taught.
Gryffindor believed that the bravest should be rewarded the most;
Ravenclaw felt that the smartest brains always made the best;
Hufflepuff felt that the most diligent were the most qualified to enter the House;
And Slytherin, who craved power, loved ambitious youths the most.
The four wizards had handpicked their favorite students in their lifetime.
But when they're in the grave,
How to pick out the talents among the students?
It was Gryffindor who came up with the idea.
He took me off his head,
The Big Four have given me their thoughts,
From now on, I will be the one to choose and evaluate!
Well, put me well on your head,
I've never been wrong,
I want to see your head,
Decide which academy you belong to!
When the Sorting Hat was over, the hall burst into applause.
"This is not the song it sang when it sorted us.”said Harry.
"The singing is different every year." Bance said.
"I suppose it must have had a rather monotonous life as a hat, hasn't it? I bet it took a whole year to come up with the next song.”said Ron.
At this moment, Mag unfolded a large roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, put your hat on your head and sit on a stool," she told the first years."When the hat has announced your house, go sit at your table.”
"Stuart Ackley!”
A boy stepped forward, visibly trembling from head to toe. He picked up the Sorting Hat, put it on his head, and sat down on the stool.
"Ravenclaw!" shouted the Sorting Hat.
Stuart Ackley took off his hat and hurried to a seat near the Ravenclaw table, where everyone applauded him.
"Malcolm Baddock!”
"Slytherin!"
There was a loud cheer from the other side of the hall. Fred and George hissed as Malcolm Baddock sat down.
"Eleanor Branston!”
"Hufflepuff!"
"Caldwell!”
"Hufflepuff!"
"Dennis Creevey!”
"Gryffindor!" the hat said loudly.
Dennis Creevey, beaming with delight, took off his hat, put it back on the stool, and hurried over to join his brother. Meanwhile, Bunce joined the rest of the Gryffindors in clapping.
"Colin, I fell into the lake!" He plopped into an empty seat and squeaked,"Wonderful! Something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back to the boat!”
"So cool!" Colin said, as excited as his brother." It's probably the giant squid, Dennis!”
"Wow!" Dennis shouted.
"Dennis! Dennis! Do you see the boy next to the dead face? The one with black hair and glasses? Did you see that? Do you know who he is?"
Bangs looked at Colin and said nothing.
The sorting ceremony continued. The freshmen, both male and female, walked to the three-legged stool one by one with varying degrees of fear on their faces. The line was slowly shrinking, and Professor McGonagall had already finished reading the names beginning with an L.
"Oh, hurry up." said Ron, rubbing his stomach.
"I say, Ron, the Sorting ceremony is much more important than eating.”said Nearly Headless Nick.
"You're a dead man. Of course you'll say that.”Ron retorted.
"I hope all the new Gryffindor students this year are excellent.”said Nearly Headless Nick."We don't want to break our winning streak, do we?”
Gryffindor had won the House Cup three years in a row.
"Graham-Pritchard!”
"Slytherin!"
"Ola, Guerrick!”
"Ravenclaw!"
At last, with the cry of Kai Whitby being assigned to Hufflepuff, the Sorting was over. Professor McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and stool and took them away.
"It's time." said Ron, picking up his knife and fork and staring longingly at the golden plate in front of him.
Professor Dumbledore stood up. He looked at all the students with a smile, opened his arms, and made a welcoming gesture.
"I have only two words for you," he said, his deep voice echoing through the Hall.”
"Alright, alright!" shouted Harry and Ron, looking eagerly at the empty plates.
"This is much better." Ron mumbled, stuffing mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"You're lucky, you know," said Nearly Headless Nick,"that dinner almost fell through tonight. There was some trouble in the kitchen earlier.”
"It's Peeves, isn't it?" Bangs said as he ate the ribs.
"You're right," said Nick."Still arguing about that, you know, he wants to go to the party-well, that's impossible, you know how he is, completely uneducated, throwing food everywhere. We called for a council of ghosts-the fat friar was in favor of giving him a chance-but the Bloody Baron was adamant against it, and I think he was very wise to do so.”
The Bloody Baron was the ghost of Slytherin House, a thin, silent specter covered in silver blood. He was the only one at Hogwarts who could really control Peeves.
"No wonder we thought Peeves was angry about something.”said Ron."What did he do in the kitchen?”
" Oh, it's still the same old thing," Nick said with a shrug." Destroy and make a mess." Pots and pans were thrown everywhere, and the entire kitchen was flooded with soup. The house-elves were scared out of their wits-"
Clang.
Hermione knocked over her gold goblet, and pumpkin juice spilled over the tablecloth, staining the white linen several feet long with orange, but she ignored it.
"There are house-elves here?" she asked, staring at Nick with a horrified look.”
"Of course," said Nearly Headless Nick in surprise."I don't believe there are as many house-elves in any house in England as there are here. There are more than a hundred of them."
"But I haven't seen any of them!" said Hermione.
"Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, Hermione.”Bance said.
"Well, they rarely leave the kitchen during the day, do they?”said Nick." Coming out at night to clean and look after the stove. I mean, you shouldn't see them, right? The mark of a good house-elf is that you don't even know he exists, right?”
Hermione glared at him.
"But do they get paid?" " Do they have holidays?" she asked. And-did they get sick leave, stipends, everything?”
Nick giggled so hard that his ruff tilted and his head rolled off, dangling unsteadily from an inch or two of dead skin and muscle still attached to his neck.
"Sick leave and allowance?" he said, putting his head back onto his neck and fixing it back in place with his ruff.”
Hermione looked down at the food on her plate, which had barely been touched, then put her fork and knife on it and pushed it away.
"Oh, even if you starve yourself to death, you won't get them sick leave!”said Ron.
"Slave labor," said Hermione, breathing heavily."That's how dinner came about. Slave labor."
"You're asking for it, Hermione.”Bance said.
"It is precisely because of the existence of people like you that this kind of slave labor appears.”said Hermione angrily.
"What do you know, Hermione? Do you think everything is what you think? Do you know house-elves are happy? Do you know that they don't need money or anything? Don't use the same methods as humans on them. They're different.”Bangs said as he wiped his mouth.
"Are you saying that they are not human?" said Hermione.
"They are indeed not human, but I don't deny that they have feelings. However, your idea of applying it to humans is wrong.”Bance said.
Hermione gave Bunce a look that was remarkably similar to Professor McGonagall's.
When the last of the crumbs had disappeared from his plate, Professor Dumbledore stood up again. The buzzing in the hall suddenly stopped. Only the howling of the wind and the pounding of the rain could be heard.
"Alright!" said Dumbledore, beaming around at them."Now we're all full.'said Hermione. I must ask everyone to pay attention again, I have a few announcements to make.”
"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, wanted me to tell you that there have been a few more items banned in the castle this year, and they are Screaming Yo-boomerangs, Fanged Frisbees, and Chain Boomerangs. The entire list, which consists of about four hundred and thirty-seven items, can be found in Mr. Filch's office, and anyone who is interested can check it.”
Dumbledore's mouth twitched.
He went on,"As always, I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest on the other side of the grounds is off-limits to students, and that Hogsmeade Village is off-limits to anyone under third year.
"I also regret to inform you that there will be no House Cup Quidditch this year.”
"What?" said Harry in surprise.
"This is because a major event will begin in October and continue throughout the school year, taking up a lot of the teachers 'time and energy-but I'm sure you'll all enjoy it. I am very pleased to announce that this year at Hogwarts-"
Just then, there was a deafening crash of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall burst open.
A man was standing at the door, holding a long walking stick and wearing a black traveling cloak. Everyone in the Great Hall turned to look at the stranger, who was suddenly illuminated by a forked bolt of lightning that streaked across the ceiling. He took off his hood, shook out his long gray hair, and began to walk toward the staff table.
Thump, thump. With every step he took, a hollow sound echoed through the Hall. He walked straight to the end of the table, turned right, and limped toward Dumbledore.
The stranger walked up to Dumbledore. He held out a hand that was as scarred as his face. Dumbledore shook hands with him and whispered something.
When the stranger had sat down, Dumbledore broke the silence with a cheerful voice."Allow me to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody.”
Normally, when a new teacher came in, everyone would applaud, but aside from Dumbledore and Hagrid, not a single teacher or student was applauding. Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped a few times, and when the applause seemed lonely in the silent Hall, they tactfully dropped their hands.
"Moody?" said Harry."Mad-Eye Moody? The one your father went to help this morning?”
"It must be him." said Ron fearfully.
"What happened to him?" said Hermione in a low voice."What happened to his face?”
"He must have been injured when he was an Auror.”Bance said.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and said,"As I was saying-we will have the great honor of hosting a wonderful event over the next few months that has not been held for more than a century. I am very pleased to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year.”
"You must be joking!" said Fred Weasley loudly.
The tension that had gripped the Hall since Moody's entrance was broken. Almost everyone laughed, and Dumbledore laughed approvingly.
"I'm not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said."But now that you mention it, I did hear a very funny joke about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all went into the same pub."
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
"Well-this is probably not the right time," said Dumbledore."Where was I? Ah, by the way, some of you may not know what the Triwizard Tournament is all about, so I hope those who know will forgive me for explaining a little, and I will allow their minds to wander for a moment.”
"The Triwizard Tournament was founded more than seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest Wizarding schools in Europe. The three schools were Hogwarts, Beothbatons, and Durmstrang. Each school would choose a champion, and then the three champions would compete in three magic events. The Triwizard Tournament, which was held every five years and alternated between the three schools, was thought to be a great way for young wizards from different countries to build friendships-but then the death toll became so high that the Triwizard Tournament was cut short.”
"Death toll?" said Hermione in horror.
"There have been several attempts over the centuries to restore the tournament," Dumbledore continued,"but none have been successful. However, our Department of International Magical Cooperation and the Department of Magical Sports at the Ministry of Magic believe that the time is ripe for another attempt. We've done a lot of work this summer to ensure that none of our champions are in danger.
"In October, the Headmasters of Beothbatons and Durmstrang will be leading their carefully selected competitors, and the ceremony for the champions will be held on Valentine's Day. An impartial judge would decide which students were most qualified to compete for the Triwizard Cup and win glory for their school. Each student would also receive a thousand Galleons as a prize.”
"I want to participate!" said Fred excitedly from across the table. Everyone was whispering fervently or excitedly, but Dumbledore spoke again and the Hall fell silent again.
"I know you're all eager to win the Triwizard Cup for Hogwarts," he said,"but the participating schools and the Ministry have agreed to set an age limit for this year's competitors. Only those who were seventeen years old or above were allowed to register for consideration. "We feel,"-Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, as some of the others reacted with angry protests, and the Weasleys suddenly grew angry-"that this measure is necessary, because the tournament is still a difficult and dangerous task, and no matter how many precautions we take, it is virtually impossible for anyone below sixth or seventh years to cope with it. I will personally ensure that no underage student deceives our impartial judges and becomes a Hogwarts warrior.”He glanced over Fred's and George's rebellious faces, stopping at Bunce's, and said meaningfully,"So, if you're under seventeen, I beg you not to waste your time applying.
"The delegation from Beothbatons and Durmstrang will arrive in October and spend most of the school year with us. I know that you will all be cordial and friendly during the stay of our foreign guests, and that you will give your full support to the champion of Hogwarts, once he or she has been chosen. Well, it's getting late, and it's important that you walk into class fresh and sober tomorrow morning. Go to bed! Hurry up!“
Dumbledore sat down and turned to speak to Mad-Eye. There was a cacophony of clattering and banging in the dining room as students rose to their feet and made their way through the double doors into the entrance hall.
"They can't do that!" said George, standing there, staring angrily at Dumbledore."We'll be seventeen next April, why can't we try?”
"They can't stop me from going," said Fred stubbornly."Being a warrior means you can do a lot of things you're not usually allowed to do, and there's a thousand Galleon bonus!”
"Yeah," said Ron distractedly."Yeah, a thousand Galleons."
" Let's go," Bangs said." If we don't leave now, we'll be the only ones left here.”
Bunce, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, and George began to make their way toward the entrance hall, Fred and George arguing over what Dumbledore was going to do to stop students under seventeen from entering the tournament.
"Who will be the judge who will decide who is the champion?”asked Harry.
"You must know, don't you, Bunce?”George suddenly asked.
"Even if you know, you can't say anything." Bangs said with a smile.
" Pfft, I think a drop or two of the Age Potion will do the trick," said Fred.
"But Dumbledore knows you're underage.”said Ron.
"Yeah, but it's not up to him to decide who's brave, is it?”said Fred, taking advantage of the gap."It sounds to me like this judge is picking the best from every school, no matter how old they are, as long as he knows who wants to play. Dumbledore's trying to stop us from signing up.”
"But so many people died!" said Hermione anxiously.
"Yeah," said Fred carelessly,"but that was years ago, wasn't it? Besides, what fun would there be if there was no risk?”
"What do you think, Bunce?" said Harry."Will you be attending?”
"I wonder if we've learned enough.”said Hermione.
"What I've learned is definitely not enough." Neville's sulky voice came from behind Ron.
"But I think my grandmother will definitely want me to participate. She kept nagging me that I should protect the family's honor. I just want--Ouch!"
Neville's foot had sunk into the middle of a flight of stairs. Hogwarts had many of these pranking staircases. Jumping over these particular steps had become instinctive for most of the older students, but Neville was known for his bad memory. Bangs and Ron grabbed his arms and pulled him out, as a suit of armor creaked and clanked at the top of the stairs, panting with laughter.
"Shut up, you." said Ron, punching the guy as they passed him.
They reached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, which was hidden behind a large portrait of a Fat Lady in a pink silk dress.
"Passwords?" asked the Fat Lady as they approached.
"Nonsense," said George."A prefect downstairs told me.”
The portrait sprang forward, revealing a large hole in the wall through which they all crawled. The circular common room was full of tables and slumped armchairs, and the fire was crackling brightly. Hermione glanced wistfully at the cheerful flames, and Bunce distinctly heard her mutter "slave labor," and then she said goodbye to them and returned to the girls 'dormitory.
Bunce, Harry, Ron, and Neville climbed the last spiral staircase to their dormitory at the top of the tower. Six four-poster beds stood against the wall, draped with dark red curtains, and each person's chest was already at the foot of their bed.
Bunce, Harry, Ron, and Neville changed into their pajamas and climbed into bed. The house-elf had already placed the bedside stove in the bedding. Lying on the bed and listening to the storm raging outside was really too comfortable.
"You know, I might join," said Ron drowsily."If Fred and George figure out a way to join the tournament... Who knows, right?"
"The idea is good." Bangs turned over and said.
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