Hermione noticed Ginny's expression and secretly found it amusing. She quickly said, "At least you don't have to cross the Black Lake by boat in this weather, Ginny." She then pointed to a giant figure at the far end of the platform. "Look, it's Hagrid!"
The eleven-and-a-half-foot-tall half-giant undoubtedly attracted great attention in such circumstances. The first-year students seeing such a tall human for the first time were all stunned. However, students from second year and above were used to it and greeted him one after another.
"Hello, Hagrid!"
"Hello, Professor!"
"Hello, sir!"
Since becoming the Care of Magical Creatures professor, the students had undoubtedly become even more familiar with Rubeus Hagrid. According to tradition, first-year students were ferried across the lake by Hagrid to enter Hogwarts Castle. This hadn't changed even after he became the Care of Magical Creatures professor.
This probably had something to do with his appearance as well. For young wizards who had never been exposed to magic before, Hagrid's appearance could, to some extent, satisfy their imagination of the magical world.
"Hello there!" Hagrid boomed back, waving his hand, then said in rather exaggerated tones, "See yeh at the feast, if we don' drown! Firs' years, follow me!"
After Hagrid led away the first-years, the remaining young wizards climbed into the carriages pulled by Thestrals. From Sherlock's observation, currently only he and Luna could see these magical creatures. Everyone else thought the carriages were driven by magical enchantments.
At this point, everyone certainly couldn't sit together anymore.
"Harry, see you at the opening ceremony!" Cho and Luna parted ways with them and got into another carriage with Cho's two roommates.
Sherlock, Hermione, Harry, and Ron rode in one carriage together. Once you'd done something once, the second time was familiar. Having ridden in the carriage before, they had nothing to say along the way.
Upon arriving at Hogwarts Castle, none of the students wanted to be drenched like drowned rats, so they all rushed eagerly into the Great Hall. Torches were lit inside, and the marble staircase was magnificent. The Great Hall was still as splendid and imposing as ever, specially decorated for the new term's feast as usual.
Hundreds and thousands of candles floated suspended above the tables, making the golden plates and goblets gleam. At this moment, chattering students were gradually taking their seats at the four long house tables.
As the four of them passed the Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw tables without stopping, they still greeted Malfoy, Hannah, Cho, and others. Of course, the way they greeted the Malfoy-Crabbe-Goyle trio was rather special—simply making eye contact for about a second before looking away.
After the four took their seats, the Gryffindor ghost—Nearly Headless Nick also greeted them. "Hi there! Almost everyone's here. The Sorting Ceremony will start shortly."
"I wonder if the Sorting Hat will sing a different song this year?"
"It does every year, Harry..."
"Harry!"
Nearly Headless Nick had just called out Harry's name when he was interrupted by an even more resounding voice. Colin Creevey, a Gryffindor third-year boy. Since the year he entered school, he had always regarded Harry as a heroic figure.
Ron had once joked that he and Ginny could form a Harry Potter fan club. For a time, the young boy's enthusiasm had made Harry somewhat at a loss. To be fair, he was Harry's most loyal fan. In a certain sense, he was even more loyal than Ginny!
Fortunately, Harry had later learned a few tricks from Gilderoy Lockhart, which gave him some experience in dealing with this. So seeing Colin greeting him now, Harry said very carefully, "Hello, Colin."
As usual, Colin didn't notice anything wrong with Harry's attitude toward him. He said excitedly, "Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry?"
Harry looked at Colin somewhat helplessly—how could he guess if Colin didn't say? Fortunately, the latter didn't expect Harry to answer. After asking the question, he immediately spoke up on his own.
"My brother's starting too! My brother Dennis!"
"Oh—that's great," Harry congratulated him quietly.
"He's so excited!" Colin said, actually bouncing on the bench. "I really hope he'll be in Gryffindor! You'll keep your fingers crossed for him too, won't you, Harry?"
"Er... oh—yes, all right, no problem," Harry agreed, then asked Sherlock, "Brothers and sisters are generally sorted into the same house, aren't they?"
He was judging based on the Weasley family's situation, since all seven Weasley children had been sorted into Gryffindor.
"Not necessarily," Sherlock shook his head. "Think about your godfather, my friend."
With Sherlock's reminder, Harry immediately remembered. Sirius's brother, the late Regulus Black, had been sorted into Slytherin, but his brother Sirius Black had been in Gryffindor.
In fact, a Sorting result like Regulus's was correct and traditional for the Black family. It was his brother, Sirius Black, sorted into Gryffindor, who was the anomaly of the Black family, the rebel.
"And the Patil twins," Hermione added, hearing Sherlock's words. "They look exactly alike. Yet Parvati Patil was sorted into Gryffindor with us, while Padma Patil was sorted into Ravenclaw. I thought they'd be sorted together like Fred and George."
"Hermione, did I just hear you talking about us?" Fred suddenly turned around.
"Are you secretly saying we're handsome?" George immediately followed.
"Yes, yes, you're always handsome!" Hermione said with a grin.
"Thank you for the compliment!" the twins said together.
"So, brothers and sisters aren't necessarily sorted into the same house."
Since there were such precedents, Harry indicated that he could only pray that Colin's brother would be sorted into the same house as him, as Colin had said. He hadn't considered that once these two brothers were together, they would form an even more powerful fan combination than before.
While Harry was talking to Colin, Sherlock was looking at the staff table with interest. With the new school year beginning, the teachers seemed no different from before.
Professor Flitwick, the Ravenclaw Head of House and Charms teacher, sat on a pile of cushions. Even so, he was still the shortest one. Next to him was Professor Sprout, the Hufflepuff Head of House and Herbology teacher. Her hat sat skewed on her flowing gray hair as she chatted happily with Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher.
On the other side of Professor Sinistra was Professor Snape, the Slytherin Head of House and Potions teacher, with his sallow face, hooked nose, and characteristically greasy hair. In Sherlock's view, this professor could be said to bear the heaviest burden and be the most forbearing person in all of Hogwarts.
However, judging by appearance alone, if he could use shampoo made with the Potter family formula, it would definitely improve his hair quality. Unfortunately, that was impossible. He could never possibly use a Potter family product.
The seat next to Snape was empty. That was the position of Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, Gryffindor Head of House, and Transfiguration teacher. At this moment, she was preparing for the first-years' Sorting Ceremony as usual, so she hadn't arrived yet.
Beyond that was the center of the table, where Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, sat. His silver-white hair and beard gleamed in the candlelight, and his magnificent deep green robes were embroidered with many stars and moons.
Dumbledore's long fingers were touching at the tips, with his chin resting on his fingertips. This posture seemed somewhat familiar to Sherlock. Noticing Sherlock's gaze, his eyes looked through his half-moon spectacles toward Sherlock and Harry, smiling and nodding. Then he withdrew his gaze and looked up at the ceiling, as if lost in thought.
As far as Sherlock could see, besides Professor McGonagall, there was one more empty seat. That belonged to Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures professor, who was currently struggling to ferry the first-years across the lake. Judging by the time, he should be back soon.
However, what interested Sherlock most was still the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's position. Sitting there was still Remus Lupin. A tough person who had concealed his true identity.
When he saw him, Sherlock couldn't help showing a satisfied smile. The curse Voldemort had left on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor position had finally been broken. Professor Lupin had become the only teacher in these years who could continue in this position for consecutive years.
This was truly cause for celebration. Based on his own experience, Lupin was the most qualified of all the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors who had taught him. Of course, not only that—even top students four years ahead of him like Gemma Farley, Penelope Clearwater, and Percy Weasley held the same view.
However, although the curse had been broken, Remus still had to consider another matter—how to avoid having people discover his identity as a werewolf.
Undoubtedly, even though Remus had lived up to expectations last year by winning both the Most Popular Teacher of the Year award and the Most Popular Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor of the Past Decade, once his werewolf identity was exposed, protest letters from students' parents would fly in like snowflakes.
At that point, not just Lupin himself, but even Dumbledore couldn't withstand it. This was unavoidable. Prejudice in people's hearts—no matter how hard you try, you can never move it. People's views on werewolves were just like Remus's father's views on werewolves back then.
Decades had passed, and nothing had changed.
Lupin also noticed that Sherlock was looking at him, so he too, like Dumbledore, smiled and nodded toward Sherlock and Harry.
After observing the staff table, Sherlock looked back up at the ceiling. He didn't know whose idea it was, but at this moment, enchanted as it was, it looked just like the sky outside, with black and purple clouds rolling across it. When thunder sounded, a forked lightning bolt even streaked across the ceiling.
This was truly putting tremendous effort into useless details.
Last year at the start of term, Dementors had temporarily inspected the Hogwarts Express. Because Harry had such an extreme reaction to the Dementors, Lupin, worried about the situation, had sent an owl to the school in advance to inform them. The result was that Sherlock, Harry, and Hermione were taken away separately by Professor McGonagall.
On one hand, this was to confirm Harry's health, and on the other, to solve the time problem of the three taking all elective courses. That incident resulted in all three of them missing last year's Sorting Ceremony.
However, as a first-year, Sherlock had participated in the Sorting Ceremony. In his second year, he had watched the Sorting Ceremony as an observer. So even though he had missed it once last year, he didn't particularly mind.
Harry's thoughts were similar to Sherlock's. Hermione, on the other hand, enthusiastically suggested that Sherlock use his observation skills during the Sorting Ceremony to deduce the experiences of these new students.
"You don't think doing this would be boring, do you?" she asked with some concern.
"Quite the contrary," Sherlock smiled slightly. "This can help me pass the boring time."
"That's wonderful!" Hermione said happily.
"Whatever about that, I just hope it starts soon," Ron said. He had been waiting impatiently and sighed as he spoke. "My stomach is already completely empty. Right now, I could eat a whole Hippogriff."
"A plate of chicken legs," Nearly Headless Nick said.
"What?" Ron looked at Nick in confusion, not understanding what this random comment meant.
"I mean, this time last year, you said, 'Let's start eating quickly. I feel like I could eat a whole plate of chicken legs right now,'" Nearly Headless Nick said seriously.
After a moment of silence, Ron couldn't help exclaiming, "Is it necessary to remember so clearly, Nearly Headless Nick! I didn't even know what a Hippogriff was this time last year! I've updated my knowledge base this year, is that not allowed?"
"Of course it is, though I still prefer it when you call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington."
"Ha! I remember now—last year you told me that the Sorting Ceremony was much more important than eating."
"Yes, and I still think so this year."
"What a coincidence, I also think eating is more important than the Sorting Ceremony this year."
"..."
Man and ghost looked at each other, gazing deeply into each other's eyes. Nearly Headless Nick was about to say something when the doors to the Great Hall opened, and everyone immediately fell silent.
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