This year's Sorting Ceremony seemed unchanged by outside influences. Or rather, under the Ministry of Magic's deliberate control, most of the wizarding world still clung to optimism...
After all, the truly perceptive are always in the minority, no matter the circumstances.
The lucky wizards covered their eyes.
Those with clear minds kept their mouths shut for the sake of profit.
And so, this strange calm was allowed to continue, right up until… the balance was finally broken.
In truth, the signs of that turning point had already appeared once the Dementors slipped beyond control...
In short.
After Draco and the others led the first-years into the Great Hall and returned to the Slytherin table, their task was finished, and this year's Sorting Ceremony was about to begin.
Most young wizards greeted the arrival of the new students with great enthusiasm.
Especially with Quidditch set to resume this year, the team captains all but glued their eyes to the first-years, as if sheer scrutiny might reveal another prodigy like Draco.
Before the Sorting Ceremony officially began, as tradition dictated, everyone had to listen to the battered old Sorting Hat sing its annually improvised song, never quite the same from one year to the next...
...
The low hum of conversation gradually faded.
All the first-year students stood nervously in the center of the Great Hall. Under the gaze of every witch and wizard present, Professor McGonagall placed a chair before them, atop which sat an ancient wizard's hat, still very clearly unwashed.
Tonight's star: the Sorting Hat.
In the candlelight, the first-years' faces looked pale and strained. A small boy near the middle of the line appeared to be trembling, a sight that stirred memories among the surrounding wizards. They had looked much the same, once.
Back then, they had even thought they might need to slay a dragon just to pass the entrance trial...
At that moment, the tear near the brim of the hat opened like a mouth.
[Long ago, I was a brand-new hat. Back then, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry hadn't even been built~~]
While listening and waiting for the song to end, Draco shifted his attention to the wizards around him.
It didn't take long for him to notice something obvious.
"Looks like some people have already realized something's wrong."
Viewing the first-years now from an observer's standpoint, the difference was impossible to miss. This year's intake was far smaller than usual. More striking still was the imbalance between students from wizarding families and those from Muggle families. The numbers had tipped heavily to one side.
Some students who should have been standing there tonight were conspicuously absent, gone for one reason or another.
Under normal circumstances, based on past years, children from wizarding families would have made up the clear majority. This year, however, the situation had reversed, and by an overwhelming margin.
Ordinarily, new students were dominated by purebloods... no, by those from established wizarding families...
And that wasn't all.
Draco also noticed that the four House tables held far more empty seats than usual.
As he had surmised, aside from the seventh-years who had already graduated and left Hogwarts, many students simply hadn't returned to school at all.
More accurately, they had chosen not to continue their education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Among them, Slytherin students made up the largest portion, with dozens of seats left vacant.
The reason was clear enough. Their parents had sensed something deeply wrong within the British wizarding world and had realized that the Dark Lord's return was no idle rumor. And so, they acted.
Especially those who had lived through the First Wizarding War.
Those who understood better than anyone how terrifying Voldemort truly was had taken their children out of Britain over the holidays and completed the necessary transfer procedures.
Perhaps that was also why Dumbledore had no choice but to return and personally oversee Hogwarts once more...
...
That was right. At this moment, Dumbledore, who had vanished for unknown reasons the previous year, had reappeared before everyone and attended this year's Sorting Ceremony as scheduled.
His return made most of the young wizards present let out a heavy sigh of relief. Draco even spotted a few who looked especially moved.
What puzzled Draco, however, was that Harry Potter, standing not far away, showed almost no reaction at all, as if this outcome were only natural.
If it wasn't absolute trust, then it could only mean one thing. Harry Potter had known about Dumbledore's return long ago.
Draco was more inclined to believe the latter...
"Come to think of it… when Harry Potter went to the Wizengamot for his trial, it seems Dumbledore was the one accompanying him. Maybe that was when he found out?"
Draco murmured softly, recalling the information he had learned from Lockhart the night before.
That incident had also made it into the Daily Prophet. However, the final verdict of innocence had been very deliberately left out. The article merely stated that Harry Potter had committed an offense serious enough to warrant a Wizengamot trial.
Reporting with that kind of implication would easily lead anyone who didn't know the truth to believe that Harry Potter ought to be sitting in Azkaban right now.
That much was obvious from the wizards who kept whispering in Harry Potter's direction. Draco even noticed several younger students shrinking back from him in fear...
Pulling his gaze away from Harry Potter, whose expression had darkened after realizing he'd been set up by the Ministry, Draco looked toward the professor's table and focused on his aloof godfather.
Snape, who had disappeared alongside Dumbledore, was now seated at the staff table as well. The way he carried himself was so natural it was as if the Slytherin Head had never left Hogwarts at all.
Still, Draco could tell that Snape didn't look well. His mental state seemed strained, as though he'd gone through something significant...
Draco watched Snape, who kept his head lowered, a faint ripple passing through his gaze.
'At least… he's still alive.'
Over the holidays, Draco had spent some time trying to track down his godfather's whereabouts.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found a single clue.
The only thing he could be sure of was that it had a great deal to do with Dumbledore's disappearance.
As for Snape's whereabouts, Draco hadn't failed to ask about them. He had tried questioning his father, the one who never told him anything.
But whether his father truly didn't know, or simply didn't want him getting involved too deeply, Draco never received a proper answer. Instead, his flighty mother took every opportunity to tease him.
Even without gaining any information, the very abnormality of the situation told him enough. The stranger things became, the more convinced Draco was that his father definitely knew something.
As for asking Snape himself?
Draco strongly suspected that before he got any answers, he'd be on the receiving end of a few original Sectumsempra spells...