The events occurring outside the castle did not affect the joyous atmosphere inside the Great Hall at all.
Well, it wouldn't be entirely accurate to say there was no impact; the three Weasley brothers—Percy, George, and Fred—all wore expressions of deep concern.
They weren't worried about Ron's safety, nor were they particularly concerned about whether he would be expelled from Hogwarts. In fact, if time could flow backward, they would have dearly liked to go back to the moment Ron was born and strangle him in his cradle.
What they were actually worried about was their father—Arthur Weasley.
Their father worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. His primary job involved preventing wizards from casting spells on Muggle items to harm Muggles, as well as reversing the damage when such incidents occurred.
Just imagine: Arthur Weasley, the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, having a family member who violated the very laws he had established...
Mr. Weasley would be lucky if he wasn't fired by the Ministry.
If Ron had allowed Muggles to see the image of a tank flying through the sky while he was piloting that Flying Tank, the situation would be even more disastrous. From the day the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was born, any wizard who broke that law usually faced severe sanctions.
Despite the trio's anxiety, the Sorting Ceremony had to proceed.
In previous years, the Sorting Ceremony for new students was usually presided over by Professor McGonagall. However, since she was currently busy handling the situation with Harry and Ron, the task fell to Professor Flitwick.
At that moment, Professor Flitwick was standing on a step significantly higher than the new students, straining on his tiptoes to place the Sorting Hat onto the head of a pale little witch.
"Hmm? A Lovegood child? I quite enjoy reading The Quibbler published by your family."
"Thank you," Luna Lovegood's voice sounded exceptionally ethereal. "Since you've stayed in Hogwarts for so long, have you ever seen a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"
The person and the hat began a conversation about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks that seemed like it would never end. Professor Flitwick had to give a slight cough to remind the Sorting Hat that they were still in the middle of a ceremony.
"Ravenclaw!"
The Sorting Hat finally remembered it had business to attend to.
Shortly after, Professor Flitwick called out a name that Kyle had heard earlier that day.
"Rolf Scamander!"
A smile tugged at the corner of Kyle's mouth.
While he didn't know what kind of history old man Newt had with his own father, based solely on the Scamander family's magical zoo, he was determined to make Rolf his friend.
The moment the Sorting Hat touched Rolf's head, it immediately shouted the result.
"Hufflepuff!"
Seeing a certain "Little Demon King" smiling at him from the Hufflepuff table, the expression on Rolf's face froze. He suddenly felt that Hufflepuff wasn't so appealing anymore.
The Sorting Ceremony concluded quickly. Dumbledore and the two Heads of House returned to the Great Hall before the feast began.
Following behind the three of them was the trouble-making duo, looking dusty and disheveled.
When the Gryffindors heard the two of them say they wouldn't be expelled—and that Gryffindor wouldn't even lose points, only requiring a few days of detention—the Gryffindor table instantly erupted in excitement.
Harry and Ron were treated like heroes.
Only Ron's three older brothers still had grim expressions. George and Fred each grabbed one of Ron's ears with a fierce grip.
"If you couldn't get onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, why didn't you write a letter to the professors at school for help?"
"Stealing the family's Flying Car... you've really got some nerve, Ronald!"
Percy looked on indifferently as Ron was given a rough handling; he didn't step forward to stop them. On the contrary, he felt like going over and adding a couple of kicks himself.
The atmosphere over at Hufflepuff was much more harmonious.
Because he was among the last few to be sorted, by the time Rolf reached the Hufflepuff table, he found to his tragedy that the only empty seat was next to the Little Demon King, Kyle. He could only sit down beside him, trembling with trepidation.
It wasn't until he discovered that Kyle's surname was Dumbledore, and heard some of Kyle's glorious achievements from those nearby, that Rolf's attitude took a sharp turn. He instantly adopted the persona of a little fanboy.
Very good. It seemed a fifth "Father-Troubler" was about to be born.
After everyone had finished their meal, Dumbledore stood up and walked to the front of the high table.
"Welcome!" Dumbledore said, the candlelight making his beard shimmer. "Welcome to Hogwarts for the new school year!"
"This year, a new teacher has joined our ranks. I believe you've all guessed who he is." Dumbledore gave a mischievous wink. "Please join me in welcoming Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, who has graciously agreed to fill the vacancy for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course."
The tables below immediately erupted into a burst of enthusiastic applause, interspersed with the high-pitched screams of countless female students.
Lockhart rose from his seat and waved to everyone. He was wearing robes of a blue that matched his eyes—forget-me-not blue. A pointed wizard's hat sat jauntily atop his curly hair.
His appearance was certainly decent enough, but Kyle wondered about his actual strength. He didn't want to encounter another Defense Against the Dark Arts professor as pathetic as Quirrell was last year.
"As a former graduate of Hogwarts, I am honored to return to my alma mater after many years to take up the position of professor," Lockhart said with a smile before returning to his seat.
After a brief announcement of the usual start-of-term notices, Dumbledore declared the feast over and left the Great Hall.
There was no school song segment.
Kyle reckoned that Dumbledore was heading off to clean up the mess left by the trouble-making duo. After all, regarding that Flying Tank they drove, the Disillusionment Charm—or its invisibility device—had been Mr. Weasley's responsibility.
To be honest, Mr. Weasley's skill with the Disillusionment Charm wasn't even as good as the four of them who frequently went on night excursions. Consequently, the invisibility device he had installed on the tank was unreliable; failures happened from time to time. When the duo took the tank into the air, there was a high probability that quite a few Muggles had seen it.
If Dumbledore hadn't stepped in to handle this massive trouble, Mr. Weasley would surely have been fired by the Ministry.
Despite being lectured by his three brothers in the Great Hall, Ron still felt that driving a tank to Hogwarts was a thrilling and heroic feat. Harry, however, felt a bit guilty because he had heard from Hermione that this might cause trouble for Mr. Weasley.
"Ron, I don't think we should be so proud of ourselves."
"Don't worry, Harry, it's fine," Ron waved his hand dismissively, then went back to bragging to the surrounding students about their thrilling adventure today.
George and Fred watched coldly from the sidelines as Ron sat in the center of the crowd, boasting loudly.
They had already written a letter to their mother explaining the "good deeds" Ron had performed today. Although there were two culprits in this matter, their letter emphasized that Ron was the ringleader, leaving Harry completely out of it.
They certainly hoped Ron would still be able to brag like this tomorrow.
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