Chapter 318: Chapter 318
The train slowly decelerated.
The rhythm of wheels grinding against iron rails shifted from hurried to sluggish, and the scenery outside no longer flashed by. In the distance, Hogwarts Castle stood illuminated by scattered lights against the pitch-black night.
The carriage instantly became noisy, and the corridors were packed with people.
Because the Prefects had to maintain order, Lynn and the others were the last to leave the carriage.
Only after the students ahead had all left did they emerge from their compartment and walk down the empty corridor toward the train doors.
Stepping off the train, a thin layer of night mist drifted over the platform of Hogsmeade station.
On the platform, an unfamiliar Witch stood holding an oil lamp.
She wore a dark brown traveling cloak, her hair tied in a tight bun, and she was shouting loudly for the first-year new students to gather over by her.
Lynn stood by the train door, looking at the Witch and scratching his head.
He turned to William beside him and asked in a low voice, "Do you know her?"
William pushed up his glasses, stared at the Witch for a moment, and shook his head.
"Don’t know her. Where’s Hagrid?"
At that moment, Edgar leaned in from the side, his expression full of smugness.
"That should be Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank," he said. "A somewhat famous Magizoologist. Do you know that article about Unicorn social structure in ’Transfiguration Today’? She wrote it.
And that study on Bowtruckle language in ’Magical Creatures Quarterly’—that was her too. She’s quite famous in the field of Magizoology."
Lynn gave Edgar a somewhat surprised look.
This guy usually copied Ollie’s History of Magic homework; how did he suddenly become so knowledgeable about Magizoologists?
"How do you know that?"
Edgar chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"She went abroad to observe foreign Unicorns and ended up violating local regulations. My dad had to go bail her out."
Lynn was silent for a second.
Edgar’s father, Edward Bones, was in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, specifically handling transnational magical affairs.
Bailing out a Magizoologist who violated regulations abroad was indeed within his scope of business.
"So your dad knows her?"
"Not exactly ’knows’ her," Edgar thought for a bit. "He just helped her process some paperwork and pay a fine. She later wrote a very long thank-you letter to my dad. After my dad let my mom read it, she said this person was quite interesting."
William pushed up his glasses, withdrew his gaze from Grubbly-Plank, and spoke with a hint of worry in his tone.
"Magical creatures..." He paused. "The school wouldn’t be replacing Hagrid, would they?"
This sentence caused the group to fall silent for a moment.
Lynn thought about it and shook his head.
"Probably not. The job of Gamekeeper isn’t something just anyone can do.
The Forbidden Forest is so large, with so many magical creatures. Hagrid has been there for so many years; he knows every path, every burrow, and the temperament of every animal inside out.
If someone else took over, it would take years just to get familiar with the terrain."
William nodded, accepting the explanation without doubt.
"Let’s go." Lynn withdrew his gaze and followed the crowd toward the carriages.
Ten minutes later, the carriages stopped before the stone steps.
Lynn jumped down and glanced toward Hagrid’s hut.
No smoke came from the chimney, no light from the windows; the entire hut sat there silently, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
As they crossed the entrance hall, the marble floor clattered under hundreds of pairs of feet. The torches on either side of the hall burned brightly, stretching everyone’s shadows long.
They followed the flow of people toward the doors on the right leading to the Great Hall.
Lynn took a seat at the Hufflepuff table.
As soon as he sat down, he impatiently looked toward the staff table. Dumbledore’s seat was empty, as expected.
As for the other seats—
Sirius Black? Why was he sitting at the staff table?
Sirius was wearing a dark gray robe today, well-tailored, and his hair was cut short; he looked much more spirited than he had at Grimmauld Place.
He was sitting in his chair in a somewhat uncomfortable posture, trying his best to look like a proper Professor.
Sirius seemed to notice someone watching him and looked up, meeting Lynn’s confused gaze.
Then he gave Lynn a thumbs-up.
The corner of Lynn’s mouth twitched.
...
The Sorting Hat’s song this year was even worse than in previous years.
It wasn’t just ’off-key’ bad; it was ’melody and rhythm are completely broken’ bad.
In previous years, while the Sorting Hat’s songs weren’t exactly pleasant, they at least had a tune. This year’s song felt like it had been shredded and pieced back together, with every note landing in an unexpected place.
The lyrics were strange too—repeating themes about "unity and mutual aid," "fearlessness toward tyranny," and "holding onto one’s heart in the darkness."
The Sorting Hat’s singing finally ended.
A scattered round of applause rang out in the Great Hall—mostly from the Professors, while the students were all rubbing their ears.
Professor McGonagall stood up and unrolled the long roll of parchment in her hand.
"Euan Abercrombie."
A panicked-looking boy stepped out from the line of new students.
His legs were shaking, and his gait was very strange. He sat on the four-legged stool, and the Sorting Hat shouted out as soon as it touched his hair:
"Gryffindor!"
One after another, the new students were called by name, stepped forward, sat down, the Sorting Hat shouted a house name, and then applause rang out.
The long line of new students gradually shortened.
Half an hour later, the last new student was sorted into Hufflepuff.
Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and sat down.
The students thought the feast was about to begin, and some were already reaching for the empty plates—then the doors to the Great Hall were pushed open once more.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the now-quiet Great Hall.
A squat Witch walked in.
She wore a pink cardigan, a pink headband, and carried a pink handbag; she was pink from head to toe.
She walked to the front of the staff table and stopped, her gaze sweeping across the four house tables as if sizing up a group of things that needed to be disciplined.
Lynn noticed Professor McGonagall at the staff table let out a helpless sigh.
Professor McGonagall stood up and looked at the crowd of students below.
"Before the banquet begins," her voice carried clearly to every corner of the Great Hall, "I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for this year, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, Professor Dolores Umbridge."
Umbridge walked to the center of the high table and stood still.
The moment she opened her mouth, Lynn wanted to gag her.
That voice was far too artificial.
Every word was drawn out, and every syllable carried a sort of deliberate gentleness.
Normal people don’t talk like that; normal people would get hit for talking like that.
"Thank you, thank you, Professor McGonagall."
She first nodded to Professor McGonagall, then turned to the hall, speaking in a tone used for coaxing children, "I am honored to be here at Hogwarts, this historic school of magic. The Ministry of Magic has always been very concerned about the quality of education at Hogwarts and places great importance on the growth of every student..."
She blathered on for a long time, all diplomatic platitudes and nonsense.
Things like "the Ministry and Hogwarts moving forward hand in hand," "creating a better learning environment for students," and "Defense Against the Dark Arts being an important skill every Wizard should master."
Going round and round, she said a lot without saying anything at all.
Fortunately, her torture wasn’t long.
She probably knew she wasn’t popular right now, so after a brief introduction of herself, she handed the floor back to Professor McGonagall.
Professor McGonagall glanced at Sirius at the staff table, then at Grubbly-Plank, likely deciding to finish all today’s announcements in one go.
"There are a few more new faces to introduce. Sirius Black will be serving as the Transfiguration Teaching Assistant at Hogwarts this year."
The whispering below instantly grew louder.
That fugitive who escaped from Azkaban, the man who was wrongly accused for twelve years—coming to Hogwarts as a teaching assistant?
Some gasped, some craned their necks to look at the staff table, and some whispered frantically to the person next to them.
Sitting at the staff table, Sirius faced those gazes with a calm expression, even nodding toward the hall.
"Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank," Professor McGonagall’s voice rose above the whispering, "will be serving as the substitute professor for the Care of Magical Creatures Class for a period of time."
The discussion grew even louder now.
Where’s Hagrid? Where did Hagrid go?
Professor McGonagall did not explain why Hagrid was absent.
She simply waited for the discussion to die down slightly before calmly stating the final matter: "Headmaster Dumbledore is currently on leave, and I will be acting as Headmaster for the time being."
The Great Hall fell silent for a moment.
Then the whispering started again, but this time the sound was much quieter and shorter than before.
Dumbledore was on leave.
The reaction this sentence caused among the students was far less significant than the first two pieces of news.
After all, Dumbledore had worked so hard for the Wizarding World for so many years; what was wrong with him enjoying an occasional holiday?
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