Chapter 14: Magic power, third stage! (Edited)

[If you don't lose your nobility, the whole world will open up for you]

[Upon arrival at Hogwarts, the first chapter of the main quest opens, which will be unlocked based on the results of the house sorting]

"No more than four people in each boat!" exclaimed Hagrid, pointing to the boats moored on the shore. Tom and Hermione climbed into the boat, followed by Neville, and Hagrid was left alone in one boat.

"Is everyone aboard?" shouted Hagrid, and when he got an affirmative answer, he announced their departure and the boats immediately set off on their own. The boats rowed across the calm surface of the Black Lake until they reached the cliffs below which Hogwarts Castle lay. A curtain of ivy covered the cliffs, leaving the entrance to a tunnel.

Beyond the entrance was a dark tunnel, and the boat took the freshmen into the darkness, finally arriving at a place that looked like a subway dock, and the freshmen stepped onto a gravel and cobblestone floor.

"Neville, you toad!" Tom called out to Neville, who had once again left his toad in the boat.

"Thank you!" Neville was full of joy, holding the toad in his hands. It was clear that although the creature was ugly, it was very important to Neville. The first-year students climbed through a tunnel in the rocky hills, finally arriving at a flat, wet meadow in the shadow of the castle.

There was a huge oak door in front of them, and Hagrid knocked three times on the castle door and it opened. Many of the young Muggle-born wizards were expecting something magical, but no, they were disappointed.

The door opened and Professor McGonagall stood behind it with a solemn look on her face. She was dressed in an emerald green robe today, her hair still up in a bun, as she escorted the first-year students into the foyer.

The lobby was a magnificent place, with ceilings so high you couldn't see the top, marble staircases, and torches lit all over the walls, illuminating the lobby like daylight. Those living in the 21st century and enjoying the convenience of electricity have little idea of the amount of light available. But for most of human history, night light was a luxury.

The expression "breaking through the wall to steal light" is a good illustration of this.

Of course, the authenticity of the story behind this idiom is questionable: after all, the ancients didn't live next door to each other like moderns do, and there was a yard between each house, so the idea of a child squatting on the wall of a newlywed couple in the middle of the night is a bit creepy, And are you sure you can read a book while squatting under the wall? Don't mind the noise?

A doorway to the right of the hallway could hear the hum of hundreds of people talking, so the rest of the students must have been seated, but instead of letting them in, Professor McGonagall led them to a small empty room at the other end of the hallway.

Professor McGonagall waited for all the new students to enter and began to give them an orientation. She told the new students that there would be a sorting ceremony before the opening banquet, and that once separated they would all eat, live, and study together, and that they would each earn points for their performance in their house, and that there would be a house cup at the end of the year....

"... In a few minutes the sorting ceremony will take place in front of the whole school. I suggest that, while you are waiting, you get dressed up and cleaned up." Professor McGonagall's eyes wandered over Neville's twisted cloak, the dirty tip of Ron's nose and Harry's messy hair.

"I'll pick them up when everything is ready over there." Professor McGonagall said, "Wait here, don't move and don't make any noise."

She left the room.

Everyone was relieved.

Professor McGonagall had the air of an elementary school headmistress, making little eleven-year-old wizards tremble with fear. So when she left, there was a murmur in the small room, just like there had been in the study hall when the teacher had left, and then the voices got louder and louder, and finally it seemed like everyone was talking.

The main concern was the selection ceremony. Professor McGonagall didn't talk about the most crucial part, namely how everyone is sorted into each house, and I didn't know if that was intentional or not.

"How exactly can they assign us to which house?" asked Harry to Ron, and as soon as the question was asked, the voices in the room dropped in pitch. Many people knew that the redhead had five siblings attending Hogwarts, and that he could be trusted with the information.

"Some kind of test, right? Fred said it would really hurt us" seeing his new friend's face turn white, Ron hastened to add, "but I think he's joking."

We don't know if it hurt the houses, but it did hurt the students. A shiver ran through everyone, and everyone around them was in danger.

"Yeah, my cousin said we'd have to cast a spell in public too." A tall, thin boy echoed Ron.

Harry's mind churned: magic? But he didn't know anything about magic so far, and he regretted not having studied the textbooks over the vacations. He looked around anxiously, but no one said anything. Only Hermione was mumbling, reciting the spells she had learned at full speed and occasionally asking questions to the teenager next to her, named Tom. Harry could hardly imagine the scene as he handed the Dursleys his letter of expulsion from school.

However, Malfoy snorted in disdain, raised his eyebrows with his arms crossed and grumbled in his lazy voice, "Nonsense! My father is one of the Twelve Stewards at Hogwarts, and he told me that the Sorting Ceremony is to test your talent, and that the most gifted pureblood wizards get into Slytherin..."

Inexplicably, a scene appeared in Tom's head: the young Malfoy approached a stone tablet, placed his hand on it, and then five large, somewhat blinding letters appeared.

Magical power, third stage!

The young man's face was expressionless, his lips had a hint of self-deprecation, his eyes were 30% stubbornness, 30% resignation, 30% anger and 10% sadness, his clenched palm, due to excessive force, made his fingernails dig into his palm, causing a burst of pain....

"Pfft." Tom couldn't help himself and burst out laughing.

"Anyone with a modicum of common sense can hear that this is your father's idea of selection, if the most gifted students are in Slytherin, then why did Dumbledore graduate to Gryffindor?" Tom grinned, teasing Malfoy mercilessly.

Malfoy's pale face flushed as he saw that it was Tom, he was going to be more stubborn, but he was worried about him talking about his ancestor's love letters in public.

Fortunately, a large group of ghosts suddenly burst through the wall at that moment, interrupting their conversation.