Professor Sasia would occasionally join in, but more often than not, she preferred to quietly watch the scenery flashing by outside the car window, as if she was reminiscing about the scenes when she was studying at Hogwarts.

By evening, the train stopped at the Hogsmeade platform on time.

Hagrid came over with an oil lamp, shouting for the first years to come over to him.

As per custom, he needed to take the freshmen across the river to the castle.

"Long time no see, Hagrid!" Kyle stuck his head out of the car window and greeted him.

"Long time no see." Hagrid also waved happily.

"I've been waiting for you all day. I didn't expect you to choose to take the train to school. Didn't you always say that the train was too slow and boring?"

"What I meant was that riding the train alone is boring," Kyle corrected.

At this time, Connor leaned out of the car window and waved to Hagrid.

"Oh, Connor," Hagrid said happily, "Minerva told me everything. Congratulations on becoming an assistant teacher at Hogwarts."

"Thank you." Kanna smiled.

"By the way, Hagrid, you just said you waited for me for a whole day, is there something wrong?" Kyle looked at him and asked, "Why don't you use the parchment I gave you? You just need to write on it and I can see it."

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you some good news." Hagrid smiled even more happily, leaned forward and lowered his voice, "But now that you're here, you should wait for Minerva to tell you in person. I dare say you will be so happy that you will jump for joy."

"I was so happy that I jumped up and down..." Kyle raised his eyebrows, "Why, is the school planning to give me a raise?"

"No." Hagrid shook his head. "Professors' salaries are all the same. Your salary will only increase after you become the dean."

"So that means I become the dean?"

"..." Hagrid was silent for a moment, "Kyle, if you need Galleons, I can lend them to you."

"Galon? I have no shortage of it."

"Then why can you only think of a salary increase?"

"Because this is the only thing that can make me jump for joy."

Hagrid fell silent again, and with him was Sassia in the carriage.

But it must be said that a salary increase does make people happy.

"Forget it, you'll know when the time comes. Also, Bathsheda brought you a present, I put it in the cabinet for you." Hagrid said and left. He needed to get the new students to the ship as soon as possible.

Kyle, Connor, and Sasia entered Hogwarts in a carriage along with most of the students.

Connor looked very curious about the good news Hagrid mentioned, and kept guessing what it was.

It has been confirmed that it is not a salary increase, but as for promotion… I haven’t heard that the position of the dean is vacant.

Although Snape was briefly expelled as the Head of Slytherin, after two hearings, Minerva McGonagall immediately re-hired him as the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

He is also the Head of Slytherin and the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It can't be that after Minerva McGonagall becomes the headmistress, she will give the vacant Gryffindor Headmaster position to Kyle.

But he didn't graduate from Gryffindor.

"You really should have asked Hagrid a few more questions at the time." Connor couldn't help but say, "If you had asked more, he might have accidentally told you."

Now it seems that many people know how to get secrets from Hagrid.

"It doesn't matter." Kyle smiled and said, "In fact, he has already said it."

"Ah?" Kanna was stunned for a moment, "How come I don't know."

"Didn't he tell us that Professor Babel was back?"

At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.

They had arrived, and in front of them was the Hogwarts Castle with its gates wide open. Headmistress McGonagall stood at the front, followed by Sprout, Snape, and Slughorn. Flitwick was hidden behind someone's legs, with only a few wisps of hair vaguely visible.

Kyle in the carriage didn't say anything else. He was the first to jump off the carriage, and then he and Kanna helped Sashiya down.

The three of them walked up the stone steps.

"Welcome, Professor." Minerva McGonagall happily stepped forward and hugged Sassia.

Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout also looked excited.

Although Hogwarts ranks almost at the bottom among all magic schools, there are many excellent professors here.

The new professor of Potions alone is enough to make the remaining principals of magic schools jealous and eat lemons like crazy.

Slughorn was also very excited, and the flesh on his belly trembled as he walked over.

"Horace Slughorn, it's an honor to work with you."

"I know. Armando once told me that he found a great Potions professor."

Now the flesh on Slughorn's face began to tremble.

While they were talking, Kyle and Connor did not choose to stay, but walked into the auditorium together.

"You haven't told me what the good news is yet."

"Didn't I tell you?" Kyle looked around the auditorium, as if looking for something.

"Have you forgotten? The carriage stopped just as you were about to say it."

"Okay..." Kyle looked around and retracted his gaze. "But now these are just my guesses. I'm not sure. Let's wait for the principal to announce it at the opening banquet."

Connor muttered a few words under her breath and had to think seriously again why it was good news that Professor Babel was returning to Hogwarts.

Isn't Kyle now the ancient rune professor? And it seems that this course doesn't require two professors.

Connor didn't think about it for too long. A few minutes later, Sasia and Principal McGonagall walked into the auditorium together and sat in the two middle seats in the teachers' seats.

Next came Professor Flitwick, and two rows of freshmen behind him.

Kyle sat there and watched with interest.

In fact, this year was his first time attending the opening ceremony as a professor.

Last year doesn't count, although he was sitting in the teacher's seat at that time, but his identity was Dumbledore.

The song of the Sorting Hat made the freshmen's eyes widen as usual, and also allowed the Muggle-born freshmen to experience the magic of magic for the first time.

Professor Flitwick then presided over the Sorting ceremony.

"Where did you go during your holidays?" Hagrid walked in from the side door and sat down next to Kyle.

"I heard from Bill that he never saw you."

"Trying a new spell," Kyle said.

"I see. But I think you can come back more often to see the fire in the garden during your next vacation..."

His voice suddenly disappeared... or rather, Kyle used the ear-closing spell in time.

Although Hagrid had tried to lower his voice as much as possible, he had forgotten his identity as a half-giant, and even his voice, which was deliberately lowered, still sounded very loud to others.

Even if some people have guessed the truth long ago, as long as they don't say it, the truth will always be a guess.

Of course, if someone was too curious and wanted to sneak into the garden to take a look, Kyle would not stop them.

As long as he can beat the grumpy Hungarian autumn bees.

Kyle subconsciously turned his head and looked to the other side of the table, just in time to see Snape turning his face away.

"I read in a book that if you raise a fire dragon, you need to stay close to it from time to time, otherwise those big guys will soon forget about you."

Hagrid on the side didn't notice what Kyle did and was still talking to himself.

"Fire dragons are smart, but sometimes they are stupid. You have to appear in front of them several times so that they won't treat you as an enemy."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Kyle nodded, just in time to see a piece of golden fried pork chop on the golden plate.

While he was talking to Hagrid, the Sorting ceremony was over and it was now time for dinner.

The freshmen's dinner is the most grand banquet at Hogwarts. Every year at this time, the house-elves in the kitchen will do their best to prepare this table of sumptuous food.

There seems to be more French food this year.

Kyle saw the wizard fish soup and red wine beef. The taste was not as good as the authentic French food he had eaten in Beauxbatons, but it was not inferior either.

Soon, the desserts on the plates disappeared, and everyone put down their cutlery.

Minerva McGonagall stood up from behind the table, and the laughter that echoed through the Great Hall quieted almost immediately.

"Welcome all the freshmen to Hogwarts. Of course, welcome all the senior students as well. Before the banquet ends, I have something else to announce...

"First of all, Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that anything bought from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes is not allowed into the school.

"And the Quidditch tryouts..."

Compared to Dumbledore, Headmistress McGonagall's words were more concise, just like her decisive personality.

After explaining the precautions, she solemnly introduced Sasia, the new professor of Potions, and Kanna, the teaching assistant.

Kyle watched Kanna stand up, her hands clenched into fists nervously, her whole body tense, as if she was building a castle through her shoes.

He wanted to laugh a little, but held it back because he was afraid of being punished later.

The students below showed two different reactions after hearing Sashiya's name.

One kind clapped calmly and politely, while the other kind opened its mouth in surprise and stretched its head to look towards the teacher's seat.

Obviously, the former were people who did not know Sashiya.

This is not surprising. Sassia is not Dumbledore. Especially in recent decades, she has rarely appeared outside St. Mungo's, so naturally many people have not heard of her.

Sasia acted very calmly, waved her hand and sat down. When Kangna saw this, she also sat down hurriedly.

Then she began staring at Headmistress McGonagall.

She was also thinking about another thing in her mind, which was the good news she had been guessing all the way.

If there was anything unusual, Headmistress McGonagall would make sure to announce it at the most crowded opening banquet.

"In the meantime, I have some good news to announce."

Minerva McGonagall's voice brought silence back to the buzzing Great Hall.

"This year, Hogwarts will add a new course...Alchemy!"

"Alchemy class?"

"Alchemy class?"

The word echoed throughout the auditorium, and everyone wondered if they had heard it wrong.

The Hogwarts curriculum has been the same for centuries, why would a new course suddenly be added?

However, unlike what was expected, the students did not look happy. Instead, most of them frowned.

"But Headmaster, if a new course is added, what will happen to our exams?" a fifth-year Ravenclaw asked loudly.

He needs to take the OWL exam this year, and if the newly added course is included, it is likely to affect his grades.

"You don't have to worry about that."

Headmaster McGonagall had to speak louder to drown out the noisy buzz below, "The examination subjects remain the same. In fact, the alchemy class will only appear in the third grade.

"I believe that the third-year students must have noticed that there is an additional alchemy course option in the course schedule this year."

The fifth and seventh grade students breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the principal say this.

As long as it doesn't affect their exams.

"But Headmaster, where is our new professor?" Ginny couldn't help but ask.

She had just looked around, and except for Sassia and Connor, there were no new faces in the teacher's seat, and they all taught potions. One was responsible for the fifth and seventh grades, and the other was responsible for the first and second grades.

Who is the professor who teaches the alchemy class?

Compared to the confused Ginny, Connor thought of something the moment she heard the name of the alchemy class and immediately looked at Kyle.

"The professor in charge of alchemy is here..." Headmaster McGonagall smiled.

Kyle, as if he had known this already, stood up as Headmistress McGonagall extended her hand.

He had guessed it when Hagrid mentioned that Professor Babel was back.

Professor Babeling will definitely continue to teach ancient runes when she comes back, and this course does not require two professors.

Combined with the good news from Hagrid, the answer becomes clear.

He is still a professor, but he has to change his subject, which is the newly added alchemy class.

But what puzzled Kyle was that he did not receive a letter from Hogwarts.

Such a big event as changing subjects not only requires advance preparation, but also requires the determination of new textbooks, so it is impossible for Hogwarts not to notify the professor in advance.

Kyle was certain that he had not received any letter from Hogwarts during this holiday.

Even though he was busy with the Horcrux spell, he did not lock himself up, so he could still receive letters.

But there was only one letter from Hogwarts, the one asking him to take the train with Sassia, and nothing else.

But given Minerva McGonagall's character, she shouldn't have made such a low-level mistake.

This is also the reason why Kyle didn't tell Kanna about this just now.

There was a thunderous applause in the auditorium, even louder than when Sasia was introduced just now.

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that most students know Kyle. After all, he is the only professor hired right after graduation, and almost all students above the third year know Kyle.

…

(End of this chapter)