Chapter 345: Opening Dinner

Just as Pansy was lying on the ground and apologizing with tears in her eyes, the door of the prefect's car suddenly opened, and a man and a woman with student union president badges on their chests walked in, looking at the scene in the car with surprise.

"What's going on?"

The female president's eyes fell on Pansy and asked with a frown.

Unfortunately, Pansy was now completely scared and just cried on the ground, and had no intention of answering at all.

Seeing this, the female president once again shifted her unfriendly eyes to Mike.

Mike looked at him without fear.

Mike's attitude made the female president very angry. She instinctively wanted to scold him, but the male president next to her suddenly grabbed her and whispered in her ear:

"Don't be nosy! Who do you think you are? Who is he?"

The male president's words made the female president tremble and stopped talking.

Seeing this, the male prefect smiled and said to everyone,

"Okay, everyone, go back to your seats. We will arrange the work for later."

Unfortunately, his words did not receive any response. The prefects of Slytherin and the other three colleges looked at Chris and Mike with inquiring eyes, as if they were the most noble people here.

Mike and Chris did not speak. They looked at each other coldly for a long time, and finally returned to their original seats without saying a word.

The other prefects also returned to their seats.

The male prefect's face was not very good, and the fake smile on his face could hardly be maintained.

But he still walked to the center of the carriage and began to announce the next work of the prefects.

At Hogwarts, the student union is an organization that exists to help professors manage students, and prefects, as the most basic component of this organization, must bear a lot of heavy work and responsibilities while enjoying certain privileges.

Just like on the Hogwarts Express today, the main responsibility of the prefects is to maintain order and mediate various disputes.

Mike didn't plan to do these. In his opinion, it would be better to read more books than to do these boring jobs.

So, after lightly entrusting his work to another female prefect of the same grade as him, Mike left the prefect's compartment directly.

It is worth mentioning that the girl who became a prefect like Mike this year was Ron's dance partner at the Triwizard Tournament Ball, the Indian girl, Padma Patil.

The girl was obviously very uneasy about Mike's commission. She frowned and caught up with Mike, and asked anxiously:

"Mike, I don't think I can do it alone. You know, those boys... they won't listen to me, even if I show my identity as a prefect, they won't care."

Patil clenched her hands tightly. She was not a very good student in Ravenclaw, and those thorns would never listen to her orders.

And if she forcibly wanted to suppress them with the authority of the prefect, then what awaited her would only be the humiliation of the other party.

"You can do it, Patil, I believe you." Mike said without turning his head, "If there are boys who don't want to listen to your orders, tell them that I am also one of the class leaders this year. If they don't want me to go to them in person, then they'd better be honest. Do you understand?"

Hearing this, Patil's face looked much better. She lowered her head and seemed to want to continue talking to Mike, but when she looked up again, she found that Mike had disappeared around the corner.

Biting her lip, Patil could only walk towards the freshman car helplessly.

On the other side, Mike wanted to go directly to the car where Franklin and the others were after getting rid of Patil's entanglement, but was blocked by the other two.

"Thank you, Mike."

Ron lowered his head and murmured in a voice so soft that it was almost inaudible.

Seeing this, Hermione, who was standing next to him, suddenly nudged him with her elbow, cleared her throat urgently and said:

"Thanks for what happened just now, Mike!"

"No big deal." Mike waved his hand and said, "What about Harry? I haven't contacted him since we were separated in the magic department last time. How is he now?"

"He's fine!"

Upon hearing Harry's name, Ron suddenly raised his head and said to Mike in a deliberately loud voice,

"He has been living in my house since then. Sirius thought that he might be happier to be with me. In fact, this is exactly the case. At first, Harry was a little uncomfortable, but now he is completely fine!"

Ron raised his head, and his expression looked like a general who had won a battle and was seeking credit from the king.

Seeing this, Hermione elbowed him again.

This time, Hermione's strength was obviously much greater than the first time. Ron, who was hit, screamed in pain, covered the part of himself that was hit, and kept gasping for air.

But although Hermione used more strength this time, it did remind Ron.

Ron gasped and gave Mike a painful smile, saying:

"Mike, do you want to go with us to find Harry?"

"Yes, Harry will be very happy!"

Hermione also echoed.

Mike frowned and thought for a while, and felt that there was really nothing to say to Harry, so he finally refused:

"Forget it, I think we should meet again at school. Well, I'm leaving first, and you guys should hurry up and go to work."

After that, Mike walked straight through the two people and walked towards his original compartment.

The two people behind him looked at each other, and after a long while, Ron gritted his teeth and shouted at Mike's gradually receding back:

"Mike! Thank you!"

Mike did not answer, and he didn't even have the slightest intention of stopping, but just raised his hand and waved, indicating that Ron didn't need to care.

But just this action made Ron and Hermione smile.

...

In a carriage of the Hogwarts Express, Zhou Hong and Benjamin were playing Gobstones, an ancient magic game similar to marbles. Every time a point is lost, the winner's stone will spray a stinking liquid on the loser's face.

Benjamin was obviously no match for Zhou Hong in this regard. With the crisp sound of stones hitting each other, several red stone balls belonging to Zhou Hong suddenly sprayed out streams of thick, smelly liquid, which sprayed straight onto Benjamin's face.

"Oh! Shit!"

Benjamin cursed instinctively.

But then, he quickly covered his mouth as if he remembered something terrible, and looked at a carriage door not far away with a look of horror.

Behind that door, Mike was alone, concentrating on flipping through a book as thick as a dictionary.

He naturally heard the noise outside the carriage, but he didn't say anything. The noise didn't affect his reading.

The book he was reading at the moment was a banned book called "Self-Defense and Counterattack-Details to Remember 1990 Revised Edition".

This book is a professional book used by the Ministry of Magic to train Aurors. The Ministry of Magic almost regards it as a family heirloom and protects it very strictly. Unless you become an Auror, you can't even find the shadow of this book on the black market.

Even Mike got such a copy through the relationship of the Fly family. It is an old version of the book from several years ago!

But it is such an old book that fascinated Mike.

This book records a lot of seemingly trivial experiences that are summarized by countless people with blood and life.

For example, do not use the Explosion Spell (Thunderbolt Explosion) in narrow spaces such as rooms or caves, because the Explosion Spell has a fatal flaw, that is, when it touches an object, it will rebound aimlessly. If you use the Explosion Spell in the above terrains, there is a high probability that you will hurt yourself. It seems

that in order to make readers remember this warning more, a large number of magic pictures are attached below the description of this item.

Most of them are disabled people with missing arms and legs, and some are horrible corpses, or simply a pool of minced meat.

And the annotations of these pictures are all: injured by the rebound of your own Explosion Spell!

I don't know how long it took, but a whistle suddenly woke up Mike who was immersed in the book.

Urgently, accompanied by a crisp knock on the door, Benjamin's familiar voice came from outside the door.

"Mike, the train has arrived, we should get off."

"Got it."

Surrounded by the crowd, Mike got off the train.

As in previous years, the freshmen must leave with the old students on the platform and go to the dock to take a boat to the school.

This is a tradition of Hogwarts, and it is the same every year.

The only difference from previous years is that the teacher who is responsible for guiding the freshmen this year is no longer Hagrid, but a strong female professor.

Harry was obviously very concerned about Hagrid's disappearance, chasing the professor and asking questions, while Mike and others followed the large group to the camp of the Night Unicorn carriage and took a carriage to Hogwarts.

The weather today is very good. The ceiling of the auditorium is dotted with stars, and from time to time there are thin clouds slowly floating by.

And under the ceiling are countless burning candles floating, illuminating the entire auditorium.

When Mike and the others sat down at the long table covered with tablecloths in the colors of their respective colleges, Professor McGonagall also displayed the treasure of Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat, as in previous years.

As the clock struck the hour, the door of the auditorium suddenly opened.

The freshmen neatly lined up in two rows according to gender, and walked briskly towards the Sorting Hat under the leadership of the professor while curiously looking at the magic auditorium.

Compared with previous years, the number of freshmen this year is only about 70% of that in previous years. Mike knew that this should also be affected by the news of Voldemort's return.

When all the freshmen entered the auditorium, all the teachers and students of the school put down their beards and waited.

Then, on the old-fashioned wooden chair in the center of the auditorium, a crack suddenly appeared beside the long brim of the Sorting Hat, and then the Sorting Hat's very distinctive voice came out from it:

"The students we teach must be brave and fearless... I have sounded the alarm for you... Now, let's start the Sorting. (No water, please see the next chapter for the lyrics.)"

After the song ended, applause broke out all around, but there were also whispers in between.

This year's Sorting Hat's song is very strange. Generally, the Sorting Hat's school song is just to introduce the characteristics of the four major colleges to the freshmen, but this year's school song carries a sense of encouragement.

Mike, Benjamin and others looked at each other, and they naturally knew the meaning of the Sorting Hat singing this song.

It is nothing more than wanting the students to unite and face this disaster together.

As the Sorting Ceremony ended, Dumbledore, like in previous years, came to the podium under the expectant eyes of everyone to prepare for this year's speech.

"Welcome our new students." Dumbledore's voice was loud and clear, his arms opened, a bright smile on his face, and he also welcomed our old students. Welcome back! There is plenty of time for speeches, but not now. Enjoy your meal!"

Dumbledore's simple opening speech once again won warm applause from all the teachers and students, and as Dumbledore sat down upright and threw his long beard over his shoulders, the empty table in front of everyone was suddenly piled with large pieces of meat, pies, plates of vegetables, bread and various drinks.

"Great! "

A freshman sitting not far from Mike couldn't help but cheered. They were already starving after sitting on the train for such a long time.

Mike frowned and stared at Dumbledore in the teacher's seat.

Mike guessed that Dumbledore's speech this year should also be extremely positive and energetic like the Sorting Hat song, so as to further inspire the morale of the students.

But Dumbledore didn't do so. Instead, he chose to say a few words casually and left the stage as in previous years.

This really puzzled Mike.

At the same time, the sharp-eyed Mike soon discovered the abnormality of the Hogwarts teacher lineup this year.

Moody, who was the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts last year, did not appear in the hall. Instead, he was replaced by the Ministry of Magic official who had met Mike once in the court of Harry's trial.

Dolores Umbridge.

Yes, that woman who looks like a toad.

The moment he saw this woman, Mike's eyes narrowed.

The appearance of this woman means that the Ministry of Magic has begun to intervene in the internal affairs of the Ministry of Magic.

In the bright hall, everyone's face was filled with excited smiles, and the freshmen happily enjoyed their first meal in Hogwarts.

The seniors mingled with the freshmen, piling up the plates in front of them with various steaks, while introducing everything about Hogwarts to the freshmen.

The name they mentioned the most was Mike Townley.

The flattery of the seniors made the freshmen curious about the legendary senior Townley, which led to a large number of curious eyes gathered around Mike.

Under the gaze of these eyes, Mike was looking at Umbridge in the faculty seat.

"It looks like this year will be very interesting!"