Chapter 346 A Bad Speech

Happy times are always short-lived. When the students finished their last dessert, Dumbledore snapped his fingers, and the plates and food in front of everyone disappeared.

The senior students reacted immediately, quickly shut their mouths, and turned their heads quietly to look in the direction of the podium. Although the freshmen were a little confused, they could only follow the senior students' example in this environment, shut their mouths, and looked at the podium.

"Well, since we are digesting an extremely rich meal, I ask everyone to be quiet for a while and listen to me talk about the precautions for the new semester as usual." Dumbledore walked slowly onto the podium and said, "First-year freshmen should know that students are not allowed to enter the forbidden forest in the hunting grounds - this point should be known to several of our senior students." As soon

as the voice fell, a burst of mischievous laughter came from the long table of Gryffindor, among which the laughter of the Weasley brothers was the loudest.

Dumbledore stretched out his hand and pressed down in the air. Then the hall became silent. He continued:

"Mr. Filch, the administrator, has asked me for the 426th time to remind you that you are not allowed to perform magic in the corridors during class..."

After that, the hall burst into laughter again.

But this time Dumbledore did not stop it immediately, because even he laughed out loud.

"Ahem, let's continue." Dumbledore coughed twice and said, "This year, there are two changes in our teaching team. We are very happy to welcome Professor Grubbly-Plank back. She will teach you the Care of Magical Creatures class. (The tall female professor who led the freshmen to the boat stood up, and there was a particularly warm applause in the hall.) We are also happy to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Umbridge did not receive as warm applause as Grubbly-Plank. There was only a gentle, polite but not very enthusiastic applause in the hall.

Dumbledore obviously didn't want to waste any more words on Umbridge, and he quickly said:

"The selection of the college Quidditch team will be..."

"Ahem!"

Two loud coughs interrupted Dumbledore's speech. Everyone in the hall, including Dumbledore, turned their eyes to Umbridge, who had just coughed in the staff chair.

Dumbledore was very focused, as if he wanted to hear every word of the other party.

The others were not so friendly. The professors in the staff seats all frowned, and Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, and her eyes seemed to be able to spit out flames.

Obviously, Umbridge's behavior made these professors unhappy.

Since Dumbledore became the headmaster, no one dared to interrupt him at the opening ceremony!

But in this tense atmosphere, Umbridge seemed to be unaware.

With a fake smile on her face, she stood up from her seat in an extremely artificial manner and said:

"Thank you, Headmaster, thank you for your warm welcome."

Her voice was high and shrill, like a little girl's voice, coupled with her pink tweed coat and toad-like face, which made Mike feel a strong sense of nausea.

Others should feel the same way. Mike saw Franklin, who was not far away, close his eyes in pain and turned his head away to avoid looking at Umbridge on the stage, as if a glance would make him vomit all the delicious food he had just stuffed into his stomach.

"Well, I must say, it's great to be back at Hogwarts!" Umbridge grinned and ignored everyone's protesting eyes, "It's great to see these happy little faces looking up at me!"

Franklin seemed to be unable to help it, his cheeks suddenly bulged, and then he quickly reached out to cover his mouth.

After a few obvious swallowing sounds, his cheeks deflated again.

The people around Franklin squeezed back with disgust, trying to stay as far away from this disgusting guy as possible, while Franklin bowed to everyone with an apologetic look on his face.

The speech on the stage was still going on, and the initial greeting session seemed to have ended, because at this moment Umbridge actually changed to a serious expression.

"The Ministry of Magic has always believed that educating young wizards is a very important matter. Some of your innate precious talents, if not cultivated and trained under careful and meticulous guidance..."

Umbridge's speech was complicated and boring, and it also included many rare words that only appeared in the administrative documents of the Ministry of Magic, and the listeners kept dozing off.

After listening for a while, Mike lost the desire to continue listening. He turned his head and looked around, and saw Franklin and others not far away had already been playing together.

Franklin was smirking as he used the hand that had just covered his mouth to wipe it on others, while the people around him were dodging with disgust, their mouths opening and closing. Mike guessed that they must be cursing Franklin's shameless behavior.

The other people in the hall were similar, and the Gryffindors were even more excessive. Their voices were loud enough to make people mistakenly think they were having a tea party.

But Umbridge on the stage completely ignored these voices and continued to talk to herself.

The quietest place in the entire hall might be the seat around Mike.

The students sitting next to him sat upright and didn't dare to say a word.

Mike knew that on the one hand, it was because of himself. Due to his current status, he didn't start talking first, and the students around him naturally didn't dare to chat.

On the other hand, it was because Mike and his friends were sitting at the head of the Ravenclaw table, which was completely exposed to the sight of the faculty and staff seats. These students were obviously not bold enough to make trouble under the professors' noses.

The head seat of each college's long table usually belongs to the person with the highest status in the college. Usually, this position belongs to the seventh-year prefect.

But this year, the senior and other students obviously felt that Mike was more qualified to sit in this position, so Mike, the fifth-year prefect, became the head of Ravenclaw.

It is worth mentioning that the person sitting below Mike was not the seventh-year senior who abdicated, but a freshman who was just assigned to Ravenclaw.

She was brought to Mike by the seventh-year prefect himself, and Mike did not refuse for the sake of the prefect's face.

At this moment, the girl with a brown mushroom head was obviously sleepy, but the serious atmosphere around her forced her to force herself to keep her eyes open to prevent herself from falling asleep.

Mike smiled as he looked at the girl who was swaying.

He poked the girl gently.

But she straightened up like a startled cat and looked at Mike in horror.

"Sorry! I almost fell asleep!" The

girl's voice was soft and sticky. Mike shook his head and said,

"Don't be nervous, it should be over soon."

Then he looked at the students around him who were also serious and said,

"Relax, it's okay."

Hearing this, the students who had been unable to bear it for a long time finally let out a breath of foul air and began to whisper.

Since they were at the front of the line, many students were worried that their poor performance would be reprimanded by the professors, so they frequently cast their eyes on the staff seats to observe the professors' reactions.

However, to their surprise, Professor Flitwick did not say anything about their performance, and even Professor McGonagall, who usually regarded discipline as more important than anything else, turned a blind eye to their behavior.

This undoubtedly boosted their morale. Their voices gradually became louder and smiles appeared on their faces.

In the midst of this chaos, Umbridge finally finished her speech.

She smiled and bowed to her classmates and professors, but she was only responded by noise and laughter. Even the professors in the teacher's seat did not give her any good face. It

was not until Dumbledore began to applaud that the professors clapped their hands reluctantly.

Only then did the students in the audience finally realize that Umbridge's speech was over.

They clapped excitedly and seemed extremely happy.

Umbridge on the podium stood up again and bowed to the students, but attracted a round of boos.

"She is too self-indulgent!" A boy next to Mike said, "I bet those people applauded because they can go back to the lounge to rest soon!"

As soon as this was said, many voices echoed around, and it was obvious that everyone thought so.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge. Your speech is very inspiring." Dumbledore finally made the boos from the audience disappear. He bowed to Umbridge, who looked unhappy, and continued, "Well, as I said just now, the selection of the Quidditch team will be held at..."

Because Umbridge had wasted too much time, Dumbledore's speech speed became very fast, and he finished everything he was going to say in a very short time.

Amid the cheers of the classmates, Dumbledore officially announced that the banquet was successfully concluded.

Hearing this, Mike and the prefects around him stood up, pushed their chairs under the long table, and then began to leave in an orderly manner.

"Now, Ravenclaw freshmen, please come to my side and gather!"

It was the responsibility of Mike and Patil as the new prefects to guide the freshmen to the lounge. Mike did not mean to shirk his responsibility, and stood by the table and spoke very straightforwardly.

Mike's voice was not loud, and it was instantly drowned out in the noisy auditorium at the moment, but under the effect of magic, these voices were all transmitted to the ears of the people around him clearly.

Soon, a group of little radishes gathered in front of Mike.

Petil rubbed his hands nervously, hiding beside Mike without saying a word, while Mike said expressionlessly:

"Boys line up on my left, and girls on my right."

Following Mike's order, these little radishes quickly lined up in two rows without any delay.

Such high efficiency made Mike frown, because these freshmen in front of him seemed to be very afraid of him, especially the mushroom-headed girl who sat next to him before, who was now trembling with fear.

After thinking for a while, Mike immediately understood the reason for all this.

Presumably, most of these people should have read the Prophet Daily during this period, so they had some misunderstandings about him.

You know, Fudge is not a pushover. Maybe he wanted to take revenge on Harry and Michael for embarrassing him in court, or maybe he just wanted to damage their reputations so that the public would have a bad impression of them, thereby reducing the credibility of the news that Voldemort had returned.

In short, the Daily Prophet had been persistently blackening Michael and Harry throughout late August.

Among them, Harry was described as a liar, despicable and ridiculous clown.

Michael was even worse. The Daily Prophet directly dug up his old account of killing a dragon in the Triwizard Tournament, and also exposed many of the dark secrets of the Los Santos Group, whether true or false, and directly described Michael as a black-hearted businessman with deep scheming, cruelty and the potential to become a dark wizard.

Shaking his head helplessly, Mike was too lazy to say anything more, so he simply pretended to be serious and said sternly:

"Now, follow me, don't fall behind!"

After that, Mike waved his sleeves and strode out of the auditorium, and those little rascals followed Mike closely like chicks following a hen out to find food. They

came to the door of the Ravenclaw common room in silence, and then Mike turned his head and looked at the freshmen again.

At this time, Patil, who had been following the main group, hurried forward and whispered in Mike's ear:

"No one is missing, they are all here."

Mike nodded silently, and a bright smile broke out on his face. He said:

"First of all, welcome to Ravenclaw!"

Mike's smile made these little kids a little overwhelmed, but before they could react, Mike continued:

"Ravenclaw is the best college in Hogwarts, and only the smartest students are qualified to be assigned here! Now that you are standing here, it means that you are the best among this batch of freshmen!"

The little kids looked around excitedly, and Patil next to them raised his head with a look of pride.

"To enter the Ravenclaw common room, you must pass a test. This is the same in every college. Unlike other colleges that require fixed passwords, our Ravenclaw tests never have fixed answers!" Mike pointed at the eagle-head door knocker, "Our test is very special. As long as you gently knock on this door knocker, you will be asked a question. The door will only open when you answer correctly!"

"Perhaps you will worry about what if the door knocker asks a question that is too difficult and you are locked out? But I want to tell you that this door knocker has magical powers. It will never ask questions that are beyond your knowledge! If you really can't answer the questions it asks, it means that you didn't listen to the class well! For such students, I think sleeping in the cold corridor for a night is the best punishment!"

Mike's words completely extinguished the flames in the hearts of the little carrot heads, and they returned to their shivering quails.

But Mike didn't mean to comfort them at all. He put his hands behind his back, took a deep breath and said:

"Finally, I hope you can remember one sentence. This is the motto of our college's founder, Ms. Ravenclaw, and it is also the motto that all of our Ravenclaw students must remember! Come, read with me: Extraordinary intelligence is the most precious wealth of mankind!"

As Mike's voice fell, a series of tender voices rang out in the crowded corridor.

"Extraordinary intelligence and talent are the most precious wealth of mankind!"

Many old students passing by also heard the words of the new students. They shouted softly and looked at the new students with gentle eyes.

"This is inheritance!"

At this moment, everyone thought so at the same time.