Wizard world without savior - Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Hogwarts ~ Hogwarts ~
“Who is this?”
It wasn’t Jon who asked the question, but Neville.
He didn’t seem to recognize the smiling old man who looked like a fat walrus that Lily brought back. He turned to the girl who just called out “Professor Slughorn” and asked.
The senior girl introduced it to Neville.
“He is Professor Horace Slughorn. Last semester, he taught our Defense Against the Dark Arts class and History of Magic at Hogwarts. However, he left Hogwarts last year due to important matters. During Watts’s year, Professor Dumbledore took the time to teach our Defense Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic classes. Unexpectedly, Professor Slughorn came back this year, and his affairs should have been taken care of.”
After Neville finished listening to her explanation, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
“Did he also serve as the dean of Slytherin House before Hogwarts Castle fell? My father seemed to have mentioned him to me.”
Jon listened to their conversation silently.
Naturally, he knew Slughorn. What impressed him most was that he told Voldemort the information about the Horcruxes in the original work. Moreover, he was a man who was very afraid of death, but in the end he still stood for justice party.
It seems that his position in this world has not changed. Even if Hogwarts under Dumbledore’s leadership has reached its current situation, he still comes here to be a professor wanted by the Ministry of Magic.
As the night grew darker, with the cooperation of a group of students, they prepared a sumptuous meal.
Dumbledore waved his wand and conjured a long table and chairs on the beach that were big enough for everyone, and students and professors took their seats one after another.
By now, basically everyone on this carriage had gathered together, and Jon had a chance to count all the students in this exile school.
The academic cycle of Hogwarts is still seven years, and this has not changed. There are only five first-year students in his class, and even if there are slightly more students in other grades, they are not much larger.
There are only ten students in a grade at most, and the fewest are five or six like Jon’s class. The entire magic school has only forty or fifty students.
Even in a society with a small population like the magic world, this is a very pitiful number.
As for the professors in the school, they can count them with one slap.
Lily Potter, who taught Potions and part-time elective courses in the senior year; Minerva McGonagall, who was the vice-principal and concurrently served as Transfiguration and Herbalism; Felius Flitwick, who taught Charms and Astronomy; Horace Slughorn who just came back today, should continue to serve as Defense Against the Dark Arts and the History of Magic.
These four are all the professors who currently have teaching jobs in the carriage.
Others include headmaster Albus Dumbledore, coachman Rubeus Hagrid and coachman Argus Filch.
Of course, the number of teachers is far less than the number in Hogwarts Castle in the original book, so both Lily and Professor McGonagall have multiple roles.
But also because there are fewer students, their work intensity is actually not bad, and they won’t be so busy that they don’t touch the ground.
The bonfires jumping around illuminate the beach, and the soothing sound of the waves is like a symphony orchestra playing soft classical music, adding an elegance that was not there for this dinner.
What students liked most about Dumbledore as headmaster was that he never gave boring speeches on occasions that made people happy.
The old man with gray hair and beard, who was over a hundred years old, raised his wine glass, and there was no long speech or any touching speech, but he just said loudly.
“Thank you for the delicious food you prepared, so please enjoy them happily.”
The wet and salty sea breeze cannot cover the aroma of the food itself.
Although it was in the UK, the food at the dinner was of course not just French fries and fried fish. Jon had never tasted the craftsmanship of the house elves, but he felt that the onion soup and grilled fish were made by the senior students. It also tastes very good with mashed potatoes.
“…I’ve always heard from George and Fred that the most annoying person on the carriage was that Filch.”
The freshmen naturally sat together on the long table. While eating grilled sausages, Ron quietly used his eyes to indicate to them where the carriage manager with an unfavorable expression was sitting.
“He always likes to use chicken feathers as arrows, and he never has a good look on people. He seems to want to hang up those who just make the slightest mistake and whip them!”
Ron has three older brothers who all go to school at Hogwarts, so he obviously knows the school’s conditions much better than Neville.
During the meal, he had been telling the other freshmen the various interesting things on the carriage that he had heard from his brother.
The dining table was full of laughter. Even though they were all a group of fugitives wanted by the Ministry of Magic, there wasn’t much depression or dullness among this group of young girls who were supposed to be full of vigor.
This proves that Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix really protected them very well. No matter how difficult the situation is, they must keep the seeds of hope.
Old wands stained with blood and faith will appear in the wooden cabinet in the principal’s office, but their significance in this world is far from disappearing with their old friends.
Instead, I was picked up again by young hands and walked forward on a road full of thorns, unable to see the future, but full of expectations.
After the dinner, Dumbledore told the students some changes in the new semester.
“I am delighted that five new students have joined us, and that our old friend, Professor Slughorn, has dealt with some of his own personal affairs and returned to us as Defense Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic position.”
“Tonight will represent another new beginning for us, and there has never been a better time to celebrate.”
Holding the wand full of knots in his right hand, he raised it up to the sky, a cluster of jubilant ribbons spewed out from the tip of the wand, and those bright blue eyes looked at the students on the long table, full of memories left by the years. A happy smile appeared on face.
“So why don’t we do a song?”
This sentence is like a code that everyone knows except Jon and the freshmen.
Everyone on both sides of the long table, whether professors or students, stood up from their chairs, and the freshmen also stood up with confused faces.
“Hogwarts~Hogwarts~”
The old headmaster started with his bright voice, and the students below sang the song in unison.
“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts,
Please teach us knowledge,
No matter we are bald old people
Or a child with a broken knee,
our minds can accept
some interesting things.
For now our brains are empty, filled with air,
Dead flies and trifles,
Teach us some valuable knowledge,
Give us back what we have forgotten,
Just do your best and leave the rest to us.
We will study hard until we turn to dust.
…”
Jon has never heard this version of the tune of the Hogwarts school anthem. It is neither sad nor cheerful, just like seagulls who have been occupied by the beach and have no place to rest, hovering sadly on the coast.
The singing was so melodious that he couldn’t help but join in the chorus.
He looked up at the incomparably bright night sky, thinking for no reason in his heart.
There is no old castle, no warm auditorium, no expected sorting style, no magical ghosts, and nothing that should be there.
But here there is the sea, the starry sky, the carriage, and a group of loving people.
This seems to be… not bad.