As he felt the heavy weight of the hat settle over his head, Ethan heard a faint voice speak inside his mind.
“Aha, a little older than the others, aren’t you?
You already have your own likes and dislikes, your own views on the world… and your own expectations.
Hmm, and a powerful mind that doesn’t quite match your age.”
“Hmm… you’re not one to give up easily, are you?
You aren’t afraid of the challenges ahead, and although you arrived late tonight, you still chose to stay loyal to your friends.”
“Hmm… perhaps… I can sense something in you, though for now it’s only a feeling.
What is it, I wonder?”
[No idea.] Ethan’s playful side kicked in, and he started teasing the Sorting Hat in his mind.
“Interesting.
You know yourself quite clearly, yet you have no plans at all for the future… very interesting.
Where should I put you?”
[Which one should it be?
Which one should it be?] Ethan started feeding it lines.
“…” The Sorting Hat fell into an eerie silence.
[Hey, hey, hey, bro, why’d you stop talking?
Chat with me a little more!]
“…”
[Look at this Hat.
Total weakling.
It goes quiet after just a few lines.]
“…”
[Not like me.
I’m super brave, and I’m really good at talking.]
“…”
[Hat, Hat, I’ve said so much to you.
You’re not jealous, are you?
You’re not mad, are you?
You’re not going to refuse to sort me, are you?
Unlike me, all I do is care about the Hat~]
“…”
[I’m waiting here for you to come back~ Waiting for you to come back, watching the peach blossoms bloom~]
[Come back soon~ I can’t handle this alone~]
[Never gonna give you up~ Never gonna let you down~ Never gonna run around and desert you~]
“…Perhaps I should hear your opinion.
Which house interests you?”
[Well, look who finally decided to speak.
As for the house… you can decide.
If all else fails, just pick one at random and call it a day.]
“At random?
Sorting is a serious matter.
How could I possibly brush it off like that?
Everyone else is nervous beyond words.
This is the first time I’ve met anyone as off-the-wall as you.”
[Then give me the one with the most thrills.]
“Ah… you seek excitement?
I think I understand.
You may go to.”
“Gryffindor!”
As the Sorting Hat loudly announced Ethan’s house, the Gryffindor table erupted in deafening cheers.
After Professor McGonagall removed the hat, Ethan stood, walked over to one side of the long table, and sat down, greeting the students on his left and right.
“Yo, good evening, everyone.
I’ll be in your care from now on.”
“Welcome to Gryffindor, uh, Yin…” The red-haired upperclassman sitting to his left tried to greet him, only to trip over his name.
“Ethan.
Yi is my family name, and Sen is my given name.
But that’s a bit complicated, so just call me Ethan.”
“Right, Ethan.
I’m Percy, Percy Weasley.
Gryffindor Prefect.” Percy shook Ethan’s hand.
“Ethan!
You’re that…” the freckled, red-haired boy sitting across from Ethan whispered in surprise.
“My dad mentioned you.”
“Ron, you can’t say that here,” Percy cut him off.
“Sorry.
I’m Ron, Ron Weasley.
Percy’s younger brother.
Nice to meet you, Ethan.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
Ron Weasley.
The youngest son of the Weasley family, and a member of Gryffindor’s point-deduction squad.
The most ridiculous thing he ever did was sleep with a middle-aged man for three years.
After greeting Ethan, Ron went back to whispering with the boy beside him.
[Hmm.
Scarhead, glasses.
That’s definitely Harry Potter.
Then the girl sitting to my left should be…]
Ethan turned to glance at the girl on his left.
Hmm.
Messy hair, big front teeth.
Hermione, the Queen of Curls.
[And over there…]
Ethan looked toward the twin brothers on Ron’s other side, who were teasing Percy and making him lose his temper.
Hmm.
The Bludger brothers, the Weasley twins.
“Everyone, please pay attention.” Professor McGonagall tapped the side of her glass with a spoon.
Albus Dumbledore stood up.
He smiled warmly at the students and spread his arms wide, as if nothing made him happier than seeing them all gathered there.
“Welcome!” he said.
“Welcome to Hogwarts for the start of a new school year!
Before the feast begins, I would like to say a few words.
And they are: ‘Nitwit!
Blubber!
Oddment!
Tweak!
Thank you all!'”
Everyone clapped and cheered.
With a wave of both hands, he said, “Now, let the feast begin!”
In an instant, the empty plates along the long table filled with food.
There was roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, steak, chicken legs, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, French fries, Yorkshire pudding, and, for some strange reason, Mint humbug.
Ethan rubbed his hands together, put a little of every kind of meat onto his plate, then picked up his knife and fork, ready to dig in.
“That looks rather good,” said a ghost in a ruff collar as he rose out of the serving platter in the middle of the table.
He watched Ethan gnaw on a lamb chop and spoke with obvious envy.
“Then why don’t you have some?” Harry chimed in from the side.
“I haven’t eaten anything in four hundred years,” the ghost sighed.
“I don’t need to eat, of course, but I do miss the taste.
I suppose I haven’t introduced myself yet.
Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.”
“I know who you are!” Ron said after swallowing the chicken in his mouth.
“My two brothers told me about you.
You’re ‘Nearly Headless Nick’!”
“I would prefer that you call me Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.” Nearly Headless Nick looked rather uncomfortable.
“‘Nearly Headless’?
How can someone be nearly headless?” Hermione asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
“Like this.” Nick grabbed his hair and yanked it to the right.
His head flopped sideways like an open box, attached to his body by only a small strip of skin.
It seemed someone had tried to chop off his head but had not quite finished the job.
Hermione made a deeply uncomfortable face and turned away.
“Wow, look at that cross-section.” Ethan studied the veins and muscle texture along the cut of Nick’s neck, clicking his tongue in amazement.
“Judging by the number of flesh flaps alone, tsk, tsk, tsk, you must have taken at least thirty blows.”
“Forty-four, to be exact,” Nearly Headless Nick said, a little disappointed that Ethan had not been frightened.
He gently flicked his head back onto his neck and cleared his throat.
“Now then, new Gryffindor students!
I hope you’ll help us win the House Cup this year, yes?
Gryffindor has never gone this long without winning.
Slytherin has won six years in a row!
Slytherin’s ghost, Bloody Baron, brags about it every day.
It’s absolutely unbearable.”
Ethan glanced at the Weasley twins, who immediately ducked their heads like ostriches the moment they heard that, and understood everything at once.
Then he looked at the protagonist trio nearby and sighed inwardly.
“What a rough fate.”
Once everyone had eaten their fill, the remaining food vanished from the plates all at once.
The plates and forks became spotless again.
A moment later, they filled with pudding, cake, and all kinds of desserts.
Ethan took a piece of cream cake and ate it in small bites with his fork.
By then, the conversation at the table had turned to everyone’s families.
“I’m a Half-blood,” said Seamus Finnigan nearby.
“Dad’s a muggle, and Mum didn’t tell him she was a witch until after they were married.
Gave him quite the fright.”
Everyone burst out laughing, and Hermione turned to Ethan.
“What about you, Ethan?”
“Me?
Both my parents are gone.” Ethan swallowed the cake in his mouth and spoke casually.
“I don’t even know if they were muggles or wizards.”
“Uh… sorry.
I didn’t mean to,” Hermione apologized awkwardly, and the atmosphere at the long table grew slightly uncomfortable.
“I don’t mind.
Don’t worry about it.” Ethan shrugged.
Just then, Harry suddenly asked, “Percy, who’s that professor sitting next to Quirrell and talking to him?”
Ethan and Percy both looked in the direction Harry was pointing.
Professor Quirrell, with that ridiculous scarf wrapped around his head, was talking to a professor with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.
“That’s Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin.
He teaches potions, but he doesn’t want to teach that subject.
Everyone knows he’s after Professor Quirrell’s job.
Snape is very knowledgeable about dark magic.”
“Why is his hair so greasy?
Does he never wash it?” Ethan joked as he scanned the teachers seated behind the long table.
“No idea.
No one dares to ask.” Percy shrugged.
Ethan soon spotted Professor Fig at the corner of the long table.
Professor Fig noticed Ethan’s gaze, looked up, smiled at him, and raised his glass in greeting.
Ethan smiled back, raised his gilded glass toward Professor Fig from across the hall, and then drained it in one gulp.