Chapter 377: Integration

Chapter 377: Integration

By the time the banquet began, Baelish had already become friends with Nawi, and as a result, he and Harry's group had also gained some recognition.

"Yes, quite different," he said at the moment, while introducing the Sorting Ceremony of Ilvermorny to the Gryffindor students. "The first time I saw it, I was startled. There are statues of the founders—Izolt Sayre and James Steward—on both sides of the main entrance of the castle. After passing through the main door, you enter a round hall, where we hold the sorting..."

He drew a circle on the table, representing the shape of the hall, then pointed to four small dots.

"Do you see it?" Baelish pointed to the dots. "Those represent the animal statues of the four houses. The new students stand in a circle along the walls, waiting for their names to be called. I was standing on Gordian Knot and was so nervous, faces all around me equally tense. I looked up and saw the upper balcony with older students and professors—"

"What is the Gordian Knot?" Seamus asked with great interest.

Baelish showed him the golden knot on his robe. "This is it. It's used to fasten the robe. It's quite intricate, but it's a tradition at our school. Everyone has to know how to do it."

"Where was I? Oh yes, standing on the Gordian Knot, then just waiting. Watching for a magical statue's reaction... I felt like it took a year, but thankfully, Thunderbird responded to me," he said with relief.

Harry could empathize. During his first year, the sorting process had taken a long time for him as well, because the Sorting Hat had strongly suggested Slytherin, but he insisted otherwise and ended up in Gryffindor.

He couldn't help but ask, "Has any new student ever had two statues respond to them at the same time?"

"Probably," Baelish reminisced. "But I haven't seen it. It's quite rare... The most famous case was Seraphina Picquery. All four houses wanted her back then. And it turned out she was worth it. She later became the President of the Magical Congress of the United States."

"She did an excellent job during her term, but compared to creating legislation for the protection of magical creatures, people remember her more for resisting pressure and not banning giggly water..."

Hermione exclaimed, "For Delphinius Dane's sake, what's that?"

Baelish looked at her in astonishment.

"Did I say something wrong?" Hermione asked in a low voice.

"No," Baelish said. "You must have read that name from a book? Delphinius Dane?"

Hermione nodded, cautiously explaining, "The book says that Delphinius Dane was one of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century, and her name later became a slang term used to express surprise."

Suppressing a laugh, Baelish said, "You're right, but that's a term my grandmother's generation used. The book you're reading must be quite old..."

Hermione turned beet red.

The Gryffindor students around burst into laughter; it was a rare sight to see "Miss Know-It-All" embarrassed.

After the laughter died down, Ron curiously asked, "So... what exactly is giggly water?"

...

"Care for some? Giggly water, as ancient as the Magical Congress, each sip is like a taste of history." Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Kormac Wilkins of Ilvermorny asked, shaking a rugged large bottle of alcohol, its contents sloshing.

Felix gently shook his head. "I can't handle strong drinks."

"Young folks these days don't know good stuff..." Wilkins muttered, then turned his head. "And you, Professor Moody, care for some? Just a sip will have you burst into laughter."

Moody patted the curved bottle at his waist and gruffly said, "I only drink my own."

"Alright, students," he scanned the room. "Let's begin the class. Considering there will be various eye-catching events this year, your focus is bound to be scattered... We'll put in extra effort to complete the curriculum for this academic year before the first task starts."

The young wizards below didn't react much; their learning progress had always been ahead. This 'ahead' was relative to the standards set by the Ministry of Magic's Wizarding Examinations Authority, responsible for organizing students' O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts exams.

Since Professor Harp's arrival, the young wizards' Ancient Runes scores had been soaring. Among the students who graduated at the end of June this year, apart from one who received an 'Exceeds Expectations' (E), the rest achieved the highest grade of 'Outstanding' (O).

As Professor Harp put it, "The Ministry of Magic is too slow to catch on, but you can't expect them to turn a blind eye forever. After all, a string of 'Outstanding' is quite conspicuous..."

"Perhaps one day, they will remember this and come to Hogwarts to reassess the difficulty of the courses and the standards of assessment."

...

The Ilvermorny students looked around in astonishment. Hogwarts students seemed to have no objections to Professor Harp's words. This made them doubt whether they had misunderstood something. Was he really planning to cover a year's worth of content in three months?

"Professor, do you know the date of the first task's competition?" a student raised their hand and asked.

"It should be between late November and early December," Felix said. "First, to give the champions enough preparation time, and second, to not interfere with the Christmas Ball. The time I mentioned should roughly meet these requirements."

He tapped the table gently, drawing the students into the thought classroom.

The space was no longer restricted, stretching out freely. Clusters of lush flowers and towering wand trees sprang up from the ground. Baelish and the Ilvermorny students opened their mouths wide, catching the magical parchments that floated down from mid-air in astonishment.

As their fingertips touched the ancient-scented parchments, golden lights twinkled and a plethora of ancient runic knowledge flooded into their minds. Baelish felt like he was entering a dream.

This was almost unreal...

"I'll assign tasks," Felix said. "Read through the textbook again. You'll find that the stories inside are quite interesting..."

...

A week passed unnoticed. The Ilvermorny students seamlessly merged into Hogwarts like a drop of water merging into the ocean. Even the occasional ripples didn't stir up any major disruptions.

During the Friday evening faculty meeting, Professor McGonagall dropped two bombshells.

"First, the Ministry of Magic has provided a list of Dark Magic that can be 'reasonably' used in the Triwizard Tournament." As she spoke, sheepskin scrolls floated to the professors present.

Felix looked at the lengthy list of curses written in black ink, lost in thought.

"Second, the Ilvermorny delegation has inquired whether we can allow the reserve champions of both schools to practice with each other, including familiarizing themselves with and resisting the Dark Magic on the list."

She said emotionlessly, "Let's discuss this."

>

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