Chapter 17
"Gryffindor." The sorting hat shouted before the trembling boy took it off his head, and since he was the last person remaining to be sorted, he felt a little extra pressure and looked at Alan.
"You can go to the Gryffindor's table." Alan, taking the sorting hat from the boy, said with a smile, and as the sorting ceremony was almost finished, only Dumbledore's speech was left; he rolled up the parchment and looked at Professor Dumbledore.
On the other hand, Dumbledore also got up. He looked at the students in the Great Hall with a broad smile on his face and stretched out his arms as if welcoming all of them in his old embrace.
"Welcome!" Dumbledore said with a smile, "Welcome to a new and refreshing year at Hogwarts, where you'll learn many great things. Thank you all."
Dumbledore cut short his greeting speech as if saying, I won't bore you, and let them enjoy the delicious food of Hogwarts, and then clapped his hands twice.
Clap! Clap!
The great hall too burst in applause, and shortly the empty food plates in front of the students were filled with all kinds of dishes.
"Professor Alan, please deliver the sorting hat to my office." Dumbledore said, turning his attention to Alan, "The password is still the same." And then winking at him, he left the great hall, probably going to handle the drama called "Snape's desire to expel Harry Potter and his friend".
Though Alan too wanted to see the classic drama, sadly he didn't have the ticket, so all he could do at this point was to go to the headmaster's office to deliver the parchment and the sorting hat.
"You seem to have something on your mind, young man." The sorting hat suddenly said, startling Alan.
Alan, raising his eyebrow, looked at the hat and asked, "You can read my mind without being placed on my head?" He was a little curious as well.
"I don't know." But the reply Alan got was a little disappointing, though not that much, as he knew that the sorting hat was not something that would let him know his secrets that easily.
"Is that so? I thought you were the great Sorting Hat who had deep knowledge and was once worn by the great founder, Godric Gryffindor." Alan said, looking at the sorting hat cheekily, but the response was still the same, so the only thing Alan could do at this moment was give up momentarily.
With no luck on his side, Alan returned back to the great hall. Dumbledore, Snape and Professor McGonagall also had returned from Snape's underground dungeon office.
Snape's face at this moment looked gloomy, as if someone had snatched away his rights to punish someone; if he were to be the head of Gryffindor House, those two, Harry and Ron, would have realised the consequences of their stupid action; however, thankfully, once again, the plot saved their sorry asses.
"Professor Alan, Thank you for help earlier." Professor McGonagall said, looking a little apologetic.
"It was nothing, just something I should do if required." Alan took a sip from his drink and smiled at Professor McGonagall, and then as his stomach was already protesting in hunger, he focused all of his attention on eating the delicacies placed right in front of him.
After a few minutes, with Alan's stomach a little bulging, the pudding he had stuffed himself with also disappeared, and now there was no food remaining on the plate.
Professor Dumbledore stood up again, causing the chattering great hall to turn silent.
"Now that everyone has eaten and wants to rush to bed, I want to say a few more words before allowing all of you to go to your beds: there are things that are necessary to be put forward so everyone can pay attention to them."
"First thing, as always, no one is allowed to go near or enter the forbidden forest; there are a few older students who should remember this once more." Dumbledore's shining blue eyes glanced towards the Weasley twins for a moment, and then he continued, "Also, Mr Filch asked me to remind all of you to not perform magic in the corridor between the classes."
Looking at the students beginning to yawn, Dumbledore cleared his throat and said loudly, "Now, before everyone rushes to bed, let's sing the school song together." Hearing this, smiles on everyone's faces froze, except a few; however, Dumbledore, ignoring all those expressions, flicked his wand, and a long golden ribbon floated out of his wand, twisting and circling high above.
Despite not wanting to participate, all the teachers and students sang loudly, but only they themselves knew who was really singing and who was just lip-synching. At least Lockhart next to Alan was singing seriously, and at the same time he showed a very conscious expression, like he was some famous artist; meanwhile, Professor Trelawney on the other side opened her mouth without making a little sound.
Of course, Alan also sung the song with his voice confident, though maybe unpleasant for others, but since Dumbledore had said that he could sing according to his desire, he didn't care what others thought about his voice.
After the long day, Alan finally came to the office, the place where he was going to sleep and work; since his luggage was already placed in the room, he changed into comfortable attire before falling asleep.
...
On the other side, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley returned to the Gryffindor lounge and were greeted like returning heroes by everyone except Hermione and Percy, who looked a little unhappy.
Under the loud cheers, Harry returned to the dormitory, feeling a little ashamed, but his dorm mates rushed in.
"I can't believe it!" Seamus beamed.
"That was so cool." Dean chimed in.
"That was amazing." Neville said in admiration.
Under the gaze of his friends, Harry finally couldn't help but smile, but that smile didn't stay on his face for much longer.
A/N : Guys, if you are reading this, please throw some powerstones..