The Sorting Hat's efficiency was high this year, taking only a little over half an hour to complete the sorting.
Finally, as Kevin Whitby was sorted into Hufflepuff, the sorting ceremony came to an end.
Dumbledore stood up, smiling at all the students, "Let's eat."
The originally empty plates suddenly magically piled up with food.
Mikel served himself a large spoonful of mashed potatoes and said, "Even though I've seen it many times, I still find it incredible every time the food suddenly appears."
"Hogwarts' traditional feature," Kael said with a smile.
While eating delicious steaks and ham, they discussed the possibility of engraving Magic Pattern Talismans on the small boats and roughly set the price.
One hundred Galleons per boat.
For a few students who have yet to graduate, this number is indeed somewhat high, but it's just a preliminary consideration and can be renegotiated if unsuitable.
After finishing the main course, Kael chose a plate of Yorkshire pudding among the many desserts.
This traditional British pudding tasted excellent, and more importantly, unlike syrup pies, it wasn't overly sweet, making it perfect for dessert.
Finally, all the food was devoured, and the crumbs left on the plates vanished, turning clean and shiny once again.
At this point, Dumbledore stood up again, and the buzzing conversations in the hall instantly stopped, with everyone looking at him.
As was customary, Dumbledore first emphasized a few precautions, like freshmen are not allowed to go to the Forbidden Forest… These were things he said every year, nothing new.
The only difference was that a few more items were added to the list of prohibited items in the castle, including but not limited to Shrieking Tea Cup, Multi-Hit Boomerang, and Biting Quill… all of which were the latest products from Zonko's Joke Shop last year.
Counting these, the entire list already had four hundred and thirty-seven items.
It must be said that Fred and George contributed immensely to the completion of this list, conservatively estimated, they alone contributed over a hundred names.
"I am sorry to inform you all, there will be no Quidditch matches this year!" Dumbledore said.
The hall instantly became chaotic, with everyone making noise and looking at Dumbledore in disbelief.
Yet before he could explain, the hall's doors were suddenly slammed open.
A man appeared at the door, limping his way towards the teachers' seat with a long cane.
Everyone in the hall turned their heads to look at him.
Thump, thump, with each step, a hollow sound echoed through the hall.
Suddenly, a forked lightning bolt streaked across the ceiling, illuminating his face.
Gasps echoed continuously in the hall.
His face was covered in scars, with barely any spot untouched, but that wasn't the scariest part.
The scariest part was his eyes.
He had one normal eye, and the other was unnaturally large, round, like a coin, and bright blue.
"Oh, it's Mad-Eye!" someone blurted out instinctively.
Almost instantly, the blue eyeball flipped and seemed to burrow into the person's skull, as if staring at the person speaking behind them.
The student who had shouted Mad-Eye's name quickly lowered their head, not daring to look at him.
He walked up to Dumbledore, and the two exchanged a few quiet words, after which he sat down in one of the empty chairs.
"Allow me to introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," Dumbledore broke the silence cheerfully, "Professor Alastor Moody!"
Awkwardly, no student applauded this time, only Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped, the atmosphere colder than last year with Professor Lupin.
At the Hufflepuff long table, Kael lowered his head, looking at the parchment in his hand.
Since Moody entered, he had immediately opened the Marauder's Map, but strangely, it didn't show Moody's name, and as Moody moved towards the teacher's seat, none of the names moved.
It was as if he didn't exist… More accurately, he must have used some method to make his name unmapable.
Hogwarts itself is unmapable, not appearing on any map.
But this point is normal for a naturally suspicious Old Auror like Moody.
There are quite a few charms in the Magic Realm concerning names, and the most famous example is Voldemort.
Anyone who utters that name would have their location detected by him, who would then come directly to kill them, which is why most people call him You-Know-Who.
Honestly, if Moody's name really appeared on the Marauder's Map, even if it was his real name, Kael would have doubted if he was someone else in disguise.
Being unmapable might be the real deal.
Looks like this Old Auror managed to escape a disaster… Perhaps that's the case.
Kael put away the Marauder's Map, casually continuing to look toward the direction of the teacher's seat.
Dumbledore didn't persist in introducing the new professor.
"Let's continue with the previous topic."
He said, "The reason for canceling the Quidditch matches is because, in the upcoming few months, we will have the great honor to host a marvelous event here, one that hasn't been held for over a century.
I am delighted to tell you all, the Triwizard Tournament will take place at Hogwarts this year!"
The entire hall fell silent for a few seconds, then erupted with an unprecedented buzzing sound.
"You've got to be kidding…"
"The Triwizard Tournament… My God…"
"I can't believe it…"
Someone excitedly jumped up on the spot, enthusiastically explaining what the Triwizard Tournament was to uninformed students.
Simply put, if it's just within Europe, then this is the grandest competition, making even the Quidditch World Cup take a back seat.
Everyone was overwhelmingly excited, shouting and jumping, while Dumbledore also smiled lightly.
"I am not joking," he said, "some of you don't know what the tournament is about, so I feel it necessary to explain briefly here...
The Triwizard Tournament is a friendly competition between the three largest Magic Schools in Europe… Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang…"
He then went on to detail the origins of the Triwizard Tournament, its risks, and the death tolls in past tournaments.
Just except for a few, it seemed like everyone wasn't interested in the people who died over a hundred years ago, not diminishing their enthusiasm one bit.
Especially upon hearing about the thousand Galleons prize for the champion, they all were eager to sign up, with shouts so fervent as to nearly tear the ceiling down.
"I know you all wish to participate and bring glory to the school," Dumbledore said, "but the competing schools and the Ministry of Magic have agreed this year on an age restriction for competitors, only students aged fifteen and above may sign up, for consideration..."
Dumbledore had to slightly raise his voice to drown out some protests, "This decision is necessary, no matter how many measures we adopt, students below fifth year won't be able to handle it, this is also for your own safety consideration..."
"Oh, damn!" someone at the Hufflepuff long table said, beating their chest, "I'm just a few months short… You think they'd move the selection to December."
"Ha, lucky indeed." Mikel did not consider his feelings at all, happily saying, "My birthday is in March, just past fifteen… Kael, you should have passed too."
"What?" Kael originally thought he had heard wrong, but after hearing Mikel's words, he came to his senses, nodded and said, "Oh yes, I turned fifteen just last month."