Chapter 29: Knocking Over Someone Else’s Umbrella

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Knocking Over Someone Else’s Umbrella

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Knocking Over Someone Else’s Umbrella

Just as Vesey was about to cover her face, they finally passed through the tunnel, crossed the damp lawn, and arrived at the castle gates.

Hagrid strode forward and knocked on the door several times.

After a moment, the door opened.

An old witch wearing emerald-green robes stepped out.

"Professor McGonagall, I’ve brought all the first-years!"

He pointed toward the group of children behind him.

Professor McGonagall’s eyes swept over the students, apparently counting them.

Then she gave a reserved smile.

"Very good, Hagrid. Leave them to me."

Hagrid nodded. He turned toward Vesey, smiled, and winked at her before leaving.

But after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t said hello to Harry yet.

When he turned around, however, Professor McGonagall had already led the students into the Great Hall.

He could only slap his forehead.

"The same goes for Harry. Why didn’t you call me?"

Harry: "..."

Harry would have cried if he’d heard that.

Fortunately, he hadn’t.

He was standing right beside Vesey, nervously looking around.

Vesey patted his arm.

"It’s okay, Brother. You’ll definitely be able to attend school here!"

Even if Dumbledore asked the entire school to go home, he would never refuse to accept Harry.

Harry really had nothing to worry about.

But Harry didn’t know that.

He rubbed Vesey’s hair and said nervously, "It doesn’t matter. Even if we both get expelled, I’ll support you!"

They still had plenty of Galleons in Gringotts—enough to support Vesey.

"I can even go out and find a job to support you!"

Vesey quickly replied, "Brother, I’ll work too! If nobody wants to hire me, I’ll go beg on the streets. I definitely won’t become a burden to you!"

"Ahem. Stop talking!"

Professor McGonagall called out helplessly.

She had wanted to pretend she couldn’t hear the two children’s murmuring.

But she was genuinely worried that by tomorrow, there would be rumors that the Boy Who Lived and his sister were sitting in Diagon Alley with begging bowls.

Because of Professor McGonagall’s words, Vesey and Harry could only stop their mutual teasing.

Of course, perhaps Vesey was the only one suffering from it.

They followed Professor McGonagall along the marble floor.

Vesey heard a great deal of noise coming from the doors on the right and curiously glanced over, only for Professor McGonagall to lead her into an empty room nearby.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The opening feast is about to begin. The first thing we need to do is assign you to your Houses.

"The Sorting is very important. In the future, you will attend classes and live together with students from your own House.

"There are four Houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

"Each House has its own glorious history. If you perform well, you will earn points for your House. If you perform poorly, you will lose points for your House.

"No matter which House you are assigned to, I hope you will bring honor to it."

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few minutes. You may straighten your clothes and compose yourselves."

Her eyes passed over the students one by one, eventually landing on Neville’s robes, where there was a stain near the collar.

Then her gaze moved to Ron’s nose before finally drifting from Harry’s face to Vesey.

Seeing Vesey looking at her expectantly, a faint smile flashed through McGonagall’s eyes.

"I’ll come back for you when everything is ready."

With that, she left through the door.

As soon as she was gone, the room immediately became noisy.

"How are we going to be sorted?"

"Oh my God, is my hair a mess?"

"She kept staring at my face. Is there something wrong?"

"..."

Amid the chaos, Harry asked nervously, "The Sorting Ceremony? How does it work?"

Ron shook his head.

"I heard Fred and George talking about it. It should be some kind of terrifying test. George said we’d have to fight a troll!"

His words frightened everyone.

Even Malfoy shuddered.

Vesey was surprised.

She hadn’t expected Malfoy’s family to keep him in the dark about the Sorting Ceremony either.

It seemed that frightening your own children was a tradition in the wizarding world.

Perhaps it’s because once you’ve been caught in the rain, you have to knock over someone else’s umbrella too.

You must be delighted to see your own child getting anxious over the Sorting Ceremony, right?

Vesey despised their bad taste and couldn’t resist frightening everyone herself.

"I heard in Diagon Alley that there are centaurs, Acromantulas, snakes, unicorns, and all kinds of creatures in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. Will we have to duel those creatures?"

Her words frightened several students to tears.

The Muggle-born first-years in particular looked as though they wanted to run home and cry to their mothers.

Vesey admired their expressions for a while before pretending to become nervous herself.

"It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. I know a few spells. You can all hide behind me. They’ll have to step over my body before they can hurt you!"

The students were deeply moved by her words.

Harry, however, was terrified.

He hugged Vesey and said tremblingly, "I’ll stay beside you!"

Vesey was deeply touched.

Then she immediately pushed Harry away.

How undignified would it be for two boys to hug each other like this?

Just as Vesey was about to say something to comfort Harry, several girls suddenly screamed from inside the room.

More than twenty milky-white ghosts had appeared.

The entire room fell silent.

Vesey immediately rushed in front of the ghosts, deliberately making her voice tremble.

"You... what do you want? I won’t let you hurt them!"

With that one sentence, Vesey saw several girls become so moved that tears welled up in their eyes.

The ghosts were startled by Vesey’s sudden appearance.

But they quickly looked at her with curiosity.

"I think I’ve seen this child before..."

"Oh, right! This is the child who spent so many days in the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey said it was all Professor Snape’s fault!"

A chubby, monk-like ghost looked curiously at Vesey.

"Child, which House do you want to join? Why don’t you come to Hufflepuff?"