At this moment, she saw Hagrid greeting them so enthusiastically and revealed a dissatisfied expression.
Harry was surprised to see that sitting on the other side of Hagrid was none other than Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher.
She rarely left her room on the tower, and Harry had never seen her at a school feast before. She looked just as eccentric as ever, wearing shiny beads and draped in a long shawl, her eyes magnified many times by her glasses.
The food in front of the professors was no different from that of the students, but the professors were evidently much more elegant in their eating habits.
Of course, with Ron as the dual-wielding chicken leg berserker, there's no doubt he lowered the average dining appearance of the students.
And the ghosts started to pop their heads up from under the tables, beginning to scare the new students.
This was a tradition at Hogwarts, no one knows when it started, but it always manages to scare a few timid freshmen.
There goes Ron, explaining to a nearby new student what "Nearly Headless Nick" is.
"Hey!" Nearly Headless Nick shouted unhappily at Ron from mid-air, "I must remind you, red-haired boy from the Weasley family—I'd prefer to be called Sir Nicholas."
"Sure thing, Nearly Headless Nick." Ron replied with a grin.
This really upset Nearly Headless Nick, but as a ghost, there's nothing he can do to Ron.
If he had a solid form, the first thing he might do would be to smear the kidney pie on Ron's face.
Once everyone had eaten their fill, the remaining food disappeared from the plates, leaving them and the forks as clean as new.
Harry loved the dessert session most; Hogwarts' chocolate cake was his favorite sweet.
He was indeed a chocolate head.
"By the way," Harry looked across Neville to Seamus, "where did you go on the train? How come none of us noticed you?"
Seamus immediately puffed out his chest.
"I was with Lavender, so I didn't come looking for you." He said proudly, "Of course, I knew there were more people with you, so I decided not to squeeze in."
"Ooh~" Ron, Harry, and Neville said in unison, sarcasm dripping from their tone.
Ron pinched his voice, mimicking Seamus' words: "Mr. Brown, please sit down to eat…"
You could say his imitation was spot-on, vividly capturing Seamus' awkwardness at the time.
It annoyed Seamus so much that he really wanted to give Ron a good jab.
"So, how are you two doing?" Harry whispered, "Sealed the deal?"
Seamus waved both hands in front of him.
"Sealed." He said coolly.
"That's good." Harry nodded in approval, "Well done, didn't shame us in Gryffindor!"
Just then, Dumbledore stood up behind the staff table, and the chatter in the hall quieted down almost immediately.
"Good evening, everyone!" He said with a kind smile, spreading his arms, as if to embrace the entire hall.
"Alright... New students, welcome; old students, welcome back! Awaiting you is a new academic year of magical education. At the start of the term, I'd like to point out a few things."
"It seems like this year's notes are exactly the same as before." Neville whispered, "I bet Dumbledore didn't carefully draft his speech; what did he do over the summer?"
No one knew what Dumbledore was up to, but Harry did—Dumbledore went vacationing in Vienna.
No wonder he didn't have time to write a speech.
"...Fitch has asked me to remind everyone that this year, all joke products purchased from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes are strictly prohibited." Dumbledore continued.
"Ha!" Ron chuckled proudly, "I need to let Fred and George know about this, let them know they're on Fitch's must-try list—I really want to see their expressions when they find out about this; that'll be quite something."
Professor Dumbledore continued the announcements: "...Students interested in joining the House Quidditch team, as usual, report to the head of house. We are also looking for new Quidditch match commentators; those interested, please sign up with the head of house."
As he spoke, he glanced sideways.
"This year, we're pleased to welcome a new teacher. Professor Slughorn!"
Slughorn stood up, his bald head shining under the candlelight, and his vest-covered belly casting a large shadow on the table.
Dumbledore continued his announcement: "Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine, and he has agreed to resume his position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"See Professor Snape's expression." Ron said gleefully, "Look at that, like he just swallowed several pounds of Flubber Worm, he still hasn't gotten what he wanted this year—I remember Professor Slughorn was the Potions professor before, right? You see, Professor Snape thought that hiring Professor Slughorn back would free him from Potions class and allow him to bring his talents to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but the result? The result is Professor Dumbledore didn't intend for him to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor."
Harry glanced over and found that it was just as Ron said.
Professor Snape looked particularly grim, gripping the knife and fork tightly, as if considering them to be Professor Slughorn's old bones.
"Actually, there's a kind of regret." Harry reminded Ron, "It's said that Professor Slughorn's teaching level in Potions is very high; you should be disappointed that he's not teaching both subjects."
"Right." Ron said through gritted teeth.
But Ron secretly decided that moving forward, he would only whisper behind Professor Snape's back; once school started, he wouldn't say any bad things about Professor Snape in any public setting.
"It's a pity." Hermione whispered, "The curse on Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts class hasn't been lifted yet; I sincerely hope Professor Slughorn can teach for another year and not let Professor Snape teach us in seventh year."
"What about the year after next?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I'll be graduating by then." Hermione said casually, "Even if he becomes headmaster it doesn't concern me—"
Dumbledore cleared his throat, and after a few seconds, ensuring everyone was completely silent, he continued speaking.
"Alright, next up, let's sing the school song together!" He said joyously, holding his wand in hand like it was a conductor's baton.
At the same time, a long golden ribbon flew from the tip of the wand, swirling like a snake above the high tables, forming lines of text.
"Everyone choose whichever tune you like," Dumbledore said with a chuckle, "Ready—Sing!"
All the faculty and students began to sing Hogwarts' school song loudly, though Harry felt something was missing.
When the school song finally ended neatly, Harry realized what it was—The Weasley twins had graduated, and no successors remained to choose a quirky tune for this school song occasion.
"Music…" Dumbledore said with a shaking head, amazed, "Truly possesses the power to cleanse the mind."
After that, his blue eyes swept over all the students, and then he smiled again.
"Alright, your beds are waiting for you, as warm and comfortable as you hoped; I know your top priority now is to rest well, ready for tomorrow's classes. So, let's say 'goodnight.'"
Ron and Hermione stood up. As the male and female class prefects, they needed to lead the first-years on a route.
Harry didn't have to worry about these things; he slipped away long ago.