Chapter 48: The Great Hall
The calm moon shed a faint light on the spires of Hogwarts, and the hazy glow of the lamps flickered under the starry sky through the windows of the Great Hall.
Today was the start of term at Hogwarts. The Great Hall was bustling from early on. Students were happily chatting with their friends, recounting the grand adventures they had during the summer.
Even most of the professors were conversing with smiles on their faces, making for a lively scene under the floating candles.
Of course, this liveliness did not belong to Miss Lyra Hamilton.
She was curled up in a corner of the staff table, seemingly terrified of being noticed by any student.
"The connection formation can have a signal added for individual linking, or not..." Hidden behind her mask, Lyra was reciting her favorite Magic Formation facts to alleviate her stress.
"Miss Hamilton, are you settling in?"
"Ah!" Startled by the sudden greeting, Lyra jolted and let out a small squeak.
Looking up slightly, she noticed Dumbledore standing beside her.
"D-D... Dumbledore..." she stammered. "I... I'm fine."
"That is good." Dumbledore nodded with a smile. He seemed to have his own matters to attend to, so after greeting Lyra, he went to speak with other professors.
Upon seeing Dumbledore, the students below lowered their voices slightly. It seemed everyone respected the Hogwarts Headmaster.
Then... Lyra noticed that most gazes were focused on the young man with the magnificent blond hair—Mr. Lockhart...
As a famous wizard and adventurer, he seemed to have quite a few fans among the students.
They looked at Mr. Lockhart with fervent eyes, and Mr. Lockhart returned their gazes with a smile.
I don't know how Mr. Lockhart does it... facing so many eyes at once without fainting.
If it were me, my mind would have wandered off long ago... Actually, my mind is sort of wandering right now?
But why don't I see Professor Snape? Lyra scanned the staff table and was surprised not to see one of the few people she knew.
Is he late? Or did he run away because he didn't want to work here, just like me?*
Bang.
The doors to the Great Hall were pushed open. Lyra flinched and looked over.
She saw Hagrid striding in. It seemed he had already guided the first-year students... Lyra was very grateful that, as a professor, she didn't have to take the boats or follow Hagrid.
Ah, I don't mean to shun Hagrid... I just don't really want to... Just as she was thinking this, Lyra saw Hagrid walk over to her side.
Then he pulled out a chair with great force and, with a somewhat grating scrape, sat down heavily next to her.
"H... Hagrid..."
"Ha! We meet again, Miss Hamilton." Hagrid grinned broadly. He downed the mead in his goblet in one gulp and said, "Had a bit of a hiccup just now."
"What... what kind of hiccup?" Lyra thought for a moment and asked.
This shouldn't be too awkward, right...
"It was Harry and Ron." Hagrid shook his head helplessly and took another sip of the mead that had mysteriously refilled itself. "Don't know where they went. Missed the train."
"Ah... missed... the train..." Lyra felt she must be a terrible conversationalist, mostly just repeating what others said.
"By the way, speakin' of Harry." Hagrid seemed to remember something and looked at Lyra. "Miss Hamilton, have yeh seen Harry?"
"S... Seen him..." Lyra nodded slightly and whispered.
"In Knockturn Alley, right?"
"Ngh." Lyra's eyes widened as she looked at Hagrid. Of course, Hagrid could only see her mask.
Did Mr. Potter tell Hagrid?
"Ah... y-yes..." Just appearing in Knockturn Alley shouldn't be a big deal, right?
Lyra gave an awkward laugh.
"I heard from Harry that yeh ran into a Dark wizard." Hagrid pressed his lips together. "Yeh weren't hurt, were yeh?"
"N... No..." Lyra was surprised by Hagrid's words. Is Hagrid concerned about me?
"That's good." Hagrid looked around, then lowered his voice. "Harry said that Dark wizard used an Unforgivable Curse."
Mr. Borgin was indeed a bit irrational... Even Durmstrang students don't make a habit of using the Killing Curse on sight.
"Lucky thing yeh're such a skilled witch, Miss Hamilton." Hagrid smiled again. He seemed like a very straightforward person.
Lyra blushed slightly at his words. "N... Not really..."
"And... thank you, Hagrid..."
Just saying these words took almost all of Lyra's strength. She felt she needed to recite her Magic Formation notes again to recover.
While Lyra was reciting her notes, the Hogwarts Opening Feast seemed to begin.
A stern-looking witch coughed as she walked through the students. Her cough slowly silenced the noisy hall.
"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start. Yeh definitely never saw this at Durmstrang." Hagrid said enthusiastically. "This is unique to Hogwarts."
Lyra wasn't surprised Hagrid knew which school she graduated from. She assumed Dumbledore had probably told Hagrid everything about her.
But the Sorting Ceremony... Durmstrang indeed didn't have this ritual, but Lyra remembered Ilvermorny in America had something similar.
She wondered if the two schools were exactly the same... she remembered reading about it in a book.
Hogwarts sorting relies on a hat... it couldn't be this hat, could it?
Lyra looked at the dirty, patched hat in front of her and instinctively frowned.
You'd definitely have to wash your hair after putting that thing on your head...
They say this hat has been passed down for a thousand years, which means it might have thousand-year-old bacteria on it?
"What's wrong, Miss Hamilton?" Hagrid asked, noticing Lyra's silence and assuming something had happened.
"Ah... I was just thinking about bacteria..."
"Bacteria?"
"Nothing! Nothing!" Lyra quickly shook her head. "The Sorting Ceremony... the Sorting Ceremony is starting..."
"..." Hagrid gave Lyra a confused look, then turned his attention back to the Sorting.
To be honest... Lyra didn't like the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony very much. Every time the stern professor called a name, a new student would walk up and sit on the stool.
Thank goodness Durmstrang wasn't like this... otherwise just sitting there would have been embarrassing enough for me.
"Next, Luna Lovegood!"