The rain didn't stop, so Harry and his friends had to make their way to Hogwarts in a not very comfortable carriage...
First, the first-year students were assigned to new houses. As it turned out, most of the students ended up in Gryffindor, and the fewest in Hufflepuff. Harry counted them on purpose out of boredom.As in the previous two years, this year there were also newcomers who were assigned to houses after the first-year students had been sorted. They started in reverse order, with the seventh year. There were three newcomers in Slytherin and two each in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. In the sixth year, there were also five newcomers, and all of them were assigned to Gryffindor. The fifth year had more newcomers — four people went to Ravenclaw, two to Slytherin, and three to Gryffindor. In the fourth year, there was only one newcomer, who was assigned to Slytherin. It was the third year's turn. Two had already been sent to Hufflepuff.
"Felicity Smoke," Professor McGonagall said loudly.
Harry almost choked on his pumpkin juice. He saw a girl with chestnut hair tied in two pigtails walk up to the sorting hat. He just smiled nervously and remembered that damn list.
"Ravenclaw!" exclaimed the hat, and Felicity walked over to her new classmates to loud applause.
As far as Barry remembered, Felicity from his world was blonde, but here she was a brunette. He chalked it up to the fact that Felicity was probably a dyed blonde in his world. "Harry" saw her sit down between Caitlin Snow and Zhou Chang and immediately start chatting happily with the former. Apparently, they knew each other, because Barry saw Caitlin whisper something in Felicity's ear, pointing at "Harry," and Felicity waved cheerfully at him.
Meanwhile, two people were assigned to Slytherin and five to Gryffindor in the second year. Dumbledore announced the start of the feast, after which everyone began to eat.
A little later, the choir began to sing, and the festive atmosphere was in full swing. But when the children finished singing, the headmaster rose from the table and approached the main podium.
"Congratulations to all of you on the new school year!" the man said cheerfully. "A new school year means new changes in the teaching staff. We are pleased to welcome Rubeus Hagrid as the professor of Care for Magical Creatures!"
The hall erupted in applause. It was so loud that Harry's ears rang. Nevertheless, he, like the rest, was genuinely happy.
"We also have a new teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts," Dumbledore announced happily. "Remus Lupin. Wish him luck!"
No one was surprised that there was a new teacher for DADA. It would have been more surprising if someone else had stayed on to teach for a second year, because everyone knew about the curse on that subject.
"I am also pleased to announce a new subject," said Dumbledore, a little more quietly. "All students, from the third year onwards, will begin studying this subject. Muggle Studies, which will include the history of Muggles, their geography, mathematics and physics. We are wizards, but Muggles are also part of this world. And we need to know more about them in order to be able to interact with them. Please welcome Professor Cara Danvers, your new Muggle Studies teacher.
Applause broke out when a woman whom Harry immediately recognised emerged from behind the table. Cara looked exactly the same as when they last met, but her face was covered with a few wrinkles and a small strand of grey hair was visible at the side. She was a cryptonite, after all, and aged more slowly. If this was the same person Barry had been thinking about, had the Crisis really weakened her that much? In any case, he had had a whole year to find out the truth.
***
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