The Admiral of Hogwarts

After tidying up their appearances, everyone quickly began sharing stories and chatting about their summer vacations. It was at this moment that they noticed a scarred, elderly man sitting in the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's seat on the platform.

His face was covered in scars, his mouth was like a crooked gash, and the place where his nose should have been was simply gone. Even more terrifying was his bizarre, blue, artificial eye.

This appearance caught the attention of many. Luna, after seeing him, whispered, "The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is Mad-Eye Moody? My dad once said he was a true hero in that war."

"Mad-Eye Moody! So that's Mad-Eye Moody," Cho Chang exclaimed softly beside her. "My parents think highly of him, which is normal, since he filled half the cells in Azkaban."

"It's just that, due to his special career, he has many enemies. Multiple assassination attempts have slowly made him a bit neurotic."

"He retired after someone tried to shake his hand, but he mistook it for an attack and injured them. I never thought Dumbledore would invite him to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor this year."

"Looks like he has PTSD," Veneto suddenly muttered softly at this moment. "P-- what's that?" Now it was Cho Chang's turn to be confused, as this wasn't a term from the wizarding world.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder, often found in people who have experienced war. Their past experiences make them irritable, hyper-vigilant, forgetful, and easily startled," Hermione explained from the side. After becoming a ship girl, she had read many such miscellaneous books.

"Indeed, Moody is just like that." After listening to Hermione's description, several people around nodded in agreement with her point of view.

Soon, the doors of the Great Hall were opened, and everyone immediately quieted down, ready to welcome the new school year.

As usual, Hagrid led a group of freshers into the hall, but unlike previous years, this year's freshers were shivering more noticeably, as the weather was truly terrible.

The Sorting Hat, with its thousand-year history, was once again brought out and sang a new song. But honestly, this smelly, long, and off-key song was truly torturous to the ears.

With great difficulty, the song ended, and everyone applauded to express their happiness at the return of peace to their ears.

As one new student after another was called up, the Sorting Hat began to sort the new students as usual, while the older students below began to whisper and discuss these newcomers. Soon, the list reached Aila.

"Aila Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall read out the student's name as before, but immediately reacted after finishing the name and subconsciously turned to look at Dumbledore.

And Dumbledore's expression at this time was even more exaggerated. The moment he saw Aila's face, his whole body froze there, and then he grabbed the table with both hands and leaned forward slightly.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted only a second or two after being placed on Aila's head. After hearing the house she would ultimately go to, Aila politely returned the hat to Professor McGonagall and sat down opposite Hugo.

"It feels so good to be in the same house as my sisters," Aila said as soon as she sat down, hugging Veneto's arm.

"Sister?" Cho Chang looked at Veneto, then at Aila, and asked curiously, because the two didn't look like sisters at all in terms of appearance.

"Of course, she's my sister. Because the sister who raised me is very close to Hood, I've known Veneto and the others since I was little," Aila explained to the people around her.

"Look, Professor Dumbledore is looking at Aila," Hermione said to Hugo through the admiral network at this time. Hearing this, Hugo raised his head and looked towards the staff table, and sure enough, he saw Dumbledore looking this way.

Fortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore was also a centenarian and had experienced many storms. So, by the time the Sorting Ceremony was about to end, Professor Dumbledore had finally returned to his usual state.

"By the way, what's your relationship with Headmaster Dumbledore?" It was at this moment that Marietta asked Aila, because in the wizarding world, the surname Dumbledore was very rare.

"There shouldn't be any relationship, I'm an orphan and was adopted when I was very young. And this name was attached to a note in my swaddling clothes," Aila said according to the arranged identity.

"So that's how it is!" Feeling that her gossipy heart had been satisfied, Marietta nodded. But before she could ask the next question, the Sorting Ceremony ended.

When Professor McGonagall left with the Sorting Hat and the stool, Dumbledore stood up, and then he simply smiled at all the students, opened his arms, and made a welcoming gesture.

"I only have two words to say to you," he said, his sonorous voice echoing in the hall, "Eat!"

No wonder Dumbledore could become a respected headmaster, because he knew that in this situation, what everyone needed was a hot dinner rather than listening to some lengthy speech.

For a moment, the entire hall was quiet, with only the sound of knives and forks colliding with plates and the sound of chewing. After all, today's heavy rain made everyone feel cold and hungry, so they couldn't wait to eat something hot.

In this situation, everyone ate much faster than usual. Soon, everyone was full, and as the last of the desserts were cleared away, Dumbledore's voice rang out again in the hall.

For Hugo, who had attended the Opening Ceremony four times including this one, he began to use this opportunity to clear his mind and rest for a while, because according to convention, what followed were all clichés.

Sure enough, the headmaster routinely mentioned the contraband that could not be carried this year and the areas that were forbidden to go to, and then introduced the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor to everyone.

The students were still very interested in Hogwarts' specialty, the annual Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, but after Moody's introduction, there was only scattered applause.

Hugo glanced at Moody above and saw his magic eye spinning wildly, constantly scanning the students below and the professors next to him.

After observing Moody on the stage for a few seconds, Moody seemed to sense something and turned his magic eye over. Seeing this, Hugo could only quickly turn his gaze elsewhere.

Although the information obtained from the summer vacation showed that this Moody was likely not replaced, the ship girls should still conduct several rounds of reconnaissance after the start of school to ensure that there were no problems in this place.

Because everyone had eaten a relatively full dinner, everyone felt a little tired, and many people even became drowsy. At this time, Dumbledore suddenly released an explosive piece of news.

"I must also regretfully inform everyone that the House Cup Quidditch tournament will not be held this year!"

Boom, the entire hall was in an uproar. As everyone knows, the only sport in the wizarding world is Quidditch. Dumbledore's words were equivalent to a middle school principal telling the students that all physical education classes were cancelled this year.

If it weren't for his high prestige, it was estimated that the whole place would be filled with protests. Soon, everyone quieted down, waiting for Dumbledore to explain further.