The Admiral of Hogwarts

As Hugo and his two friends analyzed the various situations, the train continued northward. The weather today was somewhat unpredictable, like a child's face.

Raindrops tapped intermittently on the windows, then the sun lazily peeked out, only to be quickly obscured by passing clouds. As time passed, night fell and the lights in the carriage came on.

After a holiday away from school, everyone was eager to see Hogwarts Castle again. But it was a moonless night, and the rain-streaked windows were grimy, so they could only see a black void outside.

"We need to change," Hugo announced. Hearing the train's announcement that they would soon arrive at the school, the three of them frantically opened their trunks and put on their school robes in turn.

Once they were all dressed, the three of them checked each other's robes to make sure everyone was properly attired.

Finally, the train slowly decelerated, and they could hear a flurry of noise as everyone busied themselves gathering their luggage and pets, preparing to disembark.

As soon as the train came to a complete stop, Hugo and Hermione rushed to the carriage exit to fulfill their lengthy duty, standing there to maintain order.

As a result, when they reached the carriage pick-up point, they found that most of the students had already left the platform. Fortunately, Veneto had found a carriage for them earlier.

Just as they were about to get into the carriage, Hugo and his small group of cronies, including Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, were pushing aside several timid-looking second-year students to monopolize a carriage for themselves.

"Waterproof, water-resistant," Hugo said, letting Hermione get into the carriage first, intending to say a few words to them. But as he squeezed through the crowd, the carriage had already left. Hugo could only cast a rain-repelling charm on the drenched Hufflepuffs.

"Such manners—" After returning to their own carriage, Hermione expressed her dissatisfaction with Malfoy's behavior. "I must find an opportunity to report him. He hasn't even worn the badge for three minutes, and he's already using it to bully others even more?"

"I support you on this. We can't let everyone think that Hogwarts prefects are like that," Hugo nodded. After all, they had already broken ties, so there was no harm in making trouble for the other side at this time.

Because there were not many people left, the carriage set off towards the castle as soon as Hugo and his friends got in. Soon they entered the grounds and stopped in front of the castle gates.

Because it was raining and cold outside, Hugo and the others quickened their pace and entered the hall as soon as the carriage stopped. The hall was warm, and Hugo and his friends found three empty seats together in the middle of the Ravenclaw table and sat down.

After settling in, Hugo immediately looked at the staff table. Hagrid had obviously gone to find the giants, just like in the original story, so there was no giant chair on the platform this year. Other than that, the platform looked no different from usual.

The only new face already seated was Umbridge, who was short and stout, with curly, mousy-brown hair, adorned with a hideous pink bow.

This outfit matched her fluffy pink cardigan worn over her robes. But honestly, her age really wasn't suitable for this girlish style.

Dumbledore, wearing a deep purple robe covered in silver stars and a matching hat, sat next to her in a golden high-backed chair, tilting his head towards Umbridge, who was speaking into his ear.

At this moment, Professor Grubbly-Plank came out of the small door behind the staff table and walked to the end of the table, sitting in the seat that Hagrid usually occupied. This indicated that the first-year students had definitely crossed the lake and arrived at the castle.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors to the hall opened, and a long line of apprehensive-looking first-year students walked into the hall, led by Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall held a stool with an old wizard's hat on it. The hat was patched and frayed at the edges, with a wide tear near the brim.

The buzzing conversation in the hall gradually subsided. The first-year students lined up in front of the staff table, facing the other students. Professor McGonagall carefully placed the stool in front of them and then stepped back.

The entire school held its breath and waited. Then, the tear near the brim opened like a mouth, and the Sorting Hat began its song for the year.

"…Oh, know the danger, read the signs, history's lessons give us warning, our Hogwarts faces danger, enemies outside are watching. Our interior must be closely united, or everything will collapse from within…"

When the hat finished speaking, it was still. Applause rang out, but it was interspersed with whispers, because this year's Sorting Hat song was unusual.

Usually, it would only introduce the origins of the four houses and the reasons for sorting, but this time the Sorting Hat directly issued a warning, which the students present had never encountered before.

Fortunately, the Ravenclaw students read more books, so some students who had seen similar situations in Magical History began to explain to their classmates what the current situation meant.

The Sorting Hat will issue appropriate warnings to the school when it feels morally obligated to do so. This has happened in history, but it is never a good sign.

Obviously, the footsteps of war were getting closer and closer. Even the Sorting Hat, which was not a human being, sensed a certain unease, but unfortunately, Fudge clearly turned a blind eye to these warnings for his own selfish interests, turning a deaf ear.

At this time, Professor McGonagall read out the list of first-year students, and everyone's attention was quickly diverted. The buzzing discussion in the hall came to an abrupt end.

Professor McGonagall frowned again and glanced at the four tables, then lowered her eyes to the long parchment in her hand and loudly announced the first name. "Euan Abercrombie."

Slowly, the long line of first-year students dwindled, and the four houses had received many new students. Finally, Rose Zeller was sorted into Hufflepuff, Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and strode away. At this time, Professor Dumbledore stood up and announced the start of the feast.

The feast was as lavish as ever. After dinner, Dumbledore began to inform everyone about this year's arrangements, as in previous years, but was interrupted by Umbridge's cough.

In an instant, all attention was focused on Umbridge, even the ghosts turned to look at her, because such behavior was extremely impolite and had only happened a few times in Hogwarts history.

Many students whispered below. After all, during the summer vacation, everyone had also noticed the conflict between Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic, and some people recognized Umbridge's identity, so everyone would naturally gather together to discuss what Umbridge's standing up to speak at this time meant.

"This eating posture is a bit too ugly," Hugo muttered softly, then turned his face slightly towards the direction of the staff table, preparing to listen to Umbridge's speech and try to find the information he needed from it.