bioinnovel Chapter 267 Rain Spreads Nationwide
Chapter 267 Rain Spreads Nationwide
Chapter 267 Rain Spreads Nationwide
When Belvina arrived in the Scottish Highlands, it happened to be raining at Hogwarts.
The rain was heavy and torrential, with large raindrops pattering down incessantly, accompanied by constant rumbling thunder in the sky.
Belvina stood by the classroom window, squinting at the pitch-black campus, a hint of schadenfreude rising in her heart.
First-year students would definitely get soaked to the bone if they had to row across the lake in such terrible, extreme weather, and might even fall into the icy lake water.
Thinking of the miserable state of the freshmen, Belvina couldn't wait to leave the classroom and run up the stairs. Her figure soon appeared on the marble staircase.
Unexpectedly, before we could even witness the jokes about the first-year students, we were instead confronted with Professor McGonagall's tragic fate.
In the castle foyer, the mischievous sprite Peeves floats into the air with a wicked grin, holding colorful water balloons filled with water. Whenever a student enters the foyer, the water balloons will burst above their heads.
While laughing hilariously, Pipi Ghost threw water balloons at every student who dared to step into the hallway.
Colorful water balloons burst one after another, raining down water bombs that soaked the students almost completely. A massive wet and wild spectacle was unfolding in the Hogwarts entrance hall.
Belvina stood on the magnificent marble staircase, watching with interest as the students in the foyer either screamed and ran away or glared angrily at Peeves. She had no intention of stopping Peeves whatsoever.
As the students screamed and shoved each other, Professor McGonagall stormed out of the auditorium, shouting, "Peeves! Get down here!"
However, the many water balloons bursting in the foyer made the floor extremely slippery, and Professor McGonagall slipped and almost fell flat on her face.
If Professor McGonagall hadn't grabbed Hermione by the neck just in time, the mature catgirl's reputation would have been ruined:
Belvina shook her head in disappointment. Professor McGonagall was indeed getting old; her bladder axis stabilization system was no longer working properly.
Perhaps it was karma for gloating, or perhaps it was because she had laughed too loudly and almost tripped and fell flat on her face, but Professor McGonagall noticed Belvina on the stairs.
"Professor Black, are you enjoying this?" Professor McGonagall said angrily, straightening her crooked pointed hat and glaring at Belvina through her square-framed eyes.
"Ah! Professor McGonagall, it's been a long time."
Belvina laughed and ran downstairs as fast as she could.
"You little devil, if you don't stop, we're going to find Professor Dumbledore!"
Hearing Belvina's threat, Pippi chuckled wickedly, dropped the last two water balloons, and then swooped up the marble stairs.
Before leaving, Pippi made a face at Belvina, making a "lè lè lè lè" sound.
"Professor, Peeves has been chased away," Belvina said with a grin. "Let's go in too, I'll help you!"
Professor McGonagall glared at Belvina, then said to the students crammed into the foyer, "Hurry up and get into the auditorium, don't dawdle."
The students shuffled through the foyer, through a double door, into the magnificent auditorium, and returned to their seats at the college's long table.
After cleaning up the water stains on the floor, Belvina followed the students into the auditorium and headed straight for the faculty section at the far end.
"Come quick, Belvina, come quick!" Bassheda kept waving from the faculty seating area, but her eyes were not on Belvina.
"What are you looking at?" Belvina returned to her seat and followed Bassheda's gaze to Alastor Moody.
Moody, with his graying hair, sat next to Snape, his bright blue magic eyes darting wildly. He seemed quite out of place at Hogwarts, overwhelmed by the hundreds of students.
"Of course we're looking at Moody. He's the Ministry's best Auror," Bathsheda said matter-of-factly. "He fills half of Azkaban's cells."
While staring curiously at Moody, Bassheda patted Belvina's hand and continued, "I've heard that Moody always tries to capture those vicious dark wizards alive, which is why he's covered in scars."
"What you've heard is accurate; it's true. His persistence is commendable, but I don't agree with it."
As an Auror, Alastor Moody was exceptionally capable and dedicated to his work; otherwise, he wouldn't be widely recognized as the most outstanding Auror.
"They don't need your approval. Even if you're the deputy director now, you can't control the best Aurors," Bassheda said with a chuckle. "Besides, they retired from the Ministry of Magic a long time ago."
"How about we make a bet? We'll bet one—"
Before Belvina could finish explaining the bet, Bernard and Hagrid joined in.
"What are we betting on?" the two asked almost simultaneously.
"I'm betting on when Professor Moody will scare himself to death," Belvina said.
"That's a huge exaggeration!" said Bassheda. "Just as exaggerated as Agatha Timps."
Seeing the puzzled expressions on the faces of Belvina, Bernard, and Hagrid, Bassheda had no choice but to explain Tims's glorious deeds.
On the day of the Quidditch World Cup final, Agatha Tims made a bet with Ludo Bagman that the match would last a week, betting half of her Eel Farm stock on it.
However, the match between Ireland and Bulgaria ended very quickly, not even a day, let alone a whole week. As expected, Agatha Tims lost the bet and lost half of her shares in Eel Farm.
"Even if Tims wins, Bagman doesn't have the money to pay her bets." Belvina sneered, thinking that Agatha Tims must be out of her mind.
When the topic turned to Ludo Bagman, who was heavily in debt, Bassheda's expression became much more complex, and her words were full of regret for Bagman.
"He was once England's best hitter and a hero for the Wembley team," Bassheda said regretfully. "I never imagined he would develop a gambling addiction and lose everything."
Bernard and Haig, who were standing nearby, nodded in agreement, as they also felt sorry for Ludo Bagman.
Only Belvina, who wasn't particularly fond of Quidditch, seemed indifferent. She didn't care whether Bagman was a Quidditch hero or not; all she knew was that Bagman was an extremely incompetent Ministry of Magic official and a gambling addict who refused to pay his debts.
"You think you can run away after offending a fairy?" Belvina said disdainfully. "Bagman's life is basically tied to fairies for the rest of his days. Fairies won't let him go."
"Unless Ludo can repay the fairy's debt, but fairy debts are not so easy to repay," Paul Bernard sighed.
Just as the four elective professors were whispering among themselves, the two doors of the auditorium opened wide, and Professor McGonagall led a long line of first-year students into the auditorium.
If those hit by Pipi's water balloons are like drowned rats, then the freshmen are the fighter jets among drowned rats; everyone looks like they've just been pulled ashore from a lake.
"Didn't this year's freshmen really swim to the castle?" Bassheda said sympathetically. "It's so pitiful, they're all soaked to the bone."
Facing the entire school's faculty and students, the freshmen, soaked to the bone, were cold and nervous, trembling all over, looking utterly miserable.
At this point, Professor McGonagall placed a triangular stool on the open ground in front of the new students, and then placed the tattered Sorting Hat on the stool, and the Sorting Ceremony began.
Of course, the first program is the annual Sorting Hat solo, for which the lyrics have been thought up in the principal's office for a whole year, just waiting to be sung tonight for all the students.
After the Sorting Hat's song, which it had been holding back for a year, ended, Professor McGonagall took out a long roll of parchment filled with the names of this year's freshmen.
"Stuart Ackley!"
The first freshman to be called by Professor McGonagall was a boy who was trembling from head to toe, whether from the cold or from being too nervous, it was hard to tell.
"Ravenclaw!"
As Professor McGonagall continued to call out the names of the new students, the trembling freshmen were all given their places, and the cheers in the auditorium grew louder and louder.
Finally, only Kevin Whit remained in the long line of freshmen. He was then sorted into Hufflepuff by the Sorting Hat, thus concluding the Sorting Ceremony.
From beginning to end, not a single freshman left a deep impression on Belvina during the orientation ceremony. The freshmen, soaked to the bone, were all freezing and shivering as if they had suffered a stroke.
Bored out of her mind, Belvina picked up her knife and fork and stared pitifully at the empty plate in front of her.
Finally, when Headmaster Dumbledore uttered those words, Belvina immediately transformed into Erdin, meticulously and swiftly cutting the steak on her plate.
"Look at Moody! Look!"
At that moment, Bassheda nudged Belvina with her elbow.
"If the house-elves saw Moody like this, they'd be heartbroken," Bassheda continued. "Is he worried the house-elves will poison him?"
Belvina looked up and saw Moody with a tense face, constantly picking at his food on his plate.
Whether it's potatoes, steak, pie, or ham, Moody would look at it again and again, smell it again and again, before carefully putting it into his mouth.
Alastor Moody's caution didn't stop there; he would occasionally look up and scan the entire arena, his bright blue magic eye never stopping for a second, observing everyone at all times.
"That's why I said he'd scare himself to death sooner or later," Belvina said. "Look, he doesn't even drink the drinks the school provides; he only drinks what he brings himself."
Throughout the entire process, Alastor Moody never touched the flask in front of him; he only drank the liquid from the curved bottle he had brought with him.
"Is he really suited to stay at the school?" Bassheda couldn't help but feel a sense of worry. "Can he really teach the students?"
Belvina shrugged and said, "If Professor Dumbledore thinks he can, he should be able to do it—"
She spoke with uncertainty because she was also worried about how Moody would cope with hundreds of students. Could that old man really keep an eye on Igor Karkarov while teaching his students?
A big question mark appeared in Belvina's mind.
If Professor Binns' story were to repeat itself with Moody, that would be truly absurd.