Just as Newt and Rolf, grandfather and grandson, were silently condemning Dracula's gloating behavior in their hearts, another laugh unexpectedly came from behind the desk.
"Puff..."
Newt turned his gaze to the white-haired old headmaster, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
"Albus, why are you gloating?" he asked in confusion, "Is it so funny that your assistant teacher got injured?"
"Ahem... I don't mean to gloat over someone else's misfortune." Dumbledore forced himself to regain a serious expression, but his facial muscles still twitched strangely from time to time. "I just thought of some happy things."
It’s no wonder Dumbledore couldn’t help laughing.
It is really ridiculous that the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor that has plagued Hogwarts for decades finally took effect on Tom Riddle himself!
Even if this Riddle was just a Horcrux of Voldemort and not him himself, it was enough to make the old headmaster, who had been troubled by this for a long time, happy for many days.
Newt couldn't understand why Dracula and Dumbledore had smiles on their faces. He shook his head in confusion and decided to ignore these two strange people.
He looked at Rove again, raised his hand and knocked him on the head, then stretched out his hand with a stern face:
"Now that the truth is out, let's bring it out."
"What are you going to take out?" Luo Fu blinked and started to act stupid.
"You've learned to play dumb in front of me now, haven't you?" Newt said gloomily. "You're just a little wizard. You don't even have the chance to get close to Assistant Professor Riddle. How can you possibly get the horn of the Erumpent close enough to blow through his defenses?"
Rolf was still acting like he knew nothing, which really pissed Newt off.
In fact, Newt had already guessed what magical creature Rolf had taken away, and he also saw the bulging pocket that he had covered with his arm from beginning to end.
So, Newt waved his wand and summoned a sheep's brain specially prepared for the Winged Demon from his old-fashioned suitcase.
As soon as the sheep's brain left the suitcase, the curled-winged demon in Rolf's pocket smelled the tempting scent and immediately began to struggle in his pocket.
Luo Fu was just a little boy in his early teens, with thin arms and legs, and he couldn't hold down the extremely dangerous Curled-Winged Demon at all. He could only let it tear his clothes with the spikes on the outside of its wings, and then flew out impatiently.
"Sure enough, you were the one who secretly took this Winged Demon away."
Newt stretched out his hand and let the Winged Demon fall into his hand to enjoy the delicious food. At the same time, he turned his head and glared at Rolf. "Do you know how long I have been looking for it after I found that one Winged Demon was missing? Do you know how much workload this has increased for me?"
Seeing the Winged Demon fly out by itself, Rolf could no longer play dumb.
He covered his torn robe with his hands, which had exposed part of his belly, and smiled awkwardly, "Grandpa, I just want to walk the same route you did back then!"
"You see, when you helped the American Magical Congress to arrest Grindelwald, it was the Winged Demon that helped seize his wand. If I ever encounter any dark wizards, I can also use the Winged Demon to defeat them!"
"So did you run into any dark wizards?" Newt deadpanned.
"No..." Rove shook his head.
“Who did you defeat last?” Newt asked.
"Assistant Coach Riddle..." Rove said weakly.
"And you relied on a series of coincidences such as sneak attacks, luck, the help of other magical animals, and the explosion of the horn of the Erumpent to finally cause trouble for Assistant Professor Riddle." Newt said angrily, "With this level of ability, you still think you can defeat the dark wizard?"
Rove fell silent and stopped talking.
He admired his grandfather too much, and wanted to be an excellent Magizoologist like his grandfather, but he ignored his age and the time he had been exposed to magic, and ignored the growth law of magic...
"Actually, I know you just want to prove yourself, Rolf." Newt sighed, and his angry expression gradually calmed down. "Don't worry, you will grow up slowly in a few years."
"Your future achievements will definitely not be worse than mine. When I was your age, I never got such top scores in exams as you do!"
Newt squatted down, pinched Rolf's tender cheek, and said with a smile.
"You've been in Hogwarts for quite a long time. Now it's time to go back to Invermorny and study hard." He said seriously, "When you grow up a few years, I'll let you be my assistant and take you on adventures around the world, okay?"
Luo Fu's eyes seemed a little moved, but he still shook his head.
"I don't want to go back to Invermorny. I want to stay in Hogwarts." He said, "You should want me to go to Hogwarts, too, right, Grandpa?"
"Hmm..." Newt hesitated and laughed bitterly, "Stop joking. Have you forgotten the friends you made in Yin Fa Mo Ni during your first year? Besides, Tina and your mother will not agree to your transfer."
"I don't care. You can help me convince them!" Rolf said stubbornly, "I have made quite a few friends in the past month at Hogwarts!"
"And I've never seen as many magical animals in Invermorny as in the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake. I love this place so much!"
Hearing Rolf's approval of Hogwarts, Newt couldn't help but feel a hint of joy in his eyes, but then he was filled with helplessness.
"If I agree to let you stay in Hogwarts, I don't know how many more yelling letters I'll receive from Tina." Newt shook his head. "You should know that I can't convince the two of them."
Newt turned his gaze to Dumbledore and Dracula, looking at them with a pleading look, hoping that the two professors could help him persuade Rolf to go back to school.
"You are a second-year student at Invermorny?" Dracula saw Newt's pleading eyes and took a few steps forward with interest, approaching where Newt and Rolf were. "But as far as I know, you have been in the first year of Hogwarts for more than a month."
"Because first-year students are easy to deceive..." Luo Fu said very honestly, "If I say I'm a second-year student, but no other students know me, then my identity will be exposed immediately. If I pretend to be a first-year student, I can find more excuses."
"Really?" Dracula raised his lips, "I thought you joined the first year specifically for Miss Lovegood from Ravenclaw!"
"Professor, I only met Luna after I entered the first year!" Rolf blushed.
At this moment, the Sorting Hat suddenly made a sound:
"See, I told you he's not suitable for Hufflepuff! How could a little wizard from Badger House say something like 'first-year students are easy to cheat'?"
"But, our whole family is from Hufflepuff." Newt frowned, "And Rolf has loved magical animals since he was a child, which is also the characteristic of Hufflepuff students."
However, before Newt could finish his rebuttal, Dracula grabbed the Sorting Hat, put it on his hand and swung it in circles, making the hat dizzy.
"Ignore him, let's continue talking." He swung the Sorting Hat and looked at Newt and Rolf nonchalantly, "This hat sometimes just needs to be lifted from time to time, just turn it a few times."
Newt was stunned when he saw Dracula put on the clean, patchless pointed hat.
“Wait, this is… the Sorting Hat?” He asked with wide eyes and shock. “I remember it didn’t look like this when I was at Hogwarts!”
Newt hadn't noticed this yet and thought the hat was just an interesting alchemical product that Dumbledore had made.
After all, the Sorting Hat that was originally tattered, dusty and patched has now turned into a clean, wrinkle-free and patch-free exquisite hat, which is really far from Newt's memory.
He turned to look at Dumbledore, "Albus, is it true that someone could give this hat a bath?"
Giving the Sorting Hat a bath has actually long been one of the biggest goals of Hogwarts students, but no one has ever been able to do it.
Basically, everyone who wanted to clean the Sorting Hat was easily dismissed. Either they were led astray by the Sorting Hat's nonsense, or they were changed their minds by the Sorting Hat's mental magic...
Few people know that the Sorting Hat, as a magic hat that stores the magic power of the Four Giants, has a pretty good level of magic.
Only someone as powerful as Dracula, who is deeply respected and feared by the Sorting Hat, could easily change the image of this antique hat.
"Is there anyone who can give the Sorting Hat a bath? I think you can ask Professor Dracula." Dumbledore laughed. "Professor Dracula cast a cleaning spell on the hat last year and repaired it to make it look like new."
"Come to think of it, after seeing the dirty and tattered Sorting Hat for so many years, I'm a little uncomfortable seeing this clean and tidy hat this year," he said.
"But I'm used to it." Dracula shrugged. "When Godric first wore this hat, it looked like this. Who knows how this hat has made me look so disgusting in the past thousand years!"
Dumbledore and Newt both smiled helplessly.
They just remembered that this Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was from the same generation as the four founders, so it was completely understandable that he was not used to seeing a brand new hat become dirty.
While speaking, the Sorting Hat in Dracula's hand had fainted and been shaken awake several times.
It woke up again, immediately opened the gap in the brim of its hat, and begged Dracula for mercy in a broken voice:
"My Lord, I was wrong... I... shouldn't... meddle in other people's business. Can you... put me... down?"
Dracula glanced at the Sorting Hat in his hand and tossed it up casually.
The Sorting Hat spun in the air for two seconds before landing right on Roald's head, covering his eyes.
"Didn't you say that little Scamander is not suitable for Hufflepuff?" He leaned against the cabinet next to him and looked at the Sorting Hat on Rolf's head with interest. "I'll give you this opportunity to judge which house he is more suitable for?"
"By the way, remember not to talk nonsense. If you dare to create an Azkaban school again, I will burn you immediately."
Dracula snapped his fingers.
A cluster of white flames appeared at his fingertips, instantly silencing the Sorting Hat that had been muttering just now.
The hat stopped dizziness and switched to working mode very quickly.
"Well, let me see. It's difficult. Very difficult..." As usual, the Sorting Hat started with a bunch of clichés, muttering quietly while using Legilimency to observe Roald's character.
"Is this the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony that my grandfather mentioned?" Rolf asked curiously, his eyes covered by the wide brim of his hat. "It seems much more interesting than those four moving statues of Invermorny!"
Newt walked to Dracula with some worry, looking at the brand new Sorting Hat and his grandson.
"Professor Dracula, Rolf is Yin Famo Ni's student after all. Isn't it too hasty to let him carry out the sorting ceremony like this?" he asked in a low voice.
"What's wrong with that?" Dracula glanced at him. "Don't even mention being a student. To be honest, I was also curious about which founder I would be more compatible with, so I put on the Sorting Hat and asked it to sort me into a house."
"And then?" Newt also became interested. "I hope you can be sorted into Hufflepuff."
At this point, Dracula's face suddenly froze, and Dumbledore laughed at the same time.
"Newt, forget it." Dumbledore couldn't help laughing. "Hufflepuff was the first one to be eliminated by the Sorting Hat."
"Yeah, I can actually guess that." Newt also laughed, "So which house was Professor Dracula sorted into by the Sorting Hat? The other three houses seem possible, but I personally prefer Slytherin."
Dumbledore glanced at Dracula with an unfathomable expression.
“Neither,” he said.
"None of them?" Newt was confused. "Besides these four colleges, where else can we be assigned to?"
"You'll never guess it," Dumbledore laughed. "It was actually Azkaban."
"What?"
"Professor Dracula was sorted into Azkaban!" Dumbledore laughed out loud. "I don't know if I remember it correctly, but it seems that it was because of this incident that Professor Dracula got revenge and cleaned the Sorting Hat!"
Dracula's face darkened.
"That's enough. You don't need to say anything more." He said to Dumbledore and Newt with a dark face, "It should be about time. It's enough for the Sorting Hat to determine Mr. Scamander's house."
The three of them then turned their eyes back to Rolf's position, but Dumbledore couldn't hide the smile on his face, and Newt still had some doubts on his face.
At this moment, the Sorting Hat suddenly opened the crack on its brim and shouted loudly -
"Hufflepuff!"
…
…