My name is Sasuke, from being the richest man in Naruto to dominating the world

Chapter 579: Entrance Banquet, the School Year Officially Begins

Harry and Ron were indeed absent. Zhou Ming leaned over to take a look at the Gryffindor table. There were more familiar faces there, but Harry and Ron were missing.

Professor McGonagall had already led the freshmen to the teacher's seat, where there was a stool with a tattered wizard's hat on it.

Sorting Hat.

A relic of Gryffindor, passed down along with his sword.

It is said that this hat was once worn by Gryffindor himself. Later, in order to facilitate the assignment of students to colleges, the four founders injected their own thoughts into the hat and made it into a magical item.

The Sorting Hat can divide students into different colleges according to their talents and qualities. Of course, it will also listen to the students' own ideas. For example, when Harry was sorted, he strongly expressed that he did not want to go to Slytherin, and then the Sorting Hat gave in.

However, this situation is extremely rare, just like the Sorting Hat making a mistake, except that the former is admitted by the Sorting Hat itself, while the latter is basically never admitted by the Sorting Hat.

However, this is also true. For example, Slytherin has produced selfless students, Ravenclaw has produced fools, Hufflepuff has produced very talented but extremely lazy students, and it is not surprising to have a coward in Gryffindor.

But in general, the accuracy of the Sorting Hat is still extremely high, and situations like the one above where the wrong house is assigned rarely occur. Hogwarts has been passed down for so many years, with a new class of students every year, and there are less than a hundred such examples in total.

In addition, the Sorting Hat has a little-known function, which is to act as a space portal, which can transmit the sword of Gryffindor to the hands of those in need.

Of course, only Gryffindor students.

The old students are no longer surprised by the Sorting Hat, but for the freshmen, it still seems too scary.

Not only was it dirty, it was also covered in patches. What was even more terrible was that the hat could actually talk. The wrinkles on the hat formed eyes and a mouth that opened and closed, and it looked no different from a real person.

This is a little scary.

When the Sorting Hat started speaking, many freshmen subconsciously wanted to step back.

"You may think I'm not pretty, but don't judge people by their appearance.

If you can find a smarter hat than me,
I can eat myself.

You can make your bowler hat black and shiny,

Let your high silk hats be smooth and crisp,

I am the Hogwarts testing hat.
Naturally, it is much taller than your hats..."

After the freshmen stood still, the Sorting Hat suddenly started singing, and many students at the four long tables actually hummed along.

I have to say, this song is weird and very bad to listen to, and Zhou Ming has absolutely no interest in singing along.

After singing the sorting song, the sorting ceremony officially began.

This year's sorting ceremony is naturally not as lively as last year's, because there is no Harry Potter this year. Not only is there no Harry Potter, but even Harry Potter himself is not present.

The Gryffindor students, while paying attention to the Sorting ceremony, were also asking about the whereabouts of Harry and Ron. Unfortunately, no one knew where Harry and Ron had gone or what had happened. Hermione only knew that they failed to get on the bus, but nothing else.

Of course, it cannot be said that this year's sorting ceremony is completely without highlights. For example, Ginny Weasley is a popular freshman this year.

It was mainly her group of brothers who were making a lot of noise, mainly the twins George and Fred. Under their leadership, when Ginny walked in front of the Sorting Hat, the whole Gryffindor became restless.

Ginny's face was tense and her complexion was slightly pale.

On the one hand, they were nervous, and on the other hand, they were afraid. George and Fred had often talked about how dangerous the sorting was at home. Ron later joined this camp. Of course, Ginny didn't believe her brothers' nonsense, and before her, other students had already gone up, and it turned out that there was no danger at all.

But even so, she couldn't help feeling a little scared, and she was really nervous. She was very afraid that she would be assigned to another college.

Fortunately, everything went as planned, and the Sorting Hat didn't play tricks on Ginny. Maybe she didn't deserve it? Well, that's possible.

After all, Ginny is just an ordinary student, not that outstanding or extraordinary. Naturally, she cannot be compared with a savior like Harry.

According to tradition, the Weasley family was sorted into Gryffindor House again. There was an immediate burst of enthusiastic cheers at the Gryffindor table, as if they had found a savior, although they did find a savior last year.

After Ginny, there was another series of uninteresting students, but soon, the second interesting one arrived.

This was a highlight for Zhou Ming, but very ordinary for other students.

Luna Lovegood.

A girl with long dark golden brown hair, which looks fluttering and weird.

She is good-looking, looks sweet, and has a gentle and fragile personality, which can easily arouse men's desire to protect her.

As expected, she was sorted into Ravenclaw, the same college as Zhou Ming. After the result came out, applause naturally broke out at the long table in Ravenclaw.

Yes, there was only applause, but no cheers, and it was not as lively as the Gryffindor table.

But it is understandable. After all, Ravenclaws are all children who love to study. They are relatively shy and introverted, which is completely different from the extroverted personality of Gryffindor.

Luna trotted to the Ravenclaw table, and the prefect Penelope stood up and led her to sit at the table.

Zhou Ming looked at Luna a few more times.

Luna's father, Xenophilius Lovegood, was a very strange man. He ran a magazine called The Quibbler, which was considered non-mainstream in the magic world. It often published some strange articles, some shocking, some inexplicable. Perhaps influenced by her father, Luna looked very strange, but Zhou Ming knew very well that this child only looked strange in character, but she was actually a very good person, and she was also brave and resourceful. She just didn't like to speak, or even if she said something, others would not take it seriously.

After Luna, there was really nothing interesting about the other freshmen. Zhou Ming was too lazy to even look at them anymore. Instead, he turned his head and listened to other students talking about their experiences during the holiday.

Some people would also ask about his situation, mainly focusing on his relationship with Cynthia.

In the first grade, the two of them were inseparable all day long. It was no exaggeration to say that they were conjoined twins, so their classmates naturally thought they were in love. After all, they even lived only a hundred or two hundred meters apart in the Muggle world.

In fact, many people asked this question last year, and every time someone brought up this topic, the boys would laugh strangely, while the girls would immediately become fully focused.

However, Zhou Ming has always denied this.

He did want to, but he had to get Cynthia's consent.

How should I put it? Is Cynthia really a virgin goddess?
Her self-control is really extraordinary. No matter how Zhou Ming teases her, she can face it calmly. In fact, she was not like this at the beginning. She would be shy when Zhou Ming held her hand, but soon, she was able to control her emotions very well and made herself impeccable, which made Zhou Ming scratch his head.

Seeing that they couldn't get anything useful out of him, everyone quickly turned their attention elsewhere.

Soon, the Sorting ceremony ended and Professor Dumbledore began to speak.

What he talks about every year is actually the same. It's nothing more than the idea of ​​studying hard, not going to dangerous places casually, etc. The old students are tired of listening to it every year, so only the freshmen find it somewhat interesting.

After this brief speech, as Headmaster Dumbledore clapped his hands, countless delicacies instantly appeared on the four long tables.

Roast beef, roast chicken, pork, lamb, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled tomatoes, roast sweet potatoes, French fries, pudding, pears, carrot puree, ketchup, mint candy and more.

Well, actually this can't be considered a delicacy, especially for Zhou Ming. At best, it's something he can barely swallow. The only advantage is that the portion is large and he can eat as much as he wants, and there is still plenty of reserve for later.

But for others, this kind of food is a pleasant surprise.

Seeing other students eating with relish, Zhou Ming expressed his complete understanding. After all, it was a world-famous food desert, so it was normal that everyone had never eaten or seen it.

This also included Zhang Qiu, no, it should be called Qiu Zhang, who was also enjoying the meal. Except for eating slowly to maintain her ladylike image, she didn't look like she was having any difficulty.

Zhou Ming also understood.

After all, Qiu Zhang is just a Chinese, not an international student who came directly from the University of Tokyo. This is normal. The University of Tokyo’s own magic school is still waiting for enrollment. How could it allow its own students to be recruited by a foreign school?
What? You said the original book never mentioned that there was a magic school at the University of Tokyo?
This is normal. After all, the core of this world is in Europe, and the plot mainly revolves around this area. The situation at the University of Tokyo will certainly not be involved too much.

In fact, as a country with a population of over one billion, how could there not be magic schools? At most, the teaching methods and names are slightly different from those in Europe and the United States, but the internal situation is similar.

Just like in the world of Saint Seiya, Todai also has gods and its own fighters, but because it is not the center of the world's plot, it does not appear on the main stage.

Therefore, whether in Hogwarts or other magic schools, all students who look like Orientals are either from other small countries, or their fathers or grandparents are Orientals, and the students themselves have lived abroad since childhood, like Zhou Ming. Apart from this, there is no other possibility.

Everyone was eating happily. Zhou Ming looked at the Gryffindor table several times and found that Harry and Ron still hadn't returned.

Percy's expression was calm, Hermione seemed a little anxious but could still sit still, and the head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall, did not look abnormal at all and was whispering something with Professor Spoutlaw.

Just like that, the dinner ended quickly. Headmaster Dumbledore cleared his throat, cleared all the food away, and began to lead the students in singing the school song.

The Hogwarts school song is very free. The lyrics remain unchanged, but the tune can be changed at will, and everyone can be different. So the entire auditorium instantly turned into a sea of ​​​​dancing chaos, and everyone sang the school song in their favorite tune.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hogwarts,

Please give us knowledge,
Whether we are bald old men,

Or the child who injured his knee in a fall,
Our minds can accept
Something interesting.

For now our heads are empty and full of air,
Dead flies and trifles,

Teach us some valuable knowledge..."

To be honest, Zhou Ming didn't understand the meaning of such lyrics at all, but who cares? Since everyone else was singing, he would just sing along. He was just moving his lips anyway without making any sound.

After the song was finished, the opening dinner was finally over. Students from the four colleges, led by their respective class leaders, left the auditorium and headed towards their respective lounges.

Ravenclaw's common room is located on the west side of the castle, in a tower exclusively for Ravenclaw.

Before entering each door, you have to answer the questions asked by the eagle-shaped bronze door knocker. You can enter only after answering correctly. Fortunately, the questions asked by the door knocker are not difficult and have little to do with knowledge. Most of them test students' logical thinking ability, and the questions are mostly riddles.

After passing through this door, the first thing you see is the common room, a round room hung with blue and bronze silk, with a dome ceiling dotted with many stars, and the dark blue carpet below also dotted with stars; there are many bookshelves, tables and chairs around it, as well as a marble statue of the founder, Rowena Ravenclaw.

Going up the stairs, you will see separate dormitories for men and women. There is nothing much to say about the dormitories, four people in a room, just like in other colleges.

The freshmen were still marveling at the layout of the common room when Zhou Ming had already walked upstairs. There were many other students with him. This was the difference between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

If it were Gryffindor, it would have just started to get lively by now, but in Ravenclaw, everyone prefers a quiet learning environment, and the revelry is limited, so the overall look is rather deserted, but Zhou Ming likes this kind of environment very much.

After returning to his room, making his bed and washing up, Zhou Ming went back to bed, leaned against the headboard and read a book for a while, then slowly fell asleep.

Nothing happened that night. Zhou Ming woke up early the next morning, stretched himself, and prepared to face his first day of study at Hogwarts.

(End of this chapter)