On the morning of the second week after the Christmas vacation, Elena and the three disciplinary committee members were late for their morning meeting again.
After enrolling for more than a year, Hermione, Hannah, and Luna finally understood the uncertainty of the distance between "Hogwarts Castle". They could flexibly control the length of the journey by letting Elena go at the front.
, to extend the "walk and talk" torture time.
Therefore, when they arrived at the auditorium, the Hogwarts auditorium was already full of people.
All the usual decorations have disappeared, replaced by flags representing the four houses of Hogwarts.
On the wall behind the staff desk is a huge curtain with the Hogwarts emblem printed on it.
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this auditorium decoration style has only one meaning: the starting point of a new school year.
Elena and her group walked to the long Hufflepuff table, found a few empty seats at the end and quietly sat down, looking around curiously.
There were noisy discussions around, and many little wizards were uneasy and talking excitedly. Everyone was guessing what the professors were going to announce later. A few well-informed little wizards were excitedly sharing what they had heard from their parents.
Most of the students who have paid a little attention to the changes around the school have discovered the foreign wizards appearing around Hogsmeade.
After a while, Professor McGonagall picked up the silver spoon and tapped the goblet gently.
The crisp and sweet sound spreads like magical ripples.
The noise in the auditorium gradually died down.
At the same time, Professor Dumbledore also stood up from the staff table.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts," Dumbledore looked at everyone and said softly, "Of course, it may be a little late to say this now."
He stopped talking and looked at the Slytherin table.
Before Dumbledore spoke, a very strange and depressing atmosphere had been lingering there.
Most of the little wizards at the Slytherin table have a newspaper in their hands, black and white magic pictures, and page layout styles that look exactly the same, which to some extent aggravates this depression, especially when there are other houses around.
Curious and uneasy discussing eyes.
"These things should have been explained clearly at the end of the Christmas break and the beginning of the new semester."
Dumbledore said, looking away from the Slytherin table and looking around at the upward-looking faces in the auditorium.
"However, due to the importance of the matter and some teaching reforms in Hogwarts, we decided to explain it at the beginning of the second week. Now I must trouble everyone to listen to the babble of an old man... I believe that among us
Some people know a little bit about the content, but I still implore you to listen patiently and carefully. For some strange reasons, newspapers and oral information are often not so comprehensive and accurate."
"First of all, it's about what happened in Hogwarts Castle last Christmas vacation."
"Before that, we may have to face up to it and look back on some ancient legends about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."
Dumbledore cleared his throat, swept his blue eyes over the students in the auditorium, and said calmly.
"You all must know that Hogwarts School was founded more than a thousand years ago. The specific date is not certain. The founders were the four greatest wizards at that time. The four houses were named after them: Godric
·Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Together they built this castle away from the prying eyes of Muggles..."
"In the first few years, the founders worked together harmoniously, looking for young people who showed signs of magic, and brought them to the castle to train them. However, slowly there were differences between them. Slytherin and
The rift between the others is growing. Slytherin wants Hogwarts to be more selective when recruiting students. He believes that magical education should be limited to pure wizarding families. He is unwilling to accept children born to Muggles, thinking that they are
Unreliable. After some days, Slytherin and Gryffindor had a fierce quarrel over this issue, and then Slytherin left the school. At the same time, a strange story suddenly appeared in Hogwart
It spread among the people..."
"The story goes that Slytherin built a secret room in the castle that the other founders knew nothing about."
"According to this legend, Slytherin sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that no one could open it. There was a terrible monster sealed in the Chamber of Secrets. Once it was released, it would attack the students in the castle. In fact... in
The secret room has been opened more than once in the past."
"What is extremely shameful is that we have never been able to catch the real murderer or find the entrance to the secret room before."
Dumbledore paused, looked around the quiet auditorium, and said calmly.
"The last person to open the Chamber of Secrets was Tom Riddle, and he caused a horrific murder at Hogwarts."
There were nervous murmurs in the auditorium.
Everyone raised their heads and stared at Dumbledore in horror and uneasiness.
Unlike a few months ago, almost everyone in the wizarding world now knows that Voldemort's name is Tom Riddle.
However, compared to the previous "fear", people will neither shudder nor gasp when they hear "Tom Riddle".
"I believe many students will still remember that a few months ago, Professor Binns took a short break... Fortunately, by some chance and after paying a certain price, Professor Binns finally found
We found the location of the legendary secret chamber.”
Dumbledore paused again, his eyes passed over a small silver head, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Now it seems that fully trusting the judgment of this little witch can be said to be one of his most correct decisions as the principal.
That was last semester, after he "confirmed" Elena's identity as a prophet, he asked the girl again about the source of the secret room information.
Elena's answer to him was that the attack "will" occur in the second year of her arrival at Hogwarts, and listed the list of victims shown in the "sight": Hermione...
Granger, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Penelope Crevat...
The credibility of this list is quite high, because there is a young wizard from the non-magical world who has not yet entered school at the time.
Colin Creevey, before officially enrolling, this little wizard's name was only known to the principal.
When Dumbledore saw this name in the Book of Access, his doubts about Elena's identity as a "prophet" were completely dissipated, along with the "prophecies" the girl had made.