A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts-Chapter 723: The Journey of the Sorting Hat

Chapter 723: The Journey of the Sorting Hat

Felix Harp wore the Sorting Hat, dirty, wrinkled, and patched, and whispered, "Do you have something to say to me?" As he spoke, he stole a glance at the portraits on the wall, which immediately closed their scrutinizing eyes and started to snore.

"I wasn't looking for you; it's you who have always been coveting me," a faint voice echoed in his mind.

"I'm very curious about your existence."

"What's there to be curious about?"

"Your existence has been too long, and your material is too ordinary—"

"Think about the headmasters' portraits on the wall, then think about Peeves," the Sorting Hat said in a smooth tone.

"Portraits? Peeves? They—" Felix's expression faltered, "Wait, you're also a part of the school?"

"Correct. As long as the school exists, so will I, even if I am just a hat made of ordinary material."

Having resolved a long-standing puzzle, Felix felt somewhat relieved and a bit perplexed. After a moment of thought, he calmly asked in his mind, "Why did you sort me into Slytherin in the first place?"

"Oh, let me think—calm, clear-headed, worshipping power, you set your sights on reaching the top of the wizarding world on the very first day of school, and—forgive my frankness, having a lucid understanding of the darker aspects of human nature at such a young age and being fully prepared for it is very rare in my entire career of sorting."

Felix smacked his lips, "So, I fit the selection criteria of Salazar Slytherin very well?"

"Ideals, what ideals?" the Sorting Hat asked nonchalantly.

"Of course, the philosophies of the four founders of the school—"

"So, you think my lining is sewn with a little note filled with rules and regulations?"

"I thought there would be something similar." Felix said calmly, "Like a set of fixed thought patterns, or a standard process." The Sorting Hat interrupted indignantly:

"—Then would my job merely be to hide behind the students' thoughts and tick off items on a list?"

"You have a different opinion."

"Of course, I do! My job is much more important and complex than you imagine," the Sorting Hat exclaimed loudly, "Although I'm just a hat, I have my own thoughts and personality. I'm smarter than most people and devoid of human flaws. I don't need to eat or sleep, and my mouth is solely for speaking, not mixed with other uses—I'm also obsessed with productive thinking. Hmm, most of the time, I reminisce about the past, composing new songs…"

"That's impressive." Felix said, though he wasn't quite sure what there was to reminisce about. Was it about the years it spent in the headmaster's office, eavesdropping on the office hours of successive headmasters? But what involvement could there be in that? Or savoring nearly a thousand sorting ceremonies alone, but then, could it really not get them mixed up...

The Sorting Hat seemed to choke up a bit, then after a moment of silence, said, "I'll let you see for yourself."

"Okay."

Felix closed his eyes, waiting. After a while, the Sorting Hat made no move, which surprised him.

"Drop your mental defenses." The Sorting Hat said sullenly, "Besides surface thoughts, I can't see anything, like hitting a thick stone wall..."

"Sorry." Felix muttered. After dropping his defenses and waiting a few more seconds, he felt an invisible force pulling him upwards by the top of his head as if to pull him to the ceiling, or inside the hat itself. This reminded him of how the Room of Requirement worked, and he did not resist.

Suddenly, he found himself in darkness. Gradually, colors emerged from the darkness. Felix watched as a string of lights appeared out of nowhere, plummeting down, sparking grey-green and silver-white sparks. They formed a long, silvery and green-foamy mire, stretching into the distance.

A solitary figure waded through the murky shallow water.

Salazar Slytherin walked past Felix with a pace that was neither hurried nor slow, holding a stick for probing the way. As they brushed past each other, his expression remained unchanged, his robe appearing to be made from a single piece of black cloth, with several small snakes following closely behind him.

The scenery flickered, transforming into a wilderness. Felix saw a young man walking on a country road, his back straight, his steps brisk, and his red hair fluttering in the wind. Young Godric Gryffindor leapt onto a rock, looked back at the village he had come from, and then resolutely walked towards the distance.

He had no idea that his hometown would later be named after him.

On the peaceful riverbank, Rowena Ravencl

aw watched the flowing water quietly, the river reflecting the blue sky, an eagle skimming the surface;

In the golden fields, Helga Hufflepuff picked up a stalk of wheat that glinted in the sunlight, which then bloomed into a small flower.

Felix realized, these were the memories of the school's four founders. Then a new question arose. According to the Sorting Hat's statements in previous sorting ceremonies, they had all infused it with their thoughts. Felix had always thought it meant their ideals, but ideals can become outdated. The moral values of the Middle Ages might not be suitable for the present, yet the Sorting Hat's work had never stopped.

Now he understood a bit. The four founders indeed infused the Sorting Hat with thoughts, but not shallow ideals, rather the paths they had walked.

Felix traveled through the darkness, with new scenes emerging every moment. Gradually, he grasped a thread of the storyline, glimpsing a hidden corner of history—why did Gryffindor and Slytherin become good friends? Because they both pursued powerful strength; why did they eventually part ways? When he saw Gryffindor learning swordsmanship from Muggle knights and Slytherin ruthlessly eliminating threats in his path, Felix had a vague answer.

This feeling became stronger when he saw Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

As exceptionally talented witches of their time and also close friends, they traveled many places together, jointly helping the weak. Hufflepuff's heart was full of compassion, treating everyone equally, always willing to stop for the weaker ones, while Ravenclaw obviously preferred dealing with those who were intellectually flexible because it helped in solving problems. They worked seamlessly together, with the former dissipating many unnecessary disputes, and the latter excelling in devising strategies to solve problems once and for all, such as building a windmill.

Felix saw the early forms of Hogwarts kitchen's cooking magic and the castle's architectural structure from the travels of these two ladies.

Naturally, the youthful experiences of the four founders also laid the groundwork for future disagreements.

Among them, Salazar Slytherin was the most extreme, or rather—the most solitary. His lifestyle was more akin to that of an ascetic, solitary and traversing through turbulent times. He pursued power like Gryffindor, but was more unscrupulous; he was inwardly detached like Ravenclaw, aloof from worldly affairs, but even colder and more self-centered; he also had sympathy for young witches and wizards living in harsh environments like Hufflepuff, but this compassion was very stingy, not sparing a bit for those unrelated.

These four of the most outstanding witches and wizards of their time met, having heard of each other, and thus they exchanged magical knowledge. To Felix's surprise, in the beginning, except for Hufflepuff, the other three got along noticeably better, with Slytherin bluntly stating that the magic Hufflepuff researched was "not worth mentioning, useless in times of chaos." Thankfully, the calm Ravenclaw and passionate Gryffindor mediated, along with Hufflepuff's always good temper, preventing the conflict from escalating.

As their exchange deepened, Hufflepuff proved herself to be an exceptionally talented witch, not only excelling in cooking magic but also in identifying herbs and concocting potions.

Finally, the four decided to establish a magic school together.

They came to the Scottish Highlands, a secluded place with a primitive and desolate environment, where ancient rocks were divided into canyons and lakes by water flow and glaciers. Ravenclaw chose a cliff with a lake, surrounded by emerald green hills wearing white snow caps, with deep canyons below and a dense forest nearby.

They all agreed this was the ideal place to build the school.

Among them, only Ravenclaw had the experience of building a house by hand (with magic). She devised the school's floor plan, especially the main building's movable rotating staircase. The two men brought various materials, while Hufflepuff looked for flowers and greenery to decorate the school, even discovering wild wand trees in the nearby primeval forest by accident.

The castle gradually took shape, and the four unitedly set up the most stringent defense magic of that time. Considering that the castle would later be filled with students, they came up with a genius idea—unprecedented at that time—relying on the castle to collect diffused magic power as the most important part of maintaining the magic castle and constructing the defense system.

Felix watched this scene intently.

He had not expected to gain profound magical knowledge from the Sorting Hat. Initially, he was just curious about its state of existence, later wanting to chat with the four founders inside the Sorting Hat, if possible. But the surprise came unexpectedly—

The four founders, unreservedly and passionately, engaged in the same activity, freely applying what they had learned. The secrets of Hogwarts Castle unfolded before his eyes. Felix's hands moved with the

action, the book of magic spells hanging in front of his chest turned pages automatically. Centered around him, ripples formed by magical symbols spread outwards along the floor, climbing the walls, sneaking through the door cracks outward...

As a magical hub within the castle, the Room of Requirement's magical channels emerged from the thin air, accepting the power symbolizing ancient magic spells. Soon, this new force flowed through the castle's magical pipelines like surging blood. Passing through Moaning Myrtle's abandoned bathroom, it branched off towards the Slytherin Chamber.

In the Charms classroom, Professor Flitwick had just made an impressive demonstration for the students below when he suddenly paused, extending his hand and gently lifting his wand in the air, producing a string of golden magical symbols from the wand's tip.

The students looked up as the walls and floor undulated like fine waves, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to calm.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat, "Class, let's continue..."

In the school's kitchen, house-elves bustled about, preparing lunch for the students. A breeze passed through, and they seemed to sense a kind gaze. The house-elves looked around, but found nothing. A plain portrait hung in the kitchen, depicting a benevolent-looking woman. This portrait was not connected to the castle and had no magic power; it was merely passed down among the house-elves.

Every house-elf, from the moment they could remember, had heard an ancient tale: "It was Lady Hufflepuff who brought them to Hogwarts, offering them shelter, respect, and work, personally teaching them cooking magic..."

Felix opened his eyes, still retaining the last image in his mind—the four founders standing together, infusing their life trajectories into the Sorting Hat. Slytherin wore a locket, Gryffindor held a sword, Ravenclaw donned a diadem, and Hufflepuff carried a cup. At least in that moment, their gazes were reassuring.

Felix slowly stood up, placing the Sorting Hat back on the shelf. His gaze lingered on a glass case nearby, which contained the locket, the sword, and the cup. Except for Gryffindor's sword, which shimmered, the other two founders' relics appeared somewhat dim. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Felix took Ravenclaw's diadem out of his ring and gently placed it beside them.

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