"Don't forget, you're the one who taught me about Charms," Yvonne replied flatteringly.
Flitwick gave a rather self-satisfied laugh.
At this moment, on the high platform, the last freshman completed the Sorting under everyone's applause. Professor McGonagall put away her hat with a strong wave of her right hand, then cleared her throat and spoke to everyone.
"I have some important announcements to make before dinner."
"Since the Ministry has not yet found a suitable professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, all relevant courses will be suspended for the year…"
"However, we should be grateful that Hogwarts has a new professor and that you will be able to learn some protective skills from him—"
As he spoke, McGonagall turned to Ivan. "I'm sure everyone in the second year and above is familiar with this new professor, Mr. Ivan-Harrs, who graduated from Hogwarts with honors last year and will be taking up the position of Professor of Magical Studies and Practices!"
Ivan rose from his seat and nodded to the young wizards.
A particularly loud round of applause filled the Great Hall, and the young wizards and witches of the four houses all gave a rare, unified welcome to the new professor.
Some of the new students looked at Ivan in confusion, as he looked too young. When he was sitting at the teacher's table, they thought he was a prefect or student council president.
"That's our new professor? But he doesn't look much older than us…" a new student from a Muggle family asked curiously.
"My God, don't tell me you didn't know about Halus?" exclaimed the senior wizard. "Didn't you read the papers before you came to school? He was the most gifted wizard ever to live at Hogwarts… and a recipient of the Order of Merlin!"
The wizard regaled the new students with tales of Ivan's exploits, such as his feat of magically subjugating powerful trolls and dragons, his ability to move freely around a hundred Black Lake merpeople, and his taking on the front page of the Daily Prophet for a month on end…
"He also defeated You-Know-Who!" exclaimed a young wizard who had been a member of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Association. "I read in that memory that when Potter was about to be killed by You-Know-Who, it was Hals who rescued him, and then joined forces with Headmaster Dumbledore to defeat You-Know-Who!"
"I'm guessing Hars was responsible for the mystery man's death, too, and my mother says it would be strange if the Aurors of the Ministry could get rid of You-Know-Who … who couldn't do anything but get paid to be active."
After listening to the lectures of the senior students, the new students finally understood how Ivan Harris became a Hogwarts professor at the age of sixteen.
An agitated Ravenclaw witch went on and on about how the carriages at Hogwarts must have been able to find their way on their own because Ivan Hulse had secretly cast a spell on them… all except for the fact that Ivan was the one who had thrown the Lake Monster in.
"That's thestrals pulling the carts!" a disembodied voice interrupted their conversation.
"When I first came to school, the carriage started to move. I'm sure it wasn't Ivan's doing," Luna replied earnestly.
The new students looked from Luna to the Ravenclaw witch, wondering who was right.
Choking on Luna's words, the witch didn't know how to respond, but she didn't want to admit defeat, so she stuck her neck out and said, "Don't listen to this crazy girl. She says there are Crumple-Horned Beasts and Harassers in the world."
"It's a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" Luna corrected him, taking a clear glass bottle out of her satchel and showing it to everyone.
"No, this is it! We found it together in the Forbidden Forest!"
The witch was stunned when she saw the baby Crumple-Horned Snorkack in the bottle, which was pure white and had a strange appearance and a pair of large, curved horns. Was Luna right about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack and the Harassment Badger being real magical creatures that had not been discovered before?
"I applied to the Ministry of Magic last year to add Crumple-Horned Snorkacks to the Encyclopedia of British Magical Creatures, and they promised me they'd be in the Daily Prophet for the next two days," Luna said happily.
Also, the Ministry of Magic did not change the name she gave to this magical creature, using the name Crumple-Horned Snorkack!
The opening ceremony of the new school year was soon over with noise from the young wizards, and Ivan left the professors and was led to his bedroom by the house-elf.
The room was larger than Ivan had expected, with a special utility room, bookcases, and a swimming pool.
At first, Ivan thought he was being given special treatment, but when he thought about it, the prefects of each house were entitled to a room with their own bathroom, so the professors were treated better.
"Can I get you anything else, sir?" the house-elf asked shrilly.
"No, no, thank you!" said Ivan, placing the suitcase on the table.
The house-elf, however, showed some trepidation at Ivan's gratitude and disappeared from the room.
Ivan shook his head. It seemed that completing the mission of the Pixie Army would not be an easy task … these house-elves had long since become rigid in their thinking, which meant that, to put it bluntly, they were inflexible.
He also learned from Pierce that the house-elves were loyal to Hogwarts, which meant that he would not be able to complete the task immediately even if he became Headmaster.
Ivan was troubled, but he quickly composed himself. It took five points to activate the protective mode, and there was no rush.
… .
The next morning, Ivan got out of bed on time, washed up, and checked his timetable.
Given that news could come from the International Confederation of Wizards at any time, the curriculum was very relaxed, with only ten lessons a week for all seven grades, and Ivan planned to spend his spare time in the Restricted Section reading advanced books on magic to improve his knowledge.
However, there happened to be a sixth year class this morning. When he saw this, Ivan put away the note and quickened his pace. He did not intend to be late for his first class.