Chapter 428: The new function of the Sorting Hat and the selection of contestants

"Principal Dumbledore, let's have dinner and do the selection at the same time. These two things don't conflict with each other!" Cedric's voice came from the long table of Hufflepuff House.

He won applause before he finished speaking, and it was obvious that he had the support of many people.

Seeing that the students in the audience had no intention of waiting until the next day, Dumbledore agreed to everyone's wishes. However, he did not start the selection immediately, but took out a fist-sized crystal ball from his arms, which was filled with white mist.

"I would like to thank Professor White once again. In order to make the selection results more convincing, she not only modified the Sorting Hat, but also thoughtfully made a magic crystal ball for us that can show the strength of magic in each person's body." As he spoke, as if to testify for Professor White, Dumbledore drew out his wand and placed it against the crystal ball.

The mist in the crystal ball suddenly turned red, then turned to gold, and finally became as dazzling as the sun, dazzling the students in the front row so much that they couldn't help but close their eyes.

"Minerva, you try it." Dumbledore handed the crystal ball to Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall did the same thing, and the luster of the crystal ball suddenly dimmed a lot.

If the crystal ball looked like a small sun in Dumbledore's hand, then in Professor McGonagall's hand, the light intensity was at most a high-power incandescent bulb.

Professor McGonagall smiled embarrassedly and handed the crystal ball to Professor Sprout beside her - she couldn't let her be so embarrassed alone, she had to find someone to be with her!

After it came into contact with the tip of Professor Sprout's staff, the smoke in the crystal ball turned into a yellowish-brown hue, about the same brightness as Professor McGonagall's.

Professor Sprout thought for a moment and placed the crystal ball in front of the newly hired Professor Arius. She wanted to take this opportunity to see the level of this new colleague.

I hope it's not someone like Lockhart, Professor Sprout thought to himself.

Rowena certainly understood what Sprout meant. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and she extended her index finger and placed it on the crystal ball.

The crystal ball didn't respond.

Rowena raised her eyebrows, and Helga said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Be more restrained."

"It has exceeded the detection limit." Rowena understood and began to suppress her own magic power. After a while, the crystal ball turned blue and shone with a light that was no less than that of Dumbledore.

There were "wow" sounds from the audience. Although from the literal meaning, magic strength cannot fully represent one's own strength, it can always explain something. Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout are good examples.

The new Professor Arius actually has the same amount of magical power as Headmaster Dumbledore. What a powerful wizard!

"Thank you, but please stop now, or Madam Pomfrey will have to prepare eye potions for everyone." Dumbledore made a little joke and took the crystal ball from Rowena.

"Let's start eating! Students from each college please come forward one by one--" Dumbledore said loudly.

The golden plates and goblets in front of everyone were suddenly filled with food and drinks, and the students walked to the faculty seats in order of their seats, put on the sorting hats as if they were participating in the sorting ceremony, and used their wands to hold the magic crystal ball.

It can be seen that the strength of students' magic power is directly related to their age. The older the students are, the brighter the light from the crystal ball will be. The magic power of some students has already reached a level similar to that of the professors.

However, the scores given by the Sorting Hat are not completely based on the light of the crystal ball, and some people's scores are unexpectedly high or low.

The students came forward in order, first Gryffindor, then Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and finally Slytherin.

Rice paid a little attention and found that, as expected, students like Hermione and Cedric obtained very high scores - one scored 98 and the other 99, so it was a foregone conclusion that they would pass the selection.

To his surprise, Neville's score was also quite good, a full 87 points. As long as Slytherin House did not produce a large number of high-scoring candidates, his chances of being selected would be very high.

"It's incredible that Diggory's score is lower than Granger's. How many points do you think you can get, sister?" Astoria asked in a low voice.

In Astoria's opinion, Diggory was the owner of the elemental realm, but it was a bit surprising that his score was lower than Hermione's. It might be because Cedric did not fully awaken the realm, or it might be that the Sorting Hat included the phantom Les in Hermione's realm.

"One hundred points!" Daphne was quite confident.

Les remained silent. The crystal ball Helga had created did not make him panic. He saw Rowena's reaction when she first touched the crystal ball. It was obvious that the crystal ball had a limit to its display ability. As long as the magic power he input into it was strong enough, it would get stuck and not display anything.

Of course, he would not use such a conspicuous method. He would find a way to restrain his own magic power so that his magic power would be no different from that of ordinary students.

But he was still a little uneasy because too many accidents had happened. Rowena's return, the transformation of the Sorting Hat, and this so-called magic crystal ball...

Why are there so many things I don't know? This is not a good sign.

Rice's mind suddenly turned and he had an idea in mind.

He stood up quietly while everyone's attention was on the food and the selection ceremony.

"Les, you--?" Daphne turned her head and looked at Les.

"I'm going to the bathroom and will be back soon. You two, keep quiet." Les's face was gentle and he looked calm.

"Oh." Daphne nodded, and when she turned around, Les disappeared.

Walking into the bathroom, Rice quickly took out several bottles and jars and began to prepare the potion. To be on the safe side, he had to take the potion to completely restrain his magic power.

For wizards, it is very difficult to conceal the strength of their magic power, because no one would do that. If Helga's crystal ball was made extremely sharp, even with Rice's strength, he might be defeated, but with the help of the potion, it would be different.

The potion of Rice is essentially a poison. After drinking it, Rice will enter a weak state, and the strength of his own magic power will naturally decrease.

In this way, even if Helga made her crystal ball more precise, she would not be able to detect the problem.

Of course, the best strategy would be to not attend the selection ceremony at all, which was why Rice was in this bathroom.

After drinking the potion, Rice waited quietly in the bathroom and cast a spell to transmit the sound from the auditorium next door.

The auditorium was in chaos, but Rice didn't care.

[Okay, the thirteen contestants have been selected, everyone should go back to bed! ]

Les heard Dumbledore's announcement of the end of the meeting, and a smile appeared on his face -

Rowena, I won this battle!

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The second update is here, good night, muah~