Approximately two hours later.

"So, Filius, what's the Sorting Hat's current status?"

In the staff lounge beside the Great Hall, Dumbledore rubbed his temples, looking somewhat troubled.

The start-of-term feast had ended. Led by the prefects, the students had left the spacious, brightly lit school hall one after another, heading to their respective common rooms to prepare for the second round of welcoming the new students and the opening night chats.

The heads of the various houses and the professors were kept behind to address the issue that had occurred during the Sorting Ceremony, and to discuss the teaching arrangements for the new semester—as Dumbledore had said, this was an unfamiliar new term.

As for the culprit who had caused all this, she had naturally been summoned into the room separately.

At this moment, the "troublemaker" was sitting quietly on a small velvet stool in the room, well-behaved and adorable, looking like a harmless porcelain doll. However, apart from Professor Lupin, no one in the room would be fooled by her appearance.

"Well... not good..."

Facing Dumbledore's question, Filius Flitwick shook his head, looking a bit distressed.

"You must have tried it as well. There are no traces of magical interference on the Sorting Hat, neither magical fluctuations nor any abnormalities in the Sorting Hat itself. However, no matter how we try to communicate with it, we can't get any response."

In the center of the room, the poor Sorting Hat was still hoarsely shouting.

Even after realizing that something was wrong, Professor McGonagall had removed it from Eileen's head as quickly as possible, but she was still unable to restore everything to its original state. In the past dozen minutes, they had tried almost all possible means of communication.

"...Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slyth—"

"In any case, let it rest for a while..."

Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and an invisible spell flew out.

The Sorting Hat's incessant voice stopped instantly, but from the Sorting Hat's constantly opening and closing brim, it could be seen that McGonagall's spell had not cured the Sorting Hat's "illness". She had only temporarily silenced it with magic.

"I warned you before not to try this kind of unconventional behavior!"

The head of Hufflepuff House, Professor Pomona Sprout, snorted and said with a displeased expression.

"In Hogwarts' long history, there has never been such a ridiculous situation as a student being sorted multiple times, let alone a student who has already been in school for a year. It's simply—"

"But... according to my observation and deduction, the root cause of all this should not be re-sorting."

The head of Slytherin House, Severus Snape, shook his head slightly, glanced at the white-haired ball sitting obediently beside him, and a meaningful look appeared on his pale face as he slowly said, hinting at something.

"As heads of houses, we granted Miss Kaslana the right to enter and exit various houses. This unprecedented multi-house reform attempt may indeed confuse the Sorting Hat. But in essence, if Miss Kaslana herself does not possess the characteristics of each house, then she cannot obtain this privilege, let alone affect the Sorting Hat in turn."

"So, what are you trying to say, Severus?"

Professor McGonagall frowned and asked impatiently.

As the head of Gryffindor House, she wouldn't naively believe that Snape would be kind enough to smooth things over. According to her understanding of Slytherin House, these were just paving the way for Snape's subsequent remarks.

Even if the two sides had temporarily formed an alliance to fight against Hufflepuff, this tacit understanding would not last long.

"I'm thinking... perhaps from the beginning, we shouldn't have given Miss Kaslana too many privileges."

Severus Snape's lips turned up slightly as he raised a finger and shook it, softly saying.

"There are many ways to solve the dilemma we are facing now, and I have a very simple one—perhaps we should revoke some of Miss Kaslana's privileges until the Sorting Hat returns to normal. I personally think it's best to let her leave Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, so as not to give the students some bad hints and guidance..."

"You can forget about that, Severus! Seriously!"

Professor Sprout raised her eyebrows and glared fiercely at the Slytherin who was taking advantage of the situation, sternly saying.

"At least in my opinion, Hufflepuff House has no reason to expel this student. Miss Kaslana has not violated any school rules. She simply obeyed a not-so-reasonable request, sat on the stool, and put on the Sorting Hat again—besides, if we're talking about privileges, shouldn't that be a problem for Gryffindor and Slytherin?"

Albus Dumbledore turned his head and glanced at Eileen, who was silently sitting beside him, with a searching look.

It must be said that Eileen was behaving too normally today. Even though, whether from her expression or logic, the girl's dazed and confused reaction was perfectly normal, just like the state that any Hogwarts little witch should be in.

But when all this appeared on this "Silver Moon of Hogwarts," it felt a bit subtly uncoordinated.

"Only the heads of houses can expel students. That's the rule at Hogwarts, Severus."

Dumbledore sighed, looked around at the professors, cleared his throat, and patiently summarized.

"And from the current situation, it is clear that none of the three houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin, intend to expel Miss Eileen Kaslana. In other words, we can first reach a consensus—"

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore, there's one point I may need to correct."

At this moment, Filius Flitwick suddenly cleared his throat and carefully interjected.

"I think it should be four houses—Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. This is an easy problem to understand, after all, the Sorting Hat called out Ravenclaw first. At least until the Sorting Hat returns to normal and corrects its decision, I think it's fine to regard Miss Kaslana as a Ravenclaw student first."

Professor Sprout's mouth twitched. The very well-mannered witch seemed quite angry at the moment.

Like her, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape also showed a look of shock and anger after a brief moment of astonishment.

In Professor Sprout and others' understanding, Ravenclaw House should have been a safe option that had long been eliminated. However, what they never expected was that Flitwick, who had always been indifferent to the world, was actually also a competitor.

"I'm sorry," Professor Sprout glanced around at the guys who wanted to steal the cabbage from her garden and said coldly, "If we're talking about the order, Eileen Kaslana should also belong to Hufflepuff first. Everyone heard that with their own ears—"

"But if I remember correctly, she didn't put on the Sorting Hat at the time, she was just holding it in her arms."

Professor Flitwick politely shook his head and analyzed it seriously, one by one.

"As far as I know, the Sorting Hat cannot read a student's thoughts through physical contact. Therefore, even if you insist that the house spoken by the Sorting Hat is valid, it is for the person who wore it last, not for Eileen, who hasn't worn it yet."

"Besides, Miss Kaslana stayed in Gryffindor House on the first night..."

Professor McGonagall's eyes lit up, and following Professor Flitwick's suggestion, she launched the second round of attacks.

It must be admitted that the people in Ravenclaw House do have more flexible minds. With Filius Flitwick joining their alliance, Professor Sprout was not so difficult to deal with.

After all, in terms of restraint, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are nemesis, just like the relationship between a lion and a snake.

"...You, you!"

Professor Sprout took a few deep breaths and looked at the shameless colleagues around her with eyes as if she was meeting them for the first time.

The short, stout witch turned to Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore, you are the headmaster of Hogwarts. You decide what to do!"

"Ah, this..."

Dumbledore opened his mouth, revealing a bitter smile. If he could, he would even want to throw this white-haired ball directly to Azkaban.

———

———

Not skipping! Not skipping!