Chapter 9: Dinner Is Served—Wait, What Kind of Dinner Did You Serve?

“Pfft—”

A strange sound slipped out from the Sorting Hat’s mouth, like the hiss of a balloon being popped.

“Ha, child, I can see you’re kind-hearted—hmm…”

The Sorting Hat’s lowered voice coaxed gently, like a cat nudging a teetering glass on the edge of a table.

“Hmm… quite clever and ambitious, perhaps Slytherin—”

“Gurgle gurgle.” Kohn made a hungry noise from his mouth.

“Oh—suddenly, I think for a… um—a ‘special’ child like you, it’s quite brave to be enrolling here—” the Sorting Hat twisted awkwardly on Kohn’s head and whispered uneasily.

Kohn was very satisfied with the Sorting Hat’s second choice.

He wouldn’t have to be hunted by Rose anymore—

“Gryffindor!”

With a hoarse tremble in its voice, the Sorting Hat shouted the house name.

On the way to Gryffindor, Kohn gave Harry, who was still among the few remaining students in the line, an encouraging gesture.

Kohn even adjusted his position deliberately so that Dumbledore in the teachers’ seats could see his gesture full of small wizard camaraderie and goodwill.

A perfect combo move.

Kohn felt he was becoming more and more adept at being a healthy, sunny, and positive half-Dementor.

After taking his seat, Kohn began watching Harry’s Sorting.

But since the Sorting Hat spoke so quietly to the young wizard, Kohn couldn’t hear the tug-of-war between Harry and the Hat at all.

Watching a silent play where the actor hardly moves was hardly entertaining—

“How hard to guess, which Gryffindor house will Harry be sorted into?”

“Gryffindor!”

After the Sorting Hat announced, the hall fell silent for a moment.

Then, the Gryffindor side erupted into deafening cheers as if trying to tear the roof off Hogwarts.

Harry’s legs trembled slightly as he walked to the Gryffindor long table.

The Weasley twins shouted, “We’ve got Potter! We’ve got Potter!” Percy stood up as Harry passed by and gave him a firm handshake, as if greeting an important international figure.

Other Gryffindor students expressed their joy in various ways. The scene was so chaotic that the Sorting Hat had to shout out the next student’s placement loudly to restore order in the hall.

Ron was sorted into Gryffindor, but only a few of his older brothers congratulated him.

“That scared me…” Harry sat next to Kohn, still visibly shaken.

“I almost got sorted into Slytherin. Stay calm.” Kohn rubbed his hands together and picked up the knife and fork before him, waiting for the food to appear.

“You too?!” Harry leaned in, whispering in a voice only Kohn could hear, his expression astonished.

“Uh-huh? The first time it said it wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I refused because then Rose would chase me.” Kohn knew well that Harry still cared about the Sorting Hat’s initial decision.

Children always feel uneasy about being different, but when they find someone walking the same path, that unease is replaced by a sense of safety from companionship.

Harry was clearly experiencing just that.

“Phew…”

Harry seemed to exhale in relief.

The Sorting Hat’s first choice wasn’t always right—in Harry’s eyes, Kohn had nothing in common with the evil house of Slytherin.

“Welcome!” Dumbledore beamed at the students, spreading his arms wide, as if nothing made him happier than seeing them gathered together.

“Welcome everyone to a new year at Hogwarts! Before the feast begins, I want to say a few words: Fool! Crybaby! Scum! Twist!”

This phrase embodied the prejudices each house held against the others—perhaps a completely useless reminder from Dumbledore to the children, or perhaps a playful tease.

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, sumptuous dishes appeared on the tables before them.

Setting aside some of Britain’s darker culinary experiments, most of Hogwarts’ food was quite delicious.

After all, making pork chops or beef taste bad is no easy feat, especially when the cooks are house-elves with rich and refined culinary skills.

Still, Kohn felt something was missing along the way.

Was there something that should have appeared at Hogwarts already but hadn’t?

“No matter, dinner first.”

Just as Kohn planned to shift his attention back to the food and was about to take a big bite of the giant lamb leg on his plate—

“Aaahhhh!!!”

A pained male voice suddenly came from the table in front of Kohn.

And Kohn tasted something off in the lamb leg.

Why did the lamb leg with spicy sauce taste sweet…!!!

Kohn instantly realized what had entered his stomach along with the meat.

A pearl-colored, translucent ghost wearing a ruffled collar sprang out from the table.

[Soul Strength: 10]

Near the other houses, too, numerous ghosts emerged from under tables and through walls, startling the new students into shrieks.

All the ghosts had a consistent soul strength of 10, leading Kohn to suspect this was the minimum threshold for a normal adult wizard’s soul—he had never seen an adult wizard with soul strength below 10.

The ghost Kohn had bitten into floated up to mid-air above the table, clutching his head and muttering something about “should’ve listened to the headmaster, don’t get too close…” while casting cautious glances at Kohn.

Kohn recognized this fellow—the Nearly Headless Nick—since his head looked precariously attached.

Presumably, Dumbledore had specifically warned the ghosts not to get too close to Kohn’s mouth.

No wonder the ghosts who should have met the new students earlier had delayed their appearance until now—but Kohn felt it might have been a worse idea to have the ghosts show up during dinner, like Nearly Headless Nick, who had almost lost his head thanks to a bite from Kohn’s lamb leg.

But Nick said nothing—Kohn had already eaten it, and what could he do to make Kohn spit it out?

Out of respect for Dumbledore’s request and to avoid revealing that Kohn was part Dementor, which might cause panic among the students, Nick chose to introduce himself to the new students from a place as far from Kohn as possible.

“I know who you are! Nearly Headless Nick!”

While Nick was introducing himself, Ron slapped his forehead, recalling the Gryffindor ghost his two older brothers had mentioned.

“I think I prefer it when you call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington—”

“But why are you ‘nearly headless’?”

Under persistent questioning from the light-brown-haired Seamus Finnigan, Nick impatiently pulled down his head, revealing a fresh notch at the top—where Kohn had bitten.

Kohn was too absorbed in eating to look up at the gruesome severed neck.

“Just like this.”

Nick said dryly.

Obviously, Nick did not want to dwell on this topic; after all, in the dull existence of ghosts, Nick’s half-detached head was a rare source of mockery—the poor ghost couldn’t argue, as he obviously couldn’t use his head to play ghostly bowling.

Nonetheless, the young wizards’ reactions pleased him greatly. Ghosts love to scare people as it lets them pretend they are still alive.