As the last student was sorted into their house, the Sorting Ceremony came to an end.
Dumbledore stood up, facing all the students, and extended his hands to signal everyone to quiet down.
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" he said with a smile, adjusting his half-moon spectacles. "Before we enjoy our delicious feast, I have a few announcements to make."
The Great Hall gradually fell silent, everyone focusing their attention on him.
"This year, there will be some changes to our teaching staff," Dumbledore's gaze swept over the professors' table, finally resting on Quirrell. "Professor Quirinus Quirrell will be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
Quirrell stood up, nodded to everyone, then sat back down, the oversized purple turban on his head particularly conspicuous.
Harry recognized him as the man he had met earlier at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Well, I hope Professor Quirrell won't be too unlucky," he heard a nearby Gryffindor say in a lowered voice.
However, Harry's thoughts were clearly not on Quirrell but on Adrian, who was sitting further along the table.
If Quirrell was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, then Mr. Westeros...
Sure enough, just as Harry anticipated, Dumbledore's next words confirmed his guess.
"Also, Professor Kettleburn, who taught Care of Magical Creatures, has officially retired this year, and will be replaced by Professor Adrian Westeros."
Although he had already guessed it, when the news was actually announced from Dumbledore's lips, Harry still found it hard to believe.
"What are you grinning about?" Ron elbowed Harry. "Of course, being sorted into Gryffindor is something to be happy about."
Only then did Harry come back to his senses and quickly composed his expression.
Following Dumbledore's announcement, Adrian stood up and waved to the students in greeting.
However, what he hadn't expected was that as soon as his name was called, there was a sudden burst of discussion from the Hufflepuff table.
"Adrian Westeros? Is it that person...?"
"It must be. I've seen his photo, he looks exactly the same, and the name matches too."
Then came a wave of applause and cheers, mainly from the little badgers.
'?
What did I do?'
Adrian was confused and couldn't help but check his reflection in the polished table.
'My hair isn't even messy.'
As Adrian sat down with a puzzled look, Professor Sprout leaned over and said with a soft laugh, "You're still as popular as you were as a student, Professor Westeros. Look, those upper-year students still recognize you, and even some of the younger ones have heard of you."
Hearing Professor Sprout's explanation, Adrian became even more confused.
'Was I popular during my student years? But, why did I remember myself as a rather unremarkable character?'
And even if I had been popular before, six years had passed, so most of the students who knew me should have graduated by now.'
It was truly perplexing.
After introducing the new professors, Dumbledore spoke again: "Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few more words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
As Dumbledore finished these seemingly nonsensical words, the feast officially began.
All kinds of food appeared on the tables.
Various foods also appeared in front of Adrian, including boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, fried potatoes, potato chips, mashed potatoes...
"..."
The fork in his hand suddenly stopped.
Although he quite liked potatoes...
Fortunately, Professor Sprout exchanged her plate of roast beef with Adrian's boiled potatoes, finally giving him something different to eat.
While enjoying the food, Professor Flitwick, sitting next to Adrian, seemed to notice something. He looked toward the Gryffindor table, then back at Adrian.
His keen observation had detected something unusual.
"Why does Harry Potter keep staring at you, Professor Westeros?" Professor Flitwick asked curiously. "Does he know you?"
"I've noticed that too, Filius. Harry Potter keeps looking this way," Professor Sprout also turned her head, looking at Adrian with confusion.
For Adrian, this wasn't something he needed to hide.
"I live near his home," Adrian shrugged, speaking casually. "Harry frequently visited my shop. You know, I placed a Muggle-Repelling Charm on my store, so when Harry entered, I knew—he was a wizard. Of course, at first I didn't know he was the legendary Harry Potter."
Both Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout had looks of sudden understanding.
"Oh, that explains it," Professor Sprout nodded.
They hadn't particularly lowered their voices during their conversation.
Even Dumbledore was drawn in.
"You didn't mention this to me, Professor Westeros," Dumbledore said with a twinkling smile.
Hearing this, Adrian was somewhat surprised. He had assumed Dumbledore knew about Harry's interactions with him.
After all, Harry was undoubtedly very important in Dumbledore's eyes.
Adrian even thought that Dumbledore monitoring Harry constantly would be normal.
But soon, he dismissed this thought.
Look at Harry's life with the Dursleys, living worse than animals!
He believed that if Dumbledore had seen how Harry lived, he would have provided at least some help.
"Harry and I have a bit of a connection," Adrian smiled at Dumbledore. "It's a long story, but essentially, I just happened to live near his home, nothing more."
Dumbledore's blue eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses, as if contemplating something. He gently tapped his fingers on the table, looking at Adrian thoughtfully.
Adrian felt somewhat uncomfortable under Dumbledore's gaze.
Though it might not have been just Dumbledore's gaze making him uncomfortable.
Because Adrian noticed that someone else was staring at him intently.
Ever since Professor Flitwick had mentioned Harry Potter's name, Snape's piercing gaze had been lingering in their direction.
If anyone here was most concerned about the name Harry Potter, it would definitely be Snape.
As for why...
"..."
Adrian thought it better not to dwell on these matters; he didn't like sad stories.
Of course, while he sympathized with Snape, that didn't conflict with his dislike of the man.
So, Adrian simply ignored Snape's gaze.
'Look all you want,' Adrian thought to himself. 'If I return even a single glance, I lose.'
"Speaking of which, what kind of child is Harry Potter?" Professor Sprout asked with interest.
Clearly, not just the students but the professors too were curious about the legendary "Boy Who Lived."