Chapter 138: The Arrogant Court Flower

After all the students arrived at Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express, they took their seats early in the Great Hall.

The enrollment of the new students was completed ahead of schedule this year. Kahn did not pay much attention to the newcomers, but he was quite interested in the Sorting Hat. According to Nicholas Flamel's alchemy notes, incorporating human consciousness into alchemical products represented extremely advanced alchemical knowledge.

Kahn was not capable of that yet; his memory magic was not yet proficient enough. Only when he could perfectly replicate personality, emotions, habits, and other traits using memory magic would he be able to attempt such advanced alchemy.

Strictly speaking, something like the Sorting Hat was already equivalent to a separated vessel possessing its own consciousness, except that it held the thoughts of the four founders.

Once the sorting ceremony concluded, Dumbledore began to announce several matters, noting that this year would be a remarkably extraordinary one for Hogwarts.

Dumbledore stood at the front of the platform and said in a resonant voice: "First of all, let us warmly welcome Professor Ponte, whom those above the third year are quite familiar with. He will continue to instruct you in Defense Against the Dark Arts for this coming year."

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, many students below broke into applause. They were very fond of Kahn Ponte due to his completely unconventional teaching style—free, innovative, and refreshing. Moreover, Kahn's generous gifts had left a lasting impression on many; Hermione's Firebolt had practically become the exclusive broomstick of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

With the exception of Slytherin, most Slytherin students were not very pleased with this news, because Kahn had handed twenty-one pure-blood wizards over to the Ministry of Magic during the Quidditch World Cup.

A few days prior, the trial for those twenty-one wizards from pure-blood families had officially concluded, and by now they should have been transferred to Azkaban.

After Dumbledore gave the usual cautionary reminders to the new students about the dangerous areas of Hogwarts, the caretaker, Mr. Filch, hurried in through the main doors, rushed up to Dumbledore, and whispered something into his ear.

While Filch was scurrying back toward the Great Hall's doors on tiptoe, Dumbledore loudly announced once more: "Because Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary competition, our school is about to welcome some very special guests..."

While Dumbledore was making announcements at the front, Professor McGonagall was preparing to retrieve the Sorting Hat and take it to the Headmaster's office after the banquet ended.

Seeing Professor McGonagall's actions, Kahn's eyes lit up instantly as he said, "Professor McGonagall, leave the Sorting Hat with me."

Professor McGonagall looked puzzled and said, "Leave it with you? Professor Ponte, the Sorting Hat must be returned to the Headmaster's office after the banquet..."

Kahn replied, "Leave that matter to me. I have a few questions I'd like to discuss with the Sorting Hat."

Discuss? But it was merely a hat.

Professor McGonagall very much wanted to ask for the reason, but she held her tongue and simply placed the hat beside Kahn. It was only a minor matter; the Sorting Hat would neither be lost nor damaged, though it was a bit dusty.

Dumbledore at the front was already welcoming the students of Beauxbatons, whereas Kahn simply wanted to use this time to study the Sorting Hat. Perhaps he could ask Dumbledore later if the hat could be kept permanently in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.

"What are you planning to do? I possess the discernment and judgmental mindset of the four founders. Your gaze reveals dangerous thoughts that remind me of the 'Witch-Hunting Dungeons'—perhaps you belong there!"

As soon as the Sorting Hat was placed beside Kahn, it spoke to him with a hint of panic. However, this only piqued Kahn's curiosity. He clicked his tongue in admiration, then immediately cast a detection spell from alchemy upon the Sorting Hat to analyze its composition.

Ancient Runes—extremely complex Ancient Runes. Kahn even spotted markings that were slightly different from standard Ancient Runes yet remarkably similar. He could not tell whether those were runic scripts favored by goblins or something else entirely, but Kahn felt this hat was immensely worthy of study.

The look of interest on Kahn's face deepened. Suddenly, he sensed numerous people staring at him; Hagrid beside him and Hermione and the others down below had all fixed their gazes upon him.

One particular gaze caught Kahn's attention. It belonged to a Beauxbatons student with a waterfall of silver hair and sapphire-blue eyes filled with complex emotions. Yet, one thing Kahn was certain of was the presence of hatred—an expression he had seen many times in Lucius's eyes.

If Kahn remembered correctly, she must be Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons. Perhaps it was due to her family, but that had nothing to do with him; if one chooses to take risks, one must bear the consequences. This was not a game for children.

He slightly restrained his probing behavior toward the Sorting Hat, intending to study it properly after Dumbledore finished explaining the Triwizard Tournament.

By this time, the students and headmasters of Beauxbatons had taken their seats, and Dumbledore was welcoming the delegation from Durmstrang Institute. Once they arrived at the Great Hall and seated themselves, Dumbledore finally announced the start of the banquet.

The matters concerning the Triwizard Tournament would at least wait until everyone had dined; otherwise, some students certainly would not have the patience to listen to Dumbledore and Barty Crouch discuss the competition on empty stomachs.

Tonight's dinner featured far more varieties than traditional British cuisine, likely due to special instructions from Dumbledore to accommodate the guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Dumbledore waved his hand, clearing away all the food from the tables, and then unveiled the magical artifact known as the Goblet of Fire.

While Barty Crouch explained the rules of the Triwizard Tournament, Mad-Eye Moody also walked in through the side door of the Great Hall. He had been invited by Dumbledore to prevent any unforeseen accidents during the competition.

Kahn did not know whether this Mad-Eye Moody was real or an impostor. On the day of the Quidditch World Cup, he was not entirely certain whether he had killed Barty Crouch Jr., but he could find an opportunity to test this Mad-Eye Moody.

Dumbledore already knew the whereabouts of the Horcruxes, rendering Voldemort's resurrection completely meaningless. The strength of the Death Eaters was severely depleted, and Peter Pettigrew had been sent to Azkaban. Now, the difficulty of Voldemort's return had been raised to hellish levels, so this objective might not even be a disguise.

..................

After the banquet concluded, Kahn requested permission from Dumbledore to borrow the Sorting Hat. Dumbledore agreed without hesitation, merely offering a brief reminder to "return it to the Headmaster's office when you are finished."

Kahn then packed away the Sorting Hat, ignoring its pointless complaints. Alchemical items with independent thinking capabilities were indeed fascinating, just a bit noisy.

Before returning to his office, Kahn made a trip to the library and the Restricted Section. Taking advantage of the brief moment before Madam Pince departed, he borrowed every single book on Ancient Runes available.

The composition of the Sorting Hat involved numerous unfamiliar runes. Kahn anticipated spending the entire night searching through reference materials and conducting research.

However, right outside the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office, he encountered an unfamiliar black cat.

"Whose pet is this?"

Kahn suspended his magical books in mid-air and stepped closer to observe the black cat. To his surprise, the feline was not afraid of people at all. Seeing him approach, it let out a sweet meow—a delicate and pleasant sound.

"With a meow that dainty, it must be a tomcat... Oh, guess I was wrong."

Kahn lifted the cat up to inspect it, but this movement caused the cat to struggle, likely because it disliked being elevated so high.

Many students at Hogwarts kept pets, and though most brought owls, some brought other animals. For instance, Hermione's pet was a highly intelligent cat carrying kneazle heritage.

After putting the cat back down, Kahn paid it no further mind; perhaps this black cat would return to its owner by tomorrow. Yet, the moment Kahn unlocked and opened the door, the black cat darted inside a step faster than him, leapt gracefully onto a chair, hopped onto his desk, and sat down obediently.

Those intelligent eyes gazed steadily at Kahn, instantly dispelling any notion he might have had of banishing the cat with magic.

It all came down to appearance. If a rat had been squatting at his office door, it would already have been reduced to dust.

"You may stay here, but you must behave. No howling and no relieving yourself indiscriminately."

With that, Kahn waved his hand and used Transmutation to conjure a soft cushion and a litter box for the black cat, then offered some fish to coax it. However, the cat seemed already full; upon seeing the fish, it simply turned its head away, giving Kahn a bored profile view.

"Quite arrogant, aren't you..."

Its fur was remarkably smooth, though, and it felt wonderful to stroke. Furthermore, the black cat seemed to enjoy Kahn's touch, curling up on the soft cushion to sleep shortly thereafter.

Seeing that the cat was settling in to rest, Kahn stopped petting it. He pulled out his books on Ancient Runes to read, while simultaneously employing his detection magic to record every single special rune comprising the Sorting Hat using a self-inking quill.

Thus, the only sound in the nighttime room was the scratching of the quill. The black cat resting on the cushion would occasionally open its eyes to watch Kahn diligently studying the Ancient Runes, before finally succumbing to exhaustion and drifting off to sleep with a tiny yawn.

The cushion was soft and plush, and with the fireplace burning in the room, it would not catch a cold even sleeping like this all night.

...........

The black cat, currently lost in a pleasant dream, was suddenly tapped twice on the head. Interrupted from its reverie, it let out an indignant meow, only to open its sleepy eyes and find that Kahn had scooped it up.

"I'm heading out to teach classes. To avoid locking you inside the office, you'd better go find your owner."

Class?

Upon hearing these words, the black cat's pupils shrank into vertical slits. How long had she actually been asleep?

Carried out the door by Kahn, the black cat immediately wriggled out of his arms, hit the floor running, and bolted down the corridor. Seeing this, Kahn shook his head and muttered, "So ungrateful, not even a shred of attachment."

Teaching classes felt more like a chore to Kahn. He now had something far more interesting—alchemy. Therefore, he had dispatched a shadow clone to instruct the students, intending to dispel the clone the moment the class ended, or sooner if any emergencies arose during the lesson.

Kahn possessed a profound understanding of the Dark Arts; at the very least, he had read every single book on the subject available at Hogwarts.

Voldemort had been researching Horcruxes by the age of sixteen, and the dark magic Kahn had extracted from Tom's mind was more than sufficient to teach fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students how to defend themselves.

As for the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, they occasionally attended his lectures. Most of the visitors from those two schools were seventh-years, with only a small minority joining the regular Hogwarts classes.

Yet, over the past few nights, a black cat had repeatedly waylaid Kahn at his office door, treating his quarters almost like an inn.

"Fascinating, truly a remarkable piece of work. The construction method has some relation to high-level sealing techniques; perhaps I can draw inspiration from the principles of sealing... As long as I can 'stabilize' this many runes, I should be able to replicate an identical hat. I would only need to supply 'emotion,' 'thought,' and 'judgment.'"

Kahn stared at the fully transcribed runes before him—over seventeen hundred in total. Of those, Runes only accounted for a quarter, while the rest were quite unfamiliar to him. However, he could roughly deduce from the textual records that at least two of the remaining rune types originated from magical creatures, while the final type yielded no records whatsoever.

"Perhaps I should check the notes and materials left behind by Nicholas Flamel."

Remembering that he still possessed the knowledge left by the master alchemist, Kahn resolved to split off two shadow clones every day henceforth, dedicating them entirely to reading through all of Nicholas Flamel's alchemical texts.

"Before that, I can forge some other—hm? Fleur Delacour."

Just as Kahn was thinking of crafting some magical items, he suddenly received memories transmitted back from his shadow clone. Everything else had been normal, except that Fleur Delacour had approached him after class, expressing her desire to speak with him tonight after the champions were selected.

He didn't need to guess to know that Fleur was coming on behalf of the Delacour family's predicament, but Kahn had no intention of bailing out the arrogant court flower. The Delacours had been greedy first; if he let them off lightly, where would he put his dignity? Would the Delacour family end up pushing their luck even further in the future?

However, Fleur Delacour's words served as a reminder that tonight was the champion selection, an event he had nearly forgotten. If Fleur hadn't sought him out, Kahn would have stayed in his office crafting magical items.

Kahn was unfamiliar with the Goblet of Fire, but it bore a powerful magical contract. Once established, even Dumbledore could neither alter nor terminate it.

Kahn arrived rather late. By the time he reached the Great Hall, Dumbledore had just announced the Beauxbatons champion: Fleur Delacour.

"Professor, over here."

Hermione waved to Kahn from behind the crowd. With the Goblet of Fire about to spit out the second name, Kahn thought it unwise to conspicuously push his way through to the professors' section, so he stepped over to stand beside Hermione.

"Professor, Harry has been running into some trouble lately. After the champion selection ends, may I bring him to see you?"

Hermione leaned close to Kahn's ear and whispered. Harry, standing nearby and noticing Kahn looking at him, nodded hurriedly, making it clear the two had already discussed this.

Kahn nodded and said, "Of course. Come straight to my office afterward."

While they were talking, the three champions of the Triwizard Tournament had all been chosen: Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum, and Cedric Diggory.

Before Dumbledore could say anything further, however, the Goblet of Fire underwent another shift. A fourth slip of paper flew out from within. Dumbledore caught the slip and glanced at it, the wrinkles on his face bunching up tightly.

Then he shouted aloud: "Harry Potter!"

Hermione said in astonishment, "A fourth champion? And the fourth champion is Harry? Why are there four champions in the Triwizard Tournament... Professor Ponte, why do I suddenly feel like this makes some sense..."

"You've been affected by a spell, Hermione."

Kahn looked closely at Mad-Eye Moody, noting the look of shock on his face as well. If the man was an impostor, he deserved credit for exceptional acting—though the original Barty Crouch Jr. was indeed a brilliant actor who had fooled many.

Harry Potter's selection as champion left many people filled with resentment. At only fourteen years old, bearing merely the reputation of the Boy Who Lived without having demonstrated performance convincing to everyone, why had he been chosen?

Cheating!

That was the only thought in the minds of many envious onlookers, and even Harry's good friend Ron harbored some suspicion. Only Hermione believed it was an accident, knowing that Harry lacked the capability to bypass the magical wards Dumbledore had set. If he were truly that brilliant, he wouldn't need to copy her homework.

After announcing Harry Potter as the final champion, Dumbledore dismissed the students, while he and Barty Crouch went off to the back rooms to address the situation regarding Harry.

In the Great Hall, once most people had cleared out, Hermione asked, "Godfather, what should we do now?"

"Wait for Dumbledore to reach a decision. But Harry has no choice but to compete; even Dumbledore cannot break the magical contract of the Goblet of Fire."

Having said that, Kahn instructed Hermione: "Once Harry comes out, if he is still willing to see me tonight, bring him to my office."

Hermione nodded in agreement. Kahn disliked wasting time; while waiting, he could return to design the appearance of the alchemical items he intended to forge next.

For now, he would stick primarily to metals and magical materials. Once he fully mastered those runes, he planned to experiment with applying them to clothing.

.............

Not long after he returned, a knock sounded at his office door.

With a wave of Kahn's hand, the door swung open, and Hermione walked in accompanied by a bewildered and troubled Harry.

Hermione peered curiously at the magical materials on the desk before saying, "Godfather, we were delayed a bit by an accident on the way here."

Kahn waved a hand, turned his chair around, and asked Harry, "No matter. So, Harry, what trouble are you facing?"

Harry asked unhappily, "Professor, my biggest trouble right now is becoming a champion. Is there any way to fix this?"

"Of course there is—just fix the Goblet of Fire. Actually, I'd love to study the Goblet of Fire myself; since it's a magical artifact, a way to crack it must exist. However, I've only recently taken up alchemy, so it might take me a few months or half a year."

Kahn said this with a straight face. He genuinely wanted to study the Goblet of Fire, though Dumbledore and Barty Crouch would certainly never allow it.

"But I really didn't put my name—"

"Of course you didn't. With your magical power, you could never bypass Dumbledore's enchantments. Someone else entered it for you. In fact, I could do it myself, though the deadline has passed, otherwise all three of you could have participated."

Kahn paused for a moment, then continued: "No one helps you gain fame for no reason. The person who helped you become a champion did so either for your money or for you yourself. In short, someone has their eye on you now. But you needn't worry; with so many professors in the school, your safety is guaranteed."

Hearing Kahn's words, the expression on Harry's face relaxed somewhat, as he had professors to vouch for the fact that he hadn't entered his own name. Ron, standing beside him, felt a pang of guilt, remembering how he had maliciously suspected Harry of cheating his way into becoming a champion earlier.

Yet Kahn's subsequent words made Harry tense up again. Someone was watching him? Why did trouble always seem to find him every time he came to school?

Harry thought with helpless resignation. But catching the look in Hermione's eyes, he remembered the purpose of their afternoon visit and quickly said, "Professor, I keep having nightmares lately, dreaming... of Voldemort talking to some Death Eaters. It sounded like they've come to Hogwarts!"

"Come to Hogwarts? Tell me about your dream in detail."

Kahn's expression turned slightly grave as he listened to Harry recount the recurring nightmare.

That phrase: 'You must all infiltrate...'

More than one Death Eater had gotten inside?

Yet Kahn hadn't detected anything amiss with what Moody was drinking, though just to be safe, he would test him with a spell tomorrow.

"Harry, you'd best learn Occlumency. That's my advice to you. As for who to learn it from... asking Sirius or Professor McGonagall would both work."

Kahn told Harry, "Occlumency is the only spell that can help you resolve those nightmares."

Once Harry's problem was addressed, Kahn sent them back to their dormitories to sleep, noting that so many matters had delayed them and the hour was already quite late.

..............

"Hermione, Ron, how am I supposed to learn Occlumency from Sirius? He can't even get into Hogwarts... Oh right, there's that secret passageway in the school, but where would he stay after getting in?"

On the way back, Harry asked with some frustration. With the misunderstanding cleared up, his relationship with Ron had returned to normal.

"I don'kn—"

Before Ron could finish his sentence, he stared blankly as someone emerged from the corner ahead—a cascade of silver hair and a captivating face that made it impossible to look away, especially recalling that brief glimpse from earlier.

"She's really beautiful, isn't she?"

Harry nodded in agreement. "You're right, Ron."

"Isn't that Fleur Delacour? What is she doing out this late?" That direction should lead to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office—where her godfather lived.

Hermione desperately wanted to know the answer to that question, but neither Harry nor Ron could provide it.

"You guys go on ahead, I need to use the washroom."

With that, Hermione hurried off with brisk, determined strides.

After she left, Harry finally reacted and asked, "Ron, don't girls' dormitories have washrooms?"

"I've no idea, maybe not, otherwise Hermione wouldn't need to go elsewhere."

Harry shook his head. "That's rather unfortunate then."