Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts.

Chapter 22 Beware of Your Shadow

Kane turned around and saw that it really was Professor McGonagall. He quickly stopped, while Paul Anreira, who had fallen to the ground, did not show any signs of oxygen deprivation. He just kept clutching his head and groaning in pain.

"Mr. Kaneheath, I need you to explain to me what happened here!" Professor McGonagall looked at Kane sternly.

Kane glanced at Paul Anreira: "Perhaps... Professor McGonagall, you could ask the second instigator of this incident, Mr. Paul Anreira. He certainly knows the whole story better than I do."

Professor McGonagall quickly walked up to Paul Anreira, first checking his physical condition and finding that he was indeed unharmed, with only a trace of dark magic...

Well, having learned about Kane from Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall naturally wouldn't dwell on such matters. She simply used a healing spell to return the excess blood above Paul Anreira's neck to his entire body.

"Now," Professor McGonagall said slowly, "I'm standing between you and Kanehis. You can tell me the whole story, but I won't just ask you alone, so I need you to answer truthfully. Even if Mr. Kanehis attacked you, that's not a reason for you to put all the blame on him."

Kane raised an eyebrow. Although Professor McGonagall had said that he wouldn't listen to just one person, he still felt it was necessary to get Mr. Paul Anreira to tell the truth in one go, just to save himself some trouble.

Thinking of this, a thought struck him. The shadow cast by Professor McGonagall, which blocked the light from the distant lamplight, seemed to come alive, tearing itself apart and forming several English words.

"Watch out... Shadow, tell... the truth!"

Upon witnessing this scene, Paul instinctively felt that the shadow beneath his feet was like an abstract animal trap, capable of snapping off any part of him at any moment, should the hunter named Kanehis be so willing.

Ultimately, wanting to survive, Paul Anreira decided to tell the truth.

Professor McGonagall listened as the story unfolded, from the toad Lucky jumping onto his head to Hermione standing up for Neville and him calling her a Mudblood...

Originally, his pre-school self-study level was quite good. Not to mention Neville, a good-for-nothing, and Hermione, a little wizard with obviously insufficient experience, even if you put two random wizards on the field, he might not necessarily lose.

Then Kane suddenly jumped out, and after he had only said a few trash words, he was grabbed by Kane's shadow and began to caress him.

Professor McGonagall's face grew increasingly dark as she listened to Paul Anreira's explanation. She then looked at the others, mainly Kane, and asked, "Is that so?"

"He's fairly honest," Kane said, raising an eyebrow.

"Mr. Anreira, because you insulted a classmate, five points will be deducted from your house score after the house sorting is completed. Miss Granger, you bravely helped Mr. Longbottom, so five points will be added to your house score after the house sorting is completed."

"Mr. Longbottom, keep a close eye on your frog. Last but not least, Mr. Heath."

Professor McGonagall looked at Kane and sighed helplessly: "I admire your stance of protecting your classmate, but your methods were too cruel. Please apologize to Mr. Anreira."

Kane shrugged. "No problem."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Mr. Paulanerella, who was standing not far from him, and slowly bent down, but his head was still not lowered at all.

"Mr. Paulanerella, I apologize for my impulsiveness just now."

As Kane's calm words fell into the foyer, Paul Anreira across from him plopped down on the floor. He could no longer feel his legs, but thankfully he could still feel his throat and mouth.

"I accept! I accept your apology, and at the same time I am very sorry, I, I shouldn't have spoken so rudely, Mr. Kanehis, please also accept my... my apology..." Paul Anreira said in a panic.

"Hmm... I accept your apology." Kane slowly straightened up and looked down at Paul Anreira, who was sitting on the ground.

Anyone who had just arrived here would not believe that the scene was Kane apologizing to Paul; on the contrary, it looked more like Paul begging Kane for forgiveness.

"Can I...can I stand up?" Paulanerella asked, trembling.

"You were scared so much you couldn't stand up, it wasn't my doing." Kane said, then stopped looking at Paul Anreira and walked into the crowd, finding Harry and Ron.

"Kane, you are this." Ron held out a fist to Kane, and then with a pop, a thumb popped out.

"Keep it down, keep it down." Kane said, noticing that Professor McGonagall was leading the crowd out of the foyer, and the young wizards finally stood in the center of the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall walked to a small stool in front of her, on which sat a dirty linen hat. Kane recognized the hat; it had always been on top of a cabinet in Dumbledore's office.

"No way?" Kane murmured silently. "Could it be some kind of magical experiment in the hallway, but rather using a hat?" Kane looked at Maxwell, who was standing in front of him examining the hat.

He'd just spent half the day standing out in the foyer because of a few words from that man in the distance...

Suddenly, the hat spoke up.

After a series of hoarse, unpleasant songs, Kane was certain it was all thanks to that hat.

Professor McGonagall slowly pulled out a piece of parchment: "The Sorting Ceremony shall now begin."

She looked up from the parchment and at the pile of young wizards, announcing loudly, "Hannah Abbott!"

As a little wizard with two braids walked up and put on the hat, the moment came the moment.

"Hufflepuff!"

The entire auditorium erupted in applause, and Kane clapped along, but while clapping, he didn't forget to look at Maxwell beside him: "That was a great idea."

Maxwell crossed his arms: "You're pretty smart. You didn't tell your two friends what we thought was the Sorting Ceremony, or you would have been terribly embarrassed."

"Even so, I should be the one proud, not you," Kane said speechlessly.

"uh-huh."

"What are you humming about? Is the Eternal Realm so free?" Kane said helplessly.

"As you wish."

With a loud bang that only Kane could hear, Maxwell vanished.

After getting rid of Maxwell, Kane was finally able to continue watching the Sorting Ceremony in peace, while two furtive figures slowly approached from behind.

As a hand gently patted Kane's shoulder, he instinctively turned around and saw a lazy, casual, and ugly toad.

Kane, his voice unusually trembling, uttered a curse: "Holy shit!"