John headed to the Headmaster's office.
Before the end of the school year at Hogwarts, there was still the end-of-term feast.
Slughorn was not there at this hour, but John had long since grown used to that.
Standing before the stone gargoyle, he said, "Norwegian Ridgeback."
The gargoyle leapt aside, and John went in.
He opened the door to the Headmaster's office and stepped inside.
The Sword of Gryffindor still rested in the same place, untouched.
But John had not come for it. He walked over to the Sorting Hat.
"It's you, John Wick," the Sorting Hat said. "You've been coming here quite often these past two years."
"I want to try again, Sorting Hat." John picked it up.
The cobwebs on it were still there. John almost admired the spider responsible. He had no idea how long it had been weaving them.
He placed the hat on his head.
"I'll tell you the same thing as before, John Wick," the Sorting Hat said. "You have never changed."
Slytherin's ambition.
Gryffindor's sense of adventure.
Hufflepuff's tolerance.
"You've been through quite a lot over the years. Even your Head of House has spoken about you here."
The Sorting Hat knew more secrets from the Headmaster's office than almost anyone else.
"But none of them know you as well as I do. You are a Slytherin. That is where you belong most."
John removed the hat and sighed. "Slytherin, huh?"
"If I'd been sorted into Gryffindor back then, would things have turned out differently?"
The Sorting Hat disagreed.
"No matter which House you were in, you would still have walked the path you were meant to take."
John shook his head slightly.
"I met Gryffindor. He praised my courage."
"I met Ravenclaw. She acknowledged my wisdom."
"I met Hufflepuff. She pitied what I had gone through."
"But Slytherin..." John gave a rueful laugh. "Perhaps he's truly dead, or perhaps he simply doesn't acknowledge me."
The Sorting Hat exclaimed, "You are the most extraordinary wizard I have ever known. Salazar left Hogwarts long ago."
"Perhaps."
John did not argue, but he still felt somewhat uneasy inside.
After all, he had received the recognition of the other three Houses' founders, yet he had never once met Slytherin.
He was a Slytherin, yet he had never received Slytherin's acknowledgement.
John walked over to the Sword of Gryffindor and gazed at it in silence.
The Sword of Gryffindor trembled slightly.
"The Sword of Gryffindor." John reached out and touched it.
Only a true Gryffindor could wield this sword.
Yet John's touch did not provoke any rejection from it.
"Back then, did you appear because of Harry, or because of me?"
John had once longed for a sword as powerful as the Sword of Gryffindor. Now, he already had one.
He felt the sword tremble as though trying to break free from its restraints and chuckled. "No, you can't come with me. You belong to Hogwarts."
He slowly ran his hand along the blade.
"Stay here and wait until someone you truly acknowledge appears."
The Sword of Gryffindor stopped moving.
John smiled. "Gryffindor gave you to me. Now, I'm returning you to Hogwarts."
He chose not to take the sword. He already had the Silver Wick Sword.
After one final look at the Sword of Gryffindor, John walked past the Sorting Hat, then stopped.
After thinking for a moment, he drew his wand.
The Sorting Hat watched him in confusion.
"What are you trying to do?"
"No, don't!"
"My thousand years of patina!"
The Sorting Hat's miserable scream echoed outside.
...
John put away his wand with satisfaction and looked at the freshly cleaned Sorting Hat.
"Consider this my second gift to Hogwarts."
The Sorting Hat looked utterly dejected and muttered, "I'm clean now, but somehow I feel dirtier."
John left the Headmaster's office.
When Slughorn returned, he examined the Sorting Hat over and over again.
For a while, he even suspected that someone had replaced it while he was away.
Only after the Sorting Hat spoke did he confirm that it was indeed the real one.
"My goodness, you've finally had a bath."
In truth, Slughorn had wanted to say this for years. Even back in his day, the Sorting Hat had already been filthy.
At one point, students had even discussed brewing a cleaning solution and throwing the old hat into it.
But after becoming Headmaster, Slughorn had assumed its grimy appearance was some kind of tradition. Besides, the Sorting Hat itself refused to be washed, so he had left it alone.
Now that it was clean, even Slughorn found it much more pleasant to look at.
...
John had done something that all of Hogwarts would have cheered for.
But being a low-key person, he told no one and quietly left.
The final two days passed in a relaxed atmosphere after the exams.
Everyone in Slytherin was taking it easy, while Malfoy and Astoria were practically glued to each other.
They ended up discussing the question, "You won't find a new boyfriend after I leave, right?"
The discussion ended with Malfoy hanging upside down in front of Slytherin's large glass windows.
A group of merpeople gathered outside and pointed at him.
Daphne looked deeply satisfied. Her little sister had finally learned how to deal with that bastard properly.
Blaise stared at the scene in disbelief. "No, seriously. After all this, how has Astoria still not broken up with him?"
Blaise, who had spent two years persistently pursuing Ginny Weasley, simply could not understand it.
Astoria also glanced suspiciously at her wand. For some reason, casting Levicorpus had come unusually naturally to her.
Was it because the target was Malfoy?
Malfoy fell silent.
"Something feels wrong. Very wrong."
That familiar sensation. That familiar spell.
Could it be that his Astoria was learning bad habits from Daphne?
Tom wagged her tail as she ran out of Slytherin and went to say goodbye to Crookshanks in the courtyard.
The two little creatures had never let their owners' relationship affect their own friendship.
Hermione came out looking for Crookshanks and saw them together.
She did not interrupt. She simply watched as Crookshanks leaned reluctantly against Tom.
Basil flew across the sky, while Riddle, the black long-eared owl, passed beneath it.
Suddenly, Basil locked onto a snowy owl perched on Gryffindor Tower.
The next second, a battle between snowy owls began as Basil invaded Gryffindor Tower.
The dormitory erupted with shouts and screams as feathers flew everywhere.
Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, cowered in a corner, terrified that it might get beaten up too.
Harry noticed in time, but even with Ron helping him, they still failed to catch Basil. It escaped with several snowy owl feathers clutched in its talons.
After flying out, Basil scattered the feathers into the air.
They drifted lazily into the corridor.
One student spotted them and, finding it amusing, chased after a feather and tried to catch it.
Just then, Neville walked out of Professor Sprout's office. The student ran straight into his solid chest as though colliding with a wall.
"Sorry."
Neville did not budge. He reached out and steadied the student.
The feather landed on Neville's shoulder. Behind him, someone stood on tiptoe and plucked it away.
Neville sensed someone there and turned around.
Hannah Abbott stood behind him, holding the feather between her fingers as she smiled shyly.
Neville held out his hand, and Hannah took it. The two of them walked down the corridor together.
"Hi, Neville, Hannah."
Luna skipped past them, carrying fruit in her arms as she happily greeted the pair.
The huge shell on her back, as large as a round shield, swayed from side to side and glittered in the sunlight.
The wooden charms around her wrist clacked together. When she reached the window, she called down, "Mr Crumple-Horn."
She let go of the fruit and dropped it.
On the ground floor, the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, which was about the size of a calf, accurately speared the falling fruit onto its horn one by one.
An apple struck the Crumple-Horned Snorkack on the head and rolled onto the ground.
Ginny picked up the apple and, with the accuracy of a Chaser, threw it straight into the Crumple-Horned Snorkack's mouth.
"Hi, Ginny."
Ginny spotted Luna and happily greeted her. "Hi, Luna."
She waved, not noticing a long-eared house-elf walking past in front of her.
Winky, carrying a sack of potatoes, bumped into Ginny's foot and immediately apologised in a panic.
Ginny generously told her it was fine, and Winky hurried off towards the kitchen with the potatoes.
Preparing the end-of-term feast required a large amount of ingredients, so Winky had been forced to travel farther afield to dig up more potatoes and pumpkins.
Once she entered the kitchen, Winky immediately got to work.
Dobby ran over to help her, only for Winky to snap at him, "Winky does not need bad Dobby's help! Winky can do it herself."
It seemed Winky still disapproved of Dobby accepting wages.
"Dobby is not bad! Dobby is a free elf!" Dobby argued indignantly.
A potato rolled off the table, weaving between the feet of several busy house-elves before heading towards an open drain that had been taken apart for cleaning.
It was neither too large nor too small, just the right size to fit through.
The potato travelled through the drainage pipes, falling farther and farther from the kitchen.
Eventually, it dropped from the pipe into the Chamber of Secrets beneath Hogwarts.
Inside the Chamber of Secrets, a door opened.
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