"Really, for future freshmen, it's best not to praise Merlin. They should praise me; I'm the one ensuring the sanitation and health conditions on campus!"
There might be some self-promotion from Ian here, but objectively speaking, it's not entirely untrue. The Sorting Hat is certainly much cleaner now than it was at the beginning.
"You see, the cleanliness of the Headmaster's office is outsourced to me." Ian kept waving his magic wand while tidying the room, putting those disorganized books back in their places.
It must be said.
Dumbledore's collection is truly extensive; besides various highly specialized books, there are also many journal publications, most containing a plethora of Dumbledore's articles.
In fact, the recent years have seen a rise in Dumbledore's submissions to journals; it's unimaginable that Ian can casually flip through innovative magical research by Dumbledore.
The value of these journals is nearly equivalent to SCI in the Muggle World; an ordinary wizard might boast about publishing once in a lifetime, while Dumbledore seems to be dispatching works in bulk.
"Old Dumbledore really supports half the academic sky of the Wizarding World." Ian felt once again from these journals that Dumbledore's greatness was not just limited to powerful magical ability.
His contributions to the development of the Wizarding World are also indeed one of the reasons he is celebrated.
"Yes, and also why the old headmaster is so wealthy." Ian looked around at the dazzling valuable collections in the office; he'd definitely be tempted to pocket some if not for his lack of habit for petty theft.
"Also, my skin color isn't right. Michael has the correct skin color, but he obviously doesn't understand the significance of black skin." Ian touched a pure gold ornament.
He continued the magical cleaning.
Beside Dumbledore's bed, there was some food that had been left overnight, which Ian additionally packed into a small bag—a Spatial Bag he crafted, filled with leftover scraps.
Ian's ingrained frugality didn't want any waste; he decided to give it to Ron next year for free, so Ron never had to worry about Scabbers's dietary issues ever again.
"Having a senior like me is the juniors' fortune." Ian's cleaning in the office was quite noisy, and he even remembered to polish the frames of the portraits on the walls.
This naturally disturbed the portraits of St. Mungo's former headmasters who were either genuinely sleeping or pretending to be asleep.
"What's he doing?"
"Seems like he's cleaning Dumbledore's office."
"Is this little guy moving in? Isn't it a bit early for that?"
"I knew Dumbledore was unreliable! He must have been locked up in Azkaban, or else this little fellow wouldn't be taking over the Headmaster's office."
"There's still McGonagall..."
"McGonagall must be locked up too! Gryffindor's rightful place is Azkaban! Except for us Slytherin! Whoever's headmaster should be sent to Azkaban!"
...
The headmaster who kept hollering until it was deafening was quite the pot-stirrer. Ian had already been tricked by Slytherin, and now this one dared to boast of Slytherin superiority before Ian.
"Headmaster, do you want a zombie maid as a Christmas present in your portrait?" Ian pulled out a sketch he had created during class.
No comment on its content.
Anyway, upon seeing it, the portraits of these headmasters scattered like birds, and the one who received Ian's zombie maid proposal had his face turn green, escaping his frame faster than any others.
No one wanted to run late.
Everyone feared actually being sketched with a zombie maid—from these first-year little wizards, who'd do anything but the exam tests.
"Drawings with no artistic bacteria..." Ian put away his masterpiece, feeling bored, then prepared to polish Dumbledore's bench when suddenly.
"Crack~"
The office door slowly opened, and a tired Albus Dumbledore walked in from outside before Ian could ask how things were going with the wax tools still in hand.
The Sorting Hat, which had been pretending to be dead, suddenly jumped up from the chair.
"Dumbledore! You're finally back! This little wizard has been wreaking havoc in your office, making the lives of me and the former headmasters miserable!"
It knew how to complain.
The language was intense, and the tone was full of indignation.
"He hasn't, you're making things up."
"Yeah, the Sorting Hat might be confused."
"Will we see it next year?"
...
Nevertheless.
Even though the Sorting Hat rallied the former headmasters, they didn't stand with it because they were all once alive and decently intelligent.
Unlike the Sorting Hat.
Stubborn, fearlessly facing consequences after October.
"Alright, enough fuss." Albus Dumbledore clearly seemed a bit worried; he grabbed the wet Sorting Hat and stuffed it directly into the cupboard.
Ian noticed that the back of the old headmaster's robes was stained with quite a bit of blood.
"What were you and our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor doing in the Underground Palace?" Numerous images flashed through Ian's mind, foreboding for Professor Ronnie Ehrlich's fate.
"Ronnie Ehrlich is still alive."