Harry Potter: The Fourth Friend

Chapter Four: The Sorting

The door swung open almost immediately. A tall, black-haired, bespectacled witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She looked very stern and in Suzanne's mind she knew straight away that she should not be argued with.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I shall take them from here." She pulled the door wide open. The Entrance Hall was so big, it was bigger than anything Suzanne had ever seen. The stone walls were lit by magnificant flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a marvelous marble stair case facing them led to the staircase above.

They followed Professoor McGonagall accross the hall. Suzanne saw some of the other students through the large doors to an even bigger room - the rest of the school was already here -- but they were shown into a large anti-chamber off the hall. They all crowded in, standing still and waiting to be told what to do next.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your houses will be like your family within Hogwarts."

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule-breaking will lose your points. At the end of year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour."

"You will be sorted in front of the whole school in just a few minutes. So I suggest that you smarten yourselves up as much as you possibly can." Her eyes lingered on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his ear, and on Ron's smudged nose.

"I shall return momentarily," said Professor McGonagall.

Suzanne heard Harry ask Ron, "What do you have to do in the Sorting?"

"Fred and George said that it was some kind of test, and that it hurts quite a lot, but I think they were joking," answered Ron nervously.

Suzanne felt a jolt in her stomach. Her parents had never mentioned the test, only which house they were in. But now she thought of it, if it was a painfully gruelling test then why would they want to remember it.

She looked round and saw that everyone else's face had a look of fear on them. This made Suzanne even more nervous. When she heard Hermione wondering aloud which spells that would be required, and she was suddenly aware that she hadn't been practising spells at all.

Professor McGonagall re-entered and said, "Now, form a line...and follow me." Although she felt very nervous, Suzanne managed to enter the Great Hall along with everyone else.

Suzanne had never seen such a place, not even the entrance and counting room of Gringotts was this grand. Hundreds of candles floated above them, two fireplaces were burning brightly, and the students were all seated silently waiting for the sorting to begin.

At the top of the hall they saw the teachers sitting at another large table. This was where Professor McGonagall was leading them, and they came to a halt facing the students with their back to the teachers.

The hundreds of students were looking at them, this made Suzanne very uncomfortable. Mainly the eyes of the first-years were looking up at the ceiling that was exactly like the sky. She and many others heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

She looked back down and noticed that Professor McGonagall was carrying a rather old and tatty hat and a stool towards the front, and she placed the hat on the stool.

All the eyes were on the hat, so she did the same. After a while, the hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened like a mouth -- and the hat began to sing, "Oh, you might not think I'm pretty. But don't judge on what you see, I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me.