There are strange things in Dawn's world - magic, unicorns, her father, and the ghost that lives in her granny flat. But none of them are as strange as the rumours that fly around her head. The Alton family is dubbed as cheats and liars, scandal on...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
"FORM AN ORDERLY LINE," the strict voice called at them all. Immediately, Dawn ducked behind Bill, keeping close to him as the rest of the first years scrambled around them. "I am Professor McGonagall," the witch said over the noise of the voices coming through the doors ahead of them. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
She looked around the large Entrance Hall they were in at each and every one of them. "As I am sure a lot of you have heard, the four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each house has its own rich history and over the years you are here your housemates will become like family to you. You will sleep in dorms with them, eat dinner with them, and have classes together. Whilst you are here you will be able to earn or lose your house points. Good behaviour will get you points, bad behaviour will lose you points. Each house produces a number of outstanding witches and wizards each year, and you should hope that you will be a credit to your own house.
"In a few moments the sorting ceremony will begin and you will be placed into your houses," Professor McGonagall said. "Make sure you all look presentable please."
The Scottish witch paused as a few students rushed to tuck in their shirts. Dawn ran a hand through her hair, pulling at some of the tugs that had appeared during the long train journey. When the professor cleared her throat, the first years straightened their backs.
They followed Professor McGonagall further into the entrance hall, and Dawn felt something stirring in her stomach. The tips of her fingers became very warm, though the rest of her was freezing, and she balled her fists.
They walked into the Great Hall and the older students fell silent. Dawn saw Mason and Bentley, who gave her a small wave. She smiled back at them, attempting to look excited, though she was sure it didn't look convincing. She saw Ben and Rishi, the former of whom was giving the thumbs up to someone further ahead in the line. Isabel, Dawn managed to think.
She tried to distract herself by looking around the room. It was lit by thousands of candles floating just out of reach of the tallest students. The rest of the students were sitting at four long tables, between the middle two of which she was walking. The tables were laid with gold plates and goblets, as was the table at the front of the hall. She assumed that the adults sitting there were the teachers. By far the best thing about the hall was the inky black ceiling dotted with little stars. She could see Orion's belt.
Professor McGonagall led them to the teachers' table and stopped them just before they reached it. She instructed them to turn around and face the other students in their hall, which they did. Dawn was looking out at the sea of students through two people's shoulders, and in that moment she was glad that there were enough new students to form two lines at the front of the hall.
Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged wooden stool in front of the first years and placed an old battered hat on top. All of the older students stared at the hat, and so the first years copied them. The hat began to tremble, and Dawn took a step back with several other students. No one had told her how they got sorted, and suddenly a whole host of terrible things came to mind. Perhaps the hat turned into a terrible beast that they had to battle, or it challenged them in front of the whole school to see how they worked under pressure.
