Elysian Potter: The Forgotten Queen

Chapter Three: The Sorting Hat.

She gasped. So did the people around her – including her brother, though that was unnecessary since he had been told about Hogwarts long before attending. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance—"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first-years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

A few people, Neville and Hermione included, nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."

Hopefully, you'll be seeing Neville, thought Elysian as she glanced at her best friend. Not only was it the best house for him but it would also allow her to gain a spy within one of the houses without having to take the time to actually befriend someone and judge them. Of course, she knew her reasons were rather selfish but so did Neville and everyone else so it wasn't like it was shocking anyway.

"Move alone now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away though the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, snapping Elysian from her musing as she watched the last ghost disappear and felt Neville pull her into the line, "and follow me."

They walked out of the chamber in silence and back across the hall, through a pair of double doors into the mystical room called the Great Hall.

It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the student body were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table were the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, the first-years chose to star at the ceiling where they saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Elysian heard Hermione, who happened to be in front of her, whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

It was hard to believe that there was a ceiling there at all.

Suddenly an old voice began to sing as everyone turned their attention to a hat that was sitting on a stool.

"Oh you may 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.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head