The door swung open at once and a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. And although she had a very stern face, I thought she seemed as though she had a sense of humor.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have probably hit an entire house inside of it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. I was looking all around, my head felt as though it was on a swivel, and I could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right. I assumed that was where the rest of the students were.
Professor McGonagall however directed us into a small, empty chamber off the hall. We all crowded in, standing rather closer together than we would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall, I could detect a slight Scottish accent when she spoke. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses.
"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points.
"At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. I watched as Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair, and I did my best to straighten my robes.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
"Maybe we've got to fight each other, you know see who the strongest is." I said doing my best to hide my nerves with humor.
Looking around anxiously, it made me a bit better to find that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.
I did my best to prepare myself. I'd been able to pull off a couple spells at home, nothing that would be useful in a test though.
Then suddenly about twenty ghosts streamed through the back wall, pulling me out of my thoughts. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another 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. "Dunno starting to think that lady was just lying about that candy." I told them.
"Ah you must be the new students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" A few people nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told us "and follow me."
Feeling as though I was about to be sick, I got into line behind Ron, with Harry in front of him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
The room was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting, each laid with glittering golden plates and goblets.
At the top of the hall was another long table where I assumed the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led us so that we came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.
The hundreds of faces staring at us looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.
I looked up at the ceiling, letting out a gasp as I saw it was dark, and covered in little stars. I heard Hermione whisper from nearby, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
I couldn't believe my eyes, even having lived my whole life with magic I had never seen anything this amazing before.
Ron nudged me, pointing towards Professor McGonagall, who had silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat that was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.
My mind was flying, what did he have to do with this hat? Fight what ever came out of it? Transfigure it into something?
For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:
"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
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on!
Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to us. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
I smiled at this, it was me that had told Fred to tell Ron this. Despite this it still felt to me that the hat was asking a lot, I didn't feel I fit into any of those houses.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause —
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!" "RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; I could see my brothers amongst the faces of the Gryffindors.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. I looked over at the Slytherin table, shuddering slightly. I thought they looked to be quite a mean lot.
I felt as though I had something stuck in my throat, while my stomach was doing somersaults.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
After a few more people I found that occasionally the hat would immediately shout out a house, while sometimes it would take minutes.
"Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat, Ron groaned loudly at this.
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville.
When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to return it.
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
There weren't many people left now.
"Moon"... , "Nott"... , "Parkinson"... , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"... , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"... , and then, at last —
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
I watched as he slowly made his way to the stool, and smiled widely at his as the brim of the hat sank over his eyes. There was a silence for a few minutes before finally the hat yelled.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Ron and I clapped loudly as he walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. I had to stifle a laugh as Perce the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
And now there were only four people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.
"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now, and I had to practically push him towards the hat.
"GRYFFINDOR" the hat yelled, and Ron practically ran to the Gryffindor table, as though he was scared the would change its mind.
And at last Professor McGonagall called. "Weasley, (Y/n)."
I made my way towards the front, shakily sitting down on the stool, before my vision was obscured by the fabric of the hat.
"Hmmm another Weasley are you? Ah but only by name I see. There's a darker heritage there. What to do with you then? Well there's only one thing to do.
"SLYTHERIN"