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"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.
However, none of Dawn's wild thoughts came true as a rip opened up at the bottom of the hat, and much to her surprise it started singing.
Old and ugly I may be,
I'm much more than you can see,
From the head of Godric Gryffindor,
Compared with any other hat I know more,
Plucked from my comfortable perch,
I was given the task of the search,
Through who you are and what you're made of,
To see which house you'll come to love.
Loyal Gryffindor, the red lions den,
May be where we find you then,
If chivalry and bravery are what make you you.
Or suited better, maybe Ravenclaw,
Where you'll succeed for sure,
Surrounded by those of wit and learning in blue.
Or Slytherin, those in green,
The snakes may be where you'll be seen,
If you like cunning and ambition too.
Or yet again, the badgers of Hufflepuff,
May be where you strut your stuff,
Where hard work and patience reign true.
Any of these gracious four would be swell,
Who's founders I knew so well,
Try me on to see how I fit,
So I can tell you where to sit.
The hall erupted into applause, though Dawn could only bring herself to shiver. The hat bowed to each of the four tables and became incredibly still once again. Dawn could have sworn she had imagined it if she didn't see Bill staring at it in surprise. His parents had obviously kept the sorting a secret from him as well. Dawn tried to imagine why this was the one thing her mum and dad had never explained to her. Once the clapping had died down Professor McGonagall stepped out again. She held a thick roll of parchment paper in both hands, that she began to unravel when she had everyone's attention.
"As I call your name you will step forward, sit on the stool, and put on the hat," she instructed shortly, not seeming to care about the way the first years shuffled. Was that all the instructions they were going to get? "Adams, Bruce."
A boy stepped forward from the front row and took a deep breath. He walked towards the stool, and lifted up the hat, sitting down and placing it over his head. It fell down into his eyes, but he didn't try to push it back up.
Dawn wasn't sure what was happening, but for almost a minute the boy sat on the stool and waited.
"RAVENCLAW!" The hat yelled at last. The table from the left cheered and clapped, and Bruce happily walked over to them. Mason grinned.
"Ainsley, Eilidh."
As the girl walked up to the stool, Dawn began panicking. She had suddenly realised that the sorting went in alphabetical order, and she was sure to be one of the next people called up. Her legs had never felt more jelly-like, and the floor kept lunging up at her. She steadied herself with deep breaths and stared up at the ceiling.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The far right table cheered, and Dawn looked over to see Ben greeting the new student.
"Alton, Elizabeth."
Dawn almost refused to go up, but she knew in the logical part of her brain knew that that would keep the attention on her for longer, so she parted the people in front of her and walked to the stool. Her nerves were so great that she didn't even register that everyone would now know her as Elizabeth instead of Dawn, nor did she notice the hushed whispers that followed her up to the stool.
She sat down, and the hat slid down her face to rest on her nose, and she shivered again. She balled her hands.
"Oh, an Alton. You have quite the scattered family. Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. I ought to put you into Hufflepuff just to even it out." Dawn bit her tongue. The hat was talking inside her brain. "Oh, yes I am. I'm not sure which enchantment it is - oh no it's definitely not that one. Can we get back to the point please?"
Dawn didn't respond, confused as to how it knew what she was thinking, so the hat continued. "Let me see, let me see, a dash of intelligence, a spoonful of cunning. Oh a penchant for fairness, perhaps Hufflepuff is the right choice for you. Ah, but wait, what's this. Interesting, interesting. You're father's daughter indeed. Not normally so subdued, eh? Well, maybe this will help you go back to being you."
Dawn felt like she had been sitting on the stool for hours, though she knew it had been only a minute or two. Still, she felt like it was a long time to be getting sorted, over triple the time it had taken to place Eilidh Ainsley.
"Yes, it must be - GRYFFINDOR!"
Dawn let out the large breath she had been holding in with a clamped jaw. She could see the table on the far left cheering weakly, though her heart brightened to see that so many people were cheering at all. She placed the hat back on the stool, and almost ran to the Gryffindor table. She was the first to be sorted into the house, and she shook many peoples hands without quite realizing what she was doing.
She caught Mason's eye and grinned apologetically. He glared at her before he gave her a warm smile. Momentarily forgetting her nerves, she let her excited eyes rove around the hall from her new position. Before she missed a lot, she turned her attention back to the sorting, though one of the ghosts sat in her way.
"Excuse me," she whispered to who was probably Sir Nicholas, who happily moved out of her way, introducing himself as such. She could see all the teachers now, and they were all looking down at Davies, Kayla being sorted. She recognised Dumbledore from the chocolate frog card and made a face. He looked a lot older and madder in person. She watched as everyone got sorted, greeting cousins Cody and Erin Henley to the table first. The twins from the boat, Euterpe and Urania Keeling, were separated into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively. They were soon joined by Ethan, Alfie, Ryan, Oliver, Samantha, Yvonne, and a few others. Dawn estimated there would be about twenty of them by the time the sorting was over. She tried unsuccessfully not to let the thought of so many people make her nervous again.
"Spencer, Isabel."
Isabel walked up to the stool, seemingly confident, though Dawn could see her playing with her hair as though she wanted to pull it out. The hat had barely touched her head when it yelled out Hufflepuff. Dawn watched as the girl settled next to her brother at the Hufflepuff table, wishing for a moment that she had been sorted into Ravenclaw so she could be with Mason and Bentley.
After a while, there were only seven people left to be sorted. Dawn was right about her estimate, there was eighteen of them now, and she very much hoped that Bill would join them, if only so she wouldn't have to make another tentative friend.
Vincent, Luke was made Slytherin, and Voyse, Ruby was made a Ravenclaw, and finally, Bill's name was called.
"Weasley, William."
Bill walked up to the stool, seemingly bored. He sat down very quickly and stuffed the hat onto his head. It sat for a moment, and then two moments before it yelled.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Dawn clapped along with the rest of the Gryffindors and scooted over so Bill could sit next to her. Yates and Young were made Hufflepuff, and Webster and Zaoui joined the Gryffindors. Zaoui had had to squeeze into the seat next to Dawn and Webster had had to elbow Thomson and Summer to make room for herself. Dawn was sat far too close to other people, silently willing the older years to make a bit more room, which they didn't.
Looking expectantly down at her plate, Dawn hoped to see the food her parents had raved over to appear immediately, so she could save herself from the stares around her. It would be nice if she could eat as quickly as possible and head to bed before anyone could say something.
However, she had to wait as Albus Dumbledore rose. He beamed at them all, his arms open as though waiting for a hug. Nothing seemed to please him greater than the students at that moment.
"Welcome," he said in a soft yet loud voice. "Welcome new and welcome old. I have a word to say before we begin our mindless gobbling. And that is: BEGIN!"
"What was the point of that?" Zaoui wondered aloud, angling herself away from the older student on her right, towards Dawn. Hesitantly, Dawn looked at her.
"I don't think there was one," she said quietly, helping herself to the food closest to her. Even though she didn't like ham, she piled it onto her plate so she could avoid having to ask for someone to pass the other dishes.
"I suppose you're right," the girl said, seemingly intent on having a proper conversation with Dawn. "My friend says he's positively off his rocker."
"I've heard that too," Bill said from the other side of Dawn. "You remember Charlie, Dawn?" Dawn nodded. "Dad took him into work one time when Professor Dumbledore was at the ministry for some reason, and he gave Charlie enough lemon drops for all of us, including Ginny, who mum didn't even know she was pregnant with at the time."
"That's spooky," Zaoui said. "I'm Basira, by the way."
"Bill," Bill said, giving Dawn a look that her mother sometimes wore whenever she was expected to do something that she wasn't yet doing. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm Dawn," Dawn said, trying not to sound like she would rather be doing anything but talking to Basira.
"Alton!" The girl opposite them called, leaning across the table with a sinister grin. "You're Elizabeth Alton, aren't you?"
Dawn shuffled in her seat, which seemed to be enough of an answer for the fair haired girl. She turned to the freckled boy next to her.
"I told you, Ethan," she said. Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Whatever," he grumbled, focusing on Dawn. She shrank in her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. "Is the ministry letting you keep all that money?"
"What money?" Basira asked before Dawn could even think about what to reply.
"The money the Altons stole," the other girl said, who Dawn thought may have been Morris, Yvonne or Jones, Samantha.
"They don't actually know they stole it," Bill said. Dawn felt a rush of gratitude - she wouldn't have been able to defend herself because of the dryness of her mouth. This was exactly what she was afraid of. Now Basira was going to stop trying to be her friend, which saddened her more than she thought it might have. "It's only tabloid speculation."
"Tabloids lie all the time," Basira agreed, nodding along to her own words. "Like this one time, my local newspaper said that the corner shop had refused to serve my brother, because he's Algerian, but it wasn't true, because my dad owns the corner shop. They were just trying to drive us out of business. Do you remember that, Drew?"
Drew, who was sitting along the bench from Ethan, looked up with a start. His dark hair was coming out of the ponytail he had it in, curling all the way down to his shoulder, making the comically confused look on his face even more amusing. He shrugged one shoulder.
"That's Drew Newton," Basira said, ignoring the girl and Ethan and addressing Dawn and Bill. "We went to primary school together. Neither of our families are magic, except Drew's older sister, Maggie. She's the one over there with the dreads. At the yellow table, you see?"
Basira pointed to the hufflepuff table where, sure enough, Dawn could see a girl with dyed white dreads that had the same wide nose as Drew. Unable to help herself, she said, "The yellow one is Hufflepuff."
"Oh, I keep forgetting," Basira said, grinning in a guilty sort of way. Vaguely, Dawn heard Ethan and the girl begin to talk about them, lumping Drew, Bill, and Basira in with mean things said about her. "I take it you're one of those people with magic families - what do they call them, Drew?"
"Half-blood or pure-blood," Drew said, still looking a little put out. He'd pulled his hair back again, but the hairband didn't seem to want to stay.
"I'm a pure-blood," Dawn said, pushing her plate away from her. Her appetite had quite disappeared, she thought, her eyes drifting to where Ethan was giggling about something. "Not that it matters."
There was something about Basira that made it easier to talk to her. Maybe it was because she seemed very able to carry a conversation by herself with very little input, or maybe Dawn felt she owed something to the girl because of the easy way she had shrugged off the accusations against the Alton family. Either way, Dawn found it easier to ignore the fact that there were whispers going up and down the table about her when Bill started to speak.
"That means everyone in her family is magical, for as long back as we can remember," he explained around a mouthful of potatoes. "At least in her direct line. Half-bloods have muggle — non magic folk — blood in them, like if a muggle were to marry a wizard, there kids would be half-blood. Or if a muggle-born, like you, married a wizard or a muggle, the magic kids would be half-bloods. It basically means theres a little bit of non-magic blood and a little bit of magic blood."
"It must have been amazing growing up around magic," Drew said, the first thing he had said to them without being prompted by Basira. "Maggie says you can magically make your bed, if you want. What I wouldn't give to be able to do that."
"There is," Bill said, putting his hand on Dawn's shoulder. "But my mum makes us make our own beds anyway. Dawn's family has a house-elf, don't you?"
Dawn nodded, avoiding their eyes as the three others looked at her expectantly. Their section of the table fell quiet, Dawn all too aware of the way Ethan and the fair haired girl were talking about her. It seemed they were going to spend the rest of the evening in silence, until, when dessert arrived, Basira asked, "What's a house-elf?"