They left the carriage and practically teleported inside the castle at the speed they raced inside.
The welcoming torch-lit sight of the entrance hall brought with it the warmth of the castle as well as the familiar sight of the massive marble staircase.
"Blimey, if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow," Ron shook out his hair, water splashing everywhere. "I'm soak -- ARRGH!"
A gigantic red water balloon had just fallen onto Ron's head and burst, drenching him in icy cold water.
Another barely missed Hermione, soaking Harry's shoes. The entrance hall erupted into shrieks and everyone fought to get out of the way of the water balloon attacks.
Amisty nearly fell flat on her face, only for Hermione to straighten her quickly. She glared upwards, catching sight of Peeves about twenty feet above them, arms filled with water balloons.
"PEEVES! Peeves, come down here at ONCE!" Professor McGonagall came storming out of the Great Hall, almost slipping if she hadn't grabbed Hermione to keep herself from falling. "Ouch -- sorry, Miss Granger -- "
"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, rubbing her neck.
"Peeves, get down here NOW!" Professor McGonagall shouted, straightening her hat and glaring up at the Poltergeist.
"Not doing nothing! Already wet, aren't they?" Peeves cackled, chucking a water balloon at a group of fifth-year girls, who promptly screaming and ran into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts? Wheeeeeeeee!" he threw another at a group of second-years.
"I shall call the headmaster! I'm warning you, Peeves -- " Professor McGonagall fumed.
Peeves just stuck out his tongue, launched the rest of the water balloons into the air, and flew away cackling.
Amisty almost chased after him as one of the stupid balloons fell right on top of her head.
"Well, move along, then! Into the Great Hall, come on!" Professor McGonagall directed them, clearly annoyed as she ushered them into the Great Hall.
Amisty split her hair into two sections, wringing out as much water as she could.
Even still, water dripped down her back. Not as if that were that big of a deal, her clothes were already drenched anyway.
The Great Hall was a happy sight to see, the golden plates and goblets shining in the light of the floating candles. Amisty caught a wink from Draco as she walked past his table, and she attempted to toss her hair over her shoulder to counter, only for it to fall limply in front of her face.
So much for sass.
They took their seats at the Gryffindor table, next to Nearly Headless Nick.
"Good evening," He beamed at them.
"Says who?" Harry grumbled, turning his shoes upside down to drain all the water out of them. "Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving."
"Hiya, Harry!" Colin's familiar voice sounded from down the table, just as excited as he always was. Amisty and Hermione traded amused glances.
"Hi, Colin," Harry replied, not sounding excited at all.
"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!" Colin grinned.
"Er -- good," Harry nodded awkwardly.
"He's really excited. I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?" Colin was bouncing up and down.
"Er -- yeah, all right," Harry, with the same level of awkwardness, turned back to them. "Brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?"
"Oh no, not necessarily. Parvati Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw, they're identical. You'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?" Hermione replied, looking up at the staff table. "Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"
They looked around, not seeing anyone nearby to fill the empty seat.
"Maybe they couldn't get anyone!" Hermione fretted.
"Oh hurry up, I could eat a hippogriff," Ron groaned, his head in his hands.
A few seconds later, the doors to the Great Hall opened. Professor McGonagall was leading the new group of first years up to where the Sorting Hat would be.
And Amisty thought she was wet. The first years were practically drowning in the amount of water dripping from their clothes, leaving puddles wherever they stepped.
One of them was even covered in Hagrid's moleskin cloak, looking the most excited out of all of them. He was looking around, catching Colin's eye.
'I fell in the lake!' He mouthed, giving his brother, as Amisty assumed, a double thumbs up.
Professor McGonagall picked up a stool and placed it down in front of the first years, placing the Sorting Hat on top of it. And then the tear in the hat's brim opened and it broke into song.
A thousand years or more ago, when I was newly sewn, there lived four wizards of renown, whose names are still well known;
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor, fair Ravenclaw, from glen, sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad, shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, they hatched a daring plan, to educate young sorcerers, thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders, formed their own House, for each, did value different virtues, in the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide their favorite from the throng, yet how to pick the worthy ones when they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way, he whipped me off his head, the founders put some brains in me so I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears, I've never yet been wrong, I'll have a look inside your mind and tell where you belong!
Amisty clapped along with the rest of the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat's song finished.
"That's not the song it sang when it Sorted us," Harry spoke over the sound of applause.
"Sings a different one every year. It's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat? I suppose it spends all year making up the next one," Ron replied.
"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," Professor McGonagall was unrolling a sheet of parchment. "When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table."
"Ackerley, Stewart!"
He walked forward, shaking, and placed the Sorting Head on his head.
"RAVENCLAW!"
The Ravenclaws burst into applause, welcoming their new member to the table.
"Baddock, Malcolm!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
The Slytherin table cheered. Fred and George hissed.
"Branstone, Eleanor!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Cauldwell, Owen!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Creevey, Dennis!"
So it was Colin's brother.
He tripped forward, barely able to move in Hagrid's massive cloak. Speaking of which, Hagrid had just walked into the Great Hall.
He gave them a wink as he sat down, focusing his attention on Dennis.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Dennis was beaming so brightly Amisty was sure his face was glowing as he raced over to go sit next to his brother.
"Colin, I fell in! It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed bmeback in the boat!" He exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement.
"Cool! It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!" Colin replied, his voice rivaling Dennis's in enthusiasm.
"Wow!" Dennis's eyes went even wider.
"Dennis! Dennis! See that boy down there?" Colin whispered suddenly. "The one with the black hair and glasses? See him? Know who he is, Dennis?"
Amisty saw Harry look away, the tips of his ears pink.
She snorted, covering her smile with her hand as Emma Dobbs got sorted into Ravenclaw.
As it continued, she looked over to find Ron rubbing his stomach. He groaned dramatically, "Oh hurry up."
"Now, Ron, the Sorting is much more important than food," Nearly Headless Nick scolded him.
"Madley, Laura!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"'Course it is, if you're dead," Ron snapped back.
"McDonald, Natalie!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
They all clapped as Nick continued, "I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch. We don't want to break our winning streak, do we?"
"Pritchard, Graham!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Quirke, Orla!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
And then finally, there was only one boy left.
"Whitby, Kevin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Sorting was officially over.
Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and carried them off to the side.
"About time," Ron licked his lips hungrily, picking up his knife and fork and staring at his plate expectantly.
Professor Dumbledore got to his feet, his arms spread out wide in welcome as he smiled around at them, "I have only two words to say to you. Tuck in."
"Hear, hear!" Harry and Ron shouted as the dishes surrounding them were piled high with every food imaginable.
Nick watched in jealousy as the four of them loaded up their plates. Amisty immediately started eating, shoving a spoonful of beans into her mouth.
"Aaah, 'at's be'er," Ron spoke around a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know. There was trouble in the kitchens earlier," Nick commented.
"Why? Wha' 'appended?" Harry asked, his voice just as muffled as Ron, only he was talking around a bite of steak.
"Peeves, of course. The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast -- well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghost's council -- the Fat Friar was all for giving him the chance -- but most wisely, in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down," Nick answered. The Bloody Baron was the only person -- er -- being at Hogwarts who could somewhat control Peeves.
"Yeah, we thought Peeves seemed hacked off about something," Ron muttered, clearly thinking back to his soaking.
Amisty nodded bitterly, only reminded of the occurrence as a drop of cold water rolled down her back.
"So what did he do in the kitchens?"
"Oh the usual. Wreaked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits -- " Nick shrugged, his voice cut off as Hermione knocked over her goblet. Pumpkin juice stained the nearby tablecloth orange.
Uh oh.
"There are house-elves here? Here at Hogwarts?" She gasped, staring at Nick in absolute horror.
"Certainly. The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred," Nick replied, looking surprised.
Amisty couldn't blame him.
Hermione was known for being the one to know everything.
"I've never seen one!" Hermione protested, seeming as if she didn't want to believe what he was saying.
"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they? They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning... see to the fires and so on... I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good house-elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?" Nick explained.
She stared at him, dumbfounded, "But they get paid? They get holidays, don't they? And -- and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?"
Nick laughed so hard his head fell off his neck, the thin sliver of skin the only thing keeping it on.
"Sick leave and pensions? House-elves don't want sick leave and pensions!" He exclaimed, amused as he put his head back on his neck.
Hermione stared down at her food, placed her utensils on the table, and pushed everything away.
Amisty just looked at her, words on the tip of her tongue about wasting food.
"Oh c'mon, 'Er-my-knee," Ron accidentally sprayed Harry with Yorkshire pudding. "Oops -- sorry, 'Arry -- You won't get them sick leave by starving yourself!"
"Slave labor. That's what made this dinner," Hermione declared furiously. "Slave labor."
The first course was soon replaced by desserts, and still, Hermione didn't even look at anything.
"Treacle tart, Hermione! Spotted dick, look! Chocolate gateau!" Ron exclaimed, shoving the plates toward her.
Hermione just glared back, her gaze so frigid Amisty felt the nearby air grow cold.
She took it upon herself to slide all the food Hermione abandoned onto her plate. No use in wasting it.