The Sorting
Ron got off the Train and immediately felt lightheaded “ouch” He thought to himself as he stagged to try and regain balance. He took a deep breath and stretched his arms, yawning as he did so."Firs'-years! Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!” a loud voice was heard. “Oh, must be Hagrid.” Ron thought as he quietly walked over to the half-giant. The half-giant was clearly looking for someone, as he frantically glanced around.
Ron had a somewhat clear message on what was happening, Hagrid must be looking for Harry, but it turns out, Harry just doesn’t exist anymore and has been replaced by Hadrian Riddle. Ron nearly snickered at the irony when he spotted a familiar boy holding his toad close to him. “Neville!” He called out excitedly, running towards him.
“Oh! Hey Ron,” Neville spoke up shyly. “Hope Trevor didn’t give you much of a hard time.” Ron said teasingly, Neville proceeded to shake his head and say. “No, not really, he stayed put. Which is surprising, really!” Neville said, his voice glittered in relief.
“Guess Trevor wasn’t so fond of being thrown across the room he was in, right into your hands.” Ron said, carefree
“Perhaps”
While they were chatting, Ron couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him.
They got onto the boats alongside a bushy haired girl, that Ron instantly recognized as Hermione, and Hadrian as well apparently. Hagrid took a boat for himself and soon, the boats set sail. Ron looked at the castle in awe, it was gigantic, bigger than anything he’d ever seen, he thought the empire states building was massive, but this, this was on a whole nother level. It was fascinating to see it in real life. It almost sent him to tears. Being a Potterhead and being able to experience this in real life was nothing less than fantastic.
“So anyways, let’s introduce ourselves.” Hermione said, snapping him back to reality. “I’m Hermione Granger, and you guys are?”
“Ron Weasley, pleasure to meet you.” Ron said, still not taking his eyes off the castle. “Neville, Neville Longbottom.” Neville said shyly, he wasn’t exactly very confident when it came to introducing himself. “Riddle, Hadrian Riddle.” Hadrian said politely, still staring at the back of Rons skull. “Well, Pleasure to meet you. So, what are you guys excited for this year, I’m excited for so many things. Oh, wait, before that, what house do you guys wanna be in?”
“Well, gran always told me I was better off in Hufflepuff, but I’ve always wanted to be in Gryffindor like my dad.” Neville said sheepishly. “You’d make an excellent Gryffindor Neville, and don’t let anyone say otherwise.” Ron spoke up confidently. “You really think so?” Neville said, his eyes sparkling. Ron responded with a nod.
“How about you, Ron?” Hadrian said, his eyes flashed with curiosity. “Well, I wanna be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw perhaps, my entire family’s been in Gryffindor though, so I’m still in the process of deciding.” Ron said, leaning back just enough to get comfortable.
“Why not Slytherin?” Hadrian asked him once again, Ron felt as if he was getting interrogated, “It’s less likely to do with prejudice, and more likely that I’m not sure they would take it very well having the son of a blood traitor in their house, if that’s what your wondering.” Ron said, shrugging. “But if they are okay with it however, I’m not against going in that house.” He added quickly.
“But how do you know you’d get into that house?” Hermione asked curiously.
“Well, we all have a bit of every house within us, I guess the sorting hat only chooses the one that’s either the most obvious or the one we’d fit best in.” Ron said subconsciously, that led to a lot of stares being directed at him. Neville nodded in response, Hermione seemed pleased at his answer and Hadrian, well, he didn’t really know what Hadrian was thinking about.
After a while, and after a bit more chatting about what they were excited for (“I really am Interested in Transfiguration, and charms, those two seem really interesting.”, “Don’t get your hopes up, I’m pretty sure both of those are starting small, like you know, turning a matchstick into a needle and more notetaking than anything, I’m just excited to read.”) they had finally made it to the castle.
As they head up the stairs, to the great hall, Neville and Hermione were chatting happily about Herbology, Ron zoned out as he stared around in awe. Hadrian ended up leaving them soon enough to go talk with the future Slytherins, still staring at him from time to time.
When they reached the door, a very stern looking lady came out, with a sharp pointed witch’s hat, This must be Professor McGonagall. She looked around and said loud and clear “Welcome to Hogwarts,” she started, “The start of term feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats, 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.”
The deputy headmistress spoke as if she had done this for a century. Some other people might’ve thought of her as frightening and cold, but Ron just thought she might’ve been bored. He felt a little bad for her, saying the exact same thing for like, a few decades must be frustrating.
She then led them into the great hall, and the only Ron could think of at this moment was “I really gotta give it the movies, this is amazing. The only thing they didn’t really get correct was the characters and some other places.”
Professor McGonagall then grabbed a very long piece of parchment and started calling out the names.
At this point, Ron was bored, he didn’t really want to do anything other than get sorted then go to bed, he held in a yawn and waited for the rest of the names to get called out.
“Riddle, Hadrian!”
That woke Ron up just a tad, from all the other fanfiction he read, he had the sudden intuition that Hadrian was going to end up in Slytherin. He looked over to Dumbledore and saw that his face had gone pale. Must be because he recognized the last name.
by the time Hadrian got on the stool, Ron looked a little closer on the house he wanted to be in. He decided for either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, mainly because both of them were quite neutral and it would match him best, he’s always been quite honest, he can’t hold a lie to save his life, and he’s always been curious. He didn’t think he’d match either Gryffindor or Slytherin, he didn’t have high ambitions and he didn’t have the chivalry to fit in.
“SLYTHERIN”
That snapped Ron out of his thoughts, Albus Dumbledore’s twinkle was lost again, Ron almost snickered. But the claps and applause was deafening. Hadrian had most likely already made a name for himself before Hogwarts.
Then, his name was called out right after Hadrians. He went up on the stool and closed his eyes.
“Ahhh, this is new, i’ve never had the pleasure of being able to sort a Transmigrator.” A voice called out in his mind, Ron wasn’t surprised, the sorting hat seemed to be all-knowing in most fanfiction, it wasn’t rare for the hat to be all-knowing in this one either. “Welcome, mister Ivan. Now where shall I put you. You have just the right honesty for a Hufflepuff, but more than enough wit for a Ravenclaw… Now I know, you shall belong…” There was a slight pause.
“RAVENCLAW”
The silence was deafening, but then, loud applause was heard from the Ravenclaw table. Ron smiled in relief and then ran to sit between a pretty Ravenclaw. Albus Dumbledore looked at him, then Ron once again, felt an annoying jab into his mind. He rolled his eyes and then started focusing back onto the table.
“Hey, first Weasley in Ravenclaw, how’s it feel?” A voice called out to him. The voice was excited but welcoming. “Not really sure on what to feel, just a bit scared on what mum will think.” That got him a raised eye from the other student. “Well that can’t be right can it? Why would your mum be mad that you are a Ravenclaw?”
Ron shrugged and soon after Dumbledore’s… Not a speech, speech, the food magically appeared in front of them. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.
Ron gulpled and then looked at the food in glee, but the glee eventually stopped when he realized almost all the food was only seasoned in salt and pepper. Ron shook his head and stopped caring about the flavor. The food was decent and there was a lot of it. He had a bit of the sausage, some chicken, beef, chips, well, he had a bit of everything. Even the humbugs, it was strangely okay tasting, but he wouldn’t have it again if he had the choice.
After the food was eaten, the plates magically vanished and in came some desserts. By this time, Ron was full, but seeing the chocolate desserts, he felt that his stomach still had some space left. He ate a little bit of everything, not just the chocolate this time, and he regretted it when the food left. A sharp pain in his abdomen caused him to realize that maybe he should’ve passed on dessert.
He just took a deep breath and told himself that it would be fine, he would hold in the pain, it would come to pass soon enough, and it did! By the time everyone finished singing that horrible song, the pain had gone. Soon enough, the Ravenclaw prefects stood up
The prefects rallied everyone up quite quickly and then they set off to the common rooms. Ron was looking around the places they passed and stretched his arms and finally let out that yawn. As they walked inside the common room, he couldn’t help but marvel at the common room, it was a deep and comforting blue. He was in love, blue wasn’t his favourite color, but it was a close second.
They were then told to stop as the prefects walked in front of them and said their speech
“I am Penelope Clearwater, and this is my co-prefect Harvey Williams, we will be your prefects for Hogwarts, to start, our house is for the intelligent, witty, and smart. Once a week, there is an optional study group only available to Ravenclaw’s you can join. If you are stuck on a piece of work, feel free to ask us or any older students. This house will be your home for the rest of your Hogwart’s years. I shall now pass on to my co-prefect.” Penelope said smartly,
“Hi, I am Harvey Williams, your second prefect. As Penelope said, Ravenclaw will be your home, and the students in this house will be your siblings. Rely on us if needed, and if you have problems concerning either your mental wellbeing or your schoolwork, you can come to us and we will help you to the best of your abilities. Now, let me talk on what you must remember by the first week, the layout of this school, to tell you, the stairs in this school can move, and disappear. The ghosts in this school won’t exactly be much help, Nicholas might be your best bet, but he tends to stick to Gryffindors. Number two, out head of year, Professor Flitwick, is sometimes underestimated because of his tiny size, but do not think he’s weak, he is very formidable. Number 3, do not tell this to other teachers or houses, but The Defense Of The Dark Arts is not a class you should listen to, over the past five decades, there has never been a teacher who managed to last over a year. Over that time, the teachers have gone incompetent and you are likely to learn nothing. Use the library and study groups to learn more about the dark arts.” Harvey ended his speech and the rest of the speech went back to Penelope.
“That is all the important things you must know so far, have fun, don’t get in trouble, and most of all, earn house points for Ravenclaw to win the house cup. The dormitories will be shared with three people. Now I will lead the girls to their dormitories and Harvey will lead the boys to their dormitories. Shower, have a nice rest for tomorrow.”
Ron was led up the stairs along with a few others in his year. Then they were led to the dormitories. He looked at one of the beds and saw his trunk beside it. “I guess we sleep on the beds assigned to us?” both of the students nodded and then they each went to their assigned beds.
“Is it alright if I take the shower first?” A boy said. Ron and another boy nodded, after a while of momentary silence after the first boy went to shower. “So what’s your name?” Ron spoke. “Oh! My name’s Lucas, Lucas Miller, half blood, never even knew I was going to Hogwarts, my adoptive parents didn’t even know about witches and wizards.” Lucas explained sheepishly.
“Ahhh, My names Ron Weasley, Pure-blood, the first Ravenclaw in the family too.” Ron said,
They chatted a bit until the first boy came out and introduced himself, Samuel, Samuel Zane. Ron then went to shower next. After coming out, Samuel and him talked a bit longer and Ron was pleased to notice he enjoyed the two’s company. Being friends with your roomates was great.
After everyone was showered, the other two went to sleep early and Ron was left alone with his notebook, he was only going to quickly write a list on what he should do.
Avoid the headmaster
Learn new spells
Show that he’s average
Get Pettigrew a cage
Practice spells
Borrow spellbooks
He was then unsure on what to write next and just decided he’d find it out in the morning, he was having Potions tomorrow with the Slytherin’s first thing and decided he’d need some sleep, and that’s exactly what he did.