chapter six
The great hall was… well- great, to say the least. It was a hall with a grand ceiling that looked like the sky above, supposedly enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, according to ‘a history of Hogwarts’. Flying candles lit up the air above them and fireplaces lit up the far left and far right table. There were five tables, four from left to right for the students, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and there was the teacher’s table, standing at the far end of the hall, in front of a glass wall looking out to the grounds. You could see the forest all the way from the hall. To the right of the teachers table were four gigantic glass vials, one for each of the four houses. Those would later be filled with gemstones, he knew, one for every point a student received, with a magical parchment at its base, which read on it all point deductions or additions as well as the current point total.
And there, in front of the teachers table, in front of a stool, stood professor McGonagall, with an old, witchy hat in her hands. The hat grew a mouth out of leather folds and began singing a song : “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 folks 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!”
Once the little song stopped, McGonagall called out: “Abbot, Hannah”
The girl was sorted into Hufflepuff, as the sorting hat called out loudly.
One after another, the children were sorted into their houses, Draco was sorted into Slytherin, the Frizzy Girl from the train was sorted into Gryffindor and many more were sorted, though he knew them not.
Finally, it was his turn.
“Potter, Harry”, she called out and instantly, the hall was silent, everyone was staring at Harry as if he’d grown a second head.
Meekly, he walked over to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head and a squeaky voice came into his mind, talking to him, “Interesting… courage, not a bad mind either and a thirst to prove yourself, quite a hard worker too… where to put you?”
“Not Slytherin, not slytherin”, he whispered into the hat which covered his eyes.
“Not slytherin eh? You could be great there, you know, it is all here in your head and Slytherin could help you on the way to greatness… no? Well then better be-”, the hat whispered, before calling out to everyone, “GRYFFINDOR!”
Harry beamed at this and went to the gryffindor table, where everyone was cheering, a pair of twins was even shouting, “we got potter, we got potter!”
He sat down besides the wild haired girl.
The girl shook his hand, “so nice to meet you, I have heard so much about you, you know what they wrote about you, don’t you? Of course you do. Who wouldn’t look themselves up if they knew they were famous”
“Yes, yes I have read a few books about me and the legend around me”, Harry nodded at the bubbling stream of words, there were in fact a lot of books on ‘his life’, mostly fiction, “not much truth in the books, I never combated a dragon or swam with mermaids after all”
“Yes, those stories were quite out there”, a ginger prefect from near them chimed in, “nice to meet you I am Percy, Percy Weasley”
“Oh- are you related to Ron? We are friends”
“Yes I am, Ron’s my youngest brother, those two over there are Fred and George, our twin brothers”, he pointed at the two cheering twins, both also redheads. They were completely identical, wearing the same clothes(duh- it is the uniform) and having the same hairstyle.
Soon Ron joined them at the Gryffindor table and sat next to Harry.
A boy named Blaise was sorted into Slytherin and the sorting officially finished.
Dumbledore stood from his throne of a chair, made out of solid gold, and raised both his arms, “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I have a few words to say to you and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you”
With a grand gesture of his hands, the tables filled to the brim with delicious looking food. Turkey and chicken legs, steaks and sausages, scrambled eggs, roast beef, Boiled potatoes, Mashed potatoes, chips, peas, carrots, gravy and for some strange reason sherbet lemon.
The weirdness of the headmaster's speech vanished from their minds as they indulge themselves in the food and ate to their heart's content. Nothing ever seemed to run out and he knew that was because the house elves kept on cooking more food to replace what had been eaten, or more like duplicate the existing food, he’d read about them in ‘Hogwarts a history’.
Once they were done eating, Dumbledore stood and from his wand came a sing along text, “Now everyone, in a tone of your choosing”
‘Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.’
Once they were done singing, Dumbledore wiped away his tears and said, “ah- music, a magic beyond what we teach here. Now off you go! The prefects will show the first years the way to your common rooms”