Chapter 3
My stomach lurched with nerves and I could tell that Ron and Harry were equally nervous, though all three of us wore an almost impenetrable mask of confidence. Harry, Ron and I shivered in the cold night air. Then, a lamp came bobbing over the heads of us students we heard a voice: “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here! All right there, Harry?” A big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. “C’mon, follow me... Any more firs’ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me!”
"Hagrid," Harry whispered to me and Ron. Slipping and stumbling, we followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of us that I thought there must be thick trees here. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” Hagrid called over his shoulder. “Jus’ round this bend here.”
“Oooooh!” A lot of the others made noises of awe. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of the great Black Lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
“No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry, Ron and I were followed into our boat by Neville. “Everyone in?” Hagrid shouted. He had a boat to himself. “Right then. FORWARD!” The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over us as we sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. “Heads down!” Hagrid yelled as the first boats reached the cliff. We all bent our heads and the little boats carried us through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. We were carried along a dark tunnel which seemed to be taking us right underneath the castle until we reached a kind of underground harbour, where we clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
“Oy, you there! Is this your toad?” Hagrid asked. He was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
“Trevor!” Neville blissfully cried as he held out his hands. Then, we clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid’s lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. We walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge wooden front door.
“Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?” Hagrid asked Neville before he raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once. Professor McGonagall stood there in emerald-green robes. “The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall."
“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Granger's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out and a magnificent marble staircase facing us led to the upper floor. We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. I can hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right. The rest of the school must already be here. But Professor McGonagall showed us first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. We crowded in, standing rather closer together than we would usually have, peering about nervously.
"Who's Professor McGonagall?" Harry whispered.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” Professor McGonagall said. “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."
"She's Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor," Ron whispered to Harry.
"While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points," Professor McGonagall warned. "At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. 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. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair. “I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly.” She left the chamber.
"She also showed me around Diagon Alley," I said. "How exactly do we get Sorted? It wasn't mentioned in any of the books I read."
“Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurt a lot but I'm damn sure he was just joking,” Ron said. "My Dad told me something about a Sorting Hat but he didn't say anything more. He said he didn't want to ruin the surprise."
“What the...?” Harry gasped. So did the people around him. Ron and I looked where Harry was looking. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at us 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," a ghost wearing a ruff and tights interrupted the Fat Friar. Then, he suddenly noticed us. "I say, what are you all doing here?” Nobody answered.
“New students!” The Fat Friar exclaimed, smiling around at us. “About to be Sorted, I suppose?” A few people nodded mutely. “Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! 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 and follow me.” Feeling slightly nervous but also excited, I lined up behind Harry and in front of Ron. We walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. The Great Hall was... Interesting. It 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. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led us first years up here, so that we came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind us. 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. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, I looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.
I whispered to Ron and Harry, “It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.” It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open up to the heavens. I spotted Harry looking up and nudged him. He looked at me and I gestured forward. He quickly looked forward again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of us first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed Wizard’s hat. This hat was patched, frayed and extremely dirty. "Harry?"
"Yeah?" He whispered back.
"Nits." Harry chuckled and I smirked as Ron looked confused. Well, at least it seems like Wizards have protection against them. The hat on the stool 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.
"Wait, so the hat will look into our minds? Creepy," Ron whispered to the other me and Harry, shuddering.
"Will it tell what he saw to the headmaster?" I muttered.
"I'm sure it won't. I mean privacy and confidentiality and all," Harry mumbled reassuringly. 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 moment’s pause...
“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat shouted. The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. I saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
“Bones, Susan!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat shouted 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 twin redheads, probably Ron's Brothers, catcalling.
"Teenage boys," I muttered, disgusted. Harry and Ron muttered their agreement.
“Bulstrode, Millicent” then became a Slytherin. “Finch-Fletchley, Justin!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” Sometimes, I noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once but at others, it took a little while to decide.
“Finnigan, Seamus.” The boy before Harry sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. “Granger, Hermione!” I nodded to Harry and Ron before making my way up to the stool. I spotted the boys holding their breath.
"I started to wonder if I'd ever be Sorting another Heir of Slytherin with how long it's been since your Father's Sorting," the hat thought.
"You know where I belong. My friends too," I thought back.
"Yes. However, Dumbledore ordered you three placed in Gryffindor. Sorry."