04. The Selection
Cassandra Molly Weasley entered the castle with almost palpable enthusiasm, barely noticing the moment when the imposing doors opened, revealing the figure of Minerva McGonagall.
"First-year students, Professor Minerva McGonagall," announced Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll look after them from now on."
With a firm gesture, Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the hall. The space was so vast that it could easily house the entire Burrow, and the stone walls were lit by flaming torches. Slowly, the students followed the imposing marble staircase that rose up before them, taking them to the upper floors.
Following Professor McGonagall across the stone-tiled floor, Cassandra caught the distant murmur of hundreds of voices emanating from a door on the right. Sure enough, the other students had already gathered. Her brothers were waiting for her on the other side.
However, Professor McGonagall led the first-year students to a room adjacent to the hall. There, they gathered, a little cramped, anxious, and unsure.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," declared Professor McGonagall. "The opening banquet of the school year will begin shortly, but before you sit down at the tables, you will be sorted into houses. This ceremony is crucial because, during your time here, your house will become a kind of family at Hogwarts. You will attend classes with the other members of your house, sleep in the corresponding dormitory, and spend your free time in the Common Room."
"The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each has an honorable history and has produced extraordinary witches and wizards. Your successes will earn your house points, while your mistakes will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will receive the House Cup, a great honor. I hope that each of you will be a source of pride for the house to which you belong. The Selection Ceremony will take place in a few minutes, in front of the whole school. I suggest you get ready while you wait." His gaze ran over all the new students. "I'll be back when we're ready to welcome you. Please wait quietly," declared Professor Minerva McGonagall before leaving the room.
Cassandra took a deep breath, checking her uniform and trying to adjust her hair, squealing when a lock caught in her cloak.
"Oops, here," a hand touched her gently, tidying her red hair.
"Thank you," Cassandra thanked the girl behind her, who sported long black hair and gray eyes.
"How do you think they select us for the houses?" asked the brunette.
"They must do some kind of test, I think. My brother Fred said it hurt a lot, but I think he was only joking."
The girl paled, if that was possible with her already pale skin. Then something happened, making the girl jump, and several people behind her screamed.
Ghosts came through the back wall. Pearly white and slightly transparent, they glided through the room with a hissing sound. They seemed to be in a heated discussion. One of them, who resembled a chubby friar, commented:
"Forgive and forget, I'd say; let's give him a second chance..."
"My dear Friar, didn't we already give Peeves all the chances he deserved? He tarnishes our reputation, and, you know, he's not even a ghost. Wow, what are these kids doing here?" Another ghost, with a starched ruffle collar and socks, suddenly noticed the first-year students.
"No one answered."
"New students!" exclaimed Friar Fatty, smiling at them. "They're waiting to be selected, I suppose?"
Some of the boys nodded in confirmation, remaining silent.
"I hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Let's get going now," ordered an energetic voice. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin."
Professor Minerva returned, and the ghosts, one by one, disappeared over the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line and follow me."
Uncomfortable sensations, as if her legs had turned to lead, enveloped Cassandra as she advanced in line, ahead of the friendly gray-eyed witch. Together, they crossed the lobby and the double doors that led to the Great Hall.
She had never imagined such a different and splendid place. The Great Hall was bathed in the light of thousands of candles floating in the air over four long tables, where the other students were already sitting. Each table gleamed with golden plates and goblets.
Across the hall, a long table housed the teachers. Professor Minerva led the first-year students to it, making them stand in a line in front of the others, with the teachers as spectators.
The faces of hundreds of students looked like dim lanterns in the flickering candlelight, and among them, the ghosts shone like silver shrouded in mist.
To avoid the prying eyes, Cassandra raised her eyes and gazed at a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It was hard to believe that there was a ceiling there and that the Main Hall simply didn't open onto infinity.
Her eyes quickly dropped when Professor Minerva silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-year students. On top of the stool, she placed a pointed wizard's hat. The hat was patched, frayed, and dirty. There was total silence for a few seconds. Then the hat moved. A tear in the brim opened up like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.
It was a bizarre scene, but strangely amusing.
The whole hall erupted in applause when the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and fell silent again.
"So we just have to try on the hat!" whispered Cassandra to the girl behind her. "I'm going to kill Fred; he wouldn't stop talking about a fight against a rat."
Professor Minerva stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on your hat and sit on the stool for the selection. Ana Abbott."
A girl with a rosy face and blonde mary janes stumbled out of the queue, put on her hat, which sank straight into her eyes, and sat down. A momentary pause...
"HUFFLEPUFF!" announced the hat.
The Hufflepuff table erupted in cheers and applause, and Cassandra saw the ghost of the chubby friar waving cheerfully at her.
"Atlas Jace Galanis-Black!"
The brunette behind Cassie squealed, rising on tiptoe to see the boy. Before Weasley could question her, the hat roared:
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And then Minerva called out:
"Solaris Lucretia Black!"
To the redhead's surprise, it was the same kind girl who advanced with hesitant steps. Cassandra smiled softly at her before the hat blocked Solaris' eyes.
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Aidan Bones!"
Aidan was a boy with short curly dark blond hair, bordering on brown, brown eyes that gave off a playful, mischievous air, and pale skin. Slender and tall, he was probably bigger than most boys.
"GRYFFINDOR!" announced the hat, less than fifteen seconds on his head, and the Gryffindor table vibrated.
Cassandra smiled as she saw her brothers whistle.
"Teo Boor!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
This time it was the second table from the left that cheered, several RAVENCLAW students standing up to shake Teo's hand as the boy joined them.
"Elowen Diggory!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
And so it went, the tables vibrating with each new announcement. Noah Greedy, for Ravenclaw; Aaron Greengrass, for Slytherin; Kai Haruki, Slytherin; Arianna Hughes, Gryffindor; Marlene Longbottom, Ravenclaw; Calliope Lovegood, Hufflepuff.
No one was surprised when Lyra Malfoy and Sebastian Nott made the hat scream:
"SLYTHERIN!"
There were only a few people left now.
"Parkinson..., then two twins, Patil and Patil..., then Perks... and then, the hall gasped when Minerva said:
"Shaia Potter!"
The girl stepped forward, and a buzz went through the hall like a fuse.
"Potter, is that what she said? Shaia Potter?"
Then the hat fell over Shaia's eyes, preventing her from seeing a hall full of people stretching to get a good look at her. So they waited, although the Gryffindor table already seemed to be preparing to welcome her.
However, the Sorting Hat didn't take one, two, or three minutes to decide. Cassandra didn't miss the way Shaia's hands trembled in her lap, and when they reached the five-minute mark, the hall seemed to become truly tense. The older students whispered among themselves what the girl understood as "Stall-Hat".
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat finally announced, to everyone's relief.
Potter took off the hat and walked shakily to the Gryffindor table. Weasley laughed as she saw Percy stand up and shake her hand energetically, while the twins shouted, "We've got Potter! We've got Potter!"
The ceremony seemed to go much faster after that; there were only a few left to be selected.
And now that Damian Smethwyck had been sorted into Hufflepuff, there were only four people left to be sorted. Gwendolyn Rutherford went to Hufflepuff, while Christopher Percival Thomas went to Ravenclaw, and then it was Cassandra's turn.
The girl sat on the stool in front of the Great Hall, and a subtle tension hung in the air as the Sorting Hat plunged into the recesses of her mind.
"Ah, a Weasley. I see in you the courage of Gryffindor, a hallmark of the Weasleys. However, there's more to you than obvious bravery. Hmm..."
"Gryffindor, of course," Cassandra would love to be among the lions; she knew her brothers were waiting for her. Fred and George were eager to include her in some of their pranks, while Percy would show her how to excel in her studies so that she could become a future tutor, like him.
"Yes, courage and something more... an intriguing mix. The houses await, but which one will welcome a unique Weasley like you?"
The word "unique" resonated in her mind because as the sixth child in a family of wizards, standing out was practically impossible.
"Tradition or the search for something more? That's the question that hangs over your head, like a cloak of invisibility hiding your true inclinations."
Cassandra didn't think it was wrong to want people to see her for who she was, on her own merits.
The crucial question arose, like a spark in the silence: "Between the known, the comfortable, and easy, or a difficult path that will bring you learning and, perhaps, glory, what would you choose?" Without hesitation, Cassandra opted for the second option, for the challenge that promised exceptional growth and achievement.
Cassandra's decisive answer took an unexpected turn in the selection. The Gryffindor tradition, until then unquestioned by the Weasleys, was challenged in that instant. The Sorting Hat, in a surprising act, said loud and clear:
"SLYTHERIN!"
The announcement resounded through the hall like an echo of bewilderment. The surprise on the faces of her brothers in the house of lions, the puzzled and, to the girl's dismay, almost disappointed look on Percy's face, and even the doubts evident on some Slytherin faces, all contributed to creating a moment of suspense.
There was no applause as she sat down at the Slytherin table, but her heart seemed to warm again when the twins whistled and shouted at her; perhaps they didn't like Slytherin very much, but they loved their sister. Then their older brother gave her a shaky smile, and Cassie realized that Percy wasn't upset; he was worried.
She stood between two boys, the dark-haired one on her left gave her a nod of recognition, while the one on her right commented:
"That was a surprise." He smiled, his straight blond hair almost reaching his deep blue eyes.
"Yeah, me too," she replied, noticing that some eyes were still on her, at the same time that Kurt Wilson was being sorted into Hufflepuff. Professor Minerva rolled up the parchment and picked up the Sorting Hat.
"Don't mind them," the boy continued, holding out his hand to her.
"Cassandra Weasley," she replied, accepting the greeting.
Albus Dumbledore had stood up. He smiled radiantly at the students, his arms wide open, as if nothing in the world could have pleased him more than seeing them all gathered there.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we start our feast, I'd like to say a few words: Goofy! Crybaby! Pouty! Pinchy! Thank you."
Everyone clapped and cheered, and even at the Slytherin table, there was laughter. It might be a difficult path, but Cassandra was willing to face the challenges, and it seemed she had already made her first friend.