The sorting
The locomotive screeched slowly to a halt as their conversation too had come to a stop and they made themselves ready to leave, he stuffed the book back into his large trunk and just left it there as he’d been instructed to by the board announcement. Filing out, behind the wall of other students, they found themselves at a red train station, with a red brick wall separating it in two. On the right, with all the first years, stood a man of a giant, who was calling for all the first years to follow him, whilst, on the left, all the other students filed in to ride on the famous, horseless carriages that transported the older students to the caste, which he had read about in ‘Hogwarts a History’. The giant -not a literal giant-, took them to the lake, where close to three dozen boats waited for them, “Go on then, no more than four in a boat”
Theo and Harry filed into a boat with a red headed boy and Neville, whom introduced himself, which the former boy failed to do. Neville was a bit chubby and small, smaller than Harry, whilst the red haired boy towered over all of them, lanky and thin but not dangerously so, just enough to drive home the fact that he was abnormally tall for his age.
As the boats slowly floated above the big, black lake, Hogwarts came into view and what a fantastic view it was, high towers spiraling from the massive construction, easily thrice the size of any muggle castle. From its windows, high up on the hill where it stood, came the flickering light of countless candles and torches which iluminated the great, stone fortress through the dark night which so fiercly tried to swallow all light within it. Even the moon shone weakly compared to the great construct of stone and magic.
The boys in his boat were just as amazed as Harry was, none of them ever having seen something as magnificent as the castle looming over them. Even their guide, the giant of a man, was staring at the castle with the same wonder in his beady black eyes.
When he was eventually able to tear his eyes from the wonder of craftsmanship, down to the lake beneath him, he could see the great kraken which lived their, one of its tentacles near the surface, gently touching the wooden boats with curiosity.
In good time, they were over the black lake and climbed the stairs up into the castle, into a small room, where their guide left them with the words, “Professor McGonagall will be here shortly”
Then, the children were left to their own devices. Pretty quickly, chatter broke out between the first-years-to-be.
“So it is true”, a pale faced boy approached Harry, “Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts. I see you know the right folk from the wrong one. The Notts are respectable, not the best but far from some filthy mudbl- I mean muggleborns”
He offered Harry a hand, “nice to meat you, I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy”
“Potter, Harry”
He didn’t take his hand but wasn’t overly hostile either, which seemed good enough for the Malfoy boy, who -with a smug grin- left him alone to talk to two big boys that looked like they had more muscle than brain. From what he could hear of their conversation, his assessment was correct, the two answered with simple responses and talked rather slowly.
Theo and himself were talking about this and that, nothing special, just general small talk.
Which was rudely interrupted when a horde of ghosts came barging through the wall, entirely too keen on discussing their matters in front of them, “I say give him another chance, forgive and forget”
“Peeves has already had enough second chances”, another ghost argued against the fat one, “he is disrespectful and brings dishonor to all of us, I say we exorcize him”
“We did that once”, a female ghost spat back, “the poltergeist simply rebuild itself from all the mischief that the students get up to and we- oh there are students here”
“First years I’d wager”, the ghost of a lordly looking man said, “hope you will join Gryffindor, my old house”
“Not this again nick, they will get sorted as they have always been”, the fat ghost laughed, “but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a few of you in Hufflepuff myself”
“Shoo, I have things to say”, McGonagall called from behind the horde of ghosts, which flew off into the ceiling, giving way for the stern woman, “Now, you are about to be sorted into one of the great houses, Ravenclaw, Huflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. For the next seven years your housemates will be your friends, your family and most trusted allies. Extraordinary accomplishments will earn you house points whilst breaking the rules will lose them. Follow me, the sorting will begin shortly”
Walking behind McGonagall, they were led into the great hall. Inside, there were four great tables filled with students and one for the teachers, going left to right, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, all of their students decked out in their houses clothes and curiously looking towards the first years who were filing to the front of the hall, where on a stool before the teacher’s table, a hat sat which promptly broke out into a song.
“Oh students of hogwarts dear
Lend this old hat your ear
And I will tell you where you belong
Where you will be all year long
Be that ravenclaw
With wits in measures of Awe
Or Gryffindor’s table
where the bravest are the most stable
Hufflepuff perhaps
Who work hard and more loyal to map
Slytherin, last but not least
where cunning and ambition quell the beast
Come and put me on your head, ear to ear
And I’ll tell you which colors you shall bear”
As the hat fell quiet, McGonagall got to calling up the students in alphabetical order, starting with ‘Abbot, Hannah’ and slowly working itself up to P, where Harry got called after ’Pots, Lillian’ was sent to Ravenclaw. The hall fell silent as everyone’s eyes locked onto his position. The attention was nice, it calmed his nerves as the large, leather hat covered his eyes and within his head, the hat’s voice rang in his head, “Curious, most curious. I sense ambition and a ginormous thirst for knowledge and an even greater thirst for power… where to put you not in Gryffindor, no you aren’t bold enough, not Hufflepuff, you aren’t loyal… Ravenclaw or Slytherin… oh my, a parselmouth are you? Well that makes it clear”
To the entire hall, the hat called out, “SLYTHERIN!”