The door swung open at once to reveal a tall, black-haired witch in emerald green robes. She had a very stern face, and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide and ushered the first years across the giant entrance hall. Harry took in the flaming torches, magnificent marble staircase, and the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear hundreds of voices coming from a door to the right (he supposed the rest of the school must be in there) but Professor McGonagall led them into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They all crowded in, peering around nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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 Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. 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're waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." She left the chamber and Harry turned to Draco.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?"
"The sorting hat. It looks into your mind and decides which house you belong in."
"Oh. That's all?" Harry felt relieved. He had been imagining some test of magical prowess. As they waited, several people behind him suddenly screamed.
"What the—?" He followed the screamers' gazes and gasped. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another. 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 even really a ghost—I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" Harry saw a few people nod. "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 walls. "Now, form a line and follow me." Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line between Draco and Gregory and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Even Draco gasped at the splendor of the Great Hall. 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 golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. The line of first years was led up there so they came to a halt facing the other students. Hundreds of faces stared up at them with silvery ghosts dotted in between. To avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper that it was bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Draco nudged him and he looked back down. He saw Professor McGonagall silently place a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she placed a pointed wizard's hat that was patched, frayed, and extremely dirty. As he stared at the hat, it twitched, then 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 bowed to each table then became still again. Harry was growing more nervous by the moment. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot. He didn't feel brave, or quick-witted, or any of it at the moment. If only the hat mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward and the hall instantly quieted down.
"When I call your name, you will step forward, put on the hat, and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, and sat down.
"Hufflepuff!" The table on the right cheered and clapped as a very pleased Hannah went to sit with her new housemates.
"Bones, Susan!"
"Hufflepuff!" Susan raced off to sit next to Hannah. He saw them exchange a quick high-five.
"Boot, Terry!"
"Ravenclaw!" The table second to from the left clapped this time. Harry noticed several students stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. Draco nodded.
"Ravenclaw has always had good manners."
"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Brown, Lavender!"
"Gryffindor!" The table on the far left exploded in cheers and catcalls. Harry winced.
"Do they have to be so loud?"
Draco shrugged. "It's Gryffindor." He said this as though it explained everything. As Harry thought it over, he supposed it probably did. He noticed that Alexander was at that table. If he was in Gryffindor maybe it wasn't so bad.
"Bullstrode, Millicent."
"Slytherin!" The table second from the left clapped politely. Harry saw that everyone in a three person radius of where Millicent sat introduced themselves.
"And that is one of the many reasons I want to be in Slytherin. You won't find any improper savages in the lot." Harry had missed a few students, including Vincent, but he started paying attention just in time to catch the next student.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Finnigan, Seamus!" The hat took almost a full minute to decide where to place him.
"Gryffindor!
"Goldstein, Anthony!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Goyle, Gregory!"
"Slytherin!"
"Greengrass, Daphne!"
"Slytherin!"
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione ran to the stool and jammed the hat on her head. Harry could see her lips moving as though she were speaking to the hat. Finally the hat had made its choice.
"Slytherin!"
"Yes!" Harry turned to Draco, surprised, then smiled evilly.
"You fancy her, eh, Draco?" Draco blushed scarlet.
"Shut it, Harry." Then he turned back to the Sorting. Harry wished he had made that last longer. His nerves were getting the best of him again. A horrible thought struck him then. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he had better get back on the train? He was pulled out of his thoughts when Draco nudged him. Harry looked up. It was Neville's turn. The Sorting Hat took a long time with poor Neville.
"Gryffindor!" Harry and Draco both groaned.
"MacDougal, Morag!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"MacMillan, Ernie!"
"Hufflepuff!"
"Malfoy, Draco!" Draco nodded at Harry then swaggered forward. He got his wish at once. The hat had barely touched his head when he was sorted.
"Slytherin!" Harry saw him sit with Vincent and Gregory. He introduced himself to the other students around him. Harry wished the Sorting would go faster.
"Moon, Kevin!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Nott, Theodore!"
"Slytherin!"
"Parkinson, Pansy!"
"Slytherin!"
"Patil, Padma!"
"Ravenclaw!" Harry was extremely nervous now. He desperately thought up different ways he could convince (or trick) the hat into sorting him.
"Patil, Parvati!"
"Gryffindor!"
"Perks, Sally-Anne!"
"Gryffindor!" And finally it was Harry's turn.
"Potter, Harry!" As he stepped forward, whispers broke out like hissing fires all over the hall. Harry did his best to tune them out as he sat on the stool and put on the hat. As it dropped over his eyes, he saw people craning to look at him then everything was black.
"Harry Potter?" said a small voice in his ear. "Now why would she call you that? Ah, I understand now. You have an interesting journey ahead of you."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't interrupt, Harry. Now, let's see. Hmm, difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, my goodness, yes—and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting...So, where to put you?"
Harry gripped the edges of the stool. Unbidden, thoughts of how to con the hat into putting him in Slytherin came to mind.
"A schemer, eh? You would do well in Slytherin. You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness, no doubt about that. Yes, it seems you're sure. SLYTHERIN!" Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the entire hall.
He took off the hat and walked shakily toward Slytherin table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Gryffindor, he hardly noticed he was getting a proper cheer from Slytherin. He felt a little bad that he wasn't in the same house as Alexander, but when he looked over his older friend was giving him a huge grin and a thumbs up. When he sat down next to Draco, half the table came over to him to introduce themselves. When they had finished, he looked up to the teacher's table. He recognized Professor Dumbledore. He tried to catch his eye, but he was focused on the last students to be sorted.
"Weasley, Ron!"
"Gryffindor!" Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't care for Weasley. He was a lot like Dudley—bullying people for no reason. Now he was definitely thankful that he wasn't in Gryffindor. The Sorting ended with "Zabini, Blaise" who was made a Slytherin as well.
Professor McGonagall finally rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. As Harry looked down at his gold plate, it occurred to him just how hungry he was. He didn't even notice when Dumbledore got to his feet. He did look up at the odd words the headmaster spoke (Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!). Somehow the plates were instantly piled with food. He had never seen so many things he like to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, oddly, peppermint humbugs.
Just as Harry was going to reach for a dish, Draco handed him a dish of roast beef. He helped himself to some and was about to set it down when Draco whispered to him.
"Pass it on, Harry. Each dish will come to you. Take some then pass it along. When the dishes are no longer being passed, watch me for which silverware to use and how to use it."
Harry smiled and nodded his thanks as another dish came their way. He noticed the entire table ate carefully. Very few people helped themselves to seconds. Those who did very politely asked for the dish to be passed.
Once everyone had finished, the remaining food vanished and was replaced with blocks of ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, rice pudding, and on and on.
The other Slytherins began conversations as they ate their desserts. A few elder students across the table began talking to Harry and Draco.
"We're glad you joined Slytherin. You'll help us continue our winning streak for sure."
"Winning streak?" Harry asked.
"We've won the house cup the last six years. If we can win it another five, we'll break the record. Gryffindor holds the record for wins at ten in a row. It was set back in the 1500s. We have to shatter it. We're more than halfway there."
"Well, we'll certainly try. All the first years will." Harry and Draco talked for a while. Draco pointed out each professor. Soon after he finished, Dumbledore got to his feet and the hall fell silent.
"I have just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. (At this point, Draco grumbled about first years not being allowed to play.) And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death. And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
Harry saw Alexander giving him a wave and mouthing, 'See you at breakfast' before he walked off with the other gold and red wearing students.
The first years followed the prefects to their dormitories. They were led down into the dungeons and stopped in front of what appeared to be a solid stone wall.
"The password is 'proper manners'." The wall slid aside to reveal a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling merrily under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them. They all trudged in, most of them very tired.
"The boys' dormitory is down the left corridor, the girls' dormitory is down the right corridor. Good-night." The first years all chorused good-night then walked down to their respective dormitories. Harry was first in the door and wasted no time finding his bed. After eating so much, he was exhausted. He pulled his pajamas out of his trunk, but became embarrassed when he saw what the other boys had. Draco noticed poor Harry's plight and quickly walked over to him.
"Harry, mate, you can borrow some of mine for now. Tomorrow I'll show you how to owl order new ones. Everyone will understand though. Those damn muggles and..."
"And what, Draco?"
"Oh, just those damn muggles and all." He fetched Harry a pair of his pajamas and they quickly changed.
"Thanks, Draco."
"You're welcome, Harry." They all bade each other goodnight then crawled into bed. Harry blew out his candle and closed his bed hangings then lay there thinking about what tomorrow would bring. He was very excited to start his magical education.