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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐭

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." 

My stomach lurched with nerves. Belle and Cassie gasped as the hurried back inside their compartment. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed theirway toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. 

"Harry! Ron! RON! HARRY!" I hollered. 

"Harry?" Leslie asked, titling her head in confusion. 

"As in Harry Potter?!"  Lily asked, her eyes wide. 

"You know Harry Potter?!" Belle asked, grinning. 

"H-how do you know him?" Cassie asked. 

"He's my cousin," I replied as I looked around.

I spotted Ron's red hair in a second. 

"Ron! RON!" 

Ron turned around, looking at me. He smiled and then tapped the boy next to him — Harry. 

"I've been calling you for ages," I said angrily as Harry and Ron made their way to me. 

"Sorry — who're they?" Harry asked, pointing at the Fawleys. 

"I'm Leslie." 

"I'm Lily." 

"I'm Belle." 

"I'm Cassie." 

"And we're the Fawleys!" 

I nodded to Harry and Ron who gave me a quizzical look. 

"Well, I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said shaking Belle's hand first. "And this is —" 

"Harry Potter," chorused the Fawleys. 

"Yes, this is Harry," I said, smiling. 

Harry smiled at the eager Fawleys. 

"Well, we better get going. We'll see you in the Sorting!" Cassie said for all her cousins as they hurried off. 

Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and I heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry? An' you, Diane?"

Hagrid's 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!" 

Slipping and stumbling, we followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that U thought there must be thick trees there. 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." 

There was a loud "Oooooh!" 

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great blacklake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling inthe 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 and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione, while I sat with two boys and a girl.

 "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then— FORWARD!"

And 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 them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. 

"I'm Seamus Finnigan," one of the boys said. 

"I'm Diane Dursley," I replied. 

"I'm Dean Thomas," replied the other boy. 

"I'm Parvati Patil," the girl said. 

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; we all bent their heads and the little boats carried us through a curtain of ivy that hida wide opening in the cliff face. We were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until we reached a kind of underground harbor, where we clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

 "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. 

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding 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, oak front door. 

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" 

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and my 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. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' 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 them led to the upper floors.We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor.I could 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 the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in,standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about 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 called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will learn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most 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 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 patted down my hair just to make sure. 

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall."Please wait quietly." 

She left the chamber. Harry swallowed quite loudly.

 "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron. 

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." 

My heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school?But I didn't know any magic yet —what on earth would I have to do? I hadn't expected something like this the moment we arrived. I looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. I tried hard not to listen to her, and tried not to think about memorizing the course books — which I should have done. I'd never been more nervous, never, not even when I had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that I'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. I kept my eyes fixed on the door. Any second now,Professor McGonagall would come back and lead me to my doom.Then something happened that made me jump about a foot in the air —several people behind him screamed.

"What the —?" 

Harry gasped. So did the people around us. 

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 the 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 —"

"Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts," I said in a fearful soft voice, "oh dear, oh dear." 

"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 — 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?"

 A few people nodded mutely. 

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, youknow." 

"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," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me." 

Feeling oddly as though my legs had turned to lead, I got into line behind the girl with the long black hair (Parvati Patil?), Harry got into line behind the boy with sandy hair (Seamus Finnigan, I think), with Ron behind him, and we walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. 

I had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over fourlong 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 longtable where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them 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 heard Hermione whisper, "Its 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 onto the heavens.I quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Mum wouldn't have let it in the house.Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, I thought wildly,that seemed the sort of thing — noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, I stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat 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. 

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry and me. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

"Don't kill him! If you actually are that is," I whispered back to Ron. 

Harry smiled weakly. 

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!" shouted the hat. 

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

 "Bones, Susan!" 

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat 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 Ron's twin brothers catcalling. 

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was my imagination, after all I'd heard about Slytherin, but I thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. 

"Diane Dursley!" Professor McGonagall called. 

I hurried to the hat and put it on. I was definitely gasping. 

"Hmm," said a small voice in my ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. Ravenclaw? Hmm, definitely, there's talent, A my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting....So where shall I put you?"

I gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin. 

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no?" 

No, I thought. Please, I'm not like Dudley. 

"Well, if you're sure — what about Ravenclaw? You are smart." 

Thank you, but I don't think I'm that smart. Please, Gryffindor. 

"Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"

I took off the hat and handed it to McGonagall as the Hall burst into cheers. 

"Yes!" Fred and George yelled. "Come on, Dursley, sit here!" 

I sat next to them. 

I could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught my eye and gave me the thumbs up. I grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. I recognized him at once from the card Harry had gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. I spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.

"Fawley, Belle!" 

I saw Belle shoot a concerned look at her cousins before she hurried up to the hat and jammed it on her head. 

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted. 

I clapped as Belle joined me, sighing with relief. 

"I thought I was going to die under there," she muttered as Fred, George, and Percy shook her hand. 

"Fawley, Cassandra!" Professor McGonagall shouted. 

"Oh, look, Cassie's under pressure," Belle hissed as Cassie, clearly hyperventilating silently, jammed the hat on her head. 

"I feel like she's going to be in —" I said. 

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. 

"Gryffindor," Belle and I finished as Cassie hurried to join us. 

"Fawley, Leslie!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

"Yup, she's cracking under pressure," Cassie said as Leslie hurried to the Sorting Hat. 

"GRYFFINDOR!" 

We all clapped as Leslie hurried to us. 

"Fawley, Lilianna!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

Lily hurried eagerly to the Sorting Hat and waited. 

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted. 

We all clapped again as Lily hurried to us. 

"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 sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. 

"Granger, Hermione!" 

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. 

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. 

 When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called,he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. 

When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.There weren't many people left now. "Moon"..., "Nott"...,"Parkinson"..., then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"..., then "Perks,Sally-Anne"..., and then, at last — 

"Potter, Harry!" 

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

 "Potter, did she say?" 

"The Harry Potter?" 

After a few minutes or seconds, the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" 

Harry took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. I hugged him a little. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" 

Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm. 

 And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean,"a black boy even taller than Ron, joined me at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin,Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. I crossed my fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" 

I clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to Harry.

 "Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. 

Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Word count: 3185