Rose clutched Albus' hand desperately while they milled in the entrance chamber with the rest of the terrified first years. She and Albus had shared an excited conversation about the things they had heard from James while they floated over the black lake towards a towering castle, twinkling with candle light. Now they stood in a shadowy chamber at the base of a grand marble staircase hearing to excited whispers echo around the cavernous space.
A squat, wrinkled woman introduced herself as Professor Sprout, the deputy headmaster. Albus whispered to Rose what James had told him about how the dumpy professor had shown some badly behaved students her potted Venomous Tentacular, before they were called to walk up the staircase and through an imposing pair of doors into the Great Hall.
The group of first years walked into the Great Hall and slowed almost to a halt, gaping. Rose's hand relaxed as her eyes rose and she marvelled at the ceiling, or at least where the ceiling should have been. Instead, clouds floated past bright, twinkling stars and an almost full moon shone down at them. Albus didn't seem to notice Rose let go of his hand, he was too busy scanning the rows of older students trying to figure out which table belonged to Gryffindor house. The group of first years sped up, prompted by Professor Sprout behind them. When Albus was halfway down the passage between tables he spotted James waving at him, and nudged Rose to show her.
Rose and Albus reached the front of the Great Hall in the centre of the group of first years; which parted to allow the wizened professor through to the front. Professor Sprout stood at the front of the hall and indicated towards an unnoticed stool topped with a battered old hat. The rest of the first years started when the hat began to speak, someone even gasped. Rose and Albus smiled nervously to each other; they were thankful that Albus' father had told them that the sorting ceremony was nothing to be afraid of, but they were still a little bit frightened. The hat addressed the whole Hall, speaking of the importance of the schoolhouses, and explaining the qualities of each house.
Professor Sprout then flourished her wand and read from a scroll that appeared from the tip. She called out names of individual students, who parted unwillingly from the group and sat on the stool. The hat was placed upon their heads for a short time before it yelled out the name of a house to the Hall. Albus and Rose started murmuring to each other while they waited, pointing out familiar faces they had seen and family names they recognised.
They both went silent when "Malfoy, Scorpius" was called. They parents had talked about a man called Malfoy and they were curious about this boy. The Sorting Hat sat silent on his head for a long time, Professor Sprout had begun to look behind her towards the teacher's table where teachers were murmuring and glancing at each other when The Hat finally yelled out "Slytherin". Scorpius let out a sigh before standing up and returning the Hat to sit on the stool. Scorpius strode down the stairs towards the cheering table, second on the right. Soon afterwards it was Lily's turn, she gave Albus' hand one last squeeze before stepping up to the stool and donning the hat. She was sorted into Gryffindor, as was Albus later on.
Once everyone was sorted and seated at their house tables a white haired wizard moved from behind the teacher's table. He moved oddly, his body not moving naturally as he walked. Instead, he swayed from side to side as though riding a hulking animal. When he appeared around the side of the table there was a collective gasp, and many of the older students clapped. The wizened man was seated upon what looked like a chair with unusually long legs. That was not the most unusual thing about the chair however; for the chair was walking, placing brass talons on the floor as it lumbered across the stone to stand in front of the table.
The wizard seated in this incredible chair was very short and creased, almost like a wizened apple. James leant across to Rose and Albus and whispered excitedly that that was the half-goblin headmaster. They gasped at his revelation, and they all looked back at the teacher's table to listen to the rest of Headmaster Flitwick's address.
The Headmaster had an odd, high pitched voice. Occasionally when he got too overenthusiastic his voice would squeak. The first time this happened he was introducing the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Deletaria. Almost immediately after she was introduced, Professor Deletaria swept up to stand beside Headmaster Flitwick. Her sudden appearance caused his startled squeak, which roused a chuckle from the hall of watching students. After he had finished speaking, Headmaster Flitwick spread his arms and each table suddenly held platters of scrumptious food and students dug in.
While they feasted the Potter and Weasley kids, discussed this "Scorpius Malfoy" character, and wondered why it had taken so long for the Hat to sort him.