Cyril's eyes widened in surprise and awe as they stepped into Hogwarts. The large black doors closed behind him, making a loud, ominous noise. Cyril, however, was distracted as he stared up at the ornately carved, arched ceiling. A voice sounded from nearby, causing Cyril to look around and forget the ceiling.
"First years! Welcome!" A cheery looking witch stood ahead of them, grinning sweetly. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
The group of kids halfheartedly nodded, being much to occupied with looking around, seeing as much as they could see. They appeared to have come into a room of some sort. It was wide and open, with Hogwarts's front doors behind them. In front, was the witch standing on the topmost step of three, behind her were a pair of beautiful doors. To the right and left of the doors were two, also beautiful, staircases, one going up, the other going down.
The witch cleared her throat, trying to get their attention, "If you would just wait here a moment. The Sorting will begin shortly." Then, she turned and left through the doors behind her, closing them quickly.
The first years had their own ideas about what they should and shouldn't do, however, and soon got mischievous. A boy with black hair ran over to the staircase going up, calling to a blond boy.
"I'll race you up, Oliver!" the black-haired boy was already running up the stairs.
"Hey! No fair, Ferrol!" Oliver sprinted up the steps. Oliver took the stairs two at a time, and stumbled slightly on the third pair, just as he was about to fall face flat onto the hard marble, a big hand reached out to grab him. Hagrid looked down at the boy disapprovingly, as best as he could, through his silver whiskers.
"Don' be runnin up them stairs, now. Wouldn' wan' ter get detention n the firs' day, now would ya?" Hagrid's disapproving look twitched a bit at Oliver's look of shock, and a smile slowly spread across the large man's wrinkly features. "Naw, I won' tell a soul." Oliver smiled, then, as an after thought, Hagrid yelled up the stairs to the boy at the top, "Hey! Come back down here. Yer friend is waitin for ya!"
Alec rolled his eyes beside Cyril at the 'commotion', "Too bad they didn't get detention." Alariya nodded, and Cyril was about to reply, when the witch came back out.
"They're ready for you! And, oh, by the way, I'm Professor Grey!" Professor Grey happily called to them.
"She doesn't seem much the type of a teacher," Alariya looked skeptical as the group followed Grey through the doors.
"Really, I think Hogwarts is losing.. their..." Alec trailed off as they entered the Great Hall.
The first years were in immediate awe as they looked around the room. It was large, impossibly large. Four long tables filled most of the room, where the older students were making quite a noise. Banners hung over their heads, each clad in different colors. Silver and green for Slytherin, blue and bronze for Ravenclaw, yellow and black for Hufflepuff, and maroon and gold for Gryffindor. At the back of the room, above a raised platform where the staff sat, was the largest hanging, on it the Hogwarts crest.
Cyril gasped as he looked up, so did many other students as they followed his gaze. The ceiling didn't even seem to be there, in its place was what looked like the night sky, exactly how it was outside. A dark, murky purple-blue glittering with stars. Muggle-born students smiled and pointed out the constellations they had grown up learning to the other first years, who looked merely intrigued by them.
Cyril stared in wonder above, but broke his trance as Professor Grey cleared her throat. Several heads around the Hall turned to look at her.
"This here," she motioned to an old, no, ancient, looking hat sitting on a wooden stool behind her, "is the Sorting Hat."
Some first years looked utterly confused, while others' realization visibly dawned on their faces, quickly turning to knowing looks. Cyril was among those with knowing looks, and quickly lost interest as his eyes wandered back to the ceiling. His gaze swept the Hall, eagerly looking at everything and taking it in.
Once he thought he had looked at everything, he slowly turned his attention back to the Hat and Grey. He just caught the last three lines of lil' Sorty's annual song:
...Maybe that's the best House for you.
So come and try me on,
And you can have a nice year too.
Cyril's eyes widened as he realized he had missed his own Sorting Song. Oh well, there's still six more years! he thought optimistically. Cyril clapped along with everyone, to appreciate the Hat, even though he had no idea if the song was good or not.
As the applause died down, Professor Grey took out a long scroll and started reading off names. Two students became Hufflepuffs, including Mickey Abbott, and one Gryffindor. The two tables cheered loudly before Grey started reading the B's.
"Black, Cyril."
Cyril wore a big grin as he bounced up to the stool. He sat down and Grey plopped the Hat on his head, it slid over his eyes to the tip of his nose. A small voice startled Cyril as it snuck into his consciousness.
"Hmm.. A Black, I see?" the sly voice of the Hat asked him.
'Yup!' Cyril thought, joyfully.
"What's inside.. what's inside," the Hat muttered quietly. "Ah. I see you have some Hufflepuff qualities."
'What?! No I don't! What kind of qualities?' Cyril thought his shock turning to annoyed curiosity.
The Hat stayed silent for a moment, "Don't want to be in Hufflepuff? Well then, I'll have to put you in... Hold on, next year you had better listen to my song! I spent an entire year making it up!" Cyril nodded obediently. "Fine," the Hat continued, "SLYTHERIN!"
The green and silver table on the far left stood up and cheered, Cyril lifted the Hat from his head and ran over to join them, grinning broadly. Yay! I don't have to get disowned! He saw Natalie halfway down the table and sat beside her, while on his left a boy thumped him on the back, congratulating him. Cyril smiled at him before turning to watch the rest of the Sorting.
