And here is the next chapter! And yes, I did write the Sorting Hats song... If its bad, please tell me.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own Harry Potter or its world... just my beautiful little OC's
Italics: Thoughts
Chapter 3: An Interesting Introduction
The small fleet of boats containing the first years, drifted quietly across the glass-like surface of the water. Then the castle came into view, beautiful, magnificent, and terrifying. The castle was looming over them as they entered a wide opening in the cliff the castle stood upon. The tunnel took them to an underground harbor. They landed on the pebble beach. The last person to get off the boat was a green faced boy. He fumbled to get out of the unsteady craft, but tripped over his robes and fell face first onto the beach. As he struggled to untangle himself, pebbles flew through the air like tiny missiles and peppered the laughing students surrounding him. Eventually Hagrid pulled him by his robes back onto his feet. His face was a-flame with embarrassment.
Hagrid began herding the students up a stone passageway. They came out in front of the castle and climbed up giant marble steps to the front doors. Hagrid raised his giant hand and knocked three times on the castle door.
At once the doors swung open. A tall witch, with pure silver hair tied back into a severe bun, appeared in the doorway. She wore magnificent purple robes. She said to the students, "My name is Professor McGonagall. I will be taking you from here. Thank you Hagrid."
She led the new students into a large entrance hall where torches lit the walls with their fiery glow. Professor McGonagall led them through a marble stair case leading to upper floors. They passed a set of large doors in which voices could be heard through, and into a small room off the hall.
Once inside Professor McGonagall said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The banquet celebrating the start-of-term will begin shortly. Before you join your fellow classmates in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your Houses. The Houses will be your family here at Hogwarts. While you are here your triumphs will earn your House points, and rule breaking will lose House points. The House with the most points shall be awarded the House Cup. There are four Houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, each one of you do your best to assist whichever House becomes yours.
Within a few minutes the Sorting Ceremony will be taking place in front of the rest of the school. I will return once we are ready for you."
The students shifted uncomfortably in the hot and stuffy room. After what seemed like hours of standing and waiting, the door opened once again to reveal Professor McGonagall.
"Form a line, everyone." She waited until something that could possibly be called a line formed. She then said, "Follow me!"
She led them back across the hall and through a large pair of doors into the Great Hall. Thousands of candles hung over four tables where students sat. They were decorated with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the end of the hall was another table at which the teachers sat. Professor McGonagall led them to this table. The small crowd of students gathered around as hundreds of faces turned to watch them.
Professor McGonagall then placed a small spindly stool in front of the first years. Then on top of the stool she placed a pointed wizards hat. The hat was extremely old and dirty. She then slowly stepped back and waited. Silence reigned throughout the Great Hall. The hat twitched and the rip near the brim opened wide and a male voice sang:
The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In those day before the fall
Of Slytherin and Gryffindor,
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw
Those four pillars, strong and tall
Had one day grown divided.
They each valued different virtues
And so split their students in four.
To Gryffindor went the brave
And true of heart
To Slytherin went those of great ambition
And the purest of blood
To Ravenclaw went the wise
And whose minds were sharper
Than any double edged sword,
To Hufflepuff went the rest,
For she loved them all.
But the strife of the Four
Goes deeper than their differences
For they all tried to rule over each other
And Hogwarts nearly fell.
But take heed from the past,
We must stand strong,
Hand in hand
Against outside forces.
So brush your differences aside
And come together
Though I have to sort you today
We shall forever be united
Or we will crumble from within.
You have been told.
Now put me on,
I have never been wrong,
Let the Sorting begin!
At once the hall erupted into a combination of cheers and applause. The hat bowed deeply to each of the four tables, then it became still, as though it had never moved.
As the cheers died down Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a scroll and said, "Before we begin the Sorting I will point out that this year is the first year we have transfer students from two magic schools to Hogwarts." When she said this the hall was filled with whispers.
She held her hand up to quiet the students. Then she said, "They will be entering Hogwarts as sixth years, but they will be sorted into their Houses at this ceremony."
At this, all eyes in the Great Hall zeroed in on the first years, but none of them spotted any student who was older than 11 years old.
Professor McGonagall unrolled the scroll containing all the first years names, cleared her throat and began, "Aki Hazel"
She paused and looked around. Nobody stepped forward. She motioned over to Filtch, the dusty old grounds keeper, and whispered," She must have gotten lost in the castle. Go and try to find her, I also I don't see the other exchange student, try to find her too."
He grunted and waddled off with Ms. Norris, his skeletal cat, pacing at his heels.
Professor McGonagall looked down at her scroll and called the next students name, "Andrews, Sophie"
A pale faced brunette stepped forward hesitantly. She sat on the chair and placed the hat on her head. A moment later the hat called, "HUFFELPUFF!" A short black haired boy named Jonathan Bridges was also placed in Huffelpuff right after her.
Professor McGonagall scanned the scroll once more and said, "Benson, Aquilla"
A tall blond haired girl stepped forward. She was placed into Slytherin, along with Avery Brooks, a boy with long brown hair. Marilyn cooper and Natalie Diez both went to Ravenclaw.
"Flynn, Jack" McGonagall called next.
He was dirty blond and tall for his age. The hat hadn't touched his head when it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Hale, Alan", called McGonagall.
In turn the hat yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"
"Hearts, Cathy", she said next. She was placed into Gryffindor. Sarah Hudgen was placed in Slytherin. Nathan Hunter went to Ravenclaw. Suddenly there was a crashing sound, but it was quickly brushed off as Peeves the Poltergeist up to his old tricks.
"Johnson, Diana", McGonagall called, who was placed in Gryffindor. Polly Mitchel was the next up. During the silence of the hat choosing, another crash could be heard, closer than the last. It was once again shrugged off.
"Kasumi, Scarlet"
Silence. Once again no one stepped forward.
"Just as I thought," Professor McGonagall said quietly. "They are both missing." Another Crash.
Eleanor Parker and Ada Perry were both placed in Slytherin. As they were walking to their place at the Slytherin table another crash sounded off outside. The students began to shift in their seats: the sounds were getting closer. As they began to whisper another crash was heard even closer than the last.
Through pursed lips McGonagall said, "Preston, Angelina" Who was sorted into Ravenclw. Crash. "Spencer, Kyle", was sorted into Huffelpuff. Crash.
McGonagall was beginning to lose control of her anger, "Taylor, Jason" Gryffindor. Crash. "Valdez, Sierra", Huffelpuff. Crash."Weslie, Colton!" She over punctuated the last name on the listand the young boy stepped forward fearfully. CRASH! Ravenclaw.
"That. Concludes. The. Sorting. Ceremony." CRASH!
The sounds continued to approach and grow in volume. Panicked voices began spreading throughout the room.
"What's happening?"
"Is it a troll?"
"What's Peeves up to this time?"
CRASH! It sounded off right outside the Great Hall's giant double doors. It had enough force to cause all the tables to rattle. Students jumped and turned in their seats to look at the doors.
"What in the devils name is that n-"
CRASH! The door to the Great Hall was torn from its hinges. It flew straight back. Terrified students let out shrieks of fear. The teachers all stood up, wands at the ready. The door stopped in the middle of the hall. It balanced on its edge, as though the door had been built in the middle of the room for no reason. It began to teeter for a few breathless seconds, and then fell.
The wind from the door kicked up a giant dust cloud. It seemed like hours of uncomfortable silence before the dust finally cleared. Professor McGonagall was furious though she did well to hide it. Instead she zeroed in on a student. A girl with blond and red hair in a high ponytail and high heels, but what really stood out where her robes. They were what the conservative Professor McGonagall considered an atrocity in comparison to the average school robes. They were tight and form fitting. They accented all of the tall girls curves and hugged in all the right places. At the elbows, the robes flowed smoothly out and touched her fingertips. The shoulders of her robes were ripped stylishly to reveal a slice of the ivory white silk shirt underneath. On her barely clad long legs was a black and white mini-skirt. It was a few inches short of fingertip length.
The girl tilted her head a little at Professor McGonagall and the candle light behind her glittered off the smooth surface of a silver choker necklace she wore. She smirked.
Her head tilted to the left and behind as she spoke to someone they couldn't see. Then with a graceful twirl, she turned back to Professor McGonagall and strode confidently to her. The rhythmic clicks of her boots were the only sounds in the silent hall until she neared the walkway between the Hufflepuff table and the Ravenclaw table. Then there where hushed and muffled whispers from the tables occupants.
Near the doorway a shadow moved and suddenly detached itself from the others. When the shadow moved in front of a torch on the wall, the shadows lifted to reveal another tall girl. She had dark raven hair that fell to her waist in mostly straight strands, with only the slightest ripple. She had bangs which were long and tapered down the sides of her head to frame her face. Her robes similar to the first girls were form fitting. The difference was hers flowed loosely at waist level, not at the elbows. She wore black skinny jeans. Over all, hers was a lot more conservative than the other girl's choice of clothing. About the girls slim neck was a silver owl necklace. The pendant's eyes were onyx and they seemed to glow in the torch light. The owl's wings were spread wide and gracefully curved to touch at the tips.
Poking out over the girls shoulder was clearly a scabbard. The hilt was capped in silver. Attached to the cap was a clip that held two feathers that were just short of a foot long. One of the feathers was white, the other black. The same colors as the two that decorated her glossy hair.
The first girl reached the broken and splintered door, but instead of walking around, she walked over it. Once at the other side she paused, waiting for the second girl. When the girl finally caught up to the second, and together they walked to the front of the hall.
The whispering increased seven fold by the the time they made it to the front. There, they waited before Professor McGonagall.
Please remember to Review my lovelies! Tell me how I did with the Hats song!