I am so sorry for the delay! My computer broke so ive had to write this on my phone. I hope you all enjoy!
**J.K. Rowling owns it all! I own nothing sadly...**
The boats slipped silently towards the castle as gasps rose from the first years on the boats. Harry couldn't tear his eyes off the beautiful sight before him. He was so enthralled that he missed Hagrid's warning to duck, and had Hedwig not nipped his thumb to get his attention he would have gotten tangled in the ivy hanging down over the mouth of the small cave the boats glided into. He smiled sheepishly down at her.
"Sorry girl." He murmured. She flicked her tongue in amusement.
"Thatssss okayyy." She hissed softly butting her head against his thumb. The boats glided silently through a dark cavern, before coming to a stop in a kind of underground harbor.
"Ev'ry body ou' then!" Hagrid's voice echoed off the stone walls of the cavern, making all of the first years jump. They clambered out of the boats and gathered around Hagrid, who waved his enormous hand towards the stairs.
"Follow me!" he boomed, and follow they did. Up and up they climbed the long flight of stairs, and Harry was just beginning to wonder exactly how deep underground they were when a bit of moonlight began filtering in. Finally, they were almost out! They filed out onto a long sloping lawn leading up to the incredible castle they'd seen only moments before. Hagrid herded them up the lawn, and yet more stairs, before they reached the enormous wooden double doors. He knocked heavily on one, and a moment later it swung open to reveal a severe looking witch. She wore an emerald green velvety robe, and a pointed witches hat in the same shade, and had a pair of black spectacles perched on the end of her pointed nose. Her hair, Harry could see, was a mix of black and silver, tucked securely under the hat. Immediately Harry decided she was not a witch you wanted to cross.
"Thank you Hagrid." She said nodding to him. He nodded, smiled at the rather concerned students, and ambled past her into the castle. Harry and Ron exchanged a worried look as the stern witch looked over the group, her face stoic.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, I am Professor McGonagall. Follow me." She she said, turning on her heel and marching into the cavernous entrance hall. The students quickly scuttled after her, following her into a hallway across from the doors, past a few off shoots until they finally came to a stop in front of another large wooden door. She turned on the students once more and to their surprise smiled.
"In a few moments, you will pass through these doors, and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be something like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking and you will loose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most house points is awarded the House Cup." At that moment, she was cut off by a round and freckle faced boy jumping forward with a gleeful shout of,
"Trevor!" as he pounced on a large toad that sat just in front of professor McGonagall's feet. She looked reproachfully down at him and he gulped, stepping back with the toad clutched tightly in his hands. She tutted disapprovingly and looked back up at the rest of the class.
"Wait here." She said, walking through a small side door next to the main one. Harry turned to Ron, opening his mouth to ask what exactly Fred and George had said about the sorting, when a slick voice rang out from the crowd of students around them.
"So it's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." The voice came from a pale boy with slicked back white blonde hair who pushed another first year out of his way as he moved towards them. Harry recognized him from Madame Malkins in Diagon Alley, and felt a wave of dislike wash over him. The blonde boy was flanked by 2 large, beefy boys that looked almost like body guards the way they followed him closely. A hushed murmur went up through the crowd at that, and Harry heard his name from several of the other students. Hedwig flicked her tongue in irritation as the sneering boy stepped closer to Harry.
"I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He said pompously. Ron's barely disguised snort drew Malfoy's attention and he glared at him.
"Think my name's funny do you? No need to ask yours." He looked Ron up and down sneering hatefully. "Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley." He crinkled his nose in disgust, turning back to Harry. "You'll soon find out Potter, that some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." He said with a pointed look at Ron, who's face had gone a funny red color. He offered his hand to Harry, "I can help you there." Harry looked down at his hand and back up into his face without taking it.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself thanks." He said cooly. Malfoy's pale face flushed pink with rage, but before he could say anything, McGonagall had returned and was speaking once more.
"We're ready for you." She said, giving Malfoy a stern look. Harry looked at Ron, who had gone from angry to terrified once more. His own stomach was doing somersaults so he sympathized with Ron. They followed Professor McGonagall into a huge room, with four very long tables containing several hundred students, and a large dais at the end of the room with another long table containing teachers. Harry recognized Professor Quirrel, along with Dumbledore whose picture he had seen on the back of a chocolate frog card on the train. But the thing that caught Harry's attention, along with most of his class, was the ceiling. It looked almost like it was made of glass, with a starry sky and clouds visible. Harry heard the girl from the train, Hermione, loudly whispering to another girl.
"Its bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History." She said, and looked like she might go on, but they had reached the dais at the end of the room. In front of the teachers table stood a rickety 3 legged stool. Professor McGonagall walked up the three steps to stand next to it and unrolled a long roll of parchment.
"If you'll line up along here please." She said indicating the space before the platform. The students filed into the space and looked up at her. She pulled out a rumpled looking old hat and placed it on the stool. A crease in the hat cracked open like a mouth and it 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 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 folks use any means to achieve their 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!" as it finished and sat silent once more, the hall echoed with applause. As soon as the noise died down Professor McGonagall unrolled her long scroll of parchment and looked over the first years again.
"Now, when I call your name, you will step forward, I will place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Abbot, Hannah?" she called. Harry, who had been going through worst case scenarios in his head felt a little relieved, but he did wish this could be done maybe in private, where there wasn't several hundred people staring at him. Ron nudged his arm as Hannah Abbot was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"I'll kill Fred." he whispered angrily, "He was going on about fighting a dragon!" Harry laughed softly, and Ron grinned as Brown, Lavender was placed in Gryffindor. They watched 2 more students be sorted, 2 into Hufflepuff and and 1 into Ravenclaw. Crabby, Vincent was the first to go to Slytherin, and then Professor McGonagall consulted her scroll once more and looked at the class.
"Malfoy, Draco?" she called, and the pale faced boy shoved past Ron and walked up to the stool, sitting down. The hat barely touched his white blonde head before the hat screamed, "Slytherin!" and the Slytherin table cheered as he went to take his seat next to Crabbe. Finnigan, Seamus went to Gryffindor, Greengrass, Daphne went to Ravenclaw, and then the annoying girl, Hermione, went to Gryffindor as well. Ron groaned a little at that, as his whole family was in Gryffindor. Longbottom, Neville, the boy with the toad sat the longest on the stool before the hat cried Gryffindor, and he was so happy it seemed, to have been finally sorted, that he took off with the hat still on his head, and had to trot back up and hand it sheepishly to Parkinson, Pansy who glared at him before being sorted to Slytherin. A set of twins Patil, Padma and Parvati went to Gryffindor, and then Professor McGonagall looked down and called,
"Potter, Harry." A hushed whisper overtook the great hall and she silenced them all with a glare. Harry slowly climbed up to the dias and sat on the stool. She placed the hat on his head, and he heard a voice murmur in his ear.
"Hmmm, difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind either, and a thirst, to prove yourself. But where to put you?" the hat pondered. Harry swallowed hard,
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin." He breathed, more of a desperate prayer than anything else. The hat heard him however and replied,
"Not Slytherin eh? You could be great you know. It's all here in your head. And Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness there's no doubt about that." it whispered.
"No please, anything but Slytherin." Harry hissed softly, as Hedwig sensing his nervousness and tightened around his thumb again.
"No? Well if you're sure. Better be, Gryffindor!" the hat called the last word aloud where everyone could hear and Harry gasped with happiness as the Gryffindor table roared. He heard the Weasley twins chanting,
"We got Potter, we got Potter!" as he removed the hat and walked quickly to take a seat next to them. They pounded him on the back and he laughed. Once the din died down again, professor McGonagall called,
"Thomas, Dean?" who joined Harry in Gryffindor. 2 others went to Hufflepuff and then,
"Weasley, Ronald?" Ron walked up to the stool, pale under his freckles, and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Ron sat for less than 30 seconds before the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" and he ran to join his brothers and Harry at their table. Zambini, Blaise was the last and he went to Slytherin.