Disclaimer: Everything you recognize isn't mine: it's the great J.K. Rowling's.
Chapter 4: Welcome to Hogwarts!
The door swung open to reveal Professor McGonagall. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Professor McGonagall pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big that you could have fit the whole building of Moredoor Orphanage in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches. The ceiling was too high to make out. A magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Alison 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, peering about nervously. Alison went and stood next to Hermione and Neville.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-the-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 earn 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. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." Professor McGonagall left the chamber.
Alison heard the boy with glasses ask his red-haired friend, "How exactly do they sort us into Houses?"
The other boy replied, "Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Hermione, who had been listening like most of the others, began to freak out. She started to whisper furiously about all the spells she'd memorized and wondering which ones she'd need. Meanwhile, next to her, Neville was paling with each word she said.
Not being able to take any more, Alison interrupted Hermione. "Hermione, stop. I doubt that they would make us use any spells since most of us hasn't learned any yet. Now take a deep breath, and calm down. There is nothing to be frightened of."
Just then, several people screamed and jumped in fright. 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. A fat monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"
"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.
"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, you know."
"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."
Alison got into line behind Hermione, with Neville behind her, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Allison 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 four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table 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.
Alison looked upward an saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Hermione whispered to her, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Alison nodded; she remembered reading about it also, but it was still unbelievable to actually see.
Then, 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. The hat was patched, frayed, and extremely dirty. Everyone in the hall stared at it. 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 a song.
As the hat finished its song, the whole hall burst into applause. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
Alison heard the red-haired boy whisper, "So we've just got to try on the hat! I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
Alison rolled her eyes at the boy; who would even believe that teachers would make first years wrestle a troll?
Her attention snapped back to focus as Professor McGonagall 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!"
Hannah 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. Alison 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; Alison could see the two red-haired twins she had met on the train catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Watching others get sorted there, Alison thought that the Slytherins looked like an unpleasant group.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Alison noticed that sometimes the hat shouted out the House at once, but at others it took a while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," a sandy-haired boy, 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. Alison smiled happily at her friend as she rushed off to the Gryffindor table. Then Alison heard the red-haired boy groan and shot a glare at him.
When Neville was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. Alison bit her lip in worry as 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." Alison couldn't help but laugh also.
Alison watched Ernie be sorted into Hufflepuff, like Hannah and Justin were. Then, she watched the pale boy from the train stagger forward when "Malfoy, Draco" was called. The hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Looking pleased with himself, Malfoy went to join his two bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle, at the Slytherin table.
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 -
"Potter, Harry!"
As the boy with the glasses stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
People were craning to look at him. Noticing how uncomfortable he seemed with all of the attention, Alison felt bad for him. Finally the hat shouted:
"GRYFFINDOR!" As Harry walked to the table, the red-haired twins were yelling, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
After the cheering died down, Professor McGonagall called, "Smith, Alison!"
Alison nervously walked to the stool, glad that much of the attention was still on Harry Potter instead of her. She put the hat on her head and waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Plenty of courage, I see. A good mind, sneaky, resourceful... You are just like your parents."
My parents? thought Alison. You knew my parents?
The hat gave a soft chuckle. "I know all the minds that have went to Hogwarts."
My parents were magical? asked Alison.
"They had to be if they went to Hogwarts," the hat replied. Alison could tell that the hat was enjoying this.
Alison asked desperately, What were their names?
"Now I believe that is getting off topic. My job is to sort you, not have family chats."
Oh, ha ha, Alison thought sarcastically. You were the one to bring it up.
The hat ignored her. "Now where shall I put you? Gryffindor or Slytherin? Your parents were split between Gryffindor and Slytherin, also."
Now you're bringing my parents up again. Do you have ADHD?
"That is completely off topic."
Not really, Alison disagreed. Besides, you said having 'family chats' was off topic and yet you started one up again.
The hat chuckled. "You are an interesting character, Alison. You do know that you are arguing with a hat, don't you?"
Well, in my defense, you are not an ordinary hat as you can talk.
"Quite so. Now you have managed to get me off topic yet again. Where would you like to go, Gryffindor or Slytherin? You would do well in either house."
Hmmm, let me think. Since two of the friends I just made today went into Gryffindor and I punched a kid today that went into Slytherin, I'm going to have to go with Gryffindor.
The hat snorted at her antics. "Well, I can't argue with that logic, so GRYFFINDOR!"
Alison heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. She told the hat a quick "Thanks" as she took off it. She sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Neville amid the cheering.
Now there were only four people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean" became a Gryffindor, while "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw. Then "Weasley, Ronald" was called. The red-haired boy was quickly made a Gryffindor.
As the boy collapsed into the seat next to Harry, another red-haired boy with glasses, who Alison assumed was his brother, pompously said, "Well done, Ron, excellent."
Meanwhile, "Zabini, Blaise" was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Alison gave a little laugh.
Harry voiced her opinion when he asked the red-haired boy with glasses, "Is he - a bit mad?"
He replied airily, "Mad? He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes." Then he offered Harry some potatoes.
Alison had never seen so much food in her life, never mind being allowed to eat any of it that she wanted. Not used to eating much, Alison only took a little bit of chicken, boiled potatoes, peas, and carrots. She also tried a peppermint humbug, which she found was surprisingly delicious.
As she was eating, she noticed the conversation that was going on around her. The ghost speaking to Harry was saying, "I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus interrupted.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted. "Like this," he said as he made his head fall off his neck and onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So - new Gryffindors! Hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year. Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the Cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."
They all looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood.
"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
"I'm glad we have you as our House ghost," Alison said smiling at him. Nearly Headless Nick smiled back at her.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding...
As Alison helped herself to some strawberries and a little bit of chocolate ice cream, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed, but Alison didn't. It could have not turned out well, she thought.
"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.
"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came around for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad.
"What about you, Dean?"
"I'm a Muggle-born. Both my parents are Muggles, so boy were we surprised when Professor McGonagall showed up at our door telling me magic is real and I'm a wizard. When Professor McGonagall performed magic to prove it to us, I swear my dad almost had a heart attack."
Everyone laughed. Dean then turned to Alison and asked, "What about you, Alison?"
"I'm not really sure because I was orphaned when I was an infant and no one knows who my parents are." Except the Sorting hat, Alison added in her head. "I grew up in a Muggle orphanage, so I guess you could call me a Muggle-born. Seeing all this magic is so surreal. I sometimes feel like this is all a fantastic dream."
Dean smiled and nodded in understanding.
"What about you, Ron?" Alison asked, continuing the chain.
Not pleased by the question, Ron grumbled, "I'm a pure-blood. I have five older brothers and a younger sister."
Curious, Alison asked, "Which are your brothers?"
Ron pointed down the table at the two red-haired twins. "They are Fred and George, and they're in their third year." Then he pointed at the red-haired boy who was currently talking to Hermione and said, "That's Percy. He's a fifth year. My other two brothers have already graduated."
Not knowing what else to say, Alison said, "That's cool. Can someone explain to me Quidditch? I don't really understand it." At that, all the boys except Dean jumped into an explanation about the game, the rules, the players, the teams, and so on.
At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered."
"What are we? Horses?" Alison mumbled to Dean, who gave a quiet laugh.
Dumbledore continued, "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
As Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the red-haired twins that Alison was betting were Ron's brothers, Alison mumbled sarcastically, "I would have never guessed that the Forbidden Forest was forbidden." Dean was trying to not laugh.
"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."
"He said 'should not', not 'cannot' be used," Alison noted to Dean.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."
"That doesn't apply to us for two reasons. One, first years aren't allowed brooms. And two, we grew up with Muggles, so we never flew, never mind played the game." Dean was choking on his laughter.
"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
"What? Why?" Alison asked. Dean shrugged.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.
Alison noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
Alison quickly muttered to Dean, "Let's sing to 'I Gotta Feelin'' by Black Eyed Peas."
Dean gave a grin and said, "Let's do it!"
And the school bellowed:
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads can do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
By the time they finished, Alison and Dean were almost dying from laughter at their singing. Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.
Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped the loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
"Again with the horse references!" Alison pointed out to Dean as they followed Percy. "Does he not realize that we are kids not horses?"
"So he should then use goat references since we are kids," Dean said smirking.
"I meant we are children not horses or goats. Happy now?" Alison said, her lips twitching.
"Very."
Unable to hold it in anymore, they just laughed until they could laugh no more.
As they were climbing up the final staircases, they settled down. "I don't think I've ever laughed so much in my entire life," Alison told him. "I think I'm sugar high."
Dean opened his mouth to reply, but all of a sudden the crowd stopped. Looking ahead, Alison noticed a bundle of walking sticks throwing themselves at Percy.
"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."
Only a loud, rude sound answered.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"
There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.
"Oooooooh!" he said with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"
He suddenly swooped at them. They all ducked.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. As they heard him zoom away, Alison said, "Neville, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," muttered Neville as he rubbed his head.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy as they started off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects."
Alison whispered to Dean, "He sure thinks highly of prefects."
"Here we are," Percy announced.
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase, they found their beds at last: six four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up.
"Let's choose our beds first, then we can tell each other about ourselves," a blonde girl suggested. She walked to the bed closest to the bathroom and said, "I will take this bed."
The blonde's friend, the Indian girl, proceeded to claim the bed next to hers.
Alison went over to the bed next to the window and said, "I'll have this bed."
Hermione claimed the bed next to Alison, while the last two girls claimed the beds in the middle.
"Now that that's sorted out, let's get in a circle and get to know each other," the blonde girl ordered.
When everyone had sat down in a circle, the blonde girl said, "Each of us will say our name, blood status, favorite color, favorite fruit, and favorite vegetable. I'll go first." She took a dramatic pause then a deep breath before continuing. "Hi, my name is Lavender Brown. I am a pure-blood. My favorite color is pink. My favorite fruit is clementines. My favorite vegetable is carrots."
The Indian girl was next. "Hi! My name is Parvati Patil. I am a pure-blood. My favorite color is pink. My favorite fruit is cherries. My favorite vegetable is peas."
It was then the redhead's turn. "My name is Sally Gracie Moon. I am a Muggle-born. My favorite color is aquamarine. My favorite fruit is a pineapple. My favorite vegetable is asparagus."
Then the brown-haired girl introduced herself. "My name is Fay Dunbar. I am a half-blood. My favorite color is red. My favorite fruit is a pomegranate. My favorite vegetable is spinach."
Hermione said, "My name is Hermione Granger. I am a Muggle-born. My favorite color is purple. My favorite fruit is raspberries. My favorite vegetable is broccoli."
Alison was last. "My name is Alison Smith. I grew up in a Muggle orphanage, so I don't know my blood status. My favorite color is blue. My favorite fruit is..." Alison thought about the strawberries she had for dessert and decided, "Strawberries. My favorite vegetable is potatoes."
Sally yawned. "It's been a long day. I'm tired, so I'm going to change and go to bed."
Fay and Hermione agreed with Sally. Alison agreed also, even though she wasn't tired. She just wanted to stop playing and have some alone time.
While the others were in the bathroom, Alison sorted through her stuff to get ready for tomorrow morning. She put her school books, ink, quills, and parchment in the bag Professor McGonagall had bought for her.
When it was her turn in the bathroom, Alison took out some old clothes that she had, since she didn't have any pajamas, to change into. After using the bathroom, she crawled into her bed, told Hermione goodnight, and closed her curtains. When she thought everyone was asleep, Alison got a book and sat by the window, reading by the moonlight. Around ten, she decided that she should probably go to bed. Lying in her soft bed, Alison wondered what tomorrow would bring.
A/N
Sorry for taking so long to update! I've had two tests, a lab practical, and an essay due this week. This upcoming week is also going to be rough for me as I have two huge tests, a project, a short essay, and a paper due this week; so please be patient with me.
Enough with the excuses...Thank all of you for reading! Special thanks to:
~ minimousestar, angel'slittledemon, and Sunamon for following this story, and
~ turnthedoor, CookieMonster2244, and Sunamon again for favoriting this story.
Now this story has 10 followers and 5 favorites, but has only 2 reviews! So...
Please review!