So chap 4 is up!
I could cry, this is my last chapter writing for Maya, i hope you've had a fun time reading my...er her story lolz
READ
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SORTING HAT
The door swung open at once. A tall, black haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Ari's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the man.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit a small house into it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upped floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Arianna and Julie 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 crowed in, standing rather closer together then they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into you 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 your 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 here 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 and every one 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," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber. Arianna swallowed. A low mummer rose up in the room. Arianna wondered whether Potter and Ron had gotten back. Then she pinched herself and turned to Julie.
"How do I look?" she asked Julie.
"Pretty! Oh wait," Julie reached her and up and whipped something off right under Ari's eye. "Mascara," Julie showed Ari a black smudge on her thumb.
"Ah. You look good too, Fish." Julie tried to laugh, but she was too nervous.
"You think it's some sort of test?"
"I dunno Julie, might be."
"Hope not! We didn't study! Why would they give us a test on the first day here?"
"Maybe it's an entrance exam."
"They had us buy all this stuff already, I don't think so…"
"Ok."
Arianna had never been more nervous. She kept her eyes fixed on the door. Any moment now Professor McGonagall would come through the door saying that they were ready for them.
About ten minutes later Professor McGonagall came back. "Form a line, we're ready for you now."
Julie and Ari stepped into line next to one another. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Arianna had never imaged such a 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. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where all the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Arianna looked down at her feet to avoid all of the staring eyes.
Arianna looked up again and saw as Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.
A glint caught Arianna's eye and out of the window she seemed to have seen a car, a flying car. Weird as it seems. Although she seems not to be the only one, loads of other people began to gasp and whisper. During this time that hat had seemed to start to speak, but Arianna didn't hear it. The whole hall burst into applause after it was done. It bowed to each of the four tables and became quite still again.
Professor McGonagall now 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," Professor McGonagall said. "Able, Kate!"
A girl with waist long brown hair slowly walked over to the stool and sat on it. Professor McGonagall lowered the hat on her head. A moment's pause…
"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.
The table second from the left clapped.
"Bagatais, Mark!" Arianna had heard that name before…but where? A boy with blonde hair walked over, he had hair in is eyes and Arianna was surprised he could see.
"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat.
The table on the far left exploded with cheers.
"Brown, Rose" became a Gryffindor as well.
"Castrill, William" became a Hufflepuff.
"Darienzo, Kayla!" Professor McGonagall said. Arianna's eyes widened.
Kayla? It couldn't be Kayla! Right?
Sure enough a short girl with short brown hair stumbled out of line and sat on the stool. It was Kayla. The sorting hat took about thirty seconds and then shouted:
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Kayla jumped off the chair and joined her fellow Hufflepuffs.
"Falango, Julie!"
Julie walked slowly over to the stool and as soon as the hat touched her head,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
From here on in Arianna didn't really hear the names, she was to busy thinking about what house she would get into. Maybe Gryffindor, or perhaps Hufflepuff, like Kayla?
"Meares, Arianna!"
A low murmur of whispers filled the room. Arianna couldn't hear any but sometimes she though she caught her name. The last thing she saw before that hat dropped over her head was people trying to get a better look at her.
"Hmmm," said a small voice in her ear. "You're a hard one to place, brave and loyal like a Hufflepuff but you also have much courage and a great mind for knowledge. But where?"
Anywhere but Slytherin, anywhere! Thought Arianna she didn't know anyone in Slytherin, and they looked like an unpleasant lot.
"Oh but why? You would do very well in Slytherin."
I haven't got any friends that are in Slytherin; I wan to be with my friends.
"I see, you are very loyal to your friends, yes I'm sure, I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat shouted the last word to the whole hall. She took off the hat and walked over to the cheering table. She noticed that she had gotten the loudest cheer yet; everyone wanted to shake her hand and introduce their selves. Arianna sat down across from Hermione and next to Julie.
She could see the High Table very well from here. In the middle was a large chair with an old man sitting on it. His silver hair sparkled like the ghosts.
She thought about home for a long time and only heard the last name called:
"Zafas, Luke!" became a Slytherin.
Then Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.
Arianna looked down at her empty golden plate. She hadn't even eaten lunch so she was starving.
The Headmaster 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 they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
"Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Arianna and Julie didn't know weather to laugh or not.
"Arianna would you like some potatoes?" asked Hermione.
Arianna stared in awe. The dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She had never seen so many things she liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, some sort of pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some reason peppermint humbugs.
So Arianna piled her plate with a little bit of everything. She had helping after helping.
"Hermione what's wrong?" asked Julie.
"Its just, Harry and Ron aren't back yet! And what about that flying car I saw?" she said.
"That was dad's car you know!" yelled a tall boy with red hair.
"Who's?" asked Arianna.
"Oh sorry, I'm Fred Weasley, this is George Weasley."
"Nice to meet you!" said Julie.
"That was dad's car out there, obviously Ron and Harry thought they were to good for the train. They've probably been expelled." Said the other twin George.
Sure enough Professor McGonagall wasn't there neither was the headmaster or Professor Snape.
"I hope he does," mumbled Ari underneath her breath.
"Who? Harry Potter you mean?" asked this boy who had brown hair and glasses.
"Yeah, second year at Hogwarts. Recon you herd of him?" asked Fred or George.
"Yeah," the boy said.
Arianna looked up to the boy who had just talked.
"Lucas? Lucas Hoffmann?" asked Arianna.
The boy looked up. "Arianna?"
Arianna nodded.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
Arianna raised her eyebrows.
"Right, I forgot!"
"Did you know I was a…a you know, when you first heard my name in band camp?" Arianna asked.
"Yeah I did actually, never confronted you about it though, mum told me not to," he explained.
"Ah," she said.
"Well know you know though! You're famous!" he said smiling.
"Yeah, weird how much different I am to people here. To them I'm normal, famous, at home…nobody," she said as she took a drink of water.
"Same," said Lucas.
"What? No way! Not you!" Arianna said.
"What?" he asked. "Well anyway, us nerds need to stick together!"
Arianna and Lucas laughed.
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 and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding…
As Arianna helped herself to apple pie the talk turned to their families, or rather Arianna's family.
"So Ari, what are you?" asked Rose Brown.
"Well obviously she's a Pure Blood, right?" said Lucas.
"Uh I think so, Gram said everyone on her said was magic, mum's a squib she said but other then that her whole family is magic too." Arianna explained. "My dad's side has all been in Slytherin though, and me mum's has been in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."
"Hm, my whole family has been in Gryffindor," said Ginny.
"What about you Julie?" asked Rose.
"Muggle born, but ever since age five I've been acting weird, turned my birthday cake into frosted rock!" Julie said. They all laughed.
"I'm a muggle born too," said Hermione. "Magic is so cool though, a lot that I don't know yet."
"A lot that we all don't know yet Hermione," said George.
"What about classes? How are they put out?" asked Julie.
"Oh classes, Gryffindor normally shares with Slytherin, but charms is with Hufflepuff," explained Hermione.
"Oh really? Cool, Ari we'll be able to have at least one class with Kayla!" said Julie.
"Yeah," said Arianna. Her eyes were drawn to the Slytherin table. There sitting in perfect view of her was someone she knew. She had short brown hair and blue eyes, very tall for her age. Her name was Lindsey Lefeber.
"Hey, Fish! Look it's Lindsey Lefeber!" Ari pointed to her.
"Hey really?" asked Julie who pushed her face against Ari's to look at Lindsey. Lindsey looked over at them and Arianna waved at her. She beamed back.
"You know Lindsey Lefeber?" asked a girl. She was about average height with brown shoulder length hair.
"Yeah," Arianna turned over to the girl who spoke. "Melissa!" shouted Arianna.
"Ari!" Melissa said.
"Hi!"
"Hello!"
"…"
They laughed very hard.
"Is there anyone else I know who goes here?" Arianna asked no one in particular.
"Probably," said Lucas looking around.
At last the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore walked back into the Great Hall. The Hall fell silent.
"Ahem, just a few words now that we are fed and watered. 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."
His eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.
"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.
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for his or her House teams should contact Madam Hooch.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.
He 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!"
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 could 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 rot."
Everybody finished the song at different times.
"Ah, music," he said wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
The Gryffindors first years followed Percy though the chattering crowds. But Hermione grabbed Arianna and Julie's wrists.
"What?" said Arianna.
Hermione looked worried.
"Oh, Potter …"mumbled Ari.
"Can we help you look?" asked Julie.
"Yes please, Ari?"
"Hm…fine…"
The three of them ran down a corridor to Professor McGonagall's office.
"Wait…" the door was locked. Hermione took out her wand. "Alohomora!"
"Alohomora?" asked Arianna.
"Standard book of spells chapter three," she said opening the door.
"They aren't here…but there were. Look!" Julie pointed to a sliver platter with some sanwitches on it and two goblest.
"Where could they be now?" asked Arianna.
"Heading toward Gryffindor common room?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, I would think so, right?" said Julie.
"Yeah," added Arianna
So they all ran off to Gryffindor Common room, Hermione led the way. As they turned a corner the say to boys standing infront of a portrit of a lady in a pink dress. The two boys turned and Arianna knew them to be Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors, some one said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car…"
"Well, we haven't been explled," Harry assured her.
"You're not telling us you did fly here?" asked Arianna sounding almost severe as Professor McGonagall.
"Skip the lecture…" started Ron impatiently.
"No Ron! You could have been expelled!" yelled Hermione.
"Only if we were in Slytherin!" said Harry.
"Fine, the password is 'wattlebird,'"
The picture of the fat lady sung open and there was a sudden storm of clapping. It looked as though the whole of Gryffindor House was still awake, packed into the circular common room, standing on the lopsided tables and squashy armchairs, waiting for them to arrive. Arms reached through the portrait hole to pull Harry and Ron inside, leaving Hermione, Arianna, and Julie to scramble in after them.
"Brilliant!" Yelled a Gryffindor Ari knew to be Lee Jordan, "Inspired! What an entrance! Flying a car right into the Whomping Willow, people'll be talking about that one for years…"
A bunch of people were congratulating him, even Julie, but Arianna and Hermione just stood there, scowling. The Weasley had push their way to the front and said something but Arianna didn't hear. Ron was scarlet in the face, grinning embarrassedly, but Arianna saw someone who didn't look too happy, Harry saw him too. Percy was visible over the heads of some first years, and he seemed to be trying to get near them to tell them off. Harry nudged Ron in the ribs and nodded in Percy's direction. Ron got the point at once.
"Got to go upstairs, bit tired," he said, and the two of them started pushing their way toward the door on the other side of the room, which led to a spiral staircase and the dormitories.
After a while other students went to bed. Even Hermione left them. But Arianna couldn't get to sleep neither could Lucas or Mark. They stayed up for hours talking about random stuff. Stuff like: classes, muggle school, high school, coming of age, jobs, Snape, Harry Potter and Dumbledore. Finally Arianna left the two boys talking about Rose Brown, and went to sleep. In her room she found five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Her trunk had already been brought up. She drew back her curtains and changed into her pajamas and fell asleep almost instantly.
So, maybe she'll let me right another chapter some day...hope you liked it
REVIEW