Once again, thank you, JK Rowling for making Harry Potter.
Chapter 9: 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 Nico believed she was someone he wanted to stay on her good side. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in 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 upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall down the hall. Nico heard voices from a door on the right. The rest of the school must already be there, Nico thought. At first, Nico thought Professor McGonagall would take them to the hall where all the other students were, but they were led into a small room instead. They crowded into the room, a little to close for comfort for Nico. They all looked around nervously. Nico fingered his Galleon nervously, not sure if he would need to fight.
"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 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."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry attempted to flatten his hair as Nico shifted from foot to foot nervously.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Nico asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Nico swallowed nervously. A test? He was glad he had been practicing with his knife. He just hoped that if he really did need to fight a troll, he would be ready.
Nico looked around and saw everyone was terrified. No one was talking except Hermione, who was talking to anyone and everyone about what spells she might need. Nico glanced at the door, waiting for Professor McGonagall to take them in front of the whole school, doing who knows what to decide which house to be in.
Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.
"What the -?" Harry muttered.
He gasped. So did the people around him. 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. What looked like a fat little 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?"
Nico had a mixture of feelings, amazement, shock, and anger that these people had cheated death, to scared to move on.
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nico somehow knew his name: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as Nearly Headless Nick. Died when someone tried to cut off his head but failed to do it right.
Nobody answered.
"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." Nico, clutching his Galleon in his hand, followed along with all of the other first years. They walked through the doors and into the Great Hall.
Nico 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. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. 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. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Nico saw Harry look upward, most likely to avoid all the staring eyes. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
Nico looked up at the stars and felt a pang of sadness. He scanned the stars until he found what he was looking for. A constellation in the shape of a young girl, racing across the sky, hunting for her pray. (I know this is the past before Zöe died but just go with it.) Nico's heart was heavy with sadness. Nico bowed his head in respect. He wasn't sure why but it felt right.
When Nico looked up again, he saw a four legged stool with a hat on top in front of the first years. The hat was frayed and old. Nico wondered what it was for.
Everyone else was looking at the hat. Nico noticed while the first years were looking at the hat in curiosity, while the older students were looking at it as if waiting for something. 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:
"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 me.
You 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 folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So 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!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." Nico sighed in relief.
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," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails 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. Nico 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; Nico could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. It seemed they weren't the most pleasant lot to Nico.
Nico tuned out most of the sorting. Ne noticed Hermione went into Gryffindor. Nico was a little shocked, he thought for sure she would go into Ravenclaw. He heard Ron groan. Neville also went into Gryffindor. Nico smiled. He had a feeling Neville would play a huge part in the future. Malfoy got his wish aswell. He was put in Slytherin almost right away.
After what seemed like ages, the moment Nico had been waiting for had arrived.
"Potter, Harry!" As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
Nico rolled his eyes. This was already annoying. Right before the hat fell over Harry's eyes, Nico gave him a reassuring smile and Harry grinned his thanks. Nico sat there nervously, waiting to see where Harry would go. Nico noticed Harry was gripping the stool tightly. The whole hall seemed to hold its breath as everyone waited.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled. Harry was met with the loudest cheers yet, Nico one of the loudest.
The twins were shouting "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Over and over excitedly.
Nico waited impatiently for his turn. He wondered why he was towards the end. If they were going in alphabetical order, shouldn't he be one of the first to get sorted? Even after Ron became a Gryffindor, Nico was still waiting his turn. Finally, after "Zabini, Blaise" got sorted into Slytherin, it was Nico's turn. (I know it's in alphabetical order but just go with it.)
"Di Angelo, Nico!" As Nico walked up to the hat, the strangest thing happened. All the ghosts shrieked in horror and rushed towards him. Everyone stared in shock as all the ghosts, including the Bloody Barron and Peeves, bowed to Nico. He stared in shock as they kept muttering apologies and begging him not to take them to his father. After a moment of silence, whispering broke out.
"Did you see that?"
"Why is the Bloody Barron so scared of that kid?"
"What would his father do to the ghosts?"
After a while, Nico couldn't take it anymore. "Fine! You can stay! I don't care!" The ghosts bowed even lower as they flew off, muttering their thanks. After the path was cleared, Nico sat down on the stool. The last thing Nico saw was everyone trying to get a good look at the boy who scared all the ghosts just by showing up. There was a moment of silence.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Said the hat. Nico inwardly sighed. When the hat said it could see everything in their minds, it wasn't joking. "No I wasn't. Now let's take a look at those memories shall we?" Nico automatically put mental blocks up, covering all his memories. "Now don't do that! I can't sort you if I don't know a little about you." After a moments hesitation, Nico sighed and reliantly let the hat see his thoughts.
"Oh, I haven't seen one like you in years! Yes there are not very many of your kind who are also apart of the wizard world."
"What kind?" Nico asked it.
"Oh I see, someone removed your memories. Shame, you don't know who you are." Nico was very confused. Nico saw the time he protected Harry in the pub. "Ah yes, you're HIS child. That would usually land you in Slytherin."
"No!" Nico argued, "Don't judge me on my father."
"Fine, fine! Let's see if we can access some of your memories from your life before." Nico felt a weird itching in his head as the sorting hat dug through his memories. Nico gave a gasp of shock. Thousands of images flashed in front of him, hundreds of voices spoke to him at once. He tried to make out a few but it was impossible. He was able to make out one voice. It sounded like his own. One image stopped in front of him for a second, but it was long enough for Nico.
There stood a ten year old Nico, with tears streaming down his face. The same green eyed boy was standing in front of him. "It's your fault she's dead! You promised you would keep her safe!" The younger Nico cried out. Before Nico could see anymore, the image disappeared. The images seemed to rush past even faster but the sorting hat seemed to be able to see them just fine.
"AAAHHHHHH!" The hat screamed out loud. "SO MUCH DEATH! GRYFFINDOR GRYFFINDOR! AHHHH! GET HIM OFF ME!" Nico quickly took off the hat and set it on the stool before rushing over to the Gryffindor table to sit next to Harry. The whole hall was silent, everyone was staring at him.
The headmaster, who Nico recognized from Harry's Chocolate Frog card, stood up and smiled after eyeing Nico for a second. "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. Nico didn't know whether to laugh or not.
"Is he - a bit mad?" He heard Harry ask Percy, another one of Ron's brothers, uncertainly.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Nico's mouth watered. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry and Nico, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that they really wanted, even if it made him sick. Nico piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.
"That does look good," said Nick sadly yet carefully, watching Harry cut up his steak. Nick looked at Nico nervously.
"Can't you -?" Harry started.
Nico answered for Nick. "Nope. Once you're dead you're just a spirit. They can still eat but the taste needs to be very strong for them to get any flavor out of it." Nick nodded carefully, not wanting his head to fall off.
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. 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 boy 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. So, Nico answered for him. "He was beheaded for trying to help someone with a little - problem you could say - that went wrong. In the olden days, you could pay someone to cut your head clean off so you would die quickly. Nick; however, wasn't, so, because he wasn't rich or important, they hired someone who did a nasty job of it. Quite a slow and painful death." Everyone looked at Nico strangely.
"Quite right you are my lord." Nico didn't hear the 'my lord' comment at the end but quite a few others did.
"I still don't understand how you can be 'nearly headless'." Harry said after a moment of silence.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly, just like Nico had said. 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! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."
Nico looked over and saw that the Bloody Barren was sitting next to Malfoy. Nico smiled evilly, noticing how uncomfortable Malfoy looked. "How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately. Even though Nico somehow knew how he got covered in blood, he decided not to share this info. He had scared everyone enough already.
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 flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jelly, rice pudding...
The conversation changed to families. Nico decided to tune them out and think about how he knew so much about death and what the little vision he had was about.
Nico was brought out of his thoughts briefly when Harry put a hand on his forehead. "Ouch!" Nico looked at him in concern.
"You ok?" He asked.
Harry nodded. "It's nothing." Nico nodded and went back to his thoughts, knowing that when Harry didn't want to talk about something, there was no way to change his mind.
At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again, bringing Nico out of his thoughts. The hall fell silent.
"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all 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." Nico noticed Dumbledore's twinkling 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 their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. 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." A few laughed at this but Nico frowned. He had a feeling it was the truth.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry 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!"
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 all rot."
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 loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" Does he think we are horses? Nico wondered.
The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Nico walked slowly beside Harry but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries.
They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet.
A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.
"Peeves" Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, 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, not noticing Nico. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"
He swooped suddenly 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. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. Nico inwardly groaned. More pink.
"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 were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: six four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. To tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets." Nico was to tired to even change his clothes. He just flopped onto his bead and closed currents. Nico glanced at the wall, expecting it to be bare. Instead, there were quite a few pictures hanging up.
There was one with an older Nico (which he found strange) with a boy and a girl on either side of him, smiling at the camera. The girl had short, choppy black hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a kind of tiara on her head and was dressed in punk clothes. On the other side of Nico was the green eyed boy. His sea green eyes sparkled with joy as his wind swept black hair covered his eyes a little. In the picture, Nico, for some reason, wasn't smiling.
In another picture was the green eyed boy and a girl with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. They were both smiling but the girl looked like she had other things in her mind. They looked around 15 in the picture. The next picture was of Nico and Harry. Nico didn't remember ever having his picture taken but yet, it was there. There was him and Harry, smiling and leaning up against the snake cage in the zoo. The snake was right beside Harry as well. Nico couldn't even remember posing when they were at the zoo but he pushed the thought out of his mind as he turned to the last picture.
The last picture was easily Nico's favorite. It showed a four year old Nico, smiling a huge smile at the camera. There was a seven year old girl standing next to him, smiling at Nico. There was a man behind them, his hand on Nico's shoulder. Even though he was smiling on the outside, Nico could see a haunted look in his eyes. The man had his other arm around a beautiful woman. She looked at Nico's small form with laughter in her eyes. Anyone could tell just by looking at her that she loved her family very much. Nico smiled sadly as he touched the picture of his family. After starring at them for a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Hope you liked it!