CHAPTER 10

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and I made a mental note that this was not someone to cross.

"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... I don't even have anything to describe how big it was. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. We 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 us first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. We crowded in, standing rather closer together than we 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 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 honour. 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 nervously tried to flatten his hair and I ran my fingers through my own, trying to tame my knotted curls before rubbing Ron's nose to try and get rid of the smudge.

"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?" Harry asked.

"Some sort of test, I think." Ron replied. "Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

A panicked expression appeared on Harry's face. He looked around anxiously at everyone else, who all looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except for the bushy hair girl, Hermione Granger, Harry informed me, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.

I leant down and whispered in Harry's ear.

"Fred and George lied to Ron about the sorting. You don't have to do a test or wrestle a troll or anything, and it doesn't hurt. You just have to sit on a stool and the Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and tell you what House you should be in."

"What's the Sorting Hat?" Harry asked.

Before I could answer something happened that made us jump about a foot in the air - several people behind us screamed.

"What the -?"

Harry gasped. So did the people around us. I just stood there awestruck. 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 us 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?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed us.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at us. "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 us, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though my legs had turned to lead, I got into line behind Harry, with Ron behind me, and we walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

I had never even dreamed of such a strange and splendid place. Thousands and thousands of candles floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting, lit it. 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 us up there, so that we came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind us. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight, but I could still make out the distinctive ginger hair of Fred, George and Percy. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, I followed Harry's gaze upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It was enchanting.

I heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. I wonder if Angels can just fly down straight into the Great Hall.

Harry and I quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of us first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. It was the Legendary Sorting Hat.

Everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat. 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 and I. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Harry and I chuckled quietly. I tried, and failed to imagine Ron fighting a mountain troll.

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. The ghost of the Fat Friar waved 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; I could see (and hear) Fred and George catcalling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy in front of Harry in the line, 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. Ron groaned. I smacked him again.

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. 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."

The pale boy from Madam Malkin's, Draco Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends (more like gorillas) Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

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, at last - "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?"

Just before the hat dropped over his eyes, I mouthed Harry a good luck.

It felt like forever until the Hat shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"

I cheered loudly as Harry took off the hat and walked toward the Gryffindor table. He was getting the loudest cheer yet. Perfect Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff we'd seen earlier and the ghost patted his arm.

And now there were only five of us left. "Thomas, Dean," a black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. I gave his hand a comforting squeeze and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I cheered loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to Harry.

"Weasley, Sky."

I walked slowly to the stool and placed the hat on my head.

"Hello, oh so wise Sorting Hat."

"Hello Miss. Weasley. Now, let's see. Ah, you're a tricky one. You have a good mind, but Ravenclaw is not for you. You are loyal to those you love and care for, but not Hufflepuff either. You are brave and ambitious and your life is full of secrets yet I can't place you in Slytherin or Gryffindor."

"What? Does that mean that I can't stay at Hogwarts?"

"No, of course not. It means that you get to decide what house you're going to be in."

"Cool. Can I please be in Gryffindor?"

"Yes you may. You are now an official GRYFFINDOR!"