Chapter 3: Sorted
The train snaked past the countryside for the rest of the afternoon, and finally arrived in Hogsmeade Station when night fell. They were told to leave their luggage on the train and they got off.
"Firs'-years this way!" A booming voice came from the far side of the platform. The four girls hurried to a huge man, who continued, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
They followed the huge man, who introduced himself as Hagrid the gamekeeper and the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, to the side of a black lake. There was an audible "Ooooh" among the students as they caught their first sight of the grand castle. Sylvia gasped as well. She had seen Hogwarts before, but only from Hogsmeade, which was a reasonably far distance away.
"Follow me! Yeh'll get to Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called, "No more'n four to a boat!"
Sylvia, Matilda, Mora, and Davina went on a boat in union and exchanged nervous grins.
"Seriously?" Mora murmured, "What if someone falls in?"
"As long as you don't get eaten by the creatures inside and lucky enough to have the Giant Squid to push you back up," Sylvia shrugged, "I believe you'll be fine."
"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid from the front, he was taking a boat alone for his great size, "Now – FORWARD!"
All the boats set off at once, sliding across the smooth lake surface. Silence hung over the first-year students as they all stared at the huge castle towering over them.
They arrived at the other side of the lake and got off from the boats. Hagrid knocked the door three times, and it swung open. A tiny man who was about the size of a goblin stood there.
"Firs'-years, Professor Flitwick." Hagrid looked even bigger compared to the man.
"Thank you, Hagrid." Squeaked Professor Flitwick, "I'll take them from here. Be sure you'll not be late for the feast." Hagrid stomped off to where it looked like the direction to the hall.
The first-year students followed the tiny professor into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor Flitwick spoke to the crowd, the students at the back could only hear his voice as he was so short, "The start-of-term feast will start shortly. Before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is very important because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will take your classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend your free time in your house common room.
"There are four houses in Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will be awarded with house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of each year, the house with the most points will be awarded with the House Cup, a great honour.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the whole school in a few minutes. I suggest you all to smarten up yourselves as much as you can."
They followed the teacher into the Great Hall after a few minutes in silence. Sylvia took a deep breath as she saw the older students already seated at the four house tables. She looked up to the ceiling – she had read about it in Hogwarts: A History, it was enchanted to show the sky outside, like there was no ceiling at all. A thousand floating candles lit up the huge room.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," After the hat sprang to life and sang a song about its duty and the houses' values, Professor Flitwick began, "Abbott, Hassan!"
A blond boy hurried out of the line and put on the hat. There was a moment's pause, then –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The frayed hat shouted.
The Hufflepuff table on the right cheered as they welcomed their new student. Sylvia saw a fat ghost waving at the boy.
"Bones, Flaria!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Bones, Hart!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Birch, Luke!"
"RAVENCLAW!" The round-faced boy hurried to the table from the left as they clapped.
"Baker, Ronald" became the first Gryffindor, "Boot, Tommy" went over to Ravenclaw as well, then "Crabbe, Tom" became the first Slytherin new student. "Davies, Tim" was being put into Ravenclaw as the hat barely touched his hair. "Farley, Jenny" became a Slytherin, and her twin sister "Farley, Karen" took the same path, then "Fawley, Elsbeth" to Hufflepuff, along with "Finch-Fletchley, Joseph".
When the professor called out "Gemin, Septar", the hat fell silent for a whole minute or so before putting the girl in Gryffindor. Then the crowd stirred a little when it came to "Granger-Weasley, Hugo", who was sorted into Gryffindor and a red-haired girl – Rose Granger-Weasley – stood up to welcome her brother, before "Haywood, Amy" went over to Hufflepuff.
"Higgs, Cleadrew!"
"SLYTHERIN!" The dark-sandy-haired girl didn't look surprised.
"Hopkins, Mark" and "Jones, Adam" were in Hufflepuff, and "Lestrange, Rodfort" in Slytherin.
The list then came to "Longbottom, Frank", when the hat shouted "Gryffindor" as soon as it touched his hair. Then it was "Ludi, Sandy", who was sorted into Gryffindor as well.
"McCubbin, Joey" was placed into Ravenclaw, and a boy named "Nott, Charles" in Slytherin, then finally...
"Ollivander, Matilda!"
Another name that had an impact on the crowd. The hat sat on Matilda's head, which covered her eyes. It seemed very still, and Sylvia crossed her fingers.
"RAVENCLAW!" She let out a breath she just realized she had been holding, then –
"Ollivander, Sylvia!"
She hurried forward, careful not to trip herself, then turned and sat on the stool.
"Hmm," A voice in her head murmured, "An Ollivander... adopted, yes? Clever... but still has surprising courage..."
"So, the choice is between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?" She thought, "Not bad..."
"Where shall I put you? Very difficult... and yet interesting..."
And she sat there for what felt like a lifetime, with the hat murmuring inside her head, debating between the two houses.
"A tiny bit more wit than boldness... then it'd better be... RAVENCLAW!" She realized the hat had shouted out the last word. Letting out a sigh of relief, she walked to the Ravenclaw table.
"Great! We're in the same house!" Matilda exclaimed as Sylvia sat down next to her. Sylvia looked around to see Gerhaze smiling at her.
Next was "Prewett. Galor" and "Potter, Lily" both being placed into Gryffindor (much to the disappointment of Albus Potter at the Slytherin table), then "Rochefort, Richard" and "Rosier, Dormine" were in Slytherin.
"Sayre, Davina!"
"RAVENCLAW!" Davina looked very relieved.
"Scamander, Miya!" The name had an impact on most of the students who have read Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them: the author of the book was Newt Scamander.
"RAVENCLAW!" The hat called after about three minutes, probably choosing between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
"Smith, Jane" went to Hufflepuff, "Talari, Rubia", "Thomas, Sam", and "Toran, Tiffany" were all put in Gryffindor, before "Tuckett, Max" to Hufflepuff and "Travers, Beacrice" hurried to the Slytherin table, then Mora Viehe and her brother Musa were both in Ravenclaw. The list finally finished at "Zabini, Falcolander" sorted into Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall stood up, "Welcome, students, to a new year at Hogwarts. Let the feast begin!" She announced.
To the new students' surprise, food appeared on the plates in front of their own very eyes.
"Where doe the food come from?" Sylvia asked an older student as she helped herself to the feast, "You can't conjure food out of thin air."
"House-elves," The boy answered, "There's a kitchen near the Hufflepuff common room. I'm Toby, by the way, Toby Partum. I do hope you play Quidditch, the house team could do with a few more good players. I'm the Quidditch team captain. Pity I can't be here to see the tryouts next year – I'll be graduated."
"Who are the teachers?" She was curious.
"You've already met Professor Flitwick," Toby replied, "He's the Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw house, plus Deputy Headmaster. Professor Longbottom's the one on the right, the Herbology teacher and Head of Gryffindor. The one on the left is Professor Slughorn, Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin, everyone says he's going to retire sometime soon. Mind you, he has a Slug Club full of his famous students. The Care Taker's Filch, he's a Squib but you still need to be careful with him and his cat. The Flying teacher and referee of Quidditch games is the woman on the left who looks like an eagle, that's Madam Hooch. The ghost is Professor Binns, he teaches History of Magic but you can literally sleep in his class. Professor Winger is the Transfiguration teacher. Dunno about the last one, but he's probably Defence teacher. Head of Hufflepuff is Professor Caplan, the Muggle Studies teacher. You won't have her lessons 'til third-year. That's all for first year, I think."
"Why would they let a ghost teach?" Sylvia muttered, "It's hardly fair for teachers to teach beyond death."
Toby shrugged, "He was sleeping beside the fire then got up the next day and left his body behind."
"Wicked." She frowned as the food on the plates disappeared and were replaced by dessert. Then at last they vanished as well. Professor McGonagall stood up and the Hall fell silent.
"Attention please," The Headmistress began, "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
"First-years should note that the Forbidden Forest in the grounds is exactly how it is named – forbidden. And the older students should be reminded as well.
"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the Care Taker, to remind all of you that magic is forbidden in the corridors.
"Finally, let us welcome out new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Bowen, who has kindly accepted the post.
"You are now all free to return to your house dormitories."
"First-years this way!" A fifth-year prefect call from the front. They hurried to follow.
They climbed up countless staircases, broke up with the Gryffindor students about half way through, and arrived at a wooden door with a bronze knocker.
"What is at the end of a rainbow?" A sing-song voice came from the knocker as the prefect knocked on it.
"This is the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower. To enter, you have to answer reasonably to the question this knocker asks you. It's not unusual for a bunch of students crowding here debating about the answer. However, I suggest you to check your belongings before going off to your lessons. The Ravenclaw entering system has kept most non-Ravenclaw out for many centuries, but it doesn't help when you're in a hurry." She turned to the gaping first-years, "Any ideas?"
"Nothing," The prefect answered after a moment of thinking, "A full rainbow is a circle that doesn't have an end."
"Well reasoned." Said the voice and the door flung open. The ten new students streamed into a circular room that had a domed ceiling painted with stars like the night sky, earning a few gasps from the crowd. Arched windows and bookshelves surrounded the room, along with soft navy-blue carpet on the floor. Cushions, armchairs and wooden tables were placed randomly around the room, with a fireplace by the wall.
The prefect cleared her throat, "Welcome to Ravenclaw house, the house of wisdom and creativity. My name is Eleanor Flumen, prefect of Ravenclaw. You can come to either me, Professor Flitwick, or one of the other prefects if you have problems.
"Our house ghost is the Grey Lady. The other houses think she's always silent, but she does speak to Ravenclaws and is very helpful when you misplaced something or got lost. Be careful with Peeves, the most annoying ghost of Hogwarts. He'll prank every student he meets with whatever he can find.
"The dormitories are behind the door by the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. Girls' are on the seventh floor and Boys' are on the sixth. Your year's in the seventh dorms.
"Our relationships with the other houses are, I'd say, good. But be careful with Slytherins in particularly everything.
"Finally, I advise you to grab every chance to learn. There are interesting resources throughout the whole castle. Chop chop, off you go!"
Too tired to start exploring, they went off to the dormitories. Sylvia found the beds at last in a cosy room. The five four-poster beds had dark blue velvet curtains hung around them. The sheets were also dark blue and were really soft. Their trunks had already been brought up.
The girls fell into their beds tiredly. Sleep came quickly as she listened to the gentle whistles of the wind from the windows.