The Sorting Ceremony
The door opened at once. Professor McGonagall stood there. "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 a house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming candles like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led up to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of many voices on the other side of the wall. Instead of heading through the door that led into the room with voices, she led them to a small chamber and when everyone was silent, she said, "In a few moments, the Sorting Ceremony will begin. The Sorting Ceremony will place you into one house out of four. While you're here, your house will be like your family. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." She left, and Harry kept staring at the door, waiting for Professor McGonagall. Then, something happened that made Harry jump at least 2 feet in the air. Several people behind him shrieked. Some gasped. About 20 ghosts had come through the back wall. Harry knew there were ghosts at Hogwarts, but he didn't know they would suddenly appear out of nowhere. They seemed to be talking about someone called Peeves until a rather fat ghost finally noticed the first years. "New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling at them. "About to be sorted, yes?"
A few people nodded silently. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My Old House, you know.." said the Friar. All the ghosts moved out of the chamber, and just then, Professor McGonagall arrived. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin. You shall follow me into the Great Hall, where your sorting shall take place." All the first years followed Professor McGonagall into a big hall that had candles floating in the air. There were four long tables and about 300 students were packed in the Hall. Harry noticed a rugged hat in Professor McGonagall's hand. She led them up to the front of the hall, where Harry noticed Dumbledore smiling at him. He smiled back, and Professor McGonagall said, "You will now be sorted into your houses. You will come up to the stool, sit down, and I will place the sorting hat on your head. Harry finally remembered how students were sorted; his parents had told him about it. The hat would be placed upon your head, and the hat would be able to read your thoughts and place you into your houses. Gryffindor valued courage, bravery, justice, and determination, Ravenclaw valued wit, creativity, learning, and wisdom, Hufflepuff valued hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play, and Slytherin, the most different of the other houses, valued leadership, ambition, power, and cunning. Harry was hoping to be sorted into Gryffindor, since both his parents were Gryffindors. One by one, in alphabetical order, the students went up to the sorting hat and the hat stated its decision. When Harry's name was read out, everyone stared at him in shock. Harry awkwardly went up to the seat, aware of everyone's eyes on him. He sat on the chair, waiting for the sorting hat to make its decision, when the sorting hat spoke to him. It nearly put him in Slytherin, but he got put in Gryffindor with Ron and Hermione.
After the sorting ended, Dumbledore got up and started addressing everyone, "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, and now, let the feast begin!"
Harry was waiting for his food to appear on his plate, like his parents had told them, which it did a few seconds after Dumbledore had sat back down. A few minutes into the feast, after Harry had tried almost all the dishes in his reach. He was talking with Nearly Headless Nick whether he could eat or not, when Hermione made the mistake of asking Nick how he could be nearly headless.
Harry, unlike others around him, knew exactly what to expect, and sure enough, a few seconds after he turned his head away, he heard sounds of disgust from those around him. When he turned back, others looked like they were going to faint and were trying not to. Still others had already fainted and were being brought back to consciousness by their friends. Ron and Hermione were angry at Harry because they had noticed him looking away and not telling them about Nearly Headless Nick. All Harry could do was laugh uncontrollably while they puffed up their faces. After they all got over the shock, Hermione started talking to Percy about
He looked up at the teacher's table and saw a teacher that his parents had described as Snape. Harry was feeling hatred toward him when he heard about how he acted at school, but seeing him in-person shocked him. He asked Percy about him, and Percy told him he taught Potions. Harry was feeling angry because Potions was a subject that he knew a lot about because his mother was the top of her class at Potions when she was at Hogwarts. He noticed an oddly dressed wizard next to Snape, who Percy told him to be Professor Quirrell. Harry found Quirrell to be weird, and when he turned, Harry felt his scar searing, and when he turned back, the pain just disappeared.
Dumbledore sat up, which Harry took as a gesture for a speech, and fell silent like others in the hall. "Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give to 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 too." His twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by our caretaker, Mr. Filch, to remind you all that no magic is allowed 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 to does not wish to die a very painful death." Harry laughed at this, but then realized he was serious, and kept quiet. After the speech, they song the school song and went to their respective dormitories.
Ron's elder brother Percy led all the Gryffindors to the common room and told them how to enter the common room by telling the password to a portrait named 'The Fat Lady', which Harry knew about. Harry was feeling tired after the feast, and when he discovered he was put in a dorm with Ron, he couldn't be happier and slowly drifted to sleep.