Chappie Six
A/N This is for the reviewers! Thanks, guys!
Araminta, Blake, and Selene, along with the other first years, squished their way up the front steps and into the castle. While they waited for someone to greet them, Araminta used a charm to dry their robes so they wouldn't catch pneumonia.
After a long wait, an old, stern-looking witch with white hair came. "I am Professor McGonagall, and I teach Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will all be in my class, but you will not all be in my house. A house is a group of like-minded students, and while you are here at Hogwarts you will live with them and take classes with them. They will be like your family. The houses are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor (mine), Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. In a few minutes you will come into the Great Hall, sit under the Sorting Hat, and be chosen for your house. Then, we will eat."
There were some angry mutterings; most of the students were still wet and all were hungry. McGonagall silenced them with a glare.
"Oh, I hope I'm not a Hufflepuff," said Selene.
"Me too," said Blake. "I hear it's the worst."
"I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Who wants to learn things, though?" snickered Selene.
"Not me!" answered Blake.
Araminta listened to this quietly. She wanted to make her father proud, but the problem was--which one?
"This way," said McGonagall, and Araminta joined the parade that marched to the front of the Great Hall. While they walked, she enjoyed the stormy view of the ceiling, which was enchanted to reflect the night sky outside, and looked for her godfather, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
When the first years stopped at the front of the room, Araminta saw the Sorting Hat sitting on a stool. It opened a rip in its brim and sang that year's Sorting Song:
Oh I may be a hat,
but I'm smarter than you.
Listen as I tell you
exactly what to do.
Come right up here
and put me on your head
So I can decide
In which House you'll lay your head.
The smartest go to Ravenclaw, I know this much is true
The workers go to Hufflepuff, I think you already knew
The ambitious go to Slytherin, where they'll work their charm
And the brave ones go to Gryffindor with a sword upon their arm!
"Bulstrode, Selene" was first, and the hat hollered "Slytherin!" right away. Araminta spaced out while the rest of the students were named, waking up finally when the hat put "Parkinson, Blake" there too.
Professor McGonagall looked at her list and called out "Potter-Malfoy, Araminta." With a queasy feeling in her stomach, Araminta stepped forward. What would the hat do with her?