A/N: Back to my normal length. This one's kind of like the first Harry Potter…they get sorted, hear the hat, are really nervous, get in the dorm and stuff. Some people who've read this say that everybody is a Gryffindor. This is NOT true. I just don't show everyone being sorted, only the people that will be talked about a lot. Review please!!!!!!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I own the sorting hat song, the girl's dormitory description, the dialogue excluding that with Harry Potter terms, other descriptions, Laura Abbott, and Elizabeth (Betty) Noita who also belongs to my friend Serena. The rest either I already said or it belongs to someone else.
THE GREAT HALL
A very pretty witch with long brown hair opened the door.
"And these are the first years, Ogg? Good then, I'll take them from here. You may go back to your gamekeeping duties," dismissed the witch, motioning for them to come along. The hall was lit with brightly flaming torches every few feet with a flagstone floor. But Siandra and the rest of the first years barely had time to notice this, as they were all in varying degrees of fright. Siandra was shivering, even though she was barely cold and in front of her, a rather plump boy was jumping every time he heard a voice. The witch lead them into an empty corridor outside of the high double doors where chattering voices were coming from. Siandra supposed that the rest of the school was in there. The witch stopped in front of some small doors and waited until all of them had settled.
"When you enter the great hall, you shall be sorted into your houses which are Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff. Further instructions will be given upon your entrance. You shall wait here until I come back to get you. Also, you should note that I will be your transfiguration teacher this year. My name is Professor Comora and I am head of Slytherin house." Professor Comora left quickly through the doors and was followed by silence from the first years. Trying not to keep her mind on the sorting, Siandra looked around at the students surrounding her. Most of them were wide-eyed and shivering but a greasy-haired boy at the back of the line was looking somewhat calm. She glanced behind her and looked at a brown-haired boy looking rather nervous also whom she thought looked very cute. He turned back towards the doors and Siandra blushed, as he knew she had looked.
Fortunately, Professor Comora came to her rescue as she ushered them through the doors into the Great Hall. The ceiling was inky black, flecked with stars amidst hundreds of floating candles. Siandra seemed to have lost the feeling in her left leg. Professor Comora stopped in front of the line and quite a lot of them bumped into each other as the line stopped at the front. Siandra noticed that most of the older students were staring at a spot in front of the high table where Dumbledore and the other teachers sat, and she stared also, hoping to see something.
Out of a side door, a short old wizard came hurrying to the center cradling an old hat and dragging a four-legged stool behind him. He stood the stool up in the center and (with some difficulty) managed to perch the hat on top of it.
Siandra didn't see what was so special about the hat. Dirt was clumped around its many patches and it sat lopsided on the stool. That was, at least, until she saw a large rip beginning at the corners and it opened wide, like a mouth, and began to sing.
I've served this place for many years
And seen the minds rush past,
I may look tattered and real frayed,
But I am built to last.
Yes, your task is but a simple one,
To each try me, the hat,
I'll see what kind of thoughts you have
And base your house on that.
If you have your thoughts on bravery,
You're a Gryffindor at heart,
If you're smart and have intelligence
Then Ravenclaw's your part.
If you are loyal and you're true
Then to Hufflepuff you'll run,
And for all the Slytherin students,
They will have ambition.
So drop me over your head now,
I've never been wrong yet,
A little voice inside your mind
Will tell you what you get!
There was a roar of applause as the hat finished and relief washed through Siandra. Just trying on the hat would be a lot better than having to do magic, or some sort of test.
Professor Comora stepped in front of it, a roll of parchment in her hands and said, "Now, when I call your name, you will step up to the stool and try on the hat. When you are sorted, you will sit at your house tables." She paused as she slid her quill down the list. "Abbott, Laura," she announced as a rather short girl with blond hair ran up to the hat and jammed it onto her head. A few moments pause, then, "HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat and Laura ran off to the Hufflepuff table amidst cheers from the occupants.
"Annast, Molly!" Molly scuttled forward and nervously dumped the hat on her head and then she had got her wish.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.
"Black, Sirius!"
One of the boys that had shared Siandra's boat walked forward and slipped the hat over his head, which fell over his eyes.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
"Evans, Lily!" Lily walked shakily forward and gently placed the hat on her head. She sat there for a little bit before, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Siandra noticed that sometimes, the hat seemed to be gesturing while the person was being sorted. She supposed that the hat was conversing with them. There weren't many people left before her, she watched nervously, her palms starting to sweat.
"Longbottom, Frank!" became a Gryffindor, then, "Lorington, Millisiandra!" Siandra walked shakily up to the stool, sat down, and dropped the hat over her head. It immediately fell over her eyes and all she could see was the black inside of the hat.
"Hmmm…" said a little voice by her ear. She supposed that this was the hat. "You're smart, you love magic…"
"Of course I love magic, I'm a witch, aren't I?" Siandra said and blushed as she realized that she had said that aloud to the whole Hall.
"So you're practical, but you're also brave, and willing. You do like rules, and you're smart and a teensy bit ambitious. You've got a nasty taste for adventure, but I don't know if you'll ever use it considering your engagement with rules. But I think I'll put you in GRYFFINDOR!" Siandra ran happily to the Gryffindor table and sat with Lily and her friends after handing over the hat to "Lupin, Remus!" The Gryffindor table was busy congratulating her and Remus that when the Ravenclaw table cheered Siandra realized that she had forgotten to watch the boy behind her get sorted. "Noita, Elizabeth!" also became a new Gryffindor and Siandra clapped loudly as Elizabeth chose a seat by her.
With quite a lot of people, the hat seemed to decide at once. However, "Pettigrew, Peter," sat on the hat for the longest time before the hat made him a Gryffindor and had to give the hat to "Potter, James!"
Perhaps it had something to do with just being very nervous, but Siandra suddenly felt very hungry and wished she was eating a nice chocolate frog as she watched "Snape, Severus!" the rather calm boy at the back of the line get sorted into Slytherin.
Finally, (after "Weasley, Arthur!" got sorted into Gryffindor) the line of first years waiting to be sorted was empty and at the largest chair in the center of the high table, Dumbledore stood up. The Hall suddenly silenced.
"There are a few of start of term announcements that I would like to make this year before we devour the delicious feast that we have prepared. First of all — "
On the right side of Siandra, Lily poked her and asked what the silver glint at the right door was and Siandra explained that it must be the Hogwarts ghosts. Obviously, some of Dumbledore's speech went unheard to her, something about somewhere being out-of-bounds, but Siandra was unlikely to go anywhere suspicious anyway, or so she thought.
"Secondly, as many of you may have noticed, a new tree has been planted on the edge of the grounds. This tree is called the Whomping Willow and viciously attacks, with its branches, anyone who gets near it. Therefore, we would advise you not to go anywhere in its whacking range. And third, our caretaker, Apollyon Pringle, would like to remind you that you are not allowed to be out of bed in the corridors past 9:00 unless you are taking Astronomy. Thank you and enjoy the feast!" And with these words, all the golden platters in the hall filled with delicacies to fill their empty stomachs.
Siandra dug into a plate full of spaghetti and piled it onto her plate along with about ten peppermint humbugs that no one else seemed to be eating. While she helped herself to some butter-drenched breadsticks, the talk turned to their classes.
"I heard that we're going to make love potions this year!" said a sandy-haired girl across the table.
"Somehow I don't think so, I thought that they were banned! But, maybe we'll get to take electives!"
"No, maybe we'll get to change stuff into gold in transfiguration!"
"No, silly, that's alchemy. I don't think that they teach that at Hogwarts. If they did then galleons wouldn't be worth anything anymore!" remarked Siandra although she had always wondered about changing things into gold in transfiguration.
The rest of the feast seemed to go by in a flash and she finished her lavish buffet feeling very full. At last, when everyone had finished their feast, Dumbledore stood up to direct the new prefects to take each house to their dormitories. Siandra and the rest of the Gryffindor students followed a boy called Marcus Vector up through the doors and headed up through many flights of stairs to the seventh floor where a large portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress asked them for the password.
"Haxa," said Marcus and the portrait swung open for the students to be admitted into a large cozy room full of squashy armchairs all seated in front of a blazing fire. "Now the boy's dormitories are that way," he pointed left, "And girl's are there," he pointed right to a winding flight of stairs carpeted in rather worn red velvet.
Sleepily, Siandra followed the rest of the girls up the winding staircase and took the first branch off to a room with large mahogany doors labeled: FIRST YEAR GRYFFINDOR STUDENTS. Lily pushed open the double doors and Siandra saw a beautiful circular room. Wine-red satin drapes that were on each of the many French windows were held back by pearl curtain holders. The carpet was very fluffy with a pattern of mermaids in an ocean. Each ebony four-poster bed had faeries carved into the headboard and had red velvet (like the on the stairs) curtains with golden tassels to pull them around the bed. Each bed had a large oak dresser and a quaint oval nightstand with legs fashioned like trees and a single small drawer. Their bags were waiting by the side of the high bed and a bed warmer was pushed under the silk sheets that had a night sky pattern on them and a map of the small part of Hogwarts that they would be attending was carefully placed on top of their fluffy blue pillows. Each bed also had a canopy with wooden owls on the tops of the four posts. Siandra changed into her night robes and pushed herself down under the thick blankets and immediately fell asleep.