Disclaimer: I don´t own anything all rights go to J.K. Rowling
Chapter 5: The Sorting Hat
AN: I graduate High School today, yay!
So I will there for post two chapters and here is the first.
I hope you will enjoy the chapter!
The door swung open immediately. A tall witch with black hair and wearing emerald-green robes stood there. She had a slightly tight and stern face that made Jen promise herself to never make her angry.
"The firs´-years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
The witch pulled the door open wider so they all could come through. The Entrance Hall was so big it could have fitted Jen´s whole house in it. On the walls, which were made out of stone, were flaming torches in holders and the ceiling was so high Jen couldn´t see it and there was a magnificent marble staircase that led upwards to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the hall, past the drone of hundreds of voices that came from a door to their left – it must be there the rest of the school are, Jen thought- and then into a small, empty chamber next to the hall. They crowded in there, stood a little closer to each other than they would otherwise done and peered around nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "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 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 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."
Professor McGonagall´s eyes swivelled between Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, Ron´s smudged nose and on Jen's wet robes, which she discretely tried to wring out the water of.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," Professor McGonagall said. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber. Jen stared nervously after her before looking down at her feet. What was the sorting? Now that Jen thought about it, she realised that she had never asked her brother how he got sorted into Ravenclaw.
"How do we get sorted into the houses?" Hermione whispered to Jen. "It didn´t stand in any of my books."
"I have no idea," Jen said. "But I think Peter mentioned something about a test once."
Hermione looked horrified and immediately started to whisper every spell she had learnt from her books. Jen did the same but quiet in her head so she wouldn´t disturb anyone else.
Jen stared at the door where she knew Professor McGonagall would come through any minute now, while she nervously went through all the things she had learnt from reading the books she had bought in Diagon Alley and what Peter had told her. She couldn´t believe that they would make a test in spells and magic before they had even entered the school, before they had learnt any magic, so what in all the world could the sorting be?
She was just repeating all the spells she could about transfiguration when someone behind her screamed. Jen turned around and gasped. About twenty pearly-white and slightly transparent ghosts had just streamed through the back wall of the chamber. Jen stared at them with mouth agape. Her brother had told her about the ghosts, but she had never believed him, she had thought he was joking because ghost's didn´t exist. Jen had obviously been wrong because now there were ghosts right in front of her; they even seemed to be arguing.
"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-" a ghost that looked like a little fat monk said.
"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 ruff and tights said.
Nobody answered him.
"New students!" the Fat Friar said, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"
Jen nodded mutely together with a few other people.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" the Friar said. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," a sharp voice said. "The Sorting Ceremony´s about to start."
Jen turned towards the door and saw that Professor McGonagall had come back. The ghosts floated away through the opposite wall from which they had arrived.
"Now form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, "and follow me."
Jen felt a lump of nervousness form in her stomach as she stumbling got into line behind Ron with Hermione behind her. They all walked out of the chamber, across the Entrance Hall, through a pair of double doors and into the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was one of the most amazing things Jen had ever seen, Peter had told her that it was amazing but what she now saw was far more amazing than she could ever have imagen.
The Hall was lit by a thousand candles floating in the air above the four long tables, where the rest of the students sat, that was set whit glittering golden plates and goblets.
At the end of the Hall was another table where the teachers were sitting, Jen saw a lot of different teachers sitting there but the one who stood out the most was a very old man with silver coloured hair and beard that were so long that he could put them in his belt. His blue eyes were light and clear and sparkled happily behind the half-moon-shaped glasses that rested on his crooked nose. Jen realised that this must be Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster.
It was up to the teachers table that Professor McGonagall was now leading the first-years. They stopped so they were standing in a line facing the students with their backs to the teachers.
Jen got uncomfortable with all the hundreds of faces that were staring at her so, to avoid the stares; she looked up to the ceiling and gasped. The ceiling didn´t seem to exist, it looked like the Great Hall opened up directly to the velvet black starry sky.
"It´s bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read it in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione told Jen when she saw her chocked expression as she looked at the sky. "Haven´t you read about it?"
"I haven´t come to that chapter yet," Jen said. "And Peter haven´t said anything about this either."
Jen looked down again just in time to see Professor McGonagall placing a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a patched, frayed and extremely dirty pointed wizard´s hat.
Maybe the hat has something to do with the test? Jen thought as she stared at it. Suddenly the hat twitched and 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 ca 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!
Jen clapped her hands whit the rest of the Great Hall when the hat had finished it´s song and bowed to each of the four tables. She felt relief over that the only thing she had to do to be sorted was to try on an old hat and not try to do some kind of spell. Jen only wished she hadn´t had to do it in front of the whole school.
"So we´ve just got to try on a hat! I´ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll," Jen heard Ron say and she felt extremely relieved that the person Ron talked about hadn´t been right.
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. "Abbot, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment´s pause-
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah ran over and sat down at the Hufflepuff table. Jen saw The Fat Friar wave happily at Hannah.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted again, and Susan ran off to sit with Hannah at the Hufflepuff table while the rest of the house cheered and clapped.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time and Jen saw that her brother was one of the several Ravenclaws that stood up to shake hands with Terry. It was the first time Jen saw her brother since the train and she felt a little less nervous now that she had seen him.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Brown, Lavender!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The table on the far left exploded in applause and cheers as Lavender sat down at the Gryffindor table. Jen could hear the red-haired twins from the train catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent!" became the first Slytherin. When Jen looked over at the unpleasant faces of the students at the Slytherin table she could feel shills go up her spine and she wished more than ever that she wouldn't end up in Slytherin.
For each name that was called up Jen became more and more nervous, it helped a little bit to know that her brother was in the Hall with her, but she was still very nervous.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Jen had noticed that the hat took different amount of time each time to decide to which house the student should go, some took longer time and others shorter. Jen hoped that her sorting would go fast.
It was a few more names after Justin before:
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran up to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. Jen looked nervously on as her friend sat on the stool and waited to be sorted.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat finally shouted.
Ron groaned beside her and Jen jammed her elbow in his side and glared at him.
More names were called up and for each of them Jen got more and more nervous. Soon she couldn´t stand still and started shifting from foot to foot while she was looking straight ahead at one of the floating candles.
"Longbottom, Neville!" Professor McGonagall called and Jen focused back on the sorting and realised that it was nearly her turn.
Neville fell over on the way to the stool making several students in the Hall laugh. The hat took a long time do decide where Neville belonged, but it finally shouted: "GRYFFINDOR!"
"MacAvity, Jennifer!" Professor McGonagall called.
On shaky legs Jen walked up to the stool but stopped when she realised that the hat wasn´t there. Poor Neville had in his excitement ran over to the Gryffindor table still wearing the hat. He had to walk back and give Jen the hat while the whole Hall laughed at him again. Jen didn´t laugh and smiled encouragingly at him instead even though her own face had become flushed with embarrassment.
When Jen had gotten the hat, she sat down on the stool and put the hat on her head. The last thing Jen saw before the hat fell down over her eyes was the laughing faces of the students and her brother giving her a big smile and a wave.
"Ah, a quiet interesting mind we have here," Jen nearly jumped off the stool when she heard a thin voice in her ear. "This will be hard, I think. There is a little cunning here but not enough to put you in Slytherin, which you are happy to hear I see."
Jen felt immense relief over that the hat wouldn´t put her in Slytherin.
"Very happy, indeed," the hat added. "This is a tricky one, hmm. There is wit and knowledge here so you would fit very well in Ravenclaw but you are also loyal and kind so you would fit in in Hufflepuff just as well. Then we also have a great deal of courage that would make you a perfect Gryffindor. Hmm... very tricky, indeed. You would do well in any of those three houses, especially Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."
The hat continued to talk back and forth with itself while Jen sat on the stool and waited for it to decide which house she should be in. The minutes continued to tick by as the hat contemplated and the rest of the students in the Hall started to whisper higher and higher.
"She´s a Hatstall!" someone suddenly shouted but Jen had no idea what that meant.
The hat continued to mutter, and Jen started to worry that the hat would never choose a house for her and eventually ask her to go home. Jen was terrified of the thought but decided that she wouldn´t let it bother her and she straitened her back a little and stared determined at the inside of the hat.
"Aha, now I know," the hat said a bit louder than its previous muttering and Jen jumped again. "It better be... GRYFFINDOR!"
The hat called the last word out so that the whole of the Great Hall could hear. With a wide smile Jen took the hat off and walked a bit wobbly over to the cheering Gryffindor table where she got to shake hands with some of the Gryffindors before she sat down beside Hermione, who gave her a tight hug.
After the immense relief that she had been sorted at all had ebbed out Jen felt a bit disappointed that she hadn´t been sorted into Ravenclaw, but when she looked over to the Ravenclaw table she saw her brother giving her a big smile and a thumbs-up and she started to feel better.
"Malfoy, Draco!" was the next name Jen had focus enough to hear.
The platinum blond boy that had pushed past Hermione and her on the train walked up to the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before it cried: "SLYTHERIN!"
Jen wasn´t at all surprised that the pointy faced boy was a Slytherin after what happened at the train.
A few more names were called before:
"Potter, Harry!"
The Great Hall erupted in loud whispers as Harry made his way up to the stool, Jen saw a couple of people stand up in an attempt to get a better look at him. White-faced Harry sat down and put the hat on his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat called after about two minutes.
Harry stumbled his way over to the Gryffindor table under deafening applause and cheers.
"We´ve got Potter! We´ve got Potter!" Jen herd the red-haired twins from the train chant.
More names were called after Harry and soon it wasn´t many first-years left to be sorted. Ron was second to last to be called and by that time his face had turned to a pale green shade.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted nearly as soon as it had touched Ron´s head and he ran off to the Gryffindor table while the table sheered and clapped.
"Well done, Ron, excellent," a red-haired boy with a Prefect's badge said as Ron sat down beside Harry.
It was only "Zabini, Blaise!" left and he was placed in Slytherin. When Zabini had been sorted Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away before sitting down at the teachers table.
Now when the Sorting was over and Jen wasn´t as nervous anymore she could feel how hungry she was. The last thing she had eaten was the sweets on the train and that felt like ages ago.
Jen looked up at the teachers table and saw that Albus Dumbledore had stood up and was now beaming at the students, whit his arms open wide in welcome to them all.
"Welcome!" he said. "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!"
Jen stared at Dumbledore while she clapped with the rest of the school as he sat down. He really is as mad as Peter said, Jen thought.
"Is he – a bit mad?" Jen heard Harry ask the red-headed boy that had greeted Ron earlier and were now sitting on the other side of the table from Jen.
"Mad?" the red-head said airily. "He´s a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Jen´s mouth fell open and her eyes went wide as she looked around at the earlier empty dishes that were now piled high with food. Jen had never seen so much food in one place and all the food seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She could see steak, roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire Pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, oddly enough, mint humbugs. She immediately started to load her plate with all the things that she knew she liked and a few things that she thought looked good.
As she started to eat one of the red-haired twins leaned towards her.
"So, how does it feel to be a Hatstall?" he asked.
"I don´t know what a Hatstall is," Jen said.
"It's someone whose sorting took more than five minutes," the red-head with the Prefects badge said. "It´s really unusual that someone becomes a Hatstall."
"Er... Okay, I guess" she said as answer to the twin's question.
"Okay, my name is George Weasley and my twin over there is Fred and the pompous Prefect here is our brother Percy."
"Jennifer MacAvity but I prefer to be called Jen," Jen said and took a bite of a boiled potato. "You said your last name was Weasley does that mean you are related to Ron?"
"Yes, ickle Ronniekinns is our little brother," George said, and Jen laughed at the nickname.
"How many brothers do you have, exactly?" Jen asked George.
"Five and one sister," George said.
"Wow," Jen said. "I only have two siblings and I think that's enough, I can´t imagine having six."
Suddenly Jen got the sensation of being ducked into a bucket of ice water. She looked away from George and looked around for the source of the sensation. She saw it nearly immediately as the ghost in a ruff and tights was sitting close by, looking sadly at Harry who was cutting up his steak, and she guessed that the ghost had moved, and his arm had gone right through her and caused the sensation.
"Can´t you-?" Harry said.
"I haven´t eaten for nearly five hundred years," the ghost said. "I don´t need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don´t think I´ve introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are!" Ron said suddenly. "My brothers told me about you – you´re Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy –" the ghost began stiffly, but a sandy-haired boy Jen thought was called Seamus Finnigan, interrupted him.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Jen was certain that she didn´t want to know how someone could be nearly headless, it didn´t sound nice and certainly wouldn´t look nice either.
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn´t going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably.
Jen had been right when she thought that she didn´t want to know how someone could be nearly headless because when Sir Nicholas seized his left ear and pulled, his whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Jen shuddered and looked away as she felt a bit nauseous at the sight.
Looking pleased at the stunned looks on the first-years faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So, new Gryffindors! I hope you´re going to help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron´s becoming almost unbearable – he´s the Slytherin ghost."
Jen looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Draco Malfoy, the platinum-blond boy who had pushed her and Hermione at the train, who didn´t look very pleased with the seating arrangement.
"How did he get covered in blood?" Seamus asked with great interest.
"I´ve never asked," Nearly Headless Nick said delicately.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. It was all kinds of desserts, there was blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding and much, much more. Jen immediately helped herself to the things she thought looked good, especially the apple pies.
As Jen started to eat a piece of apple pie, the talk turned to families.
"I´m half and half," Seamus said. "Me dad´s a muggle. Mam didn´t tell him she was a witch ´til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
Jen laughed together with the others.
"Both my parents are Muggles," Jen said when the laughter had died down. "But my brother is a wizard, he´s a fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect. It was a real chock for us when the wizard came and told us about magic. We didn´t believe him until he turned one of our flowerpots into a turtle. He wasn´t very good at transfiguration, though, because the flower was still growing out of the shell."
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" Ron said.
"Well, my gran brought me up and she´s a witch," Neville said. "But the family thought I was all-muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off guard and force some magic out of me- he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned – but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of the upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced, all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here, they thought I might not be magical enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."
"I don´t know if I am muggleborn or half-blood," said a dark-skinned boy called Dean Thomas. "I don´t know if my dad was a wizard or not."
The others continued to talk about families, but Jen turned away because she heard Hermione and Percy talking about lessons.
"I do hope the lessons start right away," Hermione said. "There´s so much to learn, I´m particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it´s supposed to be very difficult."
"Yes, it is," Percy said. "You´ll be starting out small, though, just matches into needles and that sort of thing."
"I also think that Transfiguration looks interesting," Jen said. "But I also think that Potions look interesting, even if my brother says that the teacher is really scary and unfair."
"He is," Percy said. "You don´t want to make him angry..."
"Ouch!" Harry suddenly said and both Jen and Percy turned their heads to look at him and saw that he had clapped his hand over his forehead.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
"N-nothing," Harry said but Jen worriedly thought that he still looked weird. "Who´s the teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?"
Jen looked up at the part of the teachers table that Harry was indicating and saw a pale and nervous looking young man in a large purple turban sitting next to a teacher with a hooked nose, black greasy hair and sallow skin.
"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you?" Percy said. "No wonder he´s looking so nervous, that´s Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn´t want to – everyone knows he´s after Quirrell´s job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Jen looked at the hooked-nosed teacher again. So this is Snape, she thought, he looks really scary. Jen had secretly hoped that her brother had been wrong when he said that Snape was an overgrown evil bat but now when Jen saw him scowling at the students in front of him, she had to admit that her brother had spoken the truth.
She looked away from Snape and turned to Hermione and started to talk about lessons again while eating a delicious chocolate pudding.
When the puddings finally had disappeared, Professor Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall fell silent.
"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
Jen thought she saw Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flash in the direction of the Weasley twins when he said that.
"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of 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 who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Jen stared open mouthed at Dumbledore. He couldn´t be serious, could he?
"He´s not serious," Harry muttered to Percy and Jen leaned closer to hear Percy´s answer.
"Must be," Percy said, frowning at Dumbledore. "It´s odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we´re not allowed to go somewhere – the forest´s full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us Prefects, at least."
Jen turned to Hermione and exchanged glances. What could be so dangerous that Dumbledore hadn´t even told the Prefects what it was?
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore cried.
Jen looked around the Great Hall and saw many confused and worried faces and when she looked up to the teachers table, she saw that the teachers' smiles had turned rather fixed.
Dumbledore didn´t seem to notice this, though, and just gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it. The ribbon rouse high up in the air and twisted like a snake so it formed words.
"Everyone pick your favourite tune," Dumbledore said. "And off we go!"
Jen picked a happy tune and then she bellowed with the rest of the school:
"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they´re bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we´ve forgot,
Just do your best, we´ll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."
Jen was one of the first to finish the song and listened happily when the rest of the school finished singing. At last, it was only the Weasley twins' left singing to a slow funeral march while Dumbledore conducted them with his wand. When they finally had stopped singing everyone clapped and Jen laughed.
"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
As Jen stood, she cached her brother's eyes and he smiled at her before he motioned her to follow Percy and the rest of the first-year Gryffindors. Percy led the first-years through the chattering crowd, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. Jen was so tired and had eaten so much that her legs felt like jelly and she was stumbling, more than once she would have fallen over if it wasn´t for Hermione holding her up. Even if Jen was tired, she tried to memorise the way Percy took so she would find her way to the Great Hall the next day.
Jen was woken from her half-asleep state by chock when a fat knight in one of the paintings on the walls suddenly burst out in a loud laughter. It wasn´t until Seamus Finnigan walked into her that she realised that she had stopped to stare at the portrait and she hurriedly started walking again.
Jen was truly fascinated as they walked by talking portraits, through secret tunnels hidden behind sliding walls and hanging tapestries and all the magnificent staircases. The whole school was amazing, but she was still tired, and she was just wondering how much further they had to go when she walked right into Harry and realised that they had stopped.
Jen first thought that they had arrived at the entrance to the common room but then she saw a bundle of walking sticks hanging in mid-air ahead of them and realised that that wasn´t the case. Percy took a step forward and suddenly the walking sticks started to throw themselves at him.
"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first-years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves – show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"
There was a loud pop and Jen took a step back in chock when a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.
"Ooooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"
He suddenly swooped at them and Jen had to duck so swiftly she fell over and Hermione had to help her up.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Bloody Baron´ll hear about this, I mean it!" Percy barked.
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville´s head. Jen, who stood beside Neville, had to jump out of the way of the walking sticks so she wouldn´t get hit by them. They heard Peeves zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," Percy said as they started walking again. "The Bloody Baron´s the only one who can control him, he won´t even listen to us Prefects. Here we are."
They stood in the end of a corridor in front of the portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," Percy said, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall.
They scrambled trough it – Jen and Hermione had to help Neville – into the Gryffindor common room. It was a cosy, round room with squashy armchairs and a roaring fire. Jen instantly liked the room and looked forward to all the time she would spend there.
Percy directed Jen and the other first-year girl's through a door, and they walked up a spiral staircase until they came to another door where it stood `First-years´. They walked into their dormitory, which was also round and cosy and standing against the wall with their trunks by them were five four-poster beds hung with deep-red velvet curtains.
Jen had the bed that was closest to the door and pulled out her pyjamas from her trunk and started to get ready for bed, the other girls did the same. Jen and Hermione, who had the bed next to Jen´s, shared the dormitory with a brown-haired girl, an Indian girl and a blond girl.
"My name is Lavender Brown" the brown-haired girl suddenly said.
"Parvati Patil," the Indian girl said.
"Megan Jones," the blond said quietly.
"Hermione Granger."
"Jennifer MacAvity but you can call me Jen."
"Oooh, you are the Hatstall," Lavender said excitedly. "Why did it take so long for the hat to decide where it should put you?"
"It decided between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw mostly even though it considered Hufflepuff too," Jen said as she petted Silver, who was sleeping on her pillow, before lying down beside the cat.
"Cool," Lavender said. "Isn´t it so amazing that Harry Potter is in our house and year?"
"Yeah," Parvati said. "I had heard he would be in our year, but I had never hoped to be in the same house as him. My twin sister Padma is going to be so jealous, she was sorted in Ravenclaw."
Parvati and Lavender continued to gossip and while Megan was quietly writing something in a notebook on her bed.
"I don´t know about you," Hermione said after a while, "but I´m going to bed and I would appreciate if you would be a bit quieter."
Both Lavender and Parvati stopped talking and Megan put the notebook away and they all went to bed. Soon all five Gryffindor girls were sleeping soundly.