Behind the double doors Harry had previously seen came a low rumble from an army of people. Professor McGonagall pushed open the double doors to the great hall. Conversation stopped as Harry and all the other first-years filed in. They walked between rows of tables and students sitting on benches eyeing all of them curiously. The older students all wore the same black robes and pointed hats, but had different colored ties. Here and there among the students were pearly white, and semi-transparent figures. Ghosts, Harry realized in shock.

Harry continued looking around him in awe. Banners hung from the walls. A green one with a great silver serpent, a yellow one with a black badger, a red one with a gold lion, a blue one with an eagle on it spreading its wings, and one with the Hogwarts crest above the staff table in front of them. Looking above the banners Harry noticed that burning candles were floating in mid-air. Then Harry noticed the ceiling, or rather the lack of one, and gasped. Stars twinkled on an inky canvas with a few gray wispy clouds

"It's enchanted to look like the night sky." said Hermione in a stage-whisper. "I read about it in Hogwarts; A History."

Harry did recall reading something like that, but Harry didn't know how Hermione could remember facts she had learned at a time like this. Nerves were coursing through Harry, a full on rampage making his stomach squeeze into knots. Finally the group of first-years came to a stop and Harry looked just as Professor McGonagall placed a dirty, worn old hat on a three legged stool in front of them. Everyone in the hall seemed to be fixing their attention on the hat so harry followed their example. There was a quiet pause. Then a rip opened up in the hat right before the brim, and the hat burst into song.

"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 can 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!"

Everyone started to clap. Harry resisted a moan of relief, and it looked like he wasn't the only one that felt that way in his group of yet-to-be-sorted year mates. After Ron's talk about wrestling trolls Harry felt like putting on a hat was positively easy. Professor McGonagall pulled out a rolled-up scroll from her emerald green robes, and cleared her throat. Some murmuring died down, and she said.

"When I call your name I want you to come forward and place this hat on the stool. After you are sorted, if you would quickly join your house table so I can call the next person, that would be greatly appreciated."

She began calling names. The first person Harry knew that she called was Crabbe, one of Malfoy's sidekicks. The hat was placed on his head. After thirty seconds the hat called "Slytherin!"

The boy jumped up, pulled off the hat, and went over to the table closest to the back. Harry thought it might be his imagination but as he watched the group sitting at the table all clap politely for Crabbe he thought they looked like an unpleasant group. They all seemed to be scowling or glaring. Some didn't even bother to pay attention to the sorting and were talking amongst themselves, though that was true for all the tables.

After Crabbe, there was Malfoy's other cronie, Goyle. Harry was sure it was going to be another sure thing. The big, cruel-looking bruiser must be in Slytherin. But there was a longer wait for him and when the hat finally called out, it called "Hufflepuff!" much to the shock of Malfoy, whose jaw dropped. Theo sniggered at the bewildered expression Goyle was wearing when he pulled himself out of the hat. He walked over to the hufflepuff table in a daze.

When it was Hermione's turn, she practically skipped up to the stool and eagerly put the hat on her head. The hat covered her entire head, hiding her expression from Harry. The hat seemed to take forever deciding. Just when Harry thought the hat would never decide it yelled, "Slytherin!"

There was no clapping from the slytherin table. Hermione had begun to take the hat off and was walking toward the back table cheerfully when she seemed to realize the whole table was looking at her in a hostile way. She froze where she was standing, looking up and down, as if unsure if she was supposed to go there. Finally the staff table started clapping steadily for her, and a few Slytherins joined in begrudgingly. That seemed to be enough for Hermione and she finished walking toward the table and sat down next to a ghost with chains and silvery blood at the end of the table.

Harry watched Hermione in concern, but she quickly recovered from her less than warm welcome. He saw her strike up a conversation with the creepy ghost. Harry smiled to himself. That was Hermione; never letting a little bit of ostracizing phase her.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

The hat was barely on Malfoy's head when it shouted "Slytherin!".

Malfoy swaggered his way over to the Slytherin table, making sure to give Hermione plenty of room. He sat down next to Crabbe and looked supremely smug, like he did more than just put on a hat to get a spot at the Slytherin table.

"Now we really have to be in Slytherin." Said Theo in an undertone to Harry.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"To protect her from Malfoy." Said Theo, giving the back of Malfoy's blonde head a suspicious glare. "I don't trust that he'll leave her alone."

Harry hummed his agreement. Soon Theo's name was called. He shakily walked up to the stool and put the hat over his head. A minute passed and Harry held his breath. He didn't know what he was hoping for. Obviously it would be best if Theo was in Slytherin, both to be with Hermione and please his father. But Harry wanted to be in the same house as Theo, and he wasn't sure what house he himself would be sorted into.

But just as Harry was thinking all this the hat yelled "Slytherin!" and the Slytherin table applauded for Theo half-heartedly. It seemed many were still in shock from Hermione being sorted into Slytherin, and the name Nott wasn't too big of a surprise to warrant a reaction.

Then it was Harry's turn. When Professor McGonagall called his name a hush fell over the hall. Then a murmuring started as Harry walked to the hat. He heard people say "Potter, did she say?" And "Is it really Harry Potter?". He looked over at Theo and Hermione at the Slytherin table. Both of them gave him smiles. When he put the hat on and it slid down over his eyes his last view was of the students in the great hall craning their necks to get a look at him.

"Hmm, Mr. Potter. Or should I say Mr. Potter-Black-Slytherin-Prince?" Said a tiny voice in his head.

Um, I'd prefer just Mr. Potter, please. Harry thought.

"Well I was expecting you soon. But I can't say I was expecting you to have this much raw power. Very unusual." Said the hat.

Thanks I guess?

"Now, where to sort you? You're certainly loyal. That much is clear. And you're very brave, just like your mother. But your ambition, you will do anything to reach your goals. That part is interesting, especially considering the heirdom you are part of."

Please, I want to be in Slytherin. Thought Harry. I want to be with my friends.

"Well in that case Mr. Potter better be SLYTHERIN!" The last part of the hat's sentence was yelled out to everyone.

Instead of clapping from the Slytherin table it was once again quiet except for the quiet, shocked murmurs. The slowly grew louder as Harry stood up from the stool. He heard people say things like "No, that can't be true!" from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, and "Why is Potter in our house?" from the Slytherin table. He quickly walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Hermione and Theo. Hermione moved to grab his arm and he flinched, but she just gave it a quick excited squeeze.

"This is great Harry!" Said Hermione. "We all ended up together!"

Harry nodded and looked to Theo who gave him a quick smile.

"Weasley, Ron!"

Became a Griffyndor after much deliberation on the hat's behalf. The last name called was

"Zabini, Blaise!"

He became one of their fellow Slytherins. He didn't sit anywhere near Harry and his friends, but he also didn't sit quite so close to Malfoy ethier.

Harry felt many eyes on him and he avoided looking around at the other students and instead looked up at the staff table. There were some teachers there who seemed to be looking at him too. Hagrid, the giant who led them across the lake, was staring at Harry as if he had kicked his puppy. Harry wasn't sure what he did to offend the man. Another teacher that was looking at him had a great purple turbine on. He looked scared, but from what, Harry didn't know.

"Och." hissed Harry, as a phantom pain danced across his scar.

"Are you okay?" asked Theo, looking concerned.

"Yeah, fine I guess," said Harry. His scar usually only hurt sometimes in the middle of the night when he had dreams of flashing green lights and a woman's screams.

He shook off the weird feeling and focused back on the staff table. In the center of the table was the wizard from the chocolate frog card. He was sitting in a throne-like chair and his fingers were tented as he looked up at the ceiling, and thankfully not at Harry. The man wore deep blue robes, with shiny purple stars stitched across the fabric. He had long white hair and a long white beard.

The wizard suddenly stood up and the hall fell silent quicker than it had with Professor McGonagall. The long-haired wizard Spears his arms as if to pull them all into a group hug. He beamed at them and Harry couldn't help but smile back.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" said the wizard. "I am Professor Dumbledore, and I am very pleased to see all your smiling faces. There are many things to go over, but now is not the time for that. I have just a few words for you now. Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

There was a great cheer from the Gryffindor table and the Hufflepuff table also clapped enthusiastically. However, the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables were a little half-hearted with their excitement. There were many eye-rolls from both tables and Harry noticed even the staff were a little stiff with disapproval.

"Is he mad?" asked Harry.

"They say all brilliant men are," said Hermione. "Maybe he's just a little senile."

"They say most of the Slytherins don't like him," said Theo, eyeing the headmaster with doubt.

"That's true." sighed the ghost Hermione was sitting next to in a bored tone.

"Harry, Theo," said Hermione. "This is Mr. Baron. Mr. Baron, these are my friends Harry Potter and Theodore Nott."

"I've heard about you," said Theo. "You're the Bloody Baron, aren't you?"

"Theo," hissed Hermione. "That's rude."

"No, my dear. That's fine." said The Bloody Baron. "I'm used to the impertinence of students."

"Oh, well if you don't like being called that, we won't call you that," Harry said. "What would you like to be called?"

The ghost was silent for a moment.

"My real name is… Roman." said the Bloody Baron. "Baron Roman Ungern Von Sternberg."

"So would you prefer Baron Von Stenberg?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, I would."

That seemed to settle the matter, and the three of them just made their first ally in the Slytherin house.