Chapter 6: The Sorting Hat
Hogwarts Castle- Night Time
Naruto along with his fellow first years went upstairs in the castle; As they went upstairs, they were all stopped by an elderly woman, Professor McGonagall. The woman smiled at the first years. "Welcome to Hogwarts, now in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses," the professor said as the first years looked at each other before looking back at the professor. "The houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now while you are here, your house will be like your family, your triumphs will earn you house points, any rule breaking and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup," McGonagall explains.
Soon the moment was interrupted when a first year boy found his toad and yelled out "Trevor!" as he rushes in and grabs his toad. The professor looks at the boy with an raised eyebrow; The boy, embarrassed, mutters out "sorry" and goes back to the group. Mcgonagall shook her head, "the sorting ceremony will begin momentarily" she said before walking away. Naruto spoke to his group about how they hope they are in the same house and the others were hoping the same. Soon the moment was ruined when a boy of their age with slick back blond hair spoke.
"So it's true then, what they're saying on the train, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts" the boy said. The students heard what they were saying and murmured about this, while a blond-haired girl with cold blue eyes and a serious face listened intently. "This is Crabbe and Goyle," the boy said as he points to the other two boys by his side, "And I'm Draco Malfoy" he introduces himself, though he frowns as Ron snickers at him.
"Think my name is funny do you? No need to ask yours, red hair and a hand me down, you must be a Weasley, We'll soon find out that some Wizarding families are better than others Potter, don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort, I can help you" he said as he held his hand out. Naruto, Ron, and Hermione glared at the boy and as Naruto was about to go punch the living daylights out of Draco for insulting his friends, Harry responded to Draco: "I think I can tell who the wrong sort is for myself, thanks" Harry said as he frowns at the boy. Draco seethes and is about to say more but luckily Professor McGonagall returns and smacks Draco's shoulder with rolled up parchment. Draco returns to his group not before glaring at Harry and his friends one last time.
McGonagall announces that the students are ready to enter the hall. As every student begins to enter the hall, Naruto accidentally bumps into some girl. "Whoops, sorry about that" Naruto said to the girl. The girl in question was a blond girl with cold blue eyes and a serious expression, and the girl turned to Naruto and said "don't worry about it" and she just walked with the rest of the students. Naruto hurrys back to his group and sees the hall. He along with the other students were amazed by what they saw on the ceiling and thought it was the actual night sky, when actually the ceiling was bewitched to look like that.
McGonagall stops the upcoming first years, and mentions "before we begin to sort you, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words." Dumbledore stands up and begins to talk about how the dark forest is forbidden to all students and how the third floor corridor on the right is out of bounds and gives a warning about going there. Naruto and the other students were shaken by that warning. Now then, McGonagall came back with a pretty long list, a stool, and a hat. "Now then, when I call your name, you shall come forth and I will place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your house" McGonagall stated as she opened the long scroll. The first person to go was Hermione Granger. Now Hermione was nervous at first, but Naruto assures Hermione that she'll be fine. She goes up and the sorting hat talked and had just sorted her to Gryffindor. Everyone cheered as she walked to the table with Gryffindor. The next person to go was Draco Malfoy, who was unsurprisingly sorted into Slytherin. Soon the next person to go was Susan Bones and she was sorted to Hufflepuff. As she was getting sorted, Harry's scar was burning up, to which Harry notices a man with greasy black hair looking at him. Naruto asks Harry if he's ok, but Harry shakes it off and assures Naruto that he's fine. Now the next person to go was the blond hair girl with cold blue eyes (now named Daphne Greengrass) that Naruto encountered and she was sorted to Slytherin, but what surprised Naruto was that after she got sorted, she had a neutral face as if she didn't care which house she went to or maybe there was something else, but Naruto shakes off that idea as Ron was about to go up.
Ron was nervous at first given how the hat sounded rather indignant, but luckily Ron got sorted into Gryffindor as everyone cheered on for him. Now then it's time for Naruto to go up as he got called to be sorted. As McGonagall places the hat on Naruto, "hmmm difficult very difficult, I've seen that you have suffered much pain and sorrow through your whole life, and you are ambitious to be seen by others as yourself, and I have sensed something dangerous inside you… I could place you in Slytherin…" the hat said to Naruto. Naruto said "can i go to a place where I can make friends… real friends?" Naruto asked the hat. "Hmmm… despite the pain and sorrow, I see bravery in you… a will of fire perhaps… in that case better to be… GRYFFINDOR!" the hat said. Everybody cheered as Naruto went to the Gryffindor table and sat between Ron and Hermione. Now the next person to go was Harry Potter and everyone was silent as he went to be sorted. Just like with Naruto, the hat was about to consider sorting Harry to Slytherin, but in the end sorted Harry to Gryffindor as he didn't want to be in Slytherin. Everybody cheered as Harry got sorted in Gryffindor and he sat next to Ron.
After everybody gets sorted, Dumbledore announces the beginning of the feast. As soon as Dumbledore announced that, every table was filled up with many kinds of food. Naruto and Ron had stars in their eyes when they saw the food and soon everybody dug in. While everybody ate, the group decided to get to know each other, although Naruto remained kind of secretive about his past as he was unsure whether to tell them the whole truth. Luckily Harry knew Naruto was uncomfortable about sharing the details and assured him that he can tell them when the time is right, to which Naruto thanks him. Harry later learns about the professor who was looking at him, and he's Professor Snape who is head of Slytherin house and he teaches potions, but prefers defense of the dark arts. Later a bunch of ghosts fly through the halls such as Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron. As the feast goes on for another half an hour, it soon ends as everybody from their respective houses leave for the dorms. Naruto and his group go with their house to their dorm, and as they go up the moving staircases, they notice some paintings that are moving and greeting the new students. Soon they arrive at the dorm, and a portrait that seems to be a door asks for the password. The prefect, Percy Weasley, says "caput draconis" to which the door opens and the entire house marvels at the common house. They are led to their respective dorms. Naruto finds his belongings in his bed along with his pet crow, Kage. After setting up and putting his pjs on, he found a note which had a schedule for his classes and he took note of it. Naruto talks with Kage, "This is it Kage, my new beginning. Starting tomorrow I'm going to become a wizard and you'll be by my side on this journey," Naruto said to his crow, which the crow bobbed its head in agreement and cawed softly. Naruto smiled and went to sleep knowing tomorrow is going to be an exciting start for his Hogwarts career.
