Hogwarts. August, 1991.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Elyon had a feeling that this wouldn't take lightly on either stupidity nor breaking of rules.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Elyon, due her complete shyness and paid more attention to listen, could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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 a 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 rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. 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."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber.
All of the students in her age started to mumble and chat once they became alone. Elyon however was so nervous that she didn't dare to look at anyone. Besides it suited her far better to listen instead.
"How exactly does they sort us into houses?"
She perked up and realized it was Harry who asked his new friend Ron, both of them stood in the line in front of her.
Ron shrugged. "Some sort of test, I think." He answered. "Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
More than half of the students had heard the conversation and began to have a little panic, no one would be ready to do a test in front of the whole school and the mere thought of that frightened them up.
Elyon spotted a girl bushy brown hair on Susan's other side, she rambled up the spells she had already learned by books and wondered which one she could need. 'Can someone really learn that fast and by book, no less?' Elyon thought and felt completely foolish, her stomach twisted and turned of nervousity.
She knew they would sort into houses, but not exactly how they did the sorting and Elyon felt as if she could faint now, the heart slammed against her chest like it were trying to break her ribcage.
Suddenly someone screamed and Elyon would've almost jump out of her skin, with her already tense nerves.
"What the-?"
She lost her ability to talk, so surprised she was. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"
"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 a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"
A few people nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Elyon fell in the middle of the line, right behind Ron Weasley and Harry, who was in front of him, got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them, as if they were expecting something grand as a show.
She were more than just nervous now, she were terrified of what was to become of her now. Elyon carefully looked around, her fface felt sweaty and cold and if that wasn't a sign of how pale she must look now, she didn't knew what else it was.
There four long tables, trailing along the length of the Great Hall. Each student could tell her who belonged in which house, with their colored ties and the hoods and trails of the robe's edges were in the same base color.
'Red for Gryffindor.' Elyon spied over to the table and saw her brother Randall, whispering excited with those who redhaired twins and the boy with dreadlocks. 'Blue for Ravenclaw...' Her eyes turned over to the table with blue ties, seeing Gwendolyn sitting there confidently. 'Green for Slytherin.'
The table of Slytherin didn't looked like it held nice persons at all, they looked a bit intimidating and frightening to her. But it was her mother's old house, she was reminded.
'And yellow for Hufflepuff...' Elyon finished her thughts and gazed slightly to the last table, seeing the students with yellow ties and compared to Slytherin, they looked like a friendly and goodnatured bunch with their easy smiles.
Elyon quickly looked forward again and saw as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. 'When was the last time they gave it a good wash?'
She had once read that Muggles made their "magic trick" by pulling out a white rabbit from a hat. Was it supposed to be like that? She started to notice that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, she began to stare at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. 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 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 Hufflepuffis 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!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Elyon heard Ron whispering to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
'Fred...that must be one of the funny twins.' Elyon thought. They seemed like a very nice bunch, those Weasleys and she hoped she would fall into the house they belonged to.
But in all honesty, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but does she had to try it on in front of everyone? What if someone laughs at her? What if she looks too silly? What if she weren't chosen to a house at all?!
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. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause -
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving
merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. At least Susan had a feeling where she would belong, Elyon thought to herself, although she were happy for her sake.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Elyon had to surpress a snicker when the twin brothers were catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. She knew that she shouldn't judge from the appearence, but there weren't many who smiled. More like they smirked in confidence. Elyon was very certain that she wouldn't fall there at least, she had no qualities of a true snake.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
By this point, Elyon started to notice the hat sometimes announced out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. 'She must be so excited for this.' Elyon thought.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
A horrible thought struck Elyon. What if Randall was right after all? What if she didn't got to Gryffindor as he and their father expected? No, they wouldn't disown her, would they? 'Oh please, don't let it be true...just let it be a joke, Randall always jokes...' Elyon thought desperately.
When Neville Longbottom was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."
Elyon knew Neville from her childhood, but they weren't close at all. Her parents were both big names in the wizarding world and went to many parties held by the old wizard families. Elyon and her siblings were naturally invited if the party was child-friendly and she had even been taught tradition along the side of Neville. But they did rarely interract more than just a small chat.
Then she frowned as she saw a familiar face. 'Malfoy.' Elyon thought. She wanted to hit herself, he was the same age of her and of course he would be there. She held too bitter memory of him and his family weren't better either, always looking down at the muggleborn wizards and witches as if they were better. Elyon hated that kind of unfair.
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed,
"SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. 'At least he was confident...' Elyon thought.
There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then...
"Pemberton, Elyon!"
And this was here where she would get a heart attack and die, Elyon decided as she forced her legs to move. She didn't looked behind or at either side, she were walking with a stiff back and trembled from top to toe. But no heart attack came as she sat down on the stool, waiting for the answer that would shape her destiny.
"Hm..." A small voice said in her ear. "A difficult one, I'd say. A clever mind I see here and there's plenty of courage that is, a true heart of a lion...oh! A honest and true one as well, that I don't see every day." The small voice continued, it sounded like it was...impressed? "Now, where to put you?I haven't seen such mind in thousand year...hm, now I know. Yes, that is the absolute best house for you."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Elyon's heart froze.
