Luna and the rest of the first years craned their necks as they tried to take in the whole room at once. There were five humongous tables: four filled with students (One for each house, Luna assumed) and one at the front of the room, with teachers, at the very centre of which, sat Albus Dumbledore. He smiled at them from his long white beard, eyes twinkling beneath his spectacles. The ceiling of the Hall looked like the night sky, with the clouds illuminated by the hundreds of levitating candles that all hovered above them, bathing the room in a golden light.

Professor McGonagall motioned for them to stop, and walked to the front of the now quiet room, where an old hat sat on a wooden stool. Luna's father had told her about the sorting hat, but she still felt a bit of surprise when a rip in the brim of the hat opened, and, as if the rip were a mouth, it began to sing.

You see me here upon this stool,

Though ragged I may seem

My purpose is to sort you,

See your wishes, hopes, and dreams

For many, many years ago

A conclusion could not be reached

For the founders four could not agree

Which students they should teach

Brave Gryffindor with nerves of steel

Thought the only students learning

Should be those wizards brave of heart

Within whom courage was burning

But then the cunning Slytherin

Who was a proud pureblood wizard

Thought students should be sly and glib

In order to be considered

Wise Ravenclaw who valued virtues

Like wisdom and intellect

Wanted only those of sharpest minds

For her teachings to affect

But then the kind, just Hufflepuff

She shared her own opinion

She told the other founders

That all students deserve admission

So now you see me here today

In order to decide

Which school house you belong in

Between the four I will divide

So go on, place me on your head

Do not fear my decision

For in the end, it all depends

On your own disposition!

As soon as its song was finished, the rip in the brim of the hat constituting as a mouth shut, and there was silence in the hall. Professor McGonagall unfurled a scroll and said loudly "Anderson, Sally!" Sally, a girl with olive skin and dark curls, walked towards the front of the room. She sat down on the stool and the Professor placed the sorting hat on her head. Less than 10 seconds later, the hat shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!" grinning, Sally Anderson hopped down from the stool and joined the table of cheering Hufflepuffs.

"Batinti, John!" A pale, blond boy went to the front. He st for much longer than the previous girl. At least 40 seconds, before being sorted into "GRYFFINDOR!"

Next, Colin Creevey, the boy from the boat who was talking nonstop about Harry Potter went. He eagerly sat on the stool while the hat was placed on him. The brim fell over his eears, covering his eyes, but as he had hoped, the hat soon shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" He almost ran to the Gryffindor table the moment the hat had been taken off, beaming, he took his place at the table.

The students were quickly leaving to their assigned tables, and before Luna knew it, "Levins, Simone!" was sorted into Slytherin.

Professor McGonagall looked at her list. "Lovegood, Luna!" she called out. As she walked to the front, she could see the Colin, the Weasley twins, and Hermione at the Gryffindor table watching her, along with the headmaster. Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled from behind his spectacles as she made her way to the front and sat on the stool. The hat was placed on her head, and, like Colin, it covered her eyes.

Hmm… a Lovegood. It's been a long while since I had one of you. Now where should we put you? Luna could tell it knew what she wanted. Ravenclaw, eh? I think we could make a fine Gryffindor out of you. Or perhaps a Hufflepuff. But there's brains there, no doubt, and you'd do well there. I suppose, that means "RAVENCLAW!" with a booming voice, the hat shouted the last word aloud for the whole room to hear. The hat was removed, and she could see Dumbledore looking at her, still smiling, as he applauded politely.

Luna walked over to the clapping Ravenclaw table, and took a seat at the table next to an Asian girl with long, sleek, black hair who was talking animatedly to a girl with curly hair.

McGonagall continued to call names from her list "Scamander, Rolf!" she shouted. The boy from the boat walked confidently up to the stool. He pushed his brown curls from his eyes as he sat down and the hat was placed on his head. He took an unusually long time for the hat to make a decision. After a minute or so, it finally shouted "RAVENCLAW!" and smirking slightly, Rolf Scamander came over to the Ravenclaw table and sat in the empty seat next to Luna. She turned to look at him.

"I'm Rolf Scamander." he introduced himself, offering her his hand to shake. She took it, "I'm Luna. Luna Lovegood." she then asked "Your grandfather wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, right?"

"Yeah," he said, shrugging in the way of one who had been asked the question many times before. "Is your father Xenophilius Lovegood?" He asked her.

"Yes. Why, do you know him?"

"His magazine published an article a couple years back. Seven Magical Beasts Newt Scamander Neglected to Include in his Book, was the title, I believe."

"Oh. He told me about that, I think. I was surprised the crumple-horned snorkack wasn't included, though." she told him.

He looked at her with interest. "And what is a crumple-horned snorkack, might I ask?"

"I thought you would know, being the son of a famous magical zoologist and all. They're magical creatures, native to Sweden. Their horns have magical properties, and they're very rare, they've almost ever been seen before." she explained as "Troy, Alexander!" was sorted into Ravenclaw. He sat down across the long table from Rolf and Luna.

By now, the sorting was nearly done. "Weasley, Ginny!" was called to the hat and was sorted into Gryffindor within 5 seconds of the hat being placed on her head. Luna clapped, but was a bit disappointed they wouldn't be in the same house

Before she and Rolf could continue their discussion, the Headmaster rose from his chair. "If I could have your attention for just a moment, please." he said politely, and a hush fell over the school. "Thank you. I wish to deprive you from this wonderful feast for as little time as possible, but I have a few start of term notices. First, I would like to welcome our new students to Hogwarts, and the same to our returning students. Second, our caretaker Argus Filch wishes to remind you there is a blanket ban on fanged frisbees, dungbombs, stink-pellets, and a great number of other things. 438, I think it was at last count." His twinkling blue eyes seemed to look towards the Weasley twins when he said this. "If you wish to see the full list, it is available at Mr. Filch's office. Next, I would like to inform you of a small change in staff. Gilderoy Lockhart, acclaimed author and winner of a various list of awards, all of which," he said, his eyes twinkling "I'm sure he will inform you of in great detail."

At this, a teacher from the end of the staff table rose and gave an exaggerated bow, first towards the headmaster and his fellow teachers, then to the students, before sitting back down.

Dumbledore continued with his speech "Lastly, I should mention that the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden, as many of you likely inferred from the name. And with no further ado, the feast." He finished off his speech by grandly gesturing towards the tables and sitting down. The moment he waved his arms, the tables filled with platters of food: chips, chicken, flagons of pumpkin juice, and what seemed like every food imaginable, including peppermints for some reason. Luna helped herself to some food along with several of the mints. Rolf and the boy across from them, Alexander Troy, started talking about blood status. Luna noticed at the staff table McGonagall, Dumbledore, and a teacher with black, greasy hair talking. After a moment, they all walked out of the Great Hall.

Luna turned her attention back to the conversing boys at her table. "I'm muggleborn. Bit of a shock for my parents, but they were really pleased. Someone came and explained it all to them." Alexander was telling Rolf.

"What about you?" Rolf asked Luna.

"Both my parents were magic. My mum loved muggle things, though. She thought it was brilliant, the things they do without magic."

"Do you two already know how to do magic, then? Because you come from wizard families, I mean." Alexander asked.

"I haven't learned anything from my family. I mean, I've seen them do magic all the time, but I've never done any. Not really." Rolf answered him reassuringly.

"Me neither," said Luna. "Well, I practiced a bit on the train, I made my wand light up. And I can turn the light off. But it took me ages to do." Luna told them.

"I wish I could do that." Alex said dejectedly. "I'll probably be the worst in every class."
"I don't think so." Luna said. "You were sorted into Ravenclaw, so even if you don't know anything now, you'll probably be able to pick it up pretty quickly." she explained matter of factly. "Besides, loads of other students won't know anything either, so you'd have to do quite terribly to be at the very bottom of the class." this analysis made the two boys laugh.

Soon after, the last traces of the meal disappeared and were replaced with pudding. Luna chewed a treacle tart thoughtfully as Rolf talked about which classes he was looking forward to. "... though you don't start learning Care of Magical Creatures until third year anyway,. But I've always thought Transfiguration sounded cool…"

Eventually, the pudding vanished from the table and Dumbledore, who had returned while the three had been talking, rose to address them once more. "Now that we have all enjoyed our wonderful feast, the prefects will lead you to your dormitories. Goodnight, and hopefully you will all be rested and ready for tomorrow's lessons. Off you pop!" and with that, the benches were pushed back resulting in a deafening scraping noise, and the students of Hogwarts made their way to their rooms.