Except Greg, Jen, Mark and Rob, I do NOT own any of the characters in this chapter.

Chapter 6

THE SORTING

It was Hagrid.

The three of them went in his direction. "Who is that?" Steve asked. "That is Professor Hagrid. Teaches Control and Care of Magical Creatures. Also, he is the gamekeeper of Hogwarts. Additionally, he is also the keeper of the keys and grounds here," Artemis informed him. "Do you reallyknow everything?" asked an amazed Steve. Artemis preferred not to answer.

"Firs' years, c'mon! Follow me, all firs' years!" Hagrid shouted.

Most of the students stumbled while going through the narrow path that Hagrid was leading them through.

They turned around a bend and then they saw it – the path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"Only four in a boat, no more'n four," Hagrid shouted. "Everyone in? Right then, forward!" The little boats glided across the lake smoothly, and all were staring at the towering castle above. The boat ride ended after some bending of heads and passing through a curtain of ivy. They all followed Hagrid, finally climbing some stone steps and crowded in front of a large, oak door. Hagrid knocked the door thrice, and the door opened at once.

A black-haired witch emerged who had a very smiling and kind face. "I'll take over from here, Hagrid," she said.

The entrance hall was humongous; the stone walls were lit with flaming torches; and a marble staircase led to the upper floors.

The Professor told them of the start-of-term ceremony and the four Houses and the Sorting, and how their victories would earn their house points and rule-breaking would lose their house points; she told them of the House Cup and finished by saying that the Ceremony was to take place in a few minutes and that they smarten up before the rest of the school was ready for them.

As Artemis knew this all from books, he wasn't much interested in her speech, though he intently noted if she was telling something beyond his current knowledge. He took the time to observing the entrance hall. The students around were whispering in a terrified manner among themselves that they were going to be subjected to some test and asked each other how many of the books they had read. Artemis knew all these were rubbish rumors. And even if there was test (there wouldn't be, he knew it, only a sorting by an old hat, but still, to be sure), Artemis knew all the books already by heart.

Suddenly, everyone around him gasped. Around twenty ghosts were streaming through the black wall, and Artemis remained the only one who didn't gasp. He intently noted the names of the ghosts as they talked, for they might be quite useful later.

The Professor who had led them till here came back and told them to form a line and follow her. They did so.

They entered the Great Hall. It was so beautiful that he couldn't have in his wildest dreams thought about such a place (that was before he came to know the existence of magic, of course). It was lit by candles floating in mid-air over four long tables. Artemis looked up at the ceiling, which, as he had read, was bewitched to look like the night sky. The Professor put a four-legged stool in the centre of the hall and placed a pointed hat on it – which Artemis knew to be the Sorting Hat. After a few seconds of disturbed silence, it started singing. Artemis listened to it intently when it sang its first four lines, then, bored, he started observing the Hall. Whatever the hat was going to tell, he knew anyway.

He noticed that students from all the seven years were watching the hat. After a minute or so, the hat stopped singing and the Professor came and announced that when she called their names, they should come and put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.

The first was 'Acarn, Gregory' who was immediately declared a Hufflepuff. Artemis wasn't interested in this either and continued to observe the Hall. After a few more names and minutes, at last, 'Fowl, Artemis'.

Artemis went and put on his hat and sat on the stool, waiting for the hat's response. The hat, it seemed, was talking to him, "Hmm… interesting… very interesting… most intelligent mind I've ever seen in Hogwarts… but ah, there's the ambition, most sinister of plots, and the cunning, of course… not much of a doubt really… but Ravenclaw wouldn't have wanted you in her House, for sure, so… SLYTHERIN!"

The hat screamed the last word, and then Artemis took off the hat coolly and walked towards the Slytherin table, which applauded him. But he wanted to know about two more names, though.

After a few more names, 'Regan, Steve' was instantly sorted into Slytherin. Then after a couple of names, 'Winters, Jack' too was sorted into Slytherin. The next and final one, a girl by the name of 'Yaxley, Jennifer' was also sorted into Slytherin.

When everybody had settled into their houses, the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall stood up and said, "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! Let the feast begin!"

And the dishes in front of Artemis were filled with all sorts of food from roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy to ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. He ate until his belly was full and looked up to see a ghost over the table. It must be the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron, he thought. Some day, he would learn why he was bloody too, he thought. The Baron had blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. After everyone had finished eating, the desserts appeared. After Artemis helped himself to his select desserts, he noticed all the students talking among themselves and the teachers discussing with the Headmistress.

After some time, when the desserts disappeared, Professor McGonagall rose. Then she started giving out instructions. The Forbidden Forest was forbidden to all students. According to Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker, magic was not to be used between classes in the corridors. And she announced that Filch had also barred a lot of substances in school, the full list of which was with him. And then she asked her to sing the school song.

The school song turned out to be more boring than the Sorting Hat's. It had a rhyme scheme, all right, but even muggle-school songs, Artemis thought, were better than this. Maybe, he thought, wizards were not that good at poetry, and since the Sorting Hat was a wizard's too, it was not upto anything perfect. Then McGonagall said they were to follow their respective prefects to their houses.

The Slytherins followed their prefect down and down till they reached a stretch of bare damp, stone wall. The prefect muttered the password, which was 'Gryffindors are losers' and everyone entered the Slytherin common room. The common room was long and low and underground. It is surely beneath lake, Artemis thought. The stone walls and the ceiling were rough and greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

The Prefect said, "The right side staircase leads to the boys' dormitories. The left one to the girls'. All of you will, of course, strictly keep to your own dorms," he added with a grin that was evil and nasty (how very Slytherin of him, Artemis thought).

Artemis went to First Years' dorm were he found himself sharing his room with four more comrades. Jack and Steve were already there, and two students who he knew from the Sorting were also there. Jack was blonde and slightly taller than Artemis. Steve had black-hair and was at least four inches taller than both of them, and he had dark brown eyes. The other two, Mark River and Robert Cole, were both black-haired. The former had hazel eyes and the latter had black ones.

Artemis noticed that his luggage was already there. He quickly went over and opened up his laptop to check if it was working. It was not.

With nothing else to do in the wide world, Artemis Fowl the Second went to bed and fell asleep.

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Please keep reviewing! Thank you all for your support. And fairies will be coming too. But later, much later, into the wizarding world, during his fifth or sixth year or something like that. I'll tell no more, the suspense should be there!