The three of them stopped abruptly behind the rest of the first years and stared at the huge man before them. His face was hard the make out behind a mass of grey and black beard, but two small black eyes glittered in the light of the lantern he held.
"All here, then?" he said peering down at them through the near darkness. "All firs' years follow me." And he turned and led them away from the rest of the students. People all around them twittered anxiously, but not even Leora seemed capable of speech just then. They rounded a slight bend and came to the edge of the great lake and a flock of little boats.
Four of them sat in each one, except for their guide who sat on his own at the head of the little flock. Once they'd all settled in, the boats moved of their own accord across the gleaming black waters. They sailed almost silently in the night, passing under the bright stars that had just started to come out. As they passed under a stony over hang, the castle came into view. High in the night, nearly every window gleaming, Hogwarts stood welcoming them. Elysia had never seen the castle like this. It was genius to introduce them to it this way on their first night as students, she thought. Everyone gasped when it first came into view, then "ooh"ed, and "ahh"ed as they drew closer. Leora caught her eye and beamed. This was only the beginning..
When they reached a tiny landing the giant man helped them out of their boats and cleared his throat to signal for silence.
"Now," he said officially, "up those stairs you'll meet Professor Frinnell. He'll be explainin' the sortin' to yeh and lead yeh into the hall. I'll see yeh all at the feast." And he waved them on their way up the stone stairway.
"What does he mean he'll see us at the feast?" Ollie whispered as they climbed. "Who was he?"
"That's the grounds keeper, Hagrid," Elysia offered.
"Yea and he teaches Care of Magical Creatures for third years, sometimes special occasions later on…" Leora added.
It seemed to take ages to climb all the stairs. Leora grumbled something about making sure they were hungry for the feast by the time they finally stopped climbing, but hushed herself when they caught sight of a tall blonde man waiting for them at the top. He had deep green eyes that crinkled at the sides. Elysia thought he must smile all the time since he didn't seem especially old.
"Good evening," he said and broke into a grin. You couldn't even see the creases when he was smiling, they all smiled back, unable to help it. "I'm professor Frinnell; I'll be your teacher in the study of charms while you're here at Hogwarts. Soon we'll all be enjoying the welcome back feast, but first each of you will be sorted into one of the four Hogwarts Houses. As many of you already know, they are: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. When I call your name you'll sit down and I'll put this old thing on your head," he held an ancient looking old wizard's hat that had, Elysia guessed, at some point in the past couple of hundred years been black and pointed, "Then it'll tell us all where you belong and you'll sit with at your house table for the feast. So, let's get into something resembling a line and head in, shall we?" They shuffled into a rough double line and followed Professor Frinnell into the Great Hall.
Elysia had been in this room many times before, but everything seemed much more magical somehow on this particular night. Thousand of candles floated above them, and the enchanted ceiling was bright with stars and a sharp crescent moon. Elysia had fallen into step beside Leora somewhere in the middle of the lines. As they fanned out in a semi circle at the front of the hall, Ollistare pushed his way closer to the two of them, looking nervous as ever.
The Headmaster, Professor Callodian stood at a winged podium facing the four house tables that stretched the hall directly behind the first year students. Behind him was a raised platform where the head table of Hogwarts teachers looked out over all of them.
"If we could all please quiet down, we'll begin the Sorting Ceremony. Afterwards, I have a few brief start-of-term announcements and we'll commence with our immense feasting." The hall fell truly silent as soon as he began speaking and now the slight wind outside could be heard easily. "Thank You." He said and rejoined his fellow teachers.
Professor Frinnell set the Sorting hat on the podium and stepped back. To the amazement of ever first year the hat began to speak, no to almost sing. It was a poem, Elysia realized. Long and melodious and it even rhymed. They stared delightedly for the entire of the ramble,but when it ended Elysia could not have quoted a line for all the gold at Gringotts. Still, she knew it had been wonderful. Frinnell once again stepped to the podium and unrolled a massive scroll. Before calling the first name, he winked jovially at the first years, some of the girls giggled.
"Alexander, Helena" He called. Helena had soft blonde curls and watery blue eyes. She walked forward and sat on the stool directly beside the podium and closed her eyes as the hat was placed on her head. A moment later the Hat yelled out, "Ravenclaw!" and cheers and applause erupted from the Ravenclaw table. Elysia noticed, as the sorting went on that each table had a banner hanging at the end of it. Each was embroidered with the respective house crest and symbolic animal, the latter of which roamed magically around watching the process with little interest. The blue and bronze crest of Ravenclaw featured a gleaming black Raven, that periodically fluttered its wings and cocked it's head at them.
Three more students were sorted, now, "Aster, William" Gryffindor, "Backer, Sylvia" Ravenclaw, and "Brown, Marion" Slytherin. "Caltwater, Elliot" was placed in Hufflepuff, as was "Costas, Wendy." Next up: "Cowen, Ollistare." He stared, terrified, at Elysia and Leora in turn. Elysia nodded encouragingly, but Leora pushed his shoulder a bit to start him moving, patting him lightly before he'd gone too far.
The hat seemed to take longer with Ollie than it had with the others. Elysia glanced around at the banners again wondering where he might end up, probably not with the regal lion on the scarlet and gold Gryffindor banner. Maybe the mild looking badger on the black and yellow field of the Hufflepuff banner would be a good fit, she thought, but just as she moved her eyes towards the last table the hat called out, "Slytherin!"
For the first time, but certainly not the last, Elysia found herself completely surprised by the boy Ollistare. He looked scared and delighted as he hopped off the stool. Leora looked at Elysia quizzically.
"Did you see that one coming? Because I would've put money on Hufflepuff." She admitted quietly. Elysia nodded once and waved at the boy. He now sat at the table marked with a green and silver crest on which a dark serpent coiled and uncoiled and slithered about idly. Elysia found herself getting slightly bored as they ran through the alphabetic list. She scanned the head table for her mother, met her gaze, and waved lightly.
"Levanin, Elysia," Frinnell, finally called. She left Leora's side with a quick smile and made her way to the stool. 'This is really it,' she thought with a surge of excitement. All eyes in the hall were on her but she couldn't see any of them; her focus was entirely on the hat as Professor Frinnell set it on her head.
"Ah.. Miss Levanin, yes, you will be a lovely addition. Wisdom beyond your years, and enough sense not to seek the fickle limelight, but where would you be best placed? There is a subtlety and artfulness to your potential, I think it better be, "SLYTHERIN!""
And she beamed out at everyone as the hat was lifted off her once more. She was finally placed! She sat down next to Ollie and nudged him with her shoulder, excitement overtaking her completely. She already knew she'd spend much of her free time in the next week reading up on each of the Hogwarts houses. Their history and origins, she had to know everything as soon as she could. In the meantime, though, there was still one person whose place at Hogwarts she was eager to know. Elysia realized then that she still didn't know Leora's last name.