Chapter 3

The Sorting

The students silently filed into the Great Hall. The rest of the schools' chatter quieted a little and all of the heads swivelled to look at the latest group of new students. El kept her head down and didn't return any of the curious gazes that were being thrown her way. She stayed on Albus' heels while he looked around in wonder. He caught his brothers eye, he looked like he was trying to avoid his attention but at the same time wanted to know that he had arrived safely.

At the top of the hall was a long table. At it sat who must have been the teachers. In front of the middle chair, in which sat the Headmistress, was a low stool with a hat on it.

The hat opened its brim like a mouth and began to speak.

'I may be old and wearing thin,

But my wisdom is still true.

So listen well and I will share

Some of it with you:

United we stand,

Divided we fall.

Trust in the answers of the WOO.

Once again

Let the battle commence

Between Lighto and Eru.

They shall be marked as equals,

But one will have power that the other knows not.

For neither can live while the other survives.'

Applause erupted throughout the Hall. El looked distracted.

Names were beginning to be called out by one of the teachers. They were being called forward in alphabetical order of surnames.

'Appleby, Claire' was the first shortly followed by 'Ravenclaw.' It continued on, some names were known to Albus. Like

'Malfoy, Scorpius,' the hat had barley touched his head when it roared 'Slytherin,'

Next was 'Potter, Albus' he walked nervously up to the hat. It considered for a while, as if struggling to decide where to put him then

'Gryffindor,' there was a huge applause and an attempted Mexican wave that failed miserably. James was clapping proudly. Then the teacher called a name that nobody knew about.

'Thropp, Elphaba,' there was a lot of whispers and everyone looked around, trying to spot the girl, nobody knew who she was. Then, from the middle of the small crowd of unsorted First Years, came the girl. She kept her back to the rest of the crowd as she walked up to the stool. She turned, tossing her hair off her face in a last minute decision and sat down. The teachers, Al and Rose were the only people who kept their composures when they saw the girl. She had green skin.

The hat was placed on her head. It took a long time to consider what house to put her in. It finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR,' making everyone jump. She arose and skipped over to sit next to Al, who high-fived her making people stare.

'Weasly, Rose,' was eventually called and was quickly sorted into Gryffindor. The only person who didn't clap was Scorpius.