Author's Note – Yahoo! My favourite chappie by far. Summary is given at the end of the last chapter. Enjoy and review! (I've updated my profile page so you might want to check that out…) Oh yeah, the chapter is quite long, so beware.
Disclaimers – As always it's JK's, not mine.
Chapter 7 – Hats, Heads and Headmasters
The beetle-eyed giant of a man had helped the struggling first years out of their ferries, as they arrived at the other shore of the enormous, rippling, lake. Mia helped Alexannah and Cornelia out, pointedly taking no notice of Dolores, who had spotted a very sour expression when Mia didn't lend her a hand of assistance.
He led the group across a vivid, green lawn, where the stunned first years caught their first close-up view of the great towering castle.
'It's … incredible!' Alexannah breathed in a stunned Mia's ear.
'I know.' Cornelia agreed, nodding her head sanctimoniously. 'It's even better that Chris made it out to be.'
'I suppose nothing can make up for actually seeing the place, can it?' Mia whispered to the gaping girls.
The huge man had swerved sharply around the corner, leading the gibbering group into a small but well-lit landing close to the entrance of the school. Alexannah had nudged Mia and Cornelia sharply; Mia stifled an 'ouch' and instead, turned to gaze at what had intrigued her friend.
A tall, stately looking witch stood before them, dressed in magnificent emerald green robes that reflected her green eyes. She had dark, raven black hair, pulled back into a tight bun; and the first thought that entered Mia's mind was that she was not someone to be crossed. She couldn't however suppress the feeling that she had seen this lady before…
''ere they are, Professor.' the beetle- eyed man called out to the witch cheerily.
Her green eyes swept the crowd of timid first years before she addressed the huge man.
'Thank you, Hagrid.' she replied briskly, as the man waved a dustbin-lid sized hand at her, before lumbering towards the castle.
'Pleasure!' he called out breezily.
Mia watched the huge man shuffle into the darkness; when she turned back, the witch was surveying the anticipating first years with mild interest.
Finally, she briskly addressed the crowd, 'I suppose you are eagerly looking forward towards your first glimpse of Hogwarts tonight and in that you shall not be disappointed. However, first the Sorting shall take place. 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. Each House was established a one of the four founders of Hogwarts and prizes some noble qualities over others. The Sorting shall begin in the Great Hall shortly. I shall be back in a few minutes; in the mean while, I propose you tidy yourselves and smarten up for the ceremony.'
With that she spun on her heel and traipsed off towards a narrow passage way across the small landing.
Mia turned to Alexannah.
'How should I attend the Sorting?' she asked worriedly, twisting a strand of her auburn hair in her finger, daintily.
'As your normal self.' Alexannah supplied firmly. 'They might not recognize you if you go as … someone else.'
Mia smirked; she did however follow Alexannah's counsel and revert her eyes back to its original piercingly green colour.
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The rest of the evening passed rather smoothly. The stately witch had returned shortly after, smiling gently at them all, before marching them into the front of the Great Hall.
Alexannah, Cornelia and Mia gasped inaudibly; the Hall was huge, with four, elongated house tables in the middle and a staff table in the front. The ceiling of the Hall resembled the sky outside; moonless and cloudy. Mia glimpsed briefly the sea of Hogwarts students clad in black robes, their gabbling had stopped instantaneously as the witch had entered the Hall, and instead they focused their attention on her and the panicky first years. Mia wished they would stop doing this; as a habit she never really felt nervous, although it is nice not to have the students of an entire institution gawking at you.
Mia turned her focus to the center of the Hall, where an extremely old, patched and frayed hat had been placed on top of a small, rickety, wooden stool. Mia was a bit surprised by this; it was, however, nothing compared to the shock she received when a small tear near the brim of the Hat opened and it began to sing.
'In times of the old…'
Mia wasn't actually paying attention to the Hat's song; seeing as it outlined what Charlie had already told her on the train. Nevertheless, she let her gaze linger on the stunning candlelight in the hall, the starless ceiling, the house tables, the staff table…
The witch's sharp voice cut though Mia's thoughts like a knife.
'When I call out your names, you shall sit on the stool and put the hat on your head. Am I clear?'
Her gaze swept the Hall as they nodded timidly; she then turned back to the first years.
'Abbott, Geoffrey.' she called out clearly.
A pale-looking boy with a shock of silvery blonde hair walked up to the rickety, wooden stool and placed the ancient hat on the top of his trembling head.
'HUFFLEPUFF!' the hat screamed to the crowd. The boy smiled, obviously with relief as he swaggered to the Hufflepuff house table.
'Alves, Peggoty.' she announced loudly.
'Ravenclaw.' yelled the hat.
'Appleton, Natasha.'
'Ravenclaw!' it repeated firmly.
'Black, Andromeda.'
'Slytherin.'
Mia was trying very hard to pay attention; yet the hall was so full of distractions that she was finding the task, rather tedious.
'Bones, Vanessa.'
'Hufflepuff.' the hat called out.
'Boot, Timothy.' the witch said.
Mia crossed her fingers impatiently, hoping she was next.
'Hufflepuff.' it proclaimed to the Hall.
'Bridger, Mia.' The witch's tone had changed this time, yet Mia was so inattentive that she had failed to notice this.
Walking up to the ancient stool, she jammed the hat eagerly on the top of her auburn locks. The hat had barely touched her tip of her head, when it yelled triumphantly to the audience,
'GRYFFINDOR!'
Heaving a sigh, Mia caught the witch's eyes confidently and smiled at her, as she walked to the Gryffindor table amidst much applause. Charlie Whitman was waving at her, and made space for her as she approached the table.
'Well done.' he mumbled in her ear, as the next quivering first year, Mark Brown shuffled unsteadily towards the hat.
Mia watched on fervently, shooting reassuring looks at Cornelia and Alexannah every now and then as student after student walked to the rickety stool. She was the only first year in Gryffindor, so far.
'Hale, Cornelia.' the witch called out.
Cornelia had crossed her fingers, and mumbling under her breath she walked to the stool and placed the frayed article on her wavy, brown hair.
'Gryffindor!' the hat announced to the Hall, after a few seconds.
Cornelia hastily put the hat down, shot Mia and a boy at the Gryffindor table bright, genuine smiles, as she walked to them, sitting right next to Mia.
'I was really nervous…' she murmured as more first years lined up, eagerly awaiting their turn.
'Yeah, I kind of figured that out.' Mia told her, grinning.
'Prince, Eileen.' A tall girl with jet black hair walked towards the stool. Minutes later, she was at the Slytherin table.
Alexannah, meanwhile, was impatiently awaiting her turn, fidgeting nervously with her fingers and shooting panicky glances at her friends every now and then.
Finally, the stately witch pronounced,
'Truman, Alexannah.'
Alexannah staggered to the hat apprehensively and put it on.
'Gryffindor!' it yelled after a few silent minutes.
Alexannah was so happy she practically threw the hat back and skipped merrily towards Gryffindor table. Grabbing Mia and Cornelia's hands, she squeezed it happily.
'I made it!' She smiled at Mia and Cornelia's beaming faces.
Dolores, as Alexannah had predicted, and much to the trio's glee had ended up in Slytherin ('where she truly belongs… nasty piece of work…' Alexannah murmured, glowering.)
When Ulrich Zorn was sorted into the same house, the witch clad in green rolled up the long piece of parchment from which she had been reading the names, picked up the frayed hat from the stool and walked up gracefully towards the staff table.
When she had finally taken a seat at the table, a tall man with a flowing auburn beard and twinkling blue eyes stood up to address the chattering throng.
'It's Albus Dumbledore!' Mia breathed, totally surprised.
'Of course.' Alexannah replied scornfully. 'I told you on the train that he was the Headmaster, didn't I?'
The tall man gazed happily at the students and pronounced in a ringing voice, his arms outstretched, 'To all the new students, welcome. And the old students welcome back. Before we listen to an old man's drone, how about dinner!'
His words received a loud round of applause from the entire student body and before Mia's very eyes, dishes appeared out of nowhere on the house table. Mia turned to Alexannah, the food completely forgotten.
'He's rather nice, isn't he?' she asked Alexannah whose mouth was already stuffed with food.
'Ow ya hews wather nwce.' she blurted out through a mouthful of meat pie.
'Excuse me?' Cornelia piped up, looking highly affronted.
Gulping down the food hastily, she repeated, 'Yeah, he's rather nice. Nothing like a famous man, at all. Er…aren't you going to eat anything?' she said, gesturing towards Mia's empty plate.
'Oh right!' Mia responded, immediately piling her plate with generous helping of the various dishes laden on the groaning table and then sitting down to eat. She was half way through, when someone called out-
'Ah yes! The first Gryffindor of the year! Miss Bridger, I presume.'
Cornelia almost choked on her pumpkin juice in shock; a pearl white, translucent figure was floating serenely towards where the trio were dining, he smiled broadly at them, his gaze lingering the longest on Mia.
'Er… not meaning to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?' Alexannah had recovered first from the shock of seeing a real ghost.
'Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington.' he replied pretentiously. 'The ghost of Gryffindor house.'
'He means Nearly-Headless Nick.' Charlie guffawed from beside Cornelia.
'How can he be nearly headless?' a first year named Peterson Wood queried curiously, from across the table.
'Like this.' Nick supplied unhelpfully. He wrenched his hair slightly with a pearly white hand and his head tilted to the side, wobbling perilously. For a moment it looked as though his head was about to fall off; it did not though, a small piece of flesh held it in place. 'I was hoping this year's first years wouldn't ask.' he said sighing wearily as he put his head back in place. 'Speaking of which, I hope you'll are up to scratch. I'd like to see Gryffindor with the house cup this year. And I see-' his gaze loitered on the staff table, before he turned back to the students. '- Professor McGonagall is back.' he said finally, smiling at no one in particular.
'She is?' someone asked vaguely.
For an answer, Nick simply pointed to the witch in emerald green, who was now in deep conversation with Professor Dumbledore. The speaker, it turned out, was Christopher Hale, Cornelia's brother. He greatly resembled his sister except for the fact that his hair was straight, short and very untidy. He had a broad grin and an exceptionally cheery face.
'She used to teach Adrian's brother, about … eleven years ago.' he said knowingly, frowning slightly. 'Then, she left and we were stuck with' - he made a face – 'Professor Reed. And now, I see, she's back. What sort of a teacher is she, Nick?' he questioned the ghost.
'You'll see…' he called, dreamily floating away towards the Ravenclaw table.
'Hmph!' Christopher snorted grumpily. 'Always disappears when you ask him something.'
Beside her, Cornelia stifled a giggle. She had been draining the last dregs of her pumpkin juice, when Nick had left.
'That's Chris.' she said knowledgably. 'One moment he's smiling, the next moment he's cranky. Totally unpredictable.'
She rolled her eyes as Mia smiled. The dishes had vanished as Alexannah had been serving her self with what was left of the splendid plum pudding. Grinning impishly, as Mia caught her eye, she turned to face Professor Dumbledore, who had just left his seat, obviously intending to address the throng.
'And now that we are all digesting another glorious feast, I beg a few minutes of your attention for the usual start-of–term notices.' said Dumbledore. 'First years, ought to know that the Forbidden Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students. Mr. Darin, our caretaker, has asked me to remind you that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes, as are a number of things. The complete list is, as now, fastened to Mr. Darin's office door.'
'We have two new changes in the staff this year – Professor Chandler, here will be taking up the Defence against Dark Arts classes.' He indicated a grouch looking man sitting at the farthest end of the staff table. There was a round of polite, but fairly unenthusiastic applause.
'And I am pleased to welcome back, Professor McGonagall; who will be teaching Transfiguration and taking up her former post of Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house-'
The students at the Gryffindor had broken in a thunderous applause; Christopher and the other older students were exchanging wide smiles, others, looks of relief. Mia, Cornelia and Alexannah had joined in; as did the students at the other house tables. It couldn't have been clearer that the previous teacher had been unpopular.
'Finally - ,' Dumbledore was having some difficulty making himself heard over the din; he turned and caught Professor McGonagall's eye, beaming at her and she smiled back.
'- Quidditch tryouts shall be held on dates fixed by the individual house captains, which shall be put up on the notice boards in your respective common rooms.'
Dumbledore turned his back on them; he had just dismissed the school, judging by the large amount of clattering and banging around them. Alexannah turned to Mia, yawning widely, oblivious to all the commotion.
'Can't wait to go to bed.' she said groggily. 'It's been a super day, what say?'
'Totally.' Cornelia nodded back. 'I'm still looking forward to bed, though. And I think we better follow the other first years…'
A tall boy with ruffled, brown hair and a deep, booming voice, with a gleaming batch pinned on the front of his black robes, was shepherding the lined-up first years, obviously towards their common rooms. Mia, Cornelia and Alexannah fell in line with their gossiping house-mates; the latter two, looking forward to bed; the former, feeling anything but sleepy.
A/N: My longest chapter yet, hope you like it, please review. Next chapter, titled – Midnight Prowls, where Mia tries to explore Hogwarts at midnight on this same day and bumps into…(guess who?), should be up by next week. See you!