Chapter Three - The Sorting

Friday, 1st of September, 2017

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

From behind Rose, Al could see that an elderly woman was standing there. She looked strict - her mouth was a thin line and her face was lined as though from years of frowning. Al immediately thought that she should not be crossed.

Introducing herself as Professor McGonagall, she led them through the door, away from Hagrid, and into a large entrance hall. There was a pair of large oak doors in front of them, but she stopped and turned her back on them. The students gathered nervously around her, and she opened her mouth and began to talk - her tone was sharp and it kept them all silent.

"As some of you may already know, you are about to be sorted into your houses. Your house will be something like a family to you while you are here. You will have classes with and share the same dormitory as them. There are four houses - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. No house is better than the other - although everyone has their own preferences - and each house has produced both extraordinary and dark wizards. I hope you are a credit to whichever house becomes yours. One more thing - there is an annual house cup awarded at the end of the year. Your successes and endeavours will win you points - any misbehaving will lose you points. And bear in mind that point losses are taken very seriously by your fellow house members."

Al recalled an old tale of his father's, in which he became a sort of outcast after helping his house to lose a hundred and fifty points in one night, and wondered if Professor McGonagall was alluding to that incident.

It appeared that Professor McGonagall had finished her speech, and as she turned around Al fully expected to go through the doors, but instead she steered them all to the left and into a small chamber, which appeared to be beside the room with the doors. Al guessed that it was the main hall; he could hear the noise of many students talking excitedly through the wall.

Professor McGonagall said, "Wait here, quietly," before leaving. A slight hum of conversation built up, but Al was still thinking of what Professor McGonagall had said - this wasn't a holiday. It was going to be hard work.

So lost in thought, Rose had to punch him on the arm to get his attention.

"Wha- huh?"

Rose pointed wordlessly at the two people arguing just beside him.

"Scorpius! I'm really sorry!" Sophie was pleading. "Please forgive me!"

But Scorpius just gave her a blank, cold look.

"I'm sorry! Scorpius! Please!"

"You think sorry makes everything better, Sophie, don't you? Well, sometimes it doesn't!" Scorpius snapped, then he stormed off.

Sophie stared at his retreating figure. "Please." she whispered, and a single tear slid down her cheek.

Al nudged Rose and mouthed, "Should we do something?"

Rose opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a large "Ooh!"

At least a dozen ghosts had floated through the wall. The first years gathered curiously around them. Al spotted Scorpius across the room. Two angry pink blotches had appeared on his high cheekbones.

The ghosts seemed to be arguing about someone called Peeves.

"Honestly, my dear Friar. Did you not see what he did outside? Terrified the thestrals out of their wits...well hello there!"

A ghost in a ruff and tights, the one who had just spoken, stared around at them all expectantly, but just then Professor McGonagall came back in.

"We're ready for you now," she said sternly, and led them from the room. Al was one of the last to leave - as he was leaving he heard the ghost in the frilly tights say "I knew we should have entered a minute earlier!" Al could have sworn he heard the ghost addressed earlier as 'Friar' mutter "Yes, but then we would have missed the argument!"

Confused, Al sped up to catch up with his classmates. Finally, he got to see the great hall as he was led in. It was a large, rectangular room with a high ceiling. Many candles hung unsupported from the ceiling, which on further inspection turned out to be dark blue, and dotted with stars.

"It's bewitched to look like the night sky!" Rose whispered, as she slipped over to join Al at the back. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Despite his nervousness, Al smiled. That was so typical of Rose. Looking around, he could see many familiar faces at the house tables. James, who winked at him, Victoire, who smiled encouragingly, Roxanne, Dominique, Molly, Lucy, who kept shooting looks at a blond-haired boy that Al guessed was Andrew, Fred, who was sharing a silent joke with a girl that must be Louisa - and she was wearing lipstick that matched the shade previously seen on Fred's cheek. They all sat at the table furthest from the door, which Al realised was Gryffindor. Looking at the other tables were just a sea of unfamiliar faces, so Al quickly turned his attention to the staff table.

In the middle was a seat bigger than the surrounding ones - an empty seat, and Al correctly guessed that it was for Professor McGonagall. He could see Neville - Professor Longbottom, he corrected himself - Hagrid, of course, and a dark-skinned man that he instantly recognized, yet could not quite find the correct name to fit the face.

As his eyes trailed along the staff table, they were caught by something else sitting just a few feet in front of him. A patched and dirty hat on a stool at the front of the hall, and the entire group of first years - there must have been about forty - were crowded around it. Al suddenly felt sick. They would try this on in front of the entire hall, everyone would know what house he was in, absolutely everyone. And then they'd know which house his cousin was in. What if Rose was in Gryffindor but he wasn't?

Then the sorting began.

It took ages to get to him. First the Hat sang a long song. It said people were sorted into their houses because they were quick-witted, intelligent, sly or brave, but Al didn't think he was any of that. Then people began to be sorted.

Sophie Boot was put in Gryffindor. Lorcan and Lysander Scamander were put in different houses - Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They seemed sad to be apart. As they sat down the looked at each other sadly across the hall, and one of them - Al thought it was Lorcan - had tears on his face. One older boy patted his shoulder gently and handed him a tissue he had just conjured from midair. Al knew their mum was a friend of his parents.

The Hat took a long time to decide where to put Scorpius Malfoy. When it eventually decided on Gryffindor, there was a stunned silence. No Malfoy had ever been put in Gryffindor before. Then Professor Longbottom, who looked surprised, began to clap enthusiastically, and the rest of the hall politely joined in. Scorpius blushed, his whole face a bright red. More people were being sorted, but Al was watching Scorpius sit down, and ignore Sophie Boot's whispers. Then, finally;

"Potter, Albus Severus!"

There were many whisperings among the students.

"Potter, did she say?"

"Albus Severus? As in Dumbledore?"

When Al put the hat on he could see many people trying to get a good look at him. Then all he could see was the inside of the hat, dark and enveloping.

"Ahah! Another Potter! Named after one of the greatest Gryffindors of all time, and the son of another? But also named after the bravest Slytherin ever as well? Hmmm … tricky. Well you would be good in either house, I must say. Hmmm..."

"Dad said he chose where he wanted to go," Al put in.

"Yes, your father did choose himself. As he learned from Professor Dumbledore I believe, in his second year, it's is our choices that show us who we really are, and not our abilities. But I think you could be good in Hufflepuff too - you have a lot of your mother in you, and she is kind as well as extremely hard-working. So perhaps the choice is not between Gryffindor and Slytherin, it is between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

"Well..." Al hesitated.

"Both are noble houses to be - they all are - and you would do well in either, so where exactly do you want to go?"

Al thought for a while. "Gryffindor," he decided. "Because I want to be with my brother."

"As you wish," the hat said.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted to the hall. The Gryffindor table cheered enthusiastically. Al felt relieved as he took off the hat and ran over to the Gryffindor table. He gave his brother a hug before he sat down. His other cousin, Lucy, Percy's daughter, a prefect stood up and give him a pat on the back. She took after her father, it seemed. A complete contrast to her sister, Molly, who when with Roxanne, reminded people of Fred and George. "I knew you could do it!" Lucy said, as if it was a great achievement. Al was just relieved. Glancing up the table, he caught Victoire's eye. She smiled, and winked at him. Al looked back up at the unsorted. Rose looked nervous - she was pale and shaking.

It was now her turn.

"Weasley, Rose!"

The Hat took a minute or so but then it decided.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Al clapped loudly as Rose collapsed into the seat next to him. The sorting finished with "Zabini, Lotus" and Professor McGonagall rolled up her parchment, and cleared everything away with a wave of her wand. She turned to face the hall.

"Welcome to another school year! All announcements will be saved until after the feast. You may eat!" she announced, and suddenly food appeared on the tables.

Al had never seen such quantities of amazing food - hundreds of plates and bowls stuffed with saliva-inducing food, Al wanted to taste everything. "Wow!" he exclaimed. His ideas were echoed around the other first years, and bounced back around the other tables.

Piling his plate high, he bit into a leg of chicken and let the taste develop in his mouth - the fat dripped from its succulent meat. Suddenly, he realised that he was close to drooling, and he quickly turned to Rose and launched into a conversation about what the hat had said.

Rose told him what the hat had said to her.

"It said that my choice was the same as mum's - Ravenclaw, for intelligence, or Gryffindor, but it never said exactly why - it just said something about how I was a Weasley. In the end it realised I'd rather be in Gryffindor and it so put me there."

Sophie was pleading with Scorpius.

"Please, please, forgive me Scor! You know I didn't mean to insult you!"

Eventually after five minutes of begging, when Scorpius realised he either had to forgive her, or put up with her constant apologies, he said, "Okay! I forgive you!"

At this, Sophie squealed and gave him a big hug. Scorpius went quite red, and after that didn't speak for the rest of the night.

There were five first year boys in Gryffindor. Al and Scorpius, of course, and then there was Oliver Wood's youngest boy, Thomas, a muggle-born boy called Max, and Dennis Creevey's eldest child with his muggle wife, called Augustus, who begged everyone to call him Gus, and seemed thoroughly irritated at his parents choice in names.

After the last scraps of treacle tart and chocolate gateau had been finished off, Professor McGonagall stood up and cleared her throat. The chatting died away instantly.

"I trust that you have all enjoyed your excellent feast. Now, before you all go off to bed, I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, as our long-term Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Diggle retired last year, we are very lucky to be joined by the ex - Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt!"

There was a lot of loud cheering at this, which Al joined in on. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been a well-liked respected Minister who shocked the wizarding community by stepping down during the summer. Now Al knew where that face was from - and he kicked himself for not realising before who it was. His father had even had him over for dinner a few times!

Professor McGonagall made a couple more announcements about Quidditch trials and the forbidden forest. Then, with a rather fixed smile, she announced that they were going to sing the school song.

"Pick a tune!" she called over the students' murmurs, as she conjured the words out of thin air. "And off we go!"

And the whole school bellowed;

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

As everyone sang at different times, everyone finished at different times too. Eventually, only James, Molly, Roxanne and Fred were left, singing to a very slow funeral march. When they finished, the whole hall burst into applause, including Professor McGonagall, who wiped a tear from her eye and then shooed everyone away to bed. As Lucy, the prefect, lead them from the hall, Al saw Hagrid console a now weeping Professor McGonagall. He caught a few mumbled words that sounded like "Fred and George Weasley - all those years ago", and then Al was swept out of the hall in the crowds and had to run to keep up with Lucy and Rose.

Lucy showed them to their dorms. The five boys all hurriedly picked a bed, and Al collapsed into his.

Little did he know it was the exact same bed his father had slept in, many years before. He quickly got changed into his pyjamas, which has been thoughtfully left out for him, then dug some writing implements out from his trunk, and began to write a letter to father. He gave details of the Sorting, the dinner, the teachers, his room. He would send it tomorrow before class, he thought, before he fell asleep, exhausted.

A/N

I do apologize greatly for taking so long to update this. It's been a very busy year, I've had many exams and constant tests, so I haven't had as much free time as I would have liked. Also, I find it easier to write my other fanfiction about Lily and James, so this one tends to get shoved to the back of my to-do pile! I hope this chapter lives up to any expectations you might have! Thanks to Lady Cougar-Trombone and Tom for reviewing!

All the best over the festive period and for next year,

Jenny xx