Chapter 6- A Hat And A House
McGonagall left them in the hall. They stood in a tight bunch. A few looked very frightened.
In the quietness Kirsty could hear a low rumble of voices coming from behind yet another set of doors.
"Luna?" Kirsty asked, "do you know how we are going to be sorted?"
"O yes," she replied.
Kirsty looked surprised, "how?"
"Well," she began, "they have this hat, but it is not really a hat, it is a fibbagry (fib-ba-gry) transfigured into a hat."
"What's a fibbagry?" asked Kirsty bemused.
"A creature. It reads minds, not something you would want to meet unprepared."
"There's no such thing," came a voice from the back.
The voice belonged to a brown haired boy. His eyes were dark and shallow.
"Yes there is, my father told me all about them," said Luna.
"Who's your father, a dingbat?"
"No he's the editor of a great factual magazine," came Luna's retaliation.
"And what would that be?" asked the boy sceptically.
"The Quibbler" replied Luna.
The boy and his friends burst into laughter. However, just as Luna was about to correct their apparent misconceptions, the other doors opened.
"Follow me please," instructed McGonagall briskly.
The first years formed an orderly queue behind the teacher. Luna and Kirsty stood near the front.
The room they walked into was amazing. It looked ten times better than anyone could have imagined it from the description in the books. Kirsty was shocked how Rowling had managed to put something like this into words at all. It was astounding.
The ceiling looked just like the sky outside. Four long tables covered most of the floor space. On each sat hundreds of students. All older than the ones walking nervously to the front. At the top of the hall another table resided. At this table sat what seemed to be the teaching staff. Kirsty looked around the table closest to her. This was where she spotted Hermione. Kirsty gave her a nervous wave as they walked passed her seat. Hermione waved back. Kirsty tried to look everywhere for Harry, but couldn't see him anywhere.
'Where could he be?' she thought to herself.
Kirsty quietly followed Luna up the centre of the hall to the front. The Deputy Head placed a frayed old hat onto the three legged stool.
The brim of the hat opened like a mouth as it began to sing:
"I have a choice of four,
For separate I must,
Because if I did little more,
I would turn to dust.
Gryffindor be the strong,
Fearless you must be,
Though sometimes your choices wrong,
Other the mistakes they shall correct when they see.
Hufflepuff be the kind,
Unafraid you must be of toil,
So completely honest in heart and mind,
Your hands can work among the soil.
Ravenclaws be the smart,
The information they love is in their books.
So very kind at heart,
Accurate in your answers as a dart.
Slytherin be the sly,
Don't get in their way,
Anyway to reach their goal they'll try,
Not everyone has their say.
So place me on your head,
Sit upon the stool,
Now that all I have to say is said,
Be sorted in front of the school!"
The hat fell silent once more. Then McGonagall unrolled her parchment and read the first name on her list,
"Amon, Henrietta."
A small, black haired girl, crept onto the raised platform. Nervously she picked up the hat and placed it on her head. There was silence for a moment before the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"
One of the tables bust into clapping as the girl ran to sit next to one of her new housemates.
Once silence was again on the hall the next name was shouted…
"Broom, Kirsty."
Kirsty crept onto the platform and carefully placed the hat on her head. The last view of the hall was of everyone starring at her. She had never been so scared in her life.
"Hello," Kirsty jumped with shock, the hat was talking to her! "Yes I can talk…. Well I obviously recognize your type of magic, now, first a warning, some in this world wish you dead, so be on your guard. But first, yes, I place you in….GRYFFINDOR!!"