Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does.

The door opened, casting light over all of them. A tall, stern-looking woman stood in front of them. She was wearing square glasses and emerald-green robes topped with what seemed to be a Scottish witch hat. Jonas hoped that she wouldn't be the head of his house.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I take them from here." Professor McGonagall opened the door more widely and stepped aside to let all the students in.

The entrance hall was much bigger than Jonas had thought would be. He was sure that if all the other first years were to line up side by side, there would still be plenty of space left. He looked up, not really making out the height of the ceiling.

They followed McGonagall through the castle. They past a doorway from which hundreds of voices could be heard, and Jonas was sure that everybody was already in there. McGonagall, however, did not stop, but led them to an empty chamber off the hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. 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.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Jonas saw that her eyes were directed to Neville and then to a red haired boy; a boy next to the ginger tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the room, and instantly, everyone began whispering. Jonas would catch pieces of conversations like "-I better be in Ravenclaw-", or "-some sort of test-". Jonas, of course, knew how people got Sorted, and found this all very funny.

"What house do you want to be Sorted in?" a girl next to Jonas asked him. He realized it was the same girl that had sat next to him on the boats.

"Slytherin," Jonas responded without thinking twice.

"Oh," was all she could say before some people began screaming.

"What the-" Jonas said, looking for the source of the commotion.

About twenty pearly-white ghosts had entered the room, making most of the muggle-borns shriek with fear. One of them, a fat monk, was talking to the rest of the ghosts.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"

"My dear Friar," another one said, "haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"

The ghost wearing ruffs and tights had suddenly noticed them. Nobody answered him.

"New students!" the Friar said with delight. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

Some people nodded.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" the Friar said. "My old house, you know."

Jonas was about to snort when McGonagall opened the door.

"Move along now," she said in a stern voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start.

"Now, form a line," she told them, "and follow me."

Jonas ended up behind a boy with blonde hair, walking through Hogwarts and admiring the portraits and paintings. In what seemed like no time, he was stepping into the Great Hall.

Jonas had never, even on his books, seen such a magnificent place. Hundreds of candles were floating above the tables. There were four large tables with golden plates and goblets shinning beautifully. At the other end of the Great Hall was another, smaller table in which the teachers sat. This table was facing the student body, just in case of trouble. McGonagall led them to the front. Hundreds of face, both from mortals and ghosts, were looking at them.

Jonas, in necessity of distracting himself, looked at the ceiling. For one second, he thought that he was staring at the sky. He vaguely remembered something from Hogwarts, A History saying that the ceiling was enchanted to look just like the sky outside.

McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. She then put a wizard's hat on top of it. The hat looked very old and dirty; there were patches all over it and it had a slight rip near the brim. Suddenly, that rip opened wide and the Sorting Hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole Great Hall burst into applause as the Sorting Hat finished his song. He bowed to each of the tables and then became still. McGonagall stepped in front of the first years with a long roll of parchment in hand.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with blond pigtails stepped out of line shaking, put on the hat and sat down. The hat fell past her eyes, and it was only a moment before it opened its mouth and shouted:

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table to Jonas's right broke into applause as Hannah put the hat back on the stool and went to join them.

"Bones, Susan!" McGonagall called.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Sorting Hat yelled again.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time. The next kid went to Ravenclaw too, but a girl named Lavander Brown became the first Gryffindor, and the table on the far left began cheering.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!" became a Slytherin.

This went on with the usual cheering until one name was called.

"Potter, Harry!"

The Great Hall burst into whispers while people stood up to get a better view of The Boy Who Lived. A nervous-looking boy with very messy black hair and emerald-green eyes stepped out of the line.

Aunt Moritura had only mentioned the name "Harry Potter" once to Jonas. She had told him that she had somehow stopped a man who was only doing a right thing to this world. Although she had never gone into details, Jonas had managed to get more information on him by reading some of his aunt's books in secret. According to them, Harry Potter had actually defeated a dark wizard named "Lord Voldemort", who had tried to conquer the world. Nobody had been able to stop him, but when he tried to kill Harry Potter, the course had somehow bounced back and made him disappear instead and left Harry unharmed except for a lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Harry walked to the front and put the hat on. It had been about thirty seconds when the Sorting Hat opened its mouth and shouted,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers, the loudest ones yet, and Jonas could make out two identical voices shouting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry seemed relieved to be put into Gryffindor.

Jonas turned his attention back to the Sorting Hat, somehow not really interested on where Potter had been put. When the clapping had died down, McGonagall called "Riddle, Jonas!"

An old man in the middle of the teachers table was watching him with curiosity. Jonas recognized him as Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts.

He walked to the stool casually and put the Sorting Hat on his head. The only thing he saw before the hat covered his eyes was the whole Great Hall, waiting for him to be sorted.

"Ahh, another Riddle," a voice said in his ear, "very interesting indeed. Though not difficult at all. You shall be- SLYTHERIN!"

The last word he shouted out loud. Jonas walked to the Slytherin table and sat down.

"Schellden, Jane!"

The girl who had talked to Jonas earlier broke out of the small line (now composed of five people), and put the hat on her head. Like everyone else, the Sorting Hat went pass her eyes. A moment later, it opened its mouth.

"SLYTHERIN!" it shouted.

Jane stepped off the stool, walked quickly to the Slytherin table, and sat down next to Jonas.

After her came "Thomas, Dean" (GRYFFINDOR!") "Turpin, Lisa," ("RAVENCLAW!"), "Underson, Abir," ("SLYTHERIN!"), "Weasley, Ron," ("GRYFFINDOR!"), and finally "Zabini, Blaise," became a Slytherin.

McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat and the stool away. Jonas looked at Dumbledore as he stood up, his arms wide opened.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

Everybody started clapping and cheering, although there wasn't much enthusiasm from the Slytherin table.

"Do you think he's mad?" Jane asked Jonas while clapping.

"Not totally mad, but I would say a bit," Jonas answered back.

She was about to reply when plates of food appeared in the middle of the table. There were mash potatoes, fries, sausages, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, steak, lamb chops, roast chicken, roast beef, spaghetti, carrots and more. Suddenly realizing how hungry he was, Jonas piled a little bit of everything onto his plate. Everything tasted delicious, even more than Aunt Moritura's cooking (although he didn't think he would ever admit that to her).

"Hungry, are we?" Jane asked him playfully.

As Jonas's mouth was full, he only nodded. After he had swallowed what was in his mouth, he took a big swig of pumpkin juice and gasped for breath.

"I'm just a little hungry," he said.

Jane laughed. For the first time, Jonas put his full attention on her. She had dark, slightly-curvy hair that went past her shoulders and stopped just around the middle of her back. She had a slight line of freckles running across her nose, and her eyes were a deep, warm brown. Her eyelashes were long and of a very fine black colour. She was about a head shorted than him, but she also looked like a very powerful witch.

"Well, if you call having second fillings after only five minutes 'little', then I suppose you are a little hungry."

"'Vat can I s'hay," Jonas responded, no bothering with finishing eating this time.

Jane didn't talk anymore; however, as she had begun eating. They spend the rest of the meal in silence. When everybody had finished eating what they could, desserts appeared. Even though Jonas had refilled his plate three times, he somehow managed to save space for some more. The theme of the conversation across the Great Hall now turned to families.

"Both of my parents are purebloods," a boy Jonas remembered as Draco Malfoy said. "I could never imagined if I was a half-blood, or worse, a mudblood."

"Well, what's wrong with being a half-blood or a muggle-born?" Abir Umderson asked him.

"Like if you would understand," Draco said looking at Abir as though he was someone unworthy of his attention. "I suppose you are a half-blood?"

"No, I'm actually a pureblood," Abir retorted.

A light shade of pink appeared on Malfoy's cheeks. He turned around to talk with two other big guys, muttering angrily about Abir.

"Who gives him the right to talk to people as if he was their king?" Jane, who had heard all of the conversation, whispered outraged.

"No idea, but he sounds like a git to me," Jonas said, although deep down, a part of him agreed with what Malfoy had said. He squashed it down and continued to eat his chocolate cake. There weren't any more incidents after that, and about thirty minutes later, the desserts disappeared too. Dumbledore stood up from his chair and looked at everyone with a smile. The hall fell silent almost immediately.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Jonas saw his eyes begin directed at a pair of red-haired twins in the Gryffindor table.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

There were a few laughs at this, although Dumbledore looked very serious.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" Dumbledore cried happily. He flicked his wand and a long, golden ribbon shot out of it, curving itself into snakelike words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune," Dumbledore said, "and off we go!"

The Great Hall roared:

"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."

The last ones to finish were the Gryffindor twins, who were singing in a slow funeral march kind of way. Still, Dumbledore directed them all the way to the end. When they finished, Dumbledore was one of the people who clapped the hardest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bed time. Off you trot!"

Jonas, Jane, and the rest of the first years followed their prefects to their dormitories. They went down a couple set of stairs, through some passageways and even deeper down the school. Finally, they stopped at a damp wall.

"Okay, everybody," one of the prefects said, "the password right now is 'Parseltongue'. You shall know if it's changed."

A stone door concealed in the wall slid open. The new Slytherins followed him through. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in high-backed chairs.

The prefect led them to two black doors at the back of the common room.

"The right door leads to the girl's dormitory, the left to the boy's. Just enter the room that has a one on the door. That will be your dormitory for this year. Goodnight."

Jonas said goodnight to Jane and descended even farther into the castle as he walked down a flight of stairs to find seven doors, each black and with a green number marking whose dormitory it was. He entered the door with the number one on it and found his trunk and Rogier's cage next to the door farthest from the door.

He didn't know how, but Jonas had been able to put his pyjamas on before falling completely sleep on top of his bed.

AN: Okay, so, my Friday was kind of busy, and I did not have time to write until Saturday ten o'clock at night. I finished this at 2:51 A.M, so I have a reason for any huge mistakes (trust me, the only reason this chapter makes sense at all is because of automatic grammar and spelling check) but right now all I want to do is sleep. Goodnight/morning/afternoon guys!