The first of the four to be called up to be sorted was Hermione. Nervously she walked up to the stool, placed the hat on her head and sat down. Harry watched as Mione sat on the stool, a look of concentration plastered on her face. After a minute of contemplation the hat seemed to make its decision and yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the far left started clapping and cheering and Hermione, assuming that it was the Gryffindor table made her way over after casting a look over to the other three, each of them promptly giving a smile and a thumbs up. Relieved, she sat down near the red-headed twins and watched the ceremony continue.

When Professor McGonagall called Neville's name he almost fainted in fear. Harry and Draco gave him comforting pats on the back while simultaneously pushing him forwards towards the stool. Nervously Neville pulled the hat over his head and sat down. The hat seemed to be taking even longer than it had with Hermione and Harry looked around nervously trying to see if this was unusual. However as she looked she only noticed expressions of curiosity and Harry promptly felt better.

Finally the hat looked decided, underneath it Neville had a confident face and when the hat yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!" He took the hat off and carefully placed it on the stool before he walked over to the cheering Hufflepuff table. From there he waved at the other three with a happy grin on his face.

It was Draco's turn after several more first years and when his name was called he looked once at Harry before he strode confidently forward. Draco had mentioned before that he thought he would be placed in Slytherin just like everyone in his family, and true to his word the hat had barely touched his head before it yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!" Draco smirked and sauntered over to the Slytherin table before making eye contact with the other three.

Eventually it was Harry's turn and when McGonagall called her name the hall went silent. Nervous, Harry stepped forward and the hall burst out in whispers. Briefly she looked over towards her friends to see their faces full of shock. Eager to be away from the stares she took the hat and pulled it over her head until it covered her eyes.

"Harry Potter eh?" whispered a small voice in her ear, " well this will be interesting," it paused again and Harry felt as though everything in her head was being shuffled like a deck of cards.

"Could you please not do that?" Harry asked quietly. The hat jumped, "you can feel that?" it asked and when Harry nodded it became still.

"Well from what I've seen you are very loyal to those you care for, and cunning to say in the least, brave and willing to stand up for what you believe in, and my what a mind!" the hat mused.

"Where to put you? Where to put you?" It mumbled, and then it asked, "Would you mind if I take one more quick look?"

Harry nodded slowly and then felt her head being shuffled again. "It seems to me that there is only one place to put you really," the hat paused and then yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

"Good luck Harry, you will do well," the hat said right before she took it off and walked over to the loudly cheering Ravenclaw table.

Once she was seated she made eye contact with each of her friends and mouthed "later". Each nodded and they all turned back towards their respective tables and waited for the last few students to be sorted.

When Professor McGonagall finally rolled up her scroll Dumbledore stood up and made a short speech,

"Welcome! 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!"

As soon as he sat back down food appeared on all the tables and the students all began serving themselves food, eager and hungry.