Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Laura's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. Then she changed her mind and decided that once she knew her way around the castle, she might be a fun person to prank.
"That's Professor McGonagall," whispered Nancy. "She's the Deputy Headmistress, the Gryffindor Head of House, and the Transfiguration teacher."
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide, and they followed her through the threshold. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. 'Amazing'.
"I know, isn't it," said Nancy.
"Isn't what?"
"Amazing. You just said 'amazing'."
'I didn't realize I said that out loud,' Laura thought.
"Well you did."
"Wait a minute…" Laura said slowly as they walked across the flagged stone floor. 'Can you hear my thoughts?'
Nancy looked at her in shock.
'Laura? Nancy?' Laura heard her brother's thoughts above the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here.
'That is amazing,' Laura thought, awed.
'I've never heard of anything like this before,' Nancy thought, pensive. Well, I guess we found a way to have uninterrupted conversations.
Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously. Nancy however, was smiling .
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor 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 (here Laura smiled) 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." Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose.
Laura watched Harry as he nervously tried to flatten his hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Laura asked nobody in particular.
"Some sort of test, I think," Ron said nervously. "Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Laura looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.
"It's not a test," said Nancy, the only one who looked calm. Everyone turned to look at her. "I've been to Sorting Ceremonies before. All you have to do is try on the Sorting Hat. It looks through your mind and it tells you what house you'll fit best in."
Everyone looked relieved, and started talking a little bit more. Laura and Nancy walked over to Hermione, while Harry turned to talk to Ron.
"What house do you want to be sorted into?" Laura asked Hermione.
"Probably Gryffindor," she said. "I heard Dumbledore himself was in it. But I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too ba-"
She was cut off as several people behind them screamed. Laura jumped about a foot in the air, but Nancy looked unfazed, despite the fact that about twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.
What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"
"My dear Friar, 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?"
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
"Hello Sir Nicholas," said Nancy. "We're about to be sorted."
"Ah, hello Nancy" the Friar said. Addressing the rest of the first years, he said, "I hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Laura got into line behind Nancy, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
This place is amazing. Especially compared to Privet Drive.
Nancy laughed. Thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting, lighted the Great Hall. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Laura looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
"Yes, I read that too," she whispered back. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open up to the heavens. Laura looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.
'Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let that in the house,' Laura heard Harry think.
'Yeah. You know, if I didn't know what we have to do already, I would guess that we would have to pull a rabbit out of it.'
'Why on earth would you think that?' asked Nancy.
'It's what Muggle magicians do.' Laura thought.
Noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence.
'I should warn you,' started Nancy, but before she could finish the hat twitched, and a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and that 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 hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"I'll kill Fred," said Ron. "He was going on about wrestling a troll."
"That song was a rather good one. One year, when I was six, the song was absolutely dreadful."
"So it changes from year to year?" Harry asked.
She nodded.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of the line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Laura saw the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry"
"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but 'Brown, Lavender' became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Laura could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
'Bulstrode, Millecent' then became a Slytherin.
'Ron told me that Voldemort was in Slytherin,' thought Harry. 'He said that there wasn't a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin. Now that he mentioned it, the Slytherins did look rather unpleasant.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sometimes, Laura noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. 'Finnigan, Seamus', a sandy-haired boy who was near her in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. She heard Ron groan farther down the line.
A horrible thought struck Laura. What would happen if she, Harry and Nancy weren't in the same house?
Neville Longbottom was called, and he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran ff still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to 'MacDougal, Morag.'
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and the hat had barely even touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
Not many people were left now. 'Moon'…, 'Nott'…, 'Parkinson'…, then a pair of twin girls, 'Patil' and 'Patil'…, then 'Perks, Sally-Anne'…, and then, at last –
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
Harry put on the hat. He sat on the stool for a long time. Finally, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. Laura noticed that people were cheering the loudest yet. Percy got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
After the hall had quieted, Professor McGonagall called out "Potter, Laura!" The whispers started again, and she felt every eye on her as she walked up to the stool and put on the hat.
"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Just like your brother. Plenty of courage. A brilliant mind, too. Yes, there's lots of talent. A nice thirst to prove yourself as well, but you're confident too. But where shall I put you?"
Laura gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin. I don't want to be like Voldemort. Don't put me in Slytherin.
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. No, you don't; you're stubborn, like your brother and your parents. And you're a prankster like your father, too. Well then, better be GRYFFINDOR!"
Laura smiled and walked over the Gryffindor table amidst deafening cheers. She sat down in between her brother and Hermione. The Weasley twins were right across from her, and the ghost of Sir Nicholas reached across the table and patted her arm, giving her the horrible feeling that he'd just plunged into a bucket of ice-cold water.
She could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest to her sat Hagrid, who caught her eye and gave her a thumbs up. Laura grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Laura recognized him at once from the card she'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Laura spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.
And now Professor McGonagall cleared her throat for silence, and called, 'Potter, Nancy'. There were no whispers this time, presumably because she had lived there for the past ten years, but the Weasley twins gave a couple of cheers.
She sat on the stool for even longer than Harry, but the hat finally called out "GRYFFINDOR!" She cheered with the rest of the table as Nancy was sorted into Gryffindor. There were only four people left now.
'Thomas, Dean' a black boy even taller than Ron, joined them at the Gryffindor table.
'Turpin, Lisa,' became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. Laura noticed that he had turned a delicate shade of green. The hat had barely been on his head for a second before it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"
Ron walked over and collapsed into the chair next to him. "Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously as 'Zabini, Blaise,' was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "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!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Laura laughed, while Harry asked Percy uncertainly, "Is he – a bit mad?"
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But his is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"
Laura glanced back at the table, and saw that the dishes in front of her were now piled with food. There was roast beef, roast chickon, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and… 'Peppermint humbugs?'
Nancy laughed. 'Yeah. Dumbledore has always had some strange obsession with them.'
Laura piled her plate with everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.
"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.
"Can't you -?" he asked.
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it.
"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."
Laura looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood.
He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.
"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
"I did," said Nancy. "When I was six. But he just stared at me and then floated away.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding…
As Laura helped herself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" asked Ron.
"Well, my Gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned – but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came around for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced – all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here – they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad.
Oh Laura's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons (I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing-".
Laura glanced at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Laura's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.
Laura clapped a hand to her head, and she heard Harry and Nancy do the same. But the pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look – a feeling that he didn't like Laura at all. 'The teacher with the greasy hair is Professor Snape, right?'
'Yeah,' thought Nancy. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts.'
At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
"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." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "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 his or her house team 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."
That's a new one… Nancy thought.
"He's not serious?" Harry whispered to Percy.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Laura glanced at Nancy, who was laughing silently, to the teachers at the High Table, whose smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying the get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "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.
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Laura's mind was working, memorizing the different hidden passageways and portraits so that she would be able to find her way around the castle. They climbed more staircases, and Laura was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.
A bundle of walking sticks were floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.
"Hello, Peeves!" Nancy called. There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.
"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron, Peeves?" Percy yelled. Peeves let out a rude noise, like air being let out of a balloon, and he swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks. Laura pulled Neville out of the way and they clattered on the ground where he had been standing a moment before. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "He's a poltergeist, and the Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville needed a leg up — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. Laura and Nancy said goodbye to Harry, and followed Hermione, Parvarti, and Lavender. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep gold, silk curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.
"So how do you like Hogwarts?" Nancy asked.
"It's great!" said Hermione. "It's so much better than I thought it would be!"
Nancy smirked. "You haven't even seen the classes yet."
Laura was going to say something, but she fell asleep almost at once.
Perhaps she had eaten a bit too much, because she had a very strange dream. She was with Harry and Nancy and they were all wearing turbans like Professor Quirrell's, and hers kept talking to her, telling her that she and her siblings must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was their destiny. She told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; she tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully — and there was Malfoy, laughing at her as he struggled with it — then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold — there was a burst of green light and Laura woke, sweating and shaking.
She rolled over and fell asleep again, and when she woke next day, she didn't remember the dream at all.