In times of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The Founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted:
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning.
"Together we will build and teach!"
The Four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might someday be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry is purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest."
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name,"
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light,
For each of the four founders had
A House in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor,
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew,
Thus the Houses and their founders
Retained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But the discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with dueling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
And they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
Because that is what I'm for,
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you…
Let the sorting now begin
I looked at the hat at the front of the Great Hall. I seemed to have remembered last year's song to be a bit less… morbid.
Why would it do that? I looked up at the Professors. Professor McGonnogal looked worried, looking at the hat in her hands. She called up the first student to be sorted, but I detected the uneasiness in her voice. Dumbledore began to speak, and he hid his emotions well. I didn't fail to notice he looked often in our direction when he spoke, but he didn't mention the hat's warning.
A toad-like woman who wore a familiar pink robe interrupted him. "She was at the hearing," I whispered as the woman, who turned out to be Dolores Umbridge, cleared her throat in an unusual way. "She was against us," I added as she gave a very long and boring speech. She kept a fake smile plastered on her pale face as she insisted we were all going to be good friends, but I had a feeling that was unlikely.
"What does this mean?" I asked Hermione. She inhaled painfully, "it means the ministry is interfering at Hogwarts"
"Hermione, which O.W.L.s are you taking?" I asked, noticing she had notes out for, perhaps, ten classes.
"All of them," she said, flipping through pages. Jenny shook her head, the thought of it giving her a headache. She focused on her Charms, which would be her first.
"Hermione… do you think I'm ready? If I don't pass, I'll get held back-"
"You'll be fine, honestly. I'm not worried a bit about you; it's mostly Ron and Harry. Harry will at least study, but Ron has no study habits at all. He just assumes that the knowledge will come to the surface when he lifts up his quill," she shook her head in frustration and shut her book. "Come on, Defense Against the Dark Arts begins in a ten minutes"
I slid my books into my pouch and hurried after her. We were there on time, but not as early as we would like.
I recalled a time in this room when Professor- I mean Barty Crouch Jr. had tortured and killed that spider.
"O.W.L.s; more commonly known as OWLs. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe. Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you'll be pleased to know, from now on you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?" Umbridge toddled her pink toad-like form way over to Hermione.
"We're not going to be using spells?" she asked, answering a question I had been thinking as well. What was Umbridge getting at? Our new "textbooks" looked like children's books!
In addition, her voice and general botox-ed appearance made me want to rip my hair out. Every time she spoke, she was nudging me towards the edge of insanity.
"Using spells? Well, I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."
"We're not going to use magic?" I couldn't believe it. This was an outrage!
"You'll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way," she looked at me with that infuriating, plastic, pressed smile. She looked at me as if… as if I was a child: a child who needed to be taught how to walk a rope while balancing an umbrella on her nose.
"What use is that? If we're attacked, it won't be risk free!" Harry argued from behind me. She tore her eyes from me. Burning like ripping duct-tape from my face.
"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class," a dark line formed on her forehead as she turned away from Harry and strutted towards the front of the room. She seemed to be struggling with keeping her authority while Harry contradicted her. "It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which, after all, is what school is all about-"
"And how's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry contradicted.
"There is nothing out there, dear. Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourself?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort," Harry said sarcastically, his anger showing through his raging green eyes. I looked ahead of me at Umbridge as she approached us again.
"Now, let me make this quite plain. You have been told that a certain dark wizard is at large once again. This- is- a- lie." She was now right beside my desk, daring Harry to contradict her. Her warning didn't reach him, or perhaps he didn't care.
"It's not a lie! I saw him! I fought him!"
"Detention Mr. Potter!" Umbridge boiled with rage, her voice like a kettle left on a stove for too long.
"So Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?"
"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident-"
"It was murder. Voldemort killed him." Harry's voice rose with hers.
"Enough! Enough. See me later Mr. Potter- my office" she ended the argument with a huff, straightening her itchy pink robes before lifting her chin and painting a proud smile upon her face to hide her frustration.
But it couldn't hide mine.
Suddenly, a paper note landed on my desk. I followed its path from where it came and saw Malfoy at the end of the trail. Stupid smirk. Stupid wink. Stupid eyebrow. I scowled and turned to look at the note. As I unfolded it, a doodle of Umbridge as a toad appeared. It wasn't very good, but it still resembled her.
"Passing notes, are we, Miss Bennett?" I looked up to see Umbridge focusing the attention of all of my classmates on me.
"Not at all, Professor," I said truthfully, however, she still approached me with menacing eyes. She snatched the picture from my hands and examined it.
Needless to say, she wasn't pleased with me.