Chapter 2: The Sorting Cermony
As they got off the Hogwarts Express, they heard a voice saying, "Firs' years over here!" Albus knew that it was the half-giant Professor Hagrid his father so much talked about with admiration. He had heard that Hagrid was wrongly accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets many years ago and was expelled during his third year, though Dumbledore made him the gamekeeper of Hogwarts and later let him teach Care of Magical Creatures. Now, Hagrid was made the Head of Gryffindor to replace Professor McGonagall. He was also the Deputy Headmaster. Albus and Rose hurried toward the voice, and they soon saw Hagrid. He stopped calling out for first years when he saw Albus.
"Yeh look just like yeh father, Albus," Hagrid said. "Yeh even have yer grandma's eyes. Yer dad was a great studen', yeh know, always visited me in my hut on weekends, and so did Ron and Hermione. Now, get on a boat, you two. Yeh have ter cross the lake firs', 'tis traditional for firs' years, but mind yeh don' fall in. The Gian' Squid's not too gentle with humans."
"Th-th-the—?" stuttered Albus frightenedly.
"Gian' Squid, yeah," said Hagrid. "I remember it once put a studen' back in, right during Harry's time, so don' get so scared. Less talk, more action,now four people on each boat!''
Albus and Rose got onto the nearest unoccupied boat they could find. Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, the twin sons of Luna Scamander, one of Albus' mother Ginny's close friends, came aboard with them. Albus, Rose, Lorcan, and Lysander rowed slowly across the Black Lake. They were soon there, and Hagrid led them through the long, wide corridor that leads to the Great Hall. Peeves the Poltergeist (Albus remembered Ginny saying that it was an annoyingly mischievous poltergeist at Hogwarts who could only be controlled by the Bloody Baron, who is the ghost of Slytherin) was hovering more than twenty feet above the students, throwing about two dozens of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' fake wands at the first years, one after the other, which turned immediately into chicken eggs the moment they came less than two feet near the ground.
Ickle firsties!" Peeves shouted teasingly, still throwing fake wands down. "I love pestering them around, they're so funny-looking!"
"Damn yeh, yeh nasty git!" Hagrid shouted angrily.
This wasn't a problem for Hagrid, as he vanished each egg nonverbally before they could even reach the ground. Humbled, Peeves blew a loud raspberry and left.
When the first years finally went in the Great Hall, Albus saw that there were four long tables, each for members of each House. A small wizard (Albus remembered Harry saying that this was Professor Flitwick, who teaches Charms and is the Head of Ravenclaw House) came with a tall stool that had the Sorting Hat on top (Albus gave a small squeak of fright). Minerva McGonagall was sitting on her chair, looking at the queue of first years. After a few seconds of silence, the Sorting Hat opened quite suddenly and started singing. Albus got some information about the requirements of each House. Well, he was a half-blood; his father was a half-blood and his mother was a Pureblood, so Slytherin was out, but he was still nervous: the closest Muggle he could think of in his family was his grandmother Lily's parents, meaning his paternal great-grandparents. That was pure enough. He tried to take those thoughts out of his mind, and when he finally came back to his senses, he saw that the Sorting Hat was beginning to Sort the first years one by one. Albus realized that it Sorted people in alphabetic order.
Most of the people Sorted at first were people he didn't know, including a boy named Corner, William who was Sorted into Gryffindor (loud applause from the Gryffindor table) and a girl named Dexter, Katie who was Sorted into Hufflepuff (after two whole minutes of waiting). After a while, Malfoy, Scorpius' turn came to be Sorted. The Sorting Hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" when it had barely touched his head. After a few others were Sorted, it was Albus' turn. Trembling and shaking with fright, he walked slowly to the front, sat on the stool, and put on the Sorting Hat. It was so large that it covered his eyes entirely.
"Please don't put me in Slytherin. Anywhere but Slytherin, I beg you," replied Albus anxiously.
"Oh, I see!" exclaimed the Sorting Hat excitedly to Albus. "You're another Potter! You are very much like your father, anxious to be in Gryffindor. Ooooh, I see a lot of courage inside, lots of bravery. You'd do well in—GRYFFINDOR!"
Albus almost fell of the stool out of delight, and after taking the Sorting Hat off and giving it back to Professor McGonagall, he raced to the Gryffindor table, right between James and Fred Weasley II, who was about to start his fifth year at Hogwarts. He could see Rose applauding him. After a short time, Scamander, Lorcan and Lysander were both Sorted into Ravenclaw. This didn't come as as surprise, as Ginny had said that their mother, Luna, was in Ravenclaw, too. Finally, after many people, it was finally Weasley, Rose's turn. When she sat on the stool, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put on the Sorting Hat. Within ten seconds, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Albus applauded proudly, along with Victorie, Fred, James, and all the other Gryffindors. Last to be Sorted was Weasley, Roxanne, the younger sister of Fred Weasley II and the second child of Albus' Uncle George Weasley, which meant that Roxanne was Albus' cousin. She looked much more frightened than Albus was: her hands were shaking so much she couldn't put the Sorting Hat on, so Professor Flitwick, who was standing close by, put it on for her. When the Sorting Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" she smiled faintly for a moment, then toppled off the tall stool.
It all happened in two quick, breathtaking seconds. Professor McGonagall quickly conjured a stretcher out of thin air to prevent Roxanne from falling down. Professor Flitwick put a Cushioning Charm on the stretcher a split second before she fell. Madam Pomfrey, the Hogwarts nurse, got out from the staff table and rushed up to her.
"She's fainted," Madam Pomfrey told Professor McGonagall. "All she needs is a night's rest at the hospital wing. I'll give her a Calming Potion. She's just got a bit overexcited, she'll be good as ever for her first day of school tomorrow." And with this Madam Pomfrey headed up the stairs to the hospital wing.
"Are you sure she'll—" started Fred anxiously: he was Roxanne's older brother.
"Miss Weasley will be fine," said Profesor McGonagall. "Although I can't admit this happens very rarely. The last time I saw this happen to a student was nearly forty years ago."
After the Sorting Ceremony, Professor Fliwick took away the stool and the Sorting Hat, and Professor McGonagall started to say a few words.
"Attention! Now, I want everyone to know that all products from the shop in Diagon Alley called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, created by the Weasley twins, are not allowed at Hogwarts, except for Pygmy Puffs and the Weasleys' Edible Wristwatches. If I mentioned all the other school rules, I'd finish at dawn, which is why I told our caretaker, Mr. Filch, who is also now the gamekeeper, to write all of them on a piece of parchment and hang them on the door of his office. I also want to welcome the newcomers and welcome back the old faces. You can now enjoy our meal, made by the most fabulous cooks, our house-elves."
The Sorting Ceremony was over. Albus was Sorted into Gryffindor, and so was Rose and Roxanne. Albus didn't have to worry anymore about being Sorted into Slytherin. Suddenly, the table, which had been blank a few seconds ago, was filled with golden plates and silver cups, all containing food or drink. Albus started enjoying his mashed potatoes, turkey, and pumpkin juice, and then ate some treacle tart for desert. He was completely relaxed for the first time since yesterday, and in his opinion, life had never been better; he was in his favorite House, the House of his parents and grandparents; he was going to meet new friends; and best of all, he was going to learn to play Quidditch, and it didn't matter to him if the broom he was using was a Cleansweep 5 or even a Shooting Star, because he'd try really hard to get on the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year.
Please review next chapter is going to be called new friends In That chapter, Albus Potter meets four Gryffindor boys in his year. He finds out a group called Dumbledore's Army that his mother told much about that connects all of their fathers with Albus' father, Harry Potter.