MICHAEL VIII
Michael had never been more amazed in his entire life. He wandered through the hallways and corridors of the castle in an almost a trance-like state, gazing open-mouthed at each and every archway and magically lit torch. He was practically dragged amongst the sea of students by Conner and Seth, as they tried to prevent him from tripping or bumping into anyone. Emphasis on tried. But Michael remained completely oblivious, and about every five minutes he would say, "This is so cool…" out loud, annoying everyone around him half to death.
The students were all corralled by the Deputy Headmaster, a tall and lanky man with short, side swept hair and a round face, that, despite being round, appeared rather handsome. He was wearing a thick knitted sweater beneath a billowing crimson robe, and had introduced himself as 'Professor Longbottom'.
"You first years are going to love it here!" He proudly exclaimed every couple of feet, "The castle itself is amazing, and the courses here are much more advanced and traditionalized than at other wizarding schools. Every course is something worth taking!" Michael drank in every word, fingering his wand beneath his robes, itching for his first opportunity to use it for the actual first time. He imagined what it would be like, to have a teacher in front of a class, one he actually wanted to pay attention to, as that teacher would help him get everything he'd ever wanted.
As the group arrived at an enormous set of doors, Professor Longbottom stopped, and spun around on his heels to face the first years. "Now! This room just before us is the Great Hall, where the rest of the student body is gathered! And then, each of you will be sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses! Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin!" Professor Longbottom explained, and the students began mumbling.
Phillis had explained to Michael and the rest of the group earlier the importance to sorting throughout all wizarding culture.
"Organization is very important. Wizards have categorized every known spell into charms, hexes, curses, etc. In that same sense, wizards must be categorized, so that their greatest strengths and weaknesses may be known, and best utilized for a productive magical society. Not all magical schools have a sorting process, but Hogwarts and Ilvermorny do, I myself was a Horned Serpent back in school!" Phillis explained with a chuckle.
Now, Michael wasn't very organized, and wasn't really a fan of the concept behind the system. Mostly because he didn't want to be separated from his friends, and forced to hang out with a bunch of kids he may or may not even like. But as he stood there thinking this, Professor Longbottom turned, and thrust open the great doors, with only a slight push, but the doors opened slowly and powerfully, obviously magical.
The sight of the Great Hall was breathtaking. A striking night sky, filled with stars that sparkled and glittered on a high ceiling. There were thousands of floating candles, that lit up the hall as bright as any room Michael had ever been in. There were grand fireplaces with roaring blazes, all lined up amidst the four massive tables, seated at which was the entirety of the Hogwarts students.
As the collection of first years strode forwards, they saw the huge table on a raised platform, at which the school's teachers sat at. Michael spied in the middle Headmistress McGonagall, a tall and gaunt woman dressed in green and silver robes. At the end of the table sat Hagrid, the enormous giant who had ushered the first years to the boats, sitting about four or five feet taller than the other professors.
On a little stool that was placed in the center of the platform, was an old beaten up hat, that Professor Longbottom practically skipped up to.
"Alrighty, boys and girls! When I call your name, come up, and you'll be sorted!" He called out, over the quiet buzz of first year excitement. He cleared his throat in a very over dramatic fashion, and held up a long bit of parchment.
"Conner Hack!" He called out. At this, every member of the MAGES program went silent and their eyes flocked to Conner. He shuffled awkwardly in his robes to get past the clump of eleven year olds, and trudged up the steps to the stool. As he turned to sit down, Professor Longbottom placed the beaten up hat onto his head. As he did this, a seam on the hat suddenly split open, and began speaking, as if the hole were a mouth.
"Well, isn't this interesting?" The hat mused, moving around, completely alive. "You're quite smart, aren't you, boy? At least decently intelligent, a lot of character here...rather compassionate...hello, what's this?" The hat bobbed leaned with each passing word, but nearly pulled itself off Conner's head at this last question.
The hat began speaking in a low whisper. All of the first years tried to crane forwards, but they still couldn't hear. The hat whispered to Conner for only about a minute or so, all the while Conner said nothing.
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted loudly. And the table draped in green silks erupted into applause, standing and cheering as the hat was lifted off Conner's head and he walked over. Michael let out a gasp of horror. Other names were called, but Michael wasn't paying attention. He just stood there staring at the Slytherin table. Michael didn't notice as Seth was also placed into Slytherin. He didn't even bat an eye when Ben, Brittany, and Nick were all placed into Ravenclaw. Calvin, Blythe, and Jonah were all three sorted into Gryffindor, and Payne and Ross were shuffled off into Hufflepuff.
Michael was separated from his best friend. Unless… He suddenly came back to his senses, and locked his eyes on the Sorting Hat. He had to be sorted in Slytherin. He had to. He tried to think Slytherin thoughts, but was snapped out of it when his name was called.
"Michael Thieme!" Professor Longbottom called out. Michael stepped over and around the first years, and ran up excitedly to the stool. Professor Longbottom pressed the hat down over Michael's curly head, and Michael immediately felt a strange presence come over his mind.
"Well, then! Look at what we have here!" The hat chimed out with a chuckle. Michael tried very desperately to pretend his favorite color was green. The hat wasn't buying it.
"You're not as dumb as you look, are you?" The hat said, resulting in plenty of chuckles from the amass of students. "You're funny, I can tell, yes, you are a hard one to place…" the hat began mumbling, thinking very intently.
"Slytherin, please…" Michael whispered.
"You want to be in Slytherin!?" The hat shouted, and Michael winced. "Why on earth would you want to do that!?" The hat began to laugh. "Look at you, you could never be great in Slytherin…"
"But, I don't want to be great. I just want to be happy." Michael said in a hushed tone still, hoping the hat wouldn't shout out again.
"You want to be with your friends, don't you?" The hat asked, much more quietly, but still audibly.
"Yes." Michael said, in a very sincere voice.
"Then you'll have to be great." The hat said in a low whisper.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted. Michael's jaw dropped, as he just sat there in shock. The Hufflepuff table burst into intense clapping, Payne and Ross clapping the loudest. Professor Longbottom removed the hat from Michael's head, but he didn't move. It took many slight elbow nudges and one hard one before Michael finally stood up, and walked away from the stool, his face blank.
As he sat down next to Payne at the Hufflepuff table, he didn't look up to see Colin join the Slytherins, and Jack join the Gryffindors. He just stared into his empty goblet. After the last of the first years waddled off to their tables, Headmistress McGonagall stood from her seat, and tapped her glass with her spoon.
"Attention, students!" She called out, and her words fell over silent students, for each wizard and witch in the hall was completely quiet.
"I have a few announcements for the new year! First off, welcome back to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry! It's quite a pleasure to have you all back here, and even better to see the shining young faces of our first years!" At this, there was large amounts of clapping from the mass of students, that went on for a very long time, until only one guy was clapping, and clapped for about ten whole seconds before someone told him to shut up.
"Secondly," She continued, increasing the amount of drama she poured into her voice, "we will explain the rules for the House Cup! This is an award given to the house that receives the most house points! These are given to a house for exemplary actions and performance in the classroom, and taken away for rule breaking and bad behavior. Last year, as you recall, Ravenclaw received the cup for the first time in years!" She cried, and was immediately interrupted by the Ravenclaw table bursting into roaring applause and hoots.
"Slytherin's victory streak was cut short by Gryffindor's, until finally Ravenclaw pulled through! No matter who wins, I'm sure we'll have an EXCELLENT year!" At this there was more clapping, but it was a very calm clap, and ended rather quickly.
"Thirdly, one more announcement. This year, Hogwarts is hosting a very special program. We have been contacted by the Magical Congress of the United States of America, and have enrolled fifteen students from their MAGES program!" Heat shot up Michael's neck. No one was looking at him especially or anything, but he still felt like everyone was watching him.
"I hope everyone shows them equal respect as they would any other student, and I hope they have a wonderful time here at Hogwarts!" She called out, and again, there was a short, polite clap.
"And finally, a word to you all." She said, and grew a little more serious.
"You are about to begin another term of schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This school as stood for centuries, thousands of years, and has seen many things. Several parents have refused to send their children to this school due to the recent of events of the Second Wizarding War, which is why it is paramount" she paused for dramatic effect, "that we show this world this school is still the best magical academy in the world!" She shouted.
"LET THE FEAST, BEGIN!" She finished, and the whole crowd and professors burst into cheering and applause as food appeared on every table, magically and deliciously popping into existence. Many of the students dove in, but Michael just sat there, staring at it.