They all followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall and made their way through the middle of the tables to a long table at the furthest end of the hall. Bella could see that this was where the teachers sat with Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, in the middle. Her parents had told her about him – he loved Mudbloods and muggles, and apparently since he had become headmaster, the school had gone downhill. Professor McGonagall was now placing an old hat on a stool, and everyone in the Great Hall was looking at it with great expectation, so Bella joined them in looking at the old, rather disgusting looking hat. After a couple of seconds of silence, a tear just above the rim opened and the hat began to speak. "There once were four witches and wizards who wanted to teach magic, they were called Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Gryffindor wanted to teach those who were brave like him, Ravenclaw wanted to teach those who were wise like her, Slytherin wanted to teach those who were pure of blood, like him, while Hufflepuff took the rest, believing that any child should be able to be taught …" The hat carried on telling the story of the school, but Bella had stopped listening. This was one thing that her parents had taught her about Hogwarts. She allowed her mind to wonder about what being taught at Hogwarts would be like, and was enjoying thinking about flying lessons – she had been unable to learn in Muggle London – when she suddenly realised that the Hat had gone silent. Professor McGonagall was now unrolling a long piece of parchment, read the first line, and looked up at the waiting students.
"Black, Bellatrix" Professor McGonagall called out. She was the first to be called. She made her way to the stool and sat on it. Professor McGonagall placed the Hat on her head.
"Well now, this is interesting. Hmm let's see here. When I sorted your ancestors, I knew immediately that they belonged in Slytherin, but you're different. Yes. Very tricky, hmmm. You've got an amazing mind - smart, quick-witted and astute. You're also very loyal and hardworking, which would make you a good Hufflepuff."
Bella's heart sank because she knew that her parents would disown her if she was put in Hufflepuff. "Please not Hufflepuff. Please not Hufflepuff. Please … no. I don't want my parents to hate me!" She thought. The Hat was silent for a minute or so, as if it were considering her plea.
"Okay then, it had better be SLYTHERIN" The Hat yelled this last word, and Bella knew that the entirety of the Great Hall had heard this. She was relieved that the Hat had taken what she had thought into consideration. She got up from the stool and made her way over to the far right of the hall where the Slytherin table were all clapping and cheering for her. She sat down next to a short, brown haired girl, and smiled at her before looking back towards Professor McGonagall. She was in Slytherin. This wasn't a surprise – she had told Joshua and Penelope that she probably would be, but somehow it didn't feel right. The Hat pondering whether she should be in Hufflepuff had made her wonder whether the odd feeling she had been experiencing all day was actually because she didn't feel as though she should be in Slytherin. Whether perhaps she disagreed with her parents beliefs. But the hat had put her in Slytherin. So what did that mean for her? Were her parents right and she needed to be among like-minded people to see this or was it the other way around? Did she need to be around people who would challenge her beliefs? But then to be around people with completely contrasting views for seven years? That would be really challenging. Bella didn't feel like a proud pure-blood who was supreme over all other people – Penelope's reaction when she had said that she would likely become a Slytherin had rattled her. Penelope didn't know her, but she had made a judgement about her simply because her family were all Slytherins. Penelope had assumed that Bella, like her family, would hate muggles and Mudbloods and feel superior to anyone who didn't have purely wizarding blood, but Bella didn't know whether that was what she believed. Yes that was what her parents believed, and what she had been taught all of her life, but that didn't necessarily mean that she thought it was right. And now she had been sorted into Slytherin, probably affirming Penelope's assumptions about her, meaning that it was unlikely for them to become friends. Her parents definitely wouldn't approve if that happened! But right now was not the moment to dwell on her beliefs – the rest of the first years were being sorted and then they would eat. Bella didn't know what dinner would be, but she was ravenous so didn't really mind.
"Dingle, Penelope" Professor McGonagall called. Penelope went up, sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the Hat on her head. The Hat was silent for a couple of minutes, but Bella knew that it would be having a conversation with Penelope that only she could hear. She wondered what they were saying – the Hat was probably deliberating between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, as those were the houses that Penelope had said she would probably be in. Privately Bella hoped that she would be sorted into Ravenclaw, as she knew that her parents would be much more accepting of a Ravenclaw friend than a Hufflepuff.
"RAVENCLAW" the Hat suddenly announced to the hall, and Bella nearly began to clap and cheer along with the Ravenclaw table, but she suddenly noticed that no-one else at the Slytherin table was clapping, so she decided that it would be best not to. She decided to try and catch Penelope's eye and smile at her once she had sat down, but she chose a seat where her back faced Bella. Bella hoped that this was not a deliberate decision, and that Penelope would still be friendly to her, despite their being placed in different houses. It had been a few minutes since Penelope had been sorted and Bella had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't paid much attention to the sorting, clapping when those around her did, but not listening to the names.
"Payne, Joshua" she heard Professor McGonagall call out. This pulled her out of her reverie, and she watched as Joshua sat on the stool and the Hat was placed on his head. Just as it had been for Penelope, the Hat was taking some time to announce Joshua's house. Bella wondered what the discussion was about this time.
"HUFFLEPUFF" the Hat called out this time. Bella was slightly disappointed, as she knew that it would be much harder to be friends with Joshua if he was in Hufflepuff, but she smiled at him as he caught her eye when he was making his way over to the Hufflepuff table. He sat so that he could see her, and smiled back. The tables were next to each other, so they would have been able to have a conversation if the room hadn't been so noisy with the continuing cheers and claps from the Hufflepuffs.
Professor McGonagall continued to call out names, starting with "Peasegood, Arnold." Bella sat in silence, clapping when the Slytherins around her did, but still not paying that much attention to the sorting. She was wondering why Slytherins seemed to be hated by all of the students at Hogwarts, when they knew nothing about each other. As soon as she had said that she would probably be in Slytherin, Penelope had become less friendly towards her and now that it had been confirmed that she was a Slytherin, Penelope hadn't even looked at her. She and Joshua were the only people that Bella knew at Hogwarts, and although she knew that she would meet others, she didn't want all of her friends to just be Slytherins. If they were, how would she learn about different families who weren't necessarily pureblood? How would she learn about Mudbloods who didn't know that they were wizards or witches until they received their Hogwarts letter? She knew that her parents wouldn't approve of these wonderings, but Bella was curious and the only way that she would satisfy this curiosity would be to ask questions. She could only hope that she would have a lesson with Penelope, where they would be able to talk. It seemed that the sorting had come to an end, as the Great Hall had become extremely quiet and Professor Dumbledore had stood up.
"I just have a couple of words to say before the start of the feast – I will keep it brief as I know you must all be hungry" Professor Dumbledore was saying, "help yourselves!" There was some scattered laughter around the Great hall, and the table in front of Bella was suddenly filled with dishes that were full of many different foods. There was shepherds pie, roast meats of different varieties, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, curry and many different vegetables. Bella helped herself to some roast beef, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables. The first year boy who was sat next to her had heaped his plate high with many different foods, whilst the girl who was on her other side had helped herself to some roast chicken with all the trimmings. Bella decided to talk to the girl on her right.
"Hello" she said.
"Hello" the girl replied "How are you?"
"I'm well thank you, how are you?" Bella replied
"I'm very well too, thank you. My name is Dolores."
"It is lovely to meet you" Bella said, not knowing whether she truly meant it. The girl did not seem as though she wanted to be friendly, but more that Bella would be a good ally to have. Bella wasn't sure whether Dolores would be a good person to befriend but since they were sat together for the duration of the feast, she decided that she would have to remain polite and friendly for the rest of the evening at least. "So what year are you in?" she asked, hoping that this would continue their conversation.
"I'm in my third year now" Dolores replied.
She had an unnaturally quiet and breathy voice, as though she were doing it on purpose. Bella found it extremely irritating. They continued a rather forced conversation for the rest of their meal, and the more they spoke, the less Bella liked Dolores. She seemed cool and distant, as though she didn't care about anyone or anything, and Bella got the impression that the girl didn't have many friends. This made her feel sorry for the girl for a moment – she could not imagine growing up and having no-one to talk to – at least Bella had had her sisters to keep each other company. Then she remembered how uncomfortable conversing with the girl made her, and there definitely was something that made Bella distrust the girl. They didn't talk much over dessert, and Bella began to talk to the boy on her left. His name was Gilbert Warrington, and like her, his whole family had been in Slytherin. He seemed to be more genuine than Dolores, and as they spoke over dessert, Bella decided that she liked him. She hoped that they could become friends.
Everyone must have finished eating pudding because Professor Dumbledore had stood up again. "I have a couple of announcements to make now that we have eaten. First years please stay out of the Forbidden Forest, and some of the older students would do well to remember this too! If you would like to try out for your house's quidditch team, please speak to your head of house. Finally, Mr Filch, the caretaker, has put up a list of banned items on his door. Those are all of the notices, so I now suggest that you all go to bed, as it's been a long day." The benches scraped back as everyone began to get up, and the prefects began calling to the first years, telling them to follow them to their dormitories. Bella, Gilbert and the other first year Slytherins follows their male prefect out of the Great Hall, with their female prefect following behind them making sure that no-one got left behind. They went out of the hall, and down some stairs.