The Sorting Hat
As the two friends sat down, they saw a large bunch of nervous eleven year olds walking into the middle of the great hall. Then, walking through the middle of all the first years, came the transfiguration teacher. Professor Mitchell was carrying a stool and a Mangled old hat that resembled a large pile of poop. But then, the brim of the hat ripped open and belted out in song.
Back long and far ago, the Hogwarts founders four,
they built this castle, up from the ground and walked in
through the door. They all valued different aspects,
of the youngsters minds, but one thing can be said for
sure, they all were one of a kind. The founders of
this glorious school had one goal in sight, it was to
teach a generation of young wizards to fight. The
only flaw in An otherwise perfectly flawless plan, was
how to sort between the four to achieve a
successful end. It was Gryffindor who had the thought,
he whipped me off his head, the founders put
some brains in me so I could choose instead.
Now listen here in Hufflepuff you'll make good
friends with ease, but in Slytherin you can
be sure you'll bring people to their knees. Gryffindor
values bravery by far beyond the rest, But you can
find yourself in Ravenclaw, acing all the tests!
So this is my vow, I promise you I've
never yet been wrong, so sit on down,
put me on, I'll say where you belong!
The great hall erupted into cheers, and the first years looked more at ease now knowing what to expect for sorting. Professor Viridian thanked the sorting hat and called up the first person to put on the hat. "Aaron, James!"
James Aaron walked up to the stool with his legs shaking. He jammed the hat on his head and sat there for a couple minutes before the sorting hat yelled the decisive word, "GRYFFINDOR!" Cheers rang from over at the Gryffindor table. The sorting continued with Axel, Darnell getting sorted into Hufflepuff all the way down to Zeller, Rebecca being sorted into Slytherin. Once the cheering died down, Professor Mitchell klinked his fork against his glass in order to grab everyone's attention. After everyone went quiet, Professor Everard stood up and addressed the school.
"Welcome, everyone, to another year at Hogwarts. This year, we have a special event taking place, known as the Triwizard Tournament. That, as some of the older students know, means we will be having guests at the castle from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang for the duration of the year starting tomorrow, and I expect my students to treat these outsiders as you would treat your own- with kindness and respect. A couple more things, we will not be having quidditch this year due to the tournament, and the dark forest is forbidden to all without proper staff supervision. And one final thing before we eat, I'd like to address our new transfer student from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with a warm welcome: Hogwarts style! If you'd please direct your attention to the words above my head, and sing at your own pace! And one! And two! And one, two, three go!"
"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."
After everyone finished singing, some slower than others, food appeared on the tables in bunches. First came broccolini dishes, then came the main dish of deep fried shrimp and asian flavored chicken drumsticks.
"Man it's good to be back!" belted out an excited third year.
"You said it!" yelled Lance down to the other side of the table. The great hall of the Hogwarts castle was filled with students bursting with joy. They were all in the middle of conversations when Lance muttered to Parker, "The Ilvermorny kid is over there, he's alone, do you want to go over and say hi?"
Parker was struggling to speak between bites of his drumstick, so instead of mumbling the word, "sure" or the word, "yes", he simply nodded his head and picked up his plate and started walking with Lance towards the Ilvermorny transfer student and struck up a conversation.
"Hey, I'm Lance, what's your name?" said Lance in an upbeat tone. "Buzz off before I make you,'' responded the Ilvermorny transfer
student. "I didn't come here to make friends, and I don't intend to."
Then Parker cracked a joke that pissed off the transfer student. "Hi, buzz off before I make you, I'm Parker, nice to make your acquaintance."
The transfer student stood up, took his wand out and pointed it at Parker. "My name is Nate, and I suggest you back off. I was forced to come here, it's not like I wanted to come to Hogwarts. Ilvermorny's better by a long shot."
"Dude, we didn't come here to fight, we just wanted to meet someone new," Parker said calmly
"I don't need friends, I just need to get through this year and I can go back to Ilvermorny. Just leave me alone, and you won't have any Issues," said Nate.
"Okay Nate, you got it. We don't want any trouble,"said Lance. Then Parker mumbled, "Anger issues…"
Nate heard Parker, and yelled, "Flipendo!" and Parker got knocked over. Lance turned around and took out his wand before firing back. Parker got up and started firing too. The duel lasted about a minute before Headmaster Viridian stepped in.
"Now boys, what's going on here?" said Professor Viridian in his typical calm voice.
"They said I had anger issues, so I proved them right, that's all," responded Nate calmly.
"Yeah, sorry Professor Viridian. We just wanted to make a new friend, and then Nate here snapped at us. We weren't looking for any trouble," the two friends chimed in cheerily.
"Nate, do you mind following me to my office really quickly? Oh and Parker, Lance, do you mind waiting outside while I talk to him? That way we can talk afterward?" Viridian continued calmly.
"Yes Headmaster," the three fifth years said exasperatedly in unison. The four of them headed up to the great big stone gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office, passing several students staring along the way. Once they got to the gargoyle, Professor Viridian spoke out the name of his Predecessor, "Everard" and the gargoyle sprang aside. This allowed Lance, Parker, Nate, and the headmaster to walk up the steps to the large doors shielding off the office from the rest of the school.
Headmaster Viridian knocked on the griffin door knocker in three sets of three knocks until the door swung open, letting Nate and the headmaster inside while Lance and Parker waited outside the door.
"Do you want to listen in?" Lance asked Parker.
"Yeah, but we need to be discreet," responded Parker. "I've been practicing amplificare, but if it goes wrong, we're in a lot of trouble." Lance contemplated this information for a short while, And when he finally spoke, he said, "Give it a shot, you won't mess up, I trust you." Then, without giving the matter any further thought, Parker muttered, "Amplificare" and then Parker and Lance could hear everything going on inside the headmaster's office.
"I told you, Professor, I'm not going to make friends with anyone here. I don't care what anybody thinks of me, I'm only going to be here for a little while, and then I can go back to Ilvermorny."
"And I'm telling you young man, if you want to go back to Ilvermorny, you need to prove that you have a handle on your emotions. Professor Rabbot says you're too much trouble to deal with for ten months straight. I offered to take you in here at Hogwarts, so you should be grateful, you shouldn't be starting duels on your first day. We gave you a second chance Nate, don't waste it."
"Ugh! Fine!" exclaimed what Parker and Lance gathered to be Nate.
Parker and Lance looked at each other curiously, and then Lance muttered, "reducere" and a few seconds later, Nate stormed out of the headmaster's office and down the stairs, leaving the headmaster with Lance and Parker.
Headmaster Viridian spoke up out of the silence and said, "Now boys, you know it's rude to eavesdrop, you should be lucky that Nate didn't notice the uptick in the sound level of our voices, or else we'd be in a very different situation."
Lance and Parker nodded their heads guiltily, and they walked inside the Headmaster's office with Professor Viridian to talk.
"You two are going to have either a lot of fun or a lot of trouble this year," said Professor Viridian.
Lance responded by saying, "What do you mean?"
The Professor continued, "Nate was forced to come here because of his anger issues, as I'm sure you've already put together. What you might not have heard is how skilled he is as a wizard. Good enough to rival you two even."
I highly doubt that, Professor. I mean, have you even-?" but Parker was cut off when Professor Viridian stuck up his finger to silence him. "Yes Mr. Acker, I have seen Mr. Johnson in action, he might be more talented than some of his teachers, and maybe even you! I placed him in Ravenclaw with you two, so I expect you to make him feel welcome here, or else he's not going to be your only problem. Do you understand?" finished off Professor Viridian.
"Yes Headmaster," said the friends in unison.
"I'm glad that we've reached an understanding," said Headmaster Viridian. "Now hop off to bed, before Mr. Kauffer comes lurking for troublemakers.
"Thank you headmaster," said Lance.
And with that, the two friends set off for Ravenclaw tower. At the entrance to the tower, Lance and Parker saw Nate struggling with the Ravenclaw tower riddle.
"Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?" sang the eagle door knocker.
"I don't care! A tunnel maybe?" said Nate in a raging tone.
"Repeat the question please?" interjected Parker.
"Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?" repeated the door knocker.
"Parker responded confidently, "The word wholesome." The door to the Ravenclaw common room then swung open, revealing a blue and silver relaxation haven for all Ravenclaw students.
"Thanks," mumbled Nate as he walked into the common room and up the stairs to the dorms with his head down.
"So much for being friends," said Lance
I don't know, he seemed a little grateful," commented the overly optimistic Parker.
"Yeah, maybe" said Lance "But we should get to bed, we need to rest for our first day of classes tomorrow."
"Agreed," Parker said as he nodded.
And with that, the friends went up to their dorms, got ready for bed and finally closed their eyes and passed out.