the other riddle

part 4

cold ,bitter winds hit me like a slap in the face.
Being closer to the castle made it seem a lot more real,  being able to make out the stone bricks which made up every wall and the rusty suits of armour standing tall with authority at each corner.

It was obvious everyone was excited, I'd been put with the first years for the sorting ceremony as It was also my first year.

Septimus never got to tell me anything more about the sorting, all I knew was that each student was placed into one of the four divides of the school.

This is one of the reasons why I wished Tom had spoken to me more often, although i'm still unsure of his innocence it would have been nice to actually know what the hell was going on.

The students came to halt once they'd reached great big oak doors, probably 10ft tall and equally as wide.

I stuck out like a sore thumb with all the first years being at least a foot taller than everyone else and failing to mirror their constant smiles and happy eyes.

An impatient silence filled the steps we were now hovering on, nervous feet tapping against the newly polished stone floor, everything in this school seemed to be stone. It must be very old.

"Hello first years" A smooth voice called out from behind us.
"..and welcome to Hogwarts!"

A stumpy man of no more than 5 feet tall stood proudly, both hands neatly folded in pockets his deep green waistcoat. he held his shoulders towards the ceiling, his head held high and examined every small thing with a calm gaze but I watched his face show signs of contained excitement.

He had a nose abnormally large for his round face, and a very little amount of hair sat upon his balding head.

"I am professor Slughorn, and I will be escorting you to the main hall" he announced. and with an elegant swoosh of his cloak he began towards the doors.

Slughorn waved his wand in a swift movement and the broad walls creaked open slowly to reveal a warmly lit hall.

I heard several gasps around me.

Hundreds of heads were staring back at us eagerly. 4 long tables spread out across the floor vertically , with a fifth one horizontal at the furthest end of the room.

"of we go now" Slughorn said with a smile.

~

scurrying through the narrow space between 2 of the tables surrounded by first years was very embarrassing. I could see the look of confusion on each students face when they spotted me, clearly a lot older than the rest.

I caught a flash of familiar orange hair in the corner of my eye and turned to meet my eyes with septimus, who was desperately waving at me to get my attention. I gave him a small smile and raised my eyebrows slightly, not wanting to draw anymore attention to myself.

Slughorn stopped at the end of the hall next to a small wooden stool which had a wrinkly pointed hat resting upon it.

"Now, as you probably know this is the sorting hat. Once placed upon your head it will decide whether you are to be placed in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Now!, let's begin!-"

A tall man that was hunched quickly hobbled up to the small stage that Slughorn and the stool were on, and whispered something in Slughorns ear.

"Ah!, yes- How did I forget, Of-course each house represents different traits. Though I suppose most of you are aware of this."

Apparently I was the only one to be finding out about this now.

"Gryffindor!, for courage and bravery!" He boomed. A loud roar erupted from behind me as I turned to see 3 out of the 4 tables completely in celebration.