Fire And Ice - Yin and Yang (Harry Potter fanfiction)

The Sorting

The black lake shimmered in the stars' light. Twenty boats silently crossed its surface, each boat carrying students, whose eager faces were illuminated by a yellow flame of a torch. Hagrid led the way in his boat, a silent figure rising into the night. Ahead of them, on a dark hill, stood a mighty castle. It glowed with hundreds of golden eyes that came from the lights within the castle.

Periwinkle instinctively reached out for her sister's hand and they silently stared up at the breathtaking sight; if this was their school, then they would never want to leave it.

Hagrid led them out of the boathouse to the grand double doors of Hogwarts. They were open and in the doorway stood a woman with a stern face. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she was wearing emerald-green robes.

Azalea stared at her.
She seems so familiar, she thought perplexed.

"The firs' years, Professor", said Hagrid and gestured to the pale students.

"Yes, thank you, Hagrid", said the witch and nodded. "I'll take them from here."

She motioned the students to follow her. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Periwinkle could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -
the rest of the school must already be here -but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. "

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Ron's smudged nose. Azalea and Periwinkle nervously tried to flatten their curly hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly. "

She left the chamber.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Azalea asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Ron didn't sound convinced.

After a few minutes of tedious waiting, Professor McGonagall returned.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though her legs had turned to lead, Azalea got into line behind Periwinkle, with Ron behind her, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.