Aquarius Crouch's MAGICAL Adventure at Hogwarts

The Sorting Hat

The witch led them to a broom cupboard in the Entrance Hall.

'I am Professor McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts,' she said, while leading the way.

'So,' said Professor McGonagall, 'you are about to be Sorted. There are four houses to be sorted into: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each house has produced fantastic witches and wizards. This is an important part of your life at Hogwarts as your house will be sort of your family from now on. Any triumph of yours will earn your house points, but any rule-breaking, and points will be taken away. The house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honor. So, any questions?'

   Most of the first-years were cowering with anxiety at the very back of the broom cupboard, some looking as though poised for flight. Then the mousey-haired boy put his hand up.

'Yes, Creevey?' said Professor McGonagall.

'Er - Professor,' said the boy, 'h-how exactly are we g-going to be s-s-sorted?'

'That,' said Professor in a tone of such finality that everyone understood it was time for them to shut up, 'is a surprise, Creevey.

'Now come on, let's go, everyone is waiting,' said Professor McGonagall, beckoning them all towards the door of the broom cupboard. They did as they were told; everyone followed Professor McGonagall back into the Entrance Hall, further following her into a room that was surely the Great Hall.

Aquarius's jaw dropped.

   It was - he could find no more words - amazing. If he had thought that the Entrance Hall was massive, the Great Hall completely overtook that opinion, no competition at all. Thousands of candles were floating in mid-air, glowing, beautiful. The ceiling, Aquarius noticed, seemed to be non-existent. He could see tiny rain-drops falling from the blue-black sky littered with stars, clouds and the moon. There were five tables in the Great Hall. Four of them had banners of animals - the exact same animals on the Hogwarts letter - a golden lion, a silver serpent, a blue eagle, and a black badger. Each of these tables were bedecked with chattering students, young ones and teenagers. Behind the other table, which was centered and which, rose slightly more than the House Tables, some adults - who could only be the teachers - were sitting.

'Come on, all of you, form a proper line, you are all humans, not mad baboons,' Professor McGonagall's voice sounded as though from miles away. Aquarius snapped back to Earth at once.

'Now wait here, as I bring the ... the thing which will sort you,' said Professor McGonagall, once everyone settled down.

Then a babble of talk broke out among the first-years.

'How in hell are we going to be sorted?'

'Do we have to show our magical prowess?'

'Where is the bathroom!?'

   Aquarius was silent, shaking like a broken washing machine when overloaded with electricity. And just when he thought that he was going to be condemned to eternal misery, he heard one of the students behind him talking.

'How exactly are we going to be Sorted?' said a boy.

'I-I-I think we put on a hat and it d-d-decides which house we will be S-S-Sorted into,' said the boy called Creevey.

'WHERE IS THE GODDAMN BATHROOM!?'

   Aquarius felt his nerves calming down. He had been worrying for no reason. He just had to put on a hat and he would be Sorted. But, with relief, came new worries. How exactly was a hat going to Sort him? Did it have conscious thoughts? Was it going to interrogate the first-years and then decide what House they were going to be Sorted into? What if the hat decided that he, Aquarius, was not fit to be attending Hogwarts? So he started feeling the same nervousness as he did five seconds ago. While he was pondering the questions on his mind, Professor McGonagall returned with a stool and a patched and frayed hat which looked as if it was a thousand years old. Then she placed the stool, and put the hat in it, and went to the table where the teachers were sitting. All the people in the Hall stopped talking, and the silence made Aquarius even more nervous. Then, suddenly, a rip near the brim of the hat opened wide and it burst into song: