Stay - Theodore Nott

Chapter 7

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Kirra's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. 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.

Kirra 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, something about it seemed so familiar to the Potter girl.

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 honour. 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."

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Kirra swallowed. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" she asked Theodore who was standing next to her, he had been ignoring her since the boat ride.

"There's a hat that the four founders of Hogwarts made together, its placed on your head and identifies you're traits and then sorts you into the house that it thinks would be most suited to you." Theodore grumbled out to her and Kirra nodded her head softly.

A magic hat that could talk?

The four founders of the school?

She looked around anxiously and tried to see if she could spot here brother anywhere in the crowd but she was so short that she couldn't see over anyones head. Theodore noticed the anxious look on her face and sighed "Jesus Potter, do you ever take a god damn chill pill?" he said blankly and she ignored him.

No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Kirra tried hard not to listen to her. She'd never been more nervous, never, not even when she'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that she'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue and she knew that Harry would be feeling the same as she was right now.

She kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead her to her doom.

Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air — several people behind her screamed. "What the —?" She gasped. So did the people around her. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years.