The door swings open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stands there. She has a very stern face and Aly'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 pulls the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit Aly's whole street in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They all follow Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Aly can hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school was probably already here — but Professor McGonagall shows the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall.
All the students crowd in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," says 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. I shall return when we are ready for you," says Professor McGonagall.
"Please wait quietly."
She leaves the chamber and Aly swallows.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses again?" She asks the other three.
"Some sort of test, I'm pretty sure," Noia replies.
"Yeah, it hurts a lot," Madi jokes.
Kim hits her softly on the shoulder, "Cut that out,".
She looks around at the other students and saw that everyone else looks terrified. No one was talking much except Hermione, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.
Then something happened that made her jump about a foot in the air several people behind her scream.
"What the —?"
She gasps. So does the people around her. About twenty ghosts has just stream through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glide across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seem to be arguing. What looks like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance. My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost -- I say, what are you all doing here?"
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights has suddenly notice the first years.
Nobody answers.
"New students!" says the Fat Friar, smiling around at them.
"About to be Sorted, I suppose?"
A few people nod mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
