𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔. - golden trio era au

₀₆ ♙ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

♙

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

♙

The large front doors swung open to reveal a stern looking witch. Her black hair, flecked with greys was tied in a tight knot at the back of her head and she wore a set of deep emerald green robes over her tall figure. "The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid in a polite tone that Dawn had never heard him utilise in the short time she had known him.

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall. "I will take them from here."

She pulled the door open wide to reveal the Entrance Hall; it was so large you could probably run laps around the place. The towering stone walls were lit with flaming torches whose light did not reach the ceiling and a set of magnificent marble stairs stood before them, leading to the upper floors. Professor McGonagall took them past another set of doors, behind which they could hear the drone of hundreds of voices, and into a much smaller chamber. They crowded too close together and looked nervously around the empty room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall greeted. "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 rule-breaking will loose 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." Her eyes lingered on Neville's cloak which was fastened under his ear, the dirt still on Ron's nose and Dawn's untied shoelaces. "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." The moment that she exited the hall, a quiet buzz of chatter rippled through them and Dawn bent down to do her shoelaces.

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

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred says it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." It was clear by the look on Ron's face that he didn't entirely believe his own words and so Dawn tried her best to think of anything but what lie ahead. 

She recounted the stories she read in her new history books, she thought of daisies, of the pretty lady who passed them that morning on the train platform, she thought of her mum and how badly she wished she could hug her again, of how one of her shoelaces was now just a bit too tighter than the other. She was just reciting the opening words of her favourite novel in her head when something else happened. Several people towards the back of the group screamed and she pulled Harry closer to her side.

About twenty or so pearly, translucent ghosts had just appeared through the stone walls. They glided through the air and hardly acknowledged the first years gawking up at them. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument. A portly little monk was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar," said a second, wearing tights and many ruffles. "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?" The ghosts had suddenly noticed them but nobody answered, so Dawn decided to speak up, albeit quietly.