So it Goes (pjo x hp) rtb/wtm

~|6| The Sorting Ceremony~

EXT. HOGSMEADE STATION - HOGWARTS - NIGHT

As the scarlet engine hisses to a stop, Iris and the others spill out. Iris's robes shimmer grandly, while Ron's secondhand silks show a bit too much sneaker.

HAGRID: Firs' years! Firs' years over here!

Hagrid gives Iris a wink as he comes loping out of the darkness, swinging a lamp. Ron, preoccupied with wiping his nose clean on his robes, stops, dumbstruck by Hagrid's size.

EXT. BLACK LAKE - NIGHT - MOMENTS LATER

A fleet of tiny boats glides silently over a glassy lake. Iris rides with Ron, Hermione, and Neville Longbottom, gazing at the dark trees of the forest that surrounds them. A glint of silver flickers through the black trees, like a dream. Iris watches, transfixed, then...

HAGRID: You there! Don' be trailin' yer fingers in the water. Yeh might find yeh don' get "em all back.

Iris turns and sees that Hagrid is speaking to a pointy-faced boy (DRACO MALFOY) Malfoy eyes Hagrid darkly, and whispers to a pair of thick-looking boys (CRABBE and GOYLE). Iris peers into the black water, sees her pale face looking back, and then a soft glitter of reflected light dances on the surface. She looks up and watches a magnificent castle drift into view. Hogwarts.

"You went to school there?" asks Athena. Sally nods at the goddess even if she doesn't know about how the other gods are except the ones that Percy has complained about before. Poseidon glanced at Sally for a quick moment and thought about how the school she went to was surrounded by water and how lots of his domain was near her at the school.

"That looks so nice on the outside and look at that architecture," Annabeth exclaims while looking at the castle in awe.

INT. ENTRANCE HALL - HOGWARTS CASTLE - NIGHT

Iris and the others enter a grand entryway lit with flaming torches. PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL, a rather severe-looking witch in an emerald cloak, stands before a pair of towering doors. She lifts her chin and surveys the new students.

PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL: Welcome to Hogwarts. In a moment; you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your Houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While here, your House is, in many ways, your family. Your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose points. At the end of the year, the House with the most is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you...

Just then, a rather large toad springs forth, and croaks.

NEVILLE: Trevor!

Neville, blissfully relieved, gathers his toad, then peers up from the hem of Professor MeGonagall's robes.

PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL: ...will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily.

"She said that exactly the same speech before my sorting," George says. Sally just shrugs at him.

"She also said that speech at my sorting too," Teddy says.

"I guess she does the same speech every year for the first years," Sally responds back. Ginny also nods because Mcgonagall said that speech at her sorting.

Professor McGonagall glowers at Neville and then exits. As she goes, there is a brief clamor of sound from the students waiting in the Great Hall beyond.