𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

Chapter 4

The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant.

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

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big. 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. Lucifer 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. 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 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."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair. Lucifer was trying to straighten his tie but Hermione got irritated so she corrected his tie herself . Not even minding the stares she is getting from others .

"You've got a strand of hair - n
there..." Lucifer said to Hermione as she was busy doing his tie, "Here..." he reached and carefully took the hair away from her face.

"Thanks," Hermione said while
blushing furiously, when she heard some giggling behind her.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Lucifer heard Harry ask Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

Lucifer got excited and cracked his knuckles and back muscles causing some weird noises which were giving small butterflies in Hermion's stomach . He hadn't expected something like this but the moment they arrived. He looked around and saw that everyone else looked 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 ignoring the weird feeling in her stomach .

Then something happened that made Lucifer and the other First Years jump about a foot in the air -- several people behind him screamed.

"What the --?"

He gasped. So did the people around him. 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. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance--"