Lyra The Daughter of The Most Loyal Death Eater (Book 1)

Chapter 4. Great Hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~Edited~*~*~*~*~*~

The doors from the entrance hall opened. And a long line of scared-looking first years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, there was a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and darned with a rip near the frayed brim.

The buzz of talk in the Great Hall faded away. The first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and Professor McGonagall placed the stool in front of them, then stood back.
The first years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight.

The whole school waited with belated breath. Then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the Sorting Hat burst into song:

In times of old when I was new
And Hogwarts barely started
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted:
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning, To make the world's best magic school
And pass along their learning. " together we will build and teach!"
The four good friends decided
And never did they dream that they
Might someday be divided,
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffndor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Revenclaw?
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friends fail?
Why, I was there and so can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry is purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those
Intelligence is surest"Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach those where
With brave deeds to their name"
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot,
And treat them just the same." These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light,
For each of the four founders had
A House in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him,
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest,
And taught them all she knew,
Thus the Houses and their founders
Retained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four,
Had once held up our school,
Now turned upon each other and,
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end,
What with dueling and fighting
And the clash of friend on friend
And last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
As they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
Because that is what I'm for,
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether Sorting
May not bring the end I fear
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within.
I have told you, I have warned you. . . .
Let the Sorting now begin.

The hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, when everything died down again Professor McGonagall
Lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out,
"Abercrombie, Euan." The hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted, " GRYFFINDOR!" We Slytherin's all booed when it said that. And the Gryffindor's booed when someone joined us, slowly the line of first years thinned; finally Professor McGonagall called the last name, "Zeller, Rose" and she want to join the Hufflepuff table. McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and marched them away as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, a beaming smile on his face, "welcome! To our old hands - welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!" There was an outbreak of applause as Dumbledore sat down. Food appeared out of nowhere, there were pies and dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and flagons of pumpkin juice, I took a little bit of everything.

I looked over at the head table and saw a woman in lots of pink. "Hey Rose, do you think who is that is at the head table?" I asked and pointed my hand at the lady in pink. "She's the new DADA teacher I think. But she's wearing a little to much pink don't you think Liz?" Rose asked. "Yes. It would be a shame if something were to happen to them, make them turn oh I don't know. blue or black or maybe green?" I said and we both started to laugh.

Dumbledore got to his feet once more. We stopped laughing and turned to face the headmaster as did everyone else. "Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," said Dumbledore. "First years ought to know that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now too." He said. " is it just me or was he looking at us when he said that?" I asked Rose. " I think he looked at us and the Weasley twins and they're friend." She replied.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me, for he tells me is the four hundred and sixty-second time, to remind you all that magic is not permitted in corridors between class, nor are a number of other things, which can be checked on the extensive list now fastened to Mr. Filch's office door. We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking  Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was a round of polite but fairly unenthusiastic applause. Dumbledore continued, "Tryouts for this year's House Quidditch teams will take place on the -"

He broke off, looking at Professor Umbridge. As she was not much taller standing then sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge said, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech. Dumbledore only looked taken aback for a moment, then he sat back down smartly and looked alertly at Professor Umbridge as though he desired nothing more then to listen to her talk. Other members of staff not as adept at hiding their surprise. Sprout's eyebrows had disappeared into her flyaway hair.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Umbridge simpered, "for those kind words of welcome." Her voice was high-pitched, and little girlish, she did that weird ("Hem, hem,") thing again and continued: "Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. I said. "Maybe she's a werewolf. Wouldn't be the first time we had one as a teacher," "Or maybe she's a vampire and she's here to suck the blood from first years." Said a boy in sixth year. " Liz, Joe, stop it you're scarring him." Rose said pointing towards a first year who was sitting next to Joe. "Sorry." I said. "Don't worry we were just joking." Joe said. I turned back to Dumbridge who was still talking. "- looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!" "No thanks I'm good." I mumbled. Rose was trying not to laugh at that, But was not doing a good job at it, Next thing I know everyone's getting up and walking out of the Great Hall.