mavis weasley || harry potter [1]

TWO || The Great Hall

Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

Ron grabbed Mavis's hand and gave it a slight squeeze.

"Ronald," Mavis whispers to her brother, "You don't have to hold my hand."

Ron let go. "Oh, right, sorry."

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a stern face and Mavis's first thought that this must be Professor McGonagall that her brothers would go on about.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

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

She pulled the door wide open. The entrance hall was so big you could fit a whole circus 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 followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Mavis could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather close 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 your free time in your House common room. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, 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 you House points, while any rule-breaking 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."

Mavis watched her eyes linger on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear and on Ron's smudged nose. Mavis turned to Harry who was nervously flattening his hair.

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

She left the chamber. Harry turned to Mavis.

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

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot," said Ron.

"I'm sure Fred was joking about it hurting, Ron," said Mavis.

Mavis was nervous. She knew they were going to be sorted, but she didn't know it was based on a test. She had been studying, but what if it wasn't a skills test? Then what would she do? Mavis looked around the room and saw that all the first years seemed somewhat nervous. Ron looked as if he saw a ghost, Harry was starring straight at the door Professor McGonagall had just gone through, and Mavis could hear Hermione whispering different spells to herself.

Then a new thought came to Mavis's brain: If this is based on a test, are Ron and her going to be separated? Mavis knew she was much smarter, would she be the first Ravenclaw? She also knew that Ron was a loyal friend and brother, was he going to be the first Hufflepuff? What would their family say when they weren't sorted into Gryffindor like the rest? 

Nerves racked over Mavis's body until something happened that made Harry jump about a foot in the air and land on Mavis's right foot. 

"What was that for?"

Then several people behind them screamed. Mavis gasped and so did many people around her. 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 --"

"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 had suddenly noticed the first years.

Nobody answered.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose."

"Yeah," said Mavis, while others nodded mutely. 

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old House, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."

Mavis ran to get in line after Ron. With all the students pushing to get a spot in line, Mavis lost track of Hermione. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. 

Mavis was in absolute awe of the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. 

Mavis's eyes moved across the room looking at all the students. She looked over at the Gryffindor table and spotted her three older brothers. She waved over at them trying to get their attention. Percy was too focused on Professors to notice her while Fred and George were messing around. Losing interest in trying to get their attention, Mavis looked up to the ceiling to see what all her books were making such a fuss about, and there it was. The velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Bewitched to look like the sky outside. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.