The crowd of first years walked into the castle. All of their faces looked upwards, taking in shining stone tiled floor to the high arching roof and every moving painting in between. Scorpius and Cade continued to whisper with each other, pointing at various objects in the castle. Colt let out a long whistle and Albus let his jaw drop slightly. The students were broken out of their trance by a loud and clear voice.
"First years, welcome to your new home; Hogwarts." The first years all crowded around the witch. She stood in front of two large oak doors. Her small frame was illuminated by the torches on either side of the door. "My name is Lacey; however you will call me Professor Lacey." Professor Lacey smiled at the students through her small square frames. She swept a strand of bright purple hair behind her ear. Purple was strewn throughout her long severely straight hair. Albus took a look at her. Besides the bright purple highlights, she looked like someone he shouldn't cross. Professor Lacey continued on, "you will be going to a variety of classes over the school year. Some of them being, herbology, defense against dark arts, and potions, which I teach. There are four groups, or houses, here at Hogwarts: Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Although it's customary to play... tricks... on other houses, unsatisfactory conduct will result in the removal of house points. Exemplary conduct will result in the addition of house points. Whichever house with the most points will win the annual House Cup. Now, which house you will be in will be determined in a moment. Just remember, that though we are divided, we are all student of Hogwarts. Now if you'll follow me." Professor Lacey turned bounced on her heel before turning and pushing open the double doors.
The first years lined back up, walking behind the professor. They all looked around, mouths agape. Albus looked around him; candles were suspended in the air above five long oak tables. Four tables were lined with bright colors; green, blue, yellow and red. The last oak table was in the front. There, individual chairs were lined behind the table, facing the rest of the hall. Four tall chairs were centered in the middle of the table. Each chair had a corresponding color of a table, with a lining of silver, bronze, black or gold. Albus searched to find the tallest chair, one for the headmaster, and could find none. Unconcerned he turned back to the line, which had stopped in front of an old stool. On top sat his Hogwarts future; the Sorting Hat.
"Jeez, what happened to that thing?" Colt whispered to Albus pointing at the sad and worn hat. Albus whispered back.
"It looks even worse than what my dad said it to be." Albus looked at the seemingly mundane hat. Worn and patched, the hat sat there, slumped over. All attention was diverted to Professor Lacey, who cleared her throat.
"Students of Hogwarts, welcome! We hope you had a nice and restful summer, for a year of work and rigor is ahead of you. Now without further delay let's begin the sorting. Professor Velzer would you like to do the honors this year?"
Professor Lacey turned behind her to a prim, stern man sitting in the tall green throne chair. His mouth was set in a disapproving line, his hands creating a steeple in front of his face. "I'd rather not." He gazed over the crowd of first years with disinterest before setting his eyes on Lacey.
The Professor's jaw set and her eyes steeled before speaking "I'm sorry, you seemed to have misunderstood me. It wasn't really a question." She smiled at him, one that didn't reach her eyes. The man looked back at her with the same amount of disinterest as before. He then sighed before pushing off of his seat and standing to full height. He then walked around the table to the front of the hall, next to the stool. Professor Lacey nodded her head curtly at him before turning to the hall of students. She raised her arms above her head and yelled, "Let the Sorting begin!" The students all clapped excitedly as she sat in the tall bright blue chair, a bronze eagle carved into the back. All fell silent as folds of the hat created a mouth and began to speak:
