Cursed|| Harry Potter [1]

Chapter 3

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face.

"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 huge. 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. Lyra 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. 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 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 honour. 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. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." Before leaving the chamber Professor McGonagall stared at Lyra. Every professor at Hogwarts knew of her condition and she couldn't be more grateful that they did not tell anybody.

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

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

Lyra rolled her eyes as she saw Harry get nervous.

"It's not going to hurt. You sit on a stool and a hat is placed on your head. It judges your character and puts in the right house." Lyra explained.

Lucius Malfoy had explained everything to his children because he wanted them to know how they would be sorted into Slytherin.

Lyra saw Harry relax.

"That's it? I'll kill Fred. He was going on wrestling a troll!" Ron hissed.

Lyra chuckled as Harry weakly smiled.

"How do you even know that?" Ron asked.

"My father told me." Lyra shrugged.

Lyra looked around and saw that nearly everybody was nervous. 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.