"It's starting, it's starting!" Lyne exclaimed grinning. Almost directly addressing Lyne the man who announced the story exclaimed "Silence!" All the chattering going on had come to an abrupt stop, and everyone was extremely nervous. He pulled out his wand, flicked it, and a piece of parchment flew to him. "First.." he read the parchment "Mary Amner" A timid girl with blonde-ish hair stepped out from a small group of girls. She slowly hobbled to the small circular platform with the school logo on it, and stared up at the statues. The headmaster stepped to the side, his black hair staying in place due to the tremendous amounts of gel. Nothing seemed to be happening, as the girl just stood there looking at the statues. All of a sudden, the odd looking bird sprung to life, and began to fly around the room. "Wow!" Lyne exclaimed. Oohs and Ahhs were heard around the room. "THUNDERBIRD!" the headmaster announced, and the statue returned to its place as Mary scurried off to a side door, and up to join the older students on the balconies. "Next.. Lucas Cooper!" A small brown haired boy ran up, and Jack began to zone out. He imagined all of his good times he would have, racing around on a broom, exploring the vast castle, even swimming in the lake during the warmer days. By the time he snapped out of it, most people had been called. "Brianna Arnson!" He heard the headmaster say. That must mean he that it wasn't in alphabetical order. Still left in line, was this pretty tall girl, Atticus, Lyne, Olivia and himself. They all stood awkwardly around, staring at the sorting. "Pukwudgie!" Mild clapping was heard, as she rushed up. "Lucy Cadere!" She ran onto the circle, and the Horned-Serpent almost immediately lept up. "HORNED-SERPENT!" Jack looked around, only four left. "Good luck." He whispered to Lyne and Atticus, Olivia was standing awkwardly to the side. The headmaster stared at them. "Alright!" He said, looking at Lyne. "Lyne Mills!" Lyne glanced back at Jack, and walked to the podium, his nerves only showing now. He just stood on the cylinder there, and nothing seemed to happen for 30 seconds, and then... he started dancing. Outbursts of laughter were heard around the hall, and Jack had trouble concealing his grin. Lyne was shimmying his body, doing odd signs and dances, and twirling around. The headmaster, clearly unimpressed by this frowned, but that didn't stop everyone from howling with laughter. The Wampus statue finally burst to life, and began dancing as well, mimicking his movements. Lyne was smiling wide, and hurried off to the side. "Olivia Huges!" Olivia walked forward, and stood very solemnly on the spot. After about 30 seconds of this, the Wampus eyes lit up, and it nodded it's head. Jack glanced at Atticus, grinning at him, Atticus managed a weak smile. Jack was nervous, but excited to be one of the last people, and he beamed. "Atticus Thompson!" Atticus silently belched, and walked forward, unsteady and uneasy onto the platform. He stood there, clenching his stomach, his face a pearly white, instead of it's usual green shade. After a few minutes, the Wampus, for the third time came to life and it twirled around. "Wampus!" The headmaster exclaimed, and Atticus exhaled as he hurried off to the side. Jack could have sworn he heard the sounds of someone puking near after that. "Which leaves.." The headmaster stared at Jack. "Jack Williams."
Jack looked around, up and down, and was ready to be sorted. He dragged his blue robe along the floor, and got onto the platform, looking upwards at the statues, particularly at the Wampus. "This is it-" Jack muttered under his breath, but was interrupted. The air had gotten freezing cold, and shadows spread out across the hall. "Wha..?" "Hey!" "Huh?" Chatter could be heard through the hall, and Jack spun around looking everywhere. "What's going on..?" the headmaster asked, looking around, examining the situation. Jack looked to the side, and saw a nervous expression on Lyne's face. All of a sudden, the entrance doors behind Jack slammed apart, almost breaking. Spinning around, he saw an odd ghost, with terrible features, and was extremely scared. "GAUNT!" The headmaster yelled! Jack wanted to run, but he felt if as he was frozen to the side. Screams could be heard from the particularly older children, the younger ones didn't seem as scared, but still wary. "STAY BACK!" The other professors yelled, trying to get everyone in order. The ghost glided past Jack, and he stared at her, a nasty grin spread across her face. "I've come back to take what's mine-!" Before the ghost could finish, the headmaster swiftly grabbed into his robes, and pulled out a weird looking weapon, almost a crystal sword. He swept it at the ghost, and within an instant she was gone. Jack exhaled, thinking he it was over, whatever it was. He was wrong.
Less than 5 seconds later, the statues lit up, glowing golden, and vibrating. Jack looked in horror at it, and the headmaster as-well. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" He yelled, students were screaming again. "PICK! PICK NOW!" A terrible voice rang through the hall, every word it spoke hurt Jacks ears, and he tried to cover them. "PICK A HOUSE NOW!" The statues were shaking even harder now, almost jolting from their spots. The voice was utterly terrible, all the students were covering their ears, trying to stop it. "NOW!" Jack looked around in horror. "A-a house?" He said, almost to himself. "YES!" The voice yelled back, wind was picking up now and swelled across the hall. "Uh-uh...-uh..!" Jack stared at the wampus, and within a split second decision he nodded. The voice stopped, and so did the wind, and Jack collapsed onto his butt and sat there. The headmaster stood, looking around, and up at the students. The majority were on the ground, the pain from the voice, and the wind overwhelming them. Jack placed his face in his hands, trying to catch his breath. What was that, he thought, why did that just happen. It was a strange quiet, everybody just catching their breath, after the scary experience. "Well-!" The headmaster tried speaking again, however he was interrupted one last time, by the utter shaking of the Wampus statue. It began shaking, it's gold shining light vibrating extremely quickly. Everybody's eyes were on it, fearing what could happen next. Jack was fearful, being so close to it. And as it opened, and screams echoed through the hall, even more shrill then before, and the professors sprinted at the broken statue, as it split in half, wanting to get rid of it. And Jack sat there, wrapped up in his blue robes, staring at the body, the dead body of none other than Gormliath Gaunt.
