Lightning in a House of Serpents

Why is this hat judging people?

The large oak door swung open and out came a stern-faced witch with emerald-green robes. Harry immediately added her to his mental list of people not mess with as she seemed to be someone you wouldn't want to cross.

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

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

She was cut off by the same pudgy looking boy from earlier, who he remembered as Neville, diving in front of her screaming "Trevor!" The boy scooped up a toad and immediately blushed when he looked up at the professor. He mumbled an apology and descended back into the snickering crowd.

The professor merely raised an eyebrow and opened the doors to reveal a huge entrance hall. It was so big, Harry thought the entirety of the Dursley's house could fit inside. If Harry thought the outside of the castle was beautiful, he had no idea what to call the inside.

The ceilings were high and the lights gave off a beautiful twinkle, illuminating the fascinating structures of the walls and their decor. Everything seemed very old, but Harry thought that was what gave the building its charm.

Harry tried his best not to gawk too much, but Hogwarts was truly magnificent. He couldn't help having his mouth still open when Professor McGonagall started to explain the sorting to them. He didn't even realize she left until Draco elbowed him in the side.

"Honestly, Potter!" He exclaimed, "Have you never worn a tie or at least been taught how to tie one?"

He embarrassingly shook his head at Draco. Draco just huffed and started to redo Harry's tie and flatten down his collar. He tried to fix his hair too, but Harry had to explain that his hair would just stick back up no matter what was done to it.

Accidentally, Harry stumbled backwards and stepped on the robe of the person behind him. He turned around and saw that it was the robe of the same red headed boy from earlier. Harry tried to apologize, but he only received a glare and an eye roll.

Draco sent the boy a glare back and steered Harry more towards the front of the group next to Pansy and Theo.

Harry's heart was beating faster the longer they stood there. There was a lot of chatter around him and it was all about the sorting and what's done. Harry already knew how the sorting worked, but the nervous aura was affecting him. He didn't become any less nervous when he saw a bunch of ghosts drawing nearer to the crowd. He grabbed Draco's arm and pointed at them.

"Merlin, don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts!" Draco jokingly accused.

Harry pushed him lightly and told him where he could stick his comment.

The ghosts didn't get a chance to stay long as Professor McGonagall had returned and started to usher the students into a line. She then led them through a pair of double doors and into the Great Hall. Next to Harry, the same bushy haired girl from earlier kept whispering different facts about Hogwarts out loud, which was annoying some of the people around her. The boy with vibrant orangish hair kept looking at Harry and glared at him whenever he would whisper something to Draco. He wondered what his problem was.

The line of students stopped walking when Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool down in front of them and placed an old beat up hat on it. The hat gave a little twitch and then started to sing.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,