The Girl Who Never Lived¹ | h. potter

💎Chapter 6💎

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Ciara became a little worried about what would happen if she crossed her.

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

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," she said. She had a strong Scottish accent that had taken Ciara aback with surprise. She had never heard a Scottish accent before.

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit a whole muggle house in it. 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.

Ciara could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, and it set her more on edge than she already was. That must be where the rest of the school is, she thought to herself. She waited for the Professor to open the door, 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," 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 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 rulebreaking 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."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair and Ciara began to clean her nails, a nervous tactic that she developed over the years.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber and Ciara continued to clean her nails. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" she heard Harry whisper to Ron. "Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

'At least we have a higher pain tolerance,' she thought to him, jokingly. Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet -- what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. And what if Ciara got hurt? She was already hurt enough at home, he didn't want it to happen here too.

He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. Even Ciara looked uneasy too, and that was saying something. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.

Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he had to leave school early because he had somehow turned his teacher's wig blue(he had sure paid the price for that.) He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead them to their doom.

Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air--several people behind him screamed.

He heard Ciara gasp beside him, "What the --?"