Harry Potter - Fanfiction

Year 1 - The Sorting Hat

We scale the great staircase as a door swings open in front of us and a tall woman, to which I recognize as Professor McGonagall, walks to a halt in front of us.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," says the tall, hairy faced man.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," responds the Professor.

She then turns to address the hundreds of little students in front of her, "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 ceremony 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."

As Professor McGonagall continues to explain, I struggle to hold my excitement; eager to find out which House I will be in and how the classes will be that we are taking, but most of all that banquet feast is calling my name.

"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 you 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 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."

Our attention on the Professor shifts abruptly as Neville calls out, "Trevor!" and hops down cupping his hands over his toad.

The Professors eyes linger for a moment on Neville as she speaks once again, "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."

She leaves through the doors that she walked through earlier; students can be seen ahead seated at stretched out tables chatting away, before the doors close yet again.

Within a matter of minutes, I see Draco sidle up in front of Harry, now grabbing the attention of everyone around them. "So, it's true then. They've been saying on the train that Harry Potter is here." He gestures to the two boys standing on either side of him, "oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle and my names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

I get distracted by my sister standing next to me, which couldn't be bothered with what was going on in front. Instead, she tugs my sleeve, "oh boy, what do you think we going to need to do? I bet it is a series of spells. I better go through them to see if I remember all of them." As if she is talking more to herself than me, she continues whispering on very fast about all the spells we learnt over the summer.

Instead, I try not to listen to her as my nerves start boiling up into my stomach. Although it is more a mixture of hunger and nerves combined.

I was so happy to hear from Professor McGonagall, on the night that she came to hand us our letters, that they do offer art as a subject, however I will have to wait for our Year Three in order to take it. It might be a bit of a wait, but nonetheless I am still ecstatic about it.

The double doors open once again, breaking me from my thoughts. "Now, form a line and follow me," says Professor McGonagall before leading us into the Great Hall.

My breath is completely taken away as we enter the Hall; the ceiling being lit by thousands of candles suspended in mid-air over the four long tables, to where the rest of the students are sitting, and above the candles is a black ceiling dotted with stars to mimic the sky outside. The book we read back home certainly did not do this room justice, as it is more magnificent than I ever could have imagined.