The Blessed One

Chapter Five~The Sorting Ceremony

As we walked into the hall, many of my fellow first years gasped at the sheer majesty of it all. It was lit by thousands upon thousands of candles which were floating around the hall, over the four large house tables. The last time me and James had been here, there had just been a large table in the centre of the hall, where we ate our meal before sitting in Dumbledores office for the meeting. They have never bothered taking me and James out of the order meetings, as we have always found a way of listening in. Anyway, this time the hall looked significantly grander, and more magical. Haha, I've just realised the irony there! The four tables were each laid with glittering with golden plates and goblets. Not glasses. Goblets. FANCY! Sorry, off the point. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.
Mini led us up the isle, separating what i guessed were the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, judging by their robes, and we came to a halt in a long line, facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. I glanced up at the ceiling to see the beautiful velvety black night sky, dotted here and there with stars. I knew it was bewitched to look like the night sky, as I had practically begged my dad to do it to the ceiling in my bedroom back at home, as the first time we had come to Hogwarts I loved it so much. I loved looking at the stars before I fell asleep, so i was particularly good at Divination and Astronomy . It also helped that I am a seer. We found out when I had predicted James would slip on my dads rubber chicken, thus falling down the stairs and break his arm. No one believed me until the next day when he did, indeed fall down the stairs after tripping over the mighty rubber chicken. The only thing I didn't predict was that he would make a grab for the nearest object, to try and break his fall. That nearest object was me. Together we plummeted down the stairs. I broke my leg.
I glanced down, only to see Mini placing a four-legged stool in front of us. Atop the stool she put a pointed Wizards hat. This hat was rather disgruntled. It was patched and frayed around the edges. It was also extremely dirty. My mum and dad told me about this hat. It was placed on your head, and read your thoughts to determine which house to put you in. Everyone began to stare at the hat, and all previous conversations ceased. Then the hat began to twitch. A particularly bad rip opened wide, and a sort of mouth was formed, and the hat began to sing. 'Well! They didn't tell me about that bit!' I thought angrilly.
"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,
For I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
you might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave of heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart,
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil,
Or yet Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind,
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make you're real friends
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a thinking cap!"
The whole Hall had burst into a round of applause as the hat finished it's song. It bowed to each of the tables, then once again, became quite still.
Mini then came forward holding a large scroll in her hands.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat, and sit on the stool to be sorted." She told the first years.
" Avery, Daniel!"
A tall, burly boy walked over to the stool, picked up the hat, put it on his head, and slumped onto the stool. After a moments pause, the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" And the silver and green table began to cheer.
"Black, Andromeda!"
This time, a girl with long black hair, flowing down to the small of her back, stepped out of line and stepped up to the stool. Once she had sat down, the hat perched on her head, you could see her face properly. She had a small resemblance to Sirius, and my first thought was 'they must be family'. This time, the hat took longer in deciding the house. Eventually, it called "SLYTHERIN!"
"Black, Sirius!"
"Good luck!" I whispered to him. He turned and smiled at me.
He sat down, and put the hat on his head. I soon noticed that Sirius had scrunched his face up slightly, as if having a mental conversation with the hat. After around five minutes, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Causing many gasps around the hall, but none more so than the Slytherin table. One girl, who had a large mane of wild messy black hair, that looked like she had been struck by lightning, stood up and screamed at Sirius, "YOU GET BACK ON THAT BLOODY STOOL, AND PUT ON THAT BLOODY HAT, AND TELL IT TO SORT YOU INTO SLYTHERIN, YOU FILTHY BLOODTRAITOR!" She had an almost crazy look in her eyes.
"Oh shut up, Bellatrix!" yelled Sirius as he walked over to the red and gold table, "Go stick your hands in a fusebox!" And with that he bowed to the laughing students before sitting down.
Next I heard Mini call out,
"Evans, Lily!"
And Lily sat down on the stool, with her ankles crossed and her hands clutched together in her lap. She looked very nervous. But after a few seconds, the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR" she got up, flashed me and Sev a smile, then went to sit opposite Sirius, and she began to introduce herself.
I then zoned out, until I heard my name.
"Heartweather, Silverwell, Rose!"
There were a few gaps from the purebloods, as my parents wanted to give me both of their names, and they are both ancient pure-blooded families of Gryffindor.
I slowly made my way up to the stool, where I sat down. The last thing I saw before placing the hat on my head, was Dumbledore giving me a discreet wink.
Hmm, the hat said in my ear, your a difficult one aren't you? I guessed that was a rhetorical question. Where do you belong? You are extremely powerful, plenty of hidden talents. Ah I see, and a prophecy! And an important one too! What prophecy? I thought to the hat. Not the time. It replied absentmindedly. You would do well in all the houses! It exclaimed, clearly frustrated. Ah, I know! The prophecy shows that you would do best in Gryffindor, so... Who should argue with fate?
"GRYFFINDOR!" I then stepped down from the stool, gently placing the hat back upon it, and ran to sit next to Sirius.
"Are you okay?" Asked Lily above the noise of the applause, "You were sat there for ages! You look a bit pale actually." She observed. It didn't seem that long, did it? I thought to myself, before answering.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied absentmindedly.
"Are you sure?" Sirius asked me. I simply nodded my head.
Before Sirius could say anything else, Mini shouted
"Lupin, Remus!"
Remus strode up to the stool and sat down, before jamming the hat on his head, clearly very eager to learn of his house.
After a moment, the had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" And Remus began to make his over to me and Sirius. He sat down next to Lily, grinning at us.
Sirius then started talking to Remus excitedly about us being in the same house, and Lily and Remus were aquainted. Remus and I soon discovered that she loved to read also, so we began to talk about 'the Chronicles of Narnia', until we heard James' name being called by Mini.
He was barely sat there a second, before the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
He then strutted towards us and sat in between me and Sirius, where we hugged and laughed together, over the fact that we were in the same house. That was what we had always wanted. Other than a dog... Anyway...
I had soon introduced Lily to him and they were chatting, when we heard,
"Snape, Severus!"
We saw as he shuffled up to the stool and sat down.
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat called quickly.
"Oh dear," muttered Lily, "I wish he got Gryffindor."
"Don't worry, we'll go see him tomorrow!" I assured her.
We just heard the end of the boys conversation.
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Sirius laughing at whatever James had said, "What a greasy haired git!"
Whoever that person is, I feel really bad for them, having to suffer the taunts of James and Sirius.
By the end of the Sorting Ceremony, we had quite a few Gryffindors sat with us.
Two sweet girls came along, called Alice Prewett and Marlene McKinnon.
Marlene sat next Lily, and Alice sat next to Marlene, and a boy named Frank Longbottom sat next to Her. Dumbledore then stood up, and simply clapped his hands.
Not a second later, the tables were suddenly lined with food, and we all dug in.