The Sorting Ceremony
-Well I see talent, bravery, who else could have gone into that forest?-
“Come on, fir’s years! Fir’s years this way!” shouted a large man with a bushy beard, who was towering over all the students as they disembarked the train. He was holding a lantern and waving for the first years to follow him. Rachael, Remus, Sirius and James glanced at each other quickly and followed the man as he led them to a giant lake, sparkling as the moonlight reflected on the motionless water. On the coast there were several wooden boats that could seat four apiece. Of course, the large man needed a single one to himself.
The four friends took a boat and headed out onto the lake, following the man as he took them off into the distance. They traveled slowly over the water, looking around as though expecting something to happen. They passed through a tunnel of tree branches and then first set their eyes on Hogwarts Castle. Large and cavernous, tall torch lit towers, deep corridors, a ghost floated past the window. It was marvelous!
They docked on the shore and the man brought them up the stone steps, through a pair of giant double doors, and into the Entrance Hall. They went up a large marble staircase and found themselves faced with a strict-looking witch with her hair in a bun and was peering at the sternly through square rimmed glasses. She sized them up and then turned to the giant man.
“Thank you, Hagrid,” she said stiffly. “I will deal with them from here.”
The giant named Hagrid nodded and said, “Right, Professor McGonagall,” and was gone through another pair of doors.
Professor McGonagall gazed over the students before she began her speech to them.
“Okay, first years,” she said briskly. “In a moment you will enter through these doors,” she indicated the set of doors that stood behind her, “and will join your classmates. You will then be sorted by the school Sorting Hat into the four school houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own qualities and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are here, your house will be your family. Your achievements will earn your house points whereas rule breaking will lose them.
“Now, come along. I expect they’re ready for you.”
Completely fear stricken, all the first years followed the professor. She brought them into the Great Hall. In the hall were the four house tables, the staff table at the head of the room, candles were floating in mid air and the ceiling was an exact reflection of the sky outside. Rachael looked at the ceiling in awe and didn’t notice when she bumped into the girl standing in front of her. The girl stumbled forward and turned around to see who had bumped her. It was Lily from Diagon Alley.
“Oh sorry, Lily,” Rachael said, stepping back.
Lily smiled. “It’s okay. Rachael, isn’t it?” Rachael nodded. “So, are you nervous?”
Rachael looked up at the staff table, then to the patched and frayed Sorting Hat on the stool feet in front of them, then looked back to Lily and nodded.
Professor McGonagall called for quiet and the Sorting Hat’s rim split open and it burst into song:
There were four wizards of renown
Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin were their name
Pride in magic is what they hoped to gain
But they faced a great problem
How were they to choose?
Those who had what they seek
Yes it was me they had choose
I will pick those special those
Who possess what it takes
Who know what it makes
To be a wizard or witch
To learn every pitch
So sit down and don’t be shy
For it won’t be you who picks
It shall be I
Try me on and you shall see
Just where you ought to be”
The hall burst into cheers and the Sorting began.
“ABBOT, SUSAN!” Professor McGonagall called.
A small blonde haired girl walked nervously up to the Sorting Hat and sat, knees trembling, on the stool. The brim of the hat ripped open and it shouted for the entire hall to hear. “HUFFLEPUFF!”
Susan jumped off the stool, looking relieved, and ran to the Hufflepuff table. Next was a small boy named Alex Anderson, who became a Ravenclaw. Then it was Sammy Bickles (Slytherin), Maria Bian (Hufflepuff), and then,
“Black, Sirius!”
Sirius walked slowly up to the Sorting Hat and jammed it on his head. The hat took a long time before it decided where to put Sirius. Rachael wondered why, but then remembered what Sirius had said on the train - that his parents wanted him to be a Slytherin but he plainly didn’t want to be one. When it seemed as though Sirius was a lost cause, the hat yelled out, “GRYFFINDOR!” The Gryffindor table burst into wild applause as Sirius took an empty seat at the end.
Bullock, Sondra became a Slytherin, along with Bullstrode, Peter. Several people rolled by into the four houses, none seemed to have any difficulty. All seemed to be pretty set on one house, but Rachael still wasn’t sure if she’d make it into Gryffindor like she wanted. A few names later, it was Lily’s turn and she became the second Gryffindor out of the lot. There were few Slytherins here and there, a Ravenclaw in the bunch, a Hufflepuff or two. There were rarely any Gryffindors until Alice Gordon became one along with Frank Longbottom. Then, after Philip Lucidan was sorted in Ravenclaw, it was time for,
“Lupin, Rachael!”
Rachael was startled by her name being called that she nearly forgot to go up, but Remus shoved her from behind and hissed in her ear for her to move. She walked timidly up to the Sorting Hat and slowly placed it on her head.
“Hmm,” the hat said thoughtfully. “Yes, yes, I see... you don’t know where you want to be, aye? Well I see talent, bravery, who else could have gone into that forest?” Rachael was alarmed, it knew about the forest. “But I see in you a GRYFFINDOR!”
Utterly relieved, Rachael raced over to the Gryffindor table and slid into the seat next to Lily. She looked back up at the sorting.
“Lupin, Remus!”
Remus walked, trying to look calm, to the hat and sat down for a split second before the hat announced him as a Gryffindor. James became a Gryffindor, along with a little mousy boy named Peter Pettigrew, and Snape (whose first named turned out to be Severus) was a Slytherin (“Ha! What’d I tell you?” Sirius whispered triumphantly). The last student was sorted into Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall took the stool out of the hall, returning a minute later to slip into a seat next to Professor Dumbledore.
The Headmaster stood up and called for silence.
“Welcome to another fine year at Hogwarts,” he said, his blue eyes surveying the young witches and wizards around him. “Now, normally I do the announcements after the feast but this year I have an extremely important announcement that I feel cannot wait. As you all know, the forest on the edge of the grounds is off limits to all students, and I mean all students for those few troublemakers.” His eyes grazed over two or three students sitting at the Slytherin table. The ones he was referring to looked around, pretending to be innocent. “Now, we have a new plant on the grounds. It is called a Whomping Willow, which I am sure most of you have learned about in Herbology. It is a highly dangerous plant and I therefore warn you not to go near it. If you wish to lose a limb or two, then by all means go near it.” There was a chuckle or two from the first years, particularly from James and Sirius, but Rachael wondered why Remus didn’t join in.
“I am terribly sorry to be the one to tell you all that our beloved Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher has retired and will no longer be with us. But we have a replacement that I am sure you will most enjoy. Our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gregory Lupin.”
“DAD?” both Rachael and Remus sputtered out, causing the whole hall to snigger rudely.
Dumbledore, however, understood them.
“Yes, Mr. and Miss Lupin,” he said with a little laugh. “Professor Lupin has kindly agreed to fulfil the position and I hope you will all be respectful and learn a lot from him. Now, without further ado, let the feast begin!”
All the golden platters on the table were filled with every kind of food imaginable. Pork chops, lamb chops, roasted potatoes, fried potatoes... everything! The boys, Rachael and Lily felt quite ravenous and began loading up plates.
“That’s your dad?” Sirius asked as he stuck his fork into a pile of mashed potatoes.
“No,” said Remus in a mocking voice.
“We just said ‘dad’ because we felt like it,” Rachael joked.
Suddenly there was a stream of silver sweeping past them that seemed to be cackling manically. They turned around; it went past them again and began circling their end of the table laughing loudly and rudely screeching, “Ooooooh ‘ickle firsties! How fun!” It swooped through them to the table, picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes and dumped it on James’s head. James, fuming, took the bowl and flung it on the table and tried wiping the mashed potatoes out of his hair.
“Peeves!” The five looked to see Professor Lupin running towards them with his wand. He was looking at Peeves evilly. As the form of Peeves slowly came into view, they saw that he was a bright faced, evil looking ghost that was trying hard not to laugh. “Peeves, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Having firstie fun!” Peeves answered in a saintly voice. “Why doesn’t he look beeeuteful?”
Professor Lupin looked down at James, who was occupied with a stack of napkins and his hair. Professor Lupin walked over to James and tapped his wand on his head. Immediately James’s head was potato free.
“Thanks, Professor,” James said gratefully.
“So, I see you’ve all met Peeves?” Professor Lupin said looking at them.
They nodded.
“Is he always like that?” Sirius asked.
The professor nodded. “Only the Bloody Baron can control him. The Fat Friar, Nearly Headless Nick and the rest of the ghosts just like to stay as far away from him as possible. Well, actually, the Fat Friar feels sorry for him. So, are you eager to start classes?”
They all nodded half-heartedly. Professor Lupin started to walk away back up to the staff table.
“Hey, Dad?” Rachael said, catching him before he could leave. He turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Can I talk to you later or early tomorrow or something?”
He smiled and nodded.
Full to bursting with pudding, the first years followed the Gryffindor Prefect up to Gryffindor Tower. The Prefect showed them where their dormitories are; the girls were to the right and the boys to the left. Rachael went with Lily and Alice into the girls’ dormitory to find three beds and all their belongings had been brought up. Too tired to say anything to each other, they all went to sleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.