Feasts and Hats
The boats docked in an underground cave of some kind. The first-years followed the giant man up a passage that lead onto a great big lawn. Not far off was the entrance to the castle. Maia stared at the huge oak doors in awe. The big man knocked on one of the doors, and it opened.
At first Maia thought the door had opened of its own accord, but then she saw a tiny little man. He was shorter than her, or any of the other first years. He was as small as the big man was large. “Here they all are, Professor,” said the huge man.
“Thank you, Hagrid!” said the little man in a squeaky voice. Hagrid, as the large man’s name appeared to be, made a clumsy bow. “Follow me, now,” said the little man, stepping aside to make room for all the first years to come through the great door. When all had come through, he pulled out his wand and closed the door.
The Entrance Hall was huge. It had a flagged stone floor, the walls were covered in torches, and straight ahead was a large, marble staircase leading to the upper floors. To their right were two gigantic doors. They could hear chattering from inside.
“Welcome to Hogwarts!” said the little man, smiling. “My name is Filius Flitwick, but that is Professor Flitwick to you. I teach Charms, and I am the head of Ravenclaw House. I am also the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts. This way, please.”
They followed him away from the big doors to their right, through a smaller door into a rather tiny chamber on the left hand side of the hall.
“Now,” said Professor Flitwick, “in a few moments, the Sorting Ceremony will begin, and you will each be sorted into a house. The houses are Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. You will be living in your house’s dormitory, spend your free time in your house’s common room, sit at your house’s table during meals and have classes with other members of your house. Now, if you would, please wait here for a moment and I shall go and check that everything’s in order."
He exited through the same door, leaving the first years alone. Maia looked around her at the terrified faces. “I don’t suppose anyone knows what will happen to us?” she asked uncertainly.
“Well, nothing bad, in any case,” said Wiktoria matter-of-factly. “My brother didn’t know any magic at all when he first came to Hogwarts, but he was sorted all the same and I think he would have told me if he had to do something very bad.”
“It’s no worries,” agreed Kristiana. “My mother was sorted into Slytherin. She told me it was no big deal, but she didn’t want to tell me what you have to do…”
The door opened again.
“Follow me in a row of two and two, please,” said Professor Flitwick. “Come now!”
They all lined up “ Maia was next to Wiktoria “ and followed the professor through the Entrance Hall into the Great Hall of Hogwarts. There were five tables there; four large tables where students were sitting and one slightly smaller table that appeared to be for the staff. Maia recognised Professor McGonagall, who was sitting in a large chair at the centre of the table. Above the tables candles hovered in midair, and the ceiling appeared to be non-existent, for she could see the sky and the stars and the moon above her.
The first-years lined up in front of the staff table, and before them, Professor Flitwick placed a small stool and an old, patched wizard’s hat. There was perfect silence now; everyone was staring at the hat.
A seam around the brim of the hat opened suddenly like a mouth, and the hat began to sing:
“Welcome to another year
At this, the finest school.
Welcome back the elders,
And welcome, all the new.
Here you will learn everything
Of magic things to find,
But remember, though you learn the same
You’re all one of a kind.
Some of you are Gryffindors,
The brave and good and true.
You’ll find that in this house of lions
Your friends are rarely few.
Some belong in Hufflepuff,
The friendly and the kind.
If you badgers have your differences
No one will really mind.
Some are best in Ravenclaw,
The studious and clever.
If you are once an eagle
You will fly free forever.
Some should dwell in Slytherin,
The cunning and ambitious.
If you’re a snake you’ll always try
To make yourself propitious.
So if you put me on your head,
I’ll tell you where to be.
The Sorting Hat will show you why
It’s good that I am me!”
Applause broke out amongst the tables, and the hat went still again. So it was no worse than trying on a hat? Maia felt like laughing out loud.
“Now, now!” piped Professor Flitwick. “Quiet down, please! Now, first years, I will call your names and you will come up here and try on the Sorting Hat one by one! Allan, Dominic!”
A very tall boy with a mop of curly, brown hair walked up to the hat with as much dignity as he could muster. He sat down, and the hat was placed on top of his head. A few seconds passed, and then the hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!”
The table to the far right exploded in applause and Dominic ran over to sit down. Professor Flitwick consulted his list again.
“Archer, Timian!”
A blonde boy with dark eyes scurried up and sat down on the stool. Professor Flitwick put the hat on his head, and shortly after, the hat shouted, “RAVENCLAW!”
The table second to the left clapped and shouted, and welcomed him among them.
“Black, Kristiana!” said Professor Flitwick, and Kristiana walked as confidently as she could up to the stool. The hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!” and Kristiana went down to the table on the far right, where she received handshakes and applause.
Maia nervously waited for her name to be called. Meanwhile, the boy she had shared a boat with, “Carson, Diego” was sorted into Hufflepuff. She gazed around the room, taking in details as more students were sorted. The tables were covered in gold plates and everything looked very majestic and big and extravagant. Well, it was a castle, she mused.
“Herod, Maia!” said Professor Flitwick.
Maia’s attention turned back to the old hat and she walked nervously up and sat on the stool. Then the professor put the hat on her head and everything went dark.
“Well, this is tough,” said a little voice. “You’re awfully difficult to place, my dear. You’re intelligent and creative, you want to go somewhere. You don’t let things stand in your way, do you? You’re also brave enough to stand up for what you believe in, and for your friends and family. Where should you go?”
“Wherever,” thought Maia nervously.
“Well, then, that’s a new answer,” chuckled the voice. “I had better put you in SLYTHERIN!”
The hat came off her head, and Maia ran to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Kristiana. She was greeted with grins and handshakes, but Kristiana leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You’d be better off not telling them you’re Muggle-born, you know.”
Maia took this to mind, as “Isakson, Nora” was sorted into Gryffindor.
She was surprised when, a moment later, she noticed a number of silvery see-through beings sitting along the tables. The one at the Slytherin table looked fearsome and surly, with silvery stains all over him. An older student noticed her staring and explained to her that these were the Hogwarts ghosts, and that the one at their table was the Bloody Baron. Maia shuddered.
Wiktoria was the last person to be sorted, and became a Ravenclaw. She waved to Maia and Kristiana on her way over to her table.
At the staff table, Professor McGonagall stood up, and motioned for everyone to be silent.
“Now that you have all been sorted, I would like to welcome each of you to another year at Hogwarts! I am sure you are all hungry, so I won’t keep you for long. I hope all the older students will treat their new house members well, and teach them to adapt to life here at Hogwarts. You may now enjoy the feast!”
And before Maia’s very eyes, the plates all over the tables filled up with food. Maia was sure she had never seen so much food in one place. She filled her plate with lamb chops and steak, and chattered merrily to Kristiana and a second-year girl called Emily Parkinson, who appeared to be Kristiana’s second cousin on her mother’s side.
When Maia thought she couldn’t possibly eat any more, the plates were wiped clean, and the food on the table was replaced with cakes, ice creams and puddings of every kind. Maia changed her mind and loaded her plate once again.
The conversation around Maia now turned to blood.
“Of course, blood is more important than anything,” said one of the new first-years, a skinny brunette with a pointed nose and eyes so bright blue they appeared to be white. “And I feel sorry for those who have no background, I really do. I myself am a Macnair, and, well, I’m sure everyone here is well aware of my family’s background.”
An older boy next to her snorted. “Oh, yes, of course,” he said smugly. “Your uncle got caught, so everyone will recognise your name, won’t they? My dad on the other hand…”
“Yaxley, shut up,” said a girl who sat across from him coolly. “Blood-feuds are way over-due.”
“Oh, yes, Clara, you’ll know all about that, won’t you?” Yaxley snarled. “You blood-traitor “”
“What I mean is,” Clara cut in loudly, “that this is hardly an appropriate topic of discussion the first day of a new school year. That goes for all of you. Just because Megalos is too incompetent a prefect to keep order, I am not.” She indicated a silver badge on her chest. A boy with a similar badge glared at her, fuming.
A tall, skinny boy to her left who looked about thirteen gave a snicker. “Megalos, you’re useless,” he said in an accent that Maia couldn’t quite place. “Useless!”
“Angér, your sycophancy is admirable,” said Clara with a small laugh.
When they had all finished eating, Professor McGonagall stood up again.
“Now that you’re all well fed, I will give a few notices. The Forest in the school grounds is out of bounds for all students. Our caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to inform you that any products from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes are still strictly banned, and a full list of banned items can be found on the door to his study in the dungeons. There will also be no use of magic in the corridors between classes. Quidditch captains can host try-outs at their own leisure during the next two weeks, and the first match will be in October, when Gryffindor will play Ravenclaw.
“I would also like to welcome our newest staff member, Professor Nymphadora Tonks, who will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts!”
A rather young witch with mousy brown hair and grey robes stood up and bowed to the applause she received. Kristiana whispered that that name seemed vaguely familiar.
“The prefects will now take the new first-years to the common rooms,” continued Professor McGonagall. “All your things have been brought to your assigned dormitories already, so there is no need to worry about that. Good night!”
Maia and the other Slytherin first-years followed the incompetent prefect Alexander Megalos out of the hall and down some stone steps into the dungeons. They were lead through several twisting corridors, and came to a halt in front of a blank stone wall.
“Felix Felicis,” said Megalos, and a stone door that had been concealed in the wall swung open to reveal an entrance through which they all walked.
The Slytherin common room was decorated with green chairs and carpets, and the stone walls were covered in green tapestries and silver chandeliers. A fire was roaring in a fireplace. There were two doors on one end of the common room, one that lead to the girls’ dormitories, and one that lead to the boys’. Megalos showed them which was which, and Maia walked through the door and up some steps to her dormitory with Kristiana and four other girls, Anna Maeves, Dora Thatcher, Miranda Jigger and the unpleasant pure-blood, Venus Macnair.
In the dormitory there were six four-poster beds with green hangings, and their trunks had been put at the foot of the beds. Maia went over to the bed she had been assigned to and found Oedipus purring on the covers.
They were all tired and, once they had changed and climbed into their beds, fell asleep almost instantly.