Chapter 2
An Unexpected Sorting Ceremony
“OW! Stop pushing!”
“Well, move faster!”
One by one, sometime by twos, three, or fours, the students pushed their way off the train. The first year students seemed especially eager to get out onto the platform. In the rush of it all, Albus had lost Rose. He tried to pick out her face in the dim, bobbing light, or the face of anyone else he might recognize among the many dozens. Slowly, he began to feel the butterflies creeping into his stomach, and with that feeling, the fear of the idea of not being brave also began to resurface.
“All firs’ years over here!” Albus heard a loud voice sound above all others. “Firs’ years over here!”
Even in the dim light, Albus could easily recognize large form towering over the heads of the other students. Pushing his way through the crowd, getting shove back a few times himself, Albus emerged at the front of the first year group and was rewarded with a wave and a hearty “’ello”.
“Hagrid!” exclaimed Albus, happy to see a familiar face. “Oh, sorry; Professor Hagrid.”
“S’alright, young Albus,” Hagrid assured him with a bushy smile, “but don’t think that Professor stuff ‘ill get ye out of coming to tea like you promised.”
“Don’t worry,” Albus promised him. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Al’ight, all the firs’ years here?” Hagrid repeated once again as the last of the student crowded around him. “Okay, follow me. Watch yer step!”
Hagrid led Albus and the others along a well-worn, but completely dark path. The hushed whispers mixed with the sound of stumbling steps as the blind students felt their way through the dark.
“We’re almost at the lake,” Hagrid announced. “Yeh’ll get yer first looks at Hogwarts very soon.”
Directly in front of them, perched along the ledge of the mountains, stood Hogwarts Castle, more miraculous looking than Albus had ever heard it described in words. Apparently, Albus was not alone in his opinions. All around him, the quiet chatter had ceased completely as his future classmates joined him in craning their heads up towards the view.
“No more’n four to a boat,” Hagrid told everyone as he pointed to a small fleet of rowboats at the edge of the lake.
Feeling a push from behind him, Albus reluctantly made his way towards the boats. He still had not found Rose and didn’t see her in any of the boats off to his sides. The other three students that he shared the boat with included a small blonde girl with freckles who could only be described as adorable, a dark haired, dark eyed boy who kept his gaze on the castle, and a jittery little girl with pale brown hair whose head turned in every direction.
“Everybody set?” Hagrid shouted. “Alright”FORWARD!”
With a sudden lurch, all the boat move simultaneously forward onto the dark lake. A cool wind blew against the students, who clutched at their robes, and the waves gently rocked them from side to side.
In the glinting lantern light ahead of him, he was able to make out the shape of Rose. He tried to get her attention by shouting and waving, but Rose kept her head down, clutching her book bag tightly. Could people get seasick if they weren't technically at sea? Even with the poor lantern light, he could tell that Rose did look a little green.
Suddenly, everyone in the boat fell forward as the boats hit land, not so gently. The underground cavern they now journeyed through was dripping wet and gave a sharp echoing sound as four dozen pairs of shoes scampered across the pebbles and loose earth.
When the stony path gave way to grass, there was finally enough light to see a large door in front of them. Hagrid gave three loud banging knocks before the doors opened to reveal yet another face familiar to Albus.
Less dirt-clad than usual and trying to maintain a dignified expression, was Neville Longbottom: Herbology professor, Head of Gryffindor House, and a long time friend of their families, as well as Albus’ godfather. The difference in demeanor and stance came as a little bit of a shock to Albus, who was used to the Neville who would visit out of the blue, and sneak treats to the Potter children when no one was looking. When in the comfortable setting of home, Neville had always been a kind and understanding person. Would all that change now that his role had changed to Professor Longbottom?
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” he said as he smiled at the new students. “The start-of-the-term banquet will start very soon, but before that, you will be seated in the Great Hall, and before that, you will be sorted into your houses.”
Albus heard a few very distinct sound gulps from the students behind him. At least he knew he wasn’t the only one that was nervous.
“While you are here, your House will become somewhat of a family to you. You will go to classes together. You will sleep in the dormitories with them, eat in the Great Hall with them, and spend your free time in your common rooms with them.”
Speaking of families, when Albus looked to his side, he saw that Rose had finally found him. He was immensely relieved to see a familiar face, but he noticed his cousin still looked a bit green and shaky. He wondered if she would even eat anything during the feast.
“They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin,” Professor Longbottom listed, though it was clear from the tone of his voice, which houses one did not want to get sorted into. “Throughout the year, House points will be granted or taken away based on merit. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup.
“I won't keep you waiting any longer. If you'll follow me, we are ready to begin the Sorting Ceremony.”
Before leading them into the Great Hall, Professor Longbottom looked Albus straight in the eyes and gave him a smile and a wink. At that moment, Albus gave a sigh of relief, knowing that the proper Neville was mostly a show.
When the giant doors of the Great Hall opened, there was yet another collective awe among the first year students. Between the floating candles, the ceiling bewitched to look like the night sky, the high table of their future teachers, and Headmaster Flitwick, who barely sat with his chin above the surface; it was almost too much to take in at once. As they walked down through the row between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, Albus watched as he and Rose were greeted by James, eight of their cousins from the Weasley family, and several people who simply knew the name Potter.
At the very front of the hall, at the top of a small staircase, stood a stool with a very old, very worn hat slumped on top of it. That hat became the focus of attention for most of the students in the hall, except for a few naïve first year who did not know the hats significance. But when Professor Longbottom climbed to the top of the stairs, and stood next to the hat, something happened that gained the rest of the hall’s occupant’s attention. A rip in the hat opened like a mouth, and the hat burst into song.
“Here we are yet again,
Like all the years before,
Students, they have come and gone,
But always, we find more.
And it’s my job to sort them
All into their respected houses,
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
Yes, you can bet your blouses
You may not understand my decisions now,
You make think me a fool,
But I will do what’s best for you,
That is my only rule.
Now that may be in Gryffindor,
Should I find you have the nerve,
For you may well be call upon,
To fight, defend, and serve.
Or maybe perhaps in Hufflepuff,
If you desire to prove yourself,
Fair play and hard work shall be your path,
If that’s the hand you’re dealt.
But still, then, there is Ravenclaw,
Where if you can make the grade,
The world will be your oyster,
If you can use your brain.
Despite your thoughts on Slytherin,
And its checkered past,
With cunning friends and street smarts,
They’ll never finish last.
So step on up now, don’t be shy,
There’s nothing here to fear,
For if you weren’t worthy of this school,
You wouldn’t even be here!
There was a loud roar of applause, the loudest coming from the new first-years, as soon as the song was finished. When it died down, Professor Longbottom picked up the hat with one hand, and in the other, he let a long roll of parchment unroll towards the floor.
“Now, I’m going to read your names off in alphabetical order. When you hear your name called, come and take a seat upon the stool, and you will be sorted into your Houses,” Professor Longbottom explained, turning his eyes towards the parchment. “Ackerbare, Helen.”
Albus felt a gentle push at his back, as he watched the first student make her way through the crowd, up the steps, and onto the stool. Professor Longbottom placed the hat over her head, which was so big on her, as it nearly came down to her nose.
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Ackhart, Georgia.”
A curly-haired girl walked up to the platform with an air of false confidence. When the Sorting Hat was place on her head and over her eyes, she took a sharp intake of breath.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
When the hat was lifted off her head, the girl smiled a winning smile as though she knew she had just gotten into the best house in Hogwarts.
“Lucky!” Albus muttered under his breath as Georgia took her seat among the Gryffindors.
This was going to take a very long time. A boy behind Albus yawned loudly as Baker, Nicole was the first to be sorted into Hufflepuff. Albus shifted from his left foot to his right, and then back again. Yes, a very, very long time.
“Bletchley, Maris.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
Albus looked out onto those seated at the Gryffindor table. When he did, nearly half the table waved at him, prompting him to wave back weakly. Most of the faces see saw, he didn’t recognize. But as he scanned the smiling crowd, he was finally able to find a few people his seen at least twice in his life.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur’s children, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis were sitting at the front, closest to the first-years. Unlike their older sister, Dominique and Louis were just as much Weasleys as the rest of the family was. Louis had the famous Weasley red hair and freckle, with gigantic hands, ears, and an even larger heart. But Dominique, on the other hand, looked more like a smaller version of Victoire, with strawberry blond hair and breathtaking eyes, and all the graces of a Veela that she refused to grace the Gryffindor boys with. According to his uncles and grandparents, she took after their Uncle Percy. Albus guessed that meant that Dominique was a tattle-taling busybody. His parents got more letters from Dominique about things James had done than they had gotten from James himself.
“Canning, Jodie.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Carmichael, Kian.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
But as much as Dominique seemed to take after Uncle Percy, his own daughters, Molly and Lucy, seemed as different from their father as they could be. Their lives completely revolved around having fun, lives that didn’t seem to include homework, acknowledging their curfews at school or at home, and especially did not include Dominique Weasley. And with their father spending most of his day at the Ministry and their mother, Audrey, who wasn’t home much more than her husband, that made it pretty easy to do.
"Davies, Freya.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Edwin, Leo.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Fawcett, Jay.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Finch-Fletchley, Grace.”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
Uncle George’s children, Fred and Roxanne, were harder to see, as they were back next to James. Albus knew from his brother’s school stories and the numerous owls that came from Hogwarts at least once a week, that James and Fred were the Weasley twins reincarnated. If it wasn’t illegally smuggling Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes into school, it was changing the entry passwords to words that made students red in the face, or the famed attempt to shave Mrs. Norris. But if an exciting seven years at Hogwarts was what you were looking for, those two were defiantly the go-to guys. Or if you lived in the girls’ dormitories, Roxanne was your go-to girl. She seemed much better at getting away with everything than James and Fred did, with her innate ability to cry her way out of any detention or punishment.
“Foss, Gavin.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
“Goldstein, Noah.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Goodrich, Violet.”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
Albus watched the group of people get smaller and smaller and the four House tables gradually fill up with first-year students. There was a noticed difference in the level of ease between the children who sat at the tables and the students, who stood before the platform with no house to their name.
“Hurst, Lauren.”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Inglebee, Jude.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Leach, Gina.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Karamanlis, Thalia.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
A blond girl named Macmillan, Fairfax was sorted into Hufflepuff, and as soon as she took her seat at the yellow and black decorated table, one of the names of someone that Albus had been looked forward to seeing sorted was called.
“Malfoy, Scorpius.”
If Scorpius was nervous, he certainly didn’t show it. He remained as cool as he was on the train as he took a seat on the stool and allowed the hat to be placed on his head. It took longer to sort Scorpius than it did to sort most of the other students. In fact, if Albus could have gotten a closer look, he could almost swear that Scorpius was fighting with the hat. But when the answer finally came, it was the one that most people had expected.
“SLYTHERIN!”
Scorpius gave an indifferent shrug, as though he had never really cared to begin with, and sauntered off the Slytherin table. From the Gryffindor table, Albus saw James gave him one of his I-told-you-so smirks. No Malfoy had been sorted into a House other than Slytherin since the Middle Ages, and apparently this generation would be no different.
“Oswald, Micah.”
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
“Paddock, Ruby.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Albus was trying to keep track of how many students had been sorted into Gryffindor. Let’s see, there was that first girl, Georgia. Then there was another girl named Joanne Canning, then Leo somebody. And then there was another girl named Maeve…or was it Mitzi? Wait, wasn’t there a Mitzi sorted into Hufflepuff? Did the Sorting Hat just put this last girl in Gryffindor too? This was really the type of thing he should have been asking Rose for help wi”
“Potter, Albus.”
There was a murmured hush as soon as Albus’ name was called. Slowly, like so many others before him, Albus walked up the steps and took his seat on the stool. Before he could say different, the hat was placed onto his head and over his eyes. It felt a lot heavier than he thought it would.
“Hmmmm…,” the Hat hummed, its voice seeming to speak right into his head. “Another difficult member of the Potter clan. You are intelligent, no doubt. Talented, some ways more than others. And a family legacy you feel you need to live up to. Soooooo…where, oh where, oh where, oh where shall I place you….”
“…not Slytherin…,” Albus was able to mutter weakly, hardly the strength necessary when one is arguing for one’s future.
“Well, your father may have done well in Slytherin, but I’m not a hundred percent sure that it’s the place for you,” the Hat explained. “For a Slytherin, ambition will lead them to do whatever it takes to get what they want, but you have limits. You have goals and dreams, but you would never betray a friend or a family member to achieve them. In fact, I think it’s accurate to say you would die before you would do anything to harm someone you love.”
Why’s the hat telling me what I would and wouldn’t die for? Albus thought to himself. I’m eleven; I don’t even know these things!
“There is a noble boldness in that trait. A trait that would best suit your for…GRYFFINDOR!”
Silence gave way to roaring applause as nearly everyone stood at the Gryffindor table. Surprisingly, the loudest cheers came from his own brother, James. Albus barely waited till the Hat was off his head to go join the other Gryffindor first-years. But first, he had something he needed to do.
"Way to go, Albus!" James congratulated him as Albus approached him. "I guess you did have to guts to be a Gryffindor."
Albus gave his brother a toothy smile, and then completed his first act as a ‘gutsy’ Gryffindor.
"OW!" James shouted as both his hands covered the back of his head. "ALBUS! Why'd you hit me?"
"YOU DROVE ME MAD FOR ALMOST TWO MONTHS THINKING I WOULD GET SORTED INTO SLYTHERIN!"
"Take it easy, Albus! It was a joke!" James tried to defend both himself and his newly aching head. "I never really thought you'd be in Slytherin! Hufflepuff, at worst, but not Slytherin!"
But it hardly mattered to Albus what James said now. He was in Gryffindor, and nothing anyone did could change that. Satisfied, his took his seat among the vastly impressed first-years.
"Wow!" breathed Elle Peakes, the blonde girl who had been in the boat with him.
Albus sighed and took a deep breath as he watched a pair of identical twins named Pucey, Cecilia and Pucey, Claudia each get sorted into Slytherin, a fate he was happy to avoid.
Feeling as though a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Albus was finally able to relax and enjoy the ceremony. The only names he found himself paying attention to were the ones who were sorted into Gryffindor: girl named Bailey Reynolds with dark hair and a cute smile, a boy named Riley St. John who seemed to strut over to the Gryffindor table, and the dark haired boy from the boat, who he learned was named Damien Towler.
In fact, it didn't even seem that long before the most important name of all was called.
“Weasley, Rose.”
Rose practically skipped up to the stool and spun in a circle as she sat down. The Hat completely covered the top half of her face, but her confident smile was still clearly visible.
“RAVENCLAW!”
The second that fateful word was spoken, Rose’s face went instantly white. Albus’ eyes bulged and an audible gasp was heard from every Weasley at the Gryffindor table. There were even a few surprised looks on a few of the teachers, including Professor Longbottom. Here, the first-born child of Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Gryffindor leaders in the Second War against the Dark Lord, had just been sorted into Ravenclaw. There was a loud eruption of applause from the Ravenclaw table, but once the clapping died down, the Great Hall was silent and Rose still hadn’t moved.
“Um, Miss Weasley,” said Professor Longbottom, gently lifting the hat off her head, “you can go sit with your House now.”
“B-but””
“Other students still need to be sorted.”
Rose nodded weakly as she slid off the stool and made her way to the Ravenclaw table with her head down.
There hardly seemed to be a point in watching the ceremony now. Albus didn’t know any of the kids that were left to be sorted, but he most certainly didn’t want to think about Rose right now. So, he watched quietly as Whitby, Ben became a Hufflepuff and a small girl named Xiao, Luli go into Ravenclaw. Finally, Zabini, Juliet was sorted into Slytherin, and the ceremony was over. Professor Longbottom snapped the scroll, which rolled up like a window shade and took the sorting hat away.
“And now,” Professor Flitwick announced, having to stand on the actual table as he did so, “the feast may begin."
Albus had been looking forward to the feast for hours, but now it seemed so frightening. Talking to all these new kids who would supposedly become his closest friends now seemed like a horribly daunting task to take on by himself. He was tempted to pick up his plate and move next to James.
“”swore my dad would have a heart attack right there,” a boy named Leo Edmin was telling everyone. “My mum’s a Squib and she never even told him there was a chance I could be born with magic.”
“Same here,” replied a Muggle-born named Gavin. “No one in my family has ever shown a shred of magic before me. They all sell insurance.”
“Don’t worry,” an older boy told them. “Nobody comes here an expert in magic. You’ll all do fine. Maddox Dugan, nice to meet all of you new Gryffindors.”
“Say, a Professor Dugan came to my house to deliver my letter,” said Gavin. “Are you related to him?”
“Yes, he’s my father.”
“The teachers have kids?” exclaimed the pale brown haired girl, whom Albus learned was named Maeve Finnigan.
But to be honest, the idea of the teachers having families shocked Albus too. Until then, he thought of the Hogwarts teachers as teaching in their classrooms during the day, and falling asleep under their desks at night.
“Yeah,” laughed Maddox, ruffling Maeve’s hair, much to her apparent annoyance. “Contrary to popular belief, the teachers are allowed to have lives outside these walls.”
“But wait,” the girl named Ruby Paddock interrupted, confused. “Isn’t your dad the Head of Ravenclaw House?”
“Yeah, he practically fell off his chair three years ago when I was sorted into Gryffindor. But it’s the best House in the school, am I right?”
Ravenclaw. Albus was suddenly reminded of Rose’s situation all over again. Across the Great Hall, he saw Rose hadn’t touched any of the food the Ravenclaw prefects had piled onto her plate. While the other new Ravenclaw students gossiped and laughed like old friends, Rose kept her head cast down, kicking her feet against the stone floor. Albus felt so bad for her. He knew that getting sorted into Ravenclaw meant you were smart, so it was hardly an insult. It just didn’t seem fair for Albus to be in Gryffindor when he was sure he just barely made the cut, and for Rose to have not when her family line was Gryffindor all the way back to the school’s founding.
Albus had barely eaten a thing, but all the food disappeared before his eyes. It didn’t matter anyway. What he did eat sat like a heavy stone in his stomach. Once the food was gone, Professor Flitwick stood on the table once again, a few new students snickering as he did so.
“Before we all go off to bed,” he announced in a voice that squeaked occasionally, “I would like to make some start-of-term announcements."
The older students fell quiet and began to listen intently. It wasn’t long before the first-years, even the ones who were laughing followed suit.
“All first-years should know that the forest off the school grounds is not to be entered for any reason. We did not name it the Forbidden Forest because we thought the name was 'cool'.”
A few older students did laugh at that remark. Apparently at Hogwarts, you had to pay very close attention not to just what the teachers were saying, but how they said it too.
“Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has also asked me to remind you there will be no using magic in the corridors between classes, and any objects purchased from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes are strictly forbidden.”
James, Fred, and Roxanne all laughed at that remark. They were Weasleys' number one sales distributors outside Diagon Alley, and they weren’t going to let something as minor as Mr. Filch stand in the way of their ten percent cut.
“Quidditch trials will be held next week. Anyone who is interested, please contact Madame Wood.”
“That being said,” he finished, “let us all head off to bed, and be ready for a full day of learning tomorrow!”
None of the students seemed to need any more convincing than that. Victoire stood up and instructed all the Gryffindor first years to follow her. Albus watched as one of the older Ravenclaw prefects did the saw with the student to their right. The two houses walked side by side for a while; the entire time, Albus tried to wave at Rose and get her attention, but Rose kept her head down and shuffled her feet, just like she had been doing ever since she’d been sorted. At the staircase, the Gryffindors went up and the Ravenclaws went down, parting ways for the rest of the night.
The stairs went up and up and up again, as though they would never end. The students began to pant and yawn, their exhaustion growing greater with every step. The figures in the painting waves and greeted them, but the new Gryffindors were all much too tired to even notice. In an instant, Victoire stopped very suddenly, causing about four students to run into her back. Albus peered out from his spot in the middle of the line to see the famed painting of the Fat Lady, waiting for them.
“Password?” the Fat Lady asked Victoire.
“Novus militia,” Victoire stated clearly.
The painting moved to reveal an opening in the wall. Many of the smaller students needed help getting in.
Victoire led the first year students into the common room, draped in red velvet with squashy red furniture scattered across the floor. She pointed up on corridor telling the boys to go to their left and the girls to go to their right. Albus walked backwards on his way up the stairs, watching his cousin pull a letter out of her robes and take a seat in one of the armchair as a faint blush crept over her cheeks.
Waiting for them at the top of the stairs, were the four-post beds with their thick velvet curtains, just as Albus had heard them described so many times. The two Muggle-bred boys, Leo Edwin and Gavin Foss, were fascinated by the smallest details of the dormitory, from the fireplace in the center of the room, to the floor level windows with their fantastic view of the lake.
While the other exhausted boys got ready for bed, Albus took a seat at one of the windows. He could see the lake, the mountains, the forests, and every part of the castle except for the one part he really cared about tonight.
“Do any of you know if you can see Ravenclaw tower from here?” he asked suddenly
“I don’t know,” answered a boy named Simon Henry. “Why do you care anyway?”
“My cousin’s a Ravenclaw. If I can see her tower and she can see mine, then we’d be able to wave to each other.”
“Your cousin?” Simon said. “She isn’t that Weasley girl who burst into tears because she wasn’t good enough for Gryffindor, is she?”
“Shut up, Henry!” shouted Damien, glaring at him straight in the eyes.
“Make me, Towler!”
“Quiet up there,” an older student shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “And lights out!”
Simon and Damien cast one final glare at each other before they made their way to their four post beds. Albus didn’t move from the window, even after the lights and the fire had gone out. In fact, he stayed up later than he ever had before in his life. The sky was especially clear tonight, and there was a full moon, casting a vast amount of light on the school grounds.
“Good-night, Rose,” he whispered out into the vast night air.
The Arcane ScoRA and the Wand of MacArt by OliveOil_Med
Chapter Notes: One by one, a new generation of first years are sorted into their houses. Some answers come as no shock, while others leave the Great Hall in silence.
Thank you Kate, Kayla, and Bethie.