Chapter 22: Getting sorted into Houses
The man then lead them all towards a small docking area with around 10 boats sat against the railing tied down. They all then got onto the boats in groups no more than 4 and proceeded to make their way down the lake.
It was Harry, Philip, Lili and Hermione in one boat whilst Harry recognised a few of the other first years from the other boats. After a few minutes, they steered around a mountain only to see an even bigger set of mountains in the background, with an enormous castle set atop them.
"Philip! Philip! look! that's Hogwarts!" Hermione said whilst trying to draw his attention away from the book he was reading. Philip sighed as he took his eyes off the book he was reading before closing it and looking directly ahead.
All the lights were lit inside the castle making it for a very mysterious yet exciting view, the fog around the lake was also up to the boat sides which made a few first years slightly nervous of the unknown.
Harry's eyes were wide open with his mouth slightly agape whilst Philip had a small smile on his face at the view, as did Hermione and Lilith although perhaps not for entirely the same reason. Soon thereafter, they came to a stop at the riverbank with a bright, marble docking area aside it. They each heaved off of the boats one after the other before promptly making their way up the long, windy staircase heading straight for the castle entrance.
By now, Philip had put his book back into his pouch and was just holding Fen in his arms whilst walking aside Hermione, with Harry and Lili in the front. They walked for around 10 minutes up the stairs before finally making it to the castle entrance. It was a truly magnificent set of gates that would swing open sideways with a majestic feeling to it.
They passed through the gates and made it to an even larger square, after going up a dozen more sets of stairs or so, they finally reached the middle area of the castle. There, atop the final staircase stood a woman with in all black robes with a witches hat on, quite the old lady with a very strict, gentle feel to her.
As all the first years finished lining up across the staircase, they huddled around waiting for the woman to speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you shall pass through these doors and join your classmates but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses." She went on to say, "They're Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." She finished as she glanced around at the newcomers faces, her gaze rested on Harry and Philip for a short while.
"Now, while you're here, your House will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule-breaking, and you will lose points." the woman said with a more stern face. "At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup." She finished.
"TREVOR!" A boy said as he ran out of the crowd. There lied a small frog near the womans feet. The boy hurriedly moved to pick the frog up, however, the frog dodged to the side in a hurry but just happened to land in front of Philip... Philip looked down at the small frog causing it to instantly freeze up, allowing for Harry to pass the frog over to the boy.
"Sorry, ma'am" the boy said as he scuttled back into the crowd.
The woman gazed at Philip once again for a short while before looking back at the crowd once more, "The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily" she said whilst taking large strides back into the hall.
After a brief moment of silence, a voice echoed through the first years, "So, I guess it's true then, what they're saying on the train.. Philip Potter and Harry Potter have come to Hogwarts" the boy said, allowing for gossip to start flying around almost instantly.
Harry, Hermione and Lilith looked over towards the boy that spoke, Harry seemed to remember seeing the boy somewhere before but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"This is Crabbe, and Goyle... and i'm Malfoy!" he said as he moved closer, "Draco, Malfoy".
Which earned him a small snort from a boy in the first year crowd.
Draco looked over towards the boy that snorted intentionally, "You think my name's funny do you?" The boy that snorted looked over at him, "Yeah, I do actually" the boy walked out in front of Draco, "Little boy Malfoy already think he's the king does he?" the boy said once more, "I'll have you know, i'm much better than this... pathetic malfoy, Nice to meet you, the names Ron, Ron Weasley" Ron said whilst turning his face towards Harry and Philip.
Ron then looked at Hermione and Lilith who was next to Philip before speaking out once more, "I think you should find better crowds to hang out with, if you know what I mean.. well, I guess she could come with us though." He said whilst extending his hand and attempting to grab Hermione's arm. An arm instantly shot out and prevented him from touching her though, "I think we can choose for ourselves who to hang around" Harry said whilst holding Ron's arm.
Ron disliked this action of belittling him and felt embarrassed as Draco and his goonies laughed on at the situation. He attempted to grab her once more.. but this time, Harry didn't stop him. Another hand came flying out, but this time, not as nicely. Ron felt as though his wrist was being crushed from the vice like grip.
"My Brother just told you to stop, so you should stop."
Ron heard the bone chilling voice and became a little anxious, he looked up towards the owner of the voice only to notice it was another boy like him, it was Philip, Harry's brother. Philip was gazing straight into Ron's eyes whilst holding his arm away from Hermione. Hermione seemed a little frightened by the gesture and clutched onto Philip's robes.
"It's fine, big brother" Harry said whilst trying to get Philip to calm down.
Philip hurriedly snapped out of it when he saw the woman making her way back out once more. He let go of Ron's arm before leaning closer to him and whispering, "Try that again and I'll break your arm for good" to which Ron flinched slightly.. he could tell from the small grin Philip was giving him that the boy wasn't lying.
Ron scuttled back to the side of the crowd whilst Draco, Crabbe and Goyle sent a smirk at Ron's back whilst making their way back over to the other side. Soon after, the woman came back out before stopping in front of them.
"We're ready for you now. Follow me." she said before abruptly turning around and opening the glass doors allowing for the first years to file through. They made their ways through into a gigantic hall, with students sat either side on long rows of tables. Hermione had finally loosened her grip on Philip's robes allowing for him to readjust them slightly, whilst she was looking down trying not to show her face for some, unknown reason.
When they all began walking through the hall, they looked up and noticed it was almost similar to a real sky, with candles floating just above their heads allowing for the room to be well lit. As they got to the front of the room, there was another table running across the back of the great hall with what seemed to be the schools professors all stood up looking at them.
"Can you wait along here please" the woman said, "Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words" she said whilst crossing her arms. All of the Professors sat back down in their seats except for one, it was an old man with a very long, white beard. He stood directly in the middle of the room with the grandest of chairs, almost similar to a throne.
"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note, that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students, also, our caretaker, Mr.Filch has asked us to remind you that the third floor corridor, on the right hand side is out of bounds, to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you" he said as he sat down once more. His speech had dulled the atmosphere slightly, but it soon picked back up with the next event.
The lady took out a scroll promptly, "Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." She said whilst picking up an old looking hat, with a face formed from the lines formed through crinkles.
Soon after, she started calling out names one by one to which the student would step up, sit on the chair and be sorted. Whenever a student would have the hat placed on them, they seemed to shudder a little before calming back down.
Harry was paying attention to see who got sorted where, he noticed quite a few of the students that he had seen before getting called out and sorted by the hat,
"Neville Longbottom" "Hmmmmm, let's see... Gryffindor!"
"Draco Malfoy" "It can only be Slytherin!"
"Lilith Devonayrs" Well well well, intelligent, beautiful, loyal, courageous, yet also shy.. I think you would prosper the most in Ravenclaw!"
"Hermione Granger" "Hmmm, yes yes.. I see... both intelligent and courageous... such a hard choice, where to place you I wonder.. oh? and what is this I see? a strong urge for more knowledge... is that the actual reason? or is it perhaps to be with someone?"
Hermione blushed furiously before looking at Philip once, she noticed he was still looking into his book which made her pout angrily.
"Well well well, seeing as it's like that, it can only be... Ravenclaw!"
Hermione made her way over to Lilith, not before sending a small punch to Philip's arm to which he just slightly frowned.
"Ron Weasley" "Oh my.. I certainly wouldn't have expected that, from a weasley no less. Well then, it can only be....Slytherin!"
"That's ridiculous! there's no way" Ron said grumpily as he threw the hat off of his head.
"Mr. Weasley, please calm down and refrain from such actions.. The Hat is never wrong." The lady said whilst picking the hat back up. "Make your way over to your table, please." she finished.
"Seamus Finnigan" "Loyal yet courageous, hmmm truly has to be Gryffindor!"
"Fay Dunbar" "Gryffindor!
Soon, there was only a few names left to call out,
"Harry Potter" "Hmmm, difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind either, there's talent.. ohh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself to him. But where to put you.. I guess it just has to be... Gryffindor!"
Harry looked ecstatic that he wasn't placed into Slytherin.
"And finally, Philip Potter" The lady said to which Philip glanced at the hat and closed his book.
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Godblade
Godblade I know you probably hate me for that cliffhanger.. no you definitely do. I had to do it i'm sorry, it was just too tempting. Find out more on the next episode of... JK! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did, please upvote this novel with power stones so others can enjoy it too, thank you for reading!
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