บท 4: Sorting Ceremony
*Whistling*
"The Hogwarts express is leaving in 10 minutes. Everyone, please take your luggage and get on as to not delay departure!", a train conductor shouted, amplifying his voice with magic.
Platform 9 3/4 was bustling with students and their parents, saying their goodbyes and scrambling to get on the train.
Solus was standing next to his father and sister, not paying much attention to Xenophilius' speech about the tens of little nick knacks and protective charms he had made them pack in case they needed to ward themselves against pure magical creatures while at school.
Looking around, Solus was able to spot a few people he recognized from their descriptions in the books he had read in his previous life.
A bit to the right of him, there was Draco Malfoy receiving a goodbye kiss from his mother, while his two lackeys Crabbe and Goil were waiting for him, looking a bit uncomfortable.
Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were easy to recognize. Seamus had apparently just tried to cast some kind of spell, which, like so often, blew up in his face, painting it in a black burnt color.
Somewhere near the entrance to Platform 9 3/4 a girl with bushy brown hair was standing looking a bit stressed, as if waiting for someone, before finally shaking her head and entering the train.
"... and use the wrinkly crumblers when you come across a flabbering dunker, very nasty those things if you're not protected against them, Oh and-"
"Dad, Luna and I should get on the train now too, otherwise there won't be any seats left", Solus cut of his father's ramblings.
Luna nodded, "Don't worry daddy we'll be fine. I have Nox to protect me after all, and Sol has Ib."
Nox was the name his sister had given the giant raven they bought at the, now out of buisness, pet store a few days ago. Since then that bird had proven itself extraordinarily intelligent and attached to Luna.
"Yes yes of course, you're right", Xenophilius hugged both of them one last time and then finally let them board the train.
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"I'm sorry, are these seats still free?"
Interrupted by someone opening the compartment door, Seamus stopped talking and looked at the two intruders. The boy who had just spoken had blonde hair that appeared almost golden and similar colored eyes. He was wearing first year Hogwarts robes, black leather gloves and had a serious vibe about him.
Next to him stood a dreamy looking girl with silvery blonde hair and blue eyes. She too was wearing her Hogwarts robes.
"Yeah of course. Blimey you two have been wandering around untill now?? must've been exhausting", Seamus said smiling at the two newcomers.
"Yes, everything else was either full or infested with wrackspurts", the dreamy girl replied after taking her seat.
"Wrackspurts? What's that? Never heard of those", the dark-skinned boy next to him asked with a bemused but interested expression.
"They fly around your head and occasionally steal one of your thoughts, resulting in one being confused all the time. Very annoying", the dreamy girl answered his friend's question with a very serious look.
"Ah well anyways, you guys are first years, right? Ginny here is one too", Seamus pointed at the red-haired girl sitting by the window. "And I'm Seamus, next to me is Dean. We're both second years."
Ginny Smiled at the blonde girl and turned to Seamus, "We already know each other. Their our neighbours actually."
The dreamy girl also smiled in response, "I'm Luna and this is my brother Sol, Nice to meet you."
"Solus, actually. Only my sister calls me Sol. Nice to meet you guys", the golden-haired boy spoke for the first time since he sat down. "I heard last year Harry Potter joined Hogwarts and there was a bunch of crazy stuff happening. If you're second years you should know about it right?"
"Hehe of course, I know everything about that. I'm good friends with harry after all" Seamus chuckled. "At the end of last year, he, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger protected some kind of treasure from being stolen by an evil teacher."
"Yeah, I heard they even had to play a huge game of wizards chess using themselves as pieces. Apparently, Ron was really badass at that", Dean added.
"No my brother isn't that amazing, I bet it was actually Harry that did all the heavy lifting and he was just too humble to admit it", Ginny who had been keenly listening all this time interjected, blushing slightly when mentioning Harry.
"Wow that's crazy. Do you know what that treasure was? And what happened to it afterwards?", The boy who had introduced himself as Solus asked.
Seamus shrugged "No idea. I think it was called 'the gopher's stone' or something like that."
"Ahahah no way man are you stupid? I heard it was called the thinking stone. And apparently Dumbledore destroyed it afterwards", Dean laughed at his friend for getting the stone's name wrong.
After that initial exchange they continued to talk about all kinds of things during the train ride.
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When they arrived at Hogsmeade station Solus, Luna and Ginny had to separate from Dean and Seamus and followed Hagrid to the boats.
Ginny and Luna knew each other since they were children so they obviously were very comfortable with each other and talked about all kinds of things during the train ride.
Through talking to Seamus and Dean he had confirmed that pretty much everything in the previous year happened like he assumed it had. Which, on one hand was good as that meant his knowledge was for the most part probably correct, but on the other hand meant that he won't be able to get his hands on the philosopher's stone.
'Oh well it's not like this year won't hold any opportunities for me', he mentally shrugged and dismissed his disappointment.
By now they were able to see the huge castle that was Hogwarts in front of them. It looked even more majestic and much bigger than he had imagined.
"Wow...", Ginny and Luna simultaneously whispered in front of him.
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"All right then everyone please follow me", a stern voice sounded. Professor McGonagall made sure that everyone was paying attention and then led them into the castle.
Only a few silent whispers could be heard along the way. Anxiety and eagerness about which house they'll be sorted into could be felt from every student present.
Solus too was thinking about which house to go to, although in a much more relaxed manner.
'Ravenclaw would probably be the best fit for me. Though, if I'm honest I don't care all that much about my house. Ravenclaw or Slytherin would be nice to have my own room, but getting sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff wouldn't be the end of the world either. Oh well, I'll just let the Hat decide.'
They stopped in front of a big double door, which was probably the entrance to the Great Hall, and Professor McGonagall gave her usual speech.
"In a few minutes, you all will be sorted into one of four houses. Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Your assigned house will, for the duration of your stay at Hogwarts, be like your family. Remember that."
She looked around sternly, "You will be awarded points for any outstanding achievements and deducted points for any broken rules or general misconducts. The house with the most cumulative points at the end of the year will win the house cup, which is a great honor."
With that McGonagall waved her wand, opening the doors and briskly walked inside.
The Great Hall was, indeed, very great. Four long tables, one for each house, were arranged in a parallel fashion. Above, instead of a ceiling there was a beautiful night sky and countless floating candles illuminated the entire room in a warm orange light.
"The ceiling was enchanted by Rovena Ravenclaw, I read that in 'Hogwarts: A History'", someone excitedly blurted out.
'Heh it seems there is a know it all in every yea-'
Solus suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his previous thought instantly disappearing. for one or two seconds it felt like everything had frozen in time, even his heartbeat. Nothing could be heard. no thought was able to form in his mind. And none of his former enthusiasm and amusement could still be felt.
…
Then, time resumed.
Fear.
That was all Solus felt. And not the irrational kind of fear one might have of the dark, or something silly like spiders. No, this was pure, raw survival instinct.
His heart began pumping oxygen-rich blood through his body faster than ever before, cold sweat started trickling down his neck and his mind went into overdrive.
Time while not appearing frozen anymore, still seemed to pass slower than normal.
Bending his knees slightly, every single muscle in Solus' body was readying itself for a desperate struggle for survival. Every fiber of his being was screaming for him to either turn around and flee or, lunge forward and attack the thing in front of him.
In that moment even Ib went into pure survival mode. His fluffy hair extending to double its normal length and forming spear like strands that were angled forwards.
The Object of both of their fear was, the sorting hat. Or what maybe once had been the sorting hat, but now, was nothing but an empty shell, controlled by something different. Something sinister.
Atop the leathery relic left behind by Godric Gryffindor There sat a towering, disgusting amalgamation of pale illusory Flesh. The top of the thing's body almost reached into the enchanted ceiling. Instead of a head there was a giant finger-like extension protruding from its body. It had no eyes or ears, only a wide mouth with no lips and bloody jagged teeth, which was contorted into a twisted and abhorrent looking grin.
Four pairs of spindly, equally pale and sick looking arms extended from its body. Two pairs were holding and controlling the hats movements, while the other two were, at the moment, idly hanging down.
"Colin Creevey!", the stern voice of Professor McGonagall sounded, snapping Solus out of his trance.
'F*ck. What the hell is this thing. Could it be that this is the actual form of the sorting hat? No, it definitely seems more like a parasite that has infected and taken over the hat entirely.'
At that moment Colin was already sitting down and McGonagall had lowered down the hat on top of his head. And the thing moved.
The two previously idle pairs of arms went into motion and plunged themselves deep inside Colin's brain, stirring around inside, while the other four arms controlled the hat to move and speak.
"Hmmm this has to be GRIYFFINDOR" the deep voice of the hat sounded.
Colin left the stage seemingly unharmed, while the arms that were stirring in his brain pulled something out and stuffed it into the vile being's mouth.
'Sh*t, this doesn't look good. I need to avoid those arms at all cost. There has to be something I can do', Solus anxiously looked around in hope for something he could use to escape his fate.
He also noticed that his sister in front of him was looking equally bad if not worse than him. Her entire body was shaking, and she was holding her stomach as if she was about to throw up any moment.
"Ginny Weasley!", the next student was called, and the same thing happened.
"Another Weasley. Has to be GRYFFINDOR"
Student after student was called to the front to get sorted into one of the houses and Solus knew his time was slowly running out. He needed to find something to do now or surrender to that thing in front of him. Maybe he should just give up on going to Hogwarts?
'It's only the first time I encounter a seemingly malevolent pure magical creature and I'm already thinking of giving up and running away? Haha, how pathetic.' Filled with new conviction, he bit one of his fingertips as hard as he could, destroying his leather glove and drawing blood. But the pain made him calm down and brought back his ability to think rationally.
"Solus Lovegood!"
Solus took a deep breath and slowly walked to the front. While walking he tried to recall the time when he was at Ollivander's buying his wand. He focused his everything he had on the feeling he experienced when he reshaped his wand.
The increasing heat around his tattoo. the way he had been able to feel every strand of the wood infused with the wand's semi consciousness. How he had taken control of those strands and moved them, reshaping the wand to accommodate Ib's hair.
He sat down on the chair in front of Professor McGonagall.
Then, when she lowered the head onto his head, he reached out, his hands touching the hats brim.
He felt his tattoo heating up. He felt the strands of leather still infused with lingering consciousness which Godric Gryffindor had instilled in the hat so long ago.
And then he took control. Wringing the hat out of the things grasp for but one second. But that second was enough.
Before the illusory arms could reach him, he controlled the hat to speak.
"RAVENCLAW", it roared.
He succeeded.
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A/N
Hello everyone, sorry for the slight delay.
Actually, the scene with the hat was one of the first ideas I had when I thought about writing a harry potter fanfiction. What did you think about it? Anything you think I could've done better?
I love Lovecraftian Horror stuff like this so do expect a bit of it here and there in this story.
We also got to see the ability of his pact with ib for the first time. Its exact workings will be explained soon.
Thank you for reading!
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