Chương 19: Sorting Ceremony, The Hat, and Dormitory

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired lady in dark maroon robes stood there. She had a very stern face which reminded Quinn of his grandfather when he was serious. And Quinn knew who this lady was.

"The first years are here, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

The stern lady, now identified as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts' transfiguration teacher, nodded and spoke, "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide to the entrance hall, which was absolutely enormous. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

The gaggle of first years followed behind Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. They reached a doorway, and Quinn could hear the drone of hundreds of voices.

'That must be the Great Hall,' thought Quinn as Professor McGonagall lead them into a small, empty chamber off the hall. Quinn felt a little uncomfortable as the first years huddle together with each other a little too close than he was comfortable with. All of them were peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said McGonagall as she spoke to the nervous first years. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a crucial ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend your free time in your House common room."

She stood a little straighter, and with a hint on her face, she continued, "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Quinn resisted the urge to snort in McGonagall's face. The house point system was a rouse implemented by the school administration to keep the students in check through peer pressure. No student who cared about their social life wouldn't want to lose points and face the wrath of their fellow students, and even those who didn't care about what others thought trod lightly in fear of being bullied. All in all, it was a fantastic system that kept in check most people other than a few exceptions like the Weasley Twins.

Even Quinn wasn't an exception, as he didn't want to stand in the limelight among his peers. The life of popularity wasn't Quinn's cup of tea. He just wanted to learn magic in peace. And the popularity would hinder his ability to move around the castle, though the twins had no difficulty moving around, so maybe there was a workaround.

'Well, they do have the Marauder's map,' thought Quinn as he paid attention to what McGonagall was saying.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on a few peoples' clothes, silently telling them to smarten themselves up.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." finished Professor McGonagall before leaving the chamber.

Quinn looked at his clothes, and with a slight use of magic, his clothes straightened up. He then turned to Katie and Cho, "Hey, how do I look?"

Both the girls looked over Quinn. He had jet-black hair and stone-grey eyes; he styled his hair in a simple-yet-neat Ivy League hairstyle. He had been taught to take good care of his body, so nothing felt out of place. He was tall for his age, and because of years of posture training, his body language exuded confidence. His clothes, even though a simple school uniform, looked good on him. Finally, Quinn was comfortable with his own skin, and that added another layer of charm.

Both girls nodded and gave him thumbs-up, and in return, Quinn complimented them.

"You two also look good. So, please don't be nervous. Everything will be fine, and every house would be happy to have guys. I am sure that you would get into the house you want." Quinn complimented the girls and said words of comfort to calm them down. He could see that most of the first-year were nervous being sorted in front of the whole school, and some didn't even know the sorting process.

Quinn's words did work to some extent as he saw both of them calm down a little, but there was still a little nervousness left which was natural knowing that they would be walking inside the hall while the entire school would be looking at them.

Then came the parade of ghosts, followed by screams from several students who had never seen a ghost. Quinn found ghosts interesting as they were conclusive evidence of the existence of the soul. A ghost was the imprint of the soul of a once-living wizard or witch. And as such, they were a type of spirit who are either afraid of death or have some powerful connection to the locations they haunt.

McGonagall returned to the chamber and shooed away the ghosts, "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

She turned to the students and commanded, "Now, form a line and follow me." With McGonagall in the lead, the new students exited the chamber, went back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Quinn had read the books and had imagined what the Great Hall would look like, and he had seen the movies, but nothing matched the sight in front of him. The hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that floated in midair over four long tables. On the tables sat the entire schools' student body. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. McGonagall led the first years up here and came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Among the students, ghosts could be seen in their ghostly silver glow.

Quinn looked up at the ceiling and saw a glossy black ceiling dotted with stars. He could imagine Hermione Granger reciting the lines from the books, "The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Removing his eyes from the mesmerizing ceiling, and looked ahead. He saw McGonagall silently placing a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a raggedy pointed wizard's hat.

Quinn waited, and then it happened, a mouth-like crack opened up in the hat, and it began singing.

[

I may be old and frayed

but don't let that betray you

stitched and bewitched

over a thousand years ago

The four greatest witches and wizards of the time

United by one single desire

The wish to inspire

and help young minds.

So, a place of education

was the creation.

The founders four

Helga Hufflepuff of valley broad

Rowena Ravenclaw from the glen

Godric Gryffindor of wild moor

Salazar Slytherin from the fen.

From these noble names

four houses were born.

Gryffindor, which houses the bold and brave,

Ravenclaw selected those filled with cleverness,

Hufflepuff welcomed the loyal who loved to toil

Slytherin chooses only those who are pure.

Their differences are what defined them

Together they stood, never to be divided

but what brought them together

soon sought to tear them apart.

Battles were fought

over Hogwarts

soon the time had come

for one to depart

So four became three

Which house will it be?

Put me on, and I will see.

] [Credits: Rowling_Games, Link in the paragraph comment.]

The entire hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Murmurs went spreading through the first-year students like wildfire. Many were relieved to hear that they only had to put the hat on their head.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

Then started the sorting ceremony of the students. Quinn heard a few recognizable names, and their houses were the same as canon.

Marcus Belby, Eddie Carmichael, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe went to Ravenclaw. While Katie Bell and Cormac McLaggen went to Gryffindor.

Finally came Quinn's turn. He was the last person to be sorted because Quinn's last name was West, and W was the last letter in this year's list, with no surnames from letters X, Y, and Z.

McGonagall looked at Quinn and announced, "West, Quinn." Students who had gotten bored because of the long process once again focused on the ceremony knowing Quinn was the last student.

Quinn climbed the shallow ladders and nodded to McGonagall before sitting down on the stool. The last thing Quinn saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was most of the students looking at him, and the moment the hat covered his eyes, Quinn closed his eyes and pulled up his occlumency shields to the limit.

"Hmm," said a little voice in his ear, "It has been quite a while since I had countered this level of resistance from occlumency shields, and that was when one of the previous headmasters had put me on his head. But, never I have seen this level of occlumency shields from a child of your age."

Quinn fought the urge to smile. He felt he had beat the infamous hat from entering his mind. But the next moment, the hat shattered his misunderstanding as now he heard the hat's voice inside his head, 'But, you see, when the founders created me, they truly went overboard, so Mr. West, your level of occlumency shields aren't enough.'

Quinn gritted his teeth as someone had once again entered his mind, and he couldn't do anything about it. He could remove the hat and rip it to threads with magic, but that would be the last thing Quinn wanted to do, so he just sat tight.

'Oh my, aren't you a little devil, Mr. West? So much talent for magic. I haven't seen anything like this, and I have been around for a thousand years. You don't use a wand and yet have this level of magical abilities. There was one who I can think of, but even he wasn't as ridiculous as you. Seeing the wand in your luggage shows that you are taking a different approach from him and everyone else.'

Quinn helplessly controlled his emotions as the hat went through his memories, 'Now, let's see where to put you. You are ready to showcase plenty of courage when it comes to the pursuit of magic. You have already shown hard work and tolerance by learning magic the way you have. The immense thirst for knowledge is evident from your personal library. Finally, you have some grand ambitions, dear child. The greatest wizard of all times.'

Quinn was getting impatient, so he just came out and said, "Put me in Ravenclaw so that we can end this. I am extremely uncomfortable with you on my head. Your mere presence in my mind displeases me like never before."

The hat laughed in his head and spoke, 'If that is what you wish for. Don't worry, Mr. West. Your secrets will remain safe with me. No one will ever know what I saw in your mind. Not even my creators, the founders would know if they appeared in front of me.'

The next moment the hat shouted to the entire hall, "RAVENCLAW!"

It took every single drop of Quinn's self-control to normally remove the hat from his head and not rip it from his head. He took a deep breath before moving to the Ravenclaw table and smiled when he reached the table that was clapping for him and congratulating him for being a Hatstall as the hat took some time to make his decision.

He sat down and turned to look at the high table while trying to calm down his turbulent emotions. He didn't like when his mind was invaded like now. It reminded him of the time when he started his lessons with Alan and how helpless he felt when Alan would just walk into this mind without batting an eye. He could still do it, but Quinn had learned to trust Alan and had gotten used to his teacher breaking into his mind, but the hat bought out emotions of the time when he didn't trust Alan.

On the plus side, Quinn's secrets were safe with the hat.

'If he didn't tattle on Voldemort's messed up memories, he won't divulge my secrets,' thought Quinn as he calmed himself down and slowly lifted the emotional aspect of occlumency to once again feel fully connected to his now calmed down emotions.

Quinn looked around the Ravenclaw and thought about his decision to join Ravenclaw. Even if Quinn said that he was okay with going to any of the four houses, Quinn preferred if he didn't get sorted to Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. In Gryffindor, he would be in the eye of trouble in the future. With Hufflepuff, Quinn didn't think he would have much privacy because of the houses' teamwork attribute.

The remaining two options were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Quinn had thought hard about where he wanted to end up, and Ravenclaw was his final decision. Slytherin would have been alright, but Quinn was afraid that he would instantly gain a negative reputation among the other three houses. And, if someone got suspicious of what he was doing, they would immediately categorize it as dark, and it took little to blow things out of proportion. Even inside the Slytherin, blood purists were always in power, and in the future, Voldemort would start recruiting mini death eaters from there, and Quinn didn't want to face the harassment known as recruitment.

So, Quinn came to a logical conclusion to join the house of bookworms who had their heads into books and where he could operate in peace with no politics, disturbances, negative reputation, and needless nosy people. He just needed to blend in as your average Ravenclaw, which was too easy for Quinn.

A loud clinking of cutlery broke Quinn from his thoughts and looked at the head table where he saw Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he started. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are, Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Quinn wondered if the strange words in Dumbledore's speech were Hogwarts house-elves names, as the moment he said those words, food appeared across the tables. Various dishes like roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and peppermint humbugs were cooked for all to indulge.

Quinn's grooming triggered, and he began eating with impeccable table manners. Gone were the days when Quinn used to feel stiffed while eating with strict table manners. Now, he felt right at home when eating like this. Quinn a little of everything and then took part in idle banter with his new housemates.

A well-fed Quinn looked around, and his eyes fell upon the High table. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. McGonagall was talking to Dumbledore. He immediately recognized Snape dressed in all black, and Quinn felt Snape was lucky to look like his movie actor rather than his book description. He moved his eyes to another teacher and saw Quirinus Quirrell without a turban and was currently wearing a wizard's hat.

'If I remember correctly, he is currently a Muggle Studies Professor. Poor guy would give into Voldemort and agree to house Voldemort's soul in his body,' thought Quinn. He saw Quirrell happily chatting with a squat little woman who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair, who Quinn could identify as Pomona Sprout, the herbology professor. Quinn figured out the names of the other professors with the help of a senior.

When the desserts disappeared from the tables, Dumbledore stood up from his chair and asked for the student's attention in the hall. He cleared his throat before speaking, "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, also asks me to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."

He pointed at Rolanda Hooch and continued, "Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch."

The dinner ended with Dumbledore urging students to stand up for the school song. After which, Quinn followed behind the Ravenclaw Prefect with the other first-years to the Ravenclaw Tower. Quinn made sure to memorize the path they took, as he would need it from tomorrow onwards.

The entrance to the Ravenclaw common room was on the west side of Hogwarts. At the top of a spiral staircase was a door without a doorknob or keyhole. But there was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle that asked a riddle for gaining entry to the common room; if they answer incorrectly, they must wait for someone else who gets it right.

The Prefect explained the system to the first years and then led them inside. The common was a circular room with arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks and a midnight blue carpet covered in stars, which reflected onto the domed ceiling. The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases, and by the door leading up to the dormitories stood a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of white marble.

Before the Prefect sent them off to their dorms, he told them the roles to be followed while in the common room and the dormitories. He closed with, "You will find your luggage in your rooms, and please make sure to store the clothes that you want to be cleaned in the cupboards provided to you because any clothes in your trunk or luggage won't be taken for cleaning."

Three people rather than the five-person arrangement in the Gryffindor shared a room in the Ravenclaw dormitories.

Quinn found his luggage on his assigned bed. He looked at his two roommates, who looked quite nervous, so he broke the ice.

"Hey, my name is Quinn West. What about you guys?" he asked with a smile on his face.

The other two looked at each other before one of them spoke, "Hi, I am Eddie Carmichael." Then both of them looked at the third boy in the room, who stuttered through his introduction. "M-My name is Marcus Belby."

Quinn nodded and spoke, "Excellent, Carmichael and Belby. We would be sharing this dorm for the rest of the year, so if you guys have any problems, don't hesitate to ask. Now, I am sure all of us are quite tired, and I would very much like to sleep, so let's continue in the morning, alright." Quinn directed the conversation, and the other two could only nod along.

Quinn made himself on his new bed and closed his eye, and his last thought before falling asleep was about tomorrow.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Quinn West - MC -Ravenclaw - "I wonder how many riddles does the Eagle know?"

The Hat - Hat - "This year's song was exquisite. Truly spectacular."

-*-*-*-*-*-

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