The Sorting Hat

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McGonagall leads us to a small empty chamber near the great hall.
"Welcome to Hogwarts", she begins.
"The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here at Hogwarts your house will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four hours are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has different qualities and different house heads."

She talks for a while about the history of the houses and the house points system.

"The sorting ceremony will take place soon in front of the rest of the school so I suggest you smarten yourself up while you wait", she looks over at Neville Longbottom whose cloak is wrinkled and Ron whose tie is loose.
I straighten my cloak out and flatten my hair down.
We wait nervously outside the great hall in silence and I wonder if the other students can hear my heart beating out of my chest.

Suddenly we hear the door to the great hall open and Professor McGonagall appears.
"Now form a line and follow me".
I get in line behind Ron with Harry and Hermione behind me. I catch Draco walking past and he leans in and whispers to me.
"See you in Slytherin (Y/N)".
I feel a shiver down my spine. I'm suddenly filled with great fear. I don't want to be put into Slytherin. I want to be in the same house as Ron, Harry and Hermione but I have a sneaky feeling I won't be.

We walk into the great hall and all of us are in awe. Its so beautiful. It appears to be lit up with thousands of candles that are floating in midair above four long tables where the rest of the students are sitting looking at us whispering to each other as we walk past. There's glittering golden plates and goblets in front of each student and a long table in front of the students where the teachers are sitting. I look up eager to not draw attention to myself and I see a magnificent velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. I smile up into the sky.
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A history", Hermione whispers to me as she catches me staring at it.

We are all stood in front of the teachers table when MgConagall appears again with an old four legged stool. She places it in front of us and then on top of the stool she places an old, scruffy looking pointed hat. Its very dirty and looks years old. Theres confused murmurs from most of the first years and I too am very curious as to why she has placed this in front of us.
Then before I can ask Hermione what it is, a mouth appears on the brim of the hat and starts singing. It sings a song telling us about all four of the houses and what qualities each one has. I soon learn that Slytherins are known for being cunning and determined. It doesn't sound so bad. The students applaud the hat and MgConagall produces an old scroll of parchment and starts reading from it.
"When you hear your name you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted".
She starts to call out names and my stomach churns waiting nervously for my name to be called.
"Abbot Hannah!".
She walks up to the stool and the hat is placed on her head and within a few seconds the hat shouts, "HUFFLEPUFF!" And suddenly there is a cheer coming from the far right table as Hannah goes to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

I await patiently as Hermione gets sorted into Gryffindor much to my surprise as i automatically assumed she would be put into Ravenclaw due to how smart she is. Then Ron is sorted into Gryffindor too. I can see on his face how relieved he is. And finally Harry is sorted into Gryffindor causing a massive round of applause from the middle table and he walks off to go sit with Ron and Hermione. Draco is sorted into Slytherin of course and he marched off confidently to go sit next to Blaise.

A few others get sorted and I soon realize I am the only one left to be sorted. My palms are sweating as I wait for her to finally call out my name.
"(L/N), (Y/N)!"
I breathe in and out and Hermione nods at me reassuringly as I step up onto the stool.
I catch Draco's eye and he winks menacingly which makes me squirm on the stool.
"Right then. Let's get this over with", I think to myself.
I feel the old hat hit my head and I hear it whispering to itself. Why is it taking so long? Everyone else had been sorted as soon as the hat hit their head. I look at MgConagall and she tilts her head curiously.
"You're brave yes I see that. Very loyal to those who you care about. Witty and intelligent with a thirst to prove yourself mm. Cunning alright. If only I could sort you into all four houses" it whispers in my ear.
"Well, it has to be....SLYTHERIN" ,, the sorting hat bellows and a huge round of applause and cheers comes from the Slytherin table and I look over to see Blaise and Draco smiling and clapping.

I get off the stool and can't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside as they clap loudly for me. Draco shoves Blaise aside and quickly makes room,
"Here (Y/N), I saved you a seat", he says eagerly.
I sit down and instantly my eyes wander to the Gryffindor table where my friends are sitting silently, staring at me. They wave at me and smile but I can see the hidden disappointment in their faces but theres nothing I can do now. I'm in Slytherin and they're in Gryffindor.
I need to talk to them. Ron and Harry promised on the train we would remain friends no matter what. I just hope they meant it.

The headmaster of Hogwarts stands up and makes a speech. He looks rather mysterious if you ask me but brilliant nevertheless.
"Let the feast BEGIN!", he bellows and suddenly our plates are filled with food. All the food you can imagine, sweet and sour, desserts and pumpkin pies.
Suddenly I'm not worried anymore. The food has completely distracted me.
"Blimey look at all this food!", Crabbe says to Goyle who was already digging in. I'm sure I can see hearts in his eyes as he chomps down on a chicken drumstick.
Blaise was now sitting across from me and Draco to my right. There was a boy to my left whom I didn't know yet.
"I'm Blaise by the way", Blaise says leaning over across the table.
"Blaise Zabini."
"You know who I am (Y/N)", Draco says interrupting Blaise suddenly.
"I didn't think I was going to be in this house", I say sheepishly.
"You mean you were worried you weren't going to be?", Blaise says confused.
Draco stares at me, interested.
"No. More the opposite. I was worried I would be in this house", I keep my head down. I feel ashamed to admit it.
"What? Why?" Blaise asks suddenly concerned.
"I know why", Draco says spitefully. "Those stupid Gryffindors have been feeding her lies about our house. Probably telling her it's evil and all that rubbish".
Well he's not entirely wrong.
"No no. Well I mean, Ron did mention something about a lot of dark wizards and witches coming from here and I don't know, they seemed to assume I'd be in Gryffindor because of how nice I am", I blush still unable to make eye contact with either of them.
"Don't listen to them (Y/N). What do they know?. Anyways you've got us now." Blaise says and I look up to see him smiling at me.
"They're just jealous", Draco announces.
"My father has assured me that this is the best house in the entire school. Gryffindors hate us because of it. Forget about them (Y/N). You're a true Slytherin I can tell, now eat your food or it'll go cold", He looks at me with his grey eyes and I hold his gaze for a while.
"Thanks Draco. I am excited to see the common room I can't lie. Apparently it's in the dungeons" I say lightening the conversation a bit while I take a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Oh yeah I'm well excited. Everyone's saying we have the coolest dorms in the whole school", Blaise grins a bit of chicken stuck in his front tooth. I look at Draco and we both laugh.
"What? What's funny about that?".
"Nothing Blaise just eat your chicken" Draco says in between laughs.

We talked like that for the rest of the feast and I'd already began to feel at home. Professor Mcgonagall was right, your house is quite like your family.

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