The Weasley of Slytherin: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 7: House Sorting

The door swung open at once and a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. And although she had a very stern face, I thought she seemed as though she had a sense of humor.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the man.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have probably hit an entire house inside of it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. I was looking all around, my head felt as though it was on a swivel, and I could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right. I assumed that was where the rest of the students were.

Professor McGonagall however directed us into a small, empty chamber off the hall. We all crowded in, standing rather closer together than we would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall, I could detect a slight Scottish accent when she spoke. "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 very important 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 free time in your house common room.

"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 rulebreaking 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.

"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 for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. I watched as Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair, and I did my best to straighten my robes.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.

"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."

"Maybe we've got to fight each other, you know see who the strongest is." I said doing my best to hide my nerves with humor.

Looking around anxiously, it made me a bit better to find that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.

I did my best to prepare myself. I'd been able to pull off a couple spells at home, nothing that would be useful in a test though.

Then suddenly about twenty ghosts streamed through the back wall, pulling me out of my thoughts. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years.

They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"