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Aurora Areli
THE DOOR SWUNG OPEN at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood at the entrance. She had a very stern face; definitely not someone I wanted to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door open wide and led us into the entrance hall. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors faced us.
We followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor, and the whole time I stared around in astonishment. To the right, there was the drone of hundreds of voices through a door. The rest of the school must have already been in there. Instead of leading us through the door, Professor McGonagall showed us first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall.
We crowded in, standing closer together than we would have under normal circumstances. I peered around nervously at my fellow students.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your new 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 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.
"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 saw Harry nervously trying to flatten his hair (I had given up on mine).
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber.
I turned to Ron and wiped the dirt off his nose with my sleeve, then went up to Harry and said, "Here, let me help," before running my fingers through his messy hair to try flatten it.
It did help, but not much.
"Thanks," Harry said, his face flushing red. He then asked Ron and me, "How exactly do they sort us into houses?"
