Harry Potter The Unseen Heroine

Before us stood an older witch, with dark green robes, and a stern expression. She towered above us, and I knew instantly that if I did get into trouble, she was not the one to be caught by.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid told the women, she nodded back before replying.

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

She pulled the door the rest of the way open to reveal a massive entrance hall, far larger than the entire Dursley residence. Like at Gringotts, the wall were lit with torches. You couldn't make out the ceiling, in front of us was a grand marble staircase which led to the upper floors.

We followed Professor McGonagall through the entrance hall. To the right was another large wood door, which must have been the rest of the school. We were led to a side chamber. Once we were all packed inside McGonagall began to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she began. "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."

She paused for a moment, seeming to wait for any comments of concerns. Where there were none 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."

Again she paused, again no one spoke.

"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 found Neville's cloak, fastened under his left ear, to Ron's smudged nose. Harry tried to flatten his hair as she scanned over us, and for the slightest moment her strict face vanished. Replaced with what looked like concern as she saw our skinny frames, but in an instant it was gone. And she turned back to the entire room.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," she finished. "Please wait quietly."

She left the room, and you could hear a pin drop. I saw Harry swallowed, Ron fiddle nervously, and Neville try and fix his cloak. Anthony, who looked so confident earlier, seemed to be going over thoughts in his head and was silently talking to himself. Lisa actually looked rather relaxed, or rather, she looked like what house she was sorted into was the least of her worries.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Harry asked quietly to Ron, I turned to the boy to, begging for him to know the answer.

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

At that Harry looked terrified and started glancing around. The room continued to be silent, except for a brown haired bushy haired girl whispering about all the spells she knew, and which one she needed. Harry then turned to the door, while I closed my eyes and tried to take deep breaths...

Calm, everyone has to go through this, just be cal...

Several people screamed behind me and I jumped.

"What the —?" Harry began, then he gasped. I turned to where he was looking and nearly fainted. A large contingent of...ghosts had just entered the chamber through the back wall. They flew across the room speaking to one another, not interested at all in us. In fact they seemed to be arguing with one another.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —" A ghost that looked like a small, fat monk was speaking.

"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?"

A ghost in ruffs and tights had noticed us, but despite the question no one spoke.

"New students!" the Fat Friar said, as he began smiling around at us. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

Some nodded, though most still seemed to be in shock. Me included.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" The ghost replied. "My old house, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

We all turned and saw that Professor McGonagall had returned. The ghost threw the wall one by one as McGonagall turned her attention to us.

"Now, form a line, and follow me." Everyone lined up then, nervously, we followed. I stood behind Harry, and in front of Ron. We followed Professor McGonagall out of the side chamber, headed back through the entrance hall, and were led through large double doors.

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