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And so he had. |
«You've met Malfoy before?» |
Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. |
«I've heard of his family,» said Ron darkly. «They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side.» He turned to Hermione. «Can we help you with something?» |
«You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!» |
«Scabbers has been fighting, not us,» said Ron, scowling at her. «Would you mind leaving while we change?» |
«All right—I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors,» said Hermione in a sniffy voice. «And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?» |
Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. |
He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. |
A voice echoed through the train: «We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.» |
Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. |
The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: «Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?» |
Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. |
«C'mon, follow me—any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!» |
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. |
«Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,» Hagrid called over his shoulder, «jus' round this bend here.» |
There was a loud «Oooooh!» |
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. |
«No more'n four to a boat!» Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. «Everyone in?» shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. «Right then—FORWARD!» |
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. |
«Heads down!» yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind ... |
«Oy, you there! Is this your toad?» said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. |
«Trevor!» cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. |
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door. |
«Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?» |
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door. |
CHAPTER SEVEN |
THE SORTING HAT |
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. |
«The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,» said Hagrid. |
«Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.» |
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. 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. |
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here—but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer ... |
«Welcome to Hogwarts,» said Professor McGonagall. «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. Yo... |
«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 hous... |
«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. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair. |
«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.» |
Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet—what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermi... |
Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air—several people behind him screamed. |
«What the —?» |
He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. 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 ... |
«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 wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. |
Nobody answered. |
«New students!» said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. «About to be Sorted, I suppose?» |
A few people nodded mutely. |
«Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!» said the Friar. «My old house, you know.» |
«Move along now,» said a sharp voice. «The Sorting Ceremony's about to start.» |
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. |
«Now, form a line,» Professor McGonagall told the first years, «and follow me.» |
Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. |
Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long ta... |
Hermione whisper, «Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.» |
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. |
Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. |
Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing—noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth—and the hat began... |
«Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, |
But don't judge on what you see, |
I'll eat myself if you can find |
A smarter hat than me. |
You can keep your bowlers black, |
Your top hats sleek and tall, |
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat |
And I can cap them all. |
There's nothing hidden in your head |
The Sorting Hat can't see, |
So try me on and I will tell you |
Where you ought to be. |
You might belong in Gryffindor, |
Where dwell the brave at heart, |
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart; |
You might belong in Hufflepuff, |
Where they are just and loyal, |
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil; |
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, |
if you've a ready mind, |
Where those of wit and learning, |
Will always find their kind; |
Or perhaps in Slytherin |
You'll make your real friends, |
Those cunning folk use any means |
To achieve their ends. |
So put me on! Don't be afraid! |
And don't get in a flap! |
You're in safe hands (though I have none) |
For I'm a Thinking Cap!» |
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. |
«So we've just got to try on the hat!» Ron whispered to Harry. «I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.» |
Harry. smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather alot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people w... |
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. |
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