Chapter 59: Feasting and Sorting
The long line of carriages arrived at the castle, passing through the gates flanked with statues of winged boars. Up the sweeping drive, the carriages trundled. After walking up the stone steps of the ancient castle, the group of four arrived at the Great Hall and headed towards the Ravenclaw table, decorated in blue and bronze. Hogwarts Great Hall was bustling with life as more and more students arrived.
Innumerable candles hovered in midair over four long, crowded tables, making the golden plates and goblets sparkle. Overhead, the bewitched ceiling, which always mirrored the sky outside, sparkled with stars. Once the other members of his year in Ravenclaw arrived, they greeted each other and began discussing their holidays. After a while, Harry's eyes wandered over the hall.
A forest of dark pointed hats formed, as all Hogwarts students were wearing them traditionally and also for the last time in this school year. As the hat was the most useless item on the whole shopping list, they only wore it once every year.
Atop the staff table, the teachers and other staff of Hogwarts were already waiting. The table was filled with the same familiar figures as last year. The spot of Hagrid and Professor McGonagall was still empty as they were handling the first years. Amongst the teachers, a particular figure stood out, wearing violet robes and blonde hair, with a particular wide smile watching the crowd of students. Gilderoy Lockhart was really the new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Harry couldn't believe that Professor Dumbledore would choose such a person. After reading all his books, he was sure that Lockhart was a story writer, not a capable wizard or teacher. Many of the things described in his books were pure fiction, like the cure for werewolves, for example. The fact that they were even accepted as official school books was a scandal.
Once all of the upper-year students arrived and sat down at their house tables, Dumbledore greeted them with a few words before the Sorting Hat with the three-legged chair was placed in front of the staff table.
A few moments after Hagrid sat down at his place on the table, Professor McGonagall brought the new first years in. Harry didn't recognize any of them, besides the small blonde Luna and the redheaded sister of the Weasleys, who he believed was called Ginny and had secretly taken glances at him when they met at Diagon Alley.
The sorting ceremony itself was pretty standard, and not much of interest happened besides three particular sortings. The first one was a small mousy-haired boy called Colin Creevey, who aggressively discussed something with the Sorting Hat about the sorting. After being sent to Gryffindor, he even shouted at the hat. That was very amusing, and at the same time, Harry felt like he just dodged a bullet.
After that, Luna's sorting was very interesting. It went on for a long time, but based on the expressions she and the hat were making, it was a fascinating discussion they were having together. After Professor McGonagall coughed, the hat realized where they were, and promptly sent her to Ravenclaw, to Harry's pleasure. He clapped very loudly while grinning at his friends, as he had won their small bet.
Luna sat down beside him as the first years sat directly beside the second year, and on the other side of them were the prefects. "Welcome to the House of the smart, Luna. I knew you would land here," greeted Harry.
"Thank you, Harry." Before she could say anything more, the sorting of Ginny Weasley caught their eyes.
She also seemed to have a discussion with the Sorting Hat and took a long while. Soon, the ancient hat began to sigh and muttered something like, "I blame you for that, Potter. Well, it's your problem now." At least that's what Harry's sharp senses could make out from the crowd of whispers before it shouted "Ravenclaw."
Under confusion and a bit shocked but accepting stares from her brothers, Percy even seemed proud, the redheaded Weasley girl wandered towards the Ravenclaw table as they welcomed her with loud clapping.
She sat down beside Luna. "Hey Luna, seems we are in the same house," she greeted while sending glances at Harry.
"Hello Ginny, I am happy that I already have another friend in my house," replied Luna with a happy smile. "Although I thought you would be in Gryffindor. Well, it's a happy surprise."
"I thought so too. But it seems I was fated for Ravenclaw," said Ginny with a pleased smile.
Harry had to hold in a snort. 'Yeah, sure.' He thought as he saw through the small farce. The girl definitely annoyed the hat to be sorted in the same house as him. 'Well, great, I have fans.' He sighed internally while keeping a polite smile on the surface as he greeted the first years.
The rest of the sorting was pretty standard, and nothing of note happened. "Don't you have a younger sister, Daphne?" he asked as he turned to his blond friend.
"Yes, she will be joining us next year. She's already very excited for her time at Hogwarts. It will be quite chaotic once she joins the castle as she is a real energy bundle, always getting into some kind of trouble. Just this summer, she pranked Malfoy during one of the balls by putting a lot of chillies into his food. You should have seen his red head and how he had tears in his eyes," she told with a happy smile as she loved to talk about her sister.
Harry himself couldn't wait to meet Astoria. She sounded like a person he would get along with. "She sounds like fun."
"More like a prankster. She would fit in with the Weasley Twins in Gryffindor," added Hermione, not really wanting to have a prankster close to her. But he could see a small grin hidden at the corners of her mouth as she heard about how Malfoy was pranked.
"My parents would disown her if she landed in Gryffindor. I already had a hard time explaining why I wasn't in Slytherin. Thanks, by the way, for your 'It isn't really Slytherin to be sorted into Slytherin' argument, Harry. It helped a lot. They were quite embarrassed as they didn't have a good reply," thanked Daphne.
"You're welcome, Daphne. It's just a logical conclusion."
Not much else happened during the feast, and the food was tasty as ever. Padma told them about her holidays in India, as she and her sister Parvati had only returned shortly before the new year started. That's why she couldn't meet them in Diagon Alley.
While they talked about their holidays, Harry told them about France, and Hermione expressed her wish to also visit the country. It was close enough for holidays that her parents could afford, as dentists did earn quite well, but not overly much to squander their money.
Dumbledore had no important announcements. No deadly corridors. Nothing of interest. Just the standard rules: don't use joke items, no spells in the corridors, the Forbidden Forest is as its name implies— forbidden.
Once the feast was over, they headed towards the common room and went to the second-year rooms, where Harry spent the rest of the time before sleeping with the other boys, talking about all kinds of things like Quidditch and the new year.
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