The Sorting Ceremony

The site before me brought silence to everyone in the boats, Hagrid included. I understood the feeling. Nothing in either lives could have prepared me for such a sight. Hogwarts, standing tall above the lake, lights shining all over it. Ignorant of our awe, the boats kept the same pace, and soon we had made it to the castle walls. Passing underneath some vines that obscured a hidden cave, we were brought to a long and narrow staircase leading to a wooden door.

One by one, the student's dismounted the boats onto the landing. Once each and every student was accounted for and on the landing, Hagrid led the way up the stairs. By the time we made it to the top, most student's were panting, myself included. I had been putting off physical activities in favor of magic since I got here, but seeing Anthon- Tony, I corrected myself, not even break a sweat, I decided to exercise more often.

Hagrid brought a fist to the wooden door and made a loud, booming knock, powerful enough for me to feel the vibrations multiple meters away from him. The door must've been charmed to withstand such a brutal knock from the half-giant. Not long after he knocked, McGonagall opened the door, looking as stern and regal ever in her green robes and hat.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." He rumbled. Hagrid was truly an enormous man, far bigger than I had thought from the books.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here" She said, turning heel and walking into what I presumed was the entrance hall. It was enormous, easily big enough to fit the orphanage I had spent my formative years in. Candles and torches adorned the walls, burning merrily, while portraits were placed in between, talking amicably to each other about the 'new batch' as they called us first years.

Not faltering or breaking her stride, McGonagall didn't let the students gawk for long, leading them into a small antechamber. The students crowded together, shoulder to shoulder as McGonagall cleared her throat and began a speech she must have performed dozens of times.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, the start-of-term feast 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 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 scanned the crowd like a fine toothed comb, picking out every imperfection. No matter how much I told myself I didn't care about such a simple encounter, I still found myself hurriedly attempting to make myself look more presentable.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." She said as she spun around, marching out of the room.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" A voice from the right asked hesitantly. Harry Potter was looking at a ginger, who I assumed to be Ron, anxiously. Ron didn't look much better himself, paling slightly and making his freckles more pronounced. Nearly spurting out the answer, I barely caught myself in time. It wouldn't do to mess up the time line this early in my journey.

While I wasn't all too concerned at messing up the plot, God changing stuff and my very presence in this room already doing a fine job, I didn't really want to try to mess it up. I had already resigned myself to a year of training, little adventure to be had. The only event I planned on interfering with was the troll attack. It was simply too dangerous to allow the original plot to play out, especially with my butterfly effect in play.

Speaking of trolls, Ron responded, "My brothers said we had to fight a troll, I'm still not sure if he was joking or not." A near visible wave of terror crossed the room at Ron's words. Nobody expected to be tested the very first day. Of course, some of the purebloods and I knew what the real 'test' was, but none of us said anything. Perhaps one of them might, if it weren't for the stampede of ghosts that chose that exact moment to wander into our little room.

Several people screamed, and many more jumped. Even some of the purebloods got frightened. Even if ghosts were well known, especially at Hogwarts, they were still a rare sight. Not many people outside of Hogwarts students get to see even a single ghost in their lifetime. Because of that, nobody was prepared for the sudden entrance of more than twenty ghosts.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance--" the short fat one said.

"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 even really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost that I could make out as Nearly-Headless Nick finally noticed us, causing a chain reaction in the other ghosts, all giving introductions and talking about their own houses and the sorting.

"Move along now," McGonagall's sharp voice cut through the chatter like it was butter, causing the students to turn towards her. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." Slowly, the ghosts filed away into the separate wall.

"Now, form a line and follow me." The first years listened to McGonagall, filing into a single filed line, walking through the Entrance Hall and through a massive pair of beautiful wooden doors into the Great Hall.

Immediately I looked up, away from the students and head table towards the ceiling, or sky if my eyes didn't deceive me. It was even better than I remembered from the movies, a great dark blue expanse covering the entire ceiling, appearing as if the ceiling wasn't even there in the first place. Wispy clouds dotted around it, with a large, crescent moon hanging in the middle. It was only after Hermione gave her signature explanation that I turned my head down, ignoring the masses of students to instead study the teachers at the Head Table.

There were more than a dozen teachers in total in all sorts of robes and hats. I recognized McGonagall and Hagrid, of course, but also recognized Flitwick for his small stature, Snape for his emo nature, Quirrell for his turban, and of course Dumbledore, who sat at the head of the table with a gentle smile on his face.

Seeing him here, it was hard to think of him as the most powerful wizard of the modern age, beater of Grindelwald and capable of standing toe-to-toe with Voldemort in his prime at such an old age. From here, he simply looked like a happy and friendly old man, looking forward to another year filled with watching over his school. Even so, I made sure I never looked into his eyes, even once. Neither did I look into Snape's or Quirrell's eyes.

While I at least trusted Dumbledore and, to some extent, Snape to fight the good fight and be the hero, that didn't mean I wanted them rifling through my head. Legilimancy was a real concern for me, but there wasn't any way I knew how to learn occlumency, and the chances of getting caught in the restricted section looking for books on the subject was just too risky. Even if I had the money, I couldn't go to Diagon Alley to grab some books during the school year. Until the end of the year, I simply resigned myself to not looking them in the eyes, which were key factors in wandless legilimency from what I understood.

By the time I got done with scoping out the High Table, we had made it to the front of the Hall, pooling into a blob around an elevated platform with a stool on it, and a hat on top of the stool. The Hall grew quiet as the hat started to shake, and a seam split across the middle, looking eerily like a human mouth. Then, it sang.

It sang and sang about the houses and their merits, in a surprisingly talented voice. As it finished with a quick "For I'm a Thinking Cap!" the entire Hall burst into applause. Jason heard Ron mutter something to Harry about killing his brother Fred, probably about the whole 'wrestling a troll' thing.

Once McGonagall was done politely clapping, she unrolled a scroll of parchment, saying "When I call your name, you put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbot, Hannah!" A small girl with yellow pigtails ran up to the stool, dropping the hat onto her head. There was a small pause before the hat yelled "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table with yellow and black colored robes burst into applause, with the rest of the hall politely clapping along. As Hannah sat with the rest of the Hufflepuffs, McGonagall once again called a name.

"Bones, Susan."

A short pause… "HUFFLEPUFF!

"Boot, Terry."

"RAVENCLAW!"

And so it went. Tony went to Ravenclaw, along with Sue Li, one of the people I rode with on the boats.

Harry Potter was called up shortly after, causing a hush to fall over the room. The poor kid didn't seem to be handling his new fame all that well, pinking up slightly and nearly tripping on the way there. He put the hat firmly on his head, and sat. And sat, and sat some more. It took nearly three minutes for the hat to call out, louder than any call before, a resounding "GRYFFINDOR!"

Applause shot up from the table Hermione went to, making Harry blush some more and nearly sprint to where the twins were singing "We got Potter! We got Potter!" and doing a little dance.

Ron went up some time after that, getting sorted into Gryffindor the second the hat touched his head. Finally, a kid named Blaise Zabini was called, getting sorted into Slytherin. And then, there was one. McGonagall looked at her parchment one last time before rolling it up, calling out my name.

"Zeller, Jason" was all she called. The last name given to me by the orphanage. There was no hushed whispering or awe as I walked up, but instead it seemed like people were getting bored and hungry, wanting the ceremony to end fast.

I reached the stool, sitting on it and pulling the hat over my small head, obscuring my view of the Hall.

"Hmm.. an interesting one we have here." A voice not my own sounded out from my mind, laced with curiosity.

"There's a lot to decipher here, oh not to worry," It interrupted itself, apparently noticing my growing concern. "I can't read memories if that's what you're thinking. Only personalities. It's quite a common fear, but baseless. Now, let's get to business." The hat continued.

"Gryffindor is out from the get-go. While I sense traits of bravery in you, you're not one to rush in blindly. You won't hesitate to put yourself in harms way, but prefer to have ample preparation time. Hufflepuff is out as well. You seem to be quite the dedicated person, hard working too. Both traits valued in Hufflepuff, but it doesn't feel quite right."

"Slytherin values ambition and quick-thinking, things you seem to have in droves, while Ravenclaw values the gathering of knowledge and uncovering the secrets of the world. Both are important traits to your character, but I think I know where I should put you… Better be…"

"RAVENCLAW!"