13 Arrival at the castle

Our Journey continued without any incidents. Based on the commotion among the students and those who are starting to put on their robes, we should arrive soon. Susan and I put on our wizard robes. We take turns leaving the cabin to have some privacy.

I was playing with Styx, who was having fun twisting around my fingers, when suddenly a girl with curly brown hair burst into our compartment.

"Excuse me, have you seen a toad?"

"A toad? I don't think so. If a toad had come here, Styx would have probably eaten it."

She turns her head to me as I reply to her, and our gazes cross. I gaze back at her for a long second when she ends up turning away her head while blushing.

~I'm not that hungry, toad's skin is sticky and doesn't taste very good. I prefer chicken. ~

~It's true, it must taste terrible.~

"Um, what did you just say?"

"Oh, yes! I'm talking in parseltongue and Styx just said he didn't eat a toad."

"You speak parseltongue like Salazar Slytherin! My name is Hermione Granger, and you are? "

"Susan Bones."

"Sean Bones."

"Nice to meet you. I spoke with one of the prefects, we will arrive soon." Hermione is about to resume her searching for Neville's toad when I stop her.

"Hey, I have a question, since you seem to know a lot about famous characters. What do you know about Harry Potter? Except that he survived the attack on Godric's Hollow I don't know much about him."

"Eurg, a boy ... very sure of himself. I went through his compartment a little before coming to yours. He thinks he's the center of the world and he has a fan club that lines up at his door for an autograph. When I forced my way in to ask if they had seen a toad, you know what he had the nerve to say to me: Miss, if you want an autograph, line up like everyone else. And I'm not even talking to you about the disgusting boy stuffing himself with candy next to him. Other than that, I just know he's been training at the Quidditch since he was a kid and the National Team coach is watching him, but that's all I know."

"What a nice guy. Thanks for the information. Want one? " I hand a box of chocolate frogs to Hermione. She is one of the main characters, might as well have her as a friend.

She accepts the treat I give her and smiles at me in a friendly manner. "Thank you, it was a pleasure meeting you."

About twenty minutes later, we finally get off the train while the daylight is already starting to fall. We're on a very old station. I could not say how old it is but the flaked paint in several places and the missing tiles make me think that it is clearly from a few years ago. I see the older students going into the surrounding forest, probably to join the coaches that will bring them faster to the castle.

"The first year, over here, please." I see Harry leading the way, but Hagrid doesn't seem to greet him. I guess since he never went to pick him up for his birthday, they never met officially. "Is everyone here? Well, the boats are that way."

We walk along a path that takes us to the lake at the foot of the castle. We need a few minutes of walking during which Susan does not leave my side, visibly afraid of the shadows of the trees and the sound of the wind in the night.

After this long walk, I finally see Hogwarts. Most of the lights are off so I can easily spot the great hall. Whispers are starting to spread among the first-year students.

"Sean, don't you think it's beautiful?"

"Yeah, that's not bad."

We finally reach the shore of the lake where boats await us.

"No more than four people per boat." It takes us a few minutes to all settle down as Hagrid asked. In addition to Susan, I find myself with Hermione and Neville sobbing because he lost his toad.

"What a coincidence, we met again."

"It's not really a coincidence. I just wanted to take the boat trip with people I know. And Neville is completely devastated because he lost his toad." I hear Neville whispering a few things about his grandmother sending him a howler.

"Is everyone here?" He looks at the boats and on the shore to make sure nobody is missing. "Let's go then."

All the boats start to slide on the water in one motion. I scan the depths of the lake in search of the giant squid or the selkies, but I see nothing in the darkness of the waters of the lake.

We end up entering a tunnel that goes under the castle and lead to a sort of underground cave. The boat dock on pebbles.

"Trevor!" I turn around just in time to watch Hagrid return his toad to Neville. And I can't help but make fun of him with the others when I see with my eyes how left-handed he is.

We now follow Hagrid, who takes us to the Entrance Hall, where we meet McGonagall.

"Professor McGonagall, these are the freshmen."

"Thank you, Hagrid. Welcome to Hogwarts, the banquet is about to begin, but before you take your seat in the great hall, you will be sorted into one of the different houses. Throughout your stay with us, your home will be like a second family. The names of the houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. During your year at Hogwarts, whenever you get good results, you will earn points for your house. Every time you break the rules, you'll lose some. At the end of the school year, the house with the most points will win the Four House Cup, which is a great honor. The sorting ceremony is about to begin."

As Professor McGonagall moves away to enter the great hall a flight of ghost flies over us and the ghost of a big monk wishes us to be sorted into Hufflepuff. This is the first time I see a wizard ghost. I read some spells that I would love to experiment with this big monk.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall is back. "Line up and follow me."

Four rows of tables, each flanked by a tablecloth of different colors are located in the room. Against the back of the room is a platform which seems to be the teachers' table.

They make us line up in front of the platform. In front of us is an old hat sitting on a stool. He starts by singing his horrible song, I did not find it very beautiful in the book, but then listening to it for real is atrocious.

McGonagall ended up speaking again at the end of the song and the applause. "When I call your name, you will put the sorting hat on your head and you will sit on the stool. Abbot, Hannah"

The hat seems to take a second to think before giving its answer. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

McGonagall picks up her list, but I know the next name she's going to say, I'm already walking to the sorting hat when she says my name. "Bones, Sean."

She put the sorting hat on my head, and immediately I feel mental tentacles trying to pierce the defenses of my mind. "Oh, a difficult one. Stop resisting, it'll only take a minute."

I realize that he is far stronger than me, he has been doing this job for 1,500 years while exploring students thought. I try to gather my defenses around the most important elements of my memory. Black magic spells, and memories of my previous life and early childhood.

----------POV Sorting Hat----------

A tall white-haired boy comes towards me, he makes one more head than all the others present beside him and the least we can say is that he does not go unnoticed. I see several young ladies blushing in the group that is still waiting for my judgment, as well as some second-year students.

It seems like we got a future hearts breaker on our hands. There is also a snake wrapped around his arm. No, not a snake, a basilisk. Even if this one is small, it is still a creature of rank xxxxx.

They put me on his head. Oh, an occlumen! It is rare for someone this young, and he's pretty good at it. I can feel the panic on the surface thoughts of his mind, it must be the first time anyone's ever tried to get into his mind for real. This little game has been going on for four minutes and I hear students whispering 'hatstall' in the room. I hate to run into difficult cases, young students tend to question my choices right after. Finally, the boy lets me in on his own accord, hiding only parts of his memory. It doesn't matter, I already have enough material to make a judgment.

Um, a complicated choice. The boy would need faithful friends that he would certainly find in Hufflepuff, but I'm not sure he would fit in that easily. He has an insatiable desire for knowledge, but it is more governed by the thirst for power than the pursue of knowledges for knowledge, therefore not Ravenclaw. Um, the choice is going to be tough. Gryffindor maybe, um no, he's brave but not the style to get into a fight without being sure to win. Slytherin would do well, it would satisfy his thirst for greatness, and I would be the laughingstock of magical artifacts if I did not place a descendant of Salazar in the house of Slytherin.

"SLYTHERIN!"

-----------POV Sean Bones-----------

At the announcement of the sorting hat, I felt the mental tentacles which probed my mind retreat. I now understand why my mother said that occlumency is not something that should be taught to children. I'm getting up to join the table of my new house. I am the first new member of Slytherin, but soon the table is full and thirty-four new members join me. Hermione was placed by the sorting hat in Ravenclaw, as one would expect from someone who seems to like devouring books.

Draco Malfoy also ended up in Slytherin as expected and Harry went to Gryffindor. I hope that means that he will still have the courage to face Voldemort even if his personality has completely changed. The sorting hat had not even announced the name of his house that he was going towards Gryffindor's table, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

The last one to be sorted was a boy named Blaise Zabini who came to join us in Slytherin.