11 Sorting

The door opened by itself immediately and when they walked in the group was greeted by a woman in a emerald green robe with a stern expression.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall." the man stated.

"Thank you Hagrid."

She then turned to the group, "Welcometo Hogwarts,"saidProfessor McGonagall."Thestart-of-term banquet willbeginshortly,but before you take your seats inthe Great Hall,youwillbesortedintoyourhouses.The Sortingisa very important ceremonybecause, while you arehere, your house willbe something like your familywithinHogwarts.You willhave classes with the restof yourhouse,sleep inyourhouse dormitory,and spend free time in your house common room. "The fourhousesare called Gryffindor,Hufflepuff,Ravenclaw,and Slytherin.Eachhousehas itsownnoble historyand each hasproduced outstandingwitches and wizards.While you are atHogwarts,your triumphswillearnyourhousepoints, while anyrulebreakingwilllose house points.Atthe endofthe year, thehouse withthe mostpointsis awarded thehouse cup, agreat honor. Ihope eachof you willbe a credit towhichever house becomesyours. "The Sorting Ceremonywill take place ina fewminutesinfront ofthe restoftheschool.I suggest you allsmarten yourselvesupas much as you can while you are waiting."

When she said this Nova saw a few people start to get nervous and fixing their clothes and looking around at each other to start small conversations. Suddenly out from the wall appeared a few dozen ghost. They were a pearly, white color and were talking with one another.

The fat ghost said, ""Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance --" "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?"

"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."

Listening to all this made Nova feel very bored and since it wasn't his first time seeing ghost as they were quite common to see floating in the void carrying out task assigned to them by their masters. Though he was a little surprised to see that these had some personality to them, as they usually appear devoid of life and are just used as messengers.

As they walked forward and through the double doors into Great Hall, as it was called, Nova was greeted by any impressive sight. The Great Hall 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 table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. When Nova looked up he saw that the ceiling had enchantments and was made to reflect the time outside.

Nova then heard Hermione whisper to another girl, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Nova nodded his head, he had remembered reading about that as well, but now that he looked at it, he now knew that the ceiling was created by someone but was later incorporated into the castle itself when it became sentient. Since the castle couldn't really control its own self yet it was still able to be manipulated by another person. Seeing the more about what the castle was able to do simply made Nova want to refine it to a higher level and turn this hall into a dreamscape, which would enable the owner of the artifact to trap and manipulate one's thought and reality perceptions. But unfortunately, Nova knew that doing so could have a high chance of stripping the building of its current life during the forging process. And even though, he could preserve its current conscious, the building would have some grudge against him, not that he really cared but he was still considerate of others to an extent.

While he was lost in thought, Professor McGonagall had taken out a four legged stool and a ragged wizards hat was place on top. When she turned around and looked down at the group of new students, she noticed that Nova was still looking around and not paying attention to what was going on. Though she was slightly disappointed in seeing such behavior, Professor McGonagall knew that this was normal. But she did wonder though why the boy still had those black glasses on his face. She then stood to the side and waited.

After a few moments, the rip near the brim opened wide and started to sing:

"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;

94 You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuff is 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!"

After it had finished, the whole hall started clapping and when they did Nova jumped a little since he was still lost in thought. When he looked up, he saw the hat and Nova's eyes went wide. When he saw the Sorting Hat, it saw that it had the Mark of Four Powers interwoven into the area where the hat's mind was located. Though it didn't have any body, Nova was slightly concerned since an artifact such as this was a powerful tool in its own right and wondered why it was out here in the first place. But as he looked closer, he gave a small sigh of relief. The Sorting Hat was only a spatial tool and when he looked into its layout he saw that a sword of some type was meant to be summoned from its depths.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down.

A moment's pause --

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

As McGonagall started reading names off the list, Nova started to think. He realized that the hat seemed to be reading the thoughts of the people and seemed to make a decision based of the person's characteristics, and this worried him. Nova was unsure if the hat was able to handle everything that was in his mind.

After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall then called,

"Granger, Hermione!"

Nova watched as Hermione ran to the stool and forced the hat on her head, Nova tried to not laugh as he had spent enough time with her to know that she was eager and slightly embarrassed at the same time. This time he watched as the hat took a few minutes to make a decision, and then he heard, "GRYFFINDOR!"

He hear a small groan from the boy name Ron but knew saying something would be wrong at the time, plus he knew the Ron didn't really like Hermione.

The list of names started to be called again and when Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."

As the sorting continued, Nova watched as a pale hair boy, "Malfoy Draco" was called, who walked up and sat down only to get right back up as the hat immediately called, "Slytherin!"

Nova looked around and saw that many of the people had been sorted already and saw there weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last -- "Potter, Harry!" As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

Nova watched as Harry went up and immediately heard people start to whisper, since he knew that Harry had some fame attached to him. But what interested Nova the most was that Harry was whispering as well. He listened in and heard him whispering, "Not Slytherin." Over and over but finally stopped when the hat fell on his head. Like that of a few moments ago, the hat took a while and from the way Harry was moving his head, Nova felt like he was having a plea session with it. After a while the hat cried, "Gryffindor!" When it said that the whole Gryffindor table exploded in excitement and applause.

Nova then looked at the group and realized that there were only three other left besides himself, "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. And a second later, "Gryffindor!" was heard.

Next to him the last boy looked over and Nova could tell he was nervous. All Nova cared about was when he was going to be called. But then he realized that the names were going in order by last name, to which Nova then remembered he didn't know what his last name was in this world. And then he heard it:

"Void, Nova"