Sorting Part 2!

She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Perseus and Draco.

"Some sort of test, I think." Draco said, "Even my father wouldn't tell me about it."

"I think so too." Perseus said, "Maybe they'll sort us like according to our traits and personalities."

Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test?

Perseus noticed that it was not only Harry who looked around anxiously but everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.

Perseus laughed as the more Hermione seemed to chant the more everyone got nervous as if she was reading a spell that'll make everyone sad.

"I apologize," Perseus said seeing everyone glare at him all of a sudden.

"What's so funny?" Ron said, "You think you're better than all of us."

"Maybe." Perseus said, "Well anyway seeing you all nervous about the sorting was too hilarious to miss out. I mean why are you all worrying so much. We have muggle-borns in here who didn't even know if magic existed until a month ago, so what makes you think they would give us an extremely hard test?"

Everyone nodded as they realized what Perseus said was true.

Then something happened that made all of them jump about a foot in the air --several people behind him screamed.

"What the --?"

People around him gasped. 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 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?"

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."

Perseus seeing ghosts after so long was a bit taken back as memories surfaced of his previous life. Peverell family were famous for their connection with the death and from their surfaced many magic unique to them. From what Perseus could recall there were several magic spells related to ghosts. Like, tieing them up, torturing them and most importantly freeing them of their bind to the world.

"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."

With Harry and Draco pulling him out of his thoughts, they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

It was a strange and splendid place regardless of what have you seen in the magical world. 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 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. Perseus looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Perseus looked at her wondering why would she even be interested in these types of things but he remembered something that Patricia told him before. "A Ravenclaw huh?"

"What?" Hermione asked as Perseus shook his head as he looked back at Professor McGonagall who 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.

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 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

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 it was just trying on a hat." Perseus said, "See, I told you all it wouldn't be difficult."

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 moments pause

--

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Perseus saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

" Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Perseus noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others, it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.

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."

Draco swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Draco went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself as he nodded at Perseus sure that he'll be in Slytherin like himself. After all, he didn't lack cunningness at all.

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.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

"A downfall of being unwillingly famous," Perseus said as he saw Harry looking a bit awkward as he remembered his first day at school himself.

But against anyone's expectation, the hat didn't shout, "GRYFFINDOR!" but "SLYTHERIN!!" instead.

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Slytherin table looking frozen and in disbelief.

"What? A Potter in Slytherin? Has the hat gone mad?"

"This isn't possible."

The hall was filled with noises as the headmaster himself, intervened. "SILENCE!!"

As his voice fell, the whole hall was silent again as Professor McGonagall up with the hat continued trying to hide her shock,

"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was finally Perseus's turn.

"Walker, Perseus," McGonagall said as she watched the boy calmly walk in as he sat on the chair. Perseus had a lot of questions about how the hat worked, more importantly, he was concerned if the hat could read his memories after all Bailey wasn't here to protect him here. As for what house he wanted to go in, Gryffindor was the obvious choice after all, according to Patricia with breaking rules being in the blood of Gryffindor they could do much more without getting caught but against to his expectations he didn't even have a chance to talk before the hat announced, "RAVENCLAW!!" right after touching him.

Still surprised as to how quick the decision of the hat was, Perseus didn't even realize when he had walked towards the Ravenclaw table and sat next to Hermione and an older student.

And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a tall Black boy joined the Gryffindor table and Ron of course, being a Weasley went into Gryffindor.