Chapter 19 : Ceremony

When they were about to enter Hogwarts, everyone forgot the earlier unpleasantness, and under Hagrid's guidance, the first-year students arrived at a ferry crossing by the lake.

"All aboard! Remember, no more than four people per boat," Hagrid shouted to the students.

Anduin, Charles, and Vivian boarded the same boat, along with another girl.

"Hi, I'm Olyanna, nice to meet you all," greeted the girl who was sharing the boat with them.

"Hello, I'm Vivian, and these are Anduin and Charles. Let us ladies sit comfortably, and let the two gentlemen help row the boat," said Vivian, the most talkative, who was the first to greet Olyanna and, without consulting the two gentlemen, assigned them the task.

Anduin and Charles exchanged a silent glance and began rowing quietly.

But Anduin soon discovered the boat seemed enchanted; it followed its course without much rowing effort.

"I heard only first-years have to row to enter the school. They say it's so the new students retrace the path of the Four Founders, and that four people per boat also represents the Four Founders," Vivian began gossiping, sharing rumors she'd heard from who knows where, while Anduin listened and watched Hogwarts getting closer and closer.

He wondered what the founders must have felt approaching the castle, but for now, everyone on the boat was very excited.

"All new students disembark and follow me," Hagrid led the way, holding an oil lamp. After disembarking, the many students arrived at Hogwarts' first building.

Next, there was a long, winding staircase climbing up the cliff. Everyone climbed with effort until they reached the top, where the huge Hogwarts castle stood.

At the top, a group of new students followed Hagrid toward Hogwarts' entrance hall. Inside, waiting on the stairs, was a middle-aged witch in a dark green wizard robe: Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall saw the newly enrolled underage wizards, and she also saw Anduin in the crowd, not forgetting to cast a sharp glance at him. His "glorious" deeds had surely already reached her ears.

"Professor McGonagall, these little ones are all yours," Hagrid said, then turned and left.

"Thank you, Hagrid, you've been a great help." She exchanged a few polite words with him, then turned to the crowd and said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term feast is about to begin, but before that, you will undergo the Sorting Ceremony. I will lead you to the Great Hall shortly . . . ".

Then, Professor McGonagall presented a long list of precautions to all the new students waiting below on the stairs. Anduin listened for quite a while and found the main content focused on two things: one about the Sorting, and another about the House Cup. After being sorted, they should behave well; good behavior would earn points, and bad behavior would deduct points, affecting the ownership of the House Cup, blah, blah, blah.

Professor McGonagall finished her instructions efficiently, then looked at the excited young wizards, smiled with satisfaction, and asked everyone to wait a moment before leaving.

The new students waiting below were both nervous and excited. Nervous because they didn't know how the sorting would work and feared they might fail the ceremony; excited because they wanted to quickly enter their own house and earn points for it. They all looked ready to dedicate themselves to their house at any moment.

Anduin rolled his eyes. What did these kids know about honor? This wasn't a gang fight where whoever won, won. He figured that once school truly started, these kids would realize that earning points for the house wasn't so easy, and it would be good if these mischievous children didn't lose points for their house.

"Anduin, are you nervous? The sorting is about to begin, and I don't know how it works. It's not going to be a test, is it? I spent the whole summer playing and don't know anything," Vivian was clearly very nervous and couldn't wait to pass that nervousness on to Anduin.

Anduin found her amusing. You didn't spend the whole summer playing, you spent it gossiping about others, he thought, but he still quietly offered her some comforting words.

Soon after, Professor McGonagall returned and led everyone to the Great Hall. They arrived at the door connecting the entrance hall to the Great Hall. On either side of the door were four large hourglasses, with a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake carved beneath them respectively. Currently, the bottoms of all the hourglasses were empty; it seemed these four hourglasses were responsible for recording each house's points.

Professor McGonagall opened the large door and guided everyone inside the Great Hall.

Hogwarts' Great Hall was incredibly spacious and remarkably tall; perhaps due to magic, the ceiling was not visible. Countless candles floated in the air, brilliantly illuminating the entire hall.

Inside the Great Hall were four very long tables, where many older students were already seated, watching them. In front of the long tables was a chair, and on it rested a tattered hat.

When everyone entered, the hat was already singing an opening song in a tone-deaf voice. By the time everyone reached the chair, the old hat still hadn't finished singing and kept howling with apparent delight.

To Anduin's ears, it sounded more like howling. It was so bad it was like ugliness opening the door for ugliness—it was ugly to the core.

After a while, the Sorting Hat finally finished its performance to everyone's applause. Then, Professor McGonagall walked to the chair with a piece of parchment and called out, "The Sorting Ceremony will now begin. The young wizard whose name is called should come forward and sit on the chair."

"Olyanna Hinkley," the girl who had just shared the boat with Anduin and the others was the first to be called. Olyanna, with a hint of fear, sat in the chair. Professor McGonagall gently placed the Sorting Hat on her head.

"Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat hesitated for a few seconds before quickly shouting.

Olyanna then walked to the Ravenclaw table, which cheered and applauded her.

The Sorting Ceremony then proceeded in an orderly fashion. Vivian was sorted into Slytherin, just as she had predicted. Although she wasn't pure-blood, her family had traditionally belonged to Slytherin.

Charles was sorted into Gryffindor, just as Anduin expected. And Sampel Travers was also sorted into Slytherin. Anduin silently mourned for Vivian in his heart; being classmates with someone like that wouldn't be easy.

Was the so-called Sorting really that childish? Anduin was still complaining in his mind when Professor McGonagall on stage called his name, "Anduin Wilson."

------

you can read more + 30 chapters in my patreon

pat reon.com/Nasu954