Harry Potter and the Ghosts of Hogwarts

Chapter 7

The Sorting Hat's Decision

As they rode toward the castle in the gilded carriages the other boys with Harry looked at it eagerly thinking about how much fun it would be to finally get back to their friends and Quidditch, everyone was excited. That is everyone except for Neville Longbottom. He looked moodier than ever in Harry's memory, and because Harry had already returned to school that summer he did not feel the need to stare at the castle before them. Thus he decided to try and cheer up his friend.

"So Neville, aren't you glad that we are finally getting back to school?" Harry asked. All Neville responded with was a shrug of his shoulders and then he went back to staring at his fingers.

"Come now Neville," Harry persisted, "what is bothering you? I can't help you if you won't tell me what is wrong."

"Look," Neville said still staring at the hairs on his knuckles, "I don't feel like talking about it right now Harry." With that he moved his eyes to the school before him. His eyes did not give a look of someone waiting to reach a new adventure but instead the look of unhappy forbearance.

Harry supposed that if he let him simmer for a while he would eventually tell him what was bothering him.

They arrived at school and walked into the Great Hall with the deep indigo sky above that was surprisingly clear for fall in Britain. The stars shone and Harry was reminded, rather randomly, of the night in his first year when the centaurs looked into the sky and knew his future. He wondered what it would be like to know what was coming next he pondered this until a huge person rammed into his shoulder and he saw Crabbe standing beside Draco Malfoy. Malfoy had a shiny prefect badge on his robes. Harry was surprised he hadn't noticed Malfoy when he entered the prefect cabin on the Hogwarts Express, but he had been rather preoccupied.

"Potter, you are in our way," Malfoy sneered as a greeting, "move."

Harry just gave him his usually glare of dislike that he reserved for those people in Slytherin.

"Walk around or are you so stupid that you can't remember how to change directions like your friends?" Harry said looking at Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's minions.

"I never said I couldn't move I said move or else," this was just one more ploy to aggravate Harry into a fight, Snape was probably waiting around the corner waiting for something to happen so that he could punish Harry once again and let Malfoy off Scott free.

"Or else what?" Harry asked indignantly, "You will set your big strong protectors on me because you are too weak to do anything yourself?"

Malfoy's face turned red and he whipped out his wand and Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dee looked to their leader for instructions. Harry's wand was out equally fast and they stood poised to have an unofficial duel in the hallway before the Sorting.

Harry was ready for this, he could feel the power of anger pulsing through his veins and he looked Malfoy in the eye and already knew that he had him beat. He may not be able to take the three of them but he could definitely take Malfoy down and that would be enough to make him happy. He concentrated on Malfoy's eyes and waited for him to give away when he was going to cast a curse so that he could avoid it and return him one that would knock him on his behind like he deserved.

Harry was so focused in fact that he did not noticed the hurried feet of another person approaching.

"Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter what do you think you are doing?" Professor McGonagall said with agitated inflection, "The first year's are about to arrive and you are both prefects for goodness sake! Two prefect too! Get into the Great Hall, we will talk about this later."

Harry walked past Goyle with McGonagall watching him closely, so with his semi-backer he knocked into Goyle's shoulder as he walked past.

He seated himself by the Quidditch team waited for the Sorting Hat ceremony to begin. McGonagall led in the Tori, Tad, and the first years. She did not show any of the aggravation that she had to feel toward Harry and Malfoy at that moment, instead she put on her usual stern, no-nonsense face.

They stood before the Sorting Hat and it began its song much to the surprise of many of the new students.

Years and years and years ago

When Hogwarts School began

The founders' realized

That they would depart the land

They wanted to keep the students

In the right section

So they created me

A magical perfection

I do not look as though

I am special now

But you will understand

When you put me on your brow

When you put me on

Grasping my brim

I will choose your placement

According to their whims

First there is lady Ravenclaw

That chooses from the lot

Those that are clever

Rather than those not

The next of the founders

Is old Slytherin

Only those of ambition

Are allowed in

Then comes Hufflepuff

Who treasures those true

The loyal students of her house

Will not betray you

And last of them all

For there are no more

Is the fearless house

Called Gryffindor

So sit on the stool

For I'm no fool

So just sit back

You'll have a chat

With the Hogwarts sorting hat

And thus the school year officially began. They called up each of the students in alphabetical order and one by one they found their new placements for the year to come. Harry cheered loudly for all of the new Gryffindors that joined his house but he waited excitedly for them to reach Rankle.

Finally McGonagall read out "Rankle, Thaddeus."

He sauntered up to the stool and sat down holding the Sorting Hat without any sign of nerves. Harry caught his eye and gave him an encouraging smile Tad smiled back at him and set the hat easily atop his head. The whole Great Hall went strangely quiet wondering where the new kid would be placed. Harry hoped that his friend would be in Gryffindor, though he realized that he didn't know him very well so he couldn't say whether he would be more clever than brave or loyal or ambitious. The magical hat took its time in deciding where he would be placed but after a minute or two it called out to Harry's great relief, "GRYFFINDOR!"

He smiled as the house broke into applause Harry clapping furiously because his friend got to join him at the table. Harry could see that the other people at the table were also glad to have him joining them. Pavarti and Lavender looked at him longingly and sighed as he sat beside Harry.

The Hall quieted again when McGonagall called out over the uproar, "Rankle, Victoria."

Tori walked deliberately up to the stool where the hat was placed holding it in her hands as she looked back over the crowd and gave them all a smug smile. She looked at the crowd until she found Harry looking up at her. She smiled at him happily winked and then allowed the brim to fall over her eyes.

During this time several thoughts crossed Harry's mind. It was now obvious to him what the smug expression on her face implied. She intended to be in Harry's house and that was that. The girl did not seem like the type to take no for an answer. That was where the other problem arose. Harry knew very little about girls but he could tell that she had her eye on him and though she was Tad sister he did not like her in the way she obviously wanted him to. Harry thought silently to himself that he did not want her in his house. He hoped that she would fit somewhere else.

A couple minutes passed as Harry had each of these thoughts and he would have expected her to have the Sorting Hat convinced as quickly as Malfoy had convinced the hat that he belonged in Slytherin. But the Hat remained silent obviously taking its time in the decision that it made. After five minutes had gone by people started to look at each other in wonder. Never in Harry's memory had the Sorting Hat taken so long in choosing where a person should be placed. Of course in Harry had only been to three of the five possible sorting ceremonies in his school career. He looked around to see others' reactions and noticed that a wave of whispers had swept across the Great Hall. He looked back at Tori beneath the hat that dwarfed her in her fifth year. All that Harry could see was her hands and he noticed to his own amazement that her knuckles were white. At ten minutes the teachers began to look at one another and wondered if the old Sorting Hat had finally found it's match. They looked to Dumbledore for direction, but he stared steadily at the girl sitting upon the stool.

Finally when almost all of the people in the Great Hall had rumbling stomachs and fifteen minutes had passed the Sorting Hat called out it's final decision, "SLYTHERIN!"

The relief that she had finally been placed had every student in the whole Hall cheering. Tori angrily pulled the hat from her head in disgust. She let out a startling cry of rage and marched out of the Great Hall. Every table grew quiet and then George Weasley said in a voice that rang through the silent hall, "If I were put in Slytherin I would be pissed too."

Everyone heard it and everyone from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff laughed uproariously at the slight the newest member of Slytherin House had inadvertently given to the house that usually gave out the insults.

Everyone quieted and the ceremony continued placing the remaining students in their correct place in less time than it took the Sorting Hat to find a place for Tori alone. They sat at their seats and Dumbledore stood to give his yearly start of term speech.

As long as Harry could remember Dumbledore looked prestigious and a little sly as he sat before his school full of students. But this year the characteristic twinkle in his eye had dulled and though he had always looked old it seemed that he had not had as much sleep this year for he looked endlessly tired. He managed to put on a slight smile, "Here are my words of wisdom to begin the year, Enfatuma Viviuma Pua Eviga Revena."

Then he conducted a chorus of the school song and waved his hand for the food to appear. That year they had some curious selections on the menu. Instead of the regular English menu they included such things as chow mien and pizza. As soon as Tad caught sight of the pizza he grabbed for it, while saying, "My favorite."

Near the end of the meal Tori walked back into the Great Hall with her head held high and the snobbish look on her face as though she was better than everyone in that hall. Everyone in the hall was staring at the new girl and she acted like they were not even there. All of the Slytherins were wondering how they were supposed to react to this girl that was so upset because she was put into their house. And the rest of they houses watched to see if she would be eaten alive. But she surprised them all walking to the opposite end of the hall and seating herself between Harry Potter and Tad, though not without a bit of resistance on her brother's part.

"Can't you tell that you are supposed to be sitting with your new house?" he was the only one brave enough to state the obvious.

"I never heard that rule," Tori replied stubbornly.

"I would think that someone that professes such intelligence should be able to figure it out," Tad retorted.

"I feel no need to abide by unwritten rules, thank you very much," Tori said back hotly, "Besides you are my brother I have every right to want to sit by you. Look they have Chinese!" And there the conversation ended though Tad did mutter under his breath that he had the right to want his sister to sit on the other side of the dining hall.

"Harry," Tori began speaking to Harry as though they had met in the summer instead of Tad, "You really have to try this Chinese food I promise that once you taste it you will never be able to go back to Yorkshire pudding."

Harry did try it and found that it was like nothing he had ever tasted before. Harry was never taken along when the Dursley's went out to dinner and all that Aunt Petunia cooked was traditional English food. He and Tori finished off the plate of chow mien with ease and Harry thought about how hard it would be to go back to the Dudley diet when he returned that summer, if he returned that summer.

Dumbledore stood up when everyone had had his or her fill of the food. Harry figured that they would be the usual additions to disallowed items from Filch, announcements about Quidditch trials, and an introduction of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He never would have expected what came next. "I hope that you all have enjoyed your meal. Firstly we have managed to find a wonderful new teacher to instruct you in Defense Against the Dark Arts, may I present Professor Anders Manta." He stood up and looked over the hall inspecting the students, he remained standing even as the applause faded, "Professor Manta is a representative from the Ministry of Magic and he will be assessing the school to ensure that all we are not forgetting any of the ordinances that the Ministry has lain out for the educators in the UK. Professor Manta will be explaining the new rules that our school must follow."

With that Dumbledore sat down and the standing Professor Manta began reading the rules in a condescending voice, "1. All students must participate in one out of class activity to graduate. 2. All students must be judged evenly from one crime to another. 3. All creatures at the school must be judged safe by the Magical Creatures Supervisory Office or they will not be allowed on school grounds. 4. Any person of a potentially dangerous race must send out an announcement to the parents of the school alerting them of their presence. 5. All teachers must go through a screening process to ensure that they are qualified to teach. 6. All students must pass a standard assessment to move on to the next year of school. 7. The school must abide by all existing national laws. 8. To have a duel or to teach dueling one must be certified. 9. All items that are potentially dangerous must be removed from the school, and finally 10. If one suspects that there is a criminal within the school they must report that suspicion to the Ministry of Magic or face the charges of being an accessory to that criminal. Those are the main laws, if we all learn to abide by them there will not be any problems with the Ministry."

He then sat down and the hall was quiet for the most part, especially those sitting at Gryffindor's table. Harry looked at Hermione and Ron who for the moment had forgotten that they were fighting and just shared the awful feelings of being the target of those newly enforced rules. Ron suddenly broke the eye contact and elbowed Hermione so that she did the same. It seemed that even these kinds of problems could not re-knit their friendship quite yet.

Immediately afterwards everyone began to clear the Great Hall, and Harry led the first years and Tad up to the Gryffindor common room. He had just barely convinced Tori that she had to go with her house to her room. She was sure that she could work out some way to get transferred to Harry's dormitory. But Pansy Parkinson, who had obviously been assigned the task, walked over and told her that she would show her to Slytherin's common room where all of her things were. Tori walked away glancing back every few steps, which made Harry almost pity her. He led up the students with Hermione that gave them all a lecture as they went on how important it was to keep up with schoolwork and be on time for classes.

Of course none of the new students cared a smidge what she was talking about. They were in the presence of Harry Potter the most interesting person that they would encounter at the school all this silly Prefect could do was talk about classes. After they had politely listened to as much as they could take they threw out the idea of waiting for her to finish and interrupted her tirade.

"Harry," the first asked, "what is it like knowing that you got rid of the most evil wizard ever known?"

"Harry," another asked, "Do you think that you could train me in Quidditch, I heard from my brother that you were the best?"

Those types of questions consumed the conversation and Hermione did not look happy that her guiding speech had been forgotten so easily.

It took a good amount of time to get all of the first years situated in their new rooms, they were as excited as Harry had been when he first arrived at Hogwarts. He had just been able to point Tad up to their room before he had to go back down to tell the first years to be quieter. He got back to his room about a half an hour later. And found Tad in a discussion with Dean Thomas about what it was like to grow up a Muggle. Ron had already pulled his curtains around his four-poster bed. He was obviously trying to avoid Harry, not get a head start on his beauty rest, but Harry thought it would be a good idea to let Ron cool off because there was no talking to him when he was acting irrationally.

Harry set his alarm to wake him at six in the morning so that he would be able to get in a run before breakfast.