The Final Goodbye

The Final Goodbye-Chapter Three: The Sorting

By the time the train reached Hogwarts, the sky had blackened completely, but neither Harry nor Ron had a watch to be able to tell what the exact time was.

"I hear there's a lot of good food at the feast," said Ron, looking as though food were the only thing on his mind at the moment.

Harry couldn't blame him. Even though they had ordered Chocolate Frogs and pumpkin pasties from the trolley cart a few hours ago, those foods had not held the two boys out for very long. It was time for some real nourishment.

Harry's stomach growled loudly as he thought of this.

But, his hunger was soon forgotten and replaced by excitement when he heard the doors of the train opening and students talking loudly. He and Ron both grabbed their trunks and owls, attempting to head out into the walkway. Unfortunately, once they got to the door, they realized that they couldn't open it on account of the crowd on the other side.

"Hurry up and get off, already!" Ron shouted, banging on the door's glass window.

The large boy standing outside the door didn't take kindly to Ron's demand. He had short brown hair and an arm that swung like a Beater's bat. Within a second, he had punched the glass, causing Ron to yelp in fright. Harry was afraid that the glass might shatter. There was no telling what would have happened if it had.

Harry figured that the glass had some sort of spell on it that prevented it from breaking because all it did when the boy hit it was vibrate for a second. The architects of the train must have expected students to act like this.

The large boy gave Ron an evil smirk and walked passed the door as the students finally began to file off the train. As he did so, Harry noticed the boy who was walking in front of him. It was Draco Malfoy, the pale blond boy who had laughed at Harry in Madam Malkins' robe shop.

He better not be in my House, Harry thought, believing whole-heartedly that Malfoy should be put in Slytherin and hoping that he indeed would be. He deserves it.

Slytherin, after all, was the House where evil Dark wizards were put. According to Lily and James, barely anyone who was in Slytherin ever came out a respectable witch or wizard. Sirius's entire family, apart from himself, had been in Slytherin, and all of them, save his cousin Andromeda, practiced Dark magic; and all of them had allied themselves with Voldemort.

Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes, enough people had gone by so that Harry and Ron could open their compartment door and exit the train. Once they had alighted the steam engine, they saw a giant man with bushy matted black hair and beard in front of them. He was holding a lantern and had a large black boarhound drooling at his side.

"Everyone leave yer belongin's right where they are!" he shouted in a big, booming voice over the crowd of students. His dog let out a bark, as if it were trying to help emphasize to the students that they needed to leave their belongings behind.

"Firs' years follow me!" the large man continued. With a motion of his large hand, he beckoned the students to follow him as he walked down the long stone pathway, his slobbery dog trudging beside him.

"I wonder where we're going?" Ron muttered to Harry as they walked with the rest of the first years, "and I hope we get our stuff back soon. I forgot to feed Pigwidgeon before we got off the train."

"Why didn't you feed him an hour ago when I was feeding Hedwig?" Harry asked. "I told you to."

"I didn't feel like it," Ron replied sheepishly. Harry could see his cheeks turning red again, something Harry took as being a sign of either embarrassment or shame. "My stomach was still too full of sweets for me to do anything."

A few minutes later, the large man stopped the first years in front of what appeared to be a lake. The water was as smooth as glass with the lack of wind, and it looked almost black in the dark. On top of the lake, Harry could see many little boats, presumably ones that would take the first years to Hogwarts. He squinted his eyes, attempting to look beyond the lake and catch a glimpse of the castle, but there was nothing but a starry night sky in front of him.

"No more than four to a boat!" the giant man boomed. He and his dog had already gotten into one and were taking up the entire watercraft by themselves.

Harry felt Ron nudge his elbow. The redhead was pointing to a boat near them that was perched on the edge of the lake.

"Let's grab it before all the close ones are taken," he said. "I would hate to have to walk out into the water and get into one."

Harry agreed, and the two of them quickly stepped into the boat. The inside was much larger than it had looked from the outside, and the wood was smooth and polished, which was far from what Harry had expected. He had never been on a boat before, but with all the pictures of them that he had seen, he made the assumption that all boats and ships were rough and splintery and smelled like the sea.

"Hey Harry, wait!"

Harry turned around at the sound of his name and noticed Neville hurrying towards the boat, as though he were afraid he would be left behind, even though there were plenty of boats to choose from.

"Hey Neville," Harry replied as soon as his friend had reached the boat.

"Can I ride with you two?" The chubby boy asked.

"Of course," Harry assured him. Ron didn't seem to mind, either. In fact, he hadn't even seemed to notice Neville because he was too busy watching Hermione, the sour girl from the train, as she tried repeatedly to get into one of the boats farther out into the water. Her robes were soaked, as she had slipped several times, and Ron was laughing hysterically.

Neville hopped into the boat with much more agility than Harry thought he possessed. Once he sat down, Harry noticed that he was holding something that was squirming in his hands.

"You found Trevor!" Harry said enthusiastically.

"Yeah." Neville nodded, sounding a bit embarrassed. "It turns out that he was hiding in one of the luggage carts out in the walkway of the train. I feel bad because I should have brought something to put him in, you know, like maybe a cage or a tank, but he always looks so unhappy in them. So, I thought I'd carry him freely, but I guess that was a dumb idea."

Secretly, Harry agreed that it was indeed a dumb idea, but he couldn't say so in front of his friend.

"Well, at least you got him back," was all Harry thought would be appropriate to say.

"Yeah," Neville said, looking down at his toad. Trevor was large and brownish-green with more warts than Harry had ever seen on any creature.

Finally, the giant man gave everyone the signal to start rowing across the lake. Harry took the oars first and soon discovered that paddling was much harder than it looked. Then, seeing how much trouble Harry was having, Ron took control, but didn't do much better. When Neville tried it, however, their boat started turning in the opposite direction. It took about five minutes for the boat to move the right way again, and by that time, Harry, Ron, and Neville were behind the rest of the boats.

After what seemed to be ten minutes, the three boys (and Trevor) were finally far along the lake so that they could see Hogwarts castle. It was the most magnificent building Harry had ever laid his eyes on. There were large stone towers overlooking a vast stretch of land and an enormous forest. Lights were shining out of almost every window, although there was no need for them, as the stars were so bright.

As they had predicted, the three boys were the last ones to reach the other side of the lake, and apparently, the rest of the first years were having to endure waiting for them because they all looked very annoyed and impatient as Harry, Ron, and Neville got out of their boat.

The giant man, however, seemed to take no notice of the students' displeasure (nor did he seem to have any himself) regarding the three late boys and happily gestured for all of them to follow him toward the castle gates. Once the students were inside the castle, all of them were amazed at the magnificence of the foyer. Moving paintings aligned each wall and there was a beautiful marble staircase leading to the upper levels of the building. At the bottom of these stairs, a tall, thin woman with jet-black hair tied in a bun and square spectacles around her eyes was watching the students.

"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall," the giant man said to the woman at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she replied, nodding slightly. "I will take them from here." She turned to the students and addressed them. "Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I am the Deputy Headmistress of this school. It will be my pleasure to be Sorting you tonight."

With that, she beckoned for the students to follow her up the stairs. Unfortunately, upon taking his first step onto the stairs, Neville tripped on his long robes and let go of Trevor, who began croaking noisily and attempted to flee from his master by running underneath the robes of each of the students. They all screamed in terror. Well, all of them expect Draco Malfoy, who simply laughed at the other students. Professor McGonagall, however, was not amused.

"Imobulus!" she shouted sternly, pointing her wand at the toad as soon as he was in view.

Instantly as the yellow light touched him, Trevor froze in a leaping position. Professor McGonagall looked at Neville sternly and pointed at the toad, signaling for the boy to pick him up. Neville did as he was told and scampered back to his spot next to Harry and Ron. Harry could see him shaking slightly, Trevor still motionless in his hands.

Without another word, McGonagall motioned for the students to continue up the stairs. Finally, they reached the top and came to two large wooden doors. McGonagall cleared her throat.

"This is the entrance to the Great Hall," she began. "In a few moments, you will walk through these doors and be Sorted into your Houses in which you shall remain for your seven years here. Now, there are four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each one is unique in its own way and encompasses brilliant students. As such, no House is better or more important than any other."

She said the last sentence as though she were threatening the students to boast about a particular House. Harry thought he saw her glance for a moment in Draco Malfoy's direction.

"At the end of each year," she continued smoothly, "one House will be awarded the House Cup for the most points earned for both academic achievement and good behavior shown by its students. Any rule-breaking, and points will be deducted."

She was silent for a moment, staring out into the sea of fresh eyes, and then began to speak again. "Now, it is time for the Sorting."

As Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the room, a loud cheer erupted from the other side. Harry could tell by the way that this cheering was carried out that the older students were desperate to get the Sorting over with, which meant they must have been waiting for the first years to come in for quite some time.

The Great Hall had to be one of the most beautiful places Harry had ever seen. Four long tables full of students ran parallel to each other. There were decorations on the walls and banners to represent each House. Candles were floating in midair above the tables, illuminating the entire room. However, Harry thought the most fascinating aspect of the room was the ceiling, or the lack of it, as there seemed to be no ceiling at all. Instead, there were bright stars, the same as the ones outside, where the ceiling should have been.

"It's bewitched, the ceiling," Harry heard the unmistakable voice of the girl Hermione say to someone behind him. "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History. It was a very good book, one of my favorites, I should say."

As the students walked up to the front of the Hall, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a long table that was perpendicular to the student ones. Harry soon realized that this was the staff table, where all the teachers sat. He noticed Remus Lupin sitting on the far right and smiled at him, a smile Remus returned.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and motioned for one of the older students standing off to the side. At her order, he brought forth a three-legged stool and a patched up old hat, one of the ugliest that Harry had ever seen. He couldn't imagine anyone having the guts to wear it in public.

"Now, when I call your name," Professor McGonagall said, holding up a scroll, "you will come forth and place the Sorting Hat on your head, and it will determine which House you are to be in for the next seven years."

Harry felt butterflies go spastic in the pit of his stomach. What would everyone say if he weren't sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of his family? What if the Hat put him in Slytherin?

"Abbott, Hannah!" Professor McGonagall called the first name on the scroll. A blonde girl with pigtails responded and, in the same fashion as Neville, tripped over her robes, causing her to fall on top of the stool. Once she was firmly situated, McGonagall placed the Hat on her head.

A few seconds later, the Hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and the table directly on the right of the first years let out a cheer as Hannah went over to join them.

Harry zoned out for a while, thinking only about the consequences of the Hat placing him in any other House besides Gryffindor. He was sure his parents would be upset, even though they had never actually discussed their son's going into any particular House. All they had said was that they had both been in Gryffindor and had dropped the subject at that, saying nothing about what House would be best for Harry. Of course, there was probably a reason for that, the most likely one being, in Harry's opinion, that if they started talking about Houses and which one would suit Harry, then what would happen would probably be the exact opposite of what they had expected, resulting in Harry's being in a House that they would not approve of.

"Granger, Hermione!" McGonagall's voice suddenly brought Harry from his thoughts.

The sassy, buck-toothed girl was walking up toward the stool eagerly, looking as though she were going to jam the hat onto her head. Harry noticed that the bottoms of her robes were still wet from the lake.

The Hat barely touched her head when its "face" split into a smile and shouted, "GRTFFINDOR!" Hermione hopped off the stool and hurried over to the table on the far left. Beside Harry, Ron had groaned when the Hat had placed Hermione in Gryffindor, but he soon began to snicker when he noticed that her bushy hair was bouncing up and down behind her like a balloon as she ran over to the Gryffindor table to join his three brothers.

Then, about twelve students later, "Longbottom, Neville" was called. Harry glanced over at his friend and saw the other boy's eyes close as he took a deep breath, but didn't seem to want to move.

"Come on, Neville," Harry whispered urgently, "you're holding everyone up. It'll be fine."

Harry could tell Professor McGonagall was just about to call the next person's name when Neville nervously stepped out of line, still clutching his immobile toad. McGonagall did not look pleased as she placed the Hat on Neville's frightened head; and yet, the displeasure further mounted in her face as it took approximately three minutes for the Hat to decide where to put Neville. Several students were tapping their toes in impatience, while Ron bit his nails absentmindedly. Some of the teachers even looked annoyed. One of them, a sallow-skinned man with greasy black hair sitting next to Remus, had a look on his face that said he was threatening to throw his goblet at Neville's head to speed up the time.

Finally, the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and McGonagall shooed Neville off the stool as though he were a fly.

When Draco Malfoy's name was called, the cocky boy did exactly what Harry had expected him to do: he strutted up to the Hat and placed it on his head as though it were a crown that officially made him King of the "Pure-bloods". Predictably, the Hat placed him in Slytherin, just as he seemed to have wanted, for he jumped off the stool and cheered louder than any other student in the room.

After about twenty minutes, Harry's name was finally called. Harry looked straight ahead of himself as he walked, ignoring the looks from everyone else in the room. Sitting cautiously on the stool, he gripped the bottom with both hands and took a deep breath, hoping that it would make time go faster. As soon as the Hat touched his head, a tiny voice whispered into his ear.

"Hmm..." the voice began, "very interesting...you are clever, cunning, and talented. Someone with your brain would do well in Slytherin...."

Harry closed his eyes tightly and gasped. His heart dropped to the floor.

"Yet," the Hat continued before Harry could even get a thought out, "you are very courageous and extremely loyal. Slytherin is not the place for someone with a heart like yours. You would do better in GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry let out a scream that echoed throughout the entire room. He couldn't move. He was in far too much shock. As the Hat was pulled off his head, Harry felt himself sweating and trembling. McGonagall tapped him on the shoulder and told him to go to the table. He shook his head in disbelief and was finally able to stand up. He couldn't believe it. The Hat had put him in Gryffindor!

He hopped over to the seat next to Neville and gave him a long hug.

"You did it, Harry!" Neville said happily. "I knew you'd be in Gryffindor. If the Hat put me in it, I knew it would put you, too."

Thirty minutes later, Ronald Weasley plopped himself down beside Harry.

"I had a feeling I'd be in Gryffindor," the redhead explained. "My whole family's been in it, as you could probably tell. I couldn't imagine going anywhere else."

As Ron continued to chatter, the Sorting soon ended, and the feast began. All sorts of food appeared on the table: roast duck and chicken, lamb, pork, steak, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, celery, tomatoes, every type of food anyone could imagine. Harry grabbed a little bit of everything (or as much as he could fit on his plate) and began chowing down. His mother had always made excellent food, but never as much as this, except of course, on special occasions, like Christmas and Easter.

As they ate, all the children began talking about topics ranging from sports to families. Neville started a conversation by telling everyone about the time on his eighth birthday when he got his head stuck in a gnome hole. Harry couldn't help but laugh, as he remembered the incident vividly. He had tried to pull Neville out himself, but the other boy was far too heavy. So, he had made the decision to go for help, but had gotten lost about halfway back to Neville's house (the two had snuck out of the house and had been walking in the forest, looking for trolls). When he finally got back and told Lily and Neville's grandmother where Neville was and what they had been doing, he was scolded rather embarrassingly. Neville had the advantage for at least five minutes of being stuck in the hole and wasn't scolded until after his grandmother had gotten him free.

Seamus Finnegan, an Irish boy, explained to everyone how his father was a Muggle and his mother was a witch, and how is mother had not told her husband what she was until after they were married. Yet, they were still a happy couple living in Dublin. Then, switching topics rather abruptly, Seamus began talking about his least favorite person on the planet: Viktor Krum, the Seeker for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team.

Thirty minutes after the main course meal, desserts appeared. There was ice cream of every flavor imaginable, strawberry, pumpkin, cherry, and apple pies, chocolate and carrot cake, more pumpkin pasties, banana pudding, and Jell-O with whipped cream, the latter Ron tried to take all for himself.

When the desserts disappeared fifteen minutes later, the Headmaster of the school rose to the podium and began his speech. His name was Albus Dumbledore, and from what Harry could tell of him, he seemed to be at least one hundred and fifty years old. He had a long white beard that was so long it could be tucked into his belt if he wanted it to be, and his nose was crooked, as though it had been broken rather violently at one time in his life. His light blue eyes were radiant and surrounded by half-moon-shaped spectacles.

"Good evening," he began in a soft voice. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before the students head off to bed, there are a few start-of-term notices that I wish to announce. First, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, would like me to remind you to stay away from the Forbidden Forest. Second, pranks involving the tampering of food will not be tolerated this year or any proceeding."

Harry thought he heard Ron's twin brothers snicker somewhere along the table, but

Dumbledore continued his speech without notice.

"Anyone who is found tampering with any edible item will be given a month's detention," he said. "That is it for the announcements. You may all retire to your rooms."

As the students got up to leave, Harry asked Ron, "Did your brothers have anything to do with the food-tampering thing?"

"Most likely," Ron replied. "Mum received more owls about their pranks last year than all the other mothers combined. I'm sure they had something to do with it. Although, I doubt it was that harmful. They'd never intentionally hurt anyone unless they really deserved it."

The first year Gryffindors followed the rest of their House to a high tower. The main prefect leading them (who just happened to be Ron's older brother, Percy) stopped in front of a large portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress. The woman looked at him and asked calmly, "Password?"

Percy replied, "Capetch draconus."

The portrait swung open, revealing a very large room draped in scarlet and gold colors. There were squishy chairs and couches scattered about the room and in front of the stone fireplace. Percy led the students inside and began talking.

"This is the Gryffindor common room," he explained. "Girls' dormitories are on your right, and the boys' dormitories are on your left. Your belongings have already been brought up. Breakfast is served at seven o'clock every morning and classes begin at eight. Now, go to bed."

The last sentence was very abrupt and left Ron scowling. "I hate him," he said angrily.

When Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and a fifth boy named Dean Thomas reached their rooms, all of them were amazed. There were five magnificent mahogany four-poster beds waiting for them, each with scarlet and gold hangings and sheets. Harry found his trunk over near bed next to the window, which he thought was probably the best spot he could get. Now, he was able to look out and easily see the whole grounds. He couldn't wait to get up and write to his parents in the morning.

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter. I know it's very similar to canon, but once the story goes on, it will be less and less like it for the most part. The next chapter will be from Harry and Lily's points of view. Please stay tuned and remember to review!!!

Thanks,

~Juli