The Last Year

~*~Chapter One~*~

Harry stared out of the window in the carriage he was riding in to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and thought about what had happened in the last 6 years at Hogwarts. He wondered how his last year at Hogwarts was going to turn out and how his friends were going to be if something happened.

Harry looked up quickly as the carriage stopped, and his best friends Ron and Hermione jumped out and waited for Harry to do the same.

As he jumped out Ron asked, "You okay, mate? You seem a bit out of it."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," replied Harry and he got out of the carriage and the trio walked into the Great Hall.

As they waited for the ceremony to start, Harry looked at the line of first-years waiting to be sorted, and remembered how he felt during his first year at Hogwarts.

Professor McGonagall walked in with the Sorting Hat and put it on the three-legged stool in the front of the Great Hall. Everybody waited for the Sorting Hat to begin its start-of-year song.

The Sorting Hat straightened and started to sing its usual song about each of the four houses.

'Welcome all to another year,

Of learning and wisdom,

And friendship and love.

In your houses stand united,

And be ready for all.'

'Be you a Gryffindor,

Of brave and mighty type.

Who fight for all that is good,

And who know the difference,

Amid wrong and right.

'Be you a Slytherin,

Of shrewd and fearless breed.

But be wise,

And watch your tongue,

Because it will be the best of you!'

'Be you a Hufflepuff,

Of the hard-working sort.

Always loyal to you friends,

And people are all alike.

Where unity suits you best!

'Be you a Ravenclaw,

Of the sensible kind.

Wisdom and knowledge,

Work with you.

With friends always by your side'

'The Hogwarts four yet again will stand,

In this schools halls.

The four founders here again,

In this school's walls.'

When it was done, Professor McGonagall took out her scroll and started to read out the names of first years, which would slowly walk up and put on the hat. Then the hat would announce which of the four houses that person would be in, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Ravenclaw.

'Arnold, Aikeesha.'

'HUFFELPUFF'

'Ashcroft-Allen, Christopher'

'RAVENCLAW'

'Azlant, Claire'

'GRYFFINDOR'

'Brady, Joshua'

'RAVENCLAW'

Harry soon lost interest in the sorting ceremony and started to talk to Ron about Quidditch teams.

'Kedwin, Justin'

As they were talking about how well the Chudley Cannons were doing in their season, a cold shiver went down the back of Harry's neck and he turned to look at the front of the Great Hall. A small boy with messy brown hair half ran to the stool and put on the sorting hat. The hat slid down his face and he pulled it up nervously. The Great Hall was quiet as they waited for the Sorting Hat's decision.

'GRYFFINDOR'

The ceremony continued without any events.

'It was rather funny though, because Harry and Ron would try and predict which house a first year would be sorted into. If they got it right they would give themselves a point and whoever had the most points by the end of the sorting, would get a favour from the person with the least amount of points. Ron ended up winning by one point.

'What's the favour?' asked Harry.

'Don't worry about it mate!' said Ron, 'I don't need any favours.' With that Ron started to dig into the big platters of food sitting on the table.