Newcomers The Sorting ceremony 2017-2018 Closed

Arceus walked into the great hall, feeling nervous and was instantly taken aback by all the commotion that was going on around him. He saw four large tables all filled with happy students and he guessed that those were the four house tables, But the real thing that made him stare in awe was the roof, it looked exactly like a night sky and a handful of lit candles floated around.

Now, to be honest he hadn't really thought about which house he wanted to be into but as long as he made some new friends he would be happy. He stood in the giant crowd of other first years and waited for his name to be called and after quite a long wait he heard a professor call out "Arceus Powers!" in a booming voice.

He quickly walked up the few stairs and sat down on the stool, he felt the heavy sorting hat being placed on his head and waited, not daring to breath "Hmm.. interesting a feel a great sense of loyalty, and care you might be good in Gryffindor but I'll have to go with.. Hufflepuff!" He got up quietly and sat down at the Hufflepuff table which was still cheering loudly. I think this will be a fun 6 years he thought to himself as he waved at his fellow Hufflepuff's who were now all patting him and greeting him with big smiles.

Leana Lee had been dazing around the Great Hall in nothing but pure awe. There was magic and then there was magic. And this hall definitely belonged in the last category. The female was dying to explore every little nook and cranny of the room but she figured now was not the time to be snooping around.  Yet it were those thoughts that kept the female calm. If she would not wander off in her mind she would for sure run away from the amount of people within in the hall. She did everything she could to distract herself from the inevitable. To walk up in front of all these people, to stand before them to be sorted, to find out where she belonged.

And that was the real question for even to Leana, that was a mystery. None of the Houses seemed to call out to her. In all honesty, the female just wished to be home. And then the time was there. Her name was called out. Taking a deep breath she forced herself to remain calm. Her fast heart beat only increased its pace as she stepped forward. It was one more step until the stool when the female's every so clumsy nature got the better of her. Her feet got caught in her robe causing her to trip and almost smashing her face into the wooden stool. Luckily, it wasn't the first time for the female to fall over and her reflexes made it possible for her to quickly roll mid air, landing on her rear right in front of the cursed seat. 

Her cheeks darkened, a bright red colour flushed over her face as she quickly got up and sat down on the stool. She felt the weight as the sorting hat was placed on her head and for a moment she held her breath.  "A silly child you are, aren't you?"  A voice said quietly. "Tell me something I don't know." The female would grumble back. Whatever nerves she felt had long passed and instead she felt as if she was conversing with an old friend. 

"You're a tough one, Leana Lee. There is a bit of all in you, but not enough of one to have me call out a House. You'd do well in Hufflepuff for within you there is loyalty and kindness. Yet I feel you will thrive more if placed within Gryffindor. Hmm... Decisions, decisions." For a moment Leana felt her heart stop, as if she was afraid. Afraid she would be placed somewhere she doesn't belong, afraid she wouldn't belong no matter where she was placed. But she shook her head. It did not matter, come what may she would stay strong. She would do her best and she would-... "GRYFFINDOR!!"

The female rolled her eyes as the sorting hat rudely interrupted her thoughts but quickly stood up from the stool, grateful to be able to leave the platform, and made her way to the table where the students were clothed in red. 

Kaiser walked down the hall with the rest of the group, as he looked around he was amazed to see the huge amount of students in the school, he already knew Howard was the best and most attended school of all the UK, but even knowing that the amount of students has greater than he anticipated. Not only that, the castle itself was really amazing, he had been fascinated by it since he got there, it was surprisingly big, at least ten times bigger than the castle of his family and all about it was just as amazing as this hall.

As the sorting ceremony begun he could see the faces of all those who like him would be sorted today, some were nervous, others excited, some even seem afraid, others were harder to tell what they were feeling but one thing was for sure, all of them, including himself, were looking forward to their turn to be sorted. Kaiser took his time to look at the different tables, there were the Slytherins, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, for what he knew they were all great houses, though his family had got members in all houses at some point, the past few decades they got mostly sorted in Gryffindor or Slytherin, despite the bad reputation the latter was famous for he could vouch, at least in his experience from his family that not all Slytherins were bad people. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were more common in his family according to what his grandfather once told him, he even claimed that the best trainers came from Hufflepuff, though he might have been a little bias as he was himself a Hufflepuff. The odd one was really Ravenclaw, despite its prestige, his family hadn't had many members in the house of the eagle, the last one was about 400 to 500 years ago and thus it was the one he was more curious about.

Drakenfang! He heard his name being called, actually only his surname but knowing none of his cousins were joining this year, they would not be joining for some more years really, he knew it had to be him. Kaiser walked through the group in between "excuse me"s and "sorry"s and as he got to the front he sat on the stool excited. "Aaah a Drakenfang! It's been a while since one of you came here, I take it you are the eldest of the next generation of your family?" the hat spoke with intrigue "the eldest to study in this country at least" the boy answered, he had a couple cousins outside of the UK that were studying in other schools though he didn't know we're. "Aaah good, good, so what would it be mister Drakenfang? Will you be joining the Slytherins? Your family is pure blooded after all... No, you have what it takes to join them but it seems you might not be reaching your potential there, maybe Gryffindor? You show many traits if them as well, and wouldn't be the first Drakenfang there..." Kaiser heard the hat, only replying in his mind, hoping th hat would take that into account "No, I see it now, the house you'll be more suited is RAVENCLAW!" it finished with a loud shout. Kaiser smiled and as the hat was taken off him he walked to the table that cheered the most to meet his future housemates.

Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh. It was barely a few minutes into the ceremony and already Conrad felt exceptionally nervous. Could he do this? He wasn't sure. It felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest! All the other first years were walking up and taking a seat on the stool, where a talking hat (a talking hat! That was so cool) would be placed on their head and call out a house name. It didn't seem that hard but Conrad couldn't help but think that maybe there had been a mistake. Maybe he wasn't a wizard after all, and when he placed that hat on his head it would announce that to the whole school and he'd have to go back home and attend normal school. Now that he knew magic existed, he didn't want to go back to normal school! He wanted to learn all he could at Hogwarts and become the best wizard ever, not become a stupid banker like his father. If he was forced to leave, he wouldn't be able to learn any magic and that just wasn't acceptable. So, needless to say,  he was super duper nervous waiting his turn, although he probably didn't look it. The only physical manifestation of his apprehension, was the almost imperceptibly obsessive manner of smoothing invisible wrinkles out of his robes.

Conrad had grown up with normal human parents, or 'muggles', as his godmother had informed him they were called. So until recently, he hadn't even realized magic or those who performed it existed, until he received a letter from the school on his eleventh birthday. Luckily his birthday had been in April, so it had given his father, whom he lived with, and himself, plenty of time to get over the shock. Also just as lucky, it turned out his father's best friend, and Conrad's godmother, turned out to be a witch as well! She gave Conrad a quick lesson on all things in the wizarding community, and even went with him and his father to get all the supplies he had needed. While he generally had a good memory, there was a lot Isla had told him at once, and he struggled to remember all of it. She had mentioned something about all of the Hogwarts houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, but he wasn't sure what they meant. At least the talking hat had cleared that up in the beginning. Now Conrad just wasn't sure which house he wanted to be in more.

He didn't have very long to contemplate it however, before his name was called. "Harris, Conrad."

He gulped, smoothed his robes out one more time, before walking up and taking a seat at the stool. Once the hat was on his head, he jumped a little at how loud it sounded. "Hmmm... quite a complicated one I see. The demeanor of a Hufflepuff, but... no. And definitely not a Gryffindor." It paused for a moment before continuing, "You've got quite the ambition, you'd do well in Slytherin... Yet at your core, I think you'd have to be a... RAVENCLAW!!"


With that, Conrad stood as quickly as possible, and made his way to the table that was clapping and making a bit show. 

Calm down..there's no one here to impress..
No parents peering over your shoulders to make the right choice..
You'll be fine just wait until they call your--

Kat kept looking around wide-eyed, totally amazed. She observed the ceiling and the floating candles. All of this - this magic thing, her being a witch - still felt like a weird dream to her.

Her gaze landed on the talking Hat that was apparently what was about to sort them in one of the four Houses. She was relieved it was nothing like the dangerous stuff she had heard the other kids say before, but she had to admit it was a bit disappointing, too.

As the Ceremony started, she observed the other new students walk up to the Hat. Some of them were visibly nervous. Probably most of them had already a pretty clear idea of which House they wanted to be sorted into. Kat hadn't. She had finished that book about the history of Hogwarts on the train, so all she knew about the Houses was nothing more than what the professor and the Hat had told them when they had arrived at school: they were four, named after the founders, each one had a virtue they valued the most between loyalty, intelligence, courage and ambition.

Kat had absolutely no clue of what House she could end up in. Well, Slytherin was a bit intimidating. She'd read that they were supposed to value being from a family of wizards, too. Her parents weren't and she hadn't even believed existed untill her last birthday on 11^st August, so she doubted she would be sorted in Slytherin.
Maybe... Ravenclaw was appealing. She did consider herself very smart. Once, her classmate Valentina had told her that she sometimes sounded annoying when she talked, because her tone made her sound a bit haughty. Kat was trying to correct that. But still, she liked to be the one who always knew the weirdest facts, the one people would ask about random topics because 'maybe she's heard or read about it.' She felt very  proud when that happened, it increased her self-esteem and made her very confident. She was worried that, there in Hogwarts, she wouldn't be that girl anymore, considering how little she knew about that world.
Hufflepuff also seemed like a great House, but hard-work was a foundamental value for them and Kat was really lazy and had this terrible habit of procrastinating everything.
Maybe Gryffindor? They valued bravery. Was she brave? Kat didn't know. It wasn't like she had had any chance to be particularly courageous. She was 11, she had never engaged in great adventures. She hadn't even brave enough to talk to someone on the way to the school. She'd just been sitting alone, reading in silence. She hated it. She wanted to talk to people. She hadn't ever gone so long without at least have a small chat in her life. But she knew that Hogwarts students were from the UK, which she wasn't. Well, technically, she was born in London, but she'd grown up in Italy. She spoke Italian. Her English skills weren't the best: she could perfectly understand it (except for some rare cases, like words she didn't know, but it generally wasn't a great obstacle for her), but her pronunciation and fluency were - in her opinion - terrible. She wasn't used to talk in English and was pretty self-conscious about it. She could hear herself speaking and know that - even though her English level was higher than the other Italians she knew - concepts didn't come out with the same clearity they had in her head, which was terribly frustrating.

"Katerina Carter!"

She freezed. Her heart started to pound while her feet moved on their own will. She was suddenly nervous and very aware of all the eyes focused on her. She kept her head up and her walking became more stable and confident - so that she could have seemed quite arrogant to an external point of view - while she approached the Hat.
Kat sat down and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. It was to big for her and it slided over her eyes. She was sorrounded by darkness.

"Ah, Miss Carter! Never heard of her surname" a voice began in her head. She jumped a little at that.
"Don't worry, Miss, I'll just take a look in your head so I can decide where to place you" the voice said.
Oh, that is reassuring she thought sarcastically.
"Mmm... Great sense of justice, I see... Ambition, yes, but you're a bit lost right now, aren't you? Mmm... You're smart, I can see that. But I don't think Ravenclaw would fit you. Your ego would be out of control and you are very worried about it. It's right here in your head... Uhm... I know what to do with you. GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat shouted the last word for everyone to hear.

The Hat was removed from her head and she stood as the Gryffindor table applauded, she walked fiercely towards it, smiling.

...
Should he be nervous? Should he be happy? Should he be scared?
All of these thoughts flew through Mercer's head as he stood in the crowd of first years, waiting to be sorted. Said male had not felt anything since walking through those big double doors that now stood behind him. It already seemed like a million years ago that he had entered the school but it was honestly only about an hour ago. Time had stopped for him and he wasn't sure why. Had it not sunk in yet that he was at Hogwarts? Having been around magic his whole life, had he become so accustomed to it that being here felt normal? He was indeed impressed with the large building and the candles that floated ahead. He especially admired the sky-like ceiling above their heads and the ornate table that the professors sat at. He wondered if his father felt like this when he entered Hogwarts. Oh well, no time to think about that now. This was Mercer's moment and he wasn't going to miss it for the world with thoughts of those who had come before him. As soon as his name was called, the first year strode to the chair and sat down. He tucked his legs slightly under him while crossing his ankles and gripped the bottom sides of the chair in his hands. It was awkward for him being up here with everyone's eyes on him so he stared straight ahead and did not make eye contact with anyone.
"Ah, another Blackmoor? It seems we have many legacies here today. We might as well get overrun by you chaps!" The hat cooed as it wiggled slightly on his head. "Right, down to business then. You seem to be quite similar to your father and his brother. You have the ability to achieve great things whether for the greater good or for evil. You are highly intelligent and while you have a wide streak of arrogance I highly doubt you'd join the evil doers so no need to fret, young lad." Mercer held back a sigh as he listened to the hat. He wasn't going to 'fret' as the hat put it. "I knooooooow you're not a Hufflepuff." The hat drawled as it seemed to almost swing itself in a circular motion. "I think.... I thiiiinnnkkk.... SLYTHERIN!" Mercer immediately stood and removed the hat himself, setting it on the stool and giving it a quick nod of thanks before bee-lining for his house table. He expected no less so he was neither happy nor angry nor surprised. As soon as he reached his table he found an empty seat and wedged himself into it, fixing his hair from the movements the hat had been making while sitting atop his noggin'. 

Wishing she could sit already after the long ride here- first by train, then by horse carriage... Of which the invisible horses had been quite spooky... And then the trip across the lake and through the dungeons had left her with yet more and more doubts about this place. And so there she stood with the other first years, wringing a lock of her straw-colored wavy hair as she felt the need to keep her hands busy, lack of focus in her eyes as she did her best to hide her fear and anxiety, barely even registering the talking hat in front of her- or the blood-eyed janitor's cat looking her over quizically.

Which was to say she was doing a horrible job of hiding her current emotions. Jumping and letting out a noise of surprise when her name was finally called, she did her best to regain her composure as she sat shakily on the stool. Small skinny mouse of a girl waiting patiently for the hat to make up his mind. "Unafraid to be individual... And yet you collect all this information and truth for the good of other people. But where to put you?"

"I want friends with a similar att- attitude." Stuttering slightly as she could feel the foreign presence searching through her mind, distinctly uncomfortable with the sensation even though she knew she had nothing she would ever wish to hide.

"It had better be Ravenclaw, then." The hat concluded, Barbara breathing a sigh of relief as he was lifted quickly off of her head- and to the Ravenclaw table she went, carefully studying everyone there as she debated whom to sit herself next to.

Dawn stood shakily behind the new students. Her breath shook fast as she waited almost impatiently. Half of her wanted to run the other direction, but the other part of her just wanted this to be over with. She was shocked by her emotions for she had never felt nervous like this before. Her family had lived in the same house in Wales. This meant the same school with the same people. Now though she was meeting new people, found out she was a Witch and was now going to be chosen to sit with a labeled group of people.

She didn't think her parents ever told her about the sorting. She didn't care for labels for too her it meant judging others by whatever they are called. She didn't know anything about this Raven or Huffle people. Why didn't her parents ever tell her about it? She held her hands together and sighed shakily as another name was called, luckily it wasn't her's yet.

Soon enough though that person was labeled a Ravenclaw and shouldn't help but to shake her head at the name. Sure, she heard the song but she was certain that everyone was still an individual and not all the same. "Dawn Feldman!" Her head shot up and so did her eyes, her hands held tighter together. She found her body walking towards the talking hat silently. She sighed and sat down. She wasn't looking at anyone, just thinking and trying to look invisible. 

"My my aren't you shy!" The Sorting Hat said. She couldn't help but to poke her bottom lip out at that. "I'm not..." She said quietly and waited for the hat to say what she was going to be stamped as so she could sit somewhere else. "Ah! I see you have a fascination with magical beings!" She had to nod at that. She couldn't study them forever. She heard him mumble a few other words before finally saying it. "Gryffindor!!" He said loudly causing her to jump. She stood up once the hat was off and walked quietly to the seat. She didn't think she was that intelligent but she didn't care. Her goes the rest of her life.

Thomas stood with the other kids, his eyes shut as he waited for his name to be called. Finally after what felt like ages he heard his name "Crewe, Thomas." His face went pale and he slowly approached the seat that so many other had sat on, "what if I don't get sorted into any house? what if I don't belong anywhere?" Thomas thought to himself as he slowly lowered himself onto the chair, and waited as the hat was lowered onto his head. "AH!" The hat said sharply, causing Thomas to jump. "I see... you're scared are you?" The hat asked, Thomas nodded his head not saying a word. "well... don't be, I have sorted every child whose head I have been placed upon, you shall be no different." The hat assured. "Now then, brave that's for sure, hmmm, yes, very loyal and kind, not one to betray a friend then are you? yes, yes, very good!" the hat said "I think it will be.......HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted as it was removed from Thomas' head and he quickly got off the chair and rushed to the Hufflepuff table, where he was met with clapping and shaking of hands briefly before the room had settled down to watch the next sorting...