A first glance at a new start Solo

Fyriel found herself gazing at a massive wooden door. She stood in the middle of a group of first-years, waiting impatiently to be sorted into a house. As she wasn’t very tall, she couldn’t see who was talking but she heard a stern female’s voice instructing them to wait just a moment longer and when the door opened to walk into The Great Hall. Not two seconds had passed and the door opened, revealing The Great Hall. All the new students’ eyes opened wide and ogled at the monumental room before them. Slowly and cautiously, the group of students moved to the front of The Great Hall. Fyriel tried not to trip over herself while being hypnotized by all the things to look at. So many Hogwarts’ students, thousands of candles, if not more, hovering over their heads. Several ghosts gliding through the air and popping out of walls, people in portraits moving from one frame to another… To top it all off, at the front of The Great Hall was a table with professors, the headmaster and… a hat? She thought she was mistaken but no, it truly was a hat. “Why is there a hat waiting for us?” Fyriel mumbled. The words had just left her mouth when she realised she said that aloud. She had a habit of daydreaming and not being aware of her surroundings. “I really should think before I open my mouth,” she thought to herself, this time in her mind. Fyriel heard someone responding to her unintended question, ”To sort us of course!” Fyriel recalled hearing about some sort of magical hat at Hogwarts. Was it the ‘House picking hat’? Or perhaps the ‘Selecting hat’? She couldn’t remember and was too busy being amazed by the Great Hall to put any more thought into it. It looked even older than her scuffed suitcase. She found it a little odd, being sorted into a house by a hat. How could it possibly know who she was or what she wanted? On the other hand, this was Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry after all; she couldn’t really be surprised by anything. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough”, Fyriel thought. The headmaster started a speech to welcome all new and old students. He told a bit of history about the school, how it all began, who founded it and so on… Fyriel tried to pay attention but there was too much whispering from the students around her that she couldn’t really understand every bit. What she did hear was about the Sorting Hat. “Ah that’s what it was, The Sorting Hat...” The headmaster explained to them how it worked. The Sorting Hat would be placed on their heads and tell us which house fit best for us. One by one, our name would be called and we would have to walk up the small stage where the hat was waiting. As time passed Fyriel got more and more nervous, would The Sorting Hat pick Hufflepuff? The house she had always dreamed of. She really hoped so because if she had to be in a different house for her whole school carrier, she was going to have a hard time accepting that. At last, her name was called. “Fyriel Starlingword”, she heard the headmaster call into the Great Hall. A little sheepish, she shuffled forward and managed to slip out of the group of students around her. At a slow but not exaggerated slow pace, Fyriel walked up the stage toward a wooden stool next to the Sorting Hat. She glanced at the Headmaster who gave her a reassuring nod, which she took as a signal to sit down on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed carefully on her head and she awaited his verdict.