Sorting Ceremony Sept 2022

Brianna's legs were still a bit shaky from the boat ride to the castle. Water always tended to leave her a bit shaken, especially after the incident that awakened her magical abilities. She was a very decent swimmer, but there was now a very primal fear of the water which threatened to pull the life from her lungs.

"Bowden, Brianna."

Brianna had to force her legs to move as her name was called. Her dad's last name was being spoken aloud in a castle that had much more of a connection to her mom than him. It was jarring to think about. Had her mom attended Hogwarts, or did she go to some sort of fancy French school? Was that why she had died? Everywhere she went since getting her letter, Brianna heard that Hogwarts was among the best schools in the world, so could her mom had had a better chance at survival if she had attended here too?

She sat on the stool which had probably seated so many other students before her. Had they been as scared as she was? As determined? As excited? As the hat was lowered onto her head, she found the voice unnerving. She'd heard its little song just minutes ago, but to hear the voice in her head while knowing it was coming from the hat atop her noggin was just downright strange.

After what felt like hours of one sided musing from the hat, finally words were spoken aloud.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat finally decided, and Brianna stood up as hastily as she could, offering a quick thank you to the headmaster and walking as fast as she could toward the table of blues. While she approached what was going to be her family at Hogwarts going forward, Brianna wondered vaguely which house her mother would have been in at Hogwarts.

The spectacle before her was more picturesque than any former description she had read about previously. It had her completely in awe of just how magical, no pun intended, this place was. The feeling of suddenly being overwhelmed in such an environment would take her awhile to shake off and regain her composure. Students were everywhere, chattering away, and waiting to be called upon by the professor to finally be selected for their house that they would spend the rest of their years at this school with. That feeling meant it was absolutely one of the most important things to get correct at the start.

There was just one thought on her mind, what was correct? She certainly thought herself more ambitious than the peers around her who were celebrating the occasion, but as for herself, she tried to play it off as not a big deal; electing to do so in spite of her own aforementioned awe, which she would carefully pretend had not occurred. No, there was, but one house she thought that would suit her, and it seemed the most obvious based on what she had known about the sorting hat at the very least.

"HOLMES, OLIVIA!"

That name echoed out, causing a ringing in her ears for but a moment, as she tried to maintain her decorum and approach the front with as much nervous grace as she could usher. "Greetings, headmaster." She would say politely, before having a rather proud grin on her face. "I will accept this as mere formality, unlike the rest here, I have ambitions to go to great heights. It is clear what house I will be in." She said, before taking a seat. The hat was soon placed atop her, mumbling to itself...

"A caring and gentle heart, if not a diamond in the rough. Unafraid of pursuing the future with all her strength and unmatched in her ambition. All of this, from a spark of light that cast out the darkness...
New found bravery! Yes, it is clear to me now, you belong in..."

It was so obvious to her, even know, she could feel an elongated sense of pride at how predictable the result would be, only to instantly have her thoughts cut off in an instant---

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Her eyes widened in shock, there was hardly even a moment before she was shoved off to go to her table. She had known, known just how obvious her place in this school was, and yet... Perhaps, she did not know as much as she gave herself credit for. No, it was indeed a fact, for this surprise was only the start of a great deal more to come... A proper start to her new school life.

After the long journey to the castle, Atticus was just as exhausted as all of the other first years. Still, they marched on as a unit to the great hall to attend what he had been told was a 'sorting ceremony.' Hiding his confusion, he moved with the crowd and was greeted by the sight of a large hall with an impossibly high ceiling that showed the sky beyond it. Long tables extended down the length of the hall, packed full of students and all sorted into their respective houses. As the first-years gathered at the farthest end of the hall, they congregated around an old, weathered-looking hat. After a few students, Atticus began to understand the process but was still amazed by the possibility of a talking hat.

"Finn-Lea, Atticus"

Atticus felt the color leave his face and his stomach drop. So many foreign things had happened to him today, and now he was about to be sorted into a house that would determine the trajectory of the rest of his time at Hogwarts? The pressure of that alone was enough to put him near the edge of tears as he made his way up to the hat. He swallowed thickly and took a deep breath as he sat down and felt the fabric slip over his head, then his eyes, and stop at the bridge of his nose. Atticus let his mind wander and felt a strange sensation, like a hand stretching across all of his memories and thoughts. He thought about the other students, and what houses they would all be sorted into. He thought about his family back home and wondered if they missed him yet. He wondered how the farm was running, and if his goats had been fed. He longed to taste the honey from the jar, even is he had to sneak it-

"Hufflepuff!" The hat shouted suddenly, startling Atticus out of his thoughts. And just as quickly as he sat down, the hat was pulled off of his head and he was ushered to a table of other students cloaked in gold, eager smiles, and open hands met him as he took his seat, and he could only think one thing as he shook hands and returned his most warm welcome.

Home.

Noah lingered near the back of the group, taking in the massive hall and the hundreds of people assembled. He didn't quite like the idea of a sentient hat digging through his brain, but he supposed the was no way to avoid it.
When it was finally his turn, he took a seat as the hat was placed on his head.

Well, well, what do we have here?

That must be the hat.

Indeed it is! Let's see... Oh, how interesting! Sweet as a Hufflepuff, intelligent as a Ravenclaw, brave as a Gryffindor, and sly as a Slytherin! You'd fit in anywhere! However if I really had to say...

Truthfully, Noah was hoping to be sorted into Slytherin. Ravenclaw would've worked as well, but maybe it was the color theme - green and silver - that drew him to the snake-oriented house. From what he gathered, it would be full of people with intelligence but without the single-mindedness to be boring or the excessive morals to be rigid, like Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Quiet, reasonable, and a suitable match for him.

All of Noah's hopes went down the drain, though, when the hat screeched:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Plaintively eyeing the table full of rowdy, eye-searing red and gold, he shuffles over, sitting down and managing not to cringe through the congratulations coming from way too many strangers.

Well, if the talking hat thought this was the best, Noah will at least try to make the best of it. Life can be surprising, after all, and lady luck is unpredictable at the best of times.

Of all the tales he’d heard his father tell, and of all the songs his mother sung him when he was but a boy, nothing could have prepared Laurence for the sheer majesty of Hogwarts’s Great Hall. He peered up at the plafond, shrouded by a spell that made it look like the night sky. He could make out that the clouds outside poured heavy rain, an ill omen for the ceremony.

He slid his hand over his stomach. It growled. The last thing he’d eaten was a jelly slug on the train, which, he now found did not sufficiently satiate his appetite.

Worse still was the wide array of delicacies scattered about the four house tables, which reminded Laurence of just how hungry he actually was. The delicious smell didn’t make things better, and when Laurence tried to concentrate on the sorting hat, he grew to be even more dissatisfied; he’d starve before this archaic bag of stains and dust had assigned him to any of the four houses.

The lad eyed the brown hat and the nervous pupil beneath it, and before he could snicker about how they squirmed and slithered, the hat bellowed a loud “Hufflepuff!”

Laurence shifted his gaze to the Hufflepuff table, who were seemingly ecstatic to have a new student amongst them. Buchanan rendered them to be an odd bunch. They were fundamentally good and kind-hearted, no doubt, but there was a kind of dim-witted naivety and simpleness in their wide smiles and glistering eyes that Laurence hoped not to be confronted with too often.

Laurence didn’t have a preference. He knew he was going to be sorted into Ravenclaw, mayhaps Slytherin if the Sorting Hat didn’t have his day. His eyes wandered from his fellow students in yellow to a plate with fine slices of salmon, but before the boy could ponder the taste of such bonne bouche, a loud, boisterous voice ruptured his line of thought.

“Buchanan, Laurence!” so boomed the voice of headmaster Lear. The young Ulsterman reaffirmed his gaze on the hat, and dreaded the moment it’d be put on top of his head, not because he was anxious about its decision, but because it looked ransid and he feared it would mess up his hair.

He climbed the steps to the podium, and took a seat on the stool that had been put there. He didn’t know whether it was true or whether he was simply imagining it, but the hat gave off a disgusting smell. Laurence hoped it wouldn’t give him lice. Then, Lear pushed the hat down, whereupon it exclaimed:

“Aha, a Buchanan…”

Laurence raised his chin when the hat mentioned his name, and looked about the room to see any familiar faces. He knew plenty of lads on his right, dressed in rich blue and green. Soon, he’d sit amongst them, and he’d raise his goblet of pumpkin fizz to their shared futures.

“Ah, a boy of ambition. Perhaps you’ll fit in Slytherin. You’re too self-absorbed to be sorted into Hufflepuff, that’s for certain.”

In what must have looked rather amusing, the hat and its wearer frowned simultaneously. The hat, for it found it difficult to place the boy in a house, and the boy, for he found the hat’s incompetence most infuriating

“There’s only four sodding houses to choose from. Be done with it.” Buchanan barked at the hat, who seemed to be surprised at the boy’s impatience & impertinence.

“Bold lad.” it mused. “Gryffindor!”

Shocked at the fact that his lack of respect and tactlessness must have backfired, Laurence rose from the stool, his face much whiter and paler than it had been before. He stumbled over to the table farthest from the one he’d actually wanted to sit at, took a seat, and took a long hard stare at the plates of pudding, pie and potatoes.

He wasn’t feeling quite so hungry any more.

Everything in Hogwarts was huge... and old; or was it odd? Even after having seen people practice magic and having visited Diagon Alley, Nathan couldn't get used to how weird everything was... and now a singing hat was going to sort him into one of the four houses in this medieval looking school.

The other first years looked either scared or eager, Nathan couldn't care less. Apart for the color scheme and the animal on their badges, he had no idea what difference it would make.

He didn"t have to wait for long before he heard his name shouted by the professor.

"DRAKE, Nathan."

Unlike some of the other names, his name earned no reaction. No one stared at him with curiosity, no one whispered behind his back... He was invisible.

Nate walked with his head bowed and sat on the stool. The hat was dropped on his head and then there was silence.

"umh..." The hat grumbled. "A difficult one, for sure... Yes... I see..."

Nathan waited in silence, what would he say to a talking hat, anyway?

"Not friendly enough for a badger... Yet, in need of companionship." The hat continued. "Clever, yes! But no real ambition..."

"I don't care..." Nathan finally mumbled quietly. He was starting to feel uncomfortable with everyone's eyes on him.

"I know!" The hat exclaimed. "Better be ... Gryffindor!"

As soon as possible, Nate was up and walking to the table with red and gold badges. He sat at the nearest seat and locked his gaze on his empty plate. His breathing slowed along with the pounding of his heart and when he looked up at the podium, another first was the center of everyone's attention.

Date: 9/1/2022 |

Madison's train ride had been a blast. She certainly enjoyed it, but her stomach sank as the train slowly stopped. She fumbled out, embarrassingly almost being left out of the boats. Other then that, it seemed fine. No monsters or werewolves...Yet. Though, that could've changed, as the waters also abruptly left. Her stomach was also not only sinking, but growling.

Madison wasn't greeted by a old and worn down castle, but rather a magnificent palace with light bursting throughout. She wondered if her mother might've been over-exaggerating all these years about the horrors of the school, because the chatter that got louder as she walked in sounded welcoming. As she stepped into the building in felt warm; warm considering it looked like there was no roof.

It looked regal, and quite grand. A man stood welcoming students, and she attempted to slip past. Looking past the other students, she spotted the four tables lined up with their respective houses (Ravenpaw, Hufflebadge, Gryffindor, and Slytherin?). "Oh, wow.." She muttered, as she spotted hundreds, or even thousands of floating candles.

If this is what magic could do, she was certainly excited to learn it. Adding onto the already crowded nature of smiling faces, paintings moved on the royal brown walls. Madison tried to blink, but the paintings were in fact moving. Her mother had told her nothing of this.

As Madison was called to a line of first years, she only observed more and more. It seemed like any word she could think of could describe something about the place. As she noticed the food, though, a loud crashing noise could be heard as everything went silent. Madison looked to the source of the noise to see that the doors had closed. Not thinking much of it she tried to continue looking around, only to hear a loud voice.

A man on the stage, definitely the headmaster, stood on the stage. A hat stood on a stool next to him. He was wearing some funny armor, and Madison couldn't tell much else. He made a speech.

When he was done with his speech, he pulled out a comedically long list, of whatever, but before he could do anything the hat sang. Madison nearly fell over, she was shocked this thing could sing.

To be fair it was a beautiful song, but Madison was still scared of this thing. Though, everyone applauded. Then, the hat called up several students. A, B, C, D....O, Q.. It blurred together.

Soon, it called a name, a horrible name. A name Madison didn't want to hear.

"RAVEN, MADISON!" It said, after declaring a student Gryffindor. They had gotten to the R names.

Fumbling, she sat onto the stool, the hat going on her head.

It was a feeling like no other, it spoke, but clearly nobody could hear. She felt like it knew everything.

"Hmm...A tough one. Definitely strong...Would fit the badger...Or maybe Gryffindor.Quite hard-working, a loyal soul...Yes, Yes...Better be..."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat called. Madison blushed, as everybody heard it pronounce her house. Magically, her robes turned a pleasant yellow. Her new friends cheered for her. It wasn't scary as she sat down for turkey and cherries.

This was her new family for now, and she was going to enjoy it.

Linda came to the Entrance Hall,it's so big, I never saw something like that, and all these long tables. But I feel a bit worried where I will be, what if no one will want to be my friend. I see there's a lot of first year students just like me, lucky I am, I won't have to wait long.

This place is so huge but feels so comfortable and dear, I guess it will feel like second home. There are so amazing candles and these symbols of each house. Even table with professors looks so long, Are they all kind?

Where would I wanna be? I guess I would like to be in Gryffindor. All my family was in Gryffindor.

Hat is singing interesting song, it will be so great to learn here. Oh, seems to be my turn.
Linda Ramirez
I am coming and feeling like everyone is looking at me, for sure, they all must be interested who will be with them this year. It's so interesting to have every year new students and I guess same ceremony, but still be excited about it every time. I sat down and put hat on my head.
I see you have brave heart, your soul seems to be so pure and brave. You like to get knowledge, but
you want something active, something brave and heroic, but still not stupid. That's great. I will put you in Gryffindor
GRYFFINDOR
I take off the hat and hear a lot of claps. There's Gryffindor table, they all look so happy, welcoming me. I guess I will have nice time here.

Erin quietly watched as other first-years were sorted into their houses, grateful that her once sea-sick stomach had finally calmed down now that she was on solid ground. Tired and hungry from the already turbulent journey, Erin found herself dozing in and out of focus until she heard a voice call out loudly:

"GALLAGHER, ERIN!"

Erin shook her head, turning towards the voice and pausing for a second before making her way to the front and, eventually, found herself sitting atop the stool. Erin felt the hat placed onto her head and jumped slightly once she heard it begin to speak.

"Ah, interesting...definitely a fierce and loyal young girl, but also quite the curious mind I see...." Erin sat in silence wide-eyed. Her mother had told her stories of her own sorting into Hufflepuff, but to be hearing the hat in person was quite the intriguing feeling for Erin. "My momma's a Hufflepuff, maybe I'll be like her," Erin thought quietly to herself, forgetting that the hat could hear her thoughts.

"Ah, yes, I remember your mother quite well. A Hufflepuff true and through. But you...yes, curiosity lies abundant in you. The need to search and discover and learn all you can. Adventure definitely I sense within you."

"I do definitely love a good adventure," Erin thought back to the hat. "The thrill of discovering hidden mysteries and discovering new things!"

"Yes, yes...curiosity rules the mind I see. A keen thirst for knowledge and for discovery. Better be....

RAVENCLAW!"

Erin jolted at the loud shriek of the hat, and grinned as she saw students at Ravenclaw table whoop and cheer loudly. Erin quickly stumbled off of the stool and quickly made her way towards the table, jittery with excitement fueled by the cheers.

Word Count: 293

Walking the grounds and finally rounding the corner of the bendy roads, to lay steely eyes upon the augustine castle was more of a moment than Avery had anticipated. It was by far more impressive than hearing about it or glimpsing it in portraits, and the fateful hall was no different.

The grandeur of the great hall was understated by his brothers, typically he took to doubting what they said for his trusting of them had often put him in a spot of bother, but he hadn’t expected them to hold onto the secret majesty of the hall so tightly. Perhaps that was another of their gifts to him. A small smile tugged at the corner of his otherwise passive lips, as he took in the exquisite decorations in the room. His steely grey-blue eyes crawled up the long banquet tables and rose to the large house tapestries that hung from the sky-ceiling; which in itself was being illuminated with the hundreds of floating candles.

He couldn’t help but entertain a thought, as he arrived at the foot of the stairs towards the raised dais: “Now wouldn’t it be funny if I was put into Gryffindor, or better yet, Hufflepuff.” Seeming to pay the large feast not as much mind as he thought he might, who wouldn’t welcome a magical all you can eat buffet after such a long trip. Avery watched the ceremony with rapt attention, content enough to be in the gaggle of people and yet wholly alone.

Peering at the Heads of House sat at the table, he thought about what it must have taken to get to where they were sat; how powerful they had to be and that thought extended to Headmaster Lear as he began calling names. Slowly he made his way through the alphabetical order, and Avery got to see all the jubilation and obvious disappointment from various students from where he was standing. Avery couldn’t help but look back to the Slytherin table every now and then, hoping that he wasn’t to be one of the disappointed students in just a few short moments.

Uncannily, as he had thought that, Headmaster Lear called out:

“Leveret, Avery.”

Avery lowered his chin as the attention fell on him. “Just remember, they’re probably not talking about you!” He reminded himself as he climbed the stairs, certain that he was the subject of a number of conversations, what with his family history. He took to sitting on the stool and straightened his back, peering above the crowd and then upwards as the sorting hat was lowered onto his tidy crop of black hair.

“Another Leveret comes to Hogwarts, now I hadn’t expected this, no no. You all share the ambitious trait, for sure. Though you, you seem different.” It paused. “You’ve a thirst for knowledge, a refreshing curiosity. Perhaps you’re a Ravenclaw…” It gave. Avery’s face was a state of panic, what would his family think? He surely wouldn’t want to find out, though he personally wouldn’t have minded all that much, not as much as he would–

“Oh there’s a bit of pride, perhaps Gryffindor!” The hat seemed to tease as it hummed across its decision. Now Avery felt a glaze of sweat across his forehead.

“That wouldn’t do, I know. - You’re too wily, there’s only one place for you.” It gave before finally it shouted to the hall: “SLYTHERIN!”

A wave of relief flooded over him and almost as quickly as it was placed on his head, it was removed. Avery glanced back to offer the Headmaster a small smile, before it was extended to the hat. He turned his gaze back to the cheering Slytherin table, trying to suppress the growing grin as he made for what would be his family away from home; perhaps he’d like them better? Now he just had to find a place to sit...