David Howard
29 Sep 2022, 04:52
A New Gryffindor
It was September the 1st and earlier today, my brother Matthew and I had come to Hogwarts via the Hogwarts Express, the train that took us to the majestic school. I along with he other students had sat into one of the carriages before being pulled to Hogwarts by some invisible creatures whilst the groundskeeper led my brother and the rest of the first years down to the great lake where they’d sit in boats to ride across to the castle, just like I had done the year before along with the rest of my fellow first years. A few minutes later, we had arrived at the Hogwarts Castle and had filed into the room the Great Hall which had five long tables. One for the Gryffindors, one for the Hufflepuffs which was the one I went to to take my seat, one for the Ravenclaws, one for the Slytherin’s, and one for the professors. This table, unlike the rest of them, was shorter and sat at the very front of the hall, and unlike the rest of the tables, it only had chairs on one side of it, the one that faced the wall. Once everyone one of us had taken our seats, the doors to the Great Hall were shut, only to be opened a few minutes later as Headmaster Lear let their first years in.
Once everyone was inside, the doors would seemingly close themselves as Headmaster Lear walked towards the front of the Great Hall before starting to speak. He was mainly addressing the first years, telling them about the sorting hat before setting the old hat down on the four legged stool and letting it sing. The Sorting Hat’s song was about the four founders of Hogwarts and how they enchanted it to be able to choose which house the students would get sorted into before singing to the first years about which house they might belong in. Once it had finished singing, I along with most of the students in the hall applauded the Sorting Hat as Headmaster Lear took out a long list containing the names of the first years and started to say each name one by one.
As each student was called, they would come up to the four-legged stool and sit on it before having the Sorting Hat placed upon their heads by Headmaster Lear. The hat would then think for a while before shouting out the name of the house the student currently sitting on the stool was to be placed into. Sometimes, the Sorting Hat would barely touch the head of the student before making a decision, sometimes it would sit there for half a minute thinking, just like it had with me. Sometimes, it took longer then a minute for the hat to decide which house the student would be placed into, but whenever a student was sorted into a new house, I only became increasingly happier.
There were two reasons for which I was becoming more and more happy as the Sorting Hat called out the name of a house, the first being that whenever the hat did so, we were more closer to the feast then before, and the second being that every time the hat shouted out the name of a new house, I knew that by brother Matthew was closer to being sorted then before. Part of me really hoped that math that he would be sorted into Hufflepuff, but if he was sorted into a different house, I’d still be happy for him. Headmaster Lear called the kids with their last names first, starting with the last names that started with A, and ending with last names that ended with Z although he hadn’t gotten that far yet. As there were so many students, this Ceremony took hours and by the time Headmaster Lear had started to call out last names beginning with an H, over fifty minutes had passed (the person next to me was wearing a watch). It took even longer for the Headmaster to call “Howard Matthew!”
I watched as my younger brother went up and sat on the stool before having the hat placed on him. The hat contemplated it’s options for a few minutes before finally yelling out “GRYFFINDOR!” and while Matthew wasn’t sorted into my house, I put all of my energy into clapping for him and honestly, I felt like I was the one who was clapping the hardest in the whole room, harder then even the rest of the Gryffindor’s although whether or not that was true was debatable. I even gave him a standing ovation just because he was my brother and I was one of the last students to stop clapping for him. The rest of the sorting ceremony flew by my eyes as I wasn’t paying much attention to it and pretty soon, the sorting ceremony was over. Headmaster Lear put the long list on names away and then proceeded to give us a little speech before we were finally allowed to eat.
Once everyone was inside, the doors would seemingly close themselves as Headmaster Lear walked towards the front of the Great Hall before starting to speak. He was mainly addressing the first years, telling them about the sorting hat before setting the old hat down on the four legged stool and letting it sing. The Sorting Hat’s song was about the four founders of Hogwarts and how they enchanted it to be able to choose which house the students would get sorted into before singing to the first years about which house they might belong in. Once it had finished singing, I along with most of the students in the hall applauded the Sorting Hat as Headmaster Lear took out a long list containing the names of the first years and started to say each name one by one.
As each student was called, they would come up to the four-legged stool and sit on it before having the Sorting Hat placed upon their heads by Headmaster Lear. The hat would then think for a while before shouting out the name of the house the student currently sitting on the stool was to be placed into. Sometimes, the Sorting Hat would barely touch the head of the student before making a decision, sometimes it would sit there for half a minute thinking, just like it had with me. Sometimes, it took longer then a minute for the hat to decide which house the student would be placed into, but whenever a student was sorted into a new house, I only became increasingly happier.
There were two reasons for which I was becoming more and more happy as the Sorting Hat called out the name of a house, the first being that whenever the hat did so, we were more closer to the feast then before, and the second being that every time the hat shouted out the name of a new house, I knew that by brother Matthew was closer to being sorted then before. Part of me really hoped that math that he would be sorted into Hufflepuff, but if he was sorted into a different house, I’d still be happy for him. Headmaster Lear called the kids with their last names first, starting with the last names that started with A, and ending with last names that ended with Z although he hadn’t gotten that far yet. As there were so many students, this Ceremony took hours and by the time Headmaster Lear had started to call out last names beginning with an H, over fifty minutes had passed (the person next to me was wearing a watch). It took even longer for the Headmaster to call “Howard Matthew!”
I watched as my younger brother went up and sat on the stool before having the hat placed on him. The hat contemplated it’s options for a few minutes before finally yelling out “GRYFFINDOR!” and while Matthew wasn’t sorted into my house, I put all of my energy into clapping for him and honestly, I felt like I was the one who was clapping the hardest in the whole room, harder then even the rest of the Gryffindor’s although whether or not that was true was debatable. I even gave him a standing ovation just because he was my brother and I was one of the last students to stop clapping for him. The rest of the sorting ceremony flew by my eyes as I wasn’t paying much attention to it and pretty soon, the sorting ceremony was over. Headmaster Lear put the long list on names away and then proceeded to give us a little speech before we were finally allowed to eat.