Teen Ink

The Sorting Hat

The train station was filled with people when I got off. I heard a loud voice, yelling:” First-years! First-years! This way!” I pulled Ron behind me towards Hagrid’s loud voice.
“ Hagrid!” I said, happily.
“ Ari. Nice to see you,” he said, winking at me.
I smiled at him as Ron said: “ Woah,” as he took Hagrid in. He was huge and really scary from a distance. We were led down to the lake where boats bobbed in the water. A boy with silvery-blonde hair sneered at the state of the boats and mumbled something about,” If my father found out...”
Me and Ron took one with Hermione and Neville behind us. The boats floated out onto the lake as soon as Hagrid took his own boat and moved faster than any boat I’d ever been on. We moved in the water and around a corner of the mountain came a huge castle with all its lights twinkling like little lamps from a distance.
Everyone gasped and Hagrid threw out his chest proudly. The boats landed in a dock and we walked up to the castle and into a large room where a stern woman was waiting for us. Her green eyes glistened as she took in the sight of us. I nervously tried to rearrange my hair and straighten the skirt and shirt I was dressed in.
“ Hello. My name is Professor McGonagall. I am Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. I am also here to explain to you the rules of Hogwarts and the Houses. At Hogwarts, your House is your family. You sleep, eat, drink, and take classes with your House. Your Head is in charge of your House and will punish you for any major rule-breaking that you do.” For some reason, she was piercing Ron with her stare.
“ All teachers have the power to deduct and add points from your House. Do good and you will be rewarded. Break the rules and you will be punished. I will give you a few minutes to.. ah... straighten yourselves out,” she said, looking at me slightly with recognition,” finished McGonagall.
I nervously pulled down my sweater and brushed down my hair. A few minutes later, she came back and ordered us to get into 2 lines. Ron and me stood next to each other as we walked into the Great Hall.
It was amazing! Candles floated all around the heads of the kids and instead of a ceiling was a beautiful night sky with the full moon glowing as bright as the sun.
“ It’s not really the night sky. It’s only enchanted to look so. I read it in Hogwarts: A History,” came Hermione’s voice out of nowhere.
I looked in front to where McGonagall was standing next to a stool with a dirty, old hat on it. We gathered in the front and I looked around the staff. A man with long silvery hair and beard sat in the middle, staring intensely at us. For a second, I had the weirdest thought that he was staring at ME! Hagrid was sitting a few chairs away from him and he gave me a big smile and the thumbs-up.
“ Abbott, Hannah,” said Professor McGonagall’s clear voice. A girl with blonde pigtails stepped up, obviously extremely nervous. She sat down on the stool and McGonagall put the hat on her.
“ HUFFLEPUFF!” it announced. I almost fell backwards. A talking hat! You’ve got to be kidding me.
Ron was looking extremely nervous. He’d turned the color of green and started to
“ Bones, Susan,” announced McGonagall.
“ HUFFLEPUFF!” yelled the hat.
“ Boot, Terry.”
“ RAVENCLAW!”
The first Gryffindor was Brown, Lavender who became really pink as she sat down next to the yelling Weasley twins. Bulstrode, Millicent was the first Slytherin. Maybe it was my imagination but they didn’t look like the happiest people ever.
I started to notice that for some people, the hat shouted out at once but for others, it took longer to decide. Seamus Finnigan sat on the stool for a whole minute before becoming a Gryffindor. Hermione was next. She ran up and jammed it on eagerly.
“ GRYFFINDOR!” yelled the hat.
Ron groaned next to me. Soon we were on “Moon,”... “ Nott,”.... “Parkinson”.... then two twin girls “ Patil” and “ Patil” until “ Potter, Arianna” was shouted out. Now my stomach was full of butterflies.
“ Did the hat say Potter?”
“ THE Arianna Potter!” I heard it buzz all over the hall.
Completely unsure of myself, I took one small step. Then another. When I hit the stairs, I walked faster, trying to make this a fast as possible.
I turned around and sat down on the stool. Ron looked flabbergasted. His mouth was hanging open and everyone was staring right at me. Then something slid over my eyes and I was thankful for the darkness.
“ Hmm... Arianna Potter....”
“ Ari,” I thought, stubbornly.
“ As stubborn as your father. But you do have bravery. Difficult. Very difficult. There’s talent. A nice tendency to prove yourself. Intelligence. But WHERE to put you?” said the hat.
“ Not Slytherin,” I thought.
“ Not Slytherin. But it could make you great. Are you completely sure?”
I nodded and thought again, “ Not Slytherin.”
“ Well, if you’re sure, you better be.... GRYFFINDOR!!” shouted out the hat. My whole body was relaxed. I slid the hat off and walked down the stairs, smiling at Ron.
The table was cheering the loudest so I walked over and was instantly confronted by hands.
“ Do you really have the scar?”
“ Can you remember how You-Know-Who looks like?”
I sat down next to Hermione who was staring at me.
“ Why didn’t you tell me your last name?” she confronted.
“ The person who explained everything told me not to tell anyone. One part of that lie was true. Everyone is assuming I’m a hero. But I don’t feel like one,” I said.
“ You’re famous...”
“ I’m famous for a cut on my head,” I cut in, watching Ron walk up. I crossed my fingers under the table and pretty quickly the hat announced,” GRYFFINDOR!”
McGonagall took away the stool and hat and Ron sat down next to me.
“ Congrats!” I told him.
“ Why didn’t you tell me you were Arianna Potter?” he asked.
“ Ari,” I corrected. He looked skeptical.
“ It’s my nickname. And it never came up,” I explained.
“ Attention, students!” the silver-bearded guy was talking. “ My name is Professor Dumbledore, to you new students who are new to the world of magic. I am Headmaster of Hogwarts. Our new students... and some of our old need reminding not to go into the Forbidden Forest. There is a reason it’s called that. Also, do not enter the corridor of the third floor unless you want to die a most painful death.”
Some students laughed but I felt really confused.
“ Is he serious, Percy?” asked Ron.
“ Must be. But he didn’t tell the Prefects anything,” said Percy, looking as confused as I felt.
“ Now, eat, drink and what you do best, talk,” said Dumbledore, clapping his hands.
“ Arianna, do you want potatoes?” asked Percy.
I looked at him and my mouth dropped open. The empty golden dishes in front of us were filled with food.
“ I haven’t seen this much food in my life,” I choked out.
“ Well, I promised Mum to make you eat. You look completely starved,” said Percy, filling up my plate with food.
The Dursleys hadn’t exactly starved me but they’d never let me eat as much as I wanted. The cups filled up with my favorite drink, Coke and I attacked the food, eating as much as I could. When I refilled my mashed potatoes, I ate more slowly. When I was full, I leaned back and groaned.
“ You don’t get a lot of food at home, right?” asked Hermione.
“ You think I look starved now? This is from a month of freedom. I was worse at my ‘ home’,” I answered her.
“ They’re that bad?” asked Ron.
“ No, they’re horrible. They never told me about all this. I wish they did. I won’t have been having a heart attack for the last month,” I said.
The dishes cleared away and desserts popped up: all kinds of cake, every flavor of ice cream imaginable.
I filled up my plate and, when I was done, I leaned back again. I yawned, feeling really tired. The desserts disappeared and Percy stood up, yelling,” First-years! This way!”