It was a marvel of magic. Lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, the rest of the students were sitting. The tables were laid with shining golden plates, cups, forks and knives. At the top of the Hall was another long table where all the adults, about thirty teachers all told, were sitting. Professor McGonagall led all her group up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked rather like pale lanterns in the lights of the candles. Dispersed among the students, the ghosts shone a pale silver. Alexandra looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. She heard the bushy-haired girl not far from her whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
Alexandra had read it too, but reading about a thing and seeing it for real were far different things. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall wasn't just simply open to the sky.
Ceasing her observation of her surroundings, she quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of her group. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat looked like it had seen better days: it was patched and frayed and looked dirty. Petunia would have had a stroke at the very idea of wearing it.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Weasley said to a boy at the back of her group. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."
Alexandra smiled openly despite the stress. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to fight a monster, but giving the supposed popularity of her family at this moment, she wished she was not forced to do it in front of the whole school.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table just on their right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Alexandra saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Black, Leo!"
A black-haired boy with a mischievous smile advanced and put the hat on his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" exclaimed the hat, and the table on the extreme right of the Hall burst into applause. Was it her imagination or were all the Slytherin looking at the first-year with looks full of hate?
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first girl to go to Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" the large girl who had been behind her marched to the hat and then became a Slytherin.
The sorting continued putting the twins sisters Flora and Hestia Carrow in Slytherin, Michael Corner and Stephen Cornfoot in Ravenclaw, Vincent Crabbe and Tracey Davis in Slytherin. Fay Dunbar was sorted into Gryffindor, Kevin Entwhistle into Ravenclaw.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The hat had taken a whole minute to decide for this boy, she noticed. For some boys or girls, the sorting seemed to be quasi-instantaneous, while for others it could take a minute or more to decide.
"Finnigan, Seamus" sat on the stool for almost two minutes before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. Antony Goldstein went to Ravenclaw and the bodyguard boy who had been before her, "Goyle, Gregory" went to Slytherin. Strange, she wouldn't have imagined the boy as cunning or even ambitious.
"Granger, Hermione!"
The bushy-haired girl who had helped Nigel on the train ran without any decency to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Alexandra was surprised. She would have rather put the girl into Ravenclaw rather than Gryffindor.