"That's Professor Mcgonnagall!" Hermione whispered to Devlin. "She's the one who visited my house to teach me about Hogwarts."
Devlin nodded as he observed Hagrid and Professor Mcgonnagall say something to each other. She then gestured to everyone to follow into the castle. Devlin and all the students followed her into the castle through to the entrance hall. The professor guided them to a small, empty chamber off the hall. You can hear the mumbles from another room assuming that is where the rest of the school students are gathered.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," the professor said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." Devlin takes breath to calm himself down. He was very excited for this moment. "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts..." Professor Mcgonnall continues the speech that is very similar to the story Devlin knows of. Devlin looks around at the students while the professor explains about the house, house points, and the house cup.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."
As she left the chamber, Devlin noticed everyone scrambling about trying to look their best.
"Devlin there you are!" Ron walked towards him. A boy with round glasses followed from behind.
"Ron! Lost ya for a bit there on the train." Devlin said. Devlin then noticed Ron and Harry looking at Hermione as if they didn't hear him.
"Oh you're here." Ron said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said sharply back.
"Oh it's nothing." The boy in glasses responded, trying to keep things peaceful. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you." Harry put his hand out in greetings towards Devlin, Neville, and Stan.
"Devlin..."
"Neville..."
"Stan..."
Devlin, Neville, and Stand stare blankly at Harry after claiming their names and then awkward silence. Harry tilted his head in confusion.
"OH right! sorry, yes nice to meet you too. Sorry, just shocked. I'm sure you already know why." Devlin said.
"Right, don't worry about it.. I guess I'll need to get use to that reaction for a bit." Harry said nervously. "How exactly do they sort us into Houses?" Harry asked the group.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." Ron responded
Harry and Neville looked even more nervous, while Stan stood there in silence.
"I'm sure he's joking." Devlin responded. Hermione then went to Devlin.
"By the way, what kind of spells have you learned so far? I've read all the books required for the year." Hermione continued to talk about all the spells she'd learned in the school trying to find out which one will be most useful.
"Come now students! Form a line and follow me." Devlin lined up along with the rest of the students and followed about as they walked out of the chamber, back out into the hall approaching double doors. Devlin came into view of a great hall that was lit by magical floating candles over four long tables where all the students were sitting. As Professor McGonagall lead the first years through the great hall, Devlin saw the sorting hat laying front and center. As they stopped, Professor McGonagall then waved her hand and music started playing in the background.
Next thing you know, the hat started to move magically and began to sing a song. As the song was being sung, ghosts started dancing about as the hat sings about being sorted and the descriptions of the house traits. Once the song was complete, the hall burst into applause as the hat bowed to each of the four tables.
"So we've got to try on the hat!" I'll kill Fred, he was going about wrestling a troll!" Ron complained. Devlin and the group smiled and started to loosen up.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!" A girl with blonde pigtails comes on the platform and sits on the stool. Professor McGonagall places the hat on her head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat. The students on the table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at that table. Professor McGonagall read down the list in alphabetical order. As Devlin patiently waited, he suddenly heard the name.
"Delwyn, Devlin!"
Devlin walked over and sat on the stool. He peeked at the Hufflepuff table and saw his sister wave at him excitedly.
"Hmm.." said a small voice. "Interesting. very interesting. Loyal yes. I see that. But also, want to grow powerful. yes--But also fair..better be HUFFLEPUFF!"
Devlin smiled and walked towards the cheering Hufflepuff table. As he sat across the his sister, he heard a voice of a boy who was sitting next to her and the first student who was called Hannah Abbot. "Well done, Devlin. Nice to meet you. My name is Cedric Diggory, a third year here."
Devlin shook his hand in return looking at this tall boy. The girls around him seem to be smiling and blushing slightly.
"Pleasure! Thanks for the warm welcome. Glad to be here." Devlin smiled as they continued listening to the other names and the sorting.
"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione's name was announced. Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat onto her head with excitement.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted. Devlin clapped and continued to listen to the other names. Then the names were up to L.
"Little, Stan!" Stand walked over to the stool and sat down. Devlin noticed the Slytherin table all whispering about. There was definitely something about Stan he didn't learn about yet. Hopefully he can find out the mystery about that boy.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. Devlin and his table cheered as he saw Stan walk towards him. The Slytherin table looked a little surprised and a little upset as Stan sat next to Devlin.
"Well, certainly a surprise, but welcome to Hufflepuff!" Cedric welcomed Stan.
"Thanks, I'm surprised as well, but I wanted this so it's fine." Stan explained.
"Why would it be a surprise?" Kate went and asked curiously.
"Ah, you wouldn't know because you came from a muggle family, but the Little Family is known as fallen nobility around here." Cedric explained. "You've heard of the Sacred 28 right?"
Devlin tilted his head. "The Sacred 28?"
"Yes, they are known as the noble "truly pure-blooded" wizard families. They take pride in what they call the "purity" of their heritage." Cedric explained.
"My family once upon a time would be part of that list as well. But well, my family didn't get along with any of them. They didn't agree with their views and even fought against the lot of them as Aurors." Stan explained. "Well, also a lot of my family are mostly Slytherin. So before the war, there were a lot of connections. We're now called 'Blood Traitors' to the lot of them."
"Wow, sorry I didn't know." Kate frowned at the story.
"It's fine. Our family sticks together. My parents still work hard, and due to the events, our familial bond is strong. Through the hard times, my parents told us that without their friends and companions, they wouldn't have gotten through the difficult times during the war. They were always appreciative of that."
There was a slight awkward silence and then Kate picked herself and charmingly smiled at Stan. "Well, in any case! Welcome to Hufflepuff! Here we take care of each other! You are one of us now!" The other Hufflepuff upperclassmen surrounding her smiled giving Stan and warm welcoming feeling.
The names continued to be called. As expected Harry and Ron also was sorted into Gryffindor as expected and eventually all the names were called and all the students were sorted.
As everyone was getting acquainted, an elderly wizard stood up and was observing his students. As students noticed his presence, everyone quieted down naturally and observed his actions.
"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" the man said with his arms wide open. "Thank you!" The man sat back down. Everyone except the first years clapped and cheered.
"What was that?" Devlin asked
Kate laughed "I don't know! He said the same thing last year. Just go with it and cheer!"
Devlin suddenly eyes widened as magically the dishes in front of him suddenly became filled with food. Many various foods piled on the table and as he looked into his cup, he noticed it magically got filled with water.
Cedric took his cup and stood up. "Our prefect is Gabriel Truman who is welcoming the other first years down there." He gestured towards an older wizard teen with brown and red hair welcoming other first years. "So I'll just say it here as well, but welcome to Hufflepuff!"
Devlin then laughed and also took his cup and also put his cup towards the center of the table. "To new friends and a fun school life!" Other first years, Cedric and the others close by also put their glasses together.
"Cheers!" Everyone clang their cups together and laughed at the atmosphere. While everyone was laughing and talking, Devlin took a look at the high table. There stood Professor McGonagall talking to Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid drinking his goblet, and then he saw both his main targets of interest.
There stood a nervous man wearing a turban talking to a man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose. He noticed the black haired man assuming to be Professor Snape staring in the direction of the Gryffindor table. He looks younger and a bit more evil looking than he thought.
Off to the other side of the table was Professor Sprout and from what he can assume is Professor Flitwick chatting about. Sensing his stare, Professor Sprout looked over at the Hufflepuff table and took a look at Devlin. She gave a welcoming smile and a small wave over in his direction. Devlin smiled and waved back at her.
"Do you know Professor Sprout?" Cedric went and noticed the wave.
"Yea, when Kate found out she was a witch, she was the professor that welcomed her and told us about the wizarding world." Devlin explained.
"I see. I heard professors would visit muggle families, I didn't think it would be our House Head who would visit." Cedric asked "Kate, how come we didn't know this."
Kate laughed "Oh come now Cedric! You didn't know because you didn't ask." Kate teased
After some time, the kids enjoyed some desserts and the food started to disappear. Professor Dumbledore stood up and gave his warnings of certain areas in the forest grounds, the Quidditch trials information and ending speech. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Devlin heard some awkward laughs among the silence.
"Wait, he's not serious is he? Why bother having classes if the danger is so close?" Devlin asked Cedric. He was always curious why a school would like dangers lingering around like that.
Cedric frowned. "He probably is serious. Usually he would give us a reason why we're not allowed. Maybe the prefects would know. Well, we can always put our trust in Professor Dumbledore. He's the most powerful wizard. So if he thinks it's fine to attend school, then it's fine."
Devlin nodded his head. He was not satisfied by the answer, but really didn't have a choice anyways.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" With a flick of his wand, a long golden ribbon flew out above the tables and music started magically playing in the background as the ribbons transformed into lyrics for kids to sing along.