When they finally arrived at the castle doors, professor McGonagall was waiting for them.
"Here professor, got them all in one piece, the firs'-years"
"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here"
She opened the door and the kids followed behind her. Allen looked around, the stone walls, the floor, everything looked just as he imagined, and exactly how he remembers in the movies.
After following Professor McGonagall for a while, they reached a small empty chamber off the hall. They all crowded together, waiting for the Professor to speak.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, before the start-of-term banquet, all of you need to be sorted into your houses. It is a very important tradition that has been passed down since the time of the founders, so I expect the respect it deserves. The four houses in which you can be sorted are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour, which can help in your academic life as well, since it comes with a few perks for the previous house winner"
Allen could tell, this speech was something the Professor practiced to the point of being ingrained in her memory, not only that, but it was word by word like in the books, except the addition of the mention of the perks for the winning house.
Allen looked towards Armand which just nodded, giving him a sly smile, as if saying 'told you so'
"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"
Her eyes remained in Allen, which in turn made his head turn around.
"I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly"
After she left, Allen snapped his neck towards the two boys.
"Hey! Do I have anything wrong on me?!" He asked. Of all things, he didn't expect to be called out by Professor McGonagall.
Armand and William looked at Allen for a bit before speaking.
"Not really? You look decent, she probably was looking at another student" Armand shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah mate, you look fine, don't worry. By the way, do you know how they sort us?" Asked William, changing the topic. "My parents refused to tell me anything about it, and every time I come up with a solution, they just stayed silent and shook their heads!"
"A hat"
"The Sorting Hat"
The other two answered at the same time and as they did so, they looked at each other.
"You sure are knowledge Allen, how did you know?" Armand asked him.
"Well, while it is recommended to not speak about the sorting, its not like they can stop people from doing it, can they? I heard some people talking about it in the Leaky Cauldron, and even in the Diagon Alley, wondering where 'their children would be sorted by the hat' As they put it" Allen answered.
"What about you Armand? How did you know?"
"My parents, they didn't want me to come unprepared, so they told me most of what I needed to know"
Allen and William nodded, it made sense to them, after all, he really was knowledgeable in more things regarding the school than Allen who read the books, it even made him wonder if it was the same world or if it was completely different.
As he was thinking about this, all the kids around him screamed, but Armand just flinched a bit, and William jumped out of fear. Then Allen looked up and saw two ghosts, talking to each other, not realizing they just scared a bunch of first years.
They seemed to be talking about the school poltergeist, the same conversation he remembers from the movie.
Armand tapped his shoulder and Allen looked back "You see those ghost?" He pointed at them with his thumb.
Allen just nodded "Pretty hard not to see them when they scared everyone around us"
"That's- Yes but, not what I meant, my parents told me that they do this every year to scare the first years, they get a sick satisfaction out of it, they never change the topic of the conversation either, it's always about Peeves and how they should forgive him or not"
After they finished their little spectacle, Professor McGonagall arrived "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony is about to start"
The students formed a straight line, one behind the other, waiting for more instructions from the Professor, they walked from the chamber into the Great Hall, lots of students looked at them, while others were to busy talking with each other.
Allen felt his stomach drop, nervousness seizing him, he grabbed his wand with his left hand, and used his magic with the right hand, putting it on top of his chest, trying to calm himself.
Just as he finished the spell, he could see the lights of everyone around him, including the castle, it was an epitome of magic, which he couldn't see by the sheer amount of magic that contained it, he closed his eyes and opened them slowly, just as he left his magic in a half-active state, the light still shone, but not as brightly anymore.
Allen furrowed his eyebrows. And to think I have to get used to this, otherwise I won't be able to use magic. He sighed. It's gonna be a couple of miserable weeks.
When he was finally able to see, a weird song invaded his ears, not knowing where it came from, he looked straight ahead, and there, he saw it, The Sorting Hat, singing the same song about the founders, about his use and how he came to be. Then after the hat stopped singing, William let out a relieved breath.
"So you guys were right, damn, it was scary to think they would make us do something"
"See? What did we told you?" Answered Allen.
"Yes, we only need to wear the hat on our heads and he will decide, nothing too complicated"
The thunderous voice of Professor McGonagall interrupted their conversation "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted"
A couple of kids sat down on the stool, and it was finally time for William, his last name starting with a C.
"Cooper, William!" Exclaimed Professor McGonagall.
"Uff, alright, this is it guys, remember, let's keep being friends even if we don't end up in the same house" He put a fist forward, waiting for the other two to bump.
"Just go man" Allen bumped his fist with William's.
"Yes, don't keep the Professor waiting" And Armand did the same.
William jogged all the way to the stool, sat down and put the hat on top of his head, just as he put it, it fell right down over his eyes.
After a few moments that seemed eternal, the hat decided.
"SLYTHERIN!" He shouted.
Allen and Armand looked at each other, surprised by the sudden development. While it was true that the hat doesn't necessarily puts you in the same house as your parents, they didn't expect for William to be in a completely different House than Hufflepuff, Professor McGonagall took the hat from William's head, a confused look on his face, he didn't expect it either.
His robes turned an emerald green color, and he walked with heavy steps towards the Slytherin table, then, as if wrestling with something inside of him, he looked towards Armand, and picked up his robes, showing him the Slytherin crest, almost as if telling him to hurry up and get sorted already.
"Ha, hahaha" Armand laughed "I thought he would be depressed, Slytherin house does have a bad reputation after all."
"Well, he knows you'll be there, so I guess he weighed the pros and cons for a minute."
"I suppose so, yeah. So are you going to be before, or after me?" Armand asked.
"Before you." He answered.
Armand raised an eyebrow "So you are keeping your last name a secret until the end, is that it?"
Allen complained. "Ugh, it's not like I'm trying to be mysterious or anything, I just don't like the connotations it has."
"Mm, alright then." Armand just nodded, and stayed silent.
Professor McGonagall continued to shout names, and the kids continued to go and get sorted, D, F, H, J, until the K arrived, then the L, there were a few kids before him with a last name that started with the other vocals, until it was the turn for the 'Li'.
Allen waited, and waited, he could feel it, it was his turn now. He took a big breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself down.
Then, the Professor shouted.
"Lionheart, Allen!"
The whole hall looked back to him, not only the first years that were with him, but even some professors. Nervous about the sudden eyes on him, he decided to activate his magic, it would be better to be blinded by the light than to see all these eyes looking at him.
Armand just stayed silent before patting him in the back "Come on, it's just your turn."
Allen just nodded.
The only reason he could walk straight was because the hat had a specific light to it, that shone different than the others, it seemed dull, but it continued to shine against all odds.
As he walked he could hear murmurs all around, but nothing concrete.
"-he same Lionheart?"
"Gryffindor right?"
"His parents did save-"
"Why wouldn't he?"
"It's in his name after all."
"-an't wait for him to come here."
As he picked up the hat from the stool, Allen was feeling sickier by the minute, he hated how people talked about him, but not only that, the lights from everyone was making his head hurt stronger than ever, but he didn't stop, he didn't want to see anyone.
When he finally put down the hat, it covered his eyes, and all the lights went out, giving his eyes a more needed rest.
"Hmm" A small voice sounded in his head. "I see you've been through a lot, yes, you have. Oh! And the expectations, yes, the expectations, but you don't fit there, do you? But your mind is bright, brighter than some of them around here, yet, you don't want to use it for other than survival, yes, if it weren't for that, you would fit perfectly in Ravenclaw."
The hat continued to talk and Allen just stayed quiet, letting him decide, he didn't want to prolong this more than necessary.
"Ah, I see, you are not brave, you don't wish to be brave, not unless you are sure to win, but that is not bravery."
As the hat talked, memories of his last moments appeared in his mind, almost as if they were brought by force. Allen flinched, not expecting even his past memories to be read.
"Yes, if you were brave, such a slaughter wouldn't have happened."
A vein popped off in Allen's forehead "Are you saying, that its my fault?" A cold tone was transmitted to the hat.
"Why yes, you hid, you tried to save yourself, but that wouldn't have been the case if you knew you would've won-"
"Shut up, you don't get to SPEAK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!" Allen shouted in his mind, his breathing became haggard.
"Don't misinterpret me, it's just what I'm seeing."
"NO, YOU DON'T GET TO JUDGE ME! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I'VE BEEN BLAMING MYSELF FOR IT, YOU. DON'T. GET. TO. JUDGE. ME."
The more he talked with the hat the more his magic started to leak from him.
Then, Professor McGonagall tried to take The Sorting Hat off Allen's head, but Professor Dumbledore stopped her with a hand sign.
"Even now, you are trying to direct the blame to-"
"STOP!"
"To someone else, you know it was-"
"I SAID STOP!"
"Such emotions, if only they were directed in the right place." The hat regretted the state that Allen was in.
"Better be-!"
"I SAID STOP!" Allen shouted, lighting the Sorting Hat on fire, and turning off a couple of the candles that floated in the air.
He stood up and before he could do anything else, Professor Dumbledore levitated the hat out of his head, and extinguished the flames, patting the hat.
Allen looked back at the professors, tears flowed down his face and the light around him was nowhere to be seen, he could feel that if he concentrated, the light would come back, but he couldn't, everyone was looking at him. Students, ghosts, Professors.
"Cough, cough" The Sorting Hat coughed in the silence of the hall and everyone turned their eyes towards it.
"SLYTHERIN!"