Hogwarts was similar to what Draco had read in the book, a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years 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 like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.Hermione whispered to Draco, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn"t simply open on to the heavens. Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard"s hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.
Theodore, Hermione, and Pansy looked at Draco with a surprised expression,
"Were you really serious?" Theodore asked him.
Draco was about to answer when suddenly 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 Hufflepuffis 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.
Theodore and Pansy"s mouth were twitching at the fact that this dirty old hat was going to sort them into their house. Hermione too was just frozen as she didn"t know what to say.
"Well at least it sings good," Draco said, gaining him a weird look from other students around him.
"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 moments pause
--
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. "Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, 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 new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers;
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Granger, Hermione!"
Hermione nodded at the Trio and almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
When Neville Longbottom, who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it back.
"Crabbe, Vincent"
"HUFFLEPUFF."
Draco, Theodore, and Pansy were surprised, especially Draco. Crabbe looked pale as he walked back to the HUFFLEPUFF"s table. Draco was surprised that Crabbe got into Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin, he started to wonder if it was his fault, since he treated Crabbe differently from the original Draco. Draco looked at Goyle wandering which house will he be sorted in.
"Goyle, Gregory."
Goyle looked more nervous than Crabbe since he probably already knew his fate. As soon as the Hat was put on top of him, the hat shouted,
"HUFFLEPUFF."
"Hey, how could your lab rats go to Hufflepuff aren"t they pure-bloods like us." Theodore whispered in Draco ears.
"Well both of them are idiotic enough to be in Hufflepuff." Pansy said, "But there must be something wrong with the sorting hat."
Draco sighed seeing the future already start to change, "Well I wonder what their parent"s reaction is gonna be."
Draco was sure that their parents would probably kill them, Professor McGonagall called out.
(For those who are wondering why they went to Hufflepuff, due to being influenced by Draco, they started studying and practicing magic with a lot of Hard work, even though both of them are still idiots, its the hard work that counts.)
"Nott, Theodore."
"See you at the table," Theodore said walking over to stool, confident that he would be in Slytherin and he really was.
"SLYTHERIN!!" The hat shouted as Theodore moved to the Slytherin"s table.
"Parkinson, Pansy"
She waved at Draco before going over.
"SLYTHERIN!!"
The Slytherin"s table cheered again, Draco sighed in huge relief that other than Crabbe and Goyle nothing much has changed.
One by one all people were getting sorted and the only one left where Draco and Harry. Harry looked nervous and wanted to talk to someone but seeing only Draco was around he shut his mouth.
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
Everyone was whispering things as the sorting hat got put on him. After a moment of conversation with the Hat, it shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR."
The Gryffindor"s table cheered the loudest as Harry went over and sat on the chair.
"Malfoy, Draco." Professor McGonagall said the name of the last remaining student.
The crowd again broke into whispers, even though he was not as famous as the savior Harry Potter... he still had the t.i.tle of genius that no other students had not even Harry.
Draco walked over to the stool, looking at the dirty old hat, Draco casually took out his wand doing a cleaning spell, cleaning the dusty old hat and turning it into a clean one. Draco then sat on the stool gracefully putting his wand back inside his robe (Imagine a wand pocket), looking at people who were staring at him in amazement.
Even the professors were amazed since no one had dared to do so over the course of many years.
Hermione was looking at Draco"s arrogant look in annoyance and rolled her eyes.
Theodore and Pansy laughed, "Cla.s.sic Draco!"
Professor McGonagall broke out of her stupor and placed the hat above Draco"s head,
Suddenly a voice sounded in Draco"s head, "Dodge"
Draco quickly jumped out of the stool out of instinct, to everyone"s amazement a sword fell out of the hat piercing the stool.
"You stupid hat are you trying to kill me?" Draco shouted in anger looking at the Hat, "I will burn you up, you crazy hat."
Draco just wanted to clean the hat since he didn"t want a dirty hat on his head but he didn"t expect that the hat will try to kill him for making it clean.
"I said Dodge, didn"t I?" Spoke the Hat arrogantly.
"You little..." Draco gritted his teeth and took out his wand again and chanted, "Incendio."
As soon as he said that the hat started catching on fire.
The hall got noisy since no one had expected Draco to really burn the annoying Hat.
"Silence." Dumbledore stood up and took out his wand, but before Dumbledore could do anything the fire went out by itself.
"Hmph! Do you think your little flame will harm me?" Spoke the Hat again in a teasing tone.
Draco just ignored Dumbledore"s and the hat existence for now as he laid his eyes on the sword, "Holy f.u.c.k isn"t this the Gryffindor"s sword? But why did that b.i.t.c.h of a hat drop the sword on me... as far as I could remember only a true Gryffindor can summon the sword and why does the sword look similar to my wand."
Draco was wondering all these things while Dumbledore turned his head towards the hat wanting an explanation to which the hat just replied,
"Don"t look at me like that, the sword came out of its own will."
Dumbledore walked over and took the Gryffindor sword out of the stool. Dumbledore took a deep look at Draco and said, "Are you okay, Mr. Malfoy?"
"Yes, Headmaster." Replied Draco nodding his head. He wasn"t scared of Dumbledore but being in front of the greatest white wizard of their time was still a bit nerve-racking.
Dumbledore nodded and looked at McGonagall "Professor McGonagall, Let"s continue the sorting ceremony."
(If you are wondering why Draco let him take the sword, remember that he is in the middle of the hall with all students and professor present, and he still hasn"t been sorted yet.)
McGonagall like others was trying to wrap her head around, at what had just happened but seeing the calm Draco and Dumbledore she didn"t say anything. Draco sat back on the stool again still being wary of the Hat. The crowd was very interested in what was going to happen, was the hat going to drop another sword and what house was Draco being sorted in.
The sorting hat was placed on Draco"s head completely this time,
"Oh, how was the sword!" The voice of hat sounded in his head.
"Keep talking and next time, I will make sure that not even your ashes remain," Draco mumbled underneath his breath.
"You should keep that anger in check boy, so which house should I sort you in." The hat said in a calm voice, "You have plenty of courage to be in Gryffindor, enough intelligence to be in Ravenclaw, hard-working enough to be in Hufflepuff and ambitious and cunning enough to be in Slytherin, so which house should I put you in."
Draco wanted to be put in Slytherin since he would have enough friends and support there, Ravenclaw wouldn"t be bad either, But he was scared of being put in Gryffindor. Gryffindor is the most disadvantageous place you could be in, being the son of Death-Eater and it would be much harder to form an influence in the wizarding community early on as well. Before this Draco wasn"t nervous since he was sure that he would be in Slytherin like the original story but now seeing all the stuff happened with Crabbe and Goyle, along with the Gryffindor"s sword he was getting very nervous.