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sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you |
know?" |
Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was |
getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple |
sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. |
He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. |
Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath |
them. |
A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five |
minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken |
to the school separately." |
Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under |
his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and |
joined the crowd thronging the corridor. |
The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way |
toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in |
the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the |
students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years |
over here! All right there, Harry?" |
Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. |
"C'mon, follow me -- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' |
years follow me!" |
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a |
steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry |
thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the |
boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. |
"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over |
his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." |
There was a loud "Oooooh!" |
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. |
Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in |
the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. |
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little |
boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed |
into their boat by Neville and Hermione. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, |
who had a boat to himself. "Right then -- FORWARD!" |
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the |
lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at |
the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer |
and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. |
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they |
all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain |
of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried |
along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the |
castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they |
clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. |
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the |
boats as people climbed out of them. |
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they |
clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at |
last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. |
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak |
front door. |
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" |
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle |
door. |
CHAPTER SEVEN |
THE SORTING HAT |
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green |
robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought |
was that this was not someone to cross. |
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid. |
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." |
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have |
fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit |
with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too |
high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to |
the upper floors. |
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry |
could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right |
-the rest of the school must already be here -- but Professor McGonagall |
showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They |
crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have |
done, peering about nervously. |
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "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. The Sorting is a very |
important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be |
something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with |
the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free |
time in your house common room. |
"The four houses 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 rulebreaking will lose |
house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is |
awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a |
credit to whichever house becomes yours. |
"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 lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened |
under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to |
flatten his hair. |
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. |
"Please wait quietly." |
She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. |
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron. |
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he |
was joking." |
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