The Sorting Hat

A few minutes later, more and more ghosts began appearing in the cramped room, in all shapes and sizes. It was quite a surprise for the first-years.

At first, the young wizards had been pretty badly frightened, but they soon realized that the ghosts weren't scary at all. In fact, they were very friendly and warmly greeted everyone.

To ease their nerves, one ghost even put on a little ghost-only trick, something like holding his own head in his hands.

"Cool..."

Watching the head bob up and down, someone couldn't help exclaiming.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I can do something even cooler."

The ghost seemed to be getting into it too. As soon as he finished speaking, he tossed his own head into the air, then performed a spectacular front flip followed by three and a half twists before landing and reaching out to catch his head neatly.

His movements were fluid, his pose graceful, and every landing was perfectly precise.

As expected, the routine won applause from everyone, even Kyle.

You didn't get to see this sort of act every day.

Impressive. Very impressive.

"Thank you, thank you, everyone." The ghost made a circuit of the room, bowing slightly to the crowd. Looking rather pleased with himself, he said, "Oh, did I forget to mention that this routine was what got me into the Headless Hunt? Of course, I'm not bragging. I just mean that you all have excellent taste."

After that, the room really warmed up.

The young wizards gathered around, calling for him to do another one.

The ghost didn't hold back. He didn't perform any more stunts as difficult as the first, but his steady stream of little tricks had everyone laughing all the same.

"Heh."

Just then, a sinister sneer suddenly came from nearby. "What's there to be so proud of?"

Everyone instinctively turned to look and saw that the speaker was a ghost too.

"I'm terribly sorry, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington." The headless ghost recognized his colleague in the ruff collar and hurried to explain, "I was only trying to entertain the children. I didn't mean anything by it."

"See that you don't."

"Of course. And I sincerely hope you'll join the Headless Hunt this year, Sir."

Nearly Headless Nick gave him a blank look, then passed through the wall and left.

After that interruption, the headless ghost stopped performing too. He shrugged and said, "All right, everyone, you'll be getting Sorted soon. Make the most of this time to get ready. See you later."

With that, he passed through the wall into the Great Hall.

The students were disappointed, but there was nothing they could do except watch the headless ghost leave.

Still, the room's cheerful mood barely dimmed.

After seeing the ghost's performance, everyone was in high spirits and even more excited for the Sorting.

Everyone except Kanna.

She had been the only person in the room who hadn't paid any attention to the ghost's performance.

By the time Professor McGonagall returned, the girl was still cowering in a corner, looking almost completely gray and drained. An aura of despair seemed to radiate from her.

Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't notice.

"I was gone for only a moment, and you've already turned this place into a madhouse!"

With her lips pressed together and a stern expression, she looked at the first-years below and said, "The entire Great Hall could hear you laughing. Was it really that funny, or do you think the Sorting is some kind of joke?"

Professor McGonagall's voice wasn't loud, but everyone fell silent, heads bowed and hardly daring to breathe.

This went on for more than a minute before Professor McGonagall continued. "Remember, the Sorting is a very serious matter. Please keep quiet.

"Now, form a single line and follow me."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone sprang into motion. In less than a minute, they were lined up and following closely behind Professor McGonagall.

Kanna was among them, being led along by Kyle. She shuffled forward in a daze, like a walking corpse.

They left the room, crossed the Entrance Hall, and passed through a pair of double doors before finally entering the magnificent Great Hall.

The Great Hall was even more imposing than the Entrance Hall.

It was so enormous it took their breath away. Even with four long tables filled with students, the room didn't feel crowded at all.

The tables were laid with lavish golden plates and goblets, and thousands of candles floated overhead, bathing the room in light.

Higher up, stars glittered across a velvet-black ceiling, while clouds drifted by. The sight left everyone wide-eyed.

Someone whispered to the person beside them, "There's a spell on this place. It looks just like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Kyle turned toward the voice, but when he saw that it was a boy, he lost interest.

Too bad. If he'd started school a year later, he could probably have become good friends with Hermione.

They continued all the way to the front of the Great Hall before stopping.

The High Table was just beyond.

Dumbledore sat in the center, wearing purple robes. His silver-white hair and beard were neatly groomed. He wore his signature Half-moon Spectacles and looked kindly at each of the first-years.

The heads of the four Houses sat beside him.

Severus Snape, the Slytherin Head of House, with his slick, shiny hair.

Filius Flitwick, the short Ravenclaw Head of House.

Pomona Sprout, the amiable-looking Hufflepuff Head of House.

As for Professor McGonagall, the Gryffindor Head of House, her seat was temporarily empty because she had to oversee the Sorting.

Including them, around twenty professors had come to the start-of-term feast. But even with a combination of guessing and deduction, Kyle recognized fewer than ten. The rest meant nothing to him.

That was only natural. Hogwarts was huge. If it had only the few professors he remembered, there was no way that would be enough.

Besides, half of the professors he knew only lasted a year, which made the list even shorter.

Kyle turned his gaze away.

Just then, Professor McGonagall brought over a four-legged stool and set it in front of the first-years. Then she placed a patched, brown, pointed wizard's hat on the stool.

Well, brown-ish, anyway.

The hat was so filthy that even though Professor McGonagall set it down as gently as she could, a cloud of dust still rose when it touched the stool.

And under the candlelight, the hat had a glossy sheen to it. It was clearly caked with layers of grime, so there was practically no way to tell what color it had originally been.

Kyle could guarantee that if this wasn't the Sorting Hat and it turned up in his house, either he or Chris would be done for.

Or maybe Diana would beat them both to death.