Slipping and stumbling, the first years would have followed the steep narrow path in the dark through the trees, rounded the bend and glimpsed the school at closer range than on the train. From the other side of the black lake it would be up the mountain with windows sparkling in the starry sky with all its towers and turrets.

They would have clambered into the bewitched boats in no more than four at the shore, and sailed across, the squid below them watching for their safe passage until they reached the cliff, through the ivy curtain and through a dark tunnel. Finally, in the underground harbour, they would clamber out onto the pebbles and regroup under the watchful eye of the Keeper of the Keys.

In the entrance hall, outside the Great Hall the Deputy Headmaster consulted his pocketwatch and tried not to think about how noisy the castle had become since the students had arrived. It had been quite pleasant without them.

Two fourth years rushed past him from left to right and back into the hall after taking a trip to the toilet, keen not to miss the Sorting, though near tripping over their longer robes, their parents keen for them not to outgrow them this year. As their footsteps vanished into the murmur from the hall beyond, there were three heavy knocks at the door.

Professor Storm took a deep breath, and pulled open the door to reveal yet another group of bedraggled looking eleven year olds. Clearly this year was going to be no better than the last on first sighting. His expression did nothing to reassure the new students, his intense stare at them all rather looked like he was sizing up who to eat first.

Satisfied, he pulled open the door properly for them to come in, and led them across the flagged stone floor. Although the doors to the hall were on their right as they came in, eyes were all over the place examining the size of the entrance hall and the warm torches around them.



Professor Storm drew himself tall and peered down his nose at the gaggle of students,
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The start of term feast begins shortly, but before this you will be sorted into your houses." His blue eyes picked out a smudge of lake mud on the forehead of one of the group, and an ivy leaf in the hair of one of the girls at the back. Some of them looked like they had struggled to dress themselves. He managed not to sigh.

"The sorting will place you into one of four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin, named after the founders of this great school. Each has produced outstanding witches and wizards, and perhaps…" he glanced upwards, almost cursing his own words, "you may be the next to be described as such."

The noise next door was quietening, and a few glanced to the doors worriedly.
"Your house will become family while you are here, you will share lessons, dormitories and a common room with your house for at least the next five years. Your achievements will earn your house points, and any rule-breaking will result in a loss. The house with the most points at the end of the year will be awarded the House Cup."

He glanced to the doors, and then back to the first years.
"The Sorting Ceremony will begin shortly. Wait here a moment, and smarten yourselves up, after all, the whole school will be watching how you do. Best to be prepared."

He strode away for a moment, cracking open the great doors ever so slightly to see if it was quite time.

By the time he turned back, the first years didn't look much different to before as he ordered them into single file to follow him.

The Great Hall doors swung open to reveal the scene beyond. Naturally the first years could not walk and gawp at the same time and trailed behind his long stride on their way down the centre of the hall between the long tables, but eventually they did catch up and form a line along the front.

The Professor set out a four-legged stool, and then placed upon it a rather tatty looking wizard's hat before stepping away. Behind them, the students craned for a look, knowing what came next.



The hat never sang the same song twice apparently, it was said. Trouble was, nobody apart from the ghosts had been around nearly enough time to verify this, and how did a hat remember that many hundreds of years either. It was in good spirits this year, putting on the one night show, same night every year.

When the applause of the hall rippled away, the Professor began to call out the names

---

OOC: For the sake of ease, don't worry about the alphabet … feel free to post about pre-sorting, sorting as you like to keep the thread moving.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to this! I haven't seen a Sorting for decades! My goodness, the Hat is looking ragged as ever.  Someone should see about a milliner."  Branwen Strangely had come aboard the Hogwarts staff last March and so this was her first time sitting at the staff table for the start of term feast.  It really was a trip down memory lane, seeing the ancient hall filled with students and the house banners flying.

She clapped her hands but not in response to any particular happening, just general mirthfulness.  She'd nearly forgotten that she had an impatience with young children! Of course, last term had softened her somewhat.  Her students had proved to be more diverse than she'd thought.  Some where worse than she could have imagined, but most exceeded expectations in terms of cleanliness, friendliness, and studiousness.

"Oh! Here they come!"  Branwen's voice tended to carry and the old witch did very little to stop it.  The first years were nearly skipping to keep up with Storm's long strides.  "Well if he isn't just the most solemn old mother goose. By his face he was leading them to the gallows!"

She had seen the sorting last year as a fresh, new addition to the staff in a role that was controversial and questioned as unnecessary and frivolous. However, as the year progressed she felt like the respect for her position grew. She stuck with the job as professors came and went. She, Tulojow, and Storm were the few staff members who were here for last year's sorting.

As the new Head of Hufflepuff, Maiko felt the need to dress the part-- in yellow and black despite the fact that color combination made her feel like a fancy bumblebee.

"Well if he isn't just the most solemn old mother goose. By his face he was leading them to the gallows!"

Branwen's voice did carry, though Mai didn't mind in the slightest. She glanced down the table at the other witch, a mildly mischievous glint in her eyes. "He may look solemn, but Merlin's-most-glorious beard-- it  does not distract from his striking handsomeness!" Maiko exclaimed, nudging the person next to her playfully.

"... it  does not distract from his striking handsomeness!" Cal rolled his eyes when Mai nudged him, chuckling at her predictable taste. "I guess he does look fairly par for the course for you. What was the professor's name at Uni who could have easily been our grandfather?"

The newly minted Head of Ravenclaw and Muggle Studies professor hadn't been to a Sorting in over a decade, and he was both excited and nauseated. He'd had to fight the urge to vomit three times already, and his smiles didn't come quite as naturally as normal. But this was good. Him being back at Hogwarts. And maybe he'd be able to show up his colleagues who currently had bets that he wouldn't last until Christmas. But to do that, he had to get through the Sorting ceremony.

Looking at the first years following behind Professor Storm, Cal didn't view the sorry lot much better than the dour Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He thanked his lucky stars that he would only have to deal with 3rd years and up in his class. Though, chances were quite high that some of those kids would be sorted into Ravenclaw for him to deal with. "Were we all that small at that age? I swear children get tinier every year."

Morrigan been searching for any sign of her large family since entering the Great Hall and had only spotted a few of her cousins: Faye and Levi were more immediately discovered sitting at the Gryffindor table because of their distinctive red hair. Sitting right beside Levi was Aonghus. Her head swiveled around to find her siblings, but among all the students at the Slytherin table it was difficult for her to spot Angerona. Serenity, however, was almost standing up to get a good look. She looked concerned. Morrigan beamed and waved at Serenity, who gave a thumbs up in reply.

"Blackthorne, Morrigan!"

Her waving abruptly stopped and she felt her stomach tie into a knot. Before the whole school, she would be Sorted. Serenity had sent her a letter a few years back telling her all about the Sorting. At the moment, Morrigan had forgotten everything that had been in the letter due to fright and nerves. She ran a hand through her thick fluff of red ringlets and crept towards the Sorting Hat. Her green eyes briefly ran over the High Table full of vigilant staff before she sat down on the stool, gripping it tightly with her small fingers. Morrigan blanched when she realized just how many students were watching them, but the Sorting Hat was dropped over her head a moment later and blocked out the view. Relief swept over her. Until....

"Another Blackthorne, eh? Your family is full of surprises and each of you is quite different. You could go to any House, oh yes... You are clever like your sisters. I see you are confident you will be placed in Ravenclaw... But, alas, you are of a different cut than your sisters. Oh, yes... I believe you should be in..."

Morrigan tensed up. Then the Sorting Hat shouted for all to hear...

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

A table burst into applause, the Hat was lifted from her head, and she glanced sorrowfully at the Ravenclaw table (Serenity was giving her an encouraging smile and thumbs up). She had been so sure that she would be in Ravenclaw! Morrigan felt a little disappointed that she was not in the same House as at least one of her sisters, but she got down from the stool and hurried to join the cheering crowd nevertheless. Her cousin Hermia had been cheering the loudest and greeted her excitedly. With her cousin Hermia around, at least she wasn't completely alone. Another name among the First Years was called and Morrigan whipped her head around to watch. Her eyes fell on Harri Dursley, concern spreading over her face.

The trip on the train to Hogwarts was spent, not with the other prefects, but with his little sister, Zenia (Zena, Zeni, etc). This was a year of lasts at Hogwarts-- the last year he would see the sorting, the last year he would ride the Hogwarts Express, his last year of being a kid. As soon as he graduated, he had to grow up-- Zel didn't have that choice. His family was not well off, parents were absent. He and hsi two older siblings could barely make ends meet to support the rest of them.

His school career was close to ending, Zenia's was barely beginning. With her fair skin and practically translucent hair (and the fact that she practically towered over the rest of the first years-- really, she looked about the size of the third years), there was no doubt that she was of Trumble stock.

Zel looked up at the staff table; there were plenty of new faces, and after the sorting it was likely that they would introduce themselves to the rest of the school. He wondered who the new heads of houses would be-- though a sinking feeling told him that it would probably be the overly chipper counselor. He knew that Hufflepuff had been her house when she attended, and she had been here at the last sorting. Strangely said something, the counselor said something-- then he saw her nudge one of the new professors with a downright malevolent expression on her face. An irrational part of him worried that they were talking about him, so he quickly looked away and focused on the sorting.

Morrigan Blackthrone was sorted into Hufflepuff and Zel cheered and let out whooping noises that sounded very close to howling. Shona Donovan would be proud. He welcomed the first year with a smile on his face and a loud, "Welcome to the Badger Clan!" That sounded creepier than he had meant it to be.

Then, he watched as his little sister was sorted. The hat had been on Zenia's head for just a few seconds before it boomed, "SLYTHERIN!"

What? No. That can't be right. Not sweet little Zenia! Yes, she was a bit spirited at times-- but no. That meant that she was in the same house as-- Theo Whitman. He gave Figaro, Winnie and Verity a look of absolute despair, clapping somberly.

Winifred was really happy to be back at Hogwarts. It was strange to feel like a real grown up, to be an upper year now, the sort of student others would look to for guidance and help. She settled in comfortably next to Zel, her new school robes extra crisp and clean. (Unusual for Winnie, who barely cared about her robes- but first impressions were important.) She watched as the sorting started, and smiled brightly when a little girl was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Winifred clapped and cheered loudly alongside the others at her table, and greeted the girl with enthusiasm when she joined their table. "Welcome to Hufflepuff!" she called out gaily. "You're going to love it here! We're the nicest house there is!" Well, mostly anyway. Definitely a thousand times better than-

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat boomed. Winnie realized that Zel's little sister had just been sorted into the absolute worst house there was to be sorted into. And she hugged her friend tightly. Surely the hat had made a mistake?! It must have! How could Zel's baby sister be an awful, gross Slytherin? How could that even happen? "Oh Zel! How awful..." Winnie always was the sort to say the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time. Comforting Zel would be more appropriate than pointing out how bad it was and making it that much worse.

"Slytherin? Your sister? How dreadful! Well, at least you'll be here her first year. Maybe you can teach her not to be as dreadful as the rest of that house. Oh I would just die if I had a little brother or sister who got thrown into Slytherin! You must be devastated!"

The Slytherin table cheered when a rather tall first year had been sorted into their house. Among those that whooped and hollered was Leo, clapping loudly in a circular motion. When she sped over to sit down at their table, he moved over to allow her plenty of room. His own white hair gleamed in the light of the thousands of candles.

"Welcome to Slytherin," he beamed at her, leaning very close to her. Everyone knew Leo had no sense of personal space at all. He was oblivious to his housemates giving the girl pitying looks. "My name is Henry." He extended a hand.

"Ugh," came a girl's voice from the other girl's side. "How many times have you been hexed with a wand over the summer? Your name is Leo!"

"Is it?" He stared at his housemate suspiciously. "Yes... I think I recall that now." And again his blue eyes returned to the first year as he seized her hand in a zealous handshake of greeting. "Hello! I'm Leo."

Just as he opened his mouth to continue rambling on, another housemate shushed him. Leo did not like being shushed, but he could only glower at the boy because the staff was watching. Or were they? He looked up at the high table and frowned. How many new teachers were there this year? As another child had their name called, Leo was too busy counting the new professors under his breath.

"Fourteen, two, six, nine, one... Blimey!"

"SSHHH!" the boy shushed him again.

Once again, Leo settled for glaring at the boy. He would get his come-up-it sooner or later. Probably later that night. In the bathroom. With a potion. Or maybe a new charm? Leo had been working on something top-secret all summer! ...Well, no, not really because they were forbidden to do magic outside of Hogwarts. Drat! He'd forgotten to do his homework on History. Dull subject, really. There was a shout and another eruption of applause, drawing his attention back to the Sorting ceremony.

While on the Hogwarts Express heading to the castle, Verity had a moment of realization where the finality of everything fully hit her. This would be the last Sorting she'd ever watch. From here on out, she'd be doing a lot of lasts. Last first day of classes at Hogwarts. This was her last year to prove herself, and she wouldn't let anyone down.

The beginning of the Sorting brought her attention back to the Great Hall, and Verity cheered loudly when a new student joined Hufflepuff. She gave the new badger a welcoming smile, "As Zel so aptly put it, welcome to the group. I'm Verity, and if you need anything at all, feel free to talk to me."

More students were sorted into the different Houses, and finally it got to Zel's youngest sister. Verity cheered loudly when the Sorting Hat placed her in Slytherin, and gave the young girl a bright smile. She noticed her best friend's despair and patted his shoulder, but then shot Winnie a glare when she commented on how awful it would be to have a sibling in Slytherin.

"You are truly a shining example of a Hufflepuff's best qualities," Verity commented. "Maybe you could reign in your personal bias and prove to the new first years that our House is above such petty rivalry and blanket loathing. Especially when you claim that we're the 'nicest house there is'. There are many wonderful people in Slytherin, just as there are unfortunately some rather irksome individuals in Hufflepuff."

This was her final year to drill into the thick skulls of some of her housemates that this bickering among houses needed to end. She was not going to leave the future of Hufflepuff to people who couldn't even realize their own hypocrisy.

Hogwarts. She was actually here? One place she never thought she would be again, at least not as an actual attending student. Yet, here she was. Luckily she didn't feel like all eyes were on her, because it was the sorting after all. She had made it through the train ride unscathed, she had her friends and there was nobody causing trouble. Maybe things would be okay, all the bad thoughts she had about it were just that, thoughts. They were not premonitions because she didn't do that. There was concern, there was always concern. But as she had been informed there were werewolves on staff, and she had Zel. That was important she had Zel. She would go through everything with him, and it would be fine. Another werewolf, this was key to getting her through. Oh and that whole continuing her counselling, that would do it too.

So she would enjoy this Hogwarts feast, watch the sorting, and calm the heck down. She wished she had her knitted cap on still, or a hood, so she could hide behind it in a sense of comfort. But she looked at Zel as he watched his younger sister be sorted. Having seen someone already get sorted to Hufflepuff she sort of anticipated the other Trumble offspring would follow suit. The sorting hat announced Slytherin, and she sighed. "It'll be okay Zel." She nodded her head. "Doesn't mean a death sentence or social suicide." She patted his shoulder encouragingly, or she hoped it was in a way that was. Ollie took a moment to scan the sea of Red and Gold, looking for Sophie to catch her eye with a smile and a wave. She was actually here.

Ever since Harri found out that she was a Wizard there had been a sense of awe and anticipation like she had never felt before. The sensation of holding her wand for the first time so too incredible for her to have put it into words. The entire trip on the Hogwarts Express Harri was bouncing around, talking to as many people as she could, trying to find out everything she could about this new amazing world she had found herself in. She was antsy and itching to use her pent up energy which thankfully (this time) hadn't ended in fisticuffs.

During the ride across the lake Harri had almost capsized the little boat she had been travelling in to get a better look at the Squid and coming up the harbour she had pushed past some fellow first years and tripped, splattering herself with mud. She hadn't minded though, she was too used to being caked in mud and dirt to take any mind.

While others were cowering at the looks the old Professor gave them Harri was beaming. Now this was obviously a powerful Wizard and she couldn't wait to start learning from him. As he lead them up through the castle to get to the Great Hall Harri had stripped the big black robe, caked in mud, off and tossed it behind a suit of armour when the old Professor's back was to them. It left her in her standard school uniform - dress shirt, vest and pants (she was told she'd get a tie of her house colours after she was sorted). The woman in the robe shop had been very persistent on Harri getting a skirt just like all the other girls and it wasn't until her father had threatened to spend his money elsewhere that the woman had finally consented and got Harri set up with a few pairs of the standard uniform usually reserved for the male students.

She huddled with the rest of the first years at the front of the great hall, waiting to be sorted. Her short cropped hair looked even more matted, now that it was also splattered with mud, although aside from her hair and face she looked less messy and bedraggled than she usually did. As she bounced on the balls of her feet waiting for her turn she spied her 'cousin' amoungst the sea of students and gave him a smile.

"Dursley, Harri-"

"That's me." She leapt forward cutting the old Professor off before he could add the Ette, to the end of her name. She hopped up on the stool with only a bit of struggle due to her tiny frame and bit on her lower lip as the hat was put over her head.

"Mmmm another fighter, brave, proud, ambitions, eager to prove yourself. You'd do well in Slytherin." She winced slightly at hearing the voice. It didn't really seem to be coming from the hat itself but more from inside her own head.

"Harry was a Gryffindor." She thought at the hat.

"Ah yes, Harry Potter, I see. I see. Well then," The voice in her head was gone and suddenly rang out amoungst the hall, "Gryffindor!"

The hat was removed and she moved over to the long table decked out in red and gold, taking an empty spot where she could find it.

Winifred scrunched up her nose at Verity. As if she cared what Verity thought. "Maybe you could stop being a little miss smarty pants know it all just because you've got a stupid badge," Winifred suggested. "Zel is my friend and he's just as worried about her being in Slytherin as I am." Winnie rolled her eyes at Verity. Pft. Everyone knew that Slytherin was the worst house with the meanest people.

"I know that I wish that someone had told me how awful Slytherins could be. It would have saved me so much trouble when I was a first year. Do you know how long Billius Clogg-Spleen was so awful to me? And I remember lots of other Slytherins being mean to other Hufflepuffs. That one used to be super duper mean to Fauna when I was a third year... The only nice Slytherin I ever met was Imogen." She flipped her hair indignantly and got up from her spot next to Zel.

Winifred moved down the table to sit with some other Hufflepuff students- away from the two seventh year prefects. Really, who did Verity think she was, being so catty and rude like that? Way to prove your house is nice, chewing out a younger student for giving some helpful information about how you should just avoid Slytherins at all costs. Made her life a lot easier when she followed that motto. Seventh years were always so full of themselves!

As Verity and Winnie had their little exchange, Zel let out a load groan and threw his head down on the table, hitting it a little bit harder than he had intended. Maybe if he knocked himself out, they'd forget about each other and worry about him instead. No. That was a bad idea.

"Eli's nice." Zel replied, "When he's not running around half naked..." He paused, "Don't say that in front of him please. I don't want him crying on my shoulder again because the world is supposedly cruel to him." That had been in their third year. Zel didn't remember the specifics but he recalled a lot of awkward back patting in the middle of the library.

"Bastian's nice too." Yes, list the weirdos of Slytherin. He didn't know Xavier Tawse that well, and Jordyn was kind of intimidating. "Gracie's sweet when she's not making...." He cleared his throat and blushed, "Faces. There are nice Slytherins... And mean ones. I'm really really sorry that you have mostly been around the mean ones. That's not fair to you." But it was too late. She had already stormed off.

"I just, Theo's in that house." Zel whispered, "It makes me worried. I want someone to, you know, make sure he isn't awful to her." A mostly irrational worry, but it was still in the back of his mind. "And she's not in a house with any of her brothers." Emeric was a Gryffindor, Lucas was a Ravenclaw. Still, the support from Ollie, Verity, and Winifred helped.

On Zenia’s other side, Esther rolled her eyes, reaching for her goblet as though she might find a bit of sanity at the bottom. It was only pumpkin juice, but the action made her feel delightfully mature—and by extension, better about having so many crazy housemates.

“Don’t mind him,” she told Zenia after a prim, bracing sip. After the internship at Runwitch, she was sailing on an air of worldliness, buoyed by the taste of what could only be her future. She had seen things her peers never would, met people they would only ever dream about meeting. Hogwarts was so trivial, so small in comparison. Esther beamed the first year a perfect smile, offering her a hand to shake. “Zenia, was it? I’m Esther Morrell. This–” she gestured at Bastian, who sat beside her, “is Bastian Desrosiers.”

As a fifth year this wasn’t her first Sorting, and as such she still remembered the nervousness of her first day rather keenly—the anxiety of lacking a proper place, the fear that she might never fit in. The youngest Trumble, at least, had a positive slew of siblings to help her settle in, but they were all boys, and more importantly Slytherin was, traditionally, a different quidditch game altogether. Every House had its politics and blood purity mattered less every year, but whether one actually cared about them or not, its value in power games never waned. Zenia Trumble was lucky to be starting her first year when she did, but a little guidance never went astray…