The Sorting Ceremony [ALL]

On September 1st, the students of Hogwarts, old and new, return to the school to fill their heads with all kinds of magical things. When the Hogwarts Express rolls into Hogsmeade Station, the second years and above all climb into the Thestral carriages waiting for them, some already able to see the creatures after the events of the year before, while the First Years are lead off towards the boats. Once they have arrived, the Sorting Ceremony can begin. Preparations for it had been going on for what felt like months. For the anxious House Elves, it probably had been.

Theodore Rookwood watched as his students filed in, chatting animatedly to each other about their summers. All seemed to glance up, at least once, at the staff table, taking in the changes in the guard that seemed to happen every year now. If the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was cursed in the 1990s, every position seemed to be now. Theodore felt positively old hat and his cousin-in-law, resplendent in red and gold robes, indicating her house loyalties as Gryffindor’s head, was much of the same.

And so the feast could begin.

“Settle down, settle down,” he called out over the hall as he got to his feet. “Let me be the first to formally welcome you all back to Hogwarts! Your summer adventures can be finished being told over the wonderful feast prepared by our House Elves but for now I must beg your indulgence and request you are quiet. For in a few moments, the Sorting Ceremony will begin.”

Calixta was waiting quietly along with the other first years. That is to say, she was quiet, not that all the other first years were. Sometimes it paid to be patient and besides, she already knew which house she was going to get into.

The trip on the boats had been appropriately awe inducing. Hogwarts had sparkled above the dark waters of the lake with a light in almost every window and Calixta had wondered whether it was somebody's job to make sure it the school was lit up like a Christmas tree. From the gasps coming from other boats, the muggleborns were obviously very impressed indeed.

Calixta wasn't going to allow herself to be impressed by Hogwarts. Not because the school wasn't impressive, it was. But she was a pureblood and she'd grown up around magic all her life. There was no way she was about to let on that she'd not experienced all this and better before.

Dear Merlin. She wished they'd just hurry up with the Sorting already.

Was it just Selwyn or was Rookwood being painfully optimistic this evening?  

In Selwyn's experience, most students (yes, including him in the past) thought summer adventures had only just started once they got to Hogwarts. The majority of them did spend their entire holidays unable to perform magic, you know.

And what the hell?  Did he just thank the House Elves but neglect to introduce the entire fuçking staff?  Selwyn was faintly aware he needed to stop thinking in such coarse vocabulary, or he was bound to slip up and swear during class, but seriously.  He'd been looking forward to being introduced in his new capacity as Head of Slytherin.  He'd gone and bought robes for the occasion.

Well, at least there was the Sorting Ceremony to look forward to.  Selwyn had found it dull as a student, but now he was interested to see which new students were being put into his house.

He'd give Rookwood the benefit of the doubt for now.  Perhaps he planned to introduce them all later.

Patience. It did not come easily to Malaika. Like probably every other first year (and that word probably was important, generalising was another thing she shouldn't do) she was impatient excited to find out which house she would be sorted into.

Not because any of the houses were in any way superior to the others. Or because she believe the houses could choose one's destiny. It was merely a matter of curiosity. They said the sorting hat could read your mind. What would that be like? And if it was true, what would it see inside of hers?

But still, there was the waiting. Malaika, now given the time to think about it, suspected the waiting was key. It added a pomp and circumstance to the entire ceremony that would be absent if instant gratification were available. Rather like some religious ceremonies. She suspected she was not going to be quite so out of place here as she might have first assumed.