Chapter 26 Made of Iron
Chapter 26 Made of iron...
As the sorting approached, Harley became more and more nervous because she didn't know which house she would be assigned to.
Although she thought she would have wanted to go to Slytherin, Gryffindor was her mother's house. But both Ash and Cassandra will enter Slytherin, and Hermione may go to Ravenclaw, she is so smart...
But what about yourself? Harley thought about it for a while, thinking that she might be assigned to Hufflepuff - Cassandra's evaluation of Hufflepuff was mediocre. They had no courage, no ambition and no wisdom. There is only mediocrity.
Harley felt like this.
Although the wizards thought she would be the savior, she didn't think so.
Even if she is not as good as Ash, Cassandra and Hermione are better than her, and they seem so mediocre...
As she was thinking, she suddenly saw a white transparent shadow. It was a ghost!
Then the second, third, and more than twenty ghosts passed through the wall, above their heads, and flew past them, discussing as if no one else was watching:
"Forgive him and forget about that incident. I think we should give him another chance..."
"No! Haven't we given Peeves enough chances? He's given us ghosts a bad reputation, and Merlin's top, he's really nothing!... Hey, what are you doing here?"
A ghost screamed and refuted the previous one's point, then saw the children underneath him.
Harley held her breath, and so did everyone else.
"These are new students."
The fat ghost smiled and said: "Are you waiting for the sorting?"
He said it to Harley, because Harley was closest to him.
"Ash."
Harley grabbed Ash's arm nervously.
Ash patted the girl's palm and comforted softly:
"It's okay, this is a nice gentleman."
Cassandra said with some dissatisfaction:
"Remember what I said, you have to get used to it, Harry, there are a lot of ghosts like this in Hogwarts."
The fat ghost saw that Harley was afraid of him, but he still smiled and blessed:
"Good luck getting assigned to Hufflepuff, that's where I graduated from."
Harry was about to cry. She felt that she had been cursed by a ghost. She didn't want to go to Hufflepuff at all!
Professor McGonagall said loudly:
"Stand in two lines, children, the sorting ceremony will begin soon!"
She pushed open the last oak door, and the two armors at the door suddenly came to life. They stamped their right feet vigorously and nodded to the children. They lined up in a neat queue, passed through the gate, and entered the auditorium under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes.
Four long vertical tables are placed in the auditorium. They extend almost from one end of the auditorium to the other, enough to seat hundreds of people. The senior students sat in front of these four long tables, which were covered with exquisite tableware - made of real gold.
These four long tables belong to four houses, from left to right: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff.
On the high platform at the end of the auditorium, a long table was placed horizontally, and professors of different ages and costumes sat there.
Above their heads, thousands of candles floated in the air, and the burning firelight illuminated the auditorium like daylight. Above the burning candles, there is a night sky dotted with bright stars, as beautiful as velvet, beautiful and gorgeous!
Hermione said excitedly:
"That's not the real night sky, it's the ceiling that's enchanted. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
Professor McGonagall led the freshmen to the high platform at the end of the hall, where there was a four-legged stool with a dirty, worn, and old pointed wizard's hat on it. Harley had heard from Ash that the Sorting Ceremony involved wearing this hat, but when she actually saw the hat, she was a little resistant and repelled - it was too dirty! It is said that it has not been washed since the school was founded!
God, how could these wizards stand it?
Just as Hallie was thinking about it, she suddenly cracked a crack on the edge of her hat, and she opened her mouth and sang:
You may think I'm not pretty,
But never judge a book by its appearance,
If you can find a smarter hat than me,
I could eat myself.
…
Come wear me! Don't be afraid!
Don't panic!
In my hand (even though I don't even have a hand)
you are absolutely safe
Because I am a thinking magic hat!
When the hat showed its 'singing voice', the whole auditorium gave it warm applause. And like a real artist, the hat bowed to the students of the four colleges one by one.
Professor McGonagall stood beside the four-legged stool, holding a long roll of parchment in one hand, and said to the freshmen:
"Now, students whose names are called, come to the front, and the Sorting Hat will determine your house."
Ash noticed that the girl next to him turned pale, and asked softly:
"Harry, are you feeling unwell?"
"I……"
Harley hesitantly leaned into Ash's ear and said in a low voice: "Can you not wear that hat? It's too dirty."
Harley lowered her head in frustration and whispered:
"It would be nice if I could just wash it off."
Why can they accept a hat that hasn't been washed in a thousand years? Don't wizards take baths?
Professor Snape, who was sitting in front of a long table full of school teachers, had a hooked nose and hair so greasy that it reflected light, and his brows suddenly furrowed.
You can't do it without a hat, it would break a thousand years of Hogwarts tradition, but wash it...
Snape suddenly stood up and pointed his wand at the Sorting Hat without hesitation:
“Aguamenti (clear water like a spring)!”
A fountain-like water flow surged out from the tip of the wand, and under Snape's precise control, the water flow turned into a huge water ball that enveloped the Sorting Hat.
Professor McGonagall was startled by this sudden turn of events and glared at Professor Snape angrily.
But Snape turned a deaf ear to this, even though the Sorting Hat, covered in water, began to choke on water like a drowning man. And the originally clear water polo became turbid at a speed visible to the naked eye, with a large amount of suspended mud mixed in it.
After a while, he stopped releasing magic, but soon turned to release the second magic:
“Scourgify!”
boom!
The water ball disappeared, and the Sorting Hat fell back on the four-legged stool, gasping for air like a drowning man who had just been rescued.
But no matter what, although this hat is still worn and old, at least it is no longer so dirty.
Professor Snape sat back down with satisfaction. Facing Professor McGonagall's angry gaze, he said calmly:
"Professor McGonagall, I'm just cleaning. You don't need to look at me like that."
Professor McGonagall was so angry that she laughed. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly heard applause.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Ash Black applauded Snape from the bottom of his heart. He is a real man.
Following his lead, Harry, whose face was red, also began to applaud.
Harry is in a good mood. Professor Snape is indeed a good person!
Bang bang bang bang bang!
Soon, thunderous applause and cheers erupted throughout the hall.
Not only the freshmen who were about to put on the sorting hat, but also the upperclassmen who had already experienced it all started to applaud. Although they had never liked Snape before, Snape at this moment was worth cheering for!
This warm applause suddenly made Professor McGonagall angry and funny, but in the end it was hard to say anything else.
She looked at Dumbledore, who was smiling and applauding.
Professor McGonagall shook her head, picked up the soaked Sorting Hat, and said loudly:
"Hannah Abbott."
A blond girl came out of the team with a blushing face, and Professor McGonagall put on her a hat that was big enough to cover her eyes.
The hat refused to move as if it was dead. Professor McGonagall knocked it, and then it said in a feeble voice:
"Hufflepuff."
The long table on the far right erupted into thunderous cheers and applause to welcome their new student.
"Susan Bones." "Hufflepuff."
…
"Hermione Granger!"