The cave was mostly natural except for a dock on the far side. It moved from a rocky texture into smooth stone the closer to the wood piers they got, and Harry could see natural crystals in the wall that glowed as they passed.
The boats unloaded in batches, each one vanishing as the last person got out. Harry jumped out of their boat, pulling himself to shore with two thick cords of power, before turning and offering hands to his companions. As Susan left, the boat vanished with the others... would he be able to make temporary boats? Or were they moved somewhere till needed?
The students were all herded along the stone corridors. As they moved farther, deeper under the castle, Harry watched the walls become more and more touched by man, until they were clearly stones bound together into the tunnel that now spiraled upwards. Finally they came up to a huge rock that Hagrid pressed his hand against and whispered some words. A tiny hole expanded into a majestic archway, Easily twelve feet tall and over that wide. The path opened onto damp grass... and wow, this castle was tall. The wall they were now close to seemed to go up forever, and the students got even quieter, as if the wrong word would make the walls fall on top of them.
Everyone followed Hagrid to a huge set of wooden doors, maybe oak? Massive in scale, even Hagrid didn't make it half way up it. He clearly was counting children and verifying we all had made it, before turning and giving a huge set of thuds on the castle entrance.
Harry's face glowed as he recognized Professor McGonagall. She and Hagrid had a few short words before she waved her wand, both doors opening wide and she turned to them. "This way little ones." She moved everyone into a smaller chamber to the side of the entrance, thick tapestries on the walls and a strong stone floor. As she left, children FREAKED OUT. Apparently GHOSTS were not something anyone thought they should warn the kids about.
Harry fairly firmly insisted to three giggling girls that he was just doing a rare form of echolocation, and had not "Squeaked in fear."
He chose to believe they bought it.
After they left, Hermione gripped Harry's hand tighter. Her excitement had given way for nervousness back before the boats, but Harry seemed so in control it gave her a feeling of support. She had also held hands with Hannah in the boat, which had seemed to help both of them. It was all so beautiful, but it brought back old fears... of not having friends, of not knowing where she was or what to do. She hated not knowing how to act. Hannah and Susan seemed alright. They had probably heard stories of the school and had some idea of what to expect.
She tried to remember everything she had read about the place, only stopping when she felt Harry squeeze her hand and realizing she had been mumbling things out loud.
Harry leaned into the group. "Ok, everyone relax. No matter where we all get sorted, we can still be friends, right?" The less frightened nods helped him feel better too, like something in his stomach relaxed. "Now, I think a couple of you may have missed some stuff Professor McGonagall had been saying, so here is the short recap. We will be sorted into a house, which will be like a family I guess. We will go to classes with them, have the same dormitory, and have access to their common rooms."
Harry ran his left hand through his hair. "If we are not in the same house, we can meet up in the library and make plans. I will ask about what rules exist about having friends in other houses, and if the rules suck I will probably break them." He ignored Hermione's indigent remarks about that with a grin. "So lets have fun and get some dinner. Right?"
Three girls gave much less nervous nods and they tried to focus on the rest of the first years. There was some sort of fight about to start between a young red-head child and the obnoxious boy they had met earlier, but it was interrupted when the Professor returned. She seemed slightly harried, but still stern.
"All right, form a line everyone." She began moving everyone into something resembling order. "Again, follow me and listen for your name."
She led group to a large pair of double doors into what was clearly the "Great Hall". Harry absently marked the entrance with a thread as he stared upwards with the rest of the first years at the large room filled with floating candles. The wax vanished as it dripped, thankfully, but the light seemed to fade away into the ceiling... which was the sky. Stars flickered above the students.
He barely heard Hermione's whisper. "It took many witches and wizards weeks to do the ceiling, to make it look like outside. There was a whole section about it in Hogwarts: A History. I really wanted to do something like this at home."
Harry leaned back. "I was going to focus on more useful stuff, but I think you just sold me. My bedroom looks like a sky, but it is just paint... I NEED to find this out."
They were interrupted by the whispers of the students around them. There were four tables, the outermost two glaring at each other when not gossiping about the new years. Clearly there was conflict between the two. Golden plates and goblets were on all four tables, but they were empty. He looked at the front of the line and saw Professor McGonagall placing an old leathery wizards hat on top of a wooden stool.
Bloody hell, the hat could sing.
Badly, but still, a singing hat, right?
Harry barely listened to the lyrics, imagining singing shoes, shirts, pants... well, maybe not pants, that could get embarrassing pretty quickly, but singing socks? Why not? He saw how torn the hat was. Did it tear first and someone enchanted it, or was the tear designed to make it easier to blend in as an old hat?
Hermione whispered, "Oh thank goodness, we only have to put on a hat. I was SO worried we would be tested, or something."
He reached back and squeezed her hand. He remember how nervous he had been back when he joined D in his school, even though he had already memorized the texts. McGonagall had started quieting everyone down. "Everyone, thank you. Now, I call your name, please sit down on the stool to be sorted." She looked at some parchment. "Abbott, Hannah!"
Susan gave her a hug while Harry and Hermione patted her shoulder as she passed. She walked to the front of the line, had the hat sit on her head... "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table on the right clapped along with Susan, Harry, and Hermione. They received a few looks, but Harry knew he had to get used to that eventually anyway. Hannah moved to the table, glancing at Harry when she neared Hufflepuff's ghost, apparently called "Fat Friar".
He tried not to blush. Ghosts should be on the damn student letter, in big bold "WATCH OUT, GHOSTS" print.
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