After Professor McGonagall left, the oppressive silence in the empty room shattered instantly. The first-years immediately started chattering about the mysterious and terrifying Sorting Ceremony.
"My brother told me we have to fight a giant monster!"
A red-haired boy spoke with total conviction, his face beaming with the pride of someone in the know.
"What? A troll?!" Another girl's voice cracked with a sob.
"It seems like you have to recite a really complicated incantation—if you get it wrong, you turn into a frog..."
In short, the rumors grew more and more outrageous, and none of them sounded remotely safe.
Terrifying speculations about "fighting monsters" and "casting profound magic" spread like wildfire through the group.
Ethan, who had been listening intently, twitched at the corner of his mouth. The thought of dropping out flashed through his mind.
Was Hogwarts really *this* dangerous?
Trolls and dragons again? He shouldn't have agreed when Dumbledore came to deliver the letter!
They even said Hogwarts was the safest place in the world... Safe my foot! ۹( ÒہÓ )۶
He patted his skinny arms and legs, suddenly feeling like his future looked bleak.
...
Just as Ethan was seriously considering whether it was too late to sneak back to the Muggle world, Professor McGonagall returned.
She looked at the group of little kids who were now even more nervous after hearing all the terrifying rumors, her expression still stern.
"Now, line up in a single file and follow me," she commanded.
With a sense of tragic heroism, Ethan followed the others into the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
He was stunned the moment he stepped inside.
The hall was far more spacious than he'd imagined. Students sat around four long house tables, floating candles illuminating everything in a warm golden glow.
The velvety black ceiling twinkled with stars, exactly like a real night sky.
His gaze swept across the staff table, and he immediately spotted the smiling, white-bearded old man in the large golden chair at the center—none other than Dumbledore.
*Wow, I didn't expect this old man to actually be the principal,* Ethan muttered to himself. *I thought he was just bragging.*
Professor McGonagall led the first-years to the front and had them stand facing the older students.
She placed a four-legged stool in front of them, then solemnly set a dirty, patched, ancient pointed hat—looking older than most of them—on top of it.
"When I call your name, come forward and sit on the stool," she said. "I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and it will decide which house you belong to."
Her voice echoed clearly through the Great Hall.
Like the other first-years, Ethan stared in shock at the tattered hat.
*Just this hat? No fighting giants?*
The older students—regardless of house—all wore knowing, amused smiles, as if they were watching a good show. (^～^)
Just then, a rip near the brim opened like a mouth, and the folds twisted into eyes and eyebrows.
Then the hat actually began to wriggle and sing!
"You might not think I'm pretty..."
The song ended.
"Ahem~" Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and unrolled a long parchment scroll.
"Hannah Abbott!"
A little girl with rosy cheeks and two golden braids stumbled forward.
The hat barely touched her head before shouting, "Hufflepuff!"
The second table on the right erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers. Hannah happily ran over and sat down.
One by one, names were called, and houses assigned.
"Ethan!"
Ethan took a deep breath, walked forward, and sat on the four-legged stool.
Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
A voice immediately echoed in his mind: "Hmm... Ah~ Interesting child."
"I like fishing, but I just can't catch anything... Haha, what a unique hobby."
Ethan suddenly felt an urge to rip the hat off and stomp on it.
*Why does this lousy hat have to expose people's shortcomings?!*
"Oh ho, what an evil little wizard, thinking of treating a weathered hat of wisdom like this!"
*I think you should be sent to Azkaban to keep the Dementors company!*
Though Ethan didn't know exactly what Azkaban was, the name alone told him it wasn't a nice place.
His mental "greetings" toward the hat grew even less civilized. (｀д´)ゝ
"Oh! Merlin's beard! How can your inner thoughts be so... colorful!"
The hat shrieked in his mind. "Okay, okay, let's see... shrewd enough, willing to use a little trick to get things done—in a sense, you're very suited to Slytherin..."
Ethan immediately launched into a fresh round of uncivilized mental greetings, chanting over and over: *I want Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff! It looks amazing there!*
"Hufflepuff? Indeed full of loyalty and kindness, but your cunning... well... however, your desire for comfort is very real... what a stubborn little fellow..."
After a long internal struggle that lasted several minutes, the Sorting Hat finally seemed defeated by Ethan's "unyielding" spirit and endless flattery.
"Oh well, fine! Since you insist... Ah—Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted with its last ounce of energy.
Ethan immediately yanked it off, shoved it back into Professor McGonagall's hands, and hurried toward the Hufflepuff table amid enthusiastic clapping.
The prefect and older students warmly made space and patted him on the back in welcome.
When "Harry Potter" was called, a buzz of excitement filled the hall. After a brief hesitation, the Sorting Hat shouted "Gryffindor!"—and the Gryffindor table's cheers nearly lifted the roof. Several red-haired twins even chanted, "We have Potter! We have Potter!"
...
After the Sorting Ceremony, Dumbledore stood and spoke with a broad smile.
The gist: A new school year has begun. No student may enter the Forbidden Forest. Magic is not permitted in the corridors. And especially, "the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Finally, he said something completely nonsensical: "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" Then announced: "Now—the feast begins!"
The moment he finished, the empty golden plates filled instantly with tempting food.
...
After a chaotic but joyful rendition of the Hogwarts school song (everyone singing their own tune), the Opening Feast came to an end.
The Hufflepuff first-years followed their prefect toward the common room, located underground.
After parting ways with the Slytherins (also underground but in a different direction), they passed a still-life painting of fruit in silver bowls and reached a seemingly ordinary corner of the corridor.
Barrels of various sizes were stacked there.
"Unlike other houses that use passwords, our Hufflepuff entrance requires rhythm."
The prefect pointed to the barrels. "See the second one in the middle of the second row? Tap the bottom to the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff,' like this."
He demonstrated. With the correct tapping pattern, the barrel lid silently opened, revealing a round passage large enough to crawl through.
*It really is just like the burrows badgers dig...* Ethan thought, but he followed the others and climbed in one by one.
Hufflepuff's common room was a cozy, circular space with a low, domed ceiling. The walls were decorated with bright tapestries and lots of plants.
Comfortable yellow-and-black armchairs were scattered around, and low round windows showed swaying grass and sky outside.
*How can there be sky underground?!* (●__●)
The moment he entered, a warm feeling enveloped him.
England's early September nights were already chilly, but here it felt like spring.
Ethan took a deep breath, feeling that choosing Hufflepuff had been a wise decision—the atmosphere was exactly as comfortable and friendly as he'd imagined.
The prefect then assigned dorm rooms. Ethan and his three roommates were placed together.
**Edgar Burns**: A native wizard-born boy with light brown hair and a few freckles. Outgoing personality—he introduced himself to everyone right away. His parents were ordinary Ministry of Magic employees, and his family was "a branch of the Burns family."
**William Smith**: A bespectacled boy who looked very neat and serious. Muggle-born—magic had only awakened in his generation. Before the Hogwarts letter, his goal had been Eton College, showing he was a promising student.
**Ollie Thorne**: A quiet-looking boy with dark hair and eyes. He simply said his mother had died, and his father—a regular company owner—had initially refused to believe in magic or let him come to Hogwarts. It took a personal visit from Headmaster Dumbledore to change his mind.
*Good heavens—two generations of Ethan, plus this Ollie Thorne, and we still can't make a complete set of parents... What kind of weird fate is this?*