[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]

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  Ign the whispers among the young wizards, Professonagall tinued speaking.

  Her voice wasn’t loud, but even with many students murmuring, it carried clearly to their ears.

  "The weli is about to begin. No matter which house you are pced in, I hope you will bring honor to it."

  "In a few mihe S Ceremony will take p front of the entire school. I suggest you straighten up and stay alert while you wait."

  A sudden rustle of voices rose from the group. Harry and Ron quickly checked each other to make sure their hair wasn’t messy and their robes were in order. A few witches even took out small mirrors.

  The legendary S Ceremony was about to begin, and even Hermione, who always acted as if she knew everything and was fully prepared, seemed a little nervous now.

  In trast, Draalfoy, standing a little farther away and gring at Harry and the others, showed no sign of nervousness. His aoward Harry ed his thoughts.

  Still, it was clear he had no iion of pig anht. His nose was still sore.

  As the students waited, about twenty ghosts suddenly drifted into the hall. Many first-years jumped in surprise as the spirits emerged straight through the walls. However, before they could i with the ghosts, Professonagall returned.

  "First-years, form a line and follow me. Move along," she instructed, leading them through the entrance hall, down a short corridor, and through a set of double doors into a grand, magnifit hall.

  Harry had never seen a pce so breathtakingly magical.

  The vast hall tained four long tables, where the older students were already seated. Judging by the emblems on their robes, they were sitting acc to their houses.

  Instead of resting oables, the dles floated above them, casting a warm, bright light throughout the room.

  The tables were set with gleaming golden ptes and goblets, but no food had been served yet.

  At the far end of the hall, a raised ptform held the staff’s long table. Harry’s eyes immediately locked onto an elderly wizard with a long white beard and hair, seated in the ter. He reized him at once, Albus Dumbledore.

  Behind him, Hermione murmured, "It's just like the book said, the ceiling looks like the sky."

  Harry gnced up and saw the vast, starry night above them. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the person in front of him had stopped.

  He bumped straight into Ron.

  Ron stumbled sideways, colliding with a girl ahead of him.

  "Ah!" She gasped.

  "Oh, sorry," Ron apologized quickly.

  "It’s… it’s fihe girl replied softly, turning her head slightly to look at him.

  Ron seemed about to say something when a voice suddenly began to sing.

  At the front of the hall, pced on a tall fged stool he staff table, sat an old, tattered, and pointed wizard’s hat. Its wide brim had opened like a mouth, and it was singing.

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  Harry didn’t think the song articurly good, but the older students cpped cheerfully, prompting the udents to follow suit. He had no choice but to cp along.

  The hat gave a proud bow to the crowd before falling silent.

  "So… the famous S Ceremony is just wearing this hat?" Ron whispered, his eyes widening in disbelief.

  He sed the older students, searg for his two traitorous brothers.

  "I’m going to kill Fred and Gee. They made it sound like we'd have to fight a troll."

  Harry exhaled in relief. He had been a little anxious, after all, Hermione had put a lot of pressure on them. Orain, they discovered she had memorized almost every spell from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1.

  Harry, oher hand, could only recall a handful of spells he had successfully performed, which made a signifit difference.

  If the S Ceremony had involved reg spells from memory, he would have been in trouble. However, he doubted that was the case. After all, Ron and Neville, both from wizarding families, didn’t seem to know many spells either.

  Well, Ro least one.

  Just before they got off the train, Ron had tried to show them a color-ging rat spell. But the magic hadn’t worked. Truthfully, Harry had his doubts about whether the spell was even real.

  Lost in thought, he barely noticed Professonagall stepping forward with a scroll in her hands.

  "When I call your ep forward, put o, sit oool, and wait for your house to be chosen," she announced.

  Then, she read the first name:

  "Hannah Abbott!"

  A blonde girl walked up, pced the hat on her head, and, after a brief pause, the S Hat called out, "Hufflepuff!"

  Cheers erupted from the table on the right, where the Hufflepuff students sat. Just as Harry had guessed, the students were sorted into houses one by one.

  came another Hufflepuff, followed by a boy sorted into Ravencw.

  Then.

  "Lavender Brown!"

  A round-faced girl with wide eyes stepped forward. It was the same girl Ron had bumped into earlier.

  The S Hat barely hesitated before announg, "Gryffindor!”

  The first new Gryffindor of the night had been chosen.

  Appuse erupted from the long table on the far left. Harry turoward the noise and spotted Fred and Gee Weasley standing on their seats, one of them even twirling his hips in a ridiculous dance.

  Beside them, another red-haired boy, likely the third brother Percy, whom Ron had mentioned earlier, was attempting to pull the dang back down to his seat. But he wasn’t having much success. It seemed like he was about to yank down one of the twins’ trousers, yet the twin iion was holding onto his waistband with one hand while still twisting his waist.

  Rather than being ahe students around them looked thhly eained.

  "Well, this is iing." Harry's eyes sparkled.

  Until now, he hadn’t been sure which house he wao be in. But ohing was clear, he definitely didn’t want to be in Slytherin. He already disliked Malfoy, and Ron had told him that the Malfoy family had been in Slytherin feions. On top of that, Slytherins were known for their obsession with blood purity and their reputation for produg dark wizards.

  "Well, now I know where I want to go. Yes, Ravencw! Those Gryffindors are way too noisy." thought Harry.

  The first of the four to be called was Hermiohe S Hat hesitated slightly lohan it had for the others, but soon enough, it decred her a Gryffindor.

  A little ter, Neville was sorted into Gryffindor as well. His expression at that moment ure shock. Orain, he had been vihat he would either be a Hufflepuff et kicked out of Hogwarts entirely.

  Among the udents, the ones who had caught Harry’s attention the most after stepping off the train were a pair of identical twin sisters, probably of Indian dest.

  For some reason, seeing them felt like a turning point in Harry’s life. Maybe it was a’s influehough only eleven, he was starting to take an i in girls. Just a little.

  The twins were undeniably beautiful, and Harry wasn’t the only one who had noticed. Many of the boys were sneaking g them.

  Surprisingly, they weren’t sorted into the same house. The older sister went to Gryffindor, while the younger one ced in Ravencw.

  "That’s pretty rare," Ron whispered to Harry. He had noticed the twins as well. "It’s not on to see twins at Hogwarts, but from what Bill and the others told me, they usually end up in the same house."

  Harry nodded. Ron’s older brother, Bill, worked at Gringotts i, or at least, that’s what Ron had told him. Harry imagined him as some kind of bank manager.

  Ron had also mentioned a sed brother, Charlie, who was studying dragons in Romania. Harry pictured him as a Viking.

  Adding Percy, the overly serious one, and the mischievous twins, Harry couldn’t help but be amazed at the kind of household Ron had grown up in.

  Harry’s thoughts were interrupted when Professonagall called his name.

  The entire hall fell silent for a moment before whispers broke out across the room.

  "Is that him?"

  "That’s Harry Potter? The real one?"

  "I heard Potter wasn’t a boy."

  "The famous Harry Potter looks like a little girl."

  The st ent came from a curly-haired boy, and Harry turo look at him. The boy was also a first-year, but Harry didn’t remember his name. He was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, scrutinizing Harry with curious eyes.

  I’ll remember you. Harry muttered to himself as he stepped forward.

  When he reached Professonagall, the stern-looking woman gave him a small smile. It was just enough to ease the slight nervousness caused by the murmuring around him.

  Sitting oool, he felt the weight of the S Hat being pced on his head.

  "Eh?"

  A subtle voice spoke, not aloud, but directly into his mind.

  "What an iing child… Smart, ceous, and kied. But you seem rather restless..."

  Harry felt a strange sensation, as if something robing his mind.

  This feels like Legilimency, mind reading!

  Harry knew about it from his studies of a magic. It was a form of mental magic that allowed wizards to peer into someohoughts and memories. He hadn’t mastered it yet, but he knew how to ter it.

  Almost instinctively, Harry structed an image in his mind, something he had learo d meditation.

  The best way to resist mind intrusion was to focus. That was the fual teique for defending against most forms of mental magic. Of course, if the oppo’s mental strength was signifitly greater, no amount of focus would help.

  In that case, you had two options:

  Surrender ahem read you.

  Fight back, though that usually wasn’t possible.

  Or, well stab them with a knife.

  Luckily, the S Hat didn’t seem to possess overwhelmial strength. As soon as Harry trated, the pierg sensation vanished.

  "Oh?" The S Hat sounded intrigued. "That’s an ued talent. But now, where should I pce you? This is a tricky one. Slytherin would be a good fit, or..."

  "Not Slytherin!" Harry interrupted immediately. He had no iion of being in the same house as that arrogant boy.

  Ravencw was his preference.

  Even though Neville and Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor, after seeing the chaos caused by the Weasley twins, Harry wasn’t sure that Gryffindor was the right choice for him.

  However, before he could finish saying "I want to be in Ravencw," the S Hat made its decision.

  "Not Slytherin? Alright then, Gryffindor!”

  The Hall Erupts.

  "We got Harry!"

  Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor table.

  Harry, stunned, had only ohought.

  "Damn it!"

  He had tried to outpace the S Hat, but the hat had won.

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