Harry Potter 01 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
    Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, ‘It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History. ’
    It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open on to the heavens.
    Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard’s hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn’t have let it in the house.
    Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing – noticing that everyone in the Hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:
     
    ‘Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,
    But don’t judge on what you see,
    I’ll eat myself if you can find
    A smarter hat than me.
    You can keep your bowlers black,
    Your top hats sleek and tall,
    For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
    And I can cap them all.
    There’s nothing hidden in your head
    The Sorting Hat can’t see,
    So try me on and I will tell you
    Where you ought to be.
    You might belong in Gryffindor,
    Where dwell the brave at heart,
    Their daring, nerve and chivalry
    Set Gryffindors apart;
    You might belong in Hufflepuff,
    Where they are just and loyal,
    Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
    And unafraid of toil;
    Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
    If you’ve a ready mind,
    Where those of wit and learning,
    Will always find their kind;
    Or perhaps in Slytherin
    You’ll make your real friends,
    Those cunning folk use any means
    To achieve their ends.
    So put me on! Don’t be afraid!
    And don’t get in a flap!
    You’re in safe hands (though I have none)
    For I’m a Thinking Cap!’
     
    The whole Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
    ‘So we’ve just got to try on the hat!’ Ron whispered to Harry. ‘I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.’
    Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn’t feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.
    Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
    ‘When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,’ she said. ‘Abbott, Hannah!’
    A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment’s pause –
    ‘HUFFLEPUFF!’ shouted the hat.
    The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
    ‘Bones, Susan!’
    ‘HUFFLEPUFF!’ shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
    ‘Boot, Terry!’
    ‘RAVENCLAW!’
    The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
    ‘Brocklehurst, Mandy’ went to Ravenclaw too, but ‘Brown, Lavender’ became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see