Chapter:21 Sorting Ceremony

The boats drifted along the current, bringing them closer to the castle until they were finally met by a reef barrier. 

Hagrid muttered something under his breath and skillfully guided the boat to the pier below the castle, the boats following behind them did the same maneuver on their own.

They passed through the reefs and reached the wooden pier where they disembarked one by one,

"Careful now, these steps are slippery in the rain."

He warned the students and sure enough, a girl somehow managed to slide down her boat, dragging her two companions with her. 

There was a bit of laughter at this incident but it was soon lost under the gasps of surprise as the three girls were pushed onto the wooden steps by a long, thick, slimy tentacle that ought to belong to the giant squid that lived in the great lake.

'Or a Kraken more like it.'

Yes, Kraken was indeed a species similar to octopus and squids but they were at least a thousand times the size of a normal octopus or squid, and also an intelligent life form. Usually residing in the depths of the sea, it was said to be quite rare incident to sight one.

And yet somehow the wizards managed to get their eggs and poach them on the black market. Truly, greed does wonders to human or rather wizard advancement. 

"Don't fret it, the squid's harmless."

Boomed Hagrid over a group of first-years who were screaming at the sight of the giant tentacle.

After making sure that all the students were out of the water and that nobody had drowned this year, Hagrid led them through a road cut across the stony outcrop leading to the castle. 

They continued for a minute or two before the path turned into a stairway leading to a giant oak door facing the great lake that lay behind the castle. 

Walking up another flight of stairs, Hagrid knocked on the door twice. His giant fist hammered against the door and the sound echoed through the darkness.

The giant doors swung open, revealing a stern-faced witch who wore an emerald green robe with her hair pulled back in a tight bun, she sported square-shaped glasses perched on her nose with a pair of sharp, intelligent eyes observing the students from behind them.

"Firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

The witch surveyed the drenched first-year students with a no-nonsense demeanor before nodding at the giant gamekeeper,

"I will take them from here Hagrid. First years, follow me."

The students hurried after her, grateful to be finally out of the rain. Victoire stayed behind until all the students had entered through the doors, only then did she hurried along to follow after them.

They followed her through the door and into a giant hall lit by the dancing flames of candles and burning torches. Rows after rows of stone sentinels were carved upon the hall wall, armed with a plethora of weapons ranging from the more conventional great swords to halberds and morning stars. 

Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a large iron door and turned around to face the students. 

"Welcome to Hogwarts,"

She began to address the students,

"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses."

There was quite a bit of exchange and general chatter among the first year at this declaration,

"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Silence. 

The students fell silent at this declaration and Victoire saw Alicia's hold on Angelina's hand tighten up. Even the twins were somewhat surprised at this, though they tried to hide their concerns by beaming at each other and failed spectacularly as each of them saw the same doubt in the other's eye.

Not like the other students were any better, the group of five girls huddled up even closer and several of the boys looked at each other and muttered under their breath,

Unconcerned, the professor kept on speaking,

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

Her eyes narrowed at the last sentence and she once again surveyed the students with a sharp, stern look. But she soon whirled around and started to fiddle with a piece of parchment in her hand,

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

She added in an almost amused tone while looking away from the completely drenched students before walking off towards one of the side gates.

The was a general uproar at the statement and the first years began to turn to their partner for help to check if they were presentable or not. Naturally, the answer was no since they looked more like drenched puppies rather than students. They started to file away in groups to their nearest torches in hopes of drying their clothes before they ended up embarrassing themselves in front of the whole school. 

Victoire smirked and blended in with the rest of the students as Angelina, Fred, George, and Alicia searched around for her.

"Exaresco!"

The dampness on her clothes and hair vanished and plumes of white mist wafted off of her. The water evaporated leaving her clothes and hair dry, slightly disheveled, but much more presentable than the rest of the students.

Finally, upon being unable to spot her, the group of four gave up their search and huddled around an unoccupied torch.

Having had her laugh, Victoire approached them, poked Angelina's back with her wand, and whispered the incantation once again. 

At once the girl started to cough and splutter from the sudden breach of mist into her nose and mouth. The rest of the group whirled around to see Victoire standing behind them,

"Need any 'elp?"

The pleading look in their eyes was enough of an answer.

About ten minutes later, Professor McGonagall returned but with a much larger, and more formal, scroll instead of the parchment she had. 

"Follow me, the sorting ceremony is about to begin."

And with that, she threw open the giant gate and led them through it in a straight line. 

The Great Hall was, as its name suggests, extremely large with four long tables taking up most of the space except for a raised platform where another long table rested horizontally. Its ceiling reached into the sky and was bewitched to look like it as well. Waves of thunder cloud rolled over the sky and a fake rain fell that disappeared before it could even reach down to the house banners. 

Four of the tables resting under the house banners were occupied by a large number of senior students and the podium table was occupied by the teachers. Well it's not a large number, there were almost three of maybe three-fifty students in total. She or rather 'SHE' had seen ten times as many students at Beauxbaton. 

In front of the teacher's table, and with direct view of the other four, stood an old stool with a patched, old hat perched on top of it. As the first-year student made their way towards it, the hat began its customary song.

Well, what can she say, while the lyrics weren't so bad, the tune was downright wretched, and the hat kept on singing its song for several minutes before bowing at the general applause from the audience. 

Professor McGonagall stepped forward and turned to address the first years, unfurling the scroll, she began calling out the name of the student to be sorted,

"Amelia Cooper!"

A girl with average height, chestnut brown hairs, and light freckles distributed on her cheeks stepped forward. 

The professor picked up the hat, motioned for her to sit, and placed the hat on her head,

"Hufflepuff!

General applause resounded on the right-hand side table, second from the right-hand side, and the girl's uniform that sported the Hogwarts crest suddenly morphed and a badger appeared on the shield. Her uniform also changed colors and the laces turned golden yellow.

"Arthur Blackwood!"

A blond boy walked up to the stool and had the hat placed on his head, just like the girl before him had. This time the hat waited for a while before declaring,

"Slytherin!"

Another round of applause from the table on the far left and his uniform turned emerald green with the shield now supporting a green viper.

The names continued and Victoire noticed that it wasn't the first alphabet of the letter that decided the order but the age of the child that did so. Alicia, despite having an 'A' as her name's alphabet had to wait for the turn of another girl named Rachel Price.

"Fred Weasley!"

Fred perked up at his name being called, he turned and smirked at his twin George who was looking scandalized, and walked over to the stool,

"Another Weasley, eh?... Hmm, Gryffindor!"

And a wild roar erupted from the table at the far right, Students hooted and whistled as a prefect, likely Charlie the elder brother, greeted his sibling with open arms. 

"George Weasley!"

George, with his crestfallen expression, slowly approached the stool and waited for the hat to sort him into a house,

"Wait, didn't I just... Oh, there are two of you this year!"

The hat made a funny expression of being part surprised, part exasperated, and part amused.

"Gryffindor!"

Another wild applause later, the next student was called onto the podium. 

Soon, even Angelina was sorted into Gryffindor, leaving Victoire and seven other students standing in line. 

"Victoria... no, that's not right... Victoir... Victoire LeFevre!"

The professor stumbled while pronouncing her name and it was only after three or four more attempts did she get it right.

Now under the spotlight, Victoire felt strange, not in a bad way but simply strange. She quickly walked over to the stool and sat down. Professor McGonagall, now with an apologetic look on her face, placed the hat on top of her head.

'Let's see what we have here.'

The hat's voice sounded in her head and as an instinctual response, she activated occlumency, trying to empty her mind. 

'Nice reflexes! But I am afraid you are a bit misinformed. I am not trying to read your mind, at this moment I am 'IN' your mind, so any attempts at occlumency only give me better access to your memory.'

'Point taken.'

She nodded in her head, not 'nodded her head' but somehow nodded her head in her head. 

'Well let's see... hmm... talented, oh yes superb talent... Smart? Well, you are better than most... Loyal? Hmm, what's this? You haven't got a shred of loyalty in you!... Neither of ambition! Where the hell am I supposed to put you, you haven't got the loyalty for Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, nor the ambition for Slytherin or Ravenclaw!'

The hat shouted in her head.

Not much of a surprise there, she never was loyal to anyone nor did she have any ambitions—an unfortunate by-product of her last life.

*Sigh* 

'Where do you want to go?'

'Just like that?'

'Yes, just like that.'

The hat sighed and asked her for her choice. Quite the ridiculous development but she welcomed it nonetheless.

'Have you got records of all the students you sorted out?'

She asked in a hopeful tone,

'Yes, why do you ask?'

'Sort me in the house with the most beautiful women in it!'

The hat was silent for a while before it started to rattle her brain for information. A moment later, its voice sounded again,

'You need a rehab.'

'What?'

This was yet another strange development. 

'You know what? You are just like that bloody bastard. I don't even care anymore...'

"Gryffindor"

The hat said in a rather slumped and tired voice,

'What the hell did he see in my head?'

But that was a story for another time, right now, her sorting was greeted by another wild cheering with Angelina and Alicia beaming at her, motioning her to join them at the table.

Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head and ushered her to join the table. As she walked down the podium, her uniform's color changed from the black of the new uniforms to the maroon of her newly sorted house.

Upon reaching the table, she received a warm welcome from Angelina and Alicia hugging her, Alicia was a bit shy at first but soon became too excited to care about such things. Fred and George once again shook her hand and tried to confuse her with their names only to be stunned when she identified them correctly, they asked for the trick and got a perfunctory answer. It was not feasible for her to say that their names were floating above their head in a blue box. 

Charlie, Gryffindor's sixth-year prefect and the Quidditch captain, plus the elder brother of Fred and George, introduced himself to her,

"Congratulations on being sorted into Gryffindor, the finest house at Hogwarts. I'm Charlie, Charlie Weasley."

She shook his hand,

"It eez my pleasure. I am Victoire, Victoire LeFevre."

She received quite a few strange looks for her accent but she ignored them and focused on the sorting ceremony. Of the seven remaining students, three were sorted into Slytherin, two to Ravenclaw, and one each to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Once the sorting had ended, the students turned their attention back to their friends, some talked about what they did during the holiday, and some, mostly fifth and seventh-year students, discussed the OWLs and NEWTs waiting for them at the end of the year. In short, none of the words that Professor McGonagall spoke after the ceremony were heard by anyone.

This went on for a while until Dumbledore started to clink his wine glass with a silver spoon, this barely audible noise was somehow more noticeable than McGonagall speaking at the top of her voice.

The student gradually settled down and prepared to listen to what the Headmaster had to say,

"Welcome."

His voice reached the very end of the hall and Filch, the caretaker, looked up from his cat.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you!"

He finished his short 'speech'.

And with one more wave of his hand, he added,

"Now, let the feast BEGIN!"

The empty platters and glass shimmered and a wide variety of food suddenly appeared in front of the students. While the first year marveled at this 'grand' feat of magic, the senior students broke down upon the food.

There was a wide variety of food laden on the table, roasted beef, chicken pork, lamb, sausage, bacon, steak, and different dishes incorporating potatoes and other vegetables. For beverages one had to say what they desired and the glass in front of them would fill up with it. Victoire gave this feature a try,

"I'll 'ave a Whiskey Ginger, straight up."

Nothing.

The glass remained empty without any signs of the drink she had just ordered. She turned towards the female fifth-year prefect and said,

"I theenk zis one eez faulty."

"What?"

The prefect frowned and turned to see her empty glass. A single glance later, she tapped the glass with her wand,

"Plain Water"

And sure enough, the glass was at once filled with crystal clear water.

"Doesn't look faulty to me. You do know that we can't ask for liquor right?"

"Oh"

The thought never occurred to her, or it might have been lost since at Beauxbaton every eleven-year-old was allowed to drink whatever they desired as long as they didn't break the decorum. 

Pity.

The prefect gave Victoire one last strange look before returning to her plate of mashed potatoes topped with... ketchup. Revolted, she turned back to her plate of steak, her fifth plate of steak that is.

The dinner lasted for over an hour and the students moved on to dessert. Thankfully, Victoire found out that the cook, or rather the house-elf, would cook up whatever the student asked for. So, naturally, she asked for something she missed quite a lot,

"Crème caramel"

And sure enough, a dessert of sweetened egg custard with a caramel topping appeared in front of her. Slightly hesitant at first, she took a small bite out of it before promptly devouring the entire tray consisting of five 'more' cups. And she didn't forget to have a cup of coffee along with it. 

Unknown to Victoire, she was being critically assessed by half the girls in the Great Hall who noticed the amount of food she had just consumed. A majority of them gloated at her 'wasting' her looks by putting up weight, as such eating would result in, and ignored her, some envied her carefreeness with her look, and a few thought it to be their duty to remind her that she is ruining her beauty.

However, there were also a small number of girls who thought she looked cute while eating. Only one knew that she was much more dangerous than she let on and that girl was currently staring at her intently.

The boys mostly ignored her, quite a few of the first-year boys stole glances at her only to look away again after seeing her take a large bite out of a steak. 

Soon everyone was fed and watered, according to Dumbledore, and he thought it was time to give one last speech before letting them return to their dormitories. 

"Now-now, Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you."

He said as the students groaned when he stood up,

"Let's give a big round of applause to Professor Elowen Thistlewood who has generously offered to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts this year."

He turned to look at the middle-aged witch sitting right next to him who stood up and dipped her head as the students applauded. 

Victoire noticed that she was wearing an eye patch that covered her left eye while her right eye was of a striking lavender color. She was also somehow just a bit shorter than Dumbledore and had short, white hair, not the aged kind, but the ones present from birth.

As the applause subsided, Dumbledore once again began with his notices,

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

He swept the Great Hall with his shining eyes, and somehow his smile seemed to turn into one of mischief,

"Now, before you all go off to bed, let us have one last merrymaking for the night."

And his fellow professors groaned under their breath while quite a lot of seniors complained about it openly.

"Let us begin,

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts..."

A groan finally managed to escape Victoire's lips,

"Oh dear!"