THE SORTING HAT
lot; Harry didn’t feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the mo-
ment. 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 Raven-
claws 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 Ron’s twin brothers cat-
calling.
“Bulstrode, Millicent” then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was
Harry’s imagination, after all he’d heard about Slytherin, but he
thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.
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