gonna happen to them, Daddy?' Harry whispered.
Father gave him a sharp look, and then squeezed his hands with his one strong one. 'Don't worry, Harry,' he said just as softly. 'Nothing will hurt them at all. It's just a little test.'
Harry swallowed and nodded. He trusted his father. Had to. Father had rescued him bunches of times, from Mr. Filch, from the squid and from the Dursleys, and he was the only person in the world who had promised over and over to keep Harry safe.
Right after the line of new students halted in front of the head table, to Harry's amazement, a slit opened in the side of the Hat and it started to sing! Harry didn't understand all the words of its song, but he heard the names of the Houses, like Father had taught him: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Father was in charge of Slytherin, and he said snakes were the best of the lot. Harry, who very much liked snakes, especially the ones he had talked with, had to agree.
When the Hat was done singing, there was a lot of clapping from the tables of students, and even from the head table. Then Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a scroll in her hands, which she unrolled. She looked over the line of new students and nodded. 'When I read your name, you will come up here, put on the Hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Sarah.'
A girl with long blond hair done in one wide pigtail down her back jerked forward as if pulled by an invisible string and stood next to the stool. The Professor lifted the Hat briefly, so the girl could sit down, and when she had, the Hat went on her head. The girl sat rigidly on the stool, her hands clasped together in front of her, for a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity to Harry.
Suddenly, the Hat yelled out, 'HUFFLEPUFF!' and there was cheering from one of the tables, and some good natured clapping from some of the other students. Sarah Abbott jumped off the stool, with a big grin on her face, and hurried over to the table that was cheering for her.
'See, Harry,' Father said. 'They're just being sorted into their Houses. No one's being hurt.'
Harry grinned back at him, almost wishing
The rest of the students were sorted, but the only ones Harry paid attention to were the ones who ended up in Slytherin -- like Marcus Flint, Terrence Higgs, and Persephone Urquhart -- as well as Percival Weasley, Charlie's little brother, who ended up in Gryffindor. Percy -- as Charlie called him -- didn't smile like his brother, all teeth and dimples, but rather forcefully, Harry thought, almost as though smiling hurt his face.
The Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, got up and stood at a podium in front of the head table, as Professor McGonagall put the Hat and stool away. He had the widest smile of anyone in the room as he held open his arms. 'Welcome back, to our returning students, and a hearty welcome to our first years! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words, and here they are: Shoe! Megaphone! Grindylow! Tweak!
'Thank you!' He sat down and everyone clapped and cheered.
Harry looked up at his father, who had sighed and shaken his head. 'Father?'
'Don't worry, Harry,' Father said. 'I'm sure his madness is not catching.'
Harry smiled a little, sure his father was joking, and then he jumped half out of his chair when the table was suddenly awash with bowls and platters, piled high with food. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, Yorkshire pudding, sausages, bacon and steak, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, fries and peas, carrots, gravy and . . . Harry stared at it all. He had never seen so much food in one place before. He could almost taste it already, the crisp edges of the potatoes, the salt of the gravy and the sweet green peas . . .
'What would you like?' Father asked, breaking Harry out of his almost-trance. Harry looked at him again and shook his head, not knowing what to say. Father gave him a small smile and put a little
