golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in midair. the four long house tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. it was much warmer in here. harry, ron, elara, and hermione walked past the slytherins, the ravenclaws, and the hufflepuffs, and sat down with the rest of the gryffindors at the far side of the hall, next to nearly headless nick, the gryffindor ghost. pearly white and semitransparent, nick was dressed tonight in his usual doublet, but with a particularly large ruff, which served the dual purpose of looking extra-festive, and insuring that his head didn't wobble too much on his partially severed neck.

"good evening," he said, beaming at them.

"says who?" said harry, taking off his sneakers and emptying them of water. "hope they hurry up with the sorting. i'm starving."

the sorting of the new students into houses took place at the start of every school year. elara had missed the sorting last year, so she was excited to finally see it again. just then, a highly excited, breathless voice called down the table.

"hiya, harry!"

it was colin creevey, a third year to whom harry was something of a hero.

"hi, colin," said harry warily.

elara gave harry a pointed look that said, 'be nice'. she was aware colin could be a little overwhelming, and he looked up to harry greatly.

"harry, guess what? guess what, harry? my brother's starting! my brother dennis!"

"er — good," said harry.

"he's really excited!" said colin, practically bouncing up anddown in his seat. "i just hope he's in gryffindor! keep your fingers crossed, eh, harry?"

"er — yeah, all right," said harry. he turned back to hermione, elara, ron, and nearly headless nick. "brothers and sisters usuallygo in the same houses, don't they?" he said.

"oh no, not necessarily," said hermione. "parvati patil's twin's in ravenclaw, and they're identical. you'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?"

elara looked up at the staff table. there seemed to be rather more empty seats there than usual. hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; professor mcgonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the entrance hall floor, but there was another empty chair too, and elara couldn't think who else was missing.

"where's the new defense against the dark arts teacher?" said hermione, who was also looking up at the teachers.

they had never yet had a defense against the dark arts teacher who had lasted more than three terms. elara's favorite by far had been professor lupin, who had resigned last year. she looked up and down the staff table. there was definitely no new face there.

"maybe they couldn't get anyone!" said hermione, lookinganxious.

elara scanned the table more carefully. tiny little professor flitwick, the charms teacher, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside professor sprout, the herbology teacher, whose hat was askew over her flyaway gray hair. she was talking to professor sinistra of the astronomy department -- elara's favorite teacher. on professor sinistra's other side was the sallow-faced, hook-nosed, greasy-haired potions master, snape — elara's least favorite person at hogwarts. everyone knew harry's loathing of snape was matched only by snape's hatred of him, a hatred which had, if possible, intensified last year, when harry had helped sirius escape right under snape's overlarge nose — snape and sirius had been enemies since their own school days.

on snape's other side was an empty seat, which elara guessed was professor mcgonagall's. next to it, and in the very center of the table, sat professor dumbledore, the headmaster, his sweeping silver hair and beard shining in the candlelight, his magnificent deep green robes embroidered with many stars and moons. the tips of dumbledore's long, thin fingers were together and he was resting his chin upon them, staring up at the ceiling through his half-moon spectacles as though lost in thought. harry glanced up at the ceiling too. it was enchanted to look like the sky outside, and he had never seen it look this stormy. black and purple clouds were swirling across it, and as another thunderclap sounded outside, a fork of lightning flashed across it.

"oh hurry up," ron moaned, beside harry, "i could eat a hippogriff."

the words were no sooner out of his mouth than the doors of the great hall opened and silence fell. professor mcgonagall was leading a long line of first years up to the top of the hall. if harry, ron, elara, and hermione were wet, it was nothing to how these first years looked. they appeared to have swum across the lake rather than sailed. all of them were shivering with a combination of cold and nerves as they filed along the staff table and came to a halt in aline facing the rest of the school — all of them except the smallest of the lot, a boy with mousy hair, who was wrapped in what elara recognized as hagrid's moleskin overcoat. the coat was so big for him that it looked as though he were draped in a furry black circus tent. His small face protruded from over the collar, looking almost painfully excited. when he had lined up with his terrified-looking peers, he caught colin creevey's eye, gave a double thumbs-up, and mouthed, i fell in the lake! he looked positively delighted about it.

professor mcgonagall now placed a three-legged stool on the ground before the first years and, on top of it, an extremely old, dirty, patched wizard's hat. the first years stared at it. so did everyone else. for a moment, there was silence. then a long tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat broke into song:

"a thousand years or more ago,

when i was newly sewn,

there lived four wizards of renown,

whose names are still well known:

bold gryffindor, from wild moor,

fair ravenclaw, from glen,

sweet hufflepuff, from valley broad

shrewd slytherin, from fen.

they shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

they hatched a daring plan

to educate young sorcerers

thus hogwarts school began.

now each of these four founders

formed their own house, for each

did value different virtues

in the ones they had to teach.

by gryffindor, the bravest were

prized far beyond the rest;

for ravenclaw, the cleverest

would always be the best;

for hufflepuff, hard workers were

most worthy of admission;

and power-hungry slytherin

loved those of great ambition.

while still alive they did divide

their favorites from the throng,

yet how to pick the worthy ones

when they were dead and gone?

'twas gryffindor who found the way,

he whipped me off his head

the founders put some brains in me

so i could choose instead!

now slip me snug about your ears,

i've never yet been wrong,

i'll have a look inside your mind

and tell where you belong!"

the great hall rang with applause as the sorting hat finished.

"that's not the song it sang when it sorted us," said harry, clapping along with everyone else.

"it sings a different song each year," said elara.

"it's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat? i suppose it spends all year making up the next one," said ron.

professor mcgonagall was now unrolling a large scroll of parchment.

"when i call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she told the first years. "when the hat announces your house, you will go and sit at the appropriate table.

"ackerley, stewart!"

a boy walked forward, visibly trembling from head to foot, picked up the sorting hat, put it on, and sat down on the stool.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.

stewart ackerley took off the hat and hurried into a seat at the ravenclaw table, where everyone was applauding him. elara caught sight of a fourth year ravenclaw, lucy lancaster, and they smiled at each other.

"baddock, malcolm!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

the table on the other side of the hall erupted with cheers; elara could see draco clapping as baddock joined the slytherins. elara wondered whether baddock knew that slytherin House had turned out more dark witches and wizards than any other. fred and george hissed malcolm baddock as he sat down.

"branstone, eleanor!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"cauldwell, owen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"creevey, dennis!"

tiny dennis creevey staggered forward, tripping over hagrid's moleskin, just as hagrid himself sidled into the hall through a door behind the teachers' table. about twice as tall as a normal man, and at least three times as broad, hagrid, with his long, wild, tangled black hair and beard, looked slightly alarming — a misleading impression, for harry, ron, elara, and hermione knew hagrid to possess a very kind nature. he winked at them as he sat down at the end of the staff table and watched dennis creevey putting on the sorting hat. the rip at the brim opened wide —

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

hagrid clapped along with the gryffindors as dennis creevey, beaming widely, took off the hat, placed it back on the stool, and hurried over to join his brother.

"colin, i fell in!" he said shrilly, throwing himself into an empty seat. "it was brilliant! and something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"

"cool!" said colin, just as excitedly. "it was probably the giant squid, dennis!"

"wow!" said dennis, as though nobody in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake, and pushed out of it again by a giant sea monster.

"dennis! dennis! see that boy down there? the one with the black hair and glasses? the one next to the pretty girl? see him? know who he is, dennis?"

elara stifled a laugh and turned her attention to the sorting hat, who was currently sorting an adorable girl in pigtails named emma dobbs.

the sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving one by one to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as professor mcgonagall passed the l's.

"oh hurry up," ron moaned, massaging his stomach.

"now, ron, the sorting's much more important than food," said nearly headless nick as "madley, laura!" became a hufflepuff.

" 'course it is, if you're dead," snapped ron.

ron was the personification of the word 'hangry'.

"i do hope this year's batch of gryffindors are up to scratch," said nearly headless nick, applauding as "mcdonald, natalie!" joined the gryffindor table. "we don't want to break our winning streak, do we?"

gryffindor had won the inter-house championship for the last three years in a row. corrine sharpe, the former hufflepuff quidditch captain, was really salty about it. especially whenever oliver wood brought it up.

"pritchard, graham!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"quirke, orla!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

and finally, with "whitby, kevin!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!"), the sorting ended. professor mcgonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away.

"about time," said ron, seizing his knife and fork and looking expectantly at his golden plate.

professor dumbledore had gotten to his feet. he was smiling around at the students, his arms opened wide in welcome.

"i have only two words to say to you," he told them, his deep voice echoing around the hall. "tuck in."

"hear, hear!" said harry and ron loudly as the empty dishes filled magically before their eyes. elara rolled her eyes.

nearly headless nick watched mournfully as harry, ron, elara, and hermione loaded their own plates.

"aaah, 'at's be'er," said ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato.

"you're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know," said nearly headless nick. "there was trouble in the kitchens earlier."

"why? wha' 'appened?" said harry, through a sizable chunk of steak.

hermione and elara shared a look. boys.

"peeves, of course," said nearly headless nick, shaking his head, which wobbled dangerously. he pulled his ruff a little higher up on his neck. "the usual argument, you know. he wanted to attend the feast — well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. we held a ghost's council — the fat friar was all for giving him the chance — but most wisely, in my opinion, the bloody baron put his foot down."

the bloody baron was the slytherin ghost, a gaunt and silent specter covered in silver bloodstains. he was the only person at hogwarts who could really control peeves.

"yeah, we thought peeves seemed hacked off about something," said ron darkly. "so what did he do in the kitchens?"

"oh the usual," said nearly headless nick, shrugging. "wreaked havoc and mayhem. pots and pans everywhere. place swimming in soup. terrified the house-elves out of their wits —"

clang.

hermione had knocked over her golden goblet. pumpkin juice spread steadily over the tablecloth, staining several feet of white linen orange, but hermione paid no attention.

"there are house-elves here?" she said, staring, horror-struck, at nearly headless nick. "here at hogwarts?"

"certainly," said nearly headless nick, looking surprised at her reaction. "the largest number in any dwelling in britain, i believe. over a hundred."

"i've never seen one!" said hermione.

"well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they?" said nearly headless nick. "they come out at night to do a bit of cleaning . . . see to the fires and so on. . . . i mean, you're not sup- posed to see them, are you? that's the mark of a good house-elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?"

hermione stared at him.

"but they get paid?" she said. "they get holidays, don't they? and — and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?"

nearly headless nick chortled so much that his ruff slipped and his head flopped off, dangling on the inch or so of ghostly skin and muscle that still attached it to his neck.

"sick leave and pensions?" he said, pushing his head back onto his shoulders and securing it once more with his ruff. "house-elves don't want sick leave and pensions!"

hermione looked down at her hardly touched plate of food, then put her knife and fork down upon it and pushed it away from her.

"hermione, the elves here are happy. i've been to the kitchen numerous times, and they're treated very well," elara tried reasoning with hermione, but to no avail.

"slave labor," said hermione, breathing hard through her nose. "that's what made this dinner. slave labor."

but ron and harry were staring at elara.

"'oo 'ave been to the kitchens?" ron asked, mouth wide open. "oops, sorry 'arry." ron had accidentally sprayed harry with bits of yorkshire pudding.

"yeah, it's by the hufflepuff basement. corrine told me where it was."

"can you tell us how to get in?" asked harry eagerly.

"nope," said elara, smiling coyly.

the rain was still drumming heavily against the high, dark glass. another clap of thunder shook the windows, and the stormy ceiling flashed, illuminating the golden plates as the remains of the first course vanished and were replaced, instantly, with puddings.

"treacle tart, hermione!" said ron, deliberately wafting its smell toward her. "spotted dick, look! chocolate gateau!"

but hermione gave him a look so reminiscent of professor mcgonagall that he gave up.

when the puddings too had been demolished, and the last crumbs had faded off the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, albus dumbledore got to his feet again. the buzz of chatter filling the hall ceased almost at once, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.

"so!" said dumbledore, smiling around at them all. "now that we are all fed and watered," ("hmph!" said hermione) "i must once more ask for your attention, while i give out a few notices.

"mr. filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include screaming yo-yos, fanged frisbees, and ever-bashing boomerangs. the full list comprises some four hundred and thirty- seven items, i believe, and can be viewed in mr. filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."

the corners of dumbledore's mouth twitched. he continued, "as ever, i would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of hogsmeade to all below third year.

"it is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house quidditch cup will not take place this year."

so many people looked absolutely scandalized. harry gasped, and aurora, fred, and george began protesting heavily. if elara was a gambler, she'd put good money on that if corrine and oliver were still students at hogwarts, they'd probably pass out.

dumbledore went on, "this is due to an event that will be starting in october, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but i am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. i have great pleasure in announcing that this year at hogwarts —"

but at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the great hall banged open.