when they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, elara saw harry lean forward to try and see whether there were any lights on in hagrid's cabin by the forbidden forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness. hogwarts castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet-black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them. the carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and harry got out of the carriage first.

this time, elara turned to look for lit windows down by the forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within hagrid's cabin. disappointed, she focused on the, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming. elara could easily read harry. he was, after all, an open book. harry looked startled by the events that had just transpired. the group clambored out of the carriage but harry remained, unmoving.

"are you coming or what?" said ron beside him.

"oh . . . yeah," said harry quickly, and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.

the entrance hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the great hall and the start-of-term feast. the four long house tables in the great hall were filling up under the starless black ceiling, which was just like the sky they could glimpse through the high windows. candles floated in midair all along the tables, illuminating the silvery ghosts who were dotted about the hall and the faces of the students talking eagerly to one another, exchanging summer news, shouting greetings at friends from other houses, eyeing one another's new haircuts and robes. again elara noticed people putting their heads together to whisper as they passed; it was not out of the ordinary for elara, but from the from on harry's face, he was still not used to and did not like the whispers.

the moment they reached gryffindor's, ginny was hailed by some fellow fourth years and left to sit with them; elara, harry, ron, hermione, and neville found seats together about halfway down the table between nearly headless nick, the gryffindor house ghost, and parvati patil and lavender brown, the last two of whom gave harry airy, overly friendly greetings that made elara wonder if they had stopped talking about harry a split second before.

"he's not there." harry stated worriedly as elara eyed the table.

ron and hermione scanned the staff table too, though there was no real need; hagrid's size made him instantly obvious in any lineup.

"he can't have left," said ron, sounding slightly anxious.

"of course he hasn't," said harry firmly.

"you don't think he's . . . hurt, or anything, do you?" elara asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"no," said harry at once.

"but where is he, then?" said ron.

there was a pause, then harry said very quietly, so that neville, parvati, and lavender could not hear, "maybe he's not back yet. you know — from his mission — the thing he was doing over the summer for dumbledore."

"lara, wouldn't you know what he's doing? because you're in the order?" hermoine questioned quietly.

"er -- i'm not exactly allowed to say anything..." elara did know exactly what he was doing, but dumbledore had made a strict order not to disclose the information to anyone else.

"nevermind that, hagrid's safe, i'm sure," said ron, sounding reassured, but hermione bit her lip, looking up and down the staff table as though hoping for some conclusive explanation of hagrid's absence.

"who's that?" she said sharply, pointing toward the middle of the staff table.

elara's eyes followed hers. they lit first upon professor dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. he gave the girl a small nod as his head was inclined toward the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear. she looked like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and she saw a pallid, toad like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes. elara narrowed her eyes. this was the big change that she had been expecting. a ministry woman at hogwarts. lupin had told elara that umbridge was the leading figure in banning werewolves from getting jobs.

"it's that umbridge woman!" said harry.

"who?" said hermione.

"she was at my hearing, she works for fudge!"

"nice cardigan," said ron, smirking.

"she looks like a toad," elara said absentmindedly. this warranted a snort from ron.

"she works for fudge?" hermione repeated, frowning. "what on earth's she doing here, then?"

elara could visibly see the gears in hermione's head churning. this was something hermoine did often. if something didn't make sense to her, she'd shut down while she tried to figure it out. elara often wondered why she wasn't placed in ravenclaw.

"dunno . . ."

hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed. "no," she muttered, "no, surely not . . ."

elara did understand what she was talking about but did not ask the girl what she thought; her attention had just been caught by professor grubbly-plank who had just appeared behind the staff table; she worked her way along to the very end and took the seat that ought to have been hagrid's. that meant that the first years must have crossed the lake and reached the castle, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doors from the entrance hall opened. a long line of scared-looking first years entered, led by professor mcgonagall, who was carrying a stool on which sat an ancient wizard's hat, heavily patched and darned with a wide rip near the frayed brim. the buzz of talk in the great hall faded away.

the first years lined up in front of the staff table facing the rest of the students, and professor mcgonagall placed the stool carefully in front of them, then stood back. the first years' faces glowed palely in the candlelight. a small boy right in the middle of the row looked as though he was trembling. elara remembered how confident she had felt as she stood there, totally sure she was going to be placed into slytherin. that feeling sure didn't last long. the whole school waited with bated breath. then the rip near the hat's brim opened wide like a mouth and the sorting hat burst into song:

in times of old when i was new

and hogwarts barely started the

founders of our noble school

thought never to be parted: united by a common goal,

they had the self same yearning,to make the world's best magic schooland pass along their learning."together we will build and teach!"the four good friends decidedand never did they dream that theymight someday be divided,for were there such friends anywhereas slytherin and gryffindor?unless it was the second pairof hufflepuff and ravenclaw? so how could it have gone so wrong?how could such friendships fail?

why, i was there and so can tell

the whole sad, sorry tale. said slytherin, "

we'll teach just those whose ancestry is purest."

said ravenclaw, "we'll teach those whose

intelligence is surest."

said gryffindor, "we'll teach all those

with brave deeds to their name,"said hufflepuff,

"i'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

these differences caused little strife

when first they came to light,

for each of the four founders had

a house in which they might

take only those they wanted,

so, for instance, slytherin

took only pure-blood wizards

of great cunning, just like him,

and only those of sharpest mind

were taught by ravenclaw

while the bravest and the boldest

went to daring gryffindor.

good hufflepuff she took the rest,

and taught them all she knew,

thus the houses and their founders

retained friendships firm and true.

so hogwarts worked in harmony

for several happy years,

but then discord crept among us

feeding on our faults and fears.

the houses that, like pillars four,

had once held up our school,

now turned upon each other and,

divided, sought to rule.

and for a while it seemed the school

must meet an early end,

what with dueling and with fighting

and the clash of friend on friend

and at last there came a morning

when old slytherin departed

and though the fighting then died out

he left us quite downhearted.

and never since the founders four

were whittled down to three

have the houses been united

as they once were meant to be.

and now the sorting hat is here

and you all know the score:

i sort you into houses

because that is what i'm for,

but this year i'll go further,

listen closely to my song:

though condemned i am to split you

still i worry that it's wrong,

though i must fulfill my duty

and must quarter every year

still i wonder whether sorting

may not bring the end i fear.

oh, know the perils, read the signs,

the warning history shows,

for our hogwarts is in danger

from external, deadly foes and

we must unite inside here or

we'll crumble from within.

i have told you, i have warned you

. . .let the sorting now begin.

the hat became motionless once more; applause broke out, though it was punctured, for the first time in elara's memory, with muttering and whispers. all across the great hall students were exchanging remarks with their neighbors and elara, clapping along with everyone else, knew exactly what they were talking about.

"branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" said ron, his eyebrows raised.

"too right it has," said harry.

the sorting hat usually confined itself to describing the different qualities looked for by each of the four hogwarts houses and its own role in sorting them; elara did not remember it ever trying to give the school advice before.

"i wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said hermione, sounding slightly anxious.

"yes, indeed," said nearly headless nick knowledgeably, leaning across neville toward her. "the hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels —"

but professor mcgonagall, who was waiting to read out the list of first years' names, was giving the whispering students the sort of look that scorches. nearly headless nick placed a see-through finger to his lips and sat primly upright again as the muttering came to an abrupt end. with a last frowning look that swept the four house tables, professor mcgonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out, "abercrombie, euan."

the terrified-looking boy elara had noticed earlier stumbled forward and put the hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. the hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

elara clapped loudly with the rest of gryffindor house as euan abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much to sink through the floor and never be looked at again. elara remembered that that was the same way she felt after she had just been sorted. slowly the long line of first years thinned; in the pauses between the names and the sorting hat's decisions, elara could hear ron's stomach rumbling loudly. hermoine shushed him. finally, "zeller, rose" was sorted into hufflepuff, and professor mcgonagall picked up the hat and stool and marched them away as professor dumbledore rose to his feet.

"to our newcomers," said dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! to our old hands — welcome back! there is a time for speech making, but this is not it. tuck in!"

there was an appreciative laugh and an outbreak of applause as dumbledore sat down neatly and threw his long beard over his shoulder so as to keep it out of the way of his plate — for food had appeared out of nowhere, so that the five long tables were groaning under joints and pies and dishes of vegetables, bread, sauces, and flagons of pumpkin juice.

"excellent," said ron, with a kind of groan of longing, and he seized the nearest plate of chops and began piling them onto his plate, watched wistfully by nearly headless nick. elara laughed at ron and piled her own plate with food.

"what were you saying before the sorting?" hermione asked the ghost. "about the hat giving warnings?"

"oh yes," said nick, who seemed glad of a reason to turn away from ron, who was now eating roast potatoes with almost indecent enthusiasm. "yes, i have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. and always, of course, its advice is the same: stand together, be strong from within."

"ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" said ron.

elara laughed, bits of roll coming out of her mouth.

"i beg your pardon?" said nearly headless nick politely, while hermione looked revolted.

ron gave an enormous swallow and said, "how can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?"

"i have no idea," said nearly headless nick. "of course, it lives in dumbledore's office, so i daresay it picks things up there."

"and it wants all the houses to be friends?" said harry, looking over at the slytherin table, where draco malfoy was holding court.

"friends with parkinson? i'd rather step off the astronomy tower," elara chimed in, making harry next to her choke lightly on his pumpkin juice.

"well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," said nick reprovingly. "peaceful cooperation, that's the key. we ghosts, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. in spite of the competitiveness between gryffindor and slytherin, i would never dream of seeking an argument with the bloody baron."

"only because you're terrified of him," said ron.

hermoine looked horrified. nearly headless nick looked highly affronted.

"terrified? i hope i, sir nicholas de mimsy-porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! the noble blood that runs in my veins —"

"what blood?" asked ron. "surely you haven't still got — ?"

"it's a figure of speech!" said nearly headless nick, now so annoyed his head was trembling ominously on his partially severed neck. "i assume i am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words i like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me! but i am quite used to students poking fun at my death, i assure you!"

"nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!" said hermione, throwing a furious look at ron.

unfortunately, ron's mouth was packed to exploding point again and all he could manage was "node iddum eentup sechew," which nick did not seem to think constituted an adequate apology. rising into the air, he straightened his feathered hat and swept away from them to the other end of the table, coming to rest between the creevey brothers, colin and dennis.

"well done, ron," snapped hermione.

"what?" said ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his food. "i'm not allowed to ask a simple question?"

"oh forget it," said hermione irritably, and the pair of them spent the rest of the meal in huffy silence.

when all the students had finished eating and the noise level in the hall was starting to creep upward again, dumbledore got to his feet once more. talking ceased immediately as all turned to face the headmaster.