Ron-Weasly book 1

"Hermione Granger!"

Apparently, Hermione, unlike me, was looking forward to her turn and had no doubt of success. When she heard her name, she almost ran to the stool and in the blink of an eye put a hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the Hat.

I groaned, despite all my doubts, I believed that I would end up where my brothers were, and I didn't want to study with the pushy and omniscient Hermione.

I wasn't the only one nervous. When Neville Longbottom was called, the same boy who kept losing his toad, he managed to stumble and fall before even reaching the stool.

The hat thought seriously before shouting "GRYFFINDOR." Well, where did he go? He belongs in Hufflepuff, according to what I know about him. Hereditary herbologists. Neville, upon hearing his verdict, jumped up from his chair and rushed to the table where the students of the faculty were sitting, forgetting to take off his hat. The whole room roared with laughter, and Neville, catching himself, turned around and ran back to hand the Hat to Morag MacDougal.

When Malfoy was called, he walked out of the line with a terribly important look, and his dream came true in the blink of an eye — the hat, barely touching his head, immediately screamed:

"SLYTHERIN!"

Well, I didn't even doubt it. Malfoy joined his friends Crabbe and Goyle, who had previously been selected for the same faculty, and looked extremely pleased with himself. There were fewer and fewer freshmen who had not passed the selection process.

Moon, Nott, Parkinson, the Patil twin girls, then Sally-Ann Perks, and finally...

"Potter, Harry!" Harry took a step forward, and lights of surprise flashed across the room, accompanied by loud whispers.

"Did she say Potter?"

"The same Harry Potter?"

Before the Hat was placed on Harry's head, a huge room filled with people stared at him, leaning forward to get a better look at him. I wonder where he will end up?

Harry gripped the seat of the stool tightly with both hands. A couple of minutes have passed and now:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I wonder if he was arguing with the hat. Harry took off his hat and walked slowly to his desk. Percy jumped up from his chair, grabbed Harry's hand and started shaking it, while Fred and George screamed at the top of their voices.:

"Potter is with us! Potter is with us!"

After shaking hands with everyone, Harry plopped down on an empty chair, finding himself right in front of the ghost in tights that I saw before the ceremony began. The ghost patted his hand.

Behind us was the main table, where the teachers were sitting. Hagrid was sitting in the corner, and when he caught Harry's eye, he gave him the thumbs-up, and Harry smiled back. And in the center of the table was a large golden chair, resembling the throne on which Albus Dumbledore sat. Dumbledore's silver hair shone brighter than the ghosts, brighter than anything in the hall.

There was also Professor Quirrell, a nervous young man. Right now, Quirrell had a big purple turban on his head, so the professor looked very strange. The ceremony was coming to an end, and there were only three of us left. Lisa Turpin was enrolled in Ravenclaw, and now it's my turn. I even turned green with fear. I walked over to the stool, collapsed on it, and McGonagall put a hat on my head. And a second later, the Hat screamed loudly:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry applauded loudly along with the others until I plopped down next to him. Well, the twins are sitting far away from me. And unfortunately Percy is sitting almost opposite.

"Excellent, Ron, just excellent," Percy praised me with an important look, while the last one on the list, Blaze Zabini, was already heading for the Slytherin table. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Magic Hat out of the hall.

I looked at the empty gold plate in front of me. I just realized that I'm insanely hungry. It seemed that I had eaten the sweets I bought on the train not a few hours ago, but several centuries ago. Albus Dumbledore rose from his throne and spread his arms wide. He had a radiant smile on his face. He looked as if nothing in the world could please him more than the students of his school sitting in front of him.

"Welcome!" He said. "Welcome to Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. These are the words: Oaf! A bubble! The remainder! A trick! That's it, thank you all!"

He's weird. Although at his age, such behavior is excusable. How old is he, a hundred and eighty years old? Dumbledore sat down in his seat. The audience burst into cheers and applause. Harry sat and was surprised and silent.

"Is he... is he a little crazy?" Harry asked uncertainly, turning to Percy, who was sitting on his left.

"Is he crazy?" Percy asked absently, but then caught himself. "He's a genius! The best magician in the world! But you're right, he's a little crazy. How about some fries, Harry?"

The plates on the table were filled to the brim with food. There were so many dishes on the table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steaks, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, meat gravies, ketchup and, inexplicably, mint lollipops.

I immediately attacked the food. She was absolutely gorgeous.

"It looks good," the ghost in tights remarked sadly, watching Harry eat a steak.

"Do you want to..." Harry began, but the ghost shook his head.

"I haven't eaten for almost four hundred years. I don't have any need for food, but the truth is, I don't have enough. By the way, I don't think I've introduced myself. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Delphington, at your service. The ghost who lives in Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" I blurted out. "My brothers told me about you — you're Almost a Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy," The ghost began in a stern tone, but Seamus Finnigan beat him to it. The blond-haired boy who stood in front of Harry in the line.

"Almost headless? How can you be almost headless?"

Damn, not at the table. Sir Nicholas looked a little displeased, as if the conversation hadn't gone where he wanted it to go.

"Just like that," he replied irritably, tugging at his left ear.

The head separated from the neck and fell onto the shoulder, as if held on a spring and activated by pressing on the ear. Obviously, someone tried to behead him, but did not finish the job. The Almost Headless Nick's head was resting on his shoulder, smiling contentedly as he watched the expressions on the freshmen's faces. Then he pulled on his right ear and his head snapped back into place. The ghost cleared his throat.

Damn, I've lost my appetite. But fuck you. I'm going to eat! Unfortunately, I'm hungry almost all the time. Reaching out, I helped myself to fried chicken and began to eat.

"So, to the new students of the Gryffindor faculty! I hope you will help us win this year's competition between the faculties? Gryffindor has never gone so long without a reward. For the past six years in a row, Slytherin has won. The Bloody Baron, the ghost of Slytherin's cellars, has become almost unbearable.

I looked towards the Slytherin table and saw a creepy-looking ghost with bulging empty eyes, an elongated bony face, and clothes stained with silver blood. The Baron was sitting next to Malfoy, who was not at all enthusiastic about such company.

"How come he's covered in blood?" Seamus blurted out, who for some reason was very interested in this question.

"I've never asked," Almost Headless Nick remarked delicately.

When everyone had eaten, the plates suddenly emptied, becoming perfectly clean again and shining so brightly in the candlelight, as if there was no food on them. But just a moment later, a sweet appeared on them. Ice cream of all kinds, apple pies, fruit cakes, chocolate eclairs and donuts with jam, biscuits, strawberries, jelly, rice puddings...

While I was filling my plate with a variety of desserts, and Harry was reaching for a treacle tart, we started talking about families at the table.

"Personally, I'm half-on-half," Seamus admitted. "My dad is a Muggle, and my mom is a wizard. Mom didn't tell him anything until after they got married. I understood that he wasn't happy at all when he found out the truth."

Everyone laughed. Yeah, I don't envy Seamus.

"And you, Neville?" I asked.

"I... well, my grandmother raised me, she's a magician," Neville began. "But my whole family was convinced that I was a real squib. My uncle Algy kept trying to catch me off guard so that I could create some kind of miracle. He really wanted me to be a magician. So, one day he crept up on me while I was standing on the pier and pushed me into the water. And I almost drowned. In general, I was the most ordinary — until I was eight years old. When I was eight, Algy came in for tea, caught me, and stuck me out the window. I was hanging upside down there, and he was holding my ankles. And then my aunt Enid offered him a cake, and he accidentally opened his hands. I flew from the second floor, but I didn't crash — it was like I turned into a ball, bounced off the ground and bounced down the path. They were all delighted, and Grandma even burst into tears of happiness. You should have seen their faces when I received the letter from Hogwarts — they were afraid that they wouldn't send it to me, that I wasn't really a wizard. My uncle Algy happily gave me a toad.

Couldn't he have tied her to the boy? I listened to what Percy and Hermione, who were sitting on our left, were talking about. However, I might have guessed: Hermione, of course, was talking about classes.

"I really hope we start studying right now. We have so much to learn. Personally, I'm most interested in transfiguration, you know, the art of turning something into something else. Although, of course, this is considered a very difficult task.

Yes, it's very difficult, but as a future golem lord, I need it. It's good that I can practice on a chess set.

Don't count on much. You'll start with the little things, you'll turn matches into needles, something like this.

I warmed up, softened, and felt my eyes start to close. Harry was blinking sleepily next to him. In order to stay awake, I stared wide-eyed and began to stare around, finally burying my gaze in the teacher's desk. Hagrid was drinking from a large goblet, Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore, and Professor Quirrell, who had not taken off his stupid turban, was talking to an unknown teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. Apparently this is Snape.

"Ouch!" Harry suddenly slapped his forehead with his palm.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"N-n-nothing," Harry managed to say.

"Who's that talking to Professor Quirrell?" He asked Percy.

Oh, you already know Quirrell? I don't wonder why he's so nervous — you get nervous here when Professor Snape is sitting next to you. He teaches you how to mix magic potions, but they say he doesn't like it at all. He's a good scholar, a potion master. And his students just piss him off. And what did he forget at school? Everyone knows that he wants to take Professor Quirrell's place. And still he's a great expert on the Dark Arts, this Snape.

Harry watched Snape for a while. I was no longer interested in anything. I was full and wanted to sleep.

When everyone had their fill of dessert, the sweets disappeared from the plates, and Professor Dumbledore rose from his throne again. Everyone fell silent.

"Hmmm!" said Dumbledore loudly. Now that we're all full, I'd like to say a few more words. There's something you need to learn before the semester starts. First-year students should remember that all students are prohibited from entering the forest located on the school grounds. Some undergraduates should also keep this in mind for their own good...

But there are a lot of plant ingredients growing there, and animals can be used as ingredients, if they don't kill you themselves, of course. I definitely have nothing to do there until the fourth or fifth year. And at night it's better not to go there at all. Rumor has it that a pack of werewolves lives in the Forbidden Forest.

Dumbledore's shining eyes rested for a moment on the red heads of my brothers. Although you can go to the edge of the forest, Hagrid lives nearby. There shouldn't be anything dangerous there.

"At the request of Mr. Filch, our school superintendent, I remind you that you should not work miracles during recess. And now about Quidditch practice — it starts in a week. Anyone who would like to play for the teams of their faculties should contact Madame Hooch. Finally, I must inform you that this academic year, the right-hand side of the corridor on the third floor is closed to anyone who does not want to die a painful death."

Harry laughed, but there were very few people as funny as him. So, I don't like this. I can smell trouble with my ass. My brothers are definitely going to be there. And then why should we bury them?

"He's joking, right?" Harry muttered, turning to Percy.

"Maybe," Percy replied, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's weird because he usually explains why we can't go anywhere. For example, everything is clear about the forest — there are dangerous animals there, everyone knows that. And here he should have explained everything, but he doesn't say anything. I think he should have told us, the elders, at least." Percy gets nervous looking at the twins too. Even though he grumbles at us, he loves his family.

"Now, before we go to bed, let's sing the school anthem!" Dumbledore shouted.

I noticed that all the teachers had strange smiles on their faces. Something's not right here.

Dumbledore shook his wand as if he were chasing away a fly that had landed on its end. A long golden ribbon burst out of the wand, which began to rise above the tables, and then crumbled into words hanging in the air.

"Everyone sings to their favorite tune," said Dumbledore. "So, let's get started!"

And the whole hall screamed:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, our beloved Hogwarts, teach us something.

Young and old, bald and shaggy,

Age is not important, but only the essence is important.

The wind is blowing in our heads right now,

They are empty and dull, and there are piles of dead flies,

But there will always be a place for knowledge in them,

So teach us at least something.

If we forget anything, you remind us.,

And if we don't know, you explain it to us.

Do your best, our beloved Hogwarts,

And we'll try not to let you down."

Everyone sang as they wanted, some softly, some loudly, some cheerfully, some sadly, some slowly, some quickly. And naturally, everyone finished singing at different times. Everyone had already fallen silent, but the twins were still singing the school anthem, slowly and solemnly, like a funeral march. Dumbledore began conducting by waving his wand, and when they finally finished, it was he who clapped the loudest.