"J. K. Rowling - 6 - Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince(1)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowling J. K)

“Hullo!” he called to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. “Good ter see ya, but I can’ talk now. Gotta lead these newbies up to th’ castle. I’ll see ya later!” He, along with a few new first years, and five other students that did not look anything like first years, but rather sixth or seventh years, made their way to the boats they would take to cross the lake and to the massive citadel.
“See you later Hagrid!” yelled the three of them, making their way to the much more luxurious carriages that quickly took them to the front gate of Hogwarts which they quickly burst through, eager to start the new year… and to eat at the start of school feast!
Harry, Ron, and Hermione speedily found some seats at the Gryffindor table and waited anxiously as the rest of the Gryffindors filed in. The table looked especially empty, now that all the seventh years from last year were gone… then a thought suddenly came to Harry. He nudged Ron in the side.
“Hey Ron!” he whispered loudly. “We’re going to have to hold tryouts again! We need five new people for the Gryffindor Quidditch team! Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie all graduated last year.” Ron’s eyes widened.
“Oh man,” he gasped. “I totally forgot about that.”
“Oh well, it shouldn’t be that difficult,” said Harry. Then, remembering that at the end of last year, a group of last years’ new Gryffindors promised that they would make the team, Harry began to think that maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as he initially speculated.
“Come on Harry,” interjected Hermione, “put on your Prefect Badge! You need to show all of the new first years where they can go if they’re lost or having trouble.” She quickly reached into her pocket, and pinned on her shiny badge, wearing it proudly.
“Ugh… the last thing I want is for more first years to be crawling all over me,” groaned Harry, taking out his grimy badge and trying to clean it up a bit.
“You should really take your Prefect responsibilities more seriously,” said Hermione severely. “I noticed that last year you never took any house points away from anyone, nor did you ever read the Prefect Guidebook, which I’m sure you must have lost by now or something.”
“Fine fine fine, “ said Harry, pinning his slightly cleaner badge on, “I’ll try to do a better job this year Miss. Hermione.” Harry tried to look as cute as he could, pretending to be a little preschooler. Ron laughed, but Hermione merely turned away.
“Shh!” she said. “The Sorting is starting!”
And so it was. The doors to the Great Hall burst open and the first years who had crossed the lake with Hagrid now walked up to the front of the room in a single straight line, led by Professor McGonagall. Once again, Harry saw that five of the new students did not look like first years at all, they looked more along the lines of Harry’s age.
“What’s up with them?” asked Ron.
“Maybe they’re more exchange students from other schools, like Tci was last year,” suggested Hermione. Harry hadn’t thought of that, and she was probably right; they were just new students from Durmstrang.
“Well, whoever they are, they are definitely cool,” said Ron, eyeing them and smiling.
“What makes you say that?” asked Harry.
“Just look at their pockets!” pointed Ron. Harry looked over, and almost laughed at the sight. The pockets of the five new students were literally overflowing with Wizard Duel cards. Every now and then, one fell on the floor, and the student who dropped it just magically brought it back up, proving that they were definitely not newcomers to the world of magic, they had had some training.
Finally, the line stopped, and professor McGonagall stepped up to the head of the room with a big sheet of parchment that had all the names of the new students on it. She also took the large, black, pointed hat off of her head, and placed it on a stool that was next to her. Harry realized that this was no ordinary hat, that was the Sorting Hat. It suddenly shot up into the air a few feet, a small hole appearing for its mouth, and started singing:
“You should listen to what I have to say,
It’s different every year on this same day.
You see, I am the Sorting Hat;
And I will tell you where you should be at.
If Gryffindor is what I bark out loud,
Then you possess a soul that is brave and proud!
If Ravenclaw is what come out of my mouth,
Then you are the wisest in your house.
If Hufflepuff is what I say,
Then you are loyal, behind your friends is where you stay.
If Slytherin is what I hiss,
Then you are cunning, you know when something is amiss.
But, who cares? Just try me on!
I’ll tell you where you belong….”
Everyone clapped respectfully and the hat fell back down to its seat, with a slightly smug look on its face, or at least Harry thought that’s what its expression was; it’s very hard to tell with hats.
“Trenholm Archibald,” said Professor McGonagall. A quite tall boy walked up to the hat, not looking nervous at all, and threw it right on his head.
“Gryffindor!” yelled the hat, causing the Gryffindor table to clap and cheer as he walked over and sat down. The first sorting was over.
“Ai Gomon!” continued Professor McGonagall, causing one of the bigger new students, his pockets bulging with cards, to walk up to the hat and place it on his head. Almost immediately, the hat yelled out his house name.
“Slytherin!”
The whole of Slytherin table applauded for their bigger new student, and Malfoy and Tci even stood up for him, welcoming him in to their clan. Harry noticed, that for the first time, Malfoy didn’t have his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, sitting next to him. In fact, they were all the way down at the other end of the table, looking hopelessly lost.
“Oh well, I guess Malfoy has gotten better friends now,” thought Harry to himself, returning his attention to the Sorting.
Ten minutes later, Brad Cooper, Susej Tsirch, Stephen Early, and Kevin Williams were the latest Ravenclaws, Megan, Kyle, and Lydia Yasigian were the newest Hufflepuffs, and three more of the older new students (Faire Morter, Avait Malmin, and Fonce Kuroi) went to Slytherin in addition to Rusty Johnson. Gryffindor had only gotten one other besides Trenholm so far: Chad Horahoe.
“Aku Tenshi!” yelled Professor McGonagall, looking rather happy that he was the last person on the list. He was a very tall and skinny boy, with a rather pale appearance. In fact, he reminded Harry of himself a little.
Aku walked up to the Sorting Hat with a grin on his face. He slowly sat down, causing his cape to go up in the air for a second, then come back down like a bat flapping its wings. He placed the hat upon his head, and after a few seconds….
“Gryffindor!” it yelled out.
The Gryffindor table erupted into applause. They had gotten one of the older new students! Aku walked over to their table, and chose a seat right next to Harry.
“Hey there, Aku!” said Harry, trying to be friendly.
“Please, call me Ak,” he said with a wave of his hand, and a grin of his perfect and shining teeth. There was something warm and inviting about him that Harry really liked.
“Alright then… Ak,” said Harry, “I see you like the Wizard Duel card game.”
“Oh yes,” beamed Ak. “In fact, at Durmstrang, we, that is Faire, Avait, Fonce, Ai and me, started a Wizard Duel Club. We’re thinking of starting one here too!”
“Whoa! That’d be awesome!” said Ron excitedly.
“Oh, Ak, this is Ron, my friend,” introduced Harry.