Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts!

Dumbledore would like to remind students that entering the Forbidden Forest is prohibited, as is going on a number of corridors and going into the restricted section of the library without permission.

For those who are new, welcome to Hogwarts. You will be sorted shortly!

For those who are returning, welcome back! The feast will begin shortly.

Afterwards, prefects will lead their respective houses to their dormitories.

As the new students file in, their eyes wide as they take in the floating candles and the gold goblets and plates, the Sorting Hat sits on a stool. It waits until the doors have closed, then begins to sing. It sings about how the houses must be united with the upcoming war, and how being kind to one another is more essential than ever. Once it stopped, Professor McGonagall begins calling names.

After the sorting is over, the tables are sudden weighed down with tons of food. Pies, turkey, mashed potatoes, pitchers of pumpkin juice all sit on fancy golden platters. The students begin to dig in, piling carrots baked in brown sugar and cinnamon and steaming tomato soup onto their plates.

Then dessert is next. The turkey is replaced with trays of warm pastries, and the pies are replaced with fruit pies so full with warm, gooey apples or peaches or cherries that they look like they may burst. Bowls of soup are replaced by bowls of creamy pudding. A platter of chicken is replaced by a small cake, frosted with white frosting and covered in shimmering gold flakes. Cupcakes are on display, cookies are piled up on plates, and jugs of milk are scattered about.

After all is done, and every student is stuffed and sleepy, Dumbledore dismisses them and they head up to their dormitories.

Chains below