THE DOOR SWUNG OPEN AT ONCE. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harper immediately recognized her as Minerva McGonagall. Remus and Dorcas had told her about the elder witch—both of them were very fond of her.

"The first-years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was gigantic. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harper could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right—the rest of the school must already be there—but Professor McGonagall showed them into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together then they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each hide has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you're at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes you.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair while Harper quickly went with her hand through her hair, trying to untangle it.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," Professor McGonagall continued. "Please wait quietly."

"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Harry asked.

"Some sort of test, I think," Ron replied, "Fred said he had to wrestle a troll."

Harper laughed. Typical Fred.

"It's not a test," Harper told them. "Professor McGonagall will put a Sorting Hat on your head and he will say which house you belong to."

Harry seemed relieved and Ron cursed.

"I know I shouldn't listen to him."

Harper patted his shoulder. "You should know your brother by now."

Professor McGonagall came back and said, "Form a line and follow me."

Harper moved forwards to stand behind Hermione and noticed Harry standing behind her. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone Misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harper looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Hermione whispered to her. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Harper turned her head as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Harper immediately recognized it as the Sorting Hat.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth—and the hat began to sing.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors appart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind.
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you come to the front and I'll put the Sorting Hat on your head," she said. "Abbot, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which felll right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause—

"HUFFLEPUF!" the hat shouted.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUF!" the hat shouted again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harper could see the twins catcalling and smiled. That was her purpose for tonight; getting into Gryffindor.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin, while "Finch-Fletchley Justin" became a Hufflepuff.

Sometimes, Harper noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decided. "Finnigan, Seamus" sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted and Harper could hear Ron groan.

Harper started to get impatient—she was never one to stay still for a long moment of time. Instead, her eyes started to wander over the teachers to observe them. None of them were looking at her—they were all too interested with the kids on the stool. However, Harper caught the eye of one of the teachers that sat at the side. He was wearing black robes—actually, everything about him was black. From his hair, to his eyes, to his robes. Black. Black. Black.

"Potter, Harper!" Professor McGonagall called, making Harper focus her eyes back on the stool. The Hall filled itself with whisperings, but Harper ignored them. Straightening her back, she strode over to sit on the stool.

Here we go, she thought as she sat down onto the chair. Please be Gryffindor.

Professor McGonagall lowered the Sorting Hat, but it had yet to touch her head, or it already exclaimed, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Beaming, Harper made her way towards the Gryffindortable, falling down onto the seat next to Hermione and in front of Neville, who got also sorted into Gryffindor.

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out even louder than they did with Harper.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

Harper saw Harry looking around the Hall as he sat on the stool. Their eyes met and she gave him an encouraging smile.

There was a long silent pause as the hat didn't speak up, seeming to have trouble sorting Harry. Then, at long last, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The table erupted in cheers and applause. Percy got up and shook Harry's hand vigorously as he arrived at their table. Fred and George kept on yelling, "We got the Potters! We got the Potters!"

There were only three people left to be sorted. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harper crossed her fingers under the table and a second layer the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harper clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to Harry.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," Percy said pompously, as "Zabini, Blaise" was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harper didn't know whether to laugh or not.

She looked back at the table and saw that the dishes in front of her were now piled with food. She had never seen so many things she liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamp chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.

"I'm half and half," the boy next to Harper said. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

Harper laughed and the boy turned around to face her. "The name's Seamus by the way. Seamus Finnigan."

Harper shook his hand. "Harper Potter. It's a pleasure meeting you, Seamus!"

"What about you, Neville?" Ron asked the boy.

"Well, my gran bright me up and she's a witch," Neville said, "but the family thought I was all Muggle for ages. My great-uncle Angie kept trying to catch me off guard and force some magic out of me—he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned—but nothing happened until I was eight. Great-uncle Algie came round for tea and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my great-auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced—all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased. Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here—they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great-uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."

Harper turned to look at Hermione, but she was already in a deep conversation about classes with Percy—one Harper did not want to participate. And so, she started a conversation with Dean Thomas.

At last, the pudding too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.

"Ahem—just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of Fred and George.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harper looked warily at this. A painful death? Why would you be able to die painfully in a school? What could possibly be there that could lead to a painful death?

"And now, bedtime! Off you trot!"

The Gryffindor first-years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase.

After what seemed like forever, they arrived at a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis," Percy said, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it—Neville needed a leg up—and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase—they were obviously in one of the towers—they found their beds at last: four four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.

"Goodnight," Parvati said, yawning.

"Goodnight," Harper murmured, falling asleep.

· · ───── · ☆ · ───── ·  ·

October 22nd 2021

I'm thinking of changing this book's name from "Two of the Same" to "Collateral Damage" and I know it will be better for the story but I'm also kinda attached to the old title and argh! Fellow writers, you know what I'm talking about!

I'll probably change it when the time comes but what's your opinion on it?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :) I have found my motivation for this story once more so there will be a lot of updates coming up!

Also, would someone be interesting in making a banner for Harper and Harry?? Thank you very much xxx

Ps: next chapter is Cedric chapter. I repeat, next chapter is Cedric chapter.