Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2014 03:12:42 +0200 From: Kristina Johansen Subject: The Espen Norum Chronicles, Chapter Two: The Sorting Disclaimer: This Fan Fiction is based in the Harry Potter book written by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of the characters or the world of Harry Potter. I've tried not to mess with the "official" story, so names and dates will be correct for the time period this story takes place. This story contains sexual relations between minors and/or adults, and if this offends you in any way, please do not read any further. Please don't post this anywhere else without my permission! Comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are very welcome at spurvelarv_kristina@hotmail.com, but spam, toxic behavior will be deleted and never answered. Please consider donating to Nifty. It's a fantastic site that lets us all read good and well written stories by hundreads and thousands of writers! Chapter Two: The Sorting Well inside the students were met by a tall, black haired woman with her hair in a tight bun and wearing emerald green robes. "The new first-years professor McGonagall." The giant said "I'll take it from here Hagrid." she said in a serious tone and the giant, Hagrid, nodded and left them there with the witch. McGonagall made a sign for them to follow and started walking towards a small, empty chamber off the hall where the first-years had to stand so tightly together that Espen's and Dennis' hands touched for a second. They both looked nervously at the other. Espen smiled calmly at Dennis, who in turn smiled back before professor McGonagall started talking and their attention were drawn towards her. "Welcome to Hogwarts." she said before she explained how the different houses at the school worked and how the sorting worked and the house rules. While she talked Espen could hear the sound of hundreds of voices through the wall, almost like a buzzing. She asked them to form a line and follow her though a pair of double doors and into the Great Hall where Espen started to shiver from a mix nerves and cold. The buzzing of voices he had heard earlier, were now silent. There were four long tables in there, each one full of students staring at them as they walked past. They were lead to a table at the front of the other four where the staff were seated. Dennis looked around and spotted his brother, gave him a double thumbs up and mouthed to him "I fell in the lake" and smiled from ear to ear. Professor McGonagall placed a three legged stool in front of them and then placed an old, pointed wizards hat on it. Everyone stared at the hat. For a moment there were total silence and then a tear opened wide like a mouth and the hat started to sing. It was a short song about the founding the castle, the origins of the houses and his role in the sorting. When the song ended, a thunderous applause followed as the hat bowed to the four tables and then became still again. Espen looked over at Dennis who looked shocked that a hat could sing, then he smiled for himself of his new friends first look of real magic, which was nothing like a few black&white photos! "When I call out your name you will put on the hat and sit on the stool. When the hat announces your house, you will go and sit at the appropriate table" professor McGonagall said as she began to read from a long list of names. "Ackarley, Stewart". she said and the boy on Espens left walked up, put on the hat and sat on the stool. "Ravenclaw!" the hat shouted and Stewart Ackarley took off the hat and sat down at the Ravenclaw table. Boy after boy and girl after girl were sorted into the different houses and then it was Dennis' turn. "Creevey, Dennis." professor McGonagall said and looked up from the scroll. Dennis staggered forward and stumbled a little in Hagrid's moleskin overcoat as he walked to the stool, picked up the hat and put it on. "Gryffindor!" the hat shouted and Espen had to smile of the look on Dennis' face as he winked to Espen and then hurried over to the Gryffindor table and sat beside his brother. Now without anyone to keep him calm, Espen felt sick with nerves. Then after what seemed like hours to Espen, professor McGonagall called out his own name. "Norum, Espen." the professor said and looked up from the scroll. All Espen could do was walk over, grab the hat, put it on and sit down. As soon as he put the hat on he could hear a voice whispering into his ear. "Hmmmm... You have a lot to prove for yourself and for others. But there is courage in here as well, indeed there is courage... Then I believe it will have to be... GRYFFINDOR!" the last word the hat shouted out to the Great Hall and Espen now shaking, took the hat off and walked over to the Gryffindor table which thundered with applause. As he sat down next to Dennis they both smiled to each other and Dennis introduced him to his brother and then whispered into Espen's ear. "See that black haired boy over there? With the glasses? It's HIM!" he giggled. Espen looked down the table and spotted him, Harry Potter. He was talking to a red haired boy and didn't take any notice of them staring at him. As more new Gryffindors joined them at the table and the line of first-years came to an end professor McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away. A tall man stood up at the staffs table. He looked ancient with silver gray hair and a beard so long that he held in place with his belt. He smiled as he looked around at the students and held his arms wide in welcome. "That's the Dumbledore, the headmaster!" Colin whispered to Dennis and Espen. "I have only two words to say to you: Tuck in!" Dumbledore said with a deep calming voice as suddenly the empty dishes filled with food. Dennis made a loud "WOW!" and immediately started to pick a little of everything he could reach and putting it on his plate. The food was delicious and Espen started up conversation with the other first years that had been placed around him. He noticed there were ghosts in the hall too. He had seen a ghost before, when he was nine so he didn't even flinch but when he made Dennis aware of them, he got pale and almost jumped out of his seat. After a while the food was replaced with desserts. Espen who was rather full already managed to eat a portion of everything before he sighed and leaned back. The rest of the desserts vanished and Dumbledore stood up once again. He began to inform the students about the new forbidden items and forbidden areas but then he said something that made Espen yelp out in surprise. "It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter house Quidditch cup, will not take place this year." Espen looked around and saw the look of the older students faces. A pair of red haired twins mouthes silently at Dumbledore, unable to speak in shock. Dumbledore then continued: "This is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing out the school year, taking up much of the teachers time and energy, but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely! I have great pleasure in announcing that this year, at Hogwarts-" The doors of the Great Hall banged open and a man came in, leaning on a long staff and shrouded in a long traveling cloak. The man, now taking off his hood, started walking up towards the teachers table with a dull clunk echoed at his every other step. As he reached the table, he turned and shook Dumbledore's hand and muttering something to him before sitting down on an empty seat on Dumbledores right hand side. The man grabbed a plate of sausages and began to eat. The man looked horrifying! His face was scared and it looked like a big chunk of his nose was missing, but his eyes... They were what made Espen want to look away. One of them was normal being small and dark while the other was big, round as a coin and a vivid electric blue color and moved around independently of the other eye, which was staring at the sausage he was eating. Dumbledore spoke up again and began talking to the silent mass of students. "May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, professor Moody". Only a few teachers applauded and they stopped quickly as the students were still staring on Moody. Dumbledore continued speaking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months. An event which ha not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year." Espen immediately turned to Dennis and whispered into his ear. "This year is going to be awesome!" "What's the Tri-... What's it's name again?" "The Triwizard tournament is a tournament against two other schools, I don't remember which ones, but they have to go through three tests and one is left standing as a winner. They stopped with it as too many of the school champions, died!" Espen whispered quickly, not noticing anything of what the headmaster said after this as he explained the tournament to the other students. But when Dumbledore announced that there would be an age restriction this year, Espen was disappointed. Not that he would have had a chance at all at winning, but students all around him were in uproar, including Colin who began shouting at Dumbledore. When Dumbledore explained that students below 6th and 7th year wouldn't be able to cope with the tests, Espen nodded in understanding. He had read about the cup summers before. The tasks the champions for the schools had to go through was rather difficult and challenging, and with him being a first-year, he didn't stand a chance anyway. After a little more information about the cup, Dumbledore announced it was time for bed and students all around stood up and started walking towards the doors. Espen and Dennis remained seated as they were still talking about the tournament, when they heard a boy, maybe 16 call out 'Gryffindor first-years over here please.' the boy was a prefect and were going to show the way to the sleeping quarters. They were lead up several stairs and Espen were just wondering how much further up they would go, when they reached a huge painting of a rather fat looking lady in a huge pink dress. "Password?" the lady said as she looked down to the prefect and the first-years. "Boulder Dash" the prefect answered and the lady nodded and swung open and revealed a hole in the wall which they all climbed through and then came into the common room of Gryffindor tower. They were shown into the boys dormitory where their suitcases were placed beside their beds. Espen shared the first years dormitory with five other boys. The first was Nathan Radford, a blond, tall and fit looking boy. Next was Jimmy Peakes, a black haired and skinny with a slight tan. After that was Benjamin Warbeck, a short, blond boy with round glasses. Then it was Nigel Wolpert, with honey blond hair and a wicked smile. Lastly it was Dennis Creevey with his curly mouse-hair and deep brown eyes. They were all amazed to see the six poster beds with the deep crimson hangings and as each selected their beds, Espen and Dennis chose the two at the end by the window. They all changed into their PJ's as the talked and laughed and then went to bed. None of the boys were tired at this point and they continued into the night. One by one the boys fell asleep. Soon Espen was the only one still awake. He looked over the other beds and saw the top of the heads of his new classmates. Deep breathing sounds and the occasional snore were the only sounds filling the room. Then he looked over at Dennis and had to chuckle as he noticed that Dennis had kicked off his sheets and lay on his back with his arms and legs spread out. The loud snoring came from him! He glanced over Dennis' body once more and stared at his groin. No bulge there anymore. That meant that earlier on the train, Dennis had indeed been hard when they changed into their uniforms! Smiling for himself, Espen rolled over and quickly drifted off to sleep and pleasant dreams soon followed...