Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, that right belongs to JK Rowling.
A/N The last chapter before the sorting, hang in there you all!
Summary Before Harry and his friends get sorted into the four different Hogwarts houses, McGonagall will give some necessary pointers about the expected behavior at Hogwarts.

The Sorting ceremony - The broom cabinet

Hagrid moved over to the enormous wood and steel doors that formed the main entrance to the medieval-looking Hogwarts castle, flexing his steel, tanned muscles and tugged open one door - with a little help of a well-placed foot on the other door - which hardly made a sound (except for some highly necessary squeaking noise that goes, as a rule, with large, wooden doors), then stepped over to the inside and lightly pushed away the other door. He guffawed at the awestruck faces of the ickle, new students and said wiping a slight layer of moisture, crusted sweat and fresh mud from his over-sized forehead 'Well, in you go, firs'-years. Firs' time in is always the best.' If the first time would be the best, Harry didn't know but the alluring grandeur of the enormous entrance hall built in some kind of gothic style looked pretty sweet to him. Huge candles as wide as lampposts were held up by gold and silver many-layered chandeliers with matching candleholders all around the tall walls, that after a meter or thirty, sloped gently upwards opening up to an arched, stained-glass window. At the two opposite ends of the room were roaring fireplaces that, somehow, distributed their warmth equally over the high-roofed hallway, which vaguely gave Harry the impression magic was involved, and warmed up the extensively-chiseled, well-shaped, stone floor, too, giving the room a cozy and welcoming feeling - Harry would later acknowledge he'd have traded his sizable, new room at the Dursleys any time for this stone floor (though his soon to be acquired pleasant memories would be quite a contributing factor).

The rather large looking entrance hall absorbed the mud-splattered kids with remarkable ease, fanning out to goggle at the walls or inspect the giant sized, armed suits of armor or the remarkable door with many peculiar locks - some small, a few large ones, a few a purple or pinkish shade, many green, blue and amber, some even slightly moving from place to place, there were a few rectangular locks, but most were somehow oblong - but most of them herded around one of the two fireplaces, though. 'I'll be back in a min', folks,' Hagrid said already heading out two a second set of doors opposite from the huge set-in-steel portal with many different, most peculiar looking locks and with a backward swish of the wand and a deafening click he locked up the doors for the night. 'You there,' he shouted in a voice atypical from his usual demeanor, stepping menacingly - his chiseled muscles showing - at a now cowering, rather large (still tiny compared to Hagrid) first-year 'don' even try throwin' anyone in that fireplace, or you'll be in there before you can say Hogwarts!' Leaving the hall in awkward silence, only worsening it by walking over to Harry, standing nearby with Ron and Daphne (Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle were standing at the other fireplace and Neville and Hermione were entranced by the suits of armor and locks respectively and all the other first-years were still an unknown blur to him) warming themselves on one of the Spartan, badly manufactured benches manufactured from three pieces of wood near the fireplace and crushing him under his giant hands, the nails filthy by age-old mud that finds its way in saying 'All righ', there Harry? Yeh looking awfully ill there.' before proceeding with his usual, lengthy treads out of the hallway, banging the large doors by accident.

'Look up, Daphne' Harry said, poking her gently in her unprotected side and pointing upward with his other, that is left, hand at a group of five paintings hanging above the fireplace. 'What is it, Harry' Daphne answered looking questioningly up at the waving figures in the frames. 'They're moving' Harry replied stressing the last word. 'My god, Harry,' Daphne said with a sigh 'are you telling me you've never seen pictures with moving imagery?' 'Well, I guess chocolate frogs are similar and -' Harry spluttered, but Daphne interrupted 'You were raised by muggles, weren't you?' 'Yeah, -' Harry answered, before Daphne continued 'My mom told me, they also have these moving pictures on a big large box, that muggles sit at for hours on end a day' 'Well, you're right, but still, don't you agree it looks amazing…' Harry said mesmerized, continuing to look up at the paintings showing many different scenes, there was one showing tough-looking British soldiers exercising on a savanna, probably somewhere on the south-coast of Africa, another showed two proud, tired mountaineers standing on top of a barren outcrop of rock on a sunny cloudless day and again another, Harry's favorite, showed two sweaty wizards in the middle of a duel in a library, throwing spells and jinxes at each other making a mess in the - probably - once neat, ordered bookreaders heaven. the other two, however were less interesting (they showed some old, half-dead wizards sitting on a couch in deep thought, alternately puffing away on a fat cigar that would make his uncle smile or sipping from a colourful, refilling liquor glass and a whole bunch of old women jumping up and down on a couch). As Harry sat there peacefully in the warm firelight Daphne gently put her arm on Harry's far shoulder and whispered softly into his ear, as if making up for her bold shouting 'It's quite some magic isn't it.'

Their little moment of peace and quiet sitting next to each other, Daphne's head leaning against Harry's shoulder, however, was quickly over; the sternest looking woman Harry had ever seen, casting an air as if you'd do better not to cross her with a single toenail out of line, stood in the doorway Hagrid had recently left, slamming it equally hard - causing Harry and Daphne to jump apart and move away from each other to, blushingly, look at some school artifacts - mumbling something along the line of 'Bloody smearjinxes!' to herself. 'Alright everyone, what are you staring at, follow me now quickly!' she said pointing her long, bony finger to a place somewhere far away beyond the door she had entered in, hastily adding 'Don't touch that, will you' to Neville holding out his finger close to a badly held, iron sword in the hands of a metal outfit, which was looking crossly and slightly annoyed - as far as lifeless objects can express feelings - at its new admirer. She stepped away quickly saying 'Hurry up now, I don't want any stragglers.'

The first-years filled behind the stern schoolteacher, Daphne walking next to a black-haired girl leaving Draco and Harry walking next to each other. 'It's quite amazing, isn't it!' Harry said to Draco, who answered quite enthusiastically 'It is so much better than I had imagined it! I have been dreaming of this place since my dad told me about it as a little kid! Didn't you ever hear about Hogwarts as a child?' 'No' Harry said sadly 'My aunt and uncle hid all the letters and pretended magic didn't exist. They even tried to bully the magic out of me...' 'That seems rough, I wonder why you had to grow up there, wait till my father hears about this, he might let you stay at our house during the vacations.' Draco said sympathetically 'I'd love to Draco. Spending my vacation with someone nice is always than to be with those gits.' Adding extra venom to the last word 'Well, they're muggles, right,' Draco with a slight frown 'You can't be too hard on them, they know hardly nothing about magic, and more often than not are quite afraid of it. My dad is quite negative about muggles, too negative, if you ask me. You know, I think it has to do with some boy Richard, Richard was dad's best friend, but my granddad got really angry, just because his parents were muggles. Lucius, my dad, never really got over it and doesn't really speak too much about it...' Draco looked up with fear written on his face and quickly whispered 'Please don't tell him I said that, though.' 'Of course not,' Harry said reassuring him and also added a bit surprised 'why would I ever do that?' 'I'm sorry, mate, for being so negative...' Draco finally said. 'Please don't be, Harry answered, you talking to me walking through Hogwarts is about the best thing that could have happened to me! Look around, you're missing an impressive sight looking down at the ground and staring into my face.' These words (mostly the last four), that Harry stated quite matter-of-factly, made Draco blush scarlet, who now hastily looked up and around at the high-domed atrium, what expanded quite far in width -still small in length - leading up to a large set of oakwood doors and many other doors of different shapes and sizes. There was a bright light streaming out from under the door and Harry heard a lot of laughing and talking.

'Before we head through those doors and join the feast,' the stern-looking teacher said 'I'll first give you some useful information about the proceedings here at Hogwarts.' Adding a 'Hurry up now' at the kids, Ron included, that hadn't immediately jumped up and moved towards her. Harry, who was previously standing between Daphne, brushing his' hands slightly, noticed with a slight frown that Ron had just jumped up towards Malfoy's side of him, what caused Malfoy to move over to Daphne to not have to stand next to Ron and hoped with all his might no feud would ensue. 'Hopefully we eat soon, I think I could be gnawing off my leg soon.' Ron said hungrily, which they all agreed to with a nod. Harry looked over and saw - for a mere split second - the familiar shimmering all around him again and found him (and most of his future classmates) staring at a group of ghosts minding their business and floating out of some kind of cabinet till one of them, a fat old lady, said 'Look, over there first years!' A pale-silver roobed ghost with streaks of blood and a rusty steel chain answered by saying with a bored expression and a monotonous, low voice 'So what?' a ghost pushing one one ear with all his might, as if he feared his head would flop of responded, pointing at a tiny previously unnoticed freckled boy 'It seems like they get smaller every year, look at that one there!' 'You all please join the feast, these kids need to hear about the proceedings here at school' McGonagall said strictly at the herd of dazed first-years while holding out the door of a very dimly lit broom cabinet that seemed to expand to fit in the horde of kids. There were no decorations and only a crackling, dimly burning candle broke the silence and the thick, all-covering darkness.

She was looking fiercely at the new students and said in a loud, perhaps magically magnified voice, so everyone could hear 'Well, welcome here at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, you all look a bit tired and hungry, but before you go to the feast, I need to sketch the proceedings here at Hogwarts, give a tiny introduction to the classes and school rules. Firstly my name is Minerva McGonnagall, you'll address me and all the other members of staff with professor and their last name. Now that is out of the way I am going to tell something about the Hogwarts houses; during your stay here at Hogwarts you will be sorted into four houses - Gryfindor, Rafenclaw, Huffelpuf or Slytherin - named after the four proud founders of this school. The sorting will happen using a speaking, thinking hat. Your future house will be quite like a family during your stay, you'll build friendships with your fellow members. You'll also sleep with your gender's first-year housemates and will probably find to spend most of your time in your future common room. The different houses will be lead by different heads of staff, who won't be prejudiced against members from outside of their house.' She stated in a tone suggestion annoyance against something unknown to her host, but quickly continued 'The four houses will be filled with students who have roughly the same traits and characteristics as the founders themselves; Gryffindor, my house, is a house well suited for the brave and chivalrous, you also have Ravenclaw, which is perfect for the smart, intelligent and more importantly the wise, there is also Slytherin, the house for the smart, the cunning and ambitious and lastly there is Hufflepuf, a house of acceptance, perfect for the kind at heart and well-meaning. Lately, however, there has been the question if separating students in different houses is a bit out-dated, because it causes enmity, segregation and spite, but many parents, the head of house and the board of the school are strongly opposed against this idea.' She said, looking over at each and every one of the faces of the new students adding 'I hope, and would be very disappointed, if you let that be a reason of not making friends outside of your house.' 'Trevor,' Neville shouted jumping up at an anxious looking frog that seemed to be trying to plot an escape and quickly added 'Sorry professor' when he saw the stern look in her eyes.

'Your house will share another thing too,' McGonnagall briskly proceeded 'you should note well we have a system of house points, house points are a token of well-behaving, break school rules, you lose points, any triumphs earn points. The house with most points will win the house cup and receive preferential treatment during the end-of-term feast. So, you ask, what are the school rules.' She fired at the first-years, dreaming away of good food and soft beds 'Please pay attention' She shouted before continuing 'First and foremost we have a strict curfew from ten to six, which entails that no-one, under any circumstance other threat of death, should be outside of the common room then. The first three years may not visit the forbidden forest without permission and being under supervision of a teacher. Leaving the grounds of Hogwarts without parental permission is prohibited, the gate is located just outside of Hogsmeade station on the other side of the lake. The third floor corridor on the right hand side is also out of bounds. You may not swim or boat the great lake unless under staff supervision. Faculty area's like the staff lounge, the restricted library-section, kitchens and empty classrooms may not be entered without a teachers permission. One may also not visit other common rooms than the your house's. You are expected to come on time to your classes and skipping classes will be punished severely. Fighting in or outside of class is prohibited. Offending teachers will be punished, too. Magic may only be used for self defense, class-work or practicing as homework assignment. You'll be expected to wear your full outfit outside of the common room. You'll also be able to earn house points, by behaving well or doing a good job in class. You can find the complete list of school rules on the door of our caretaker Filch's office, you are well advised to take a closer look at them.'

'But the most important aspect of Hogwarts is undeniably the magical education. Each first-year student will be take a standard first-year curriculum,' McGonagall continued ' there, however, will be multiple options spread over the year to expand your knowledge in one or more topics in smaller, higher level seminars. Every student will be expected to take one of these extra classes, but will also be able to attend multiple of these.' 'As if that would ever happen.' Draco whispered to Harry, McGonagall, who overheard them, said 'That will happen, you'll be awarded points if you pass the test, but I'll warn you now, the exams and class work in those classes will be much more challenging then normally. Now, there are sixteen classes, four of which you will keep over the course of your seven years at Hogwarts; History of Magic, Practice of Magic. Theory of Magic and Communication of Magic, which will teach you the essentials of magic, like Writing, speaking in front of crowds, basic and necessary magic knowledge and useful skills like wand movement and dueling and most importantly how to control magic. You'll also be learning the basics of transfiguration - the art of turning one thing into another - potions - the art of brewing useful concoctions - Defence Against the Dark Arts - The study of protecting against magic, in any form - Charms - to learn useful magical incantations - Herbology - the study of magical plants - Astronomy - the study of stars and their influence on magic - and lastly Ancient Runes - the study of the runes and ancient European language. There are also five subjects that are compulsory during your first year but can be chosen in other years, too; there is flying - a useful way of commuting and good exercise - Arithmancy - the art of prediction by use of numbers - Divination - the 'art' of prediction by random signs - Care of Magical Creatures - to gain highly necessary skills of curing creatures illnesses and domesticating them - and last but not least there is Muggle Studies, which will give a broad overview of muggle life and how our laws intervene with their laws. If you fail at more than four of these subjects you'll be asked to double a year and, though it's quite rare, some students ask for a repeat in their fifth or seventh year to have a better chance at their future job.' But then her voice perked up 'I see you're all tired and hungry, I've done my talking so let's head out to the great hall and get you sorted!' As a troop they marched back to the well lit entrance hall and looked over to the light and laughter streaming out from under the central door and Harry and Daphne had their hands brushing together.

A/N I think the second chapter and the description of the classes are kind of shitty, please PM or review some pointers for improvement!

A/N What do you think of this schedule and these classes?

Classes

Base:

1. Practice of Magic: Movement (1POM:M)

2. Theory of Magic: Detection (1TOM:D)

3. History of Magic: Origins (1HOM:O)

4. Communication of Magic: Control (1COM:C)

Core:

5. Transfiguration (1TRNS-1)

6. Charms (1CHRM-1)

7. Potions (1PTNS-1)

8. Defence Against the Dark Arts (1DADA-1)

9. Astronomy (1ASTR-1)

10. Herbology (1HERB-1)

11. Study of Ancient Runes (1SRNS-1)

Compulsory first-year subjects:

13. Arithmancy (1ARTM)

14. Muggle Studies (1MGLS)

15. Divination (1DIVI)

16. Care of Magical Creatures (1CAMC)

16. Flying (1FLNG)

Slytherin Timetable 1st trimester:

TIME/DAY MON TUE WED THUR FRI

8.30-9.30 1POM:M-.- 1TOM:D- 1HOM:O 1COM:C 1TOM:D

9.40-10.40 1ARTM-.- 1MGLS-.- 1DIVI-.- 1CAMC-. 1MGLS

11.00-12.00 1HOM:O 1COM:C 1TOM:D 1POM:M 1POM:M

13.30-15.00 1TRNS-1 1PTNS-1 1CHRM-1 1DADA-1 1FLNG-1

15.10-16.40 1TRNS-1 1PTNS-1 1HERB-1 1SRNS-1 1FLNG-1

17.00-18.30 EXTRA-.- EXTRA-.- EXTRA-.- EXTRA-. EXTRA

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- CHRM-.-. DADA-.-. HERB-.-.- SRNS-.- FLNG

23.00-1.00 -.-.-.-.-.- 1ASTR-1 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- EXTRA

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. ASTR

(. and - are used to keep all the scedule well organised and clear (this site doesn't support multiple spaces))