The Great Hall flickered with candlelight, and the hundreds of faces watching them looked like pale lanterns. Ghosts also mingled among the students, shimmering with a faint, silvery light.
Looking up, Felix saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with twinkling stars.
He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and not that the Great Hall was open to the night sky.
Professor McGonagall gently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of it, she put a pointed wizard's hat. The hat was patched, frayed, and extremely dirty. Felix knew this was the legendary Sorting Hat. He began to anticipate the classic scene—the Sorting Hat's annually changing song.
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..."
...
...
The song lasted for about five minutes. When the Hat had finished, the entire hall burst into thunderous applause.
However, Felix found he really couldn't appreciate the strange singing; he thought the applause just now had been rather insincere.
The Sorting Hat bowed to each of the four tables and then became still once more.
Next came the official Sorting.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails, whom Felix remembered from the original books as eventually marrying Neville, stumbled out of line. She put on the hat, which promptly fell right down over her eyes.
She sat down. A moment's pause—
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the Hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the Hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
...
"Granger, Hermione!"
After a few more names, it was Hermione's turn. The little girl practically ran to the stool, then looked back nervously.
Felix gave her an encouraging smile, which seemed to ease her tension slightly. She then hastily plopped the hat onto her head.
This time, the Sorting Hat didn't call out a house immediately. It seemed to stall for two or three seconds before reluctantly uttering, "RAVENCLAW!"
It appeared Hermione and the Hat had engaged in quite a mental conversation, and the little girl had successfully persuaded it to change its decision.
"Excellent!" Felix clapped enthusiastically.
This wasn't just because Hermione had successfully been sorted into Ravenclaw; it also signified that the "plot" was not unchangeable, and perhaps even meant that the "destiny" represented by the "plot" didn't exist.
The students at the second table from the left applauded. Cho Chang and Marietta stood up to welcome Hermione among them.
The Sorting Hat called out many more names, and the crowd of first-years gradually thinned.
When it was Neville's turn, the chubby boy ran off towards the Gryffindor table with the Hat still on his head, completely forgetting to take it off, which caused a good deal of laughter.
Finally...
"Chance, Felix!"
This distinctive name caught the attention of the young witches and wizards. Felix walked confidently out of the crowd, under the gaze of everyone present, and approached the Sorting Hat.
He was wearing his "Clock Tower" style robes. The sleek, handsome design of the robes, so different from the dark, old-fashioned robes of the other young wizards, combined with his striking appearance, caused a stir of admiration and discussion among the students—especially the girls. The boys wanted to know where such fine robes came from, while the girls were more interested in who this remarkably handsome person was.
Felix took the Sorting Hat in his hand. Its greasy texture made him acutely aware of how dirty it was. Coupled with the musty odor emanating from it, it felt as if he were holding a rotten orange; he desperately wanted to throw it away immediately.
Suppressing his disgust, Felix placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
The moment it touched his head, the Sorting Hat let out a loud exclamation, startling all the students and teachers at Hogwarts.
"How peculiar! This is the first time I've been unable to see into a new student's thoughts!" a comical voice echoed in Felix's mind. "In your head, I see only a chaotic, shifting world. What have you done?"
"I don't know either," Felix replied mentally, feigning ignorance. But he realized that his experiences and trials in the trans-dimensional passage had not only granted him the ability for infinite progress and a talent for time and space but perhaps also a resilient and inscrutable soul.