43
The first feast
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Everyone on Lionpaw table welcomes you with shouts of unrestrained joy.

"Well done Arthur!" yells Alex Bleezeley, looking none the worse for his crash landing. "You're in the best House now!" He and his brother Robert Bleezeley pound your back vigorously.

The children around the table spontaneously break into the Lionpaw House chant, prancing around and shadow boxing some imaginary foe.

"South paw, North paw, we score, Lionpaw!"

You have a huge grin on your face and it only gets wider when - the rest of the House Sorting complete - Slumblebore magically conjures up an incredible feast for dinner.

From out of thin air materializes platters of roast beef and boiled sprouts, Yorkshire pudding and mashed turnips, shepherds pie and boiled broccoli, toad in the hole and boiled potatoes, bubble and squeak and boiled carrots, apple crumble with strawberry ice cream, and spotted dick drowning in custard.

"Shepherds pie, my favourite!" Aaron Bleezeley, a boy who was also chosen for Lionpaw House, licks his lips.

In a rite of initiation all the first years crack open the eggs they received from Percy the Picking Pigeon and guzzle the contents raw.

You and Aaron, raw egg running down your chins, grin at each other, and you are certain you will be best friends.

Then you eat more than you have ever eaten before, enjoying yourself immensely. You wonder if Slumblebore is somehow making the food magically disappear after it enters your stomach, in a similar way to how he made the food appear on the table. But finally you realise you can't cram anything more into your belly, and let out a huge belch.

"Children!" Slumblebore stands, his beard streaked with mashed turnips and the odd boiled potato. He raises his hands for silence. "Children! Now we have eaten our fill it is time for bed. Prefects lead the students to the House towers. And remember: the dungeons are off limits this term. We don't know what's down there, and neither do we want to."

The children rise to their feet, clutching their distended tummies, and prepare to leave the hall.

You turn to Aaron Bleezeley and say: