7
Pigeon holed
🐦

You elbow your way to the front of the queue. You can't wait to see what will happen next!

"Arthur Otley" says Slumblebore, "as you are first in line, please go down into the hole."

You feel very excited and a bit nervous. What amazing things could be down there? Will you have to do a test to get into a House? Fight a monster perhaps? Fight this mysterious singing Percy?

You carefully go down the steps into the darkness. You descend until all you can see above you is a circle of light and the noise of the hall fades to nothing.

"Hello? Percy?"

No answer.

Then: "Coo coo come closer, so I can see you better!"

The voice emerging from the blackness in front of you has a strange high pitched musical quality to it. Fear closes your throat and you are rooted to the spot. Then... ouch! Something has bitten you on the bum! You see a small spider dropping off your robes and scurrying away into the darkness.

The pain in your bum gets you moving. You slowly walk forwards.

As you get closer you can just make out two round yellow eyes staring back at you, and between them a large... beak? Is Percy some kind of monster? It doesn't look or sound dangerous...

Your eyes adjust to the dark and you realise that you are staring at a gigantic pigeon, that's as tall as you are, even sitting down.

"Who are you?" you ask.

"Coo coo I'm Percy the Picking Pigeon and I will choose your house for you coo coo! Look into my eyes Arthur, look into my eyes..."

You stare into the yellow eyes of the pigeon which seem to grow until they become the entire world.

"Coo coo, well, you are brave Arthur to come here first," says Percy. "Ambitious perhaps, and clever too. You could be a Lionpaw fighting for the truth. Or a Snakefang rising to the top. Or a Ravenwing mastering the secrets of the universe. But certainly not a cowardly Hedgehog House. Coo coo."

As Percy the Picking Pigeon probes your mind, you concentrate with all your being, repeating to yourself: