The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, and perhaps the churning in his stomach, Harry looked up. Breath was drawn from him in a pitiful little gasp. The ceilings were high and dark and speckled so preciously with stars. Harry wondered if he could chart constellations in them. "They're enchanted to look like the night sky," Hermione whispered craning her head back and pressing their shoulders together a little.  "I read about it in Hogwarts a History." 