Assess and Reflect Read the following excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Then write a brief
paragraph summarizing your observations and analysis of the setting it describes.
Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by
thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables
where the rest of the students were sitting. These 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, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with 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 that the Great Hall didnt
simply open on to the heavens