The Sorting Hat

A tall, black-haired witch, who I know for a fact to be Minerva McGonagall, opens the door. She doesn't look mean but she doesn't look like the kind of person I'd love to get in trouble with either.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." says Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She opens the door wider and has us follow her through the big entrance hall down the floor into a small, empty chamber at the end of the hall. We all crowd into the small space trying not to step on each others feet.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." she says "The start-of-the-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." I can feel the anxiety crawl through my bones "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

This is actually really concerning... will I even be able to spend time with my friends or am I just going to be stuck with Malfoy and his army of evil fuckers the entire time? For the first time I hope to be sorted into Gryffindor. I don't want to lose my friendship to Harry or Hermione...

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has it's own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

That sounds a lot like a way of simply keeping students under control. Be boring and you'll be rewarded with a great honour.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." she gives a few judgemental looks into the crowd.

The other kids begin to mumble amongst each other, about how exactly the ceremony would work but I close my eyes. Hufflepuff, yes. Ravenclaw, yes. Gryffindor, yes. Slytherin? NO! Absolutely not. I stare at the stupid snake ring oh I'd be such a great Slytherin... sure. I'm assuming Isaac secretly hated me or he wouldn't have been so convinced. Death eaters, murderers, traitors, MALFOY. That's really not what I want, it's really not... I am not a Slytherin!

I keep repeating that to myself. Just again and again, trying to convince myself and later on the sorting hat. I try to erase the month of wanting to be sorted into Slytherin out of my brain. That weird obsession with Malfoy made me do it in the first place. Stupid Draco Malfoy. My thoughts are interrupted by screams and I open my eyes.

A whole bunch of ghosts just stream in through the black wall. They almost ignore us completely as they're arguing amongst each other, about a ghost named Peeves. Except they say it's not really a ghost.

"What are you all doing here?" One of the ghosts notices us.

We all stay silent.

"New students!" says the other, they called him Friar "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few of us nod.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" he says "My old house, you know." I hope so too...

"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony's about to start." say McGonagall sharply as she returns into the room.

I watch the ghosts as they exit through the wall.

"Now form a line, and follow me."

Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, please not Slytherin. We follow her into the Great Hall. My thoughts are screaming NOT SLYTHERIN but another voice is screaming YES SLYTHERIN. It's the weird feeling I've had since my first day of consciousness, that Draco Malfoy meant the world to me. I hate that feeling. I hate Malfoy.

Now, I've seen the Great Hall before, in some of my smaller visions as well as the bigger ones where it's been completely destroyed but looking around I am more fascinated than expected. It really is amazing. Experiencing Hogwarts in flesh, actually walking down the hall, it's overwhelming. Candles are floating above us, and beneath the ceiling which looks exactly like the night sky, filled with millions of stars. The four long tables are set exactly like the ones in the hotel, with golden plates and goblets. Seated at them are all the other Hogwarts students.

Fred and George Weasley flash me a smile as we walk past them and I do my best to smile back even though the nervousness, creeping through my veins, makes me feel like I might lose control over my bladder at any given moment
Fred and George Weasley flash me a smile as we walk past them and I do my best to smile back even though the nervousness, creeping through my veins, makes me feel like I might lose control over my bladder at any given moment.

McGonagall leads us up to the fifth table, where all the teachers are seated. I nervously try to avoid eye contact with Quirrell who stares at me viciously. If he kills me before my first class I will haunt the fuck out of him.

Professor McGonagall silently places a stool in front of us and on it the old, dirty, patched up wizard's hat.

I can see the confusion in the faces of some of my classmates but their silence it quickly interrupted by the sorting hat, which now is beginning to sing:
I can see the confusion in the faces of some of my classmates but their silence it quickly interrupted by the sorting hat, which now is beginning 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,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry,

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin,

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means,

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The hat bows in front of us as a response to the outburst of applause.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispers next to me "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

I giggle quietly. Wait, giggle? Disgusting.

McGonagall steps 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. Abbott, Hannah!" she calls the first girl.

A blonde girl with pigtails, pink in the face stumbles forward, puts the hat on her head, sits down and then after a moment of silence is sorted into "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Apophis, Nia."

"SLYTHERIN!" shouts the hat.

I look up to see a blonde girl walk towards the cheering Slytherin table, admittedly, not everyone over there looks like a complete prick. STOP yes they do.

She is greeted by cheering from the Hufflepuff table.

Susan Bones is sorted into Hufflepuff as well.

Terry Boot and the girl from our boat, Mandy Brocklehurst are sorted into Ravenclaw.

A girl named Lavender Brown is the first to be sorted into Gryffindor.

Millicent Bulstrode is sorted into Slytherin.

Justin Finch-Fletchley barely even sat down before being sorted into Hufflepuff, meanwhile a boy called Seamus Finnigan sat on the chair for an entire minute before being sorted into Gryffindor.

As I expected, Hermione is sorted into Gryffindor which is followed by a quiet grown from Ron.

Aidan Hubbard sits on the chair for two full minutes before finally being sorted into Slytherin.

I can see the concern growing in Harry's eyes as he watches everyone being sorted.

"Hey, you'll be fine." I say to him. He doesn't look convinced.

Neville is also sorted into Gryffindor.

Draco Malfoy is sorted into Slytherin before the hat even completely touches his head, of course.

A few more kids, Montgomery, Mullins, Notts, Parkinson are sorted into Slytherin as well.

Then it's time for Harry to be sorted. A few students whisper as his name is announced and nervously he shuffles up to the hat. The hat takes it's time to decide, I can see Harry concentrating,

"Not Slytherin, eh?" asks the hat "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that... no? Well, if you're sure, better be GRYFFINDOR!" the loudest cheer so far fills the hall.

Wait that worked? Okay... I keep repeating everything but Slytherin in my head, waiting to be sorted.

As expected, Ron goes on to be sorted into Gryffindor as well.

Then it's my turn. "Wilderwald, Haven." Not Slytherin. I take the hat. Not Slytherin. I put it on my head, not Slytherin, and go to sit down on the stool.

"Hmmm, difficult, very difficult. I see ambition, plenty of courage... intelligent, aren't you-" NOT SLYTHERIN "Now..." STOP IGNORING ME AND SAY I'M NOT IN SLYTHERIN "I cannot do that." the hat responds to my thoughts. Are you kidding me? "No. Now... you would do great in Ravenclaw I bet but you know where I see you." No. "SLYTHERIN!" NO. As with the other Slytherins there are a few boos coming from the other tables.

I am startled as I take the stupid hat off and roughly place it back on the stool. My ears are ringing as I walk down the hall towards the Slytherin table. Malfoy looks about as angry as I am. My cheers are quiet, I'm assuming they caught on to the fact I was trying to convince the hat to put me in any other house.

I sit down next to the tall, black haired boy, Aidan Hubbard and just place my head in my hands, avoiding eye-contact with everybody. An older girl however reaches me her hand, smiling friendly "Welcome to Slytherin. I'm Gemma Farley, the Slytherin Prefect." I force myself to smile and shake her hand "hi." She goes on to shake another boy's hand, the last one to be sorted.

"So-" says Aidan staring at me with piercing blue eyes "You must be the mudblood I heard that bratty blonde boy, Malfoy complain about for half of the train ride." the word mudblood doesn't sound as much as an insult as simply a quote.

"That would be me, yes." I say "I also go by Haven though."

He smiles "I go by Aidan. Nice to meet you." He shakes my hand.

"Bratty Blonde Boy. I like that." I say to him.

"I am the master of fitting alliterations. Anyways, that whole mudblood thing really is stupid. I don't see what the big deal is."

Wait... is this Slytherin boy... nice?

"My mother comes from a long line of pure-bloods." he explains "Then went on to marry my muggle father. Nobody had any complaints. At least not in our family. Other pure-bloods were furious. Said that my grandparents should erase my mother from the family. We were a huge target after that, you know, Voldi target. Made it through but really... nothing wrong with muggles."

"Voldi?"

He laughs "Yes, my father calls him that and it kind of carried over to me. I used to be really scared of him but that name made it better. Imagine being killed by Voldi. I'd laugh myself to death."

I laugh "I'm stealing that."

"All yours. Anyways, what I wanted to say, if you need help with school stuff because you obviously didn't grow up with it, I can definitely help you."

"Oh no, it's fine. I read all the books. That isn't necessary."

"Well, I could use a study buddy myself. It's more of a one hand washes the other situation, really."

A skinny Asian boy, with thick curls and black eyes, sitting next to Aidan suddenly says "I need study buddies too, if I'm being honest. I'm really good in Herbology, if you guys need help with that, y'know." he has a terrible mumble and I have to listen carefully to understand a word he's saying.

"Oh, uhm I'm Elijah Montgomery by the way. I'm from a pure-blood family but no judgement though. Where my family's from the whole blood thing really isn't that serious. We're from Vietnam y'know, but the school here is just better. Or so I've been told. In Asia we only have a Magic School in Japan, and I heard they're the best Quidditch players over there, but maybe a little too serious. Anyways my grandparents really wanted my parents to go to Hogwarts so they came here. Best decision, if you ask me. This place is awesome." he sure talks a lot for someone whose only way of talking is mumbling quietly.

"If you guys are starting a study group, I want in.", says a girl with a thick, British accent. She has dark brown skin, shiny green eyes and her face is framed by black curls, with some curly bangs falling into her eyes. "Meaning, if youre any good."

"Well, I sure as hell am the best at potions." says Aidan "been studying the potions book back and forth and could easily brew all the potions. I can show you guys how its done correctly."

"And Im really good at charms. Plus I have memorized every beast in the Fantastic Beasts book." I decide to go along with the whole study group idea.

The girl shrugs "Good. I know everything there is to know about the defence against the dark arts. I'm Lorinda by the way." She introduces herself.

"Didn't hear anyone mention transfigurations yet." Says a short skinny boy, with long blonde hair. "I'm really into that."

Aidan laughs, "Looks like weve got ourselves a study group."

"We're missing Astrology, History of Magic and Flying." Elijah mumbles.

"Oh that's simple." Says Lorinda.

I nod "Besides, flying isn't something we could study anyways."

Aidan laughs, "Imagine if we had exams in flying a broom."

"The theory has to be quite interesting though. I mean how does a broom actually work." Says the blonde boy.

"I bet its just like a giant wand." Says Elijah.

"I read somewhere, they're just enchanted." I say.

"They have various spells cast on them, actually. Even cushioning charms and all." Adds Aidan.

Our conversation is interrupted by Albus Dumbledore greeting us new students "Welcome!" he says. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" he sits back down and everybody claps and cheers.

"Well, oddment sure was fitting." I whisper.

Aidan laughs and begins filling his golden plate with food that I could swear hasn't been there a second ago. I turn to catch a peak at Harry, who looks at the food with an open mouth.

The amounts of meat sure make me uncomfortable but then I spot the most delicious looking fries ever and decide to fill my plate with those and a good amount of ketchup.

"I wonder how they do that..." says Lorinda examining the food.

"Isn't that a thing, that just happens in wizarding households?" I ask her.

As a responds she laughs "Well, I wouldn't know. My mom's a muggle and my father, well I don't know what he did in his years at Hogwarts but it definitely wasn't paying attention. That man knows less about magic than I do and I'm eleven." she tries some of her baked potatoes.

"Oh, it's a simple conjuring spell. Easier than carrying it all down from the kitchen." says the blonde boy with his mouth already stuffed.

A ghost pops his head through Elijah's plate and he lets out a silent shriek. The ghost, which I've seen hanging around Malfoy before turns to look at me and flies towards me, still only his head sticking out of the table. Once he arrives at the table he rises up, towering above me "A muggleborn in Slytherin, I heard?"

I return his stare with his face flying closer to mine "Salazar Slytherin would hate to see this, wouldn't he." He laughs loudly.

"I don't care what Salazar Slytherin would think." I say coolly.

"Oh no! Don't get me wrong. I couldn't care less about your blood. I am dead what does it matter to me." He points at the big silvery blood stain on his clothes then flies away.

I'm taken aback by the ghost's indifference.

"That was the Bloody Baron. He's the Slytherin ghost." explains the prefect, Gemma.

"Ah." I say.

"I'm telling you, except for those death-eater freaks over there-" Aidan points into Malfoys direction "Nobody cares about your blood."

"It's true, you know, my parents are still friends with muggleborns they met in their Hogwarts years. And we are one of the oldest pure-blood families." says the blonde boy.

I'm still trying to remember him being sorted since he hasn't introduced himself to us personally.

"Absolutely no big deal." confirms Elijah.

I'd like to believe them but since the Bloody Baron shouted out the condition of my blood even more of the older Slytherins were flashing me angry looks. "Oh yeah... no big deal." I say and stare down at my plate.

"I still can't believe the actual Harry Potter is going to school with us." Aidan suddenly says, staring over at the Gryffindor table. I follow his look to see Harry happily talking to the other Gryffindors. Hermione seems to be invested in a conversation with Percy Weasley, the prefect. God I miss them already.

My eyes wander over to Fred Weasley who's laughing with his brother. When he notices me staring at him he winks at me and signs me with his finger to wait for something. He pulls out his wand with the raise of his wand, producing a white light, a spider appears in his hand. George looks confused but Fred points at me and George laughs. With another wand movement Fred makes the spider disappear. Then he grins widely and turns his head away to continue his conversation with his friends.

I turn back to my own table. "I really don't know why it's that big of a deal." says Lorinda.

"Why?" Aidan asks in disbelief "The dark lord himself was scared of him when he was just a baby. I'd say that's a pretty big deal."

I laugh at this stupid conspiracy theory.

"Got something to say, Wilderwald?" Aidan asks.

"He didn't scare him off, genius." I say.

"And how would you know that?"

"Voldi tried to kill him. That's how he got the scar in the first place."

"Yes and it didn't work so he got scared."

"Please." I scoff "A part of Voldemort was destroyed that night. That's why he disappeared. Not because he was scared."

"So Harry Potter is special because he managed to kill him?"

I roll my eyes "He didn't kill him. He weakened him. And it wasn't Harry who did that. It was a protective spell."

"Wait what?" Aidan and the others seem surprised "Where did you hear something like that?"

"Isn't that... like... common knowledge?" I ask.

They all shake their head "We know barely anything. All we know is, that it was Harry Potter who made you-know-who disappear. The rest are all rumours." explains Lorinda.

"Oh... well then, never-mind." I say trying to get out of this situation.

"No way, never-mind. How would you know something like that?" asks the blonde one.

"I... heard it somewhere... in, uhm, Diagon Alley."

"Wait, Malfoy mentioned you were friends with Potter. Did he tell you yourself?" Aidan asks.

Before I can respond Elijah interrupts "You're friends with Harry Potter?"

I shrug "Kind of, yes. Listen, it's not a big deal."

"Sounds like a pretty big deal to me." says Lorinda.

I open my mouth to deny but luckily our conversation is cut short by Dumbledore and the hall falls silent.

"Ahem, just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." I follow his look to see that those older students are the Weasley twins, who grin at this remark.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." as if anyone follows this rule...

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." A few students, including Harry laugh but it's simple to see, Dumbledore isn't joking.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cries Dumbledore."Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go!"

The older students all begin to sing, very much not in a choir:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot."

The song ends about thirty different times with only the Weasley twins still singing along to a very slow funeral march. Once their finally finished, they're faces turn into proud grins.

"Ah, music." Dumbledore says, wiping his eyes "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Us first years follow Gemma out of the Great Hall, over a long hallway and then down a flight of stone steps. The passages are growing darker and darker, the further we follow Gemma into the school.

"How are we ever supposed to remember the way?" Aidan whispers.

"No idea." I admit.

We finally come to a stop in front of a damp stone wall.

"Now remember-" Gemma says "The password to the common-room is Antipodean Opaleye. You'll do good remembering that." she turns to the wall and repeats the password and the stone door, concealed in the wall slides open.

The common room looks exactly how I envisioned it. I stare out of the windows into the black lake almost expecting to see one of the merpeople to swim by. The other Slytherins are already hanging out in the leather sofas and talking about their summers.
"Now-" says Gemma, "welcome to your common room. Your dorms are just down there." She points at two staircases "The girls dorms are upstairs, and the boys dorms are downstairs."
She pulls out a roll of parchment "When I read your names, you will go into your assigned dormitory, your things are already there. You'd do best going staright to bed, classes begin bright and early at nine, and breakfast starts at half past seven. You will find your class schedules on your beds. Now, the boys first. The fourth door to the right leads to the dorm of Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini."
The four boys wander off to the stairs.
" Third door to the left, Aidan Hubbard, Elijah Montgomery and Theodore Nott."
Aidan and Elijah give us a quick nod and follow the boy Theodore to the stairs.
"Alright for the girls, Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, you have the second door on the left."
They walk off.
"Which leaves Nia Apophis, Lorinda Mullins, Pansy Parkinson and Haven Wilderwald... it's the third door on the right for you."
I follow Lorinda upstairs.
She opens the door "Oh wow, this is incredible!"

It really is. On the walls, decorated with Slytherin crest and medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins, stand four ancient four-poster beds, covered in green silk hangings. Each has a wooden nightstand by its side and our trunks are indeed already placed at the end of each of our beds. Silver lanterns hanging from the ceiling fill the otherwise green-lit room with warm light.

"I can't believe it actually worked." whispers the blonde kid we talked to during the feast.

"Aren't you a boy?" aks Pansy coldly.

"No. My name's Nia by the way."

Oh right, that's why I didn't recognize her. Apophis, she was the first to be sorted and I only caught a glimpse of her back.

"Whatever." shrugs Pansy and crawls into the bed assigned to her.

"It's... unexpectedly cozy." says Lorinda inspecting the wooden floor covered in green carpets.

"I know, right?" says Nia, already pinning a picture of her family onto the wooden board next to her bed.

I run my fingers over the wooden bookshelf next to my bed. There's some old books standing in it, but it leaves enough space for all of my schoolbooks for at least seven years.

Just like the others, I sit down on my bed and start examining my timetable.

"Ugh, great." growns Pansy "Our first class is potions with the Gryffindors. Great way to ruin the week before it's even started."

"You got a problem with Gryfindor?" I ask.

"Infested with Weasleys, Mudbloods, half breeds. It's disgusting. But I reckon you'd feel right at home." She spits out each word.

"You're too kind, Parkinson." I roll my eyes.

"All I'm saying is, you shouldn't get too comfortable. I already promised Draco to make your life hell." she gives me an evil grin.

"Good luck trying." interrupts Lorinda.

"Yeah. Bet you can't even conjur one spell?" says Nia.

"You can stay out of this." says Pansy to Nia "I don't have a problem with pure-bloods. It's the half-breed and the filthy mudblood, who'd better watch their steps."