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𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙖 |𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙛𝙤𝙮 𝙭 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧|𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐭

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face, and Harry’s first thought was that this was not someone to cross. Yet she sported a warm gaze in her hard eyes. When her eyes landed on a few of the first years, her posture softened before turning back into a statue. Y/n knew from that moment he liked her. 

“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall,” said Hagrid, his voice a bit gruff.

“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” She pulled the door wide. Y/n gasped and took in the surroundings. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys’ house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. 

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor, their footsteps echoed, and Y/n smiled. He could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. 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.”

“The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its 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 House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.” “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.”

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville’s cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron’s smudged nose, and a young chubby red-headed girl’s messy hair. Y/n and Harry shared a glance and then nervously tried to flatten their hair.

“I shall return when we are ready for you,” said Professor McGonagall. “Please wait quietly.” She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. “How exactly do they sort us into Houses?” he asked Ron. “Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.” Y/n’s heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he or Harry didn’t know any magic yet — what on earth would they have to do? He hadn’t expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she’d learned and wondering which one she’d need.

Harry tried hard not to listen to her, while Y/n also went over what spells he might need and tried to remember the wand movement, but did it in his head. He’d never been more nervous, never, not even when he’d had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he’d somehow turned his teacher’s wig blue. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him and his brother to his doom.

Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed.

“What the — ?” He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. Y/n jumped into Harry, trying to avoid the ghosts that seemed to be arguing. 

What looked like a fat little monk was saying: “Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —”

“My dear Friar, haven’t we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he’s not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?”

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered. “New students!” said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. “About to be Sorted, I suppose?” A few people nodded mutely.

“Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!” said Friar. “My old House, you know.” Y/n smiled at the ghost as the Friar winked at him. 

“Move along now,” said a sharp voice. “The Sorting Ceremony is about to start.” Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

“Now, form a line,” Professor McGonagall told the first years, “and follow me.”

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Y/n got into line behind a boy with brown hair with the girl with auburn-hair behind him, and Ron was in front of him, and Harry was in front of Ron, behind a boy with sandy hair, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Y/n 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, Y/n looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He smiled and 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 didn’t simply open on to the heavens.

Y/n quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard’s hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn’t have let it in the house.

Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Y/n thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing — noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. 

Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began 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 whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

“So we’ve just got to try on the hat!” Y/n heard Ron whisper to Harry. “I’ll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll.”

Y/n smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Y/n didn’t feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a House for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.

Professor McGonagall now stepped 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,” she said. “Abbott, Hannah!” A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment’s pause — “HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Y/n saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her, and Y/n watched as older Hufflepuffs greeted and welcomed the girl.

“Bones, Susan!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah, and just like Hannah, the Hufflepuffs greeted and welcomed her as well. Throughout the ceremony, with each sorting of Hufflepuff, they would greet and welcome their new housemate. 

“Boot, Terry!”

“RAVENCLAW!”

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.  “Brocklehurst, Mandy” went to Ravenclaw too, but 

“Brown, Lavender” became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron’s twin brothers catcalling.

“Bulstrode, Millicent” then became a Slytherin. And Y/n watched as a few Slytherin’s greeted the girl and welcomed her to their house. Although some of the older students did look a bit unpleasant and bored. 

Y/n was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered how he and Harry were picked for teams during gym at his old school. And they’d always been last to be chosen, not because they were no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked them.

“Douglas, Charlie,” 

The brunette boy Y/n shared a boat and walked out from the crowd of first years. He looked nervous and glanced at the hat and gulped. He sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head and he jumped slightly, and his green eyes became wide. 

“SLYTHERIN!” 

The boy looked relieved and his shoulder relaxed and he smiled at the Slytherin table, he looked pleased and walked over to them. 

“Finch-Fletchley, Justin!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Sometimes, Y/n noticed, the hat shouted out the House at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. “Finnigan, Seamus,” the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

“Fawcett, Sarah,” 

A girl with tawny brown hair and eyes, strode up to the stool and sat down. 

“RAVENCLAW!!” Cheers from the Ravenclaw table sounded and she smiled widely before she jumped off the chair. 

“Granger, Hermione!”

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. “GRYFFINDOR!” shouted the hat. Ron groaned. Y/n clapped for her and gave her an encouraging smile. She smiled at him, before striding over to the Gryffindor table and sitting down next to a boy with the same ginger hair as Ron and his twin brothers. 

A horrible thought struck Y/n, as horrible thoughts always do when you’re very nervous. What if he wasn’t chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he’d better get back on the train?

When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, “GRYFFINDOR,” Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to: “Malfoy, Draco,” 

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, “SLYTHERIN!” Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren’t many people left now.

“Moon, Aurora,” . . . , “Nott, Theodore,” . . . , “Parkinson, Pansy,” . . . , then a pair of twin girls, “Patil, Padama” and “Patil, Parvarti,” . . . , then “Perks, Sally-Anne” . . . , and then, at last —

“Potter, Harry!” As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. 

“Potter, did she say?”

“The Harry Potter?”

“Where’s his brother, Y/n Potter?” 

“The Potter twins?” 

Y/n’s cheeks became inflamed as eyes in the Hall eyed his twin and started looking for him. There were only a few students after him and soon he would be sorted. Y/n watched as Harry shuffled over to the stole and the hat. He watched his brother speak to the hat for a few minutes before the hat shouted: “GRYFFINDOR!!” 

The Gryffindor table exploded in cheers as Harry smiled widely. He looked happy and relieved that he was put in Gryffindor, and he slipped the hat off his head and walked over to the table as the Gyffindor’s cheered and the Weasley twins shouted: “We got Potter!! We got Potter!!” and Harry had his hand shaken by a Weasley. 

“Potter, Y/n,” 

The hall became quiet again, and everyone’s eyes were trained on his form as Y/n gulped and walked off to the stool. He sat on the four-legged stool and blushed at the eyes that were on him. Professor McGongall sat the hat down on his head and he jumped at the voice that he heard in his head. 

“Ah! Potter! Unlike your brother, who would’ve done well in Slytherin, you do not. No, I see a heart full of loyalty, bravery, honesty . . . a heart of gold, eh? Kindness is flowing through your veins, just like your mother,” 

Y/n perked up at the mention of his mother and he felt his heart become heavy. 

“Yes, though you’ll do good in Gryffindor, I see more . . . . yes, that’s where I’ll put you,”  This time the hat spoke aloud and shouted: “HUFFLEPUFF!!!”

Authors Note:

I hope you enjoyed it though!! I was a bit offline for a bit due to me on vacation with zero internet access and I write on my chromebook, but I do have a few chapters already written and working on more!

I hope you enjoyed it though!! I was a bit offline for a bit due to me on vacation with zero internet access and I write on my chromebook, but I do have a few chapters already written and working on more!

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