The Sorting Hat was waiting patiently on its stool while the Headmaster made a small speech to welcome the first years and explain to them the Sorting Ceremony. It had been waiting for a whole year, a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt. It had prepared a new song for this year, one of its bests – in all modesty. When its time came it recited it in its deep, parched voice, allowing itself a little improvisation toward the end. The applause was greatly satisfying.
However, the best part was still to come: nothing could compare to the actual sorting process. Each year, it combed through dozens of young minds, taking in their fears, their dreams, their desires, figuring out their essence and sending them to their new family. Even after all this time, the human mind still surprised it.
The first kid this year was a boy. The professor put it on his head and the Hat immediately felt refreshed: this kid was pure enthusiasm. It quickly found out why: he was Muggle-born and had just discovered his magical power a few weeks ago. Orphaned or abandoned, he’d only knew children’s home and foster families. He wasn’t sad, however: there were too much energy in his body and too many dreams in his mind for the sadness to grow.
Hogwarts was likely to become his real family, and the Sorting Hat was determined to put him in the right house. It seemed like a no-brainer, but it still took its time to explore the boy’s mind.
Caring, sharp-minded and ambitious, he could have integrated well in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. But he had the heart of a… rescue dog. Yes, that seemed like a fitting allegory. Brave to the point of being reckless, always ready to help, much too stubborn to admit his weaknesses. There was exactly one house that would be absolutely perfect for him:
– GRYFFINDOR!
***
Some years later.
The start of another term. Dozens of new students waiting to be sorted in the four houses. The Sorting Hat braced itself and began its sacred task. Falling on the small heads of the children, often covering their eyes completely, it reached deep inside their thoughts and send them to their rightful home.
The first ones went quickly. Several kids from old wizarding families, some younger siblings it generally sent to the same house as their older brothers and sisters. A few seconds each was enough to make a decision.
However, it finally encountered a little trickier case.
This one had a beautiful mind. If it had to chose one word to describe it, it would be “bright”. He would surely become someone people looked up to.
Now, where should I put you?
The point was to find the house where this boy could blossom into a great wizard and a great person. Somewhere he’d feel at home, but also somewhere he’d meet the challenge he needed to fulfill his potential. Honestly that wasn’t going to be a problem though, he’d do well anywhere. He was smart, and nice, and brave, and a bit cheeky. He was ambitious, eager for knowledge and power, impatient to meet people, make new friends, start the classes.
Still, he deserved to go to the house that suited him best.
Let’s dig a little more then.
The Sorting Hat focused and slowly sank deeper in the boy’s thoughts and memories.
It wasn’t always necessary to go there. Most of the time, a quick look at the child’s mind was enough. They came here full of thoughts, unguarded. Nine times out of ten, the first thing it heard when it was put on their head was the house they wished to go to, and more often than not they did end up there.
The anxious ones were more difficult, it had to find its way beneath their fears to see what actually mattered to them. Generally, under all that stress, it’d find sharp minds and caring hearts: a bad combination – anxiety wise.
This one was almost the opposite: under the sharp mind and caring heart, the Sorting Hat found a slight but stubborn fear, a fear of failure and loneliness, anchored to an unwavering will: DO GOOD. That boy wanted to do what was good, to succeed, to find the right path. That was his deepest desire.
The Sorting Hat smirked, having made its decision.
Alright then.
– GRYFFINDOR!
***
A couple of children passed and the Sorting Hat sent them to their new home without much difficulty. Lots of siblings from the older students. Most of the time, families stayed in the same house. Even though each individual was unique, the Sorting Hat could almost always guess when a child came from a famous big wizarding family: it knew the way their mind worked. Pureblood were the easiest to figure out, too much inbreeding maybe… They had very one-tracked minds.
Like this one.
The Sorting Hat frowned as it settled on the kid’s head. Just as it was about to peek at his thoughts, sharp words echoed in the young mind, so clear and cutting it was almost painful:
– You put me in Ravenclaw.
Not a wish, not a suggestion. Not even an order. Spoken like it was the absolute truth.
Well, that sounds like green and silver to me, the Sorting Hat thought.
– You’re sure? Slytherin c…
– Not Slytherin. I don’t care about their little games, I don’t have time for them. I have greater things to accomplish.
The Sorting Hat paused, baffled. In all the centuries it had combed through the minds of young wizards, that was the first time it’d heart that.
Honestly, that boy belonged in Slytherin, everything about him belonged in Slytherin. And a hard-core Slytherin at that. The Sorting Hat did not have a favorite or least favorite house, but it knew most of the dangerous wizards came from Slytherin. It was not its fault! The Four Founders had given it specific instructions about their selection criteria for students. Only Salazar did not mind the darkest souls joining his house. He’d let the Sorting Hat have a look at his mind once, to make it understand what he wanted from his students: drive. Whatever it came from, a big heart or a twisted desire, he didn’t care. He just wanted his future students to stop at nothing on their path to greatness. Salazar himself did have a twisted mind, but most Slytherins were good persons.
– Hey, you listening? the boy called in his head. What are you waiting for?
The Sorting Hat focused again. It hesitated, then instead of wandering on its own in the child thoughts, it decided to directly ask him:
– What is so important to you?
Something cold reached out to its conscience and the Sorting Hat almost winced. The boy was sending his own mind to communicate with it. That had never occurred. Humans could only passively interact with it: even when they talked to it, they were just thinking words in their head and it had to listen in and then send its answers. Until that day, only other magical artifacts had been able to actively reach out.
Then it saw. Ideas, projects, a mess of equations and figures, so much data it made it dizzy.
So much intelligence. Too much intelligence. Yes, maybe he was right, Slytherin might not be the best idea for this crazy genius. It would be way too dangerous – for everybody.
As much as it hated it, it could only accept that this child had no intention of finding a home in this place, he only wanted a place where his ideas could flourish. Luckily, there was one place that could maybe still accommodate him:
– RAVENCLAW.
***
The next child was another boy, and the Sorting Hat immediately frowned. Not because the boy was weird: thankfully, that one was a normal human being – well, certainly on the complicated side, but still okay. But because that boy was the previous one’s brother.
One of the first thing the Hat could find in a mind was their family and closest ones: loved or hated, they took a huge place in anyone’s head. However, nothing, absolutely nothing in the previous child’s mind suggested he had a brother.
That made the huge place his sibling took in this one’s heart very unsettling. He cared just as much as the other didn’t. Maybe even a little too much: his brother took more place in his mind than everyone else put together.
– Ravenclaw. Please, Ravenclaw. Please, please, please…
The Sorting Hat sighted.
Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were possible, but not Ravenclaw. Not that the boy wasn’t smart – he had good observation skills, a sound logical mind and an accurate memory –, but he was not the indoor type. If left too long in a library, he’d climb on the shelves, literally: according to his memories, it wouldn’t be a first.
Moreover, it was probably for the best that the two brothers got separated.
Alright then: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. What will suit you best?
The Sorting Hat was mildly concerned about his psychological state. The sunny Gryffindor from before could have fared well anywhere, even in adversity, but this one was a lot more fragile. He was just ten and already riddled with uncertainties. It took a look at his memories: fear, anger and pain filled the young mind. That was… unusual. Something was wrong about all this.
The Sorting Hat kept looking, trying to understand the boy, and it quickly found it.
Oh.
A bastard in a pureblood family. Yes, that explained the asymmetrical brotherly bond.
What else? What kind of person are you, little one?
Fights, lots of. But more often than not, he was the instigator. A small time bully amongst his peers.
He liked nature. Climbing trees, wandering in the forest, petting animals.
Nightmares. Long hours spent in the dark in his room, both dreading sleep and yearning for its soothing oblivion.
He had a brave heart and a kind soul, and both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would have profited greatly from his presence. But the pain had already sank in him and he had found his own way of coping. He had ambition. A drive, as strong as his body was frail. Nothing would stop him.
– SLYTHERIN!
***
This time it was a girl. Her mind was quite beautiful, a lot more peaceful than usual in children their age. And she was smart. It didn’t show at first, but as it drifted inside her head, it realized the extent of her knowledge. It was very organized too. Human brains made links, or rather they were links, billions of links. So it tended to be rather messy: completely different things associated for obscure reasons, ghosts of the trains of their thought, a muddle of ideas, concepts and memories.
But not hers. Her mind was very well organized, the information reaching a degree of exactitude almost inhuman.
She could be a Ravenclaw, yes. They’d like her. Would she like them? She was smart, but she was not driven but a thirst of knowledge. All that information in her mind was just a tool, in case she needed it at some point. She liked learning and she was curious, but that was not it. She wanted to do things, change things. She had all the qualities to become an outstanding leader.
– GRYFFINDOR!
***
One year later.
One of the first kid that year was a cheerful girl. Well, she could have a quick temper occasionally, but her heart was in the right place.
Her mind was warm and radiant, filled with positive energy. It wasn’t perfect, but it was earnestly kind. No hypocrisy: she liked who she liked, and there were few she disliked – she wouldn’t pretend otherwise but she’d never be mean to them either.
Apparently her mother ran the infirmary and she liked to stuck around and help out in any way she could. She had had her fair share of injuries too, being somewhat of a tomboy and loving to explore, climbing statues and running up and down the quidditch stands.
And she actually wanted to go to Slytherin? Oh, she was friend with the boy from last year, that made sense. But no, she was not a Slytherin, and she wouldn’t like it there. It was better for her to go to another house, one where she would blossom and where her sunny energy would keep growing. Her friend needed that radiating warmth.
Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?
She was courageous, almost reckless. But her friends and her family mattered most. She was not craving glory, knowledge or power, she just wanted to enjoy life with the people she loved. This world needed more people like her – a LOT more.
– HUFFLEPUFF!
***
Oh no.
It had thought last year was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Why was there another one already? And how could he be the little brother of that sweet Gryffindor boy? That was not how genetics were supposed to work.
This mind was frightening. It was not the same inhuman sociopathic intelligence than the weird genius it had sent to Ravenclaw last year, however.
Intelligence, yes.
Inhuman? No. It was very much human, in every one of its little twisted ways.
Sociopathic? Most definitely.
Obsessional in fact. His mind was almost empty, very few things seemed to matter enough to him to be granted a place in his thoughts. But the persons he… cared? – caring did not seem like the right word, but the Sorting Hat failed to find a more appropriate one – the persons he “cared” about had infinite priority in his eyes. And apparently, there was one in particular he had taken a liking to.
– I have to go to Slytherin!
They were both from pureblood families so it made sense they knew each other, however from the few memories it could access the Sorting Hat was positively sure they were not friends, barely acquaintances. They’d crossed path at a couple of parties and such, the last time being a few weeks ago. The little Slytherin had left a deep impression: the boy apparently decided he had saved him. It was a highly subjective interpretation however, to the Sorting Hat it looked more like the other boy jumped on the first excuse he found to fight. If he did save someone, it was more likely to have been the other kids – saved from that frightening mind’s cold vengeance.
Anyway, that boy was not going to Slytherin. Much too dangerous. If it could, it would have sent him to Gryffindor – that older brother of his seemed used to taking care of his devilish sibling. But that was really to much of a stretch, he didn’t have the slightest Gryffindoric feature.
Alright, crazy minds were for Ravenclaw. Hopefully they’d be the only ones smart enough not to mess with him.
I am very sorry, Rowena, the Hat apologized in advance.
– RAVENCLAW!