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The Sorting Hat
The Sorting Hat
You're a first year, along with a group of others. You've just got off the Hogwarts Express and were ushered by the Keeper of the Keys, Game and Grounds onto a boat lit with a single lantern. The lanterns on each boat light up the faces of those aboard, showing mixed emotions. Some first years are excited, some are nervous, others are completely neutral to everything around them. Your boat floats across the glossy surface of the lake, cutting into the water and shattering its glass-like stillness.
You close your eyes and you're suddenly standing in front of the door to the Great Hall. You're too nervous to look around the room. Or perhaps you're just too busy being bored or are in complete overload of everything you've seen thus far?
The Keeper of the Keys, Game and Grounds stands before you, "In a moment, you will be led into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. Every student must do this. It is a tradition, here at Hogwarts. Your house will act as a family to you, doing everything you do. They will attend the same classes as you, you will share the same House dormitory, and you will even spend your free time with your House."
It doesn't matter now what you're feeling because the doors to the Great Hall open. You are now faced with a room filled with witches and wizards such as yourself, sitting at four separate tables, each with distinct and differing colors.
The only difference from those witches and wizards to yourself? You haven't been sorted yet.
You walk down the aisle in between the tables to the raised area in which the teachers are sitting, waiting and examining the incoming first years. You look up at the enchanted ceiling; it's dark and slightly cloudy, just like outside, you suddenly remember.
You stand among your group at the front of the Great Hall, before all to see, including a hat placed on a rickety, old stool. The hat looked as ancient as the stool, tattered and sewn up on multiple places. Suddenly, the hat changes, forming two eyes and a mouth with the folds and tears of its cloth. It begins to sing.
Oh you may not think me 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 folks 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!
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 folks 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 Deputy Headmaster stands beside the now silent hat, holding a scroll in his hand. He unravels the scroll and calls out the first name.
It's you.
You step up each step, the whole place watching you closely. You can feel everyone's eyes on your back as you approach the stool. The Deputy Headmaster lifts the hat and waits for you to be seated before placing the hat on your head.
What house will you be placed into?
