Maybe a Hufflepuff

-Your POV-

Hermione, Ron and Harry had told Y/N everything she could possibly need to know - from the Sorting Hat ceremony, over the headmaster's speech all the way to what would happen afterwards - yet she felt like she was being pushed into cold water.

All students except for the First Year's had been ordered to make their way to the Great Hall, Y/N looked after her newly found friends (were they friends?) as she wasn't sure what to do.

Now she was standing next to 11 year olds, listening to an older witch who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, explaining to everyone the basic rules. The young students were all basic uniforms. Y/N wasn't given one and in her normal clothes she felt even more out of place.

The professor's eyes glid over the group until she stopped at Y/N. The witch raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't you a bit too old to be a First Year?"

Now all the small children were staring at her as well.

"Yes, I'm a transfer student. I-"

"Oh!" Professor McGonagall's eyes lit up. "Oh, you can go ahead to the Great Hall. Just take a seat and wait until I call your name."

Y/N was relieved that she got to get away from the group and hurried after the last few students who were disappearing in the distance.

But as soon as she entered the Great Hall, her steps slowed down.

"Amazing," she muttered to herself.

Four endlessly long tables led to a podium, hundreds of candles were floating under the ceiling. If you can even call that a ceiling. It almost looked like everyone was sitting under the open night sky.

The tables were decked with hundreds of pieces of silverwear, suggesting that they were about to enjoy more food than any amount of students could ever eat and somewhere faint music was playing.

Once she had taken in the beauty, she looked around to find a place to sit.

But where?

Luckily, she didn't have to search for long.

"Y/N!" She heard someone call her name through the mess of voices and looked over at Hermione, waving.

Y/N walked towards the three, feeling slightly awkward as she felt eyes on her.

"Sit down." For the second time today, Hermione offered her a seat, this time to her left and Y/N didn't hesitate.

She looked around the group of unfamiliar faces. Some Gryffindor students were curiously scanning her, others didn't care. She preferred the latter.

"Are you nervous?" the girl asked.

"Hm? Yeah, kind of."

"You'll be fine," Ron said nonchalantly. "We already put bets on your house."

"What? Bets?"

But at that moment, the door of the Great Hall opened once more and Professor McGonagall came through, the First Year's following her down the middle path between the tables. She ordered them to wait in front of the podium and picked up the Sorting Hat.

Then she explained the process and began sorting each student. Whenever a house gained a new wizard or witch, the whole table started cheering.

Y/N followed the process until her thoughts started drifting away. Before she even knew what she was doing, she turned around to the Slytherin table, searching for Draco.

With his exceptionally light hair, he wasn't hard to spot.

He had his face rested on one hand, his eyes lazily watched the professor.

He was bored.

Y/N looked at the students sitting close to him, trying to memorize their faces as they must be his friends.

"This year Hogwarts also welcomes a transfer student, something we don't get to do often."

Hermione grabbed Y/N's shoulder who flinched slightly, shaken out of her thoughts.

"A fifth-year student from Ilvermorny will be joining one of our houses."

Professor McGonagall looked at her piece of parchment.

"Y/N?"

Hearing her name, the girl stood up with a nervous whiz in her stomach.

Ron whispered something behind her. "Let's go Gryffindor!" It was a sweet gesture but only added additional pressure.

As Y/N walked down towards the podium, she felt all eyes lying on her. All of them. The blue windbreaker she was still wearing, made a faint rustling sound.

A windbreaker inside an old castle. What was she thinking?

As she took the two or three steps, she quickly glanced over the teachers and staff. Everyone seemed to be highly interested in what was about to happen.

Y/N knew that transfers were not very common and unlike everyone else here who grew up in their houses, she'd be thrown into a situation with other peers who were so awfully used to representing their little community.

Yes, Ilvermorny had houses too but no matter how hard she tried, she barely could remember anything. All memories were so faint and far and unfamiliar. Like there was another voice living inside her head, one who wanted to keep to itself.

Professor McGonagall seemed to notice Y/N's nerves and gave her a reassuring smile as the girl sat down.

She took a last look at the Great Hall. Four tables. Four houses. The guys said she'd belong to Gryffindor, Hermione sensed Hufflepuff.

'Please, let's just get this over with!'

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see how she was being watched. She felt the hat on her head, it was moving slightly.

"Hmm...curious."

Y/N took a deep breath, waiting for the answer but the Sorting Hat stayed quiet, only letting out hmms and huhs.

Seconds passed and she heard how some students started murmuring.

The girl was about to have a full blown panic attack when suddenly, the Sorting Hat yelled, louder than necessary.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Y/N's eyes shot open, the far right table started cheering and Professor McGonagall removed the hat.

Y/N tried her hardest to hide the surprise and looked over to the Gryffindors she was sitting with just a minute ago. Their faces were filled with disbelief.

She got up from the chair and with shaking legs, she walked over to her table. A girl around her age waved her over and offered the chair next to her. Y/N took a seat as all conversations slowly died down again, making space for the head master's speech

'What the hell just happened?'