Chapter - 34 : The Sorting Hat's Decision

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ofessor McGonagall stepped forwards again. She set a stool down in front of us, and on top of it, she placed a ripped, frayed, worn, and dirty old wizard's hat. There was a wide rip near the brim. The thing looked like it passed older than dirt two centuries back and was now being held together by hope and prayer.

Then the rip opened up like a mouth and the hat started 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 Hufflepuffis 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!"

"I'll kill Fred!" I heard Ron growl as the Great Hall burst into applause. "We just have to try on a hat; he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Seemingly out of nowhere – which wouldn't be much of a surprise, really – Professor McGonagall produced a piece of parchment and moved to stand behind the stool.

"When I call your name," she announced, "you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be Sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

The girl with blonde pigtails stumbled forwards. The hat slipped over her eyes, and after a moment, the brim opened up again and announced, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hannah took off the hat and hustled over to a table where the Fat Friar was waving merrily in welcome.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

I listened absently to the sorting. I assumed that even if I didn't know everyone's names after this then I'd have seven years to get to know them, so I wasn't terribly concerned about who my year mates were.

What I was concerned about was where I was going to end up. And more importantly, where I was going to end up in relation to Harry. I couldn't imagine going without him for a day when we'd spent almost every minute together since before we were born. We'd gone from sharing a womb to sharing a nursery to sharing a closet. I'd never actually had to sleep in a bed by myself before, strange as it sounded, but it seemed that was over. The very idea made me nearly tremble with loneliness, and also a little bit of fear.

I wasn't exactly fond of the darkness. Dim lights weren't a problem, but I was terrified by the pitch blackness of night. When I was in a lighted place staring out into darkness, it didn't bother me so much. When I had someone with me I was okay as well. That's why I'd never had much trouble sleeping before. With the comforting presence of my twin brother pressed against my back or side, it was easy. No matter what houses we ended up in, that was over and done with.

"Granger, Hermione."

I looked up at the familiar name. With a cry of "GRYFFINDOR!" Hermione skipped off to join the Gryffindor table.

"Longbottom, Neville!" drew laughs when he ran off to join Hermione with the hat still on his head. He had definitely not made the best first impression when he sheepishly trooped back to the stool to replace the Sorting Hat.

"Malfoy, Draco!" became a "SLYTHERIN!" almost the moment the hat touched his head. Lily Moon, Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson joined him. The Patil twins were up next. Parvati went to Gryffindor table and Padma joined Ravenclaw house.

I bit my lip. After seeing Fred and George together in Gryffindor I guess I had subconsciously assumed that twins stayed together, despite the fact that there was no reason that would be true. Seeing the Patil twins separated, and the uncertain looks on their faces as they went off to different tables, was like a punch of reality straight to the gut.

I reached out sharply, grabbing Harry's hand in a vice-grip. He looked at me, surprised, but saw the look on my face. It was a mix of fear and stoniness, I imagined.

He immediately hissed, "What's wrong?"

"We'll stay together no matter what happens," I whispered back vehemently. "No matter what house we go to, we'll stay twins?"

Harry's eyes were wide – he was clearly worried about it too. He didn't seem to have the nervous feeling of anticipation that I did curled in my gut, like something bad was about to happen. He seemed surprised by how intense I was being about this.

Maybe I was getting a bit worked up, but the fact was, Harry was all I had. In my fight against the Dursleys he was my only ally. At school, he was the only one I could count on to stick up for me. And while logically I knew I'd meet other people here at Hogwarts, make enemies, make friends, I still wanted to cling to that old feeling of 'us against the world' because I knew it. It was safe. I knew how that felt.

"Sally-Anne Perks!" became a "HUFFLEPUFF!" and then it was time.

"Potter, Harry!"

Whispers sprang up as Harry stepped out from the line. My fingers slid from his as he stepped towards the hat. He picked it up, sat down on the stool, and dropped it on his head. I watched, holding my breath. The hat was low over his face, so I couldn't see his expression under the brim, but he was very tense, his hands clenching the side of the stool in a white-knuckled grip.

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