Chapter 76: The Thinking Cap

Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands

September 1st, 993, 06:30 PM

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'Hogwarts is, really, a majestic castle.'

That's what Erik thought the first time he saw it live. He and his mother had arrived in the castle two weeks prior. His mother, Aria, since she was going to work at the castle, needed to be here before the students to learn and get used to the work. Erik, as he didn't have anyone other than Aria, had come along with her. Since they would be at the castle for a long time, they had rented their land in the village to a farmer. Leaving the village was not as hard as he had anticipated. His more difficult 'goodbye' was with grandpa Jeo. The old hermit had grown in him during the years and his lessons about how to better the control of his magic were irreplaceable.

During these two weeks, Erik got to know some of the teachers of the school and some of the students that resided there in a more permanent way for a reason or another that is not the polite thing to ask about. Erik was now in the Great Hall of the castle. He was waiting, together with a group of around fifteen students, for the sorting ceremony.

Around him, there were four big tables. One for each house of the school. In accord with what he had learned during the two weeks, the houses were created to gather like-minded students. The cunnings, to Slytherin. The hard workers, to Hufflepuff. The courageous, to Gryffindor. The knowledge seekers, to Ravenclaw. He had nothing against any of the houses, even when he received the 'teaching' about them it was a little biased. And if he would admit, he had a little of each house in him, but he valued hard work the most. That's how he got where he was in his past life.

The four founders of the school were standing on an elevated platform. During his two weeks in the castle, Erik had met only with Helga Hufflepuff of the other three founders. She was the one that had shown his mother, Aria, where she would work. Helga Hufflepuff was a very nice woman, she had even offered to teach his mom how to apparate. Of the four founders of the school, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor were not at the castle at the time.

Rowena Ravenclaw took the front of the group on the elevated platform.

"Students, we welcome you back to Hogwarts. Today marks the beginnings of a new tradition for our school. Before, we, founders, would spend hours deciding which house would fit the students better, and, sometimes, the talking would get very... heated."

Rowena Ravenclaw said, addressing the student population. After the last comment, she gave a sidelong look to Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. Both men had the decency of averting their eyes from Rowena's.

"To avoid such situations again, we had come with a very special artifact."

Rowena Ravenclaw said while waving her wand and summoning a three-legged stool that had something on it that was covered by a dark cloth. She then put a hand above the dark cloth and grabbed it gently without pulling it yet.

"I present you all, the Sorting Hat."

Rowena Ravenclaw announced while pulling the cloth up and revealing what it was hiding. On top of the three-legged stool was a wizard's hat and for anyone looking at it, it was just that: a wizard's hat. The students looked at Rowena Ravenclaw like she was crazy. The woman in question was smiling widely. It was then that something unthinkable for the students happened. Three indentations appeared on the hat, two small ones on the top, and a long one on the bottom of the hat's 'body'. And then, a masculine voice was heard as the indentations on the hat moved, mimicking a face talking.

"Hello children, don't be afraid, for I am the finest hat ever made. Put me on your head, and we will talk, with words that nobody can stalk. After that, I will yell your house out loud, so your new mates can celebrate and you, be proud. But don't worry about your secrets, they are safe with me because that's how I was made to be. So what are you waiting for, come to the front and put on the hat because I am THE thinking cap!"

The sorting hat said/sung in his loud masculine voice. It took a while for the students to understand what had just happened, but when they did, they went wild with cheers. Erik was very amused by what had just happened. It seems that this year, the year that he starts at Hogwarts is the first one with the Sorting Hat. And the hat really had made a rime with his speech, transforming it into some kind of song-poem.

"Now, when Helga calls your name, you will walk to where I am, you will sit on the stool, and put on the hat. Understood?"

Rowena Ravenclaw said to the new students, who were standing in between two house tables. She then took the Sorting Hat of the stool by its tip with her hand.

"Agnar'son, Erik."

Helga called the first student. Erik, cursing in his head the Nord custom with family names and the fact that his father's name starts with an 'A', walked full of confidence to where Rowena Ravenclaw was standing, with the Sorting hat in her hands.

Erik took a seat on the stool and Rowena Ravenclaw lowered the hat on his head. Immediately, Erik heard a voice in his head. It was the hat's voice.

'Oh, my!'

The hat said inside his mind.

'Hello, Mr. Hat.'

Erik said mentally, greeting the hat. Unfortunately, when he said 'Mr. Hat', his mind traveled instantly to his memories of an old adult cartoon that he had seen on the internet in his past life.

'Oh... Please, don't call me 'Mr. Hat' while thinking about that again...'

The hat whined as his memories of 'South Park' flooded his mind.

'You know I can't do that. The mind is something very tricky. One can't simply choose not to think about something. They would contradict themselves when thinking about something that they should not think.'

Erik replied to the hat. He then heard a mental sigh.

*sigh*

'Ok, Mr. Monster Maker, you win.'

The hat said mentally to Erik, with some exasperation in his 'voice'.

'Fortunately, that is a problem that we can easily solve. What is your name?'

Erik asked the hat.

'Hmm... I... I don't think I have one... Yet. Let me think about one...'

The hat said with determination. Immediately, the hat almost regretted 'saying' that to Erik. The boy's mind was inundated with different names that a hat could have. Some of them were even acronyms.

'AHA! That one!'

The hat yelled inside Erik's mind some seconds later, making the boy flinch.

'Did you find a name that you like? Because I think I will have a headache tonight.'

Erik said after his mind stopped ringing because of the yell inside it.

'Sorry about that, lad. And thank you. You can call me Avish.'

The hat said to Erik while being very proud of his new name. Erik was very amused by the hat's choice of name.

'Well, let me be the first to say this to you then: Nice to meet you, Avish.'

Erik said to the hat mentally.

'Nice to meet you too, young Erik.'

Avish, the hat, replied to Erik. Both of them just stood there for a few seconds, with no active conversation going between them.

'Er... How about that sorting?'

Erik then asked Avish.

'Oh, that. Well, you already know where you will go, don't you? You have the characteristics of all houses and would fit well in all of them. But you have one that you live for, don't you?'

Avish said to Erik. It used a tone in his voice that you could feel when 'hearing' it that was full of wisdom.

'Yeah.'

Erik replied to Avish, almost sighing. What he valued the most was hard work.

'Then, better be...'

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hat said, yelling the house's name out loud for all in the Great Hall to hear. The students then erupted in cheers. Even more, the ones that were sitting on Hufflepuff's table. Rowena Ravenclaw then took the hat off from Erik's head, looked at it, and then looked at Erik while raising an eyebrow. The hat had taken more time than it should have to sort his first student. Erik saw the way that the founder was looking at him and just shrugged.

"The sorting hat didn't like it when I called him Mr. Hat, so I helped him think of a proper name. In the end, it was his choice."

Erik simply said and walked to the Hufflepuff table and, while doing so, he looked at the staff table and saw his mother smiling widely at him. Rowena Ravenclaw was looking at the hat with a face that showed a lot of interest. She wanted to wear the hat herself and talk with it right now. It was Helga Hufflepuff's voice who brought her back to the Great Hall.

"Black, Robert."

Erik heard Helga Hufflepuff calling and his ears perked at the name.

'It seems that the Black family is really a very old one... I wonder if they are already insufferable bigots.'

Erik thought. The boy, who had black hair and gray eyes, was very well dressed and was quickly sorted at Slytherin House. The sorting continued, with Erik's being the longest one of them. The last names came to his attention too.

"Ravenclaw, Helena."

Called Helga Hufflepuff. An elegant girl with long back hair then stepped into the elevated platform. Her semblance to Rowena Ravenclaw was striking. Erik then remembered who she was, or would be in the future. The Gray Lady. Ravenclaw's Tower ghost. Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter.

'But that couldn't be right. Helena Ravenclaw didn't have a twin.'

Erik said internally, remembering that he had seen twin girls waiting with him for the sorting.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The sorting hat yelled. The girl quickly walked to Ravenclaw's table, while wearing the face of someone who was expecting that result.

"Ravenclaw, Selena."

Called Helga Hufflepuff, and another girl, identical to the anterior, walked up the elevated platform. Erik then confirmed that they were indeed the twins that he had seen. But that was strange for him. Selena Ravenclaw was never a name that was talked about, and Erik quickly thought of two possible conclusions. One: her existence in this Universe is the result of the spill from one Universe to another. Two: she was never supposed to live long enough to have some impact on others and that way be remembered by future generations. Erik didn't know which one it was, or if even was one of them, but he would keep his eyes and ears open.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Erik heard the hat yelling, and was brought back to the Great Hall. As the last student was sorted. Rowena Ravenclaw waved her wand and disappeared with the three-legged stool and the sorting hat. She then walked to the staff table together with Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin, leaving only Godric Gryffindor at the front. The man, who was richly dressed in red and gold colors, gave the students a wide smile.

"This is my favorite part. LET THE FEAST, BEGIN!"

Godric Gryffindor said loudly while raising both of his arms to the Great Hall. At his signal, the tables filled themselves with lots and lots of plates of food and jars of different drinks. The students started to fill their plates and Erik saw, from where he was sitting, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin roll their eyes at Godric Gryffindor's antics, while Helga Hufflepuff just chuckled in amusement. Yeah, Erik had to agree with the three founders: Godric Gryffindor really had some flair in him.

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