Harry told me last night what the Sorting Hat said to him, about how he could have been in Slytherin. He seemed kind of upset, but I don't really see why. I mean, the hat never talked to me. I know what it was thinking, though. Red hair and shabby clothing? He must be another Weasley. Better put him in Gryffindor with the rest because, hey, they're all the same.
It's strange, you know? Like I got sorted into my house by default.
It's not that I'm upset; Gryffindor is where I've always wanted to be. But what if I'd been different? Like really brilliant or something, and the Sorting Hat just missed putting me in Ravenclaw because it didn't take the time to look?
Everybody else in Gryffindor is sure that they're brave. Even Neville knows; the Sorting Hat certainly took its time with him. Me, I just cross my fingers and hope that I'm enough like my brothers. I have to be brave. Harry will need me. Hermione says I'm just being silly, but I know how this story ends. The hero gets the girl, and their best friend dies a heroic death saving their lives. I think it's in the job description. Dean lent me some of his Muggle comics in third year, and every single one of them had some plucky little sidekick sacrificing his life for the hero.
Well, this sidekick is scared to death.
I hope they don't put that in the Daily Prophet. "Ronald Weasley, best friend of Harry Potter, died Saturday in the final battle against You-Know-Who. Witnesses say that Weasley, a Gryffindor, seemed strangely frightened in the days leading up to his demise. "I've never seen anyone so bloody terrified" observed a mystified Seamus Finnigan, one of the deceased Auror's former classmates. "It's weird. He always seemed so brave at school. He must have been faking it."
Yeah, that's exactly what I need. Total humiliation after death. Knowing my luck, I'll end up a ghost and have to listen to people laugh at me for the next four thousand years.
If only the Sorting Hat had paid more attention….