Being a True Gryffindor.
Bravery isn't always the first quality one sees in another, but that doesn't make it any less significant.
The huge oak doors opened very slowly but magnificently nonetheless. Neville Longbottom couldn't believe he was finally at Hogwarts, that he was finally there. Everything seemed so…magical; simply stepping into the Great Hall sent warm shivers to him. Heat caressed his face from all the various fireplaces around the room. He looked up at the ceiling and to his surprise, there wasn't one there! He saw the stars and clouds, the same stars and clouds he just saw outside. The black night, in contrast to the golden room, was beautiful. They walked down the middle aisle between four tables, while a bunch of older students stared and evaluated the newcomers. All the new students pushed the others out to the outside as they made their way down the aisle, nervous about being on the edge. They reached the front of the hall and stopped as a professor put her hand up.
"We shall now start the sorting ceremony," she started, "Abbott, Hannah!" The woman named Professor McGonagall yelled out over the apprehensive crowd of eleven year old witches and wizards waiting to be sorted. Neville watched as a timid looking girl walked slowly up to the stone steps, happening to trip over the first one. Professor McGonagall, as Neville noted, was an elderly woman with her mouth pulled into a tight line and black hair that was pulled back into a bun with no stray hairs flying anywhere.
She looked down at the girl, who Neville assumed to be Hannah, as she took a seat on an old, decrepit stool that sat in front of a long table, where all the professors sat in waiting for the sorting to be started. Professor McGonagall picked up an old, mangy pointed hat that rested on the stool not even a minute before. She placed the hat on Hannah's head as the crowd waited silently for the hat's decision.
Neville, being the first year that he was, had no idea what would happen. Butterflies flittered in his stomach as it did jumps in his abdomen. He heard rumors on the long train ride there that the hat did weird things while it was on your head, almost like a vampire. Neville stood on his tip-toes to see if Hannah was doing alright.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat yelled out suddenly. The sound of clapping erupted throughout the huge hall, but the sound was very definite around the table where Neville assumed the Hufflepuffs sat. Relief rushed through him as he saw that Hannah was fine and all in one piece.
Person after person was called and walked up to the stool, as each person reacted differently to their name being called. One boy rushed up to the hat, practically skipping all the steps, and got put into Ravenclaw almost before the hat touched his head; it was as if he was destined to go there. Then another girl was so green by the time her name was called to go up, everyone thought she would need help to simply get up the stairs.
Neville's stomach dropped as the names started to get closer to his. The poor house that he'll belong in, he thought. He knew he'd only cause trouble, not only for him, but for everyone else. With his clumsy nature and bumbling attitude, he thought that somehow he'd manage to find a way to lose all of their so-called house points, by accident of course.
He hardly seemed to be paying the least bit of attention to the ceremony; for he was too preoccupied by the thought of which house will be the unlucky one to have him. To him, he didn't even deserve to be standing in Hogwarts itself.
"Longbottom, Neville!"
His head immediately snapped up at the sound of his name. He stood there petrified for a moment before trying to regain the feeling in his legs. He tried to walk up to the stool but he tripped over his own feet, while listening to a few sniggers at his failed attempt at walking. His pudgy cheeks burned bright as he plopped down on the stool.
He closed his eyes and wished the best as the battered hat was placed on his head, closing him off from the world.
He jumped when the hat started to talk; it really was talking to him! Could everyone else hear it? Or just him? Neville only thought the house yelled out the houses that the student was sorted into, but it talked to the people directly?
"Interesting mind boy. You'd do well in Hufflepuff…fair and just, you are. Always want to do the right thing I see…" The scratchy voice of the hat breathed in his ear.
Neville was doomed. His Gran's words floated around in his head like a mad storm.
"You'll be a Hufflepuff I presume. Most worthless house if you ask me. Courage, determination, intelligence, those qualities are already taken by the other houses, and what's left? Hufflepuffs are," his Gran spewed tea all over poor Neville as she went on her rant as soon as he had received his letter telling about his acceptance into Hogwarts. "You didn't even show signs of magic until up to a few years ago. I can't believe my own grandson will be a Hufflepuff," she finished bitterly. Neville's heart tore into pieces knowing that he already disappointed his Gran without even trying.
'Not Hufflepuff, not Hufflepuff,' Neville chanted in his mind over and over. He figured it probably wouldn't even work, could the hat even hear him? He thought about how disappointed and upset his Gran would be if he was in Hufflepuff, he didn't want to go there; anywhere but there.
"It seems you don't want to be in Hufflepuff," the Sorting Hat stated in a pondering manner. An ounce of hope crept its way into Neville's mind. He straightened up unknowingly.
"I do see a very curious quality in your mind, and I've never been wrong, if Hufflepuff isn't the place for you, better be…GRYFFINDOR!"
Claps echoed around the hall as Neville sat there stunned. They weren't sulking as if they had a loser added to their ranks. But Gryffindor, really? He never would have thought…
Neville beamed with glee as he awkwardly hopped off the stool and made his way over to his house table. Many older students clapped him on the back and started to introduce themselves before it fell silent once again as the next name was called.
Neville turned around to watch but was too preoccupied by his recent placement. The house of courage, the house of bravery, the house of friendship, how could he deserve to be there? Neville knew he never really had a real friend in his life before, and he most certainly wasn't brave or courageous. The hat must have made a mistake, there's a first for everything right?
"Potter, Harry!" The name though, drew Neville from his inner thoughts, as it seemed to with everyone else as well. The hall fell so quiet; you could hear a pin drop from the other side of the room. He even thought he saw most of the teachers move forward in their seats in preparation for the hat's answer. This was the one everyone was waiting for.
A long and intense silence filled the room. The air seemed to become heavier with each breath, or maybe he forgot to breathe enough; either way he didn't care, he just wanted to know where the Boy-Who-Lived was going to be placed.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat's yell was quickly covered by screaming and cheers that came from everyone, but Gryffindor mostly. Everyone at his table jumped up and cheered, even Neville stood up and strained to get a seat by Harry Potter!
Neville really couldn't believe it; he was in the same house as Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter! The Boy-Who-Lived! His Gran was never going to believe this, he thought as he smiled the biggest smile he's ever had. For the rest of the night he had to refrain from getting on top of the table and dancing with pure joy.
Neville Longbottom hadn't a clue why he was put in Gryffindor, but he decided he wouldn't dwell on it for too long.
'The Sorting Hat is never wrong,' Neville thought to himself. At least he knew he was destined to do great things. There had to be something great ahead of him to prove himself; to prove that he is, and will be a true Gryffindor.
A/N – I mean no Hufflepuff hate /3 I love all you Puffs out there, as well as the other houses. Anyhoo, I hoped you enjoyed.
I wrote this for the 'A different perspective COMPETITION' by EvangelineKL.