Eleven year old Percy Weasley stepped up to the stool and hat, his entire body trembling in anxious terror. What if it hurt? What if the hat didn't like what it saw in his mind? Nonetheless, he sat on the wooden stool tentatively as Professor McGonagall placed the animated hat on his head.
"Ah!" It said immediately. "Another Weasley. How many is that now, three? Your mind… is… different."
Percy hadn't stopped shaking, trying desperately to stop it. He was eleven now. He wasn't supposed to be so scared for no reason. Different wasn't good.
"Such potential," the hat told him. "For Slytherin."
A new jolt of fear hit him. It had briefly occurred to him that he might not be placed in Gryffindor, he wasn't nearly as brave as Bill or Charlie, but he had thought of Hufflepuff. Slytherin was significantly worse. What would his mother think? They would be so furious. So disappointed. He just wanted to make them proud. Please, he thought really hard to the hat. Please, anywhere but there. Not Slytherin.
"Why are you fighting this?" The hat asked him curiously. "It is your true self. Why fight your ambition, your cunning? Is it such a burden?"
Percy thought back to watching his mother and father fawn over his older two brothers when they were placed in Gryffindor. That's all he wanted, was to make them proud of him. Proud of something he did. Not Bill with his good looks and talent in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not Charlie with his fearless dream of working with dragons. Not the twins who held more character in a pinky than he did in his entire body. No, he couldn't go to Slytherin.
The hat seemed to sigh, but to Percy's great surprise and delight, shouted for all to hear, "GRYFFINDOR!"
A/N: Another of my tumblr one shots. All of them are very short. Like... SUPER short. Feel free to message and review with one shot ideas for me to write. Even just dialogue ideas. Hope you like it. Dasvidanya, Mia.