It was the 1st September 1993 and the Hogwarts College First Years stood in line behind the Hogwarts Prep First Years waiting for their turn to be Sorted like good little witches and wizards. Harry's stomach growled as Wilcox, Lamont stumbled up the steps to the Sorting Hat, tripping over his too long robe. The child was really still a toddler, his face completely covered by the old hat.
It was always a somewhat surreal experience to watch the Pre-Prep's stumble up for sorting in their miniature uniforms looking like they were playing dress up. A Pre-Prep year normally consisted of only about 4 pureblood students whose parents were out of the country on business.
Harry aged four years and one month had toddled off on to the Hogwarts Express to begin Pre-Prep; a year late and the only half-blood. He barely remembered Professor Sprout coming to see the Dursleys. In fact he barely remembered the Dursleys. Between Easter and Christmas at Hogwarts and summers with Sue and later Ron he had not seen them since that one hot summer in Prep when he'd spent a weekend being made to weed Petunia's rose beds.
"Badger!" the sorting hat finally yelled and the shocked child had to be led to his seat.
"That's two for Hufflepuff already." Malfoy noted. The numbers tended to be somewhat evenly distributed when spread across the entire student body sorted on a night. An early glut to any house would reduce the number of College sorts but Hufflepuff always did well out of Pre-Prep and College.
"Aarons, Susan!" Professor McGonagall called the first of 60 Prep First Years forwards with vigour. Harry moaned to Parvati's amusement. Once Pre-Prep ended and Prep began the class ballooned as education became compulsory.
At least Susan Aarons was a quick sort. Two seconds on her head and the hat called, "Blue" sending her over to join her elder brother in Ravenclaw. Harry tuned out again; nine years of watching the ceremony had rendered it mundane and boring.
An unusually long period of relative silence drew Harry's attention back to the sorting. The worried looking lower face of angular boy he vaguely recognised sat below the wide brim of the sorting hat, the boy's lip caught between his teeth. The boy twisted his hands together in his lap and Harry racked his memory trying to work out how long the boy had been there already.
When the hat's mouth finally opened to yell, "Yellow!" and the boy, Donnchad Reilly from Badger Pre-Prep Harry remembered, bounded across the room. Having to run back and return the hat amid gales of laughter. The entertainment done for the evening everyone tuned back out.
The last Prep First Year to be Sorted was Collyn Waters, a pretty redhead, whose name triggered the College First Years to make themselves presentable. Collyn was another quick sort becoming a "Red" without the hat touching her head.
With the year roughly half the size it was in Prep and plenty of experience it was guaranteed that College First Years would be sorted faster. Unlike the Prep First Years they were calm, walking to the high table without any fuss, and apparently attentive. In reality, they kept an ear out for their and their friends names but knew that a different dorm would not ruin a friendship.
The first name Harry cared about was his old dorm mate Seamus, who strutted up to the stall and just a quickly strutted back to the Gryffindor tables.
Hermione followed him to the dais and looked to be fighting with the hat. Her Sorting lasting nearly as long as Donnchad Reilly's had. "Oh…" the Sorting Hat started, "Make up your mind child!" There was an awkward pause before, "Better be Emerald!" Harry breathed through his nose; they would not be staying together then. There was no way Ron would allow himself to be sorted into Slytherin.
Harry's own name was the next one he was interested in. Hermione's Sorting had complicated the choice about where he wanted to go. He picked up the Hat still mulling it over.
"There's a heavy heart." the Hat chortled in his mind. "Now where should I put you? Not Sapphire, you don't lack in wit but it's not what you value most. Nor Ruby, brave yes but it's your loyalty and ambition that define you."
The hat's commentary as it removed options made up Harry's mind. "Emerald please."
"Are you sure?" it asked, "You would do well in Amber."
"My friends are in Emerald and Ruby. Knowing my enemy would ensure my ambition succeeds." Harry argued.
"EMERALD!" the Hat yelled the sound ringing in Harry's ears.
He removed it remembering how that was the worst part and joined his table; smiling at Hermione and switching back off until Ron's name was called.
As expected Ron was a quick Sort returning to Gryffindor. They had all been Red in Prep but Harry was a Badger in Pre-Prep and Hermione, sent early for a muggle born, had been a Raven. Ron would be the only one of them not to experience life in a different house.
"You didn't ask to go with Ron?" Hermione questioned, as she filled her plate with rich british comfort food.
"The hat didn't offer Ruby as a choice. Emerald with you seemed better than Amber alone." Harry shrugged. "What was the argument with the hat about?"
"Amber or Emerald." She looked at her plate. "Ruled out Ruby first, then said I didn't love knowledge for knowledge's sake enough anymore for Sapphire."
"It said bravery isn't my defining trait anymore." Harry said quietly.
"Pre-Prep averages 50% in Badger with the rest shared fairly evenly through Raven, Snake and Lion. The older a Pre-Prep is sorted the less likely to be a badger they are." Hermione said off hand. "Prep is more even with a bias toward Red and Blue. College is biased towards Emerald and Sapphire."
"What are you trying to say?" Harry asked bemused by Hermione's commentary on Hogwarts houses.
"In Pre-Prep you're a scared child torn away from your family and safety. Friends and loyalty is very appealing. Prep is the time of vast passions and changes. The more volatile houses of Red and Blue are a good match for young teenagers. College is the time of growing into the adult we will be. We're more pragmatic. Half of our peers have left for vocational training. We have fought to win our place. Intelligence and a willingness to learn doesn't stand apart as much as in Prep. Neither is bravery so appealing when we understand the risks"
Harry nodded and changed the subject. "Think Ron will hack it passed the first term?"
"He promised Ginny he'd stay until she finished Prep." Hermione shrugged. "They'll find first year useful."
The Pre-Preps were drooping at the table as dessert was served, the youngest almost falling asleep in his custard before one of the College Prefects scooped him off. "Alright snakes time for under sevens to go to bed." He and another prefect shepherded the little ones off. Another set of prefects waiteda just long enough that the Pre-Preps would have cleared the common room before leading the Preps off.
"Do we need need to give you the loyalty talk?" Ian Abbot, one of the two remaining prefects, asked.
Milldred Bulstrode spoke up"Don't do anything stupid. Drop out before you disappoint the house. Don't whinge. Look out for the Preps and help the Pre-Preps." She looked at Ian. "Am I missing anything?"