Summary: Snape sat on that rickety stool, the old hat delving deep into his mind and making comments. It seemed to take forever, like the hat couldn't make up its mind. Then, finally, the hat proclaimed…
A/N: Companion, of sorts, to This Most Auspicious Meeting.
The Messer Chronicles
Hatstall
Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are
~Jose Ortega y Gasset
"Evans, Lily" the Deputy Headmaster, a man named Greensleigh, called out. The small red haired girl standing immediately to the young boy's left took a deep breath and then marched up to Professor Greensleigh and the Sorting Hat. She confidently sat down on the stool and aged hat was placed on her head.
Severus Snape waited on baited breath. He clasped his hands tightly and stared straight ahead. This was it, this was the moment that would decide their fate, his and hers.
Severus' entire magical family, the previously impeccably pureblooded Princes, had been in Slytherin. He, most likely would also be in Slytherin. Lily, the red haired girl currently being sorted had to be Slytherin, even though she was a muggleborn. If they weren't in the same house, Snape wasn't sure what that would mean. He wasn't sure how common inter-house friendships were. All he knew was that, if they were in the same house, it would be so much easier. They would be together through everything.
"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat proclaimed. Snape's heart skipped a beat, and then seemed to stop beating all together. It felt like it dropped to the very pit of his stomach. There was no way he'd be in Gryffindor. He wasn't brave, or stuck up and conceited, like almost every Gryffindor he'd ever had the displeasure of meeting. No, Snape was much more like the cunning Slytherins.
As Lily got off the stool and carefully made her way to Gryffindor, she shot Severus a sorrowful, mournful look. 'Different houses or no,' Snape thought, 'we'll always be friends. I'll make sure of it.'
The sorting was a long process. There were probably 50 first years and it took the Sorting Hat an average of a little under a minute to sort the students. Severus Snape, his name being found in the latter part of the alphabet was forced to wait as student after student was called and sorted. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Gryffindor. In turn, each house quickly began to fill up.
"Snape, Severus," Professor Greensleigh finally called. Eager to get his sorting over with, Snape bounded up to the Sorting Hat. He sat confidently on the old, beaten stool and the Hat was placed on his head, slipping down to his ears.
'Well, then,' a voice spoke in his head. It was a little disconcerting at first, but Snape remained confident and calm on the stool. He stared out into the crowd, finding Lily's nervous looking face at the Gryffindor table and focusing on it. 'Let's see about where to place you.'
The Hat was quiet for a few seconds, delving into Snape's brain. The dark haired boy tried to think of all the things he wanted to achieve in life and the various plans he had made to try and see those achievements through. 'Surely,' Snape thought, 'this will get me into Slytherin.'
'Slytherin, you say?' the Hat responded to Snape's thought. Well, those are quite lofty goals! Youngest Minister for Magic! Greatest Potions master in the history of British wizardry! Master of the most difficult spells yet known to wizards! You're hoping to go places. Definitely a Slytherin trait. Those snakes do put a fair amount of weight on reputation, on what a person's name is worth. And those are quite ingenious plans. If a little underhanded, perhaps.' The young boy puffed out his chest at the statements, sure that the Hat would soon be proclaiming him Slytherin.
But Severus was met with nothing but silence from the ancient headpiece.
'Hmm. What's this? That's quite the bond of friendship you have, with that muggle-born girl. Seems like you'd do a fair amount for her. And of course, your family. Not the best situation there. Yet I sense a devotion, a loyalty. It would appear like you're willing to stick by people through quite a lot. Definitely Hufflepuff potential. Definitely.'
'No!' Snape screamed internally, trying to suppress his mounting internal terror at the possibility of being sorted into Hufflepuff. That was unacceptable. 'I am NOT a Hufflepuff!'
'Well, is that so? You know, I haven't had to many people disagree with me. That takes guts, courage. I am, after all, very ancient and very knowledgeable.'
'Well, this time you're wrong!' Snape thought louder. He had to convince this sill hat that he belonged in Slytherin.
'You know, that stubbornness, I usually see that in brave Gryffindor boys and girls. Perhaps that would be a better option for you…' Snape paled. Gryffindor would mean the same house as Lily, but it would also mean the same house as the brash and obnoxious James Potter and Sirius Black, the two boys who had teased him on the train.
'But then, there's this mind of yours. Already thinking up you own spells! That requires quite an innate understanding of theoretical spell work. You'd definitely fit in with the wise Ravenclaws with a mind like yours.
'Where to put you? Where, indeed?' The Hat then became silent. Severus wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there, on the stool waiting to be sorted. But the looks of the student body staring back at him told him it was longer than the average sorting. Most students were quickly loosing interest and beginning to whisper amongst each other.
Snape was beginning to question this old hat. Could magical accessories go senile? How could the Hat think that he could possibly fit into all four houses? Students were sorted into one house! They only belonged in one house! And for Severus, that house was Slytherin.
After several silent seconds, the Hat finally spoke again. 'Very well, I've made my decision. For you, it'll be…'
"Slytherin!" the Hat proclaimed out loud to the student body. Snape went to take the Hat of and join his house, but before he did, the Hat had one final parting comment.
'I'm not senile yet, sonny.'