(( A silly story about Cedric being sorted at Hogwarts - Enjoy! :P ))

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Cedric had never been a particularly decisive child. Truly, his least favorite question to hear coming from his mother had always been, "Do you want Harvest Bread OR jiggly-wiggly pudding? You can't have both!" Well, why not?

For this reason, when presented with two equally tempting options, Cedric would often either stall until the adult decided to just let him have both after all (most often this was his mother) or until they made him make up his mind, or did it for him, without his input.

And of course, the more complicated the decision, the longer it would take Cedric to come to an answer, if he was able to come to one at all.

So when Cedric was informed, just shy of his eleventh birthday, that he would be soon attending the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he was very excited at first - Until he realized that he would have to choose a house to be sorted into.

Goodwin naturally tried to steer his son towards the house he had been in as a child, and the house which his goody-two-shoes favorite daughter had been sorted into two years prior - And, naturally, this left Cedric wanting nothing to do with Gryffindor House at all.

The two houses Cedric had been debating most the last few days before finally arriving at the castle had been Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Ravenclaw sounded very stimulating, with all the intellectuals he was bound to find there, and he had almost decided on that one, until that bratty punk Greylock was called to be sorted, and to Cedric's great annoyance, he was sorted into Ravenclaw. He certainly didn't want to have to share a room with the kid who had blown off his hair just a few years before!

But at the same time, as much as Slytherin and their ideal attribute of 'ambition' appealed to him, he was also wary of the rumors going around about that house. It was said that only 'pure-bloods' were truly accepted there, and Cedric had no claim to such heritage.

So when the older witch at the front of the Great Hall finally called his name, he walked up to the stool where the hat was waiting, his legs shaking - He still had -NO- idea what to pick!

The hat was ridiculously big on him, and covered his eyes. In the shadow of the hat's brim Cedric still pondered self-consciously - Ravenclaw? Or Slytherin? Intelligence, or Ambition? Oh, how on Earth could he choose...?

This went on for quite a while, at least several minutes. The professors were starting to look at the clock, and the students were fidgeting and whispering about what was wrong. Finally the hat 'sighed', and spoke up in Cedric's mind, "Come boy, we haven't got all night!"

Thinking back to it, Cedric whined, "But - I can't make up my mind! I know I -definitely- don't want to be in Gryffindor," He told the magical artifact certainly, "But I can't decide if Ravenclaw or Slytherin would be better for me..."

"Hmm~" The hat hummed back to him. "Say, boy - Do you consider yourself 'Hard-working'?"

"Huh?" Cedric glanced up at the brim, "Well... Yeah, definitely! To be honest I'm not as good at magic, so I have to work twice as hard to make my spells work..."

The hat seemed to shake in a way that suggested it was trying to nod. "Mmhm - Then I suppose you'd say you're patient too?"

There had been many times when Cedric had to spend hours getting a magical spell to work exactly right, so again, he nodded enthusiastically, and the hat added, "What about loyalty - Are you loyal too, boy?"

Cedric immediately thought of his mother Winifred, and how there was nothing in the world he wouldn't do for her. "Yes, I believe so..."

"Well then, there's no doubt anymore~" The hat finally concluded, "It's definitely got to be - HUFFLEPUFF!" It finally shouted aloud, followed immediately after by an utterly shocked, choked gasp from Cedric.

"W-WHAT? NO!" The child shrieked, mortified. He had barely even glanced over the entry for 'Hufflepuff' in the brochure he'd been given that summer, deciding right away that the name sounded too 'girly'. "You're wrong, you're -DEFINITELY- wrong!" He continued to panic. "Please, I changed my mind, I know what I want now - Put me in Ravenclaw!"

The older witch who was standing behind him took the hat off of Cedric's head and glanced down at him apologetically, but sternly. "My dear boy, that's simply not going to happen - It's simply never been done!"

"You can do it just this once! Please, there's been a mistake!" The child insisted, and this time, the Headmaster himself stood up to address him, leaving Cedric struck silent by his nervousness.

"I'm afraid the Sorting Hat does -not- make mistakes, Mister Goodwin. It never has before, anyways. But I must admit, I've never seen a child so opposed to their house before, either..." He mentioned out of pity.

Cedric was just starting to hope that they might let him get a do-over, but then suddenly, to his cold horror, someone from the Gryffindor table stood up and cleared her throat for attention. Someone who was wearing a fluffy pink dress under her school robes, and had her perfect golden-blonde hair up in curls. His awful sister Cecilia!

"Please pardon me for interrupting, Headmaster sir~" She bowed her head respectfully. "But I feel I need to ease my silly brother's concerns~" And also keep him from making a further embarrassment of himself and the family name with his theatrical little fit... "You see, my poor, silly, little brother - Hufflepuff is truly the perfect house for you!"

He raised a suspicious eyebrow at her, waiting for the bomb to drop, so to speak. Cecilia was never kindly towards him without an ulterior motive... "The Hufflepuff common room is right next to the kitchen, first of all - And you know how you love to stuff your adorable little chipmunk cheeks, baby brother!"

The poor boy's cheeks went bright red as a few of the other students started to giggle about his 'chipmunk cheeks', but then his face went completely pale again as she added, "And second of all, it's also close by to the Gryffindor common rooms, which means I'll personally be able to keep a close eye on you~!" She smirked wickedly, "Now doesn't that sound good? Don't you think so...?" She asked, peering at Cedric, but then suddenly she redirected her wicked grin to the teacher's table, and turned it into a baby-doll smile. "Headmaster?"

'That witch!' Cedric thought redundantly, while the headmaster nodded sagely in response to Cecilia's 'advice'.

"Yes, I think it's a wonderful idea to keep siblings close to each other." The old teacher agreed, stroking his beard. "And I'm afraid to say, Mister Goodwin, but the Sorting Hat's word is final. Please report to the Hufflepuff table now."

Slumping in defeat, Cedric shuffled down the steps and over to the Hufflepuff's dining table. After the fuss he'd put up about joining their house, a lot of them didn't really want to talk to him either. But one solitary student did reach out to him, literally, patting him on the back in consolation. "Hey, Cedric. Sorry you didn't get into the house you wanted."

He looked up and almost choked for the second time that night, though thankfully he at least didn't have any food in his mouth at the moment. For the person who had so kindly reached out to him, was none other than the Duchess Matilda! The only sorceress who had ever upstaged his 'perfect' sister!

"H-Huh...?" He barely managed to mumble back.

Lightly squeezing his shoulder, the young royal, who seemed much older to Cedric at that moment than the six years she had over him, continued on, "The Sorting Hat took a long time to sort me too, and I was kind of disappointed about it at first, as well. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw more, but then the hat put me in Hufflepuff instead!" She snorted out a bemused laugh. "But you know, if you ask me, Hufflepuff house is just wizz-bang!" Wizz-what? Had she made up her own catch-phrase, or something...? "I'm sure you'll come to appreciate it too soon enough! In the meantime though, just know that if you ever need help with anything, you can always come to me, okay Cedric?"

She smiled sweetly at him and gave him one last pat of encouragement before returning to her friends. Cedric's cheeks filled with color as he watched her go in amazed silence. He never did take her up on the offer, but every time he thought about it, he blushed...

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