AN: This is my take on how Ron's sorting should have gone.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Ron trudged up to the sorting hat nervously. He was one of the last to be sorted and that just served to make him even more nervous, all the eyes on him certainly didn't help.

He carefully placed the hat on his head and it fell over his eyes like it had done on all of the other students. The fact that he now couldn't see anything other than his lap if he looked down did nothing to lift his anxiety.

It was almost a sure thing he would go to Gryffindor, why wouldn't he? After all, his whole family on both sides had been in the house of the brave.

But at the same time he could feel the uncertainty creeping up on him. He wasn't as good as his brothers and he probably never would be. He wasn't smart like Bill or Percy, he wasn't funny and charismatic like Charlie and the twins and he wasn't brave, brave people weren't afraid of spiders.

But he needed to be in Gryffindor. His whole family were Gryffindors, his new friend, Harry bloody Potter had already been sorted into that house and he'd practically been raised to be a Gryffindor, with all the prejudices and pride that came with it, he wouldn't know how to be in another house.

But deep inside, maybe he didn't want to be in Gryffindor. Maybe it would be easier to live up to his brothers if he didn't have to spend his Hogwarts years in the house where their shadow lingered. And maybe he just didn't want to spend the year in the same house as the twins and Percy who would surely play pranks and humiliate him and pester him about homework respectively.

He wanted so badly to show his brothers that he could be just as good as them.

Another Weasley, eh? Ron jumped as a voice sounded in his head. But you're not quite like your brothers, are you? Very interesting. You have quite the ambition there, that's a Slytherin trait you know. Ron felt horror seep into his veins. He was nothing like those snakes! He wasn't evil!

Oh dear, Salazar would roll over in his grave if he saw the state his house had fallen to. The values of Slytherin are cunning and ambition and while those qualities are good to have when you're plotting to take over the world or whatever else dark wizards have had the sights on in the past, they are not the equivalence of evil. There have been plenty of Slytherins who didn't follow the ideals of He-who-must-not-be-named and there have even been muggleborns in the house of the snakes.

Ron was rather frozen after his mini-lesson on the house of Slytherin by a singing hat, it couldn't be true, could it? Meanwhile said hat just continued talking.

Yes, you have quite a lot of Slytherin in you. The ambition to be better than your brothers, a very tactical mind, your prowess in chess should assure you of that, but I'm afraid it might go to waste if not nurtured properly, which it most likely won't be in Gryffindor. You're a little lazy but that can be taken care of with the right motivation.

Ron still wasn't sure. It was true he didn't really want to be in the same house as his over-achieving brothers but was Slytherin really a better choice? He had been told stories about how all of the dark wizards were Slytherins since he was born, could it really be so that his parents were wrong?

I see you are still uncertain. Well, let me make the decision for you. "SLYTHERIN!"

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