"They need you…perhaps a lot more than you need them."
"I don't understand," Albus responded anxiously to the voice that had been speaking in his ear for several minutes. He made sure that he spoke in barely more than a whisper, so that nobody else in the Great Hall could hear what he was saying.
From the moment he had sat down on the four-legged stool close to the High Table in the Great Hall and put on the Sorting Hat, Albus Potter had felt nothing but confusion. Oh, and maybe fear, too; fear and confusion all mixed together.
He knew exactly what had provoked his anxiety. The Sorting Hat had barely touched his head when he had heard a low voice muttering the very words that Albus had been dreading for what felt like his whole life: "You would do so well in Slytherin..."
Before the Sorting Hat had said the dreaded 'S' word, everything had been going so well. Albus had walked into the Great Hall with his fellow first-years, happy to have made it all the way to the front without doing something embarrassing like tripping over his robes. He had caught sight of his cousins and his older brother as he passed the Gryffindor table and they had all waved and smiled at him encouragingly, which had served as a comforting reminder to Albus that whatever happened through the year at Hogwarts, he wouldn't be facing it alone.
As soon as they had stopped walking, Albus's cousin Rose had patted him reassuringly on the shoulder and reminded him in a whispered voice that no matter what house they were sorted into, they would always be close friends.
Scorpius Malfoy, the blond boy who Albus had befriended on the train journey to Hogwarts and who had also shared a boat with him and Rose as they sailed towards the castle, was called upon to be sorted before Albus and Rose. The hat must have deliberated for at least five minutes before it finally shouted, "Slytherin!"
Scorpius had looked slightly taken aback for a few seconds, but then he had smiled shyly and headed off in the direction of the cheers on the right hand side of the room. As he had passed Albus and Rose, Scorpius had smiled at them and mouthed, "Good luck!" before going to sit at the Slytherin table.
Albus had been called forward not long afterwards. There had been a great deal of whispering all around the Great Hall as soon as his surname was mentioned, something which his brother James had warned him about already. Apparently the mention of the name 'Potter' still provoked a great deal of interest in the wizarding world.
As the Sorting Hat had slowly covered his eyes, Albus had been fully aware of almost every single student leaning forward to try to get a better look at him.
The only students who hadn't appeared to be staring avidly at him were those who were sitting at the Slytherin table. Half of them had still been welcoming the latest student to head to their side of the room, while the other half had seemed to be deliberately trying to look away. Albus hadn't been able to shake off the feeling that they were already resigned to the fact that anyone with the surname 'Potter' couldn't possibly be heading anywhere near their table.
The last two things that Albus remembered seeing before everything had gone completely black were Rose standing on her tiptoes, trying to see her cousin over the heads of several taller first-years, and Scorpius leaning forward in his seat, watching the scene with a fascinated expression on his face.
"You have doubts, there's something here that's stopping you...I can tell…"
Albus was snapped out of his thoughts as soon as the Sorting Hat started talking to him again. He frantically tried to think of some sort of response while at the same time trying to ignore a series of blurred images that were inexplicably appearing in front of his eyes in the darkness.
"It's everything," he whispered. "Their reputation; the things I've heard about them; my family…"
There was silence again for another minute. Albus suddenly realised that he wasn't exactly sure why Slytherin house still had such a bad reputation. When he thought about it, he couldn't think of one single example of something that had happened recently that he could use as evidence against them. The behaviour of former Slytherins had just always been a taboo subject among the wizarding families that his parents were friends with. Whenever the name of any former Slytherin student was mentioned, they would always look at each other uneasily or mutter disapprovingly. Then there were his brother and his cousin Fred, who right from the start had put the very basic idea into Albus's head that Gryffindor usually equalled good and Slytherin usually equalled bad.
Yet in the midst of all the mutterings and the dark looks his father had always been there, constantly telling Albus that he had to make his own judgments about Hogwarts and the wizarding world.
"Members of your family have achieved great things," the Sorting Hat finally responded, "and you too are destined to achieve great things."
Albus felt like he should ask some sort of question about the hat's comment, but he couldn't think of anything logical to ask. He decided that maybe it was one of the many things that he would understand in the future when he was older.
Besides, it was difficult to concentrate when he was distracted yet again by a flickering image that was suddenly becoming clearer.
In the image, he was standing in a room staring at his reflection in a large mirror. Why was he looking in the mirror? What did it mean? Where had the image come from? Was it really appearing in front of his eyes or was it only in his head? Did everybody see images in their head when they put on the Sorting Hat? If so, surely his parents would have said something about it?
So many questions, yet as the Sorting Hat started talking again he knew that eventually there would only be one answer.
"However, you won't always follow in their footsteps. I can already see it, here in your head, that you are desperate to prove yourself, to carve out your own path. There are some things that you will do differently. Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness."
Albus forced himself to stay silent. He had a feeling that if he asked for too many details, he would be sitting on the same four-legged stool all night.
"Yet, this is not just a case of Slytherin house helping you. It could work both ways. Every success, everything that you achieve, they will be a part of it. For so long they have been excluded from our world, looked upon with disdain...But how will the wizarding world do that in the future when you are standing alongside them, proving everybody wrong?"
Albus still felt nervous, but this time his fear was based on something else-the idea that in the darkness, the words of the Sorting Hat were somehow making a strange sort of sense.
He concentrated on the image in front of him again. He realised that he was looking in the large mirror so that he could fasten his school tie…
"It has to be your choice. If it's not what you want, then there are other houses where you will also do well-"
"No, wait, give me a minute," Albus interrupted the hat.
The hat went silent, leaving Albus alone with his thoughts and the bizarre images which were now crystal clear. As he sat there in silence, desperately trying to make a decision, the images danced in front of him, one after the other.
He was looking in the mirror again, fastening his school tie. Now he could see exactly what colour it was. There was no mistaking the shade of green because it perfectly matched the colour of his eyes.
Then he was on the Quidditch pitch, soaring through the air before diving towards a glint of gold close to the ground, the adrenaline rushing through him. He had never really believed that he was very good at Quidditch, but in this particular image, he knew that he was making his team proud. But what team was it? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his green Quidditch robes flying around him in the breeze.
In the third image, he was sitting at a long table, waiting for his turn to touch the House Cup as it was passed down the table towards him. He briefly grasped it in his hands, and there was no doubt that the ribbons tied around the handles were various shades of green and silver.
In the next image, he was sitting on the edge of his bed in one of the school dormitories, surrounded by four other boys his own age, all of them with green and silver badges on their school robes. They were all laughing at something, laughing as though somebody had just told the most brilliant joke ever. The image focused on a boy with blond hair sitting on the bed opposite him who was also laughing at the joke.
Then all of a sudden, he was in a different location, maybe in somebody's house, but the same blond boy was still sitting opposite him. Rose was there too, along with various other members of his family-he could hear their voices in the background. In his mind, the family members of the blond boy suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the room, all of them looking slightly menacing with various scars. They were dressed head to toe in black, with dark, high-collared robes that seemed to be hiding something. Even though he knew that the image wasn't real, Albus felt himself leaning forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the tattoos on their arms that he knew must be hidden under their long-sleeved robes. But as he leaned forward, he realised that their sleeves were gradually getting shorter and shorter, and when he looked closer, there were no tattoos on their arms after all. He had no idea what the final image meant, but he could clearly see that everybody was happy and smiling and for the moment, that was enough.
As the images slowly faded away, Albus knew. He just knew. It was as though it had been his fate all along and everybody had simply neglected to tell him. It had taken those minutes alone in the darkness to finally see it clearly.
"Yes," he responded simply, his voice full of conviction.
"You've made the right decision,"the Sorting Hat told him happily. "You have no idea now, at such a young age, the friendships that you will make, the wounds from the past that you will heal...how things will change. I am certain that we will have a very interesting conversation in seven years' time. But for now, let's give them the good news...Slytherin!"
The Sorting Hat said the last word a lot louder and Albus knew that the rest of the students must have heard. He took a deep breath and waited for some sort of reaction. But for a few seconds, there was only silence.
After the unnaturally long silence, Albus suddenly heard a loud hissing noise that seemed to move all the way along the right hand side of the Great Hall. It sounded like there was a giant snake slithering along the walls.
As the Sorting Hat was lifted off his head, he was able to see where the loud hissing noise was coming from. He looked over towards the Slytherin table and realised that almost all of the students there (with the exception of those who were staring at him wide-eyed and open-mouthed) were whispering in each other's ears.
As Albus slowly stood up, he was able to make out what they saying.
"We got Potter?"
He could hear the same question over and over again.
"We got Potter?"
"Seriously, we got Potter?"
Then, without warning, there was a roar from the right hand side of the room. It sounded like a thunderstorm had broken out on the ceiling of the Great Hall.
In one swift movement, all of the students wearing Slytherin colours were up on their feet, their applause and cheers so loud that the students at the Ravenclaw table had to cover their ears.
The 'We got Potter?' question had now turned into a chant of celebration, mixed in with loud cheering and the stamping of feet.
Feeling a bit light-headed, Albus slowly started to walk towards them all.
He briefly slowed down as he passed by Rose, who beamed at him and grabbed him for a quick hug. Albus looked past her shoulder, seeking out his brother. James looked back at him, grinning and shaking his head, wearing what looked like a well-if-you-must expression. James nudged his friends and they all quickly applauded politely in Albus's direction.
Feeling a lot better after seeing James, he headed right over to the Slytherin table.
Just before he got there, the Head of Slytherin house abandoned all pretense of composure and jumped up from his seat at the staff table. Seemingly unaware of the glare that the headmistress was giving him, he ran towards Albus and grabbed his hand to shake it.
"Welcome, welcome!" he beamed, his eyes filled with tears.
Albus received a similar reaction from the Slytherin students. He was unable to get to his seat for several minutes as almost every student seemed to want to shake his hand. Three of the first-year boys approached him and they all tried to shake his hand at the same time. After a while they gave up and simply grabbed him for a group hug.
When they finally let go of him, Albus was able to find Scorpius and he slid gratefully into the empty seat next to him. Even though Scorpius was a lot more restrained than the other first-year boys and chose to simply pat him on the shoulder, Albus was glad that he too was grinning from ear to ear.
"Congratulations!" he managed to shout to Albus over the cheering.
After about ten minutes, the headmistress had had enough.
"Slytherin house, I understand that you are very happy about your newest student…" (There were even more cheers.) "However, I would like to remind you that we must finish the Sorting Ceremony at some point this evening!"
The applause gradually died down and the next student was called upon to be sorted.
Albus sat back in his seat, taking deep breaths and feeling like he had just flown on a broomstick for miles.
"Are you happy?" Scorpius whispered to him.
Albus could only nod back at him.
"They'll all be really proud of you, your father especially," Scorpius told him.
He said it in a calm and certain voice that reminded Albus not only of Rose but also of his sister Lily. Both of them had a way of telling Albus things in such a reassuring tone of voice that he couldn't help but believe them, no matter how nervous he was.
"Thanks," Albus whispered back, now completely sure that he was in the right place.
"Although, I really hope that you don't get that kind of reaction every time we come here to eat breakfast," Scorpius muttered with a grin on his face. "It might make us rather late for class…"
Albus shook his head at him and laughed.
As he waited for the last few students to be sorted, Albus realised that there were some things that mattered and some things that didn't. As long as James still spoke to him, and his parents were happy, and Rose got along with Scorpius as well as he did, then as far as Albus was concerned, nothing else mattered.
As he thought about his parents, Albus was reminded that he would have to plan out what to write in his first letter home. He briefly wondered whether he should ask his dad exactly what Scorpius's father had been like at school, but he eventually decided that the announcement that he had been sorted into Slytherin would definitely make for interesting enough reading, for now.
