The Sorting

AN: I wasn't kidding when I said the wait for this chapter wouldn't be long.

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

Those four words flew through Misty's brain faster than light as the first years rode boats along the lake towards the school. She gently drummed her fingers against the side of the boat as the girl next to her tried to talk to her.

"And what do you think of it?" the girl asked.

"Sorry, I only caught the end of that what were you saying?" Misty said, still looking down against the lake.

"The school. I've only seen pictures of it before, and it seems like it lives up to the hype."

"Yeah," Misty said, not paying attention. "Definitely."

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

"I'm Dany, what's your name?" the girl asked.

"Misty." Misty was beginning to get tired of that question.

"Here we are!" Misty heard someone call as they neared the shore. They all got off of the boats and started to walk into the school.

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

Normally Misty would have been in awe of the sights inside the building, but right now all she could see was the giant door in the distance. The door that she knew led to the Great Hall. The hall that led to the Sorting Hat. The Sorting Hat that led to her House. The House that led to her next seven years.

The students walked into the hall, where they saw the Headmistress at a table in the distance.

"Welcome, students," the woman said with a smile. If Misty could remember from what her dad had told her, this woman was McGonagall. "Headmaster Dumbledore would have given a great speech here, about the future and your choices, but I will leave you with these simple words. These next seven years determine the rest of your life as a witch or wizard. Treat them wisely, and you will be rewarded. Treat them frivolously, and life may treat you the same. Now, pupils, the sorting may begin!"

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

They were going through the names alphabetically, and it seemed like Misty was going to be called up soon. They just finished sorting Davie Ebelt into Hufflepuff.

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

"Misty Echo," the Headmistress called out.

Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Gryffindor.

Misty nervously walked up to the seat, and put on the hat.

"Echo, eh?" the hat said with a laugh. "I remember your parents. Jet nearly wet his pants when I began to speak to him. I almost sent him to Gryffindor just to be ironic, but I sensed his intelligence and sent him to Ravenclaw. Your mother however, she was a lot more confident. The moment she put me on her head, she announced that she was going to Gryffindor. I couldn't say no to courage like that."

Misty knew that the hat was wrong about that one, though. Her mother was the coward who left her, and her father was the brave one who stayed with her.

"Oh, that stings Misty," the hat said, once again with a laugh. "I'm still confident in my decision with them. Nothing you think can change that."

"Did you just-" Misty began.

"Read your mind? Yes. I can also see that you have the wit of your father. I'll be honest, I don't see much of your mother in you."

"Good," was all Misty said.

"Now, it seems like you aren't a very patient girl. I can cross Hufflepuff off my list for you, and it seems like you don't want to go to your mother's house, so that leaves just Slytherin and Ravenclaw."

Misty began to think of her father, and all that his wit got him. He had a wife who disappeared, an anti-social daughter, and an alchemy career that consumed most of his free time.

"You don't think too highly of wit, do you?" the hat said. Misty couldn't see it, but she assumed he was grinning. "You seem to think your father's reliance on his intelligence led to failure."

Misty was taken aback at the harshness of that. "N-no, I don't think that. My father-"

"You think it, just maybe not on the surface. You seem to want success Misty, and I know a place for people like that."

Before Misty could understand what he was saying, the hat began to speak one simple word that determined her future.

"SLYTHERIN!"