DISCLAIMER : HEY… I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. I AM USING THIS J.K.R WORLD SHAMELESSLY. : P

This story is AU.

I am planning to make this as a series for all 7 years but the chapters will not be big later as I will have to go slowly and build up the AU.

Enough talk…. On with the story

CHAPTER 4: SORTING

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind the boy with blond hair that was with them on the boat, with Blaise behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair, over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a

halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Daphne whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the

Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. The hat was patched, frayed, and extremely dirty.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth -- and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat cannot see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs

are true And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You will make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It

bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the

hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause

--

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers.

"Bulstrode, Millicent"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others, it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.

"Greengrass, Daphne!"

After a minute the hat shouted,

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry and Blaise clapped enthusiastically.

A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he and Godric were placed in the same house? They were twins and twins are supposed to be similar", he thought after looking at a pair of red haired twins.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Harry saw the blond haired boy who was with them on the boat. The hat shouted "SLYTHERIN!" as soon as it touched his head. Harry noticed Godric and Weasley making hissing noises at him. What was that all about

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with

himself.

There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last –

"Potter, Godric!"

As Godric stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

The Godric Potter?"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table erupted in cheers and the twins started singing we got potter… we got potter…

Then it was his turn,

"Potter, Harry!"

Even he was greeted with hisses and whispers but those were,

"I didn't now that the boy-who-lived had a twin."

"I bet he will also be a Gryffindor"

"Damn, he is cute"

Harry blushed and that was the last thing he heard as the cap was put on his head.

Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, Oh my goodness, yes -- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

"Any where besides Gryffindor. I don't want to be in the same house as Godric."

"Yes, I can see that… then better be…"

"SLYTHERIN!"

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There you have it… chapter 4. It is not the full sorting, I know. That will be the next chapter. Please read and review.