M.T

"Tunnels, Mirra!"

Mirra lifted her eyes up, trying to keep her face blank. She knew that she was sweating slightly, possibly even shaking, but she'd have to get over herself; this had to happen. She quickly brushed a lock of her out from her face, then stepped forward anxiously, hoping that she didn't look too afraid. The tattered Hat on the stool was looking ominous. Did it really know everything about you?

She instinctively turned her head back as she walked, catching eyes with the fierce looking red-headed girl that had been muttering to others. Her eager expression had turned to a slightly crestfallen one, and Mirra thought that she had a small indication of why. The red-headed girl had made a noise of exasperation when that boy with the black hair-Aldous, his name may have been-was sorted. Perhaps she thought that the house he'd went to was bad?

Mirra made her way towards the stool casually, sitting down on it and pulling the Hat over her head immediately. It was best to keep calm-

"Dear me, that's a terrible secret you've got, isn't it!"

Mirra shuddered; she knew that her eyes had widened, and she was inwardly thankful that the Hat was large enough that it covered them.

"Oh, it really doesn't matter dear" the hoarse voice rattled into her ear. "You're some distance away, your eyes would give nothing away. The way that you're grasping at that pretty little key though, that's a big clue."

She felt as though she was going to faint. Her hand had indeed subconsciously shot towards the silver chain around her neck, the one reminder that she had of why she was here in the first place. Dead give away or not, she was not going to let go of her key.

"Are you going to tell anyone?" she said in her head, and even in her own mind her voice was a whisper.

"Me? Of course not" the Sorting Hat replied. "It's my job to sort, and there's nothing important to tell anyway."

This struck her as odd. Perhaps the Sorting Hat didn't know everything.

"Oh no, I do" the Sorting Hat said hotly. "The Dungeon, your parents, the whole thing. You should be ashamed, you should."

Mirra felt herself go numb with shock, and soon after she realized that her sorting was taking an awfully long time compared to most of the others. Was this too suspicious?

"Not really, no" the Sorting Hat commented, its tone reverting back to what it was. "Plenty of people take a few minutes."

"Will you stop doing that!" she hollered in her head, though she knew that arguing with an omniscient hat was not in her best interest. Was she anywhere close to be sorted?

"No, I will not, and no, you're not" the Hat said icily, answering both of her questions in one go. "You're about as close to being sorted as you want to be" it added.

"What does that even mean?" she countered.

The Sorting Hat made a sound that resembled a sigh. "I don't make your choices. I guide; you decide, ultimately."

Mirra squirmed a little bit, raising her head slightly so that she could survey the four tables. There was no real difference to any of them; the people all looked the same. They were all occupied by mild chatter with one another, none of them really paying attention to the pale girl on the stool in front of them. There was one exception, however. A boy at the table to her far left-that Aldous boy-was staring at her very intently.

"Just pick one for me!" Mirra said, feeling desperate now. She just wanted to be out of the spotlight. "And- and you promise, right? That- that you won't tell anyone? About why I'm here?"

"Correct, I will tell no one" the Hat said with a drawl. "Because, like I said, it's nothing important anyway. I don't expect anything to happen. Oh, youth. How easily they misunderstand the true magic of this castle."

Mirra felt slightly irked at this jab. "I'm aware of the magic in and surrounding this castle" she said confidently. "Hogwarts is one of the most powerful magical locations-"

"The magical power that you're thinking of is far inferior to the kind that I speak of" the Sorting Hat said bluntly. "You'll see in time.. I'm sure of it. Once you make that first friend, you'll get it. Then you'll know."

"I'm not here to make friends" Mirra said to herself boldly.

"'Course you're not" the Hat said cheekily. "Whatever you'd like to tell yourself, sweetheart..."

Mirra felt her nostrils flare. "Just hurry up and sort me!" she barked. "Please!"

"Oh very well then!" the Hat snapped. "But know that I'm only putting you where you would picked anyway-some people just don't get that. So let's see...you've got smarts, that's for sure. Ravenclaw would do you fine. Hufflepuff is entirely out of the question though, I know of few Hufflepuffs with your mindset. Slytherin is a maybe. But then again, I suppose that I should really consider what it is that you plan on doing. It takes a lot of courage to even be here right now...so better be...GRYFFINDOR!"