Hello everyone,

It's very late where I am (almost one in the morning) but I felt like writing this chapter anyway. I hope it's worth it 'cause I'm going to be soooo tired tomorrow at work. Oh, and as I said before: reviews are my inspiration fuel, they make me happy and they keep me writing... So review :)

Disclaimer: characters and places are JKR's. Only the plot is mine, and I'm not making any profit of it.

A/N: Unbetaed.


H for (Sorting) Hat

'MALFOY, SCORPIUS!'

A little boy with silver-blond unruly hair and a hard, well-resolved gleam in his grey eyes walked forward in a rather quiet Great Hall. He grabbed the battered old pointed hat on the high stool, climbed up and sat where the hat had been. The way he jammed the hat resolutely on his head was meant to look confident.

The hat was too big for Scorpius's eleven-year-old head, and it fell in his eyes. It was very dark in there, and Scorpius could hear his own quick breath much louder than usual. He lost all his fake self-confidence at once. He had tried very hard not to pay attention to the unprecedented violence of his heartbeat until now, but in the hollow darkness of the Sorting Hat he couldn't avoid his sensations any longer.

'So…' a small voice coming from inside of the hat whispered – and although Scorpius was prepared he couldn't help but start a little – 'we meet at last, Mr Malfoy.'

'You – you know me?' Scorpius thought, and somehow he knew the Hat could hear him.

'I don't know you personally, but I've known all the Malfoys since your name was first called in this Hall. Since the day your ancestor Creon Malfoy was sorted in Slytherin, every single Malfoy has followed the same path path and been a student of this house.'

'Does that mean I'm a Slytherin too?' Scorpius thought, a apprehensive note in his mental voice. At this point he wasn't sure whether he was scared to be in Slytherin or not to be in Slytherin.

'Hmm. For the first time in centuries I am not sure where to put a Malfoy child, you see,' the Hat said thoughfully. 'You may not know it, but you're very different from your family, though you have the same white-blond hair.'

'I know,' Scorpius thought quietly, but the Hat picked up on this nevertheless.

'I see a brilliant mind here. I have no doubt you'll prove you're loyal to the people you believe in, too. You're brave, very brave indeed, Mr Malfoy, for you'll dare break the oldest rules – old as your family – to be loyal to who you truly love. And this is probably the most noble and courageous deed of all. That is why I make you a GRYFFINDOR!'

As the Hat shouted the last word to the entire Hall, Scorpius's heart gave a leap. He tore the hat from his head and looked towards the Gryffindor table, at the faces of those who would be his family for the seven years to come. A baffled silence settled on the Hall and Scorpius made to get off the stool, feeling slightly sick. But someone among the Gryffindors cheered and suddenly there was an explosion of yells and cheers and laughter – Gryffindors seemed to find it simply brilliant that the scared-looking son of an ex-Death Eater would be so different as to be sorted in the house of the Lion. And Scorpius ran down to his new table and found a sit among all the other cheering first years. He couldn't help but grin proudly. He was happy to have been Sorted, but most of all he was happy that the Hat had confirmed what he'd always known deep down: while he gazed at the pretty red-haired girl who moved toward the stool in the middle of the Hall, he thought that if he was meant to break the old rules, then he had just gotten started.

***

'WEASLEY, ROSE!'

A timid-looking girl with a curtain of shiny, bright-red curly hair clashing with her shy appearance took a few steps forward and reached the stool where the Hat sat, shabby-looking yet intimidating. She lifted it, sat on the stool and put the Hat on. She moved a little clumsily, as if she was very aware of all the people staring at her. Clearly this made her even more uncomfortable.

The inside of the Sorting Hat was dark and had a musty smell, but Rose couldn't help but relax: at least she was safe here, away from the stares. She didn't know how long her Sorting would last, she didn't know what its outcome would be, but she didn't mind. It felt better to be here than to be in the crowd of first years, waiting anxiously in the Hall to be sorted.

'Hello, Miss Weasley,' a small voice whispered in her ear – it was the Hat talking to her, but she was expecting it – 'yes indeed, two very interesting personalities tonight, well am I lucky.'

First Rose wondered who the other one was, and then she wondered whether she did have an interesting personality – she'd always been so quiet and shy compared to her flamboyant family. But the Hat only answered her second question.

'Yes, Miss Weasley, you think you grew up in the shadow of a much too talented, much too remarkable family, don't you? Let me surprise you: you're talented and you're remarkable in your very own way. You just never got the chance to realise it because your subtle personality can be easily overshadowed by louder, gaudier ones. You're not just another Weasley child.'

'Does that mean I'm not a Gryffindor?' Rose thought, panicking. What would her family say? Every single one of them had been in Gryffindor, and that's where all her cousins were. Yet, somehow, the idea didn't surprise her as much as it should have.

'Well,' the Hat seemed to stop and think, 'it's been a while since I've hesitated to put a Weasley in Gryffindor, but as I usually follow my instincts… You're brave, yes, brave girl – very intelligent too, like your mother – patient, very patient as you wait to achieve your goals… and achieving your goals is the most important to you, no matter how long it takes, no matter what you have to do to defend your ideas… you have a dark side you shouldn't be afraid of, because it's the one that will bring you to accomplish groundbreaking things in your life… Breathtaking, rule-breaking things… You're unconventional, Miss Weasley, and you should be proud of it. Therefore you will be in SLYTHERIN!'

Rose froze on the spot, listening to the deafening silence that followed the Hat's last word. Then she slowly removed the Hat from her head, and looked around. Everyone was staring at her with gaping mouths, even her cousins at the Gryffindor table. And suddenly, she felt herself swell with pride, and she got off the stool and walked towards the table of her new house. She was different, she'd always known it, and this was the confirmation she'd been waiting for her entire life. As all the Slytherins clapped and cheered and patted her back to welcome her, she looked over the Gryffindor table and grinned at the blond boy who looked strangely out of place there, just like she did here. And it made her happy, and strongly self-confident for the first time in her life, to know that she was the symbol of a new generation where houses didn't mean the same as before and where every goal she set for herself would one day become true – if she really put her mind to it.


So, what did you think? Reviews welcome - as well as ideas for titles for the next chapters, 'I', 'J', 'K'... Let me know!