[Kitty: This was really fun too!

Lina: Are all of them going to be together?

Kitty: (grins mischievously) You'll see...

Yugi: R&R!]

Chapter Five:

The Sorting Hat

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid when a severe looking woman in emerald robes answered.

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall.

"Hey, Ron, you have any trouble while I was gone? Did Hermione Granger come by again?" asked Diana.

"Yeah, but only after Malfoy came by," he muttered, grinning, "Harry told him off real good, didn't ya, Harry?"

"I was only stating fact," said Harry as they started to walk in, "I can tell the wrong sort for myself, and Ron and you are definitely not in that category."

Diana smiled.

"You've learned Malfoy by heart then. He hates me. We've been enemies ever since we were kids."

"By the way, Dare," said Harry, "Who were those boys you were waving to? They don't look British, and they're definitely not 11 years-"

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall crisply when she stopped in front of two massive wooden doors, everyone stopping their conversations to listen. They could tell this professor wasn't someone to mess with.

"Now, in a few moments, you'll pass through these doors and join your classmates," Professor McGonagall stated in a business-like way, "But before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw... and Slytherin."

Diana noticed that her eyes flashed in the direction of Malfoy when the last house was named, and smirked.

/She knows him well enough./

Professor McGonagall continued, "While you are here, your house will be like your family. Triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily."

And with that, Professor McGonagall opened the door, and went in by herself, shutting the door firmly behind her.

The talking broke out again.

Diana walked over the Japanese boys, Ron and Harry after her.

"What d'you reckon?" asked Diana, "Which house you think you'll be in?"

"Hufflepuff," said Ryou promptly.

"Ravenclaw," Seto stated crisply.

"Gryffindor, I hope," Marik said.

"Dunno," said Yugi, shrugging.

"Gryffindor's probably for me," said Diana, "And..."

Then she noticed Ron's guarded expression.

"Oh yeah! Guys, these are my friends, Ron and Harry. Ron, Harry, this is Marik, Yugi, Seto and Ryou."

"Nice to meet you," said Harry.

"Likewise, I'm sure," said Yugi.

"You two related, Dare-kun?" Ryou asked Diana, gesturing toward Ron, "That hair is similar."

"Not really," said Diana, "Only distantly. We're both purebloods, and they're all interrelated."

"Purebloods?" repeated Seto, raising an eyebrow, "You mean pureblood wizards, I would assume?"

"Yeah," said Ron, "But only the real pureblood racists make a big deal about it."

"What d'you mean, Ron-kun?" asked Marik.

"You see, there are some people who think they're better than everyone else because they're all wizard, or pureblood," Ron explained, "Dare and I, of course, have sense, and don't listen to any of that rubbish."

"Ahem."

Professor McGonagall was back.

"We're ready for you now. Follow me."

She opened up the doors, and the students followed in two lines behind her, into the Great Hall.

It was enormous. There were four long tables, polished with an almost magical shine, on each side of the hall, and at the top of a few stairs was the High Table, where all the teachers sat.

In the middle of the table was Professor "Doodledore", as Ryou called him. His beard was as silver as some ghosts that floated past the students, one right through poor Marik, who almost fainted in fright.

"You shouldn't be scared of them," Ryou said logically, "You've had worse."

Marik glared.

"Don't remind me."

Professor McGonagall walked up to where a tattered, ugly hat was waiting on a three-legged stool, and the first years gathered around the Hat, looking both nervous and confused.

Out of nowhere, a rip in the brim opened up like a mouth, and the hat sang (yes, the tattered hat sang of all things),

"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 you 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 can't 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'll 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!"

Applause.

Diana racked her brains, swearing that she had heard of this hat.

That's right. The Sorting Hat. Fred and George had told her of this. You would put it on, and the hat would look in your mind to find where you belong, although Fred and George had also mentioned going against a troll as part of the test...

Her heart dropped.

What about Artemis? Artemis was in her head. What if the Hat put her in Slytherin because of her?

She must have looked nervous, because a hand gripped her shoulder.

She looked at the hand's owner.

Marik.

He tilted his head cutely to the side, smiling encouragingly at her.

Diana felt her fears melt away.

Why be so afraid of an old hat?

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with pigtails went up to be sorted.

"Alphabetical order?" stammered Ryou, "Oh, no, that means-"

"Hufflepuff!" shouted the Hat.

"Bakura, Ryou!"

His knees knocking, Ryou stepped up, sat on the stool, and the hat fell over his eyes.

"Hmm, what's this?" said a thoughtful voice in his head, "Two minds? This is peculiar..."

-Hey, you mind not poking into other people's business?!- grumbled Bakura from within Ryou's head.

/Yami, don't make the hat angry .../ Ryou thought reproachfully, swearing that he heard his Yami mutter Egyptian curse-words under his breath.

"Hmm, you two seem to be complete opposites," said the Hat smartly, "Well, if I go on the basis of the host, I say HUFFLEPUFF!"

Polite clapping.

Stunned by his luck, Ryou pulled off the Hat and sat down at the Hufflepuff table like Hannah.

"Bones, Susan!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Boot, Terry!"

"Ravenclaw!"

More students went up, until the bushy brown haired girl who had traveled with Diana, Harry and Ron in the boat went up.

"Gryffindor!"

"Shit," muttered Diana.

"Ishtar, Marik!"

Marik walked up, sitting on the stool, only seeing encouraging looks from Yugi and Diana before the hat fell over his eyes.

"Hmm, a lot of ambition here," muttered the Hat, "And you weren't always a good guy, were you?"

Marik gulped.

/How do you know all this?/ he asked.

"Easy. Your mind reveals a lot about you. And from what I can see of you, I say SLYTHERIN!"

Marik took off the Hat lifelessly and sat down at the Slytherin table, trying not to make eye contact with anyone there.

Diana frowned.

/Poor Marik.../

"Kaiba, Seto!"

Seto walked up to the stand, and ten seconds later, "RAVENCLAW!"

Seto smirked, sitting down with the Ravenclaws.

"Longbottom, Neville," was called, and the boy who kept losing his toad stepped up to the stool. It took about five minutes before the Hat declared him a Gryffindor, and Neville ran toward the table, with the Hat still on him. People laughed as he skipped back, to hand it to "MacDougal, Morag".

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Diana growled.

Malfoy stepped up to the stand confidently.

Diana counted down, /Three, two, one.../

"Slytherin!" screamed the Hat, barely touching his head.

Malfoy smirked, more evilly than Seto, swaggering over to the Slytherin table to his pair of cronies.

Diana rolled her eyes, and Marik glared at him, trying to stay as far away from him as he could.

"Mutou, Yugi!"

Yugi stepped up to the stool nervously. Some people were giggling, pointing at his tricolored hair. The Hat dropped down.

"Ow!" said the Hat, "Watch where you put that hair, boy!"

Yugi sweatdropped.

-Watch it- Yami muttered from within Yugi's head,-That's my hikari you're insulting.-

"So sorry, Pharaoh," said the Hat apologetically.

Yugi could have sworn Yami smirked at that.

"Second person today with two minds."

/Are you talking about Ryou?/ asked Yugi.

"Oh, so you know about that? Well, I see a lot of loyalty here, but a nice amount of bravery too. But what would you expect from the Pharaoh's host? I think GRYFFINDOR is for you."

Clapping.

Yugi sat down at the Gryffindor table as "Potter, Harry!" was called.

Whispers went through the hall at his name.

Harry looked frozen with dread.

"Go on, Harry," muttered Diana, pushing him slightly forward.

Harry walked up to the stool and sat down.

It took two minutes before...

"Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table erupted.

Yugi was shaking his hand and grinning broadly, as the Weasley twins chanted, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Barely anyone heard, "Randall, Diana!"

Diana walked up to the stool, and then people started to notice. Some people were whispering.

/Either for my mum,/ thought Diana, /Or how I'm dressed./

She removed her Holyhead Harpies cap, sat down, and the Hat fell over her eyes.

Silence. The Hat said nothing.

And then, suddenly, from out of nowhere...

-Get out of my head, you old rag- said a cold voice in her head.

Diana's heart dropped in fear.

"SLY-"

/Please no, that's Artemis, not me!/ she screamed in her head.

"Hmm," the Hat said, "That is true... I guess I can look harder."

Diana sighed in relief.

"Make that the third person with two minds I've had to contend with, and the second one with complete opposites."

/Huh?/ Diana thought curiously, /What do you mean?/

"A lot of bravery, like your mother," the Hat said, ignoring Diana's question, "And curiosity. But...you do have a mischievous streak. And you can be harsh when it comes to revenge..."

/For good reason,/ Diana injected.

"...but you're a fair minded person usually."

He thought more to himself for a while, without Diana hearing him. Diana was so nervous she could barely stand it.

Finally, the Hat said, "Artemis's heir should be in Slytherin, but off to GRYFFINDOR with you!"

Diana almost fainted from relief. She could hear Yugi, Harry and the twins cheering from the Gryffindor table, and caught Marik's subtle smile in her direction.

She took off the Hat and collapsed next to Harry.

"Whew," she said, "That Hat scared me for a minute."

"Weasley, Ronald!"

Diana jerked her head suddenly toward Ron as he walked up to the stool.

"C'mon, Ron..." muttered Diana, crossing her fingers under the table.

"Gryffindor!"

"Alright!" said Yugi.

Diana gave Ron a high-five as he sat between her and Yugi.

Finally, "Zabini, Blaise" went to Slytherin, and Professor McGonagall took the stool and the Sorting Hat away. Professor Dumbledore then stood up for a few announcements.

"First years," he stated, "Please note that the Forbidden Forest, like its name states, is strictly forbidden to all students. And our caretaker, Mr. Filch," he pointed out an ugly old man wearing a moth-eaten overcoat in the doorway with an equally ugly cat sitting next to him, "Has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

Diana looked at Percy, three seats over.

"He isn't serious, is he?"

"Must be," Percy replied, sounding suspicious, "Odd, because he usually has a reason for it. I would have thought he would have at least told us prefects."

Yugi and Diana exchanged inquisitive looks.

"Now, let the feast begin," Dumbledore said, as the tables were soon covered in plates upon plates of food.

Everyone got what he or she wanted (Ron had as much as Harry, Diana and Yugi did combined) and started to eat.

The food multiplied on the platters until every student was finished. Then came dessert.

Diana licked her lips. She always left a little room after supper for a nice dessert.

She got two scoops of chocolate ice cream, and, borrowing the chocolate sauce from Ron, poured a large amount of it on her ice cream.

Harry stared, but Ron just rolled his eyes.

"She's obsessed with chocolate," he explained shortly.

"No duh," Diana said, sprinkling some chocolate chips on her "sundae", and starting to eat it.

Finally, Dumbledore let them return to their dormitories after a round of the school song. The friends talked together until their house groups split up.

Marik sighed sadly.

"See you guys around," he said, as he followed the Slytherins down the stairs and out of sight.

"Poor Marik," Ron said, "Being in the same house as Malfoy would be a nightmare."

The Gryffindors, led by Percy, was brought to a large portrait of a fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," replied Percy, and the portrait opened up like a doorway into the Gryffindor common room.

It was very nice, with a few paintings (which actually moved and talked, to some of the students' surprise), squashy red armchairs scattered around it, and a fireplace. There was a red and gold staircase in the middle of the common room that went up to the dormitories, boys on the left, girls on the right.

Diana, Ron, Harry and Yugi walked up the steps for bedtime. Diana turned right while the others went left.

"Night, all," Diana said, before going up the stairs and out of sight.

The three boys got settled in. The boy who kept losing his toad, Neville, slept in the bunk over Yugi and Harry decided to sleep in the bunk over Ron.

-!-Meanwhile-!-

Even after most of the Slytherin boys had gone to sleep, Marik lay awake. He tried to fall asleep, but he just couldn't. He could hear Crabbe, one of Malfoy's cronies, snoring softly in the background, and a chilly breeze blew on them through the window.

/I wish I were in Gryffindor with the others now.../ he thought to himself, hugging the covers around himself, /I miss them already./

[Kitty: Aw... poor Marik, being in MALFOY'S house...

Marik: Why'd you put the same house as that mother-fucking S.O.B.?!

Kitty: (glares) There's a reason for that. Yugi, are there any new reviews?

Yugi: (checks Kitty's review box) Hmm, let's see...Yeah. They're from kani and SGCred.

Kitty: (cheers) YAY!

Lina: What do they say?

Yugi: kani says, "Hermione is annoying, is she not? lol. Always thought know-it-alls were evil cough Andrew E cough eh...anyway...YAY RYOU!!"

Ryou: (blushes redder)

Kitty: I emailed you about that. (grins) It's fun to write about Hermione like that. And Diana and Hermione are almost complete opposites, so it's interesting. (shrugs) And Andrew E, from what you told me, is an evil know- at-all you had the shame of being an acquaintance to. (looks sympathetic) I know how you feel, I know a couple of them, males of course, and they try to FLIRT with me, which is ANNOYING. (growls)

Yugi: (glares and glomps Kitty in a possessive way) My Kitty! Back OFF!

Kitty: (grins, and kisses Yugi) My hero!

Lina: (sweatdrop) Nice to know you enjoy Ryou being in this fic.

Ryou: From what Kitty told me, I'm going to get to do some pretty cool stuff... I just wonder by what her definition of "cool" is... (sweatdrop)

Yugi: (smiles, and turns back to the computer) SGCred had two. The first one says, "This fic is brilliant! Nice to see both shows and sets of characters twist in so well. You really blend everything together well, and great use of description. Glad you like my fic as I felt I rushed the last chapter a little. Hope you update Love in Blind Eyes soon. Sorry about deleting Duel of the Roses, but if I got to you sooner I could have told you most of the story, as I read it so many times. Hope to hear from you soon."

Kitty: (smiles) I'm going to update Love in Blind Eyes in a day or two. And THANKIES! (grins widely)

Yugi: Her second review says, "Just a note to say I noticed you said Yugioh person. If you are interested the creator of Yugioh is Kazuki Takahashi, who began drawing Yugioh comics in 1996. I have more info in my unofficial Yugioh Scrapbook. Tell me if that helps you in any way, as I have more info on him in my book, if you want to know. After all, we are in debt to this man for creating on of the best Anime series in history, YUGIOH!"

Kitty: YAH!!!!!! YU-GI-OH RULES!!!!!

The Yu-Gi-Oh Cast: (sweatdrop)

Yugi: (grins)

Kitty: (ahem) Thanks. (sweatdrop) I thought it was a guy... but a friend of mine told me it was a gal, and besides, I didn't know how to spell his name... I'm no good at Japanese, I study French, Goddamn it!

Yugi: (sweatdrop)

Kitty: (sighs) R&R!]