Disclaimer - I ain't ever done plagiarize this 'ere story

"Child, there has never been a student before who was not sorted promptly, all of the students in which the hat was puzzled about has been decided by the student while the hat searched. You, on the other hand, have stumped it. Your own lack of preference has stumped it." He gazed up at her with sparkling blue eyes. "Perhaps another minute before we make a decision? You seemed to be quite uncomfortable up there." He gazed at the youth, who promptly looked away. He could sense buried secrets in her mind. He opened her mind, fearful of a danger to the school, and began to search. No sooner had he found a fuzzy memory of a scraped knee when suddenly he felt a pulling, a resistance in her mind. Suddenly, with an alarming wrench the memory was pulled from his mental grasp. Dumbledore was stunned. No one had ever been able to close their mind to him before, not even Tom Riddle! He attempted to probe her mind again, but could find no entrance. "Don't do that." The child stood before him, eyes blazing in fury, but she spoke in an increasingly quiet and calm voice "Never do that again."

After an intense pause, she sat back down quickly and looked away, but not before Dumbledore swore he saw her eyes flash violet. He handed her the hat silently, and she accepted it silently, still not making eye contact. He left for his study, needing a minute to mull over her actions before proclaiming to her the only solution. She had too much power, and too many secrets to belong in any house. The only solution was for her to become an independent.

She turned to watch the headmaster's retreating back. Now she'd done it. She sighed bleakly. She was infuriated that he had tried to search her mind without permission, but understood why he had done it. She could sense his love of the school and his students and the ferocity of his protection. He was a good man. She had overreacted, and while doing so, had almost lost her temper. She had learnt years ago that there were rules to living that must not be breached at any cost. Keep your head down; never, never, never lose your temper, and never let on how much power you've got. She had read too many books to consider breaching any rule intentionally. Even in the muggle world, telepathic people, inventors, people who told a different version of the truth, anyone who had broken a confine of society had been shunned by the normal world. And she had almost lost her temper. And he had left her alone with a hat for company.

Oops. She was supposed to be negotiating a house. She jammed the hat onto her head and ignored it as it continued to mumble to itself. What if someone found out she could do magic without a wand? What if someone found out she could make wings sprout from her back by hunching a certain way? What if someone found out she could create indestructible force fields by wishing them to exist, or could become invisible without a cloak? What if someone found out she was different?

Dumbledore, who had re-entered his office, interrupted her in her musings. She removed the hat and stood quickly, startled by his sudden appearance. He waved her down, but continued to stand, staring out of a window into the distance. She sat and waited nervously for the sentencing for her outburst. He finally snapped back into the present and cleared his throat. "My dear, you are the only independent ever to grace this school, and oddly, the four founders explained the process remarkably well. If a student cannot be sorted, he or she will become an independent." She was bewildered. What the heck was an independent? Was this her punishment? "An independent is a student without a house. They receive special tutelage by becoming apprenticed to a Professor. You will, in essence, learn seven years of magic in one year, then decide what field of magic to specialize into." He glanced at her stunned face, his eyes twinkling. "You can use all of your talents by becoming an independent."

She sighed. She would never be allowed to use all her talents. She often wondered what it would be like to just run into a field and take off, regardless of whom would be watching, or summon something without going through the pretense of pulling out her unnecessary wand and waving it foolishly.

"I shall arrange for your tutor by nightfall, meet me back here by seven tonight and I'll have your luggage ready. I'm certain you have some exploring to do."

As she left the room, Dumbledore's curiosity could not be withheld any longer. As the door snapped shut with a loud click, he pulled out his wand and scanned her luggage for any kind of oddity that would reveal to him whom he would be dealing with. Nope, nothing out of the ordinary. Clothes, books, wand… wand? No wizard ever went anywhere without their wand, anything could happen. Well, she hadn't learnt any magic yet, anyway. She would have just as much chance in Hogwarts without it as she would have with it. Satisfying himself with this thought, he pulled out a bag of lemon drops from his bottom drawer and turned his mind to other important matters.