'Hmmm' said a strange distinctly male voice in Euphemia's head. 'Very difficult. Extremely interesting. There's huge talent, a work ethic, not a bad mind and interesting parentage, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time.
'Who is my godly parent?', Euphemia thought frantically.
'I'm afraid I can't tell you' the hat replied. 'He, or she, must claim you themselves. Now where shall I put you?'
Startled at being asked for her input, Euphemia replied, 'I honestly don't know'.
The hat seemed amused. 'There's nowhere in particular you want to go? Most students have very definitive opinions on the matter. They want to honour family tradition, be like a famous person from that house, go where their friends are, or something like that.'
'Well', she thought. 'I'd like to think my parents would be proud of me no matter what house I'm in. It's more important what I do with my life. To be honest I think Gryffindor is the house I'd fit most, but I think people probably expect me to go there, so chances are a lot of people that want to use me would be there. Also, it would be more difficult to be friends with Draco and the other Slytherins. And if I was in Slytherin I would be more isolated from the Gryffindors, and although I don't want to judge people, a lot of the children in there have parents who supported Voldemort, and I do want to make friends.' She paused. 'But then I don't think I have as many of the characteristics of the other two houses.'
'No' the hat replied. 'You are intelligent, it is true, but your hard work has been more out of necessity rather than an actual love of learning. What do you want to get out of your time at Hogwarts Miss Potter?'
Euphemia was rather taken aback by the question. 'I suppose', she said hesitantly. 'I want to make friends, true friends, rather than people who just want to use famous Euphemia Potter. I've never had that before' she thought sadly.
'Then I think I know where to put you Miss Potter. You certainly have been interesting, you will learn that loyalty you feel you do not possess, and make lifelong friendships in
HUFFLEPUFF!'
There was momentary silence in the hall. Then Susan and Hannah started clapping, then Neville, Draco, a middle aged friendly looking woman at the staff table and the man she recognised as Albus Dumbledore. Then the people at the Hufflepuff table along with the rest of the hall started to clap enthusiastically. Euphemia happily made her way over to the Hufflepuff table. She sat down beside Hannah and Susan at the end of the table who both smiled at her.
The sorting concluded uneventfully and Dumbledore stood up and gave a speech. It was Euphemia's kind of speech, less than a minute long and kind of amusing. A huge variety of food appeared in front of her. After having no proper meal since breakfast, she piled her plate with as much as she could eat. 'I didn't really expect to see you here Euphemia', Hannah said casually.
Euphemia shrugged. 'The hat thought Hufflepuff would be the best house for me, and that it would be where I'd learn the most. I'm quite happy about it to be honest.' Euphemia in truth was delighted about her sorting. Hidden beneath her confident exterior was an extremely lonely little girl.
Over the course of the meal, Euphemia learned the names of her new year mates. Apart from herself, Hannah and Susan there were two other girls, Megan Jones and Sally-Anne Perks. There were only three boys, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Zacharias Smith. They chatted over dinner and got to know one another. Ernie came off as rather pompous, yet nice, Euphemia thought. He had high opinions of himself but didn't seem nasty, just slightly socially awkward. Justin seemed fun. He was a muggleborn and not very affected by Euphemia's fame. Zacharias was rather quiet but had made some insightful comments. She hadn't been able to get a good read on him yet.
Megan Jones was nice and a typical girly girl, and Euphemia couldn't wait to talk to her more about fashion. Sally-Anne was the last of the girls, and undoubtedly the shyest. She hadn't said much, mainly listened to the others chat, but Euphemia felt that she would get on with her well as well. Euphemia was incredibly grateful that they had the tact not to enquire about her scar.
At one point in the meal Euphemia looked up at the head table. There was the huge man who had brought them to school sitting in start contrast to a man whose head was barely visible above the table top. The cross deputy principal was talking to Dumbledore. Then there was another teacher who was incredibly pale and wearing a purple turban. He was talking to a man that looked relatively normal if not for the massive amount of grease in his hair. Was it a requirement to look extremely odd to be a Hogwarts teacher? Not that Euphemia had a problem with that. Hopefully it would make classes more interesting. The greasy haired man suddenly looked at her, right into her eyes.
Euphemia was suddenly jolted by an intense pain in her scar. She winced and looked away from him. That had never happened before in the ten years since she had acquired it. It was doubly worrying, as it had been caused by a psychopath trying to kill her. Maybe it was because she was in a place with such high magical activity. She would have to look into it. Doctors at a magical hospital would surely have some sort of information on it. Surely any after effects should be gone by now? She worried about it for the rest of the meal, only entering the conversation when prompted.
They then sang a song which in Euphemia's opinion made a mockery of music. Dumbledore mentioned something about avoiding the third floor corridor on fear of death, and Euphemia could not tell whether or not he was joking. He was supposedly one of the most powerful wizards on earth, but he acted incredibly strangely.
They followed a Hufflepuff prefect down into the dormitories and Euphemia collapsed into her new bed almost immediately. It was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in (which wasn't really saying much). She couldn't wait to continue her Hogwarts journey.