Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Prompts are at the end.
Word Count: 376
The raggedy hat settles onto the dark red hair, and for a moment, it seems about to shout its decision, before it hesitates.
Slytherin. Please, Slytherin, the girl is chanting in her head. Slytherin.
"Hmm, not Gryffindor?" the Hat murmurs. "You'd do well there, you know. Plenty of courage in there, to do things despite what others think, to keep trying even though you might fail."
Not Gryffindor, the girl thinks fiercely, the scene from just hours ago running through her mind. 'If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-', not to mention that that's where that jerk, something Black, from earlier was Sorted, and where his friend from the train wanted to be. And-
'You think I want to be a- a freak? That's what you are, a weirdo, a freak!' And she-
She stops that train of thought immediately, but it's in her mind already, and the Sorting Hat finishes: "You don't want to lose someone else."
No. She can't lose him, too, and if she's a Gryffindor…
"Hmph. You'd do well in Gryffindor, but if you insist… Well, plenty of brains in there, too, and a nice thirst to prove yourself, but not, hmm… But for your friend - I suppose I'm putting off the obvious choice for no reason."
The girl frowns: The obvious-
"Hufflepuff!"
One difference can change everything. Perhaps, in Hufflepuff, she'll care a little less about ideals, a little more about the people she knows themselves. Perhaps that messy-haired boy she met on the train won't be so infatuated with her - or perhaps he will, perhaps he'll still pine over that fiery, kind redhead who refuses to give up on anyone. Perhaps she'll make a friend in one of her dormmates, who'll lose his brother in his third year; perhaps that will make her want to fight harder for her sister. Perhaps she'll still lose her oldest friend, who'll still wear that emerald and silver, who'll call her Mudblood in front of the school, but perhaps she won't - perhaps she'll remember their years of friendship and think that that shouldn't all end because of one argument, and perhaps she'll be more used to the name-calling that comes with her yellow-and-black tie. Perhaps she'll change that.
But that's another story.
Writing Club: December
Record Collection: Lonely This Christmas: Emotion: Lonely
Time Machine: Colour: Silver
Showtime: Sticky Situation - (word) Defiant
Elizabeth's Empire: (emotion) lonely
Liza's Loves: Expand on a canon moment (the expanding doesn't have to be canon).
Bex's Basement: Infusion: Mix together two tropes or AU's in a single fic.
Angel's Archive: How the Grinch Stole Christmas - (genre) friendship
Scamander's Case: (color) green
Film Festival: (genre) friendship
Marvel Appreciation: Black Widow - (colour) Black, (trait) Confident, (trait) Fearless, (action) Looking for something/someone, (emotion) Loneliness
Lyric Alley: Come with me
The Forecast Says… 22nd. Snow: Decisive
EnTitled: The One Where Phoebe Runs - Write about someone not caring what others think
Christmas Fair
Christmas Eve Boxes: Sweet - Candy Cane: (object) Four Poster Bed
Snow Globe Maker: Wizard's Chess Pieces: (scenario) A fight, Hogwarts Castle: (location) Hogwarts Castle
Treasure Hunt: Trope: Different Hogwarts House
Advent Calendar: Door: Restriction - No using character names
Nativity Play: The Angel - (animal) Owl
Holiday Crackers: Trinkets - Hat
Naughty or Nice: Nice List - (theme) new beginning
Hot Chocolate Station: Cocoa Flavors - Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate: (restriction) no one older than 17
Write Letters to Santa: Prompt 5 - A photo album: (emotion) nostalgia
Big Dinner Bash: Extras: (trait) Stuffing Balls: Kind
Christmas Party: I'll Be Home For Christmas - Michael Bublé: (emotion) lonely
Paper Snowflakes: 1st Cut: Colors - Emerald
New Year Resolutions: Cook one new thing each week: (setting) the Great Hall
Pop Figures: Disney - Rapunzel: (trait) Hufflepuff / (object) Mirror
Stickers Club: Toothless - How to Train Your Dragon: Relationship: Friendship
Goodbye to Hogwarts: Write about close friends / Alt: Found Family (bonus)