Alex and Tonks practically leaped off of the train, filled with energy from both excitement and the dozen or so chocolate frogs they had eaten. They were wearing their new robes and were itching to find out what houses they were be in.

Having asked around and read up on Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, Alex knew which house she wanted to be in. Although she valued courage, ambition, loyalty, and a willingness to do hard work, she felt that her intelligence was her defining trait, and she had decided that, if given any choice at all, she would prefer to be in Ravenclaw. She was sure that there, at least, she wouldn't be called names for being smart.

Tonks, on the other hand, had told her that she wanted to be in Gryffindor. Her mother, she said, had been in Slytherin, while her father had been in Hufflepuff, but she would rather break the mold and be known for her courage rather than anything else. "I don't have the brains for Ravenclaw," she had mused, grinning across the compartment at Alex. "Unlike you, I can't suffer through thousand-page books to save my life."

They stood in the Great Hall, looking up toward the stage, where an old hat sat on a three-legged stool, of all things. "The Sorting Hat!" Tonks whispered.

"I've read about it!" Alex replied. "Only a moment more now..."

"It sings every year!" Tonks continued, practically jumping up and down.

"Really? I hadn't heard that." Curious, Alex stared at the hat. Sings? That doesn't make sense—

But then the hat began.

I once was just a hat, you see,

I couldn't hear or speak,

I went about atop a head

From week to week to week.

But then the Four Hogwarts began,

And as they reached old age,

They wondered, "How on earth will we

Impart our knowledge sage

"When we are dead and gone?" They thought

And thought and thought and thought,

Then Gryffindor, the boldest one,

Said, "This can't be for naught.

"Four Houses we've begun," said he,

"There's mine, a brave young group,

And Hufflepuff, a loyal House,

A good hard-working troop.

"And Slytherin, your House you've filled

With purebloods quite ambitious,

And don't forget dear Ravenclaw

Of bright wizards and witches!

"Now we must find a way," he said,

"To sort our students when

We all have died; when we all find

We're dust or ghosts, not men!"

So Gryffindor removed his hat—

The hat that would be me!

And set me down and proclaimed loud,

"The Sorting Hat you'll be!"

And so I sit upon this stool,

Here to decide your fate,

Your Houses you will join once I've

Been placed upon your pate!

Alex and Tonks applauded, then stopped short as a woman ("Professor McGonagall!" Tonks hissed to Alex) approached the hat, an unrolled scroll in her hands.

"Anthony, Cameron!" she called in a loud voice.

A small boy with dark brown hair and an extremely large number of freckles ran onto the stage, a combination of nerves and excitement showing on his face. Professor McGonagall lifted the hat above him as he sat down on the stool, then set it upon his head.

After a moment's silence, the hat spoke. "Ravenclaw!"

A round of applause rose from one of the four student tables, and Cameron Anthony ran to join them, his tie, which had been grey a moment before, changing to the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw House.

"Aspen, Cassandra!"

"Hufflepuff!" shouted the hat.

"They go in alphabetical order," whispered Tonks, "so you'll be before me."

Finally, after Goyle, Grant became a "Slytherin!", Professor McGonagall called out, "Granger, Alexandria!"

Alex took a deep breath and walked up the stairs onto the stage, sitting down on the stool. The hat was placed on her head, where it (quite miraculously) stayed, instead of slipping over her eyes as it had for everyone else.

Must be my hair, she thought with grim amusement. Her hair had always been a trial to her.

Hmm, she heard, in the Sorting Hat's voice. You're clever, I can see that. But you're not afraid to work hard, either.

Are you saying all that out loud? Alex questioned the hat.

No, I'm just saying it to you. Let me see. You're a mite ambitious, eh?

Only to be the top of my class.

But you wouldn't mind going into wizarding government, maybe? Holding a high office?

I...I never thought about that.

Hmm. Oh—what's this?

Is something wrong?

No, nothing's wrong. You're just quite brave, that's all. And you have a good heart. I think I know where I'll put you—

"Gryffindor!" she heard the Hat exclaim.

She felt the hat lifted off of her head and saw her grey tie transforming into a red and gold one—the colors of Gryffindor House. As she came down the steps, Tonks ran over and hugged her.

"Congratulations, Alex!" she squealed. "Maybe we'll be in the same House after all!"

Alex, still bewildered, hugged Tonks back absently. But I thought I'd be in Ravenclaw...I was sure I'd be in Ravenclaw!

As she walked over to the Gryffindor table, she noticed a red-haired first year boy giving her a thumbs-up. She smiled at him halfheartedly and went to find her seat.

Brave...a good heart...are those really my defining characteristics? Am I braver than I am clever? I'd never thought about it...I've never had to be brave, not really...

Her thoughts occupied her until Professor McGonagall called out "Tonks, Nymphadora!" and her pink-haired friend bounded onto the stage. Well, she bounded most of the way up the stairs; on the last one she tripped and fell facedown in front of the stool.

Alex was sure she saw Professor McGonagall stifle a chuckle. "Well, Miss Tonks," she said, with a half-concealed smile, "how...er...wonderful to see that your family hasn't lost its touch for dramatic entrances."

After sitting on the stool for quite a long time, her face concealed by the Sorting Hat, Tonks finally learned where she would be spending the next seven years:

"Hufflepuff!"

The girl stood up, winked at Alex, and headed over to join her House, transforming her hair to match the yellow and black of her new tie.

At long last, as "Weasley, Charlie!" was made a "Gryffindor!", the Sorting came to an end. Alex hadn't paid attention to most of it—she had been too busy trying to figure out why on earth she had been put in Gryffindor.

So it startled her when someone took their seat next to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hello," said a kind voice.

She turned and saw the red-haired boy who had given her a thumbs-up after she'd been Sorted.

"Hello," she replied half-heartedly.

The boy didn't seem to notice. "I'm Charlie," he continued. "You're Alexandria, right?"

"Yes, but you can call me Alex if you'd like."

Charlie grinned. "Okay. I'm so glad I'm in Gryffindor. This is brilliant—continuing the family tradition! What about you? Did your parents go to Hogwarts? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Blinking rapidly, Alex tried to take in everything that Charlie was saying. "I'm Muggle-born...so my parents didn't go to Hogwarts. And I have one younger sister."

"I guess you're lucky to have only one, and to be the oldest. I have an older brother, Bill—he's a Third Year, see him over there with the red hair?—and four younger brothers named Percy, Fred, George, and Ron, and a younger sister named Ginny, but she's only three."

"Seven of you?"

"Seven of us. And we all have red hair."

"All of you? Wow." Alex chuckled. "My sister and I actually look pretty different...here," she muttered, taking out a photograph and showing it to him. It had been taken only a couple days before, and showed Alex, her blond, curly mane of hair pulled back in an extremely thick ponytail, with her arms around a five-year-old girl with brown, bushy hair.

"She looks about the same age as Ron," mused Charlie. "What's her name?"

"Hermione."

Charlie grinned. "I think you're wrong about one thing. She looks a lot like you. Only thing different is the hair color. You think she'll be in Gryffindor when she comes here?"

"I don't even know if she's magical yet!"

"Oh. Well, she might be—Ron hasn't shown any signs of magic yet, but I'm quite sure he's not a Squib...that's a—"

"A non-magical person born into a magical family. I've read about it."

"How much do you read, anyway?" he asked.

"Uh..." Here it comes, she thought. I'm about to be stereotyped...again. "I read as much as I can," she replied quietly.

"What about?"

He actually sounds interested! "Oh, everything!"

"That's more than me—I mostly read about dragons. I want to be a dragon keeper after I graduate."

"Really? That's brilliant. I read a book about dragons, over the summer. Have you ever seen a real dragon?"

"Yeah, I have, actually! They brought one here for the Quidditch World Cup last year—you'll know what Quidditch is, probably read about it—for the Welsh team, when they were competing. Actually it was a wyvern, not a dragon, but who's counting, really?..."

They talked for a while, about dragons and Hogwarts and which foods to try ("Bill says the treacle tart is really good," said Charlie). And by the end of the feast, Alex was feeling much more at home in Gryffindor.