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'Desford, Griánne,' Professor McGonagall read the next name off the list and Griánne squeezed her twins' hand before pushing her way through the crowd to hurry up the steps. She turned and sat on the chair, suddenly overwhelmed by a thousand strange faces staring at her expectantly. She felt Professor McGonagall place the tatty hat on her head and waited as it slipped down over her eyes. What was the hat going to do?

'I'm going to look into your head.'

Gráinne nearly jumped at the small voice in her ear.

'Fearless, are you?' the voice continued. 'No, not fearless, reckless.'

'I am not!' Gráinne whispered indignantly.

'No? Are you sure? Perhaps "curious," then. Unchecked curiosity. Eager to try new things. Impetuous almost. Yet a day dreamer.'

'Stop it!' Gráinne told the voice, her words hushed.

'A spitfire. Defiant too. Where to put you? You have courage, combined with your curiosity, you could do great things. But with curiosity like yours, there is the risk of disaster. Smart. Good mind. But can you keep your curiosity in check before it becomes recklessness?'

'I am not reckless!'

'Oh, but you could be. No desire for power, though. Odd, a very peculiar child, you are. Where to put you? Ravenclaw might be good for you. But then, Gryffindor would be too.'

'Ravenclaw,' Gráinne insisted. 'I want Ravenclaw. The only one I want. That's where I belong.'

'Ravenclaw, eh? You're smart, curious, strong-willed, unbending, defiant with an undeterrable conviction that you are right… you can only belong in GRYFFINDOR!' The last word was shouted aloud for the entire hall to hear and Gráinne's heart sank, but before Professor McGonagall could pull the hat from her head, the voice became small in her ear again. 'A true Ravenclaw would have been excited to learn from any house, including Gryffindor.'

And with that final, parting word, Professor McGonagall pulled the hat from her head and Gráinne slipped quietly off the stool and headed towards the cheering Gryffindor table on the far left side of the Great Hall, sadly passing the Ravenclaw table as she did. Aria pulled her in for a hug and a congratulations and Gráinne shoved a smile on her face like she was really happy with her new house. As she sat a few spots down from Aria, Gráinne glanced, longingly, at table full of students with blue striped ties to wave at her older sister. Bríd smiled encouragingly and waved as Professor McGonagall read off the next name.

'Desford, Siobhán.'

Siobhán squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. The Sorting Hat couldn't send her home, right? She was magical enough for Hogwarts. Her dad said that – Professor McGonagall called her name a second time and there was a slight ripple of laughter through the Great Hall. Siobhán opened her eyes and saw Professor Dumbledore smiling fondly at her over his half-moon spectacles. Neville whispered 'go on!' in her ear.

Ascending the steps before Professor McGonagall could say her name again, Siobhán turned and sat, red faced, on the stood, training her eyes on her shoes to avoid looking at any of her classmates. When the Sorting Hat covered her eyes, she felt relieved.

'There, there,' a small voice sounded in her head. 'Every head I've sat on has been just as nervous as you. No need to fret. Now lets see what's inside that mind of yours, shall we? Clever, yes, very clever. Like your sister that way. But very different otherwise,' the voice mused and Siobhán wondered what the hat had said to Gráinne. 'A head full of cleverness, no doubt about it. But full of caution as well. You were the one to tell your sister to stop and think before she acted, I'm sure.'

Siobhán didn't speak and the hat chuckled. 'Loyalty – and protectiveness too. Ravenclaw would test your cleverness, nurture it properly. But Hufflepuff…' the small voice trailed off and Siobhán knotted her hands in her lap.

'You have patience,' the hat noted. 'Many like to argue with me while I decide, but not you. Caution and patience, cleverness and loyalty – you must be a HUFFLEPUFF.'

The table full of Hufflepuffs cheered as Professor McGonagall pulled the hat off her head. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor clapped for her as well while she rushed down the steps to join the Hufflepuffs. Only the Slytherins remained quiet, a few rolling their eyes as she passed their table. Gráinne caught her eye and grinned. Bríd and Kain both waved at her from the Ravenclaw table and Aria clapped extra loud until Siobhán was seated at the far right table.

'Welcome to Hufflepuff!' the good-looking boy with brown hair and grey eyes next to her said. 'I'm Cedric Diggory. You're going to be great, Siobhán.'

Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones both smiled at her from across the table. Susan had looked nearly as terrified as Siobhán had felt when she had gone up to be sorted.

'Thank you,' Siobhán found her voice. 'I'm glad I got Hufflepuff.'

Cedric gave her a handsome smile that made her blush and Siobhán jerked her head down to stare at her empty plate. She crossed her ankles and swung her legs back and forth, twisting her hands together in her lap and hoping her ears weren't bright red. Susan giggled and a few minutes later 'Finch-Fletchley, Justin' sat on Siobhán's other side, grinning widely.

Siobhán was surprised when he stuck out his hand to shake hers, but she shook it anyway as he introduced himself even though they had all just heard Professor McGonagall call his name out loud.

'Siobhán,' she smiled, remembering his face from the train.

'You were helping that boy look for his toad,' Justin recalled. 'Did you find it?'

Siobhán nodded that Trevor had indeed found his way home and Hannah and Susan repeated their names for Justin as well. The freckly boy who had knocked into Gráinne was sitting on the stool – he had been for a while now. No one had taken this long so far and Siobhán was starting to wonder when the hat finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR!'

Siobhán immediately glanced to the Gryffindor table and saw the annoyed scowl etched upon her twin's face as 'Finnigan, Seamus' hurried to the table and plunked himself down right in front of her.

'Something wrong?' Justin asked, noticing her grimace.

'Oh, no. No, nothing's wrong. Where are you from, Justin?'

The four first years chatted quietly as they watch the Sorting Hat shift through their classmates one by one and scatter them amongst the four house tables. Finally Professor McGonagall called Neville's name and Siobhán straightened in anticipation, trying to see over a rather tall boy partially blocking her view.

A minute ticked by and then another and another…

The hat had never taken this long before. Not even with Hermione Granger and she had taken practically forever!

Crossing her fingers under the table, Siobhán squeezed her eyes shut and wished as hard as she could for Neville to be put sorted into Hufflepuff. When they had been talking on the train, Neville had admitted he wanted to be in Hufflepuff, so all the hat needed to do was put him there and they would have the best –

'GRYFFINDOR!'

Siobhán's shoulders fell and she opened her eyes to see Neville jogging towards the Gryffindor table with the hat still on his head. The Slytherin table laughed loudly when he had to run back to return the hat to Professor McGonagall and his face was the colour of a tomato by the time he sat next to Gráinne. Siobhán waited for him to look up so she could give him a wave, but Neville didn't look up from his lap as Gráinne patted his arm comfortingly.

'Potter, Harry?'

Every head in the hall jerked up as a small, scrawny boy with jet-black hair sat down on the stool and had his eyes covered by the Sorting Hat. People were whispering and excited electricity buzzed amongst them and Siobhán felt badly for the boy. If he was half as scared as she had been, the extra attention must be excruciating. After about a minute, the hat shouted 'GRYFFINDOR!' and the hall exploded.

'We've got Potter! We've got Potter!' The shouts of the Weasley twins overran everything else as small Harry Potter made his way, all smiles and apparently very hapy with his new house, to sit next to Percy Weasley, who was grinning like he was accepting a prize on behalf of his house.

It took a bit for the hall to quiet down again and the next two students were barely noticed as they were sorted into Ravenclaw and then Slytherin. Finally, the last first year was sorted and Professor Dumbledore stood.

'Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!'

Siobhán laughed along with the rest of the hall as Dumbledore sat back down in his seat. Bríd had told them all about Dumbledore and his funny quirks. Her laughter was cut short as she gasped. The empty trays and platters and bowls in the center of their table were magically filling with more delicious food than she could imagine. And, as the smell hit her nose, she realized exactly how hungry she was and reached for the bowl of sausages.

'Wow…' Justin looked amazed, having just knowingly witnessed magic for the first time. 'That was brilliant!'

The entire meal was brilliant and no one could help themselves from trying a little bit of everything – or in some cases, a lot of everything. Yet, somehow, everyone still had plenty of room left when the puddings appeared.

'Gráinne? That's a weird name,' a first year named Lavender Brown commented as she stared at her, picking a chocolate éclair from the tray.

'No weirder than 'Lavender,' Gráinne replied around a mouthful of rice pudding. 'I'm named after my grandmother. She's a great witch. I'm going to be just like her.'

'I'm named after my mummy's favourite flower!' Lavender said indignantly and looked at Gráinne with an air of distain.

'I'm glad I'm not named after some silly flower. Flower's wilt.'

'You know what her name means?' Seamus Finnigan grinned widely when Lavender and her friend Pavarti Patil both shook their heads. Neville and Dean Thomas looked curious as well. 'It means "inspiring terror."'

'It does not!' Gráinne protested, narrowing her eyes at the freckly-faced boy with untidy hair as Lavender and Pavarti both started laughing shrilly. Dean and Neville grinned, but didn't laugh. 'It means "grace!"'

'It does too,' Seamus made a face at her. 'It means "inspiring terror."'

Gráinne pursed her lips in a scowl and glared at him. 'At least my name's interesting. Gráinne Ní Mháille is the coolest pirate ever! She's a lot better than anyone with your name. Half the boys in Ireland are named Seamus.'

Seamus opened his mouth to retort, but Gráinne made a show of turning away from him and re-introduced herself to Hermione Granger, who was seated next to her. Seamus stuck his tongue out at Gráinne.

'Your sister got sorted into Hufflepuff, didn't she?' Hermione asked, picking up her glass of pumpkin juice.

'Yes,' Gráinne nodded. 'My older sister, Bríd, is in Ravenclaw. So is my cousin Kain. He's a Prefect. My cousin Aria's in Gryffindor, though. She's just there with Lee Jordan and Fred and George Weasley.'

'My entire family's been in Gryffindor for as long as anyone can remember,' Ron Weasley, Fred and George's youngest brother, jumped into the conversation. 'I'm glad I got in too.'

'We'd 'ave disowned you if you didn't, ickle Ronikins!' Fred called down and Ron flushed a brilliant red to match his hair, hunching his shoulders and trying to make himself small. George and Lee grinned at Fred while Aria smacked Fred's arm reprovingly and told him to be nice to his brother, which then lead to Fred and George beginning an animated discussion of everything they might do the 'be nice' to Ron. Dean Thomas came to Ron's rescue by announcing that he was a Muggle-born and that Professor Sprout had shown up at his house to explain to them that he was a wizard.

'A lot of things made sense after that,' Dean grinned, helping himself to a second treacle tart. 'Like why my brother started floating upside down once when we were fighting.'

'I've accidently turned my cat purple,' Gráinne looked around. 'Has stuff like that happened to anyone else?'

'I'm half and half,' the irritating Seamus piped up, interrupting her, and Gráinne frowned, resisting the urge to throw a fistful of pudding at him. 'Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him.'

Everyone laughed, including Gráinne. Seamus grinned at her. Gráinne immediately stopped smiling.

'What about you, Neville?' Ron asked, taking an overly large bite out of a cake.

'Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch, but the family thought I was all Muggle for ages. My great-uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned – but nothing happened until I was eight,' Neville grabbed at Trevor as the toad tried to hop away down the table.

'Great-uncle Algie came round for tea and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my great-auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidently let go. But I bounced – all the way down to the garden and into the road. They were all really please. Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here – they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great-uncle Algie was so please he bought me my toad.'

'That could have been really dangerous,' Hermione said with her eyebrows knitted together, 'hanging you out of a window. What if you hadn't bounced? You might have died!'

Neville blushed and Gráinne smiled. 'But he did bounce! It turned out all right. I'm glad you didn't drown at the pier, Neville.'

'I'm glad too,' Neville said seriously, grabbing Trevor again.

A/N:

We will only ever include Rowling's dialogue, never any descriptive text, and we will always put from where we lifted the dialogue. This is a book-first world, meaning that Peri and I follow book canon, not movie canon, though some scenes Steve Klove added into the movies and some of his dialogue will probably make it in as well because they're brilliant. Anyways, we will always tell you where un-original dialogue originates. We are using the cloth-bound hardcover Bloomsbury editions of the books, so all the page numbers will be from those books, but I'm sure with a few pages in either direction, you can find the dialogue in the other editions if you absolutely want to. Basically, there will be a "Dialogue Cited" bit at the end. ahahaha, I slay me. Okay, I'm sorry. English Major. Dialogue Cited... Works Cited? Okay, maybe that was only funny to me.

Okay, Thanks for reading, we hope you liked it and, please, tell us what you think - good or bad!

Love, Thal and Peri

Dialogue Cited - All quotes from Chapter 7 of Philosopher's Stone

'We've got Potter!' – Fred & George 91
'Welcome! Welcome to… Tweak! Thank you!' – Dumbledore 91-92
'I'm half and… shock for him.' – Seamus 93
'What about you, Neville?' – Ron 93
'Well, my gran… me my toad.' – Neville 93