Alex gasped when he first entered the Great Hall. The place was amazing. There were four tables where students sat in their houses and another table at the front for the staff. The architecture was old and had a sort of boldness about it. There were thousands upon thousands of candles floating above them, irradiating a magnificent glow. Above that there was nothing but a starry night sky lit up by the moon.

The buffy-haired girl from the train was near him and he could hear her pompously whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Even students whom where familiar with magic were astounded, Nott whispered to himself, "Hogwarts really is as beautiful as my mother described it. Bless her soul."

He could see that the older students were looking at them drearily. The sorting ceremony was probably only exciting for the new first years. Besides, he heard someone mutter that they couldn't wait to eat. Alex wondered where the food would come from.

Alex huddled with the other first years as a group at the front of the four student tables around a stool that had a tattered looking hat sitting on top.

'This must be the so-called sorting hat,' thought Alex, wondering how it worked.

The hat suddenly came to life, spooking most of the first year students. To Alex's disbelief (or horror), it opened its large flap-like mount started to sing:

"Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me…"

He heard it continue on for a while; it was a pretty good song in Alex's opinion – even for an enchanted hat. It sung about Gryffindors being brave, Slytherins being cunning, Hufflepuffs being hard-working, Ravenclaws being clever and other stuff.

Once it had finished, Professor McGonagall picked up a scroll.

"When I call your name, you will come up, sit on the stool and the sorting hat will decide on what house you belong to. First up, Abbott, Hannah."

A timid looking girl made her way up the steps to sit on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head and within a few minutes, the hat called out "Hufflepuff!"

Alex heard a whisper, "Ha ha, sentenced to wearing bumblebee colours for the next seven years."

To his surprise it wasn't Theodore, but Tracey.

The sorting hat then sorted a couple of others before it came to the first person that Alex recognised. Tracey Davis was sorted into Slytherin. The upper class boy that Alex had seen during his visit to Diagon Alley became a Hufflepuff; his name was Justin Finch-Fletchley. There was a few more before the bossy girl with buffy hair came up to be sorted and to his surprise she became a Gryffindor. He missed her name but was sure that her surname started with a 'G' or 'H'. Theodore Nott also became a Slytherin as he had hoped.

It wasn't too long before the rest of the hall sprung into interest when Professor McGonagall called upon a "Potter, Harry."

Alex recognised the name from reading some of his school books when bored.

"It's the boy who lived! He's in our year!" he heard someone near him whisper with excitement.

A scrawny, bespectacled boy timidly walked up to be sorted, aware that everyone in the room was taking an interest in him. It occurred to Alex that he was rather unfamiliar with his fame. Alex could almost hear people holding their breath as he sorting hat was placed on his scruffy dark hair. It took a little longer than usual for the hat to sort him but it wasn't too long before the hat declared:

"Gryffindor!"

There was a huge uproar from the Gryffindor table of cheering and chanting 'We got Potter! We got Potter!' It almost felt like an explosion. The red house was surely living up to its reputation of being rowdy. The other tables looked disappointed, especially Slytherin. It was only after the headmaster stood up that everyone started to calm down and the sorting of other students resumed. It did seem a little rude to make such a fuss of only one student.

After this, the hall quickly lost interest in the sorting of first years. Alex cringed; it was coming closer to his turn.

'At least I won't have the whole school eyeing me,' Alex reassured himself.

"Rider, Alexander."

Alex went up, gradually made his way to the stood. He could see the most of the other students sitting at the tables looking rather disinterested. The hat was then placed on his head.

'Hmm…. It isn't often that I sit on a prospective student who has your amount of latent magical talent. You're an interesting and unusual boy as well, but where should I put you?'

Alex could hear it's voice in his head, it was like it could seep into his thoughts. It was an uncomfortable experience. Alex couldn't recall the last time he was called something on the lines of 'an interesting and unusual boy'.

'You could thrive in any house as you are able to use any opportunity to your advantage. You could go to Ravenclaw as you appear to have a generous amount of intelligence and natural curiosity. Yet you don't have a burning, strong interest in the attainment of knowledge or scholastic achievement. You could also do admirably well with Hufflepuff as the values of dedication, loyalty, fairness will do you justice but I don't see your talents flourishing to their potential in that house.'

Alex quickly wondered how it did sort students.

'Ah, a good question,' the hat honed in on his curiosity, 'maybe Ravenclaw is the place for you. I sort according to latent traits, their interests, personal preferences, houses that will hopefully bring out the best in them and place where they will make the best friends. I'm also restricted by how many students are already in that house.

'Now, back to your sorting. I can put you in either Slytherin or Gryffindor. Slytherin will no doubt lead you to greatness by giving you more ambition. You are cunning and very resourceful when you need to be – something that will bring you success in life. Slytherin would also suit the values of your upbringing. However, I know that it is hard for muggle borns to fit in if they are sorting into Slytherin, so maybe not there. Gryffindor will also do you a good service, bravery is something you should develop further and I can see it being important in your future. You will also enjoy the antics of your fellow Gryffindors despite the rowdiness of some of them. '

The hat shouted out, "Gryffindor!"

There was a round of polite claps and Alex made his way over to the Gryffindor table. Several people shook his hand politely, including the boy and girl prefects. He took some time to introduce himself with the other first years currently at his table including the buffy haired girl whose name was Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown, Harry Potter, Seamus Finnigan and Parvati Patil. They seemed friendly. He waited until Lisa Turpin was sorted into Ravenclaw then lost interest the rest of the ceremony.

One thing bothered him for the rest of the night but he tried hard to push it towards the back of his mind.

'What did the hat mean by 'I can see it being important in your future'? Is the hat psychic?' Alex wondered, knowing that with magic possibly anything could be possible. As far as he knew….

Author Note:

Hi, I'm glad I finally finished this chapter! I've closed the poll a while ago and put up another one (if you're interested). Thanks to everyone who voted.

The results:

If Alex Rider went to Hogwarts, which house do you think he would be in?

Total of 11 Unique voters.

Gryffindor - 7 » 63%

Slytherin - 3 » 27%

Ravenclaw - 1 » 9%

Hufflepuff – 0 (poor Hufflepuff).

I'm almost sad because I personally wanted Alex to be in Slytherin. Not just because I'm a Slytherin on Pottermore but because I see him having a lot of qualities of that house (the better traits). Still, reviews and help with grammar are always appreciated.