Chapter 2:Acceptance is the Final Stage
As the students and teachers conversed about Dumbledore's new revelation, no one noticed the door to the Great hall, which had been slightly open, closing. After closing the door, Harry closed his eyes and leaned against the cool marble of a nearby wall and tried to sort his racing thoughts. "Why now? Why now? Why now? Why now? WHY NOW?", Harry thought.Everything had been going just fine. He had been avoiding the dungeons just fine--- going there only when he had Potions and that one excruciating time in second year---and now the headmaster had to go and make a suggestion like this! Why?
Harry furrowed his brows in thought. As an idea hit him, his eyes snapped open and he began walking rapidly toward the headmaster's office. He needed to have a little…. conversation with a certain hat.
When faced with the stone gargoyle, Harry did not even bother trying to guess the no doubt fruity password. He simply used the parseltongue password that could be used to open any room in the castle; after all, Salazar Slytherin had been one of the founders. He walked past all of the flashy and utterly useless gadgets that adorned the headmaster's shelves to a brown and battered wizarding hat. As the Sorting Hat sensed his approach, it smirked.
"I see you figured it out pretty quickly, young Potter. A mark of a Slytherin, you see. I told you I'd find a way, and a way is what I found. I am the sorting Hat, and I know where you belong. As a matter of fact, a snake hiding in the lions' den makes the snake all the more cunning, don't you see?"
"I know that, you stupid hat! There was never a question between us on where I belonged, but you know I can't live in those dungeons!" Harry exclaimed coldly.
"Of course you can, you'll find a way. I am the Sorting Hat; I can't stand having all these students in the wrong houses. It just isn't done!"
Harry inched closer to the hat, curious. "What do you mean by 'all these students'?"
"You mean you thought you were the only one? "
Harry blinked
"Well I admit that children being put into a house not their own in very rare, but it seemed that in your fist year there was an unusual amount of students pleading to be placed in particular houses based on what their parents wanted or what the headmaster wanted; I found myself quite open to persuasion that night, but I can't continue like this. I was created for on reason and I will fulfill my purpose."
The Sorting Hat went on to bemoaned a large list of grievances that it had gathered throughout the years, but Harry was not listening. His mind raced with ideas and thoughts and plans of action, all of which seemed useless in getting himself out of his current situation.
Well I guess I'll just have to roll with the punches like I always have. I'll find a way to survive this. After all, I wouldn't be a good Slytherin if I couldn't, now would I?
Harry smiled, absent-mindedly waved goodbye to the Sorting Hat, and left the Headmaster's office for his dorm. There were still some things that were nagging at the back of his mind. Like why the headmaster would pressure a new student to be sorted somewhere they did not fit, or why he felt as though that time of reckoning was coming closer faster than ever.
Harry sighed, tucked his thoughts away for later review, and gave the Fat Lady the password. Having a friend who was the Head Girl came in handy sometimes, although Harry was not so sure how long they would be friends with the way his luck was turning. Everything was about to get so complicated!
There was one thing Harry knew for sure though-- whatever happened—he would face it and come out victorious. After all, my ancestors would expect nothing less.
Questions?Comments? Words of undying words of affection?...Anybody?...No? Well just review then!!