Oh dear, already got n o real idea of my word count, I hate not having Word! Anyway, have about 600/700 words of Max and Hilary getting Sorted!
Thanks to everyone who is reading!
"Tate, Max!
Max was, by and large, about as clueless as Lee and Mariah had been about the Houses. His dad had been a Hufflepuff, but Max knew more about the North American school Ilvermorny than about Hogwarts. His mom had been a Horned Serpent, and the plain black Hogwarts robes looked very drab compared to the brightly coloured blue and cranberry robes he had seen his mom wearing in pictures.
He put the Hat on. Apparently it spoke to you?
Hi?
Greetings, young Tate. He shivered, disliking the way that the Hat's voice echoed strangely inside his head.
Hi, he said again. Nervous, he added hurriedly, How are you?
I am well. Now the Hat sounded amused. Was that good? Or as well as I may expect to be.
Oh great, riddles.
Tell me, Mr Tate. What do you know of the Houses Griffyndor and Hufflepuff?
Oh, come on! No-one had said there would be a test!
Um … He thought as fast as he could, scraping up what few memories he had of the Hat's song and the stories Dad had told him. Gryffindrs are brave, and … Hufflepuffs are friendly and hard-working?
More amused feeling in his head. Good enough. Which one would you rather be? When Max stayed silent, mind whirring uselessly, the Hat went on: All the Houses are admirable in their own ways, of course, but I think you would do best in either of those two. Whichever choice you make will be the correct one.
Well, that's a relief, I guess? Max bit his lip and tried to think clearly and logically, like Mom always told him to. I think that being friendly is something you can do anywhere. Same with hard-working, though I suppose it's easier if everyone around you is the same … still, I think that it would be cool to be with a load of people who are encouraged to be brave.
Mom was always telling him to be more confident and to stand up for himself, after all.
As you wish.
"Gryffindor!"
"Tatibana, Hilary!"
She was almost the last student in the line. Although she was feeling nervous, it wasn't like most of the other students in the line before her – because they didn't know what to expect, or because they were worried about ending up in a specific House. Oh no. She had bought far more books than had been on the reading list, and had researched everything she could possibly find about Hogwarts. That had been a lot. So not only did she know the names and attributes of the four Houses, but she knew where the previous five hundred years worth of headmasters and ministers for Magic had been sorted into, and the opinions of decades worth of Daily Prophet political columnists.
Ha! She wasn't the unprepared Muggleborn everyone thought! Grinning to herself, she settled the Hat comfortably on her head.
She knew all about the Hat's tendency towards odd choices – had seen it make a few just now – but all the books stressed that the Hat was always right in the end, in the important and defining moments of a witch or wizard's life. So even though she had definitely assumed that she would be a Ravenclaw, she wasn't immediately outraged when the Hat suggested,
How about Gryffindor?
Do you really think so? Brave wasn't an adjective she usually heard about herself. She got called hot-headed and stubborn quite a bit though ...
Oh, you'll find plenty of those with … "Gryffindor!" The Hat actually chuckled. It felt like leaves in her head.
I didn't say I wanted … Hilary trailed off and sighed. Fine. She'd be a Gryffindor. She'd be the smartest and best Gryffindor ever!
All opinions welcome!
xIlbx