Work Text:
The new first years of Hogwarts gathered in the Great Hall awaiting the exciting moment that was the Sorting Ceremony. Edd, Matt, Tom, and Tord were huddled together in the center of the large group, whispering excitedly with anticipation. Everyone was eventually silenced as Headmistress McGonagall welcomed the first years and signaled for the sorting ceremony to begin. One of the professors stood next to the infamous sorting hat and started reading off the names of students to have themselves seated on the stool. It was kicked off with the first person to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Then two Hufflepuffs, a Gryffindor, two Slytherins, and so on, until the first name of one of the four was finally called.
“Gold, Edd.” Excited whispering started back up among the group of first years as Edd made his way to the stool.
“Gold? As in Ellen Gold? Is he related to the Quidditch Champion?”
“Yeah, her and my dad were Gryffindor teammates years ago.”
“Wait, what’s Quidditch?”
“Oh, you’ll see.”
The whispering fell silent again as soon as Edd sat on the seat facing everyone else. The Hat barely touched his head before it shouted, “GYFFINDOR!” The table of Gryffindor erupted with cheer as they welcomed Edd to their house. The sorting continued on for another few minutes until the next one of the four was called.
“Harvest, Matthew.” Matt walked briskly up the steps and happily plopped himself into the seat. He was shaking with gleeful anticipation, almost squealing, as the hat was lowered down onto his head.
It made contact… and its face went blank.
Its hollowed-out eyes went wide while its mouth set into a small line low on its tattered face. The single table of professors sitting behind Matt stared out in confusion as they watched the room of students slightly lean back in utter befuddlement. It stayed silent for a while. Tom and Tord stood there quietly snickering as they watched their friend still sitting there with a big smile on his face, completely oblivious to the tension coming from the hat. His friends were starting to think that maybe there wasn’t a thought in their friend’s head for the hat to see. However, it was quite the opposite. What they didn’t know was how overwhelmed the hat became with all the random thoughts Matt had flying around in his head. It couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was sorting through and honestly had no clue where to put him.
It was past the five-minute mark when the hat’s face settled into a frustrated frown. In the last few minutes, it started muttering angrily to itself trying to figure out Matt and his potential house. Still oblivious to the situation, the 11 year old ginger sat there staring out at the sea of witches and wizards. At this point, his friends were sure Matt would be the first Hogwarts student to be kicked out before getting the chance to take classes just for confusing the Sorting Hat. When their ginger friend saw Edd at the Gryffindor Table, it was at this moment that true opportunity arose for the hat. In Matt’s head, his thoughts and feelings focused on Edd = Friend. To the hat, it connected the rest of the dots, which was Edd = Friend = Gryffindor!! It didn’t waste a single second.
“Gryffindor! Get me off this head.” The hat was immediately snatched away as both Matt’s and Edd’s happy cheer of “YAAAYYY!” overshadowed the hesitant clapping from the Gryffindor table and the sigh of relief that swept through the rest of the room. The ceremony could finally continue normally. Other kids were sorted into houses pretty quickly after that. Then it was Tord’s turn.
“Larrison-Fernbright, Tord.”
His remaining houseless friend, Tom, patted his back and wished him luck before he climbed the steps and nervously set himself down. Tord didn’t exactly know why he was nervous. Maybe it had something to do with him not knowing for sure which house he wanted to be sorted into. His mother was a Ravenclaw, while his dad was a Slytherin. So, he was equally partial to both. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a Gryffindor, however. He didn’t mind being placed in the same house as Edd and Matt, but sometimes his friend’s tenacious personalities and constant thirst for a new adventure could be draining somedays. Tord didn’t exactly want to live with that energy on a daily basis. The hat had been placed on his head for about a minute now listening to Tord’s conflicting thoughts.
“Oh, quite the brilliant mind I see.” It started, noticing already how intelligent Tord was, too. It was muttering somewhat to itself and to Tord. Every now and then Tom could hear snippets of their dialogue.
“You’ve got the mind of a Ravenclaw – oh, but you’re quite resilient like a Slytherin. I definitely remember your parents’ brilliant minds when I sorted them into their houses. Veeerrry similar.” Tord puffed out his chest at that. He really looked up to his parents, as he aspired to do great things to make his mark on the world.
“Alright!” The hat suddenly exclaimed, for it had been decided. “I’ll put you in… SLYTHERIN!” Tord was ok with this decision and happily walked to the cheering Slytherin table. He happened to see a slightly disappointed Edd and Matt on his way to his designated table, to which he gave them a shrug and mouthed what can we do? After shaking hands with his now fellow Slytherins and sitting himself down, things quieted down as the ceremony continued. It went on for a while longer until it was down to the last five students.
“Reginold, Thomas.” Tom took a nervous breath before making his way to the hat. He sat down and already he could hear the judgmental whispering.
Eug, those are freaky.
My parents told me about an old classmate with eyes like that.
I’ve never seen anything like that. Is it a curse?
“Quiet!” Ordered the Headmistress, which everyone obeyed immediately. Then the hat was placed on Tom’s head.
“Hmm. Interesting, very interesting.” It said, leaving Tom a little self-conscious. The hat could sense bravery within him but understood there was no real strong desire to be placed in Gryffindor. The hat could sense a real desire for the house Hufflepuff but detected hesitation and a small potential want for the house Slytherin.
“Slytherin could be a great house for you.” It suggested. “Yes, you do seem quite resilient, and you would get far in Slytherin.”
Tord heard his house’s name from the hat and became almost giddy with excitement. It would be great if he and Tom were in the same house. They were quite close as friends already because they shared similar tastes in humor and temperament. And Tord had always been fascinated by Tom ever since they were toddlers. So, he didn’t mind having his (what he considered to be) best friend living in the same Hogwarts house as him.
Tom thought to himself, ‘yeah, with Tord in Slytherin, I’ll have someone who will at least accept the way I am.’
After another minute of pondering, the hat had made its decision. “I’m confident it will be… HUFFLEPUFF!” Tord’s hopes were instantly shattered by this revelation, before immediately shoving down that feeling and forcing himself to accept the situation. It’s ok, these things happen. No need to get upset, it is what it is.
Tom made his way to the Hufflepuff table where he was glad to be met with a warm welcome. Still, there was a small feeling of gnawing guilt eating away at him as he looked up to scan the room ‘til he made eye contact with Tord. He didn’t exactly know why he was feeling guilty for his new placement in Hufflepuff, but he still gave Tord an apologetic look. Tord, detecting the apology, also didn’t know why Tom was giving him that look. He didn’t think Tom had any real control over the Sorting Hat’s decision, and kind of found Tom’s unnecessary guilt to be amusing. So, he gave his friend a reassuring smile before nodding at him to let him know everything was fine. He was happy to see a relieved smile spread across Toms face while returning the nod back and continued watching the rest of the ceremony come to an end.
After their first feast of the year, each group of first years were led by their prefects to their houses. After learning the Hufflepuff knock and being led into their house, Tom felt right at home. The Hufflepuff common room was cozy and welcoming. It was decorated in greenery, with some vines hanging down in a controlled way that didn’t make it look too messy. The color scheme was of yellows, soft greens, and earth. Everything about it reminded Tom of his own home, which was a comforting feeling, and had a sneaking suspicion that his dad was responsible for the way his own home was decorated. But what was truly amazing was how accepting the Hufflepuff members were. They were quite a curious bunch as he was swarmed by some people, asking him about himself and his eyes (which was to be expected). But there was no condescending tone, just genuine curiosity.
The others were also left awestruck with their own houses. Edd and Matt busied themselves with admiring the décor of house Gryffindor while getting to know their house mates. Tord admired Slytherin’s polished look while also gazing in wonder out the windows to see the underwater landscape of the school’s lake. Each boy wrote to their parents before going to bed, ready to start their first official day at Hogwarts.