Before they could really do much they heard "Bones, Susan!"
They both squeezed the redhead's shoulder as she passed, head held high.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Susan had a huge grin as she quickly moved and sat next to Hannah, the two hugging and giving a couple of whispers.
Hermione was holding his hand a bit too tightly now, but he put up with it. They ignored the next few names as Harry tried to calm her.
"Granger, Hermione!"
She gave him a quick hug before walking to the front, placing the hat on her head. The had paused for a few seconds... thirty seconds...
"RAVENCLAW!" Hermione gave a tiny squeal and sat at the table on the left, so that Hannah and Susan were directly behind her. Harry smiled at her and gave a thumbs up. Just after Sally-Anne Perks, his number came up.
"Potter, Harry!"
The hall went silent until Harry stepped out of line. He calmly walked to the front, letting Jim catalogued comments as he passed and who said them.
"Potter? Did she say Potter?" "Where is his scar?" "THE Harry Potter?" "Wow he is fit."
Harry sat on the chair before he noticed Professor McGonagall seemed frozen. His eyes widened, he had not told her he was going to get taller before she had left last month. He gave a grin. "May I have the hat now Professor?"
She seemed to snap out of it before hesitantly placing on his head. He thought he heard her mutter something like "Heck of a growth spurt." before the world went dark. The darkness was total. This was not the brim of the hat, he could feel threads of power entering his eyes, ears, nose... it felt like his head was drifting through a cloud. As it reached his inner world, he felt it try to pass his cloud layers before... well, it sort of knocked.
He gave the proverbial nod to Jim, and a voice echoed as the power reached his inner world.
"Well Well, Mr. Potter. You have had quite a life."
"I assume this is the hat talking?"
"Well, sort of. I am much like the portraits you will be seeing around the castle. A personality imprint if you will, of one of the founders."
"And you sort the students?"
Harry could feel a smugness. "Yes. Clever, no? I do try to do a good job of course, but every once in a while I grab students who could fit in any house and push them into good old Gryffindor."
Harry smirked. "So... Godric Gryffindor then?"
He felt a nod. "Salazar was much more into potions than school affairs really. And Helga spent her time with food related magic. Loved that woman's cooking. Ravenclaw helped me set up the enchantments, you know how she loved her books."
Harry shrugged. "Nothing wrong with a good book. So is there some sort of time dilation or something? I don't know how you could have these conversations so quickly with the other kids."
The hat seemed to grin. "Nope. Most kids are too scared about the sorting process, or have normal levels of magic. I need to use the power of the person I sit on to enable the higher thinking processes of my personality. Most children, especially 11 year olds, well... you know how your core was before you began training."
Harry nodded. "I assume you don't share secrets?"
"Goodness no. It is partly why us founders could stand each other, we tried to stay out of each others way. Any preference where you want to go? You have good traits to all of them, especially Slytherin and Gryffindor. Ambitious doesn't even begin to describe you, and bravery helped you get this far."
Harry wiggled on the chair. "Pretty sure I would end up hurting someone in Slytherin. And did you know Ravenclaw has a library?"
"Ha! Say no more, I recognize a good book lover. Enjoy your time in RAVENCLAW!"
There was a bit of a pause before lots of kids clapped as Harry lifted the hat and handed it to Professor McGonagall. She had an expression that... well, she expected it but didn't like it, clearly. Meanwhile a very tiny man at the long table seemed to be bursting with happiness.
Harry turned back to the Hall and saw some HARSH looks from the table with green motif going on. So it would be wise to sit in the inside of the Ravenclaw table, to be a distance from them... not like he had to think. He moved passed well wishers and questioning looks as he sat next to an almost bouncing Hermione who gave him another hug.
"OH Harry I was so worried it was taking so long and I thought you would be going somewhere else and I wouldn't get to see you and..."
Harry squeezed her shoulders. "BREATHE Hermione." He looked around the table, smiling at the faces that ranged from hesitant questioning and confused smiles. Apparently not all the first-generation wizards and witches knew about him... thank goodness. A brown haired boy leaned forward. "Hello Harry, my name is Robert Hilliard, a fifth year Prefect. Like I was telling Hermione, you can follow us to the dorms after dinner ends."
Harry turned to his other side and held his hand out to an indian girl who seemed slightly lost. "Hey, my name is Harry Potter, and this is my friend Hermone Granger." He didn't see her blush, to her relief.
The black haired girl gave a hesitant smile. "My.. My name is Padma. Padma Patil." She pointed at a very similar looking girl on the far table. "My sister Parvati was sorted into Gryffindor... I thought we would be here together."
Harry gave her hand a good shake. "Well, there is no reason you can't still hang out, right? Hermione and I have two other good friends that are now Hufflepuff, and we are not going to let some robe colors and a table keep us from helping each other." Padma's smile seemed a bit brighter as the dinner moved on. She talked with Hermione a bit about her plans for the year, but before any real conversation could start the sorting seemed to have wrapped up.
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