Torie shook with fear as he walked to the front of the Great Hall towards the sorting hat. He was terrified that the hat would sort him in Slytherin and was practically in tears. He didn't want Slytherin, no matter what his mum said, nor that dad was Slytherin. His first dad was Slytherin! He always feared one day he'd become like his first dad, and one day end up in Azkaban as well. His mum and dad were both aurors and that's what he wanted to be when he grew up. But he feared his first dad.

He waited his turn to be sorted and stood there afraid of what the answer might be. Could he hide from it, escape and get away? If he was in Slytherin could he join the Hufflepuffs instead? Jay would let him in the common room wouldn't he? He knew Jay would be in Hufflepuff, he wasn't sure how but he was nearly positive anyway. He now stood at the front of the line waiting to try on the hat. He would be happy with any house, except Slytherin. The hat was supposed to take your request to heart mum said. So he kept saying over and over in his head 'not Slytherin...please PLEASE not Slytherin'.

Finally the hat was put on his head and he sat there shaking with fear, saying 'not Slytherin...please PLEASE not Slytherin' in his head over and over.

'Not Slytherin?' the hat asked. 'The house of your father doesn't have to become your future, it doesn't decide that you will be evil or not. Your choices are your own. Do not blame a house on what your downfalls become.' It seemed to be pondering almost to the point of a hatstall. Finally, it spoke again 'You are cunning in your own way, as well as brave and intelligent when you choose to be. I am granting your wish, not because you are requesting it but because it truly is where you belong. HUFFLEPUFF!'

He was shaking as he continued to listen to the hat's words in his ear. When it finally cried out 'Hufflepuff' he nearly burst into tears in relief. Both of his mums were in Hufflepuff and so was Willow and Dan and Jay and Norah's dad. He hopped down off the stool setting the hat on top of it before running down between the tables to the Hufflepuff table.

Izaac could see the hat. It was right there. It wasn't a myth... it was a real, TALKING hat. He was called to be sorted rather early in the lineup, which was daunting, but he strode up to that stool. He was gonna OWN this hat and remember this moment forever.

He briefly stared down at the faces of the other first years, gulped, but then looked up to focus on the hat on his head. It was so big that he could see it when he looked up far enough. It moved, and it made Izaac LAUGH. Not hysterically, more giggles. The moment felt like it was over in a split second. Whilst he was expecting a great debate with this hat, within seconds of touching his head, it grunted and shouted...

"GRYFFINDOR!!!"

Izaac mouth fell open in joy. Gryffindor was actually the house that he was HOPING for!! As soon as the hat was taken off from his head, he bounced off the stall and sprinted towards his new house table.

Marsha couldn't help the large BEAMING smile on her face as Zac got sorted. YAY! He got Gryffindor. Just like he wanted! Now, she just had to wait for her turn so that she could join him... because she was going to be a Gryffindor.

She was going to show her parents that two Slytherin's could have a daughter in Gryffindor.

She knew it DEEEEEEEEEEP down that she was a Gryffindor girl - she took after so many of the people in her extended family that were in Gryffindor... like Blake! Her uncle who had graduated last term. Looking around the room, she sent smiles to Blake's girlfriend Autumn at the Slytherin table and HER sister Benny who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

As much as she wanted Gryffindor, she knew someone in the older years of each house so she guessssed she could cope. BUT she really wanted Gry-

OH! Her turn!

Grinning, the Welsh girl moved quickly up to the stool and sitting down placed it on her head. She looked around the room quickly seeing everyone staring at her before she shook her concentration back to the matter at hand. However - there wasn't much point as all she heard was - "Only one house for you...

GRYFFINDOR!"

YES!

With a large smile on her face, she hopped off the stool, sent a good luck smile to Lance and then ran down the tables to sit next to Zac. YES! Lions together!

James had followed Torie and clapped for him when he got placed into Hufflepuff. He knew his brother had wanted anything but Slytherin and he was super happy for him!! He beamed and tilted his head like mum did as Torie ran off down the tables nearly in tears. His blue eyes followed his brother even as he sat down and then he approached the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head and James just closed his eyes, taking a deep breath like mum had told him.

"Child of protectors and protector yourself, not one to betray or do one wrong... intelligent and courageous." The hat pondered for a moment before saying out loud "HUFFLEPUFF!"

James beamed happily and jumped up. He ran to join his brother, knowing he was going to be writing to mum and telling her how he got the house he wanted.

"Hensley, Jenna."

Jenna was actually relieved when her name was finally called. She was ready to just be sorted at this point - worrying and wondering about it wouldn't help at all.

Casually taking her seat on the stool, the hat was placed on her head, and even though she expected it to happen, she was a little startled by the voice suddenly talking in her head.

"Ah, another Hensley. Your brother is a Gryffindor, but I don't think that would suit you...no, certainly not, hmm..."

She breathed an internal sigh of relief - thank Merlin she wouldn't be stuck in the same house as David.

The hat was suddenly somewhat silent for several seconds though, aside from a few "ah, I see," and "hmm, no," every now and then, which was quickly getting bit annoying.

You wanna actually tell me what you're thinking?

"I'm thinking that I see a lot of loyalty and motivation to work hard in you, but Hufflepuff is not quite the right fit for you...perhaps...a desire to learn, yes, a lot of determination, ambition...a desire to prove yourself...ah, yes. Yes, I know. Better be...

SLYTHERIN!"

Sounded good to her.

Thanks, hat.

She slipped the hat off her head as she got to her feet, set it back on the stool, and headed for her new house's table.

The Great Hall was in one word magnificent. Yoongi couldn't keep his eyes from staring at the ceiling he knew was bewitched to look like the outside sky as he entered the hall together with many little kids , the first years, and a few older students. Something he was glad about because he would have looked fairly stupid to be surrounded by those little ones alone.

As the sorting ceremony started , Yoongi looked away from the ceiling and waited till his name was called.

"Yeo Yoon gi?" seriously? he was registrated with his birth name? He almost didn't come up to the stool because he was so used to being called Yoongi Hyland and it was only when no one else stepped forward that he remembered that it was his name.

He sat down and put the hat on his head. His face was small so like some of the first years it slid over his eyes and he was left in darkness. Then a voice spoke in his ears , or was it in his mind? he wasn't sure but it startled him and it showed because his body jerked in shock for a second but then he calmed down immediately. ....Was that hat chuckling at him? rude!

Yoongi waited and listened to the hat's words as it tried to decide which House he belonged in. It seemed that it couldn't choose between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. In his mind, Yoongi started to prefer Hufflepuff but it seemed that the Hat had other plans and shouted

"GRYFFINDOR!"

He pulled the hat off and placed it back on the stool and walked in the direction of the most cheers which he thought was the Gryffindor table.

His stomach was beginning to feel better, despite the increase in butterflies he felt. Or that may have just been an adrenaline rush. They had to walk up SO many stairs! No doubt just worked off all that chocolate he ate.

Tugging at his soaked sleeve (due to lack of will power in the boats), Lance bounced on his heels a little as he waited for his turn to be sorted. By a TALKING hat. It didn't even need anyone to hold it to speak either like a puppet. The queue was going by fairly fast, a few people he knew being sorted, mostly to the red house. He gave them a big smile and thumbs up. Speaking of people though, it didn't escape his attention that they had to do this in front of everyone. He couldn't even count how many students there were, staring at them. Merlin's mustache, and the professors... they literally sat in front of the adults while getting sorted.

Nooooo pressure.

"McWitty, Lancelot!"

Holyzebras, thatwashim.

Smoothing down his blond hair, he made his way up to the hat and stool, making sure to pick up his feet so he didn't trip. Wait, he'd already forgotten all the house names. Did he need to know those for this? Clawerpuff? Gryfferin? Poofflaw? Slimysusanclaw? What house was his father in again? Which one did his grandparents want him to be in?? Did the hat know? Oh dear MERLIN, was he supposed to say which house he want-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted, making the young boy jump a little. He pushed up the hat a little to peer out at the tables, unable to remember when the hat was even placed on his head in the first place or when he sat down. What he did know though, was that he was going to the house of RED. He wasted no time in making his merry way down to the table of red and gold. That's where Marsha and that other boy was!!

HOW COOL WAS THAT!?

Evie stood in line with everyone else her own age outside of the great hall, palms sweating as she held each breath slightly longer than she should. She wasn't sure what to expect. What was a sorting ceremony ? Finally it was time to enter the great hall and when the doors opened she saw four long tables running the length of the gigantic room, each seemed to be packed with no where extra to sit. And at the far end sat another table stretching almost the length of the room, with adults scattered along.

Once they stopped at the end of the tables she heard something talking and before her eyes sat a hat with a mouth. And it was talking. Quickly she covered her mouth to stifle her gasp. She didn't make out a single thing that his hat was saying. And quickly one of the adults began calling our names of other students. Suddenly her name sounded through the fog in her head "Bailey, Evie" gulping the brunette stepped forward and sat on the stool like all the others. A few moments after the hat, which was much to big for her, was slipped onto her hear and fell in front of her eyes it once again began talking. "hmmm very bright, willingness to learn, keen observer, but a need to be strong. Plenty of bravery and courage. I can see you doing great things. Best put you in GRYFFINDOR. " and with that the hat was plucked from her head and she stumbled to the way the adult had pointed.

When it was her turn, Ilia inhaled deeply. "Freya Valke." They called the name she didn't identify with and they mispronounced her last name, so it took her a moment to get herself together.

The castle was distracting and fascinating and filled with students. It was larger and fuller than her previous school and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She was equally uncertain of the decrepit looking hat that was yelling as it was placed upon someone's head. Some students it took a moment, some it barely hovered over their head before crying out a name.

It was time, her turn....no turning back she was at the point of no return. As she approached, she sat as she was told. Clearing her thoughts she heard a voice whispering. It wasn't her own or familiar in any other way. It was the hat speaking to her. For a moment she thought, Hufflepuff. That was where her new friend Henric was and the other nice girl that she had met. Would she let that be enough to sway what place she belonged? She could see them no matter what house she was placed into. The castle was large, but she wasn't daunted. As she mused over the hats voice in her ear, she was surprised to hear it shout aloud.

"Slytherin!"

Her surprise didn't last long before her new found curiosity settled in. She saw the table of green and silver where the others who had been assigned that name had gathered and she bowed before walking in its direction.

As soon as his name was called Tyler nervously sat on the stool wondering how he would get sorted and where, just as he had seen with others before him a really horrible hat had been placed on his head. It stayed silent for a bit and he thought it might have been broken "I am not horrible or broken you silly boy!" the hat exclaimed, this hat could read minds? Tyler thought "Of course I can read your mind, hmm now lets see you would do well in Hufflepuff but what about Ravenclaw.. hmm you would pretty well there too. Where to place you then in that case, I see you think you might end up in Hufflepuff. Why? Well I think that you should end up in RAVENCLAW!!" the hat yelled out for everyone to hear. Tyler felt that hat being taken off him so that he could go join his new house, really? He had been put into Ravenclaw? He wondered if he was good enough for this house, he must be if he was put here by the hat. He went and sat down at the Ravenclaw table.

Rowan was going to explode with excitement. This moment had been playing over and over in her head since she was told about the houses here, but she'd had NO IDEA the castle would be this grand, and the whole HAT thing was even cooler than she'd imagined!

She fidgeted restlessly in the group of first years, watching people get sorted. Her friend Zac was in Gryffindor! Awesome!! Maybe she'd be with him!!

Then...

"Fields, Rowan."

...

HERE GOES!!!

Rusty only just stopped herself from RUNNING to the stool, and sat herself down, DETERMINED to be super AWESOME no matter WHICH house.

"Ah, Miss Fields... an excitable brain you have here, I recognise this from somewhere."

... It was SPEAKING TO HER. Rowan looked up at the brim of the hat. "But what HOUSE am I in?"

"Patience, patience..." This was taking forever. "You have compassion, and determination, prime Hufflepuff material, paired with a sense of duty, and a tendency to act without thinking.."

The hat paused, a little dramatically, Rowan thought, then shouted the next word for everyone to hear.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

WITH HER FRIEND!!!!!

Rusty took the hat off, then ran down to the Gryffindor table, a huuuuuge grin on her face. THIS WAS AWESOME.

Tabitha was switching her weight from foot to foot, barely able to contain herself. A little dance in attempt to keep the ball of nerves and excitement in her stomach under control. She had been looking forward to school for MONTHS(!), and now she was finally here, about to find out where she would live for the next seven years of her life. SEVEN. It was a lifetime to the girl who looked just like a miniature version of her mother.

"Broadmoor, Tabitha-Rose"

'Okay... okayOkayyOKAYokaaayyyyy.'

She took the seat at the front, spotting her Aunt Layla over at the Ravenclaw table who got a big smile and an excited wave. 'Hellooooo'. The rest of the kids received a cheery smile too as her gaze swept over them all. WOW. LOOK AT THEM ALL..

The hat was placed on her head.

She tried to look up as the hat began to talk to her. Should she make conversation? Her dad had told her to sit still and allow the hat to sort her.. so that she did.

“Ah, now, let me see.. Your mother and father were Slytherins.." The hat began. "Although you have Gryffindor blood running through those veins as well. You're a curious one, bold and courageous. But you have the cunning of a snake and an ambition to go far. You know how to get what you want.”

“SLYTHERIN!”

Tabitha jumped when the thing shouted... then got to her feet, a polite “Thank you.” to the hat. She bowed to the applause, thinking that was the done thing in front of an appreciative audience and let out a giggle... then went to join her new family at the Slytherin table.

Rooney clapped for the sister that went just before him, and waved her off as she headed to her own house table. He wondered whether she was upset to not be in Hufflepuff, or wanted ever so much to just go home. He wasn't yet sure how he felt about being here, and only hours had passed since he last cuddled the youngest of his brothers and had porridge put in his hair -- the porridge that was notably still visible if someone properly looked at his blonde locks. It wasn't nerves that bound through him, but excitement right now and the wait between his sister leaving the stool and his own name being called was the looooooongest. BUT THERE IT WAS!

"Bronwyn, Rooney"

He leaped the step, glad that his mother had tailored his robes short enough to not trip over them and took his rightful seat beckoning that the hat be put immediately onto his head.

Roo was itching to get his notebook from his back pocket and write all of the questions he had right now and all of the things he'd already observed. His brain was full of peoples names and houses and personality analysis -- his book would be full soon too. He gave a helping hand to pull the hat onto his head and furrowed his brows at the lack of immediate talking. This was supposed to be a done deal, right? Hat on head. Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. Hat off head. Rooney go sit. Rooney get food. He made eye contact with a couple of people, notably Calliope and then looked up through his eyelashes at the brim of the hat. "Speak, please."

Now, thank you.

The hat had said something whilst Rooney was in his mental pleading for an answer, and he was never really going to know exactly what was said unless someone told him afterwards. He did, however, hear the call of "RAVENCLAW!" and bounced up with enough force that the hat went off his head one way and he fell down the step the other. Face. First. Oh dear.

He cursed quietly, glad that he was no longer around his mother and therefore she couldn't take away his writing materials, but also glad that his talent of swearing in a whisper meant that hopefully no one else had heard it. A bumbled apology was served to the student whose feet he had landed on, and a sleeve went to the bloodied graze on his chin before he ran in a dash to his house table to join Calliope and others. No eye contact was made. Eye contact allowed for laughs, and Rooney needed to write down exactly what had happened and why it had happened and write the answers to his questions already.

Bummer.

Stella waited at the back of the group of new students. The hall was lovely, but this was the largest crowd she'd ever been in and the onslaught of emotions was so overwhelming, she wasn't able to appreciate her surroundings. Would every meal for the next seven years be like this? Stella didn't think she could take it.

She tried to ignore the churning in her stomach and the pain in her head by focusing on the sorting. It would all be over soon. Thirteen students so far. There were already three Slytherins and one-no, two Ravenclaws. Stella winced in embarrassment as Bronwyn, Rooney fell down the step. Poor kid.

"Morgan-Vaisey, Stella."

That was her. Stella walked forward slowly, hoping that her extreme discomfort wasn't obvious. She sat down and took a deep breath as the hat was put on her head.

"Hmm, lot's of empathy, that's for sure. Full of contradictions too. I can see you want people to think you're tougher than you are."

There was a pause, during which a horrible thought came to her.

"Relax, I'm not putting you in Gryffindor, though it would be amusing to see what you'd do there."

Stella let out her breath. She'd been quite sure she wouldn't be in the house of lions, but nothing was set in stone. Stella did agree with the hat, though she was sure the amusement would wear off long before her seven years were up.

"Very strong affection for your family. The only thing you put ahead of them is your future career, apparently as a healer who will give the entire world health and immortality. You're right, it is selfish and uncaring of you to put that first."

Stella rolled her eyes. She knew it was irrational of her to think that. No need for the hat to be making snarky comments like that about it.

"You're intelligent and knowledge seeking, but you want to do something with it. With your drive and motivation and your willingness to do whatever it takes to reach your goals, I think you'd do best in SLYTHERIN!"

Stella breathed a small sigh of relief as the Slytherins applauded. She took the hat off and carefully walked over to the Slytherin table, wondering which house Aster would have been sorted into.