' Parker, Kaira,' she heard her name being called. Oh boy, this felt so unreal!! She had always imagined what this moment would be like, but somehow, emotions were running high, and also so deep that she found it had to fathom, what exactly she felt - there was scared, proud, excited, anxious, elated, ambitious..she felt all of it together.

With trembling steps, she walked towards the stool and the hat was placed on her head.

'Ahh..I see creativity..and intellect..compassion.., she heard the hat go. 'A thirst to prove yourself..ambition..wit..where do I put you?,' she heard it say.

Kaira could hear her heart beat away like a drum in a parade, she could totally feel her pulse rising. This was the moment she had been waiting for! For a very long time! Time seemed to stand still, cos she felt every second pass by slower than ever.

'I know..RAVENCLAW!!, the hat trumpeted and Kaira grinned, with relief! She had secretly been hoping to be a Ravenclaw cos her mother and sister were 'Claws , and she knew she didn't have it in her to be a Lion like her dad.

With a goofy grin on her face, she rushed to the house table to join her housemates.

It felt like she was waiting forever until Winklebleck, Cordelia was called. Just like she had to wait to come to school, she would have to wait to be sorted. How come everyone else got to go first? At last the time came for her to be sorted. The hat was so large on the little girl that it slipped right over her eyes and covered half her face. She couldn’t see a thing! Hmm, what do we have here? Wow, the hat talked! You’re a brave little one, and resilient. Yet also curious. Could the hat just hurry up already so she could go join her house? You’ve got quite the attitude. Impatient too. Hey! I sense some ambition in you. An adventurous spirit. Could the hat just make up it’s mind already? It had actually only been a minute so far, but this felt like it was taking far too long. Alright then, better be ”Gryffindor!” Cool, like Maeve! The hat was pulled off of Cordelia’s head and, finally being able to see again, she hopped off the stool and ran down to meet her new housemates at the Gryffindor table.

"Muldoon, Mary"

Mary was quite wet, despite her best effort with the ponchos. She had managed to keep her 2 month year old kitten, Blue, dry in her pocket, but at a cost.

She wanted so bad to be a Hufflepuff, because they were humble and hard-working. This fit well with her shy nature, so she thought people would understand her. She was crossing her fingers as she shivered up to the hat.

"Hmmmm, a good mind you have, a bit of a fire if provoked"

Neither of those houses sounded like Hufflepuff, though Ravenclaw was her second choice. As for Gryffindor, she was NOT going to be a Gryffindor.

"Ah, I see, you are tough one. Hufflepuff is an uncommon, and therefore very noble house of Choice. You are a definite Hufflepuff."

Phew! Mary was going to be a Hufflepuff. She felt the Siamese squirming around in her pocket, and put her hands around the shivering Kitten.

"Hufflepuff!"

Mary took the hat off and went running to the yellow-clad table. She was, undeniably happy.

Well, this sucked. Igor had to wait till the end of the alphabet to even get a chance to go up and get under that probably incredibly old and hat worn by everyone here. It was making him more and more nervous after every letter passed. Some names where interesting....ah. Well, at least he was right to be questioning her name. Where both those Muldoons related. Because it looked like the Matthews were. More and More names came and went.

Well thinking of everything that could go wrong he finally heard his name and looked around at everyone before making his way up and having the hat placed upon his average eleven-year-old head. Whoa, the hat is talking. Ok, that was cool. Wait what did it mean by always questioning things or hesitating.

Also, Igor had to remind himself this hat was pretty big.

Ok, that was fair, hat. He did like to learn and was curious. But he didn't see why that matters here. Or why him being daring about the sports and things he liked to do had anything to do with it.

Wait a minute, the hat was looking inside his mind.

Was that illegal??

SLYTHERIN!

That was much louder than before and now he was hearing clapping and guess he should take off the weird mind reading hat. He looked around for the table that was cheering the loudest and well green. Best start making his way over there.

Odaline hated Hogwarts already.

What was so great about this hall? It smelled like a mixture of old people, nostalgia and happiness. Her three least favourite things. Ingrid would find another five things to hate about this place, but in her being here.. Oda would be having a better time. How long until their first class? Couldn't she get this branding that the school insisted on another time? She had her textbooks ready and wanted to learn.

In the midst of the excited first years, stood Miss Odaline Victoria Buchanan who was desperate to get this very much over and done with. This spectacle was too much for what it actually was. Reactions to being sorted should have been private. When had she given permission for her life to be on blast to the entire student body of this hellhole? Never. Absolutely never. This was invasive, and she wasn't sure that her parents would agree. Had they given the school clearance for this? Was there not a private option? A 'house' for other children? Different children. Ones that short circuited in the presence of others? Ones for children that had urges to break the bones of others when they spoke too much?

No?

Unexciting.

Fortunately for none of them present, her surname began with 'B' and that was the second letter of the alphabet which meant that she was one of the first to grace the stool with her behind. Odaline was also the least enthusiastic to have possibly ever sat there. She surveyed the whole hall quickly, the faces of teenagers with spots and some with greasy hair, the girls with make-up and large curls, the whispering between friends and the similar looking ones that were clearly siblings. Disgusting.

To convey how she was feeling, she folded her arms across her robes and glared at the doors they had been paraded through just minutes earlier. Her escape route.

Oda awaited the branding ritual hat to sort her without a care for what it was saying. Instead, she thought the words 'reading my mind is illegal' over and over until she was being ushered off the stool and over towards the table of green. Amazing. Another colour that didn't suit her.

How tedious.

Odaline hated Hogwarts already.

Matthew stood impatiently as he waited his turn towering over the first years. He was one of just a few transfer students who were waiting to be sorted but he couldn't focus enough to say hello to any of them. His eyes darted all over the Great Hall, seeing the candles float above, and was that ceiling like the night sky outside? Woah, this is way better than Yaya said it would be! For once, Mr. Flory was without a book in his hands and was not beside himself.

"This is amazing." He whispered out loud. Slowly each student was called to the front and the further they got down the alphabet the more Matthew began to get excited. Possibly the first time since he found out he was going to Hogwarts, Matthew was exhibiting something other than disappointment and displease.

"Flory, Matthew!" The Sorting Hat called. Matthew threw his hand in the air. "That's me!" He called out as he stepped around the other students. For a quiet kid Hogwarts was already changing him, and he'd been here all of half an hour.

Approaching the front Matthew told himself to take a deep breath. He had remembered Yaya explaining how this all worked and how his parents had both been Ravenclaws, and Yaya herself was a Hufflepuff. Matthew thought that surely with two Ravenclaws as parents and his love of books that he'd be a shoo in for Ravenclaw.

With the Sorting Hat now on his head he sat up straight just as he would if Yaya herself was standing in front of him teaching and he listened to what the Hat had to say to him. "Ah, I see another Flory has made their way back. Not a young one either. Seems there is a strong sense of smarts in this one, just as your parents..." The Sorting Hat trailed off into silence. Matthew's eyes shot up trying to peer at the Hat. Was it not working now? Oh come on. He urged. "Yes, lots of smarts and a very strong urge and desire to learn...but I sense you're more HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Sorting Hat was taken from his head and Matthew began to walk away, confused. How was he a Hufflepuff? Even the Hat itself said he had strong Ravenclaw tendencies. Shaking his head as he headed for the Hufflepuff table Matthew tried to logically explain the Sorting Hat's decision. Perhaps Yaya would have some thoughts on this, he vowed he would write her first thing in the morning.

Anderson-Belfort, Max!

This was usually the part of the movie when the Hero gathered his courage, his wits, and realized everything he'd been afraid of was actually just to make him stronger. But.

and this was a big but.
This wasn't a movie and Maxmilian Barton Anderson-Belfort wasn't the hero. He was just a messy-haired boy with a speech impediment in damp clothes, and he was absolutely and utterly terrified of that big brown hat on the stool and everything it symbolized.

Damien had promised him it didn't matter - the houses and the pomp and the stares, but Damien hadn't even been there to see Maxie off today so what did he really know? His chest burned. For a full moment after he'd been called Max only stared without moving, his feet refusing any of the signals his brain was sending - and maybe that was for the best - maybe they'd move on to the next kid and assume Maxie hadn't shown up and-

Anderson-Belfort, Max!

Or maybe'd they'd just keep calling his name for all eternity. Maxie chewed his lip, weighing his options and essentially (and more importantly) wasting time. His insides were twisting up, eyes were on him. The boy could feel the stares burning through his back like a laserbeam set to kill. He wriggled forward, eyes set hard on the floor as his body made a path through the other first years toward the stool. "It'sokayit'sokayit'sokay." Maxie muttered, clenching and unclenching his cold fists. He was trying very hard not to trip- or to breath too loudly- or to make accidental eye-contact with anyone - or to-

He sat down on the stool like he was falling onto it. Splayed limbs, Maxie took the hat and pulled it roughly onto his head before he had the chance to re-think everything and make a run for it.

A moment passed.

And then another.

And another, and just when the lanky boy was ready to rip the hat from his crown a voice spoke to him. It wasn't from a person or a voice in his head, but nor was it like a whisper in the ear. Strange, but somehow soothing. Maxie's shoulders slumped and he allowed his wide eyes to close.

Hello.

Hello, er.. Mister Hat. Weird, this was very weird.

Cautious... as was your brother. An interesting one...

Erm..

You would do well to surround yourself with the reckless.. Or the cunning.. Strong flight reflexes... but there is a determination.. A hunger to learn... Interesting...

Maxie fidgeted.

The hat carried on. There's potential there, no doubt about it. Ravenclaw would nurture that urge. But i think... it had best be.... HUFFLEPUFF.

Maxie jumped and nearly fell off the stool, his heart in his throat- the young boy hardly had the time to think on the Sorting Hat's words or his House before the applause broke and he was ushered on to the table of Yellow and Black.

Harri needed a break. She felt like she wasn't getting the most of her Hogwarts experience because she was distracted all throughout the train ride then the boats and then they were inside the castle and still there was no sign of her toad, Hohenheim. Where are you, Hohenheim? Perhaps he was still at the platform? But no, she remembered holding on to him as she said goodbye to her family. She was SUCH a failure already.

It didn't help that her name sat on top of the alphabet because 'Ainsworth' and pretty soon (much too soon) it was her turn to get sorted. At least she was feeling confident that she would be placed in Hufflepuff, the same house as her half brother.

Ainsworth, Harriette Trinity!

Well, okay. Get it done and over with so she could join her fellow Hufflepuffs and continue searching for her toad.

Well, well, well.

The eleven year old wiggled on the stool, trying to sit straight as she listened to the talking hat. Her mother told her it was impolite to slouch when talking to elders and the sorting hat was DEFINITELY old. She wasn't feeling nervous or anything. She even offered the hat a small smile. Hi, Sorting Hat! You can place me in Hufflepuff now.

The hat laughed (or you know, as much as a laugh as a talking hat was capable of).

Hufflepuff, is it? You sound so sure.

Harri's brow furrowed. Of course she was sure. What other option was there? She was a Hufflepuff...right????? ...........WRONG.

Because before the young girl could question the hat further or give any other suggestion, or even complain, the hat had already belted out:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Blue eyes widened. Wait. WHAT??? Did she hear it right? She wasn't a Hufflepuff? But a Gryffindor? Why how did that happen? Was she even brave, courageous, determined? She didn't know! But all those questions were drowned out amongst the cheers, the loudest coming from her house. HER. HOUSE. The Gryffindor house.

Welp.

Valencia shifted her weight between her two feet as she waited for her sorting. She watched the ones before her get sorted. Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff. Slythern. Gryffindor. She chewed on her lip and wondered where she'd end up.

Gryffindor -- like her dad and her half sister.
Slytherin -- like her mum.
Hufflepuff -- like her big brother.
Or something new for the family -- a Ravenclaw.

Before shew knew it, her name was being called. Phillips, Valencia. That was her. Right after her best friend with the same last name Phillips, Harper.

She smiled and made her way up to the front. She took a seat on the stool and waited as the hat was placed on her ---

Or ... rather, the hat just hovered over her head, she couldn't even feel it before she heard a loud declaration.

RAVENCLAW

That was faster than she expected. She looked around before heading in the direction of the banner with the eagle on it. Ravenclaw. Her new home.

"Smedley, Charlie."

Charlie more-or-less jumped at the sound of her name, causing those around her to snicker. With a sheepish blush on her cheeks, she stood up properly and made her way towards the stool with the yucky hat on it.... with all eyes in the room on her. It wasn't like she could have asked for sorting ceremony advice, either. Her parents were muggles, after all... a word she had only just learned from overhearing the conversations of others on the train. Muggle, a noun, describes a person lacking magical abilities.... It wasn't their fault, of course. She just felt lost. They didn't really have the money to get her nice school supplies or a nice wind, either... which also wasn't their fault. Money was hard, that's all.

To avoid breaking out in hives before she even got sorted, Charlie focused on the movement of her cobblestone floor -- left, right, left, right, left, right.... And soon enough, she had made it to the stool.

Gingerly picking up the hat with the very tips of her fingers, she placed it on her head and turned around to sit where the hat once was.

Things just got weirder from there.

Smedley, Charlie.... I can tell you're quite nervous.

Her eyes went wide as saucers. The yucky hat could talk?! Is it that obvious? she thought, biting her lip as a means to distract herself and keep her emotions in check.

Sure it is, but I've been doing this for a while, but there's no need to worry. I can tell you're intelligent... wise, even. You're bright, have done very well in your muggle school studies, and will be sure to excel and flourish at Hogwarts.... As for which house it will be in -- well, it could really be any, but my instinct overwhelmingly favors....

What?! She was horribly impatient. It should have been obvious to her also, as she had been paying attention to the hat's song, but nerves were a thing.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Cheers erupted from what she gathered was the Ravenclaw table, due to all of the blue -- her favorite color. With a wide grin and a renewed sense of confidence, she removed the hat from her head and practically galloped towards her new housemates... her home.

Tina filed into the Great Hall with the first years and the other transfer students, trying to scrunch down and make herself as small as possible so she wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. How embarrassing, being lumped in with all the little kids! Not that she had anything against little kids. She just... wasn't supposed to be here. By rights, she should still be at Beauxbatons where people sort of knew and respected her, not starting her fifth year as a complete nobody!

Her dark eyes scanned the hall while she waited in line. So this was Hogwarts?Wow, it was quite a sharp contrast from Beauxbatons! Everything was so drab! Well, except for the ceiling bewitch to look like the sky. Tina had to admit that was pretty nice to look at!She was admiring the ceiling when she heard her name called, "Dantes, Fantine!"

Tina sighed quietly as she made her way to the stool. Apparently the hat didn't get the memo that she went by Tina! It was only then that the reality of what was about to happen set in, and the dark-haired French girl was internally panicking. What if it put her in a house she didn't want to be? What if she didn't like her housemates? Or her Head of House? She kept her eyes down as she sat on the stool, both to avoid locking eyes with the people staring at her and to mask her nervousness.

"Ah, Tina Dantes, our reluctant transfer student..." the hat whispered in her ear. Of course, Tina knew about the hat from her friend and from the books she'd read, but Merlin, this was weird! "Let's see... a sharp mind, curious, creative. You've been hurt a lot in your past, and you use your books and art to distract yourself..."

What does my past have to do with putting me in a house?! Tina thought angrily. The hat's words were crossing a line!

"Temper, temper," the hat said. "I can see you're stubborn and fiercely determined, but there are some lines you won't cross to get what you want. You despise power and popularity and those who seek them, so I feel not a Slytherin..."

Tina shrunk in the seat, keenly aware of the eyes on her. It felt like she'd been waiting forever! Would this hat just put her in a house already?!

The hat laughed in her ear. "You're quite the conundrum, Tina Dantes. Now where to put you? Hmm... you're practical, hard-working, honest, standoffish but not unkind. I see you have a soft spot for young children and animals, and you're loyal to those who earn your trust. But you lack the patience of a Hufflepuff..."

And then there were two.

"You aren't impulsive, but you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in. There's a quiet strength to you..."

Tina saw where this was going. No! Please don't put me in Gryffindor! she thought. My friend used to be head of Gryffindor, and it would be such a slap in the face to him...

"Calm down," the hat said. "So you're sure you don't want to be in Gryffindor? You have all the courage of a true Lioness. Well in that case, it better be...

RAVENCLAW!"

Finally it was over! Tina slid off the stool in a daze. She was officially no longer a Bellefeuille; she was a Ravenclaw now, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. Not that her feelings mattered; it was what it was. So she left to join her new house table.

The Sorting Ceremony has begun!

This was it, the moment she has been waiting for her entire life! The first day she would spend all her seven years in a house she could call her second home. Isla felt like DYING from all the excitement and anticipation! It was almost impossible to hold her emotions intact any longer. She pinched herself to see if, maybe, this was a dream. A figment of her wild imagination. No, she didn't wake up sprawled on the floor back in her room. She was standing in front of the student body with the rest of her first-year schoolmates, all waiting to be sorted!

"Duncan, Isla Jean"

OMG...OMG...that's her NAME!

No...no... no... now it's not the time to be nervous! Be brave, Isla...do this for mama, papa, and Cameron! Not to forget, her cousins who were already seated in their respective houses, probably just as eager to hear the hat decision placed upon her.

Isla stepped up onto the podium and plopped herself down on the stool. She gasped in surprise when the old hat began to talk in her head.

"Ah, another one from the Duncan family tree."

"Umm...you can hear my thoughts, Mr.Sorting hat, Sir?"

"Indeed, Isla."

Her stomach suddenly grumbled. Oops.

"Even that?"

Was that a sigh she heard?

"Yes...now, focus...let me see your true intentions."

Right. Focus. Pocus. Teehee.

"Sorry. Umm...Mr.Sorting Hat, Sir. My cousin boyfriend would like to know which house you would want to be sorted into if you were a student in Hogwarts."

"I'm just the sorting hat, Miss Duncan."

"Oh...well...I would think you be excellent in Ravenclaw because you sound very intelligent! Alright, you can sort me now!"

"Brave, loyal and...a little cheeky*coughs* GRYFFINDOR!"

Isla smile grew wide as the cheers erupted throughout the great hall. She was so incredibly happy with her chosen house, she couldn't help hugging and squissshhhhing poor Mr.Sorting Hat!"Oh I do like you very much! Thank you!"

This morning, Ronan Emery Wallace had been on cloud nine. NINE. The NINEST. He'd eaten all the candy in the house, bounced off the walls, accidentally made sparks fly out of his wand when he waved it around, got SUPER scared and hadn't been able to stop laughing allllll the way to platform nine and three quarters, where he absolutely did not cry saying goodbye to his family.

Then the train happened, and he met Mary Muldoon who was quiet but cool and they adopted a rat together but he had a weird feeling she didn't actually like him. Then the BOATS happened, and he met Mrs GRUMPYFACE and his rats almost DIED when he fell out of the boat that he chose to get out of, and water (rain and lake both) got everywhere.

This is why, as the first years piled into the great hall, Ronan was barely recognisable. Not that there was anyone here who would recognise him, but still. He'd kind of hoped that maybe someone would pick up on him being NOEL WALLACE'S BROTHER, and now he hoped no one would hear or know his name because he was an EMBARRASSMENT. He's covered in mud, his rats were mad at him, he'd made no great friends yet, the boy from summer with the rock situation had looked at him as if he wanted to kill him and all in all, Ronan's spirits had been effectively stomped on.

He's probably going to be sorted into Slytherin now and cry for a hundred years because that's just how his day was going. Or worse, RAVENCLAW, and then Noel would hate him for all eternity ;____; LIFE'S JUST SO UNFAIR.

Rubbing uselessly at his face with his sleeve to get the muck and grime off of it, he was glad his name was so far down. He had plenty of time to make himself look somewhat presentable (read: not presentable at all). And since he has already resigned to his fate of not Hufflepuff, he wasn't even nervous anymore. He looked at the table with the blue, knowing where it was from years of hearing Noel and Sunny's stories, and tried to picture himself sitting there. Easy enough. SIGH.

"Wallace, Ronan!"

Welp. With a sigh and a jut of his chin, Ronan stepped up towards the stool with the hat, face a burning shade of crimson as he turned around to look at the great hall. He had time to register TOO MANY FACES looking at him and the mud on his face and hair and hands and robes when the hat was placed over his head and he saw blackness instead.

And.. it said nothing.

"I thought you were s'posed to be a talking hat?" Ronan said after a few moments, a little snarky. JUST PUT HIM IN RAVENCLAW AND END HIS LIFE OKAY?? No need to pROLONG hiS PAIN.

There was some stirring in his mind and Ronan shifted uncomfortably. Then the hat finally spoke, and apparently it remembered Mum and Noel AND Sunny which was way cool, but Ronan couldn't even be excited about it because of the fate that awaited him. Come ON, hat. This isn't funny.

"Well alright, little one. Best be................... HUFFLEPUFF!!"

See? Ravenclaw. Told y-

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSPPP. WAIT A MINUTE.

The hat was removed from his head and Ronan stared out into the hall with his mouth open and his eyes wide. He didn't move for a few seconds, COMPLETELY SHOCKED. "...... DID THE HAT JUST SAY HUFFLEPUFF????? IT SAID HUFFLEPUFF!! MERLIN I'M A HUFFLEPUFF!"

And, finally, the muddy little boy named Ronan Emery Wallace WHOOPED with delight and ZOOMED out of the stool and towards the house in yellow, the home of his family and now, his home too.

"Joyce, Jade."

She was SO ready for this. The time has come for her to be chosen by one of the four Hogwarts Houses. She had no doubt that all four Houses wanted her - she was just so awesome! Okay, her hair was drenched from the terrible weather outside, but surely that wouldn't affect her overall awesomeness. You have a tough decision to make, Mr Sorting Hat, she thought as she walked forward confidently and sat upon the stool.

Soon afterwards, the shabby old Hat was placed on top of her head and over her eyes so that she could only see the inside of it. "Hmm, let's see what we have here..." the brunette jumped a little at the voice, but immediately paid attention to what it was saying, "Hard work... ambition... oh, a great deal of nerve and mischief as well... now, where shall I put you?"

Jade held her breath, prepared for the Sorting Hat to announce her new House out loud to the crowd. But it didn't come. Perhaps the Hat was still thinking. Speaking of which, how DID it think? How did it know what traits she had? Did it use Legilimang... whatever that mind-interpreting thing was? What exactly was it that -

"Okay, okay, that's enough, you've proved your point. You are an intelligent young lady who has a strong love of learning. And so... you belong in RAVENCLAW."

Ravenclaw! Just like her mom and dad! Jade beamed as the Sorting Hat was removed from her head and she rushed down to join her new Housemates.

It was so weird. This hall very crowded. Full of students with black uniform.
From the beginning her attention always directed to the ceiling.

Wait, what is that? the sky?

"Kohatsu,Ai."

Ai automatically went to the chair. Her heart can't stop beating when her palms feels so wet.

She keep in silent until the old hat placed in her head. "Hmm... Hi little girl."

Ai grab her cloak.

"No need to be scared. Let me see what inside your head. Just...wow! cunning. Do you want to be in Slytherin?"

"No!"

"No?" Ai could hear the old hat chuckle " Okay..okay. Seems like too coward to be in Gryffindor and not smart enough to be in Ravenclaw.Ouch!"

Ai trying her best to thing of something bad.

"But you are so loyal. So I know what house you are belong to,little girl. HUFFLEPUFF!"