The Hatstall

"Flitwick, Filius!"

Fil took some time beneath the hat, which was so big compared to him that the poor half-goblin boy disappeared nearly entirely within it, so that only his legs showed, sticking out from beneath the brim. A load of people in the Great Hall laughed at this, including Charlus Potter. Punching Charlus's arm like she would've done to Dougal McGregor back home, Minnie declared, "It isn't funny, stop it! It's not his fault!"

"Ow, bleeding hell, girl - what're you doing, trying to kill me?" Charlus demanded, rubbing his arm, which now smarted from her punch, "Going to leave a welt, you are."

"I didn't punch you that hard, you bairn!" she said hotly.

But Charlus carried on rubbing his arm and took a few steps away from Minnie and didn't make anymore fun of Filius Flitwick.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat declared and Filius scrambled, trying to get out from beneath it - finally aided by Dumbledore - and he slid off the stool and scrambled his way to the Ravenclaw table, cutting through the cluster of first years.

"Hey way to go, mate," Charlus said as he walked by,

"Fortescue, Florean!"

Minnie turned 'round to see her befreckled friend sit upon the stool and Florean looked at Minnie and smiled, his eyes bright as Dumbledore dropped the hat upon his head. The brim barely took a second to debate before it yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!" and Floran jumped up and rushed to the table Mona Sprout sat at, his smile wide as he climbed onto the bench beside her.

"I knew it," Charlus snickered. He looked at Minnie though and covered the spot on his arm and stopped his snickering, shuffling a couple steps further.

"I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to hurt you," Minnie said, annoyed.

Charlus said, "Tell that to my broken bicep, woman."

Minnie rolled her eyes, "I didna break your bicep!"

"Might've done."

"I didn't."

But Charlus stayed back just the same.

Alastor Moody smirked, "She's right about you actng like a bairn. Gryffindor might reject you now ye wee tot."

"Shut up," Charlus said and he rolled his eyes, "Godric knows where I belong. That hat'll have not even the slightest debate when it comes to me."

"Whatever are you going to do if you don't end up in Gryffindor?" Minnie wondered, "Will you be able to deal with it? Or shall I be witness to a tantrum on the plinth?"

"Kickin' and screamin' and the like," Al intoned, smirking. "They'll have to hover him off to his house for he'll jus' keep at tryin' to go to Gryffindor."

With a roll of his eyes at Al, Charlus smirked, "I have not even the slightest fear of it. Potters have gone to Gryffindor for generations untold, Min."

"You might be the one that changes that," Minnie said, challenging him.

Charlus rolled his eyes at her now.

"What if the hat puts you in Slytherin?" she asked, saying the first house that came to mind.

Charlus froze. He stared at her. "It wouldn't."

"It might," she replied.

Charlus looked sick and the pompous attitude melted off. "Slytherin doesn't want me," he muttered. "I ain't a Slytherin sort of bloke..."

"Mia went to Slytherin."

"Of course she did, she's a Black. Their family's been going to Slytherin as long as mine's been going to Gryffindor! Perhaps even longer. Both of us are of the Sacred 28. Not that it matters none but --"

"The what?"

Charlus glanced at the stool - they were sorting Jackson, Elliot - and then back to her, "The Sacred 28 is a list of twenty-eight legitimately pureblood families that go back centuries upon centuries being purebloods all the way. Typically if a person has the last name of one of those families, they're pure. Unless somebody in the line decided to marry a muggle, diluting the blood, that is, and then they are considered blood traitors and a true purist would eliminate them from the twenty-eight. Honestly, a true purist probably thinks there's only a few left of the twenty eight. Black, Malfoy, Lestrange, Dolohov... those are all family names that interbreed for the blood's sake. They disown any that marry outside of the twenty-eight. They think themselves to be royalty because they have original wizarding blood in their veins." Charlus shook his head, "Complete madness."

Minnie was about to comment when Dumbledore's voice echoed through the hall.

"McGonagall, Minerva!"

Minnie hadn't even realized how close they were to her name but upon hearing it, her heart raced and her skin prickled and she turned from Charlus Potter. She hadn't realized how nervous she was for this until this very moment. She went up and sat on the stool, and looked up at Albus Dumbledore, whose eyes sparkled and a smile curved beneath his beard. He winked at her as he lowered the hat and Minnie squeezed her eyes tightly shut, afraid of what it would shout.

"Hmm..." there came a voice and Minnie shivered, nervously looking about for the source of it. "It's just me, the Sorting Hat, relax Miss. McGonagall! Don't worry, you haven't gone mad." The hat chuckled. "Let's see... let's see... very interesting indeed..."

"What's interesting?" she asked.

"Your mind!" the hat replied. Then, reading her thoughts, "Nobody can hear you. I've muffled our voices so it's just you and I."

"So you can perform magic?"

"A wee bit. Only what the founders gave me to posses."

"That's incredible."

The hat chuckled again, "You're curious, I see... a quality of Ravenclaw... hmm, yes, and very smart... very smart indeed..."

"I get all high marks in my school," she bragged.

"I see," said the hat, musing. "But is Ravenclaw right for you, I do not know... let's see... let's see... what to do..."

Minnie sat and listened as the hat hummed and hawed for a moment, pondering. Finally, "Haven't you decided yet?"

"Not yet! This is a very important choice to make, young lady!" the hat replied.

Minnie said, "We've been here for several minutes with you poking about in my brains and you're just humming away, not really making any choices, and surely I canna be that complicated! My mind just isn't that interesting!"

"And that is where you've got it all wrong," the Sorting Hat said, "You're very complex in there. You've got a dash of cunning and a good deal of kindness. You're a hard worker, but you enjoy reading on rainy days. You're very smart but you've got courage, too. I see you're a bit of a rebel, a bit reckless. Climbing trees and running about barefoot half the time!" The hat made a sound as though clucking it's tongue, though she didn't know if hats could have tongues. "You have quality of all four houses, honestly," he hat murmured, "Most especially Ravenclaw and Gryffindor... but which do you display more?" he mused.

"Isn't this your entire job?" she demanded finally, knowing what house we would do best in? You said so in your song."

"Indeed, it is my entire purpose - when the founders began the school, they needed a way to be unbiased in choosing their students, and so Rowena Ravenclaw plucked me from the head of Godric Gryffindor and ---"

"My point is that if this has been your only job for centuries, then shouldn't you be better at it?"

The hat was quiet for several long moments, then, "That sass! That nerve!"

Minerva sighed in frustration. Her father often called her sassy and accused her of talking back. Some of the worst spankings she'd ever received had been a direct result of being sassy. She waited for the hat to kick her out, to send her back to King's Cross on the very next train. She pictured having to explain to her mum why she wasn't allowed at Hogwarts.

I talked back to a hat.

"I won't be kicking you out," the hat informed her.

"Well, it wouldn't be the end if you had," Minnie said, "I'd have gone back to Faere Dhu and gone to secondary with Dougal McGregor is all."

"Ah I see," the hat replied. "Living like a muggle!"

"At least back home there are no idiots that believe in this blood status rubbish! I've never heard such a stupid thing in all my life. Muggles at least don't have a list of names that have to interbreed!" She rolled her eyes.

"Muggles have their own ways of being prejudiced," answered the hat.

"All stupid as well. We're all humans - we're all people with stories and likes and hopes and dreams and fears and beliefs. Segregation by any means is ridiculous! Blood purity - bah! The people who think like that are mad." She said this with a passion and a vigor.

"Ah -- my dear, generations have argued thus, and it is this very argument that split apart Godric Gryffindor from his best mate Salazar Slytherin. Once, they were close as could be - Gryffindor and Slytherin - once they fought their enemies together. But purity of blood tore them apart and the houses have maintained the opposition since." The hat sighed heavily.

"Well at least they both stand for what they believe in!" Minnie said, "That's what matters, isn't it? That they didn't give in to please the other. Each took their view and stood. Fighting for what's right is worth the fight, is it not? Without some who are willing to fight for good, then evil would always win."

The hat chuckled and she could tell he was smiling. "Is that so?"

"Yes!" Minnie said, "And I for one intend to fight to end this blood purity rubbish! It's nonsense! Why is the Black family any better than my own? Just because their blood may be pure? Well it's still just blood, be it in their veins or in my own, is it not? If they bleed, the blood comes out red, does it not? Equals, we are, whether they see or not. And you have to stand up for what you believe in - even if ye stand alone!"

The hat was quiet, letting this sink in for a moment, and finally, it said, "Stand, little one. Stand, but not alone. GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted and the hat was lifted from her head.

There was applause throughout the Great Hall and Minnie could see the look of surprise on Charlus Potter's face and Alastor Moody nudged him, smirking and leaning in to say soething to him... Dumbledore was grinning down at her from above when she looked up and he said, "Right over there, Minerva," and pointed to where a boy with messy brown hair beckoned her and she got up and hurried over to the Gryffindor table.

Far across the hall, Mia looked disappointed.

"Hullo there Minerva!" said the messy brown-haired boy, patting the bench beside him as she hurried over to the house table. "I'm Elphinstone Urquart," he greeted her, "Everyone calls me Elphie. I'm a prefect." He showed her his badge. "Welcome to Gryffindor."

"Thank you Elphie," Minnie said.

He smiled. "That was quite the hatstall! Longest in years and years - over five minutes! Usually it's on and off with it."

Minerva blushed. "He just kept prattling on," she complained.

A moment later, they were joined by Moody, Alastor, who crammed his way in next to her on the bench.

Then, "Potter, Fleamont!" and several people in the hall snickered at the name, including a boy who sat on Elphie Urquart's other side - she thought his surname had been Bell when Dumbledore had called him but she wasn't sure. She watched as Charlus Potter climbed the plinth and looked up at Dumbledore.

"It's Charlus," he said, looking up at the Deputy Headmaster, "I go by my middle name - not Fleamont. I mean, could you blame me?"

The laughter in the hall doubled at this.

"My sincerest apologies, young man," Dumbledore said, a smirk quivering at the corners of his mouth as he waved a palm to the stool. "I'll be sure to make note of that in your student records, my boy."

Satisfied, Charlus climbed onto the stool and he drew a deep breath, puffing up his chest with pride as Albus Dumbledore dropped the hat upon his head.

It did not happen instantly as Charlus had claimed it would. It took the hat several moments, and by the movement of his mouth, it was clear that Charlus, too, was having a conversation with the hat. Minnie found herself hoping he would get Gryffindor, despite how horrible he'd been about the other houses... She would feel bad if he ended up in a house he didn't want to be in, the same as she felt about poor tiny Mia way over there in Slytherin.

She looked at Mia and saw she was sitting at the end of the bench, the other new Slytherins crammed in beside her, separating her from her foul cousin, Orion, but also making her look even more alone than she had before.

Whatever the Sorting Hat had said about the opposition between Gryffindor and Slytherin, it didn't matter. Minnie would find a way to remain friends with Mia Black. Mia needed that friendship, Minnie could just feel it, and it should not matter what house one had been sorted into - friendship was more important than some stupid feud that had nothing to do with her and whose debate she did not understand nor support.

Although the hat took it's time at it - no where near five minutes like Minnie's sorting had taken, but still much longer than it had taken with choosing Florean Fortescue or Alastor Moody's placement - finally, the hat declared that Charlus was, as he wished, a "GRYFFINDOR!" and the next child was called up to the stool as Charlus ran to the Gryffindor table, a smirk of triumph upon his face. He squashed his way between Minnie and Al and said, "Bloody hell, Min, I thought for a moment you'd jinxed that hat!"

"Why's that?"

"He tried to stick me in Hufflepuff and I said, I don't think I'd find my place in Hufflepuff, as a joke, he chuckled and said he ought to be sending me to Slytherin for my nasty jokes! I called him a bully and he laughed some more before he sent me here."

Minnie giggled and thought perhaps the hat was just as sassy as she was.