Sorting Ceremony 2020-2021

❦{𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 ℭ𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔶}❦

While waiting for her name to be called, 𝕬melia notice that most students has a strong opinion of what house they wanted to be in. Some is of because family pressure or prejudice, Amelia don't really understand this because both of her parents always taught her that being in a certain house doesn't make a person good or bad. Her mother was in Ravenclaw while her father was in Hufflepuff. After a few hour waiting, her name was finally called.

“𝕳ope, 𝕬melia”

Despite how nervous she is, she manage walk up there confidently. 'Thanks Merlin, I didn't fell' think 𝕬melia while sitting down on the stall.
“Hmm... intresting, you seek glory and very resourcefulness. I see some ambition and wisdom. Also a bit shy, are you?”
“I’m not shy” said 𝕬melia while rolling her eyes “I’m just .... reserved?”
“Hmm..... This is really interesting, you also seek knowledge like your mother and very loyal like your father but you more cunning and more self - preserve.”
“Kinda accurate” think 𝕬melia in response
“Better be.....”

“𝔖lytherin!”

Backdated to September 1, 2020

Beatrix stood near the front of the group of first-years waiting in the Hall, intently listening to the Sorting Hat singing in a deep, gravelly but somehow cheerful voice that seemed to come from a large tear near the brim. A rush of excitement flooded through her, and she unconsciously straightened a little, as the Hat belted out its last verses:

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.

Slytherin. Her soon-to-be house. The house that both her parents' families had been in for generations. And, by Salazar, she would be in Slytherin too - it couldn't be any other way. Her mother, equally certain of that fact, had even insisted on adding a green and silver tie and a matching scarf when they had bought Beatrix's school robes, which had earned the pair of them a ridiculous amount of questioning looks from the shopkeeper as first-years didn't normally know their house before coming to Hogwarts.

She sneaked glances at the house tables every now and then while the others were Sorted. The Gryffindor table was the loudest by far - there was a lot of jostling and raucous laughs and shouts, and everyone erupted into cheers when the Sorting Hat announced a new member of their house. Beatrix smirked dismissively. Their behaviour didn't come as a surprise. Gryffindors were bold and brash and had no sense of subtlety, everyone knew that. She was lucky that she wouldn't have much to do with them over the next few years.

"GRIFFITH, BEATRIX!"

She was ready when her name was called. Chin held high and proud, pale cheeks flushed with anticipation, Beatrix strode across the Hall towards the High Table. She gingerly sat down on the stool. It creaked as she sat on it, and was rather uncomfortable, but she wouldn't have to sit on it for long - the decision should be quite obvious.

Although she should have been prepared for it, she jumped as a voice spoke up next to her ear.

"Now, what do we have here? Interesting, very interesting... a Griffith, I see? Yes, I have Sorted many of your ancestors, an old bloodline indeed... all of them in..."

"Slytherin", Beatrix completed the sentence.

"And you are eager to prove yourself worthy of them, aren't you? Ooh yes, there's a strong need to impress, a longing for affirmation... You consider Slytherin the only choice... yet it's somewhat more complicated, I'm afraid."

Beatrix tensed. "What are you talking about? I'm a Slytherin - of course I am, we both know it, just Sort me already-"

The Hat chuckled. "Not engaging the thought at all that you might not be in Slytherin... you're a stubborn one, I see. There's quite the intellect there... but, forgive me, you do lack the open-mindedness of a Ravenclaw..."

She tried hard to keep the panic rising up in her under control, but couldn't help interrupting. "I'm insisting on Slytherin because I am going to be in Slytherin - all my family have been, and I'm ambitious, cunning, whatever you require-"

"Now, that's intriguing...", the Hat continued, as though it hadn't even heard her thoughts. "You try hard to set yourself apart, claiming not to care about others, but there's a lot of loyalty hidden there... once you allow yourself to get close to someone, you'll protect them with your life..."

Beatrix's hands clenched on the edge of the seat. "I'm not a Hufflepuff - absolutely ridiculous-"

"No", the Sorting Hat mused, "with that, you're right for once. You lack the kindness... and you're much too eager to be seen. Most Hufflepuffs don't seek glory, you know. No, your kind of loyalty is a very fierce one... indeed, the more I think about it, the more certain I become that your destiny lies in..."

For a fraction of a second, she saw it coming, and opened her mouth in horror, but it was too late, and the Hat's voice boomed through the Great Hall...

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Beatrix felt faint. Not Gryffindor... anything but Gryffindor. It felt like a nightmare - but as the table in front of her with all the students decked out in red and gold erupted into cheers, it all seemed much too real to be a dream.

"No - there's been a mistake", she croaked, "I need to be re-Sorted or something, I can't be a - a Gryffindor!" But no one seemed to hear her over the cacophony of cheers and roars, and the Sorting Hat was whipped off her head, and she stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table on legs that felt strangely shaky, as though they were about to collapse.

[font=times new roman]The excitement of the day, paired with the journey from London, had greatly tired Juniper, but the ride across the Lake and cool night air had swept away the bleary-eyed grogginess she had stepped out of the train with. By the time the young girl walked into the Great Hall, much of her excitement - and anxiety - had returned. Juniper still couldn't quite comprehend that she was here at Hogwarts, a school she had not heard about until May. In the past few months, her mother had described it to her as best as she could, but due to the fact that Madeline Yu had never been here, the explanations were less than satisfactory. Now she was actually here, and Juniper couldn't stop turning round and round to take it all in, eyes wide and mind a whirlwind of thoughts and questions.

The portraits were moving! And the candles were floating - oh, how did they do that? Everything seemed so grand here. It was as though she had jumped straight into a storybook, and Juniper couldn't help but wonder if this was a dream. It sounded so cliche, but it had all happened so fast, and the events were so strange...

As Headmaster Lear explained the sorting ceremony, Juniper looked around again, this time not at the castle but at her peers. I'll be spending the next seven years with these people, she realised with a jolt. Gosh, that's a long time... I hope they're nice people. She silently prayed that they were nothing like the girls at her old school. Maybe she could make friends with some of them, like she had in Seattle. Her gaze drifted to the staff table, and tried to commit the names and faces to memory, but he was speaking too fast and Juniper gave up. I'm sure that I'll learn them in time. And now the Sorting Hat was... singing?!

A hat is singing to me. A HAT. What the-?

Juniper clapped along with the others when the song was finished, although she looked rather bewildered as she did so. What the hell just happened? Floating candles... moving portraits... singing hats... this was all too strange for her. Excitement faded and Juniper swallowed her anxiety, trying to focus as the girls and boys in front of her slowly moved up to take a seat on the stool. Her mother had warned her that Hogwarts was an odd place, but she hadn't believed that it would be this strange. Really, she hadn't been given much information to go off on at all.

Before she knew it, her name was being called. "Yu, Juniper-!"

She swallowed her nerves and kept her head down as she made her way up, too nervous to look anyone in the eye. Juniper recalled what her mother had said - "if it's too much for you, you can always come home." Perhaps she should. She could have a normal life like her siblings and be a Muggle, lock her wand away and go back to school. It wasn't too late - she hadn't been sorted yet. She could still go home, right? If she asked the Headmaster right now, he'd let her, right?

And then she remembered what that professor had said, that day in May. Something about belonging in the magical world, and making friends that would become family... Juniper shook her head. How could she pass this down? She could never go back to London and live an ordinary life with the knowledge that she wasn't ordinary at all. No. She had to do this. She walked the last few steps to the stool quickly, before she could change her mind, and sat down firmly as she hat was lowered onto her head.

Well, isn't this interesting? a voice spoke in her head.

Juniper nearly jumped out of the chair in shock and reminded herself that all the others had surely experienced the same thing. Geez. I have a hat in my brain. This is supposed to be normal, isn't it? You people have a very strange definition of "normal".

The hat made a noise that sounded somewhat like a laugh. I suppose it may seem that way to you. But I sense pure blood in you. You have many, many family members who have been here - Slytherins and Ravenclaws mostly, if I recall correctly...

You sorted my mother's family members? Juniper had known that her mother's family was magical, but not that they had gone to Hogwarts. Madeline had been reluctant to give her daughter any information on her family. She didn't even know their surname - perhaps it was better this way, like her mother had said, but now Juniper wondered if she would find any of them on trophies or plaques.

It continued on as if it hadn't heard her at all. ...You seem to have inherited some of their traits. Ambition. Wisdom. Wit. Observant, watchful... selfish at times...

I'm not selfish! the first year thought indiginantly. This was absolutely ridiculous. She couldn't believe that she was being judged and possessed by an old hat, of all things. It was supposed to be an inanimate object! Juniper groaned inwardly and hoped that the hat would hurry up so she could get off this stool. It was beginning to get a little uncomfortable.

Selfishness is not necessarily a bad thing. There was a slight pause. Juniper swung her legs on the edge of the stool, waiting for it to start talking again. Of course. Once again, it comes down to Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Let me dig a little deeper... yes. You certainly are your father's daughter.

Brows furrowed in confusion as Juniper processed what the hat had just said. She hurried to correct him. You mean mother. My father is a Muggle.

But the hat was no longer listening to her, already shouting out his decision - "SLYTHERIN!"[/font]

Night of the Sorting Ceremony, Great Hall

As Calypso had stepped through the great gates of the finest School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, she had sucked in a short breath of awe. Oh my goodness, she had thought to herself. This is Hogwarts. The Hogwarts. The newest batch of students were welcomed into the school, and were told the details of the Sorting. They now stood in a huddled line, only slightly wet from the trip across the lake, waiting to discover their houses. Calypso looked nervously around, taking note of the floating candles and the high arches of the architecture, and the teachers smiling kindly down from the head table. She wanted to remember everything about this moment. Well, everything but the gnawing ball of anxiety in her gut that was currently eating her insides. Her friends Ashley Coulson a Paisley Brown, and Suzanne Byrd from the train became a Ravenclaw, a Gryffindor and a Gryffindor, respectively. Calypso felt her nerves build. Stop, she told herself. It will be what it will be. The Sorting Hat knows best. No use getting all worked up about it. But as the students one by one joined their new houses, and the line in which she was standing got shorter and shorter, Calypso did get worked up about it. Very much so. Finally, she found herself at the front of the line. A teacher beckoned her forward, and she walked out in front of the room, and came to a seat on the three-legged stool. The ancient hat was placed upon her head, and a familiar mildewy scent like old books greeted her.

"Hmm," She heard a voice in her mind say. And she knew it was the voice of the Sorting Hat. "A Starling. Yes, your lot were always a bit all over the place. Several Hufflepuffs, A few Ravenclaws, Some Gryffindors, a Slytherin here and there, ah? Suddenly, Calypso wasn't quite sure what to do. Thankfully, the Hat seemed to like to speak. She supposed it didn't get much chance to during the rest of the year. "I can see you have plenty of wit. And a good eccentric streak. You could be well-suited to Ravenclaw. But then again, perhaps that would be a bit too obvious, don't you think? I see ambition, and lots of kindness. I sense that you are a hard worker. So perhaps Hufflepuff? Ahh, but here, I sense a sort of quiet bravery. A determination to stand up for others. I see stubbornness, too" The Hat chuckled. "Yes, you are well suited to Gryffindor. Very much indeed. Not in the traditional sense, perhaps, but I see that you will bring something to that house, Calypso Starling, and that in it you will grow in ways you'd have never imagined." And with that, the Hat called out,

"Gryffindor!"

"RAVENCLAW"

" Jacob Malone!"

" I said JACOB MALONE!"

" I will ask one last time...where is Jacob Malone!?!"

"Well it took you long enough..now sit."

"Hm I see..a family..ooh.. tch tch they fight, yet you still care for them. They yell, yet you still have hope..You seem to be bold. Gryffindor perhaps?

" Oh! And an attitude I see? tch tch.."

" And fights...typical for a boy your age.. but all of this..for your family? All of the fights, insults, attitude.. just for them? And for what? To know it won't help anything, but to know that beneath all of that darkness, is a somewhat frightened boy, whom loves to draw, to smile. But to put it all behind.."

"And much more goes about you, but knowing who is truly you... shows that you are a.-"