Chapter 6 - Sorting

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," the professor said before starting list a bunch of names. He would watch as students walked up to the stool and placed the hat on their heads.

"Black, Sirius."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Arth raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the lazy boy that they had met on the train had entered Gryffindor. This was surprising as the house of Black usually consisted of Slytherins and pure blood fanatics.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

After being sorted, the students would go to their respective tables.

"Evans, Lily."

Lily nervously walked up towards the stool and placed the hat on her head.

There was a brief moment of silence that dragged on for a minute or two when the hat suddenly screamed. "GRYFFINDOR!"

The table second from the right exploded in lot cheers as Lily was accepted into the table. And after a few minutes, it was time for Alice's sorting.

"Kingscrown, Alice."

Alice confidently walked up to the stool and threw the hat on her head which immediately screamed, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Knowing that he was immediately next, Arth stood up and made his way to the stool even before Professor McGonagall had called out his name.

"Kingscrown, Arthur-"

Arth sat down and placed the hat on his head. He waited for a good solid three minutes before he started to hear an odd voice in his ear.

"Hmmm? I didn't notice that you had put me on. Interesting. Oh well. Let's ee where you belong..... ahhhh, very difficult. Very difficult indeed. You have a brilliant mind but an equally strong heart as well. You would flourish in Ravenclaw but..... Gryffindor would suit you just as well.... tell me boy, do you have a preference in where you wish to go?"

"Put me anywhere. I don't honestly care."

"Difficult..... very difficult...."

Arth sighed before taking out a small book out from his pockets and started to read.

"You have such a good mind.... you thirst for knowledge and you wish to seek thrill. You would fight bravely to the bitter end yet you also believe in knowledge's superiority."

Arth flipped a page.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... please do tell me if you want to go anywhere. This is very difficult on me as well."

Arth rolled his eyes. "Then put me in the same house as my sister-"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a burst of applause and laughter as Arth snapped his book shut and placed the hat back on the stool.

When Arth sat down next to Alice, one of the older kids patted him on the back and called him a Hatstall of over nine minutes, which was apparently a new record.

"Hey Arth, we are in the same house. I knew it." Said Alice. "We are twins after all. We have to be in the same house. Don't we?"

"Mmm."

"But you sure took a long time to be sorted." She smirked, "Was the hat debating on whether to place you in Ravenclaw?"

"Yep."

"Makes sense, I mean, you were reading a book as you waited to be sorted. That was the most Ravenclaw thing I have yet to see.... I wonder why the hat placed you in Gryffindor?"

"I wanted to be with you." Said with a teasing grin. "I can't let my little sister be all alone in her new school can I?"

"What do you mean little sister? You are my little brother." Alice scowled. "I'm way taller than you, so I must've been first."

"Girls grow faster than boys in the early stages of adolescence."

"Sounds like you are using science as an excuse for your short height."

".... I won't help you with your homework."

"Kek!"

While Arth and Alice were bickering, it seemed that the sorting hat had enough of hesitating on where to place students as after Arth had been sorted, no other student passed the ten second mark.

"Lupin, Remus."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Pettigrew, Peter."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Potter, James."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Soon, every first year had been sorted and Professor McGonagall whisked away the hat and stool. An old man with a long white beard stepped forward and gave everyone a smile. The old man had a crooked nose, that seemed to have been broken at least once in the old man's lifetime, and a twinkle in his eyes that ever so slightly revealed the incredible magical prowess the man held.

It was Albus Dumbledore, the wizard who had defeated the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald .

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"What a weirdo," said Alice while giggling as the plates in front of them magically filled up. "He seems like a fun person. What do those words even mean?"

Arth scooped a ball of mashed potatoes and gravy before answering Alice.

"Ravenclaws will think of those not selected for membership in their select group as "nitwits" or dummies. Gryffindors sees the other houses as less physically bold or courageous or "blubber". To a Slytherin is any witch or wizard born with insufficient purity, an insufficiency that makes them an "oddment" of less, even no value. Hufflepuffs are humble people and believe that the other houses need to be "tweeked" or adjusted to find their virtues."

Arth paused and furrowed his brows. "Or at least, that's what I think his words meant. Can't really think of anything else."

"....you really should be in Ravenclaw."

"Maybe I should." Said Arth with a shrug. "Pass me the turkey legs wont you? I heard from dad that the turkey legs are absolutely delicious."