New chapter is live.
Settle in, take your time, and let’s see what waits in the dark 🖤
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“I am the most beautiful magic hat…”
Callan’s expression went blank at the first line.
By the time the Sorting Hat finished its song, several students were applauding with suspiciously forced enthusiasm.
The hat, however, seemed extremely pleased with itself.
It bowed to each table in turn.
Few people knew what the Sorting Hat truly was.
It had once been Godric Gryffindor’s hat.
After the four founders were gone, it remained behind with pieces of their thoughts, temperaments, and standards woven into it so it could Sort each new generation of Hogwarts students.
It also held another secret.
A true Gryffindor in need could draw the Sword of Gryffindor from it, no matter where the sword itself was kept.
Perhaps because the sword usually rested in the headmaster’s office, or perhaps because few had been worthy, that secret had not been tested in a long time.
Professor McGonagall stepped forward with her roll of parchment.
“Potter, James.”
James walked up first.
The hat dropped over his head.
“Courage,” the Sorting Hat murmured.
“Kindness too, though you do enjoy attention. And there is a strange urgency in you, isn’t there?”
James thought of Callan.
“Gryffindor?” he asked confidently.
“Talented, not bad-hearted, and born to Gryffindor like your father before you.”
The hat opened its brim wide.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
The Gryffindor table roared.
James ran over, grinning.
“Black, Sirius.”
The hall shifted at once.
The Blacks belonged to Slytherin.
Everyone knew that.
Sirius sat on the stool and said, with almost exaggerated politeness, “Good evening.”
“A Black,” the hat said.
“Toujours Pur. And yet you are rather unusual.”
“Not Slytherin,” Sirius said at once.
“Are you certain?”
“Very.”
“Then your choice is clear.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
For a heartbeat, the Slytherin table went still.
Then Gryffindor erupted again.
James leapt up to welcome him.
Sirius smiled as he sat beside James and cast a deliberately provocative look toward the Slytherins.
At that table, Narcissa Black’s face darkened.
“Why are you clapping?” she asked Andromeda Black.
“That irritating cousin should have gone to Slytherin.”
Andromeda, a seventh-year prefect, patted Narcissa on the head.
“It is rude not to clap. Besides, a Black in Gryffindor is interesting.”
Lucius Malfoy said coolly, “Wait until his parents hear.”
Andromeda gave him a sidelong glance, but before she could answer, the Sorting Hat called Wilson Avery for Slytherin.
The Slytherin table cheered so loudly it nearly swallowed the Gryffindor applause.
Gryffindor booed.
Professor McGonagall silenced them with one look.
“Evans, Lily.”
Lily walked forward, then looked back at Callan and Snape.
Snape’s fists clenched.
Callan smiled and nodded.
The hat settled over Lily’s red hair.
“Conflicted,” it murmured.
“You do not want to be separated from your friends. But you do not want Slytherin either. Very well. I will send you where you will grow best. You will like Gryffindor.”
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Lily lifted the hat and glanced back, especially at Snape.
Her smile was rueful and a little bitter.
Snape sighed.
At the Gryffindor table, Sirius politely made room for her.
Lily recognized him and, still angry from the train, turned away at once.
Callan patted Snape’s shoulder.
“Oh, Sev,” he said in a tragic whisper.
“Lily in Gryffindor. How heartbreaking.”
Snape’s expression was complicated, but for once he did not snap.
Callan shrugged.
“Three people, four Houses. The odds were never kind.”
Snape nodded silently.
“Scamander, Steve.”
Steve mouthed, “Wish me luck.”
Callan gave him a thumbs-up.
The hat dropped over Steve’s head and immediately sounded amused.
“Newt Scamander’s son. Now that is interesting. Your father was polite, talented, and very fond of rules right up until he was expelled.”
Steve stiffened.
“And your mother? Porpentina Goldstein. Ilvermorny, not Hogwarts. Do you know how they Sort students there?”
Steve thought fast.
“Not as well as you do.”
The hat was silent for a second, then laughed.
“A careful answer. Hufflepuff will suit you. The Forbidden Forest is dangerous, child. I will keep your secret, but do try not to make me regret it.”
“Thank you,” Steve whispered.
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
At the Hufflepuff table, Ted Tonks stood and waved.
“Come on, future magizoologist!”
Steve waved back at Callan and Snape.
Snape pretended not to see.
“Hufflepuffs,” he muttered.
“A House of duffers.”
“A decent duffer is still better than a rubbish bin,” Callan said.
Snape’s mouth twitched despite himself.
The Sorting continued.
“Mulciber, Jack.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Wilkes, Marr.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
“Rosier, Evan.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
Callan listened to one familiar surname after another and briefly lost focus.
‘Am I at Hogwarts, or at a training academy for future Death Eaters?’
“Lovegood, Xenophilius.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
A few names later, Pandora joined Xenophilius in Ravenclaw.
Callan watched her sit down beside Lovegood and sighed softly.
“Youth is nice.”
“Pettigrew, Peter.”
Peter approached the stool trembling so badly the hat nearly slid off his head.
“Afraid?” the Sorting Hat asked.
“I am only a hat. I will not eat you.”
“G-Gryffindor,” Peter whispered.
“Not quite the natural fit, are you? But you do not see another road for yourself, do you?”
Peter said nothing.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
Peter ran to James, sweat beading on his forehead.
“Lupin, Remus.”
Remus looked even paler than usual as he sat down.
At the staff table, Dumbledore gave him an encouraging smile.
“Remus Lupin,” the hat said softly.
“A little werewolf.”
Remus froze.
“Please…”
“No one else can hear me, child. The headmaster warned me. Your secret is safe here.”
“What about the other students?”
“Arrangements have been made. You will be safe, and so will they. You will graduate from Hogwarts if you can hold on to your kindness.”
Remus’s breathing eased, just a little.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
As he walked away, Remus looked back.
The hat wrinkled its brim in what looked like reassurance.
More names came and went.
Then Professor McGonagall called, “Snape, Severus.”
Snape looked at Lily first, then at Callan.
Callan gave him a helpless look.
The hat dropped over Snape’s head.
“Interesting,” it murmured.
“You dislike Gryffindor, and yet part of you wants it. You want Slytherin most, but you are not entirely at peace with that either.”
Snape clenched his jaw.
“Stop thinking so hard. I will send you where you are most suited. As Ollivander told you, the choice is not yours alone.”
“SLYTHERIN!”
Snape removed the hat and looked toward Callan and Lily.
Lily puffed out her cheeks.
Callan nodded.
Lily glared at him from across the hall as if this were somehow his fault.
The Slytherin table cheered.
Lucius Malfoy patted Snape’s shoulder when he arrived, and Snape felt a small, unwelcome disappointment settle in his chest.
The list grew shorter.
At last, only Callan remained.
He suspected Dumbledore had arranged it that way.
Professor McGonagall looked down at the parchment and called, “Ashworth, Callan.”
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Want to keep going?
I hope this chapter gave you another reason to stay with the story.
There’s still plenty ahead, and things are only starting to unfold.