"Hawthorne Sweeney!" Hathorne bit her lip and froze in the crowd. THe normally outspoken girl was frozen in fear. "Hawthorne Sweeney!" the professor yelled again. She took a deep breath and walked up to the stool and sat down gingerly. The hat was placed onto her head and it began to whisper in her ear.

"Well then, a Sweeney, eh?" The voice reverberated through her skull. "Your fathers ambition, and a natural talent for Potions. Your mothers loyalty and a love for all beings. Of course you don't remember your mother well, no. But you are brave, not in the face of danger but brave in social situations. You are also intelligent. Not just naturally knowing what to do but intelligent enough to read and figure things out. So where to put you..."

I would really like to be in either Slytherin or Hufflepuff.

The sorting hat chuckled in her ear. So you fancy yourself an ambitious Slytherin, like your father. Or the loyal Hufflepuff like your mother.

Hawthorne looked into the sea of faces and picked out a familiar face. Leah was siting with a grin at the Hufflepuff table. "Friends already, I see. Better be...

Hawthorne held her breath.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

A small smile crossed Hawthornes face as the hat was lifted fro her head. Her mother had died when she was five, but her father always told her she was so much like her. But could she fill the shoes that were no longer there?

She scurried off the stage and towards the other puffs.