She had somehow managed to ignore the first few thoughts spoken directly into her head as her attention was on either the parchment or her turning and twisting of the knobs, but when she was cautioned against blowing up the stove (which was what all her frustrations were telling her to do) she actually began paying attention. “That was you?” she unnecessarily spoke aloud to the hat. She even paused a moment to remove it just to take a better look at its front before returning it to her head. It was easier to keep track of like this and kept her hands free as well. Her comment was, of course, in relation to being called stubborn (which she knew) and with much anger (which she also knew). This hat was supposed to tell you the deep inner workings of your mind, no? So why was it insisting on telling her things she already knew?

…………..or vague statements that were of no real benefit to the Wampus whatsoever?

How unnecessarily insufferable.

“You already have the answers my ----” The sound (seeing as her Bubblehead Charm prevented external smells from influencing her still heightened senses) of gas leaking out and small flames signaled for her to twist that particular knob in the opposite direction to turn it off. The hat placing emphasis on the clockwise and counterclockwise was less enlightening than the small flames that flickered on and off from the burners. Flicking her wand to bring the parchment back in view for her to read again (mostly the part the hat claimed gave her all the answers) and pinched the bridge of her nose.

She was about to give the Sorting Hat another piece of her mind (like where to stick its opinions) when she actually gave the knobs a methodical look over and finally noticed that one of these things was not like the other one. Brushing her dust covered hand off on her pants, Valerie returned to the glossy knob and turned it clockwise to confirm that, yup, nothing happened. Eyeing the burners as she turned it counterclockwise, her brow arched inquisitively when absolutely nothing happened in this direction either.

“That this knob is about as worthless as you are?” she retorted, her eyes rolling upwards in her head to look at the brim of the old leather hat (certainly had a theme of selectively animated sentient objects going on here). Twisting the knob back and forth a few more times aggressively, the sixteen year old began tugging and pushing down on it in attempt to jiggle it loose from its unnatural confinement. Clearly this had not been here all along and was a recent addition considering how clean it was (unless this was the one item they had elected to charm) and if she supposedly had all the answers she required already then surely this was meant to come off?

Her mind was still considering the what, particularly now that she had confirmed the where. He thoughts were still shifting towards a pin or broach (something of that variety) and her thoughts did linger on the gold Gordian Knot that fastened her school robes due to its historical significance and association with one of the school’s founders, Isolt Sayre. Small, beautiful, attach and re-attachable, related to Ilvermorny considering Hogwarts' representation was now adorning her head...

But first she had to deal with this stupid knob.

Planting one of her combat booted feet against the side of the stove for additional leverage, she gripped it with both hands and pulled back on it hard with the aim to tug it free.