 Constant Vigilance! O_O AWAKE!
Sophia had waited nearly twelve years for this moment. The Great Hall. There was the table at the front, where her granddad had sat when he was a professor, way back before she was born. And the Ravenclaw table, where her dad had been. And then Slytherin, where her oldest sister and brother had gone. And Hufflepuff, for Amelia.
Her family had been scattered across the houses enough in the last ten years that they'd have been proud of her for (nearly) any house she might end up in.
It felt like no time at all between when the hat finished its (wholly unnecessary, in her opinion) song and all the new students ahead of her alphabetically had been called up. Then it was her turn. She nearly missed it, too, as she'd been looking at the sky (ceiling), but she processed her name just enough to stumble forward and plop herself on the stool when "Svensson, Sophia" was called.
The hat was placed on her head, and Sophia tried to look up as far as she could without moving her head, which of course just gave her a bit of a headache. It was the sorting hat, obviously, but ohhhh, yes, now it was talking. After a quick silent plea for not Gryffindor, please, she mostly tuned out the hat. She didn't care to listen to its psychoanalysis and predictions when she could look at all the students, both those who were after her alphabetically and all the ones already seated. Was it just her or did students in the same houses sort of start to look alike???
From her possibly incredibly biased perspective, it did seem to take a looooong time, even longer than all the other students combined, and she was starting to worry she wouldn't get placed in any house at all when finally, f i n a l l y the hat shouted, for everyone to hear, "Slytherin!"
Beaming widely, Sophia hopped off the stool and (after a step away and a step back) returned the hat. It took all of her self-control (and a bit of muttering to remind herself) to walk, and not run, to the Slytherin table, where she realized she recognized at least one student already. How fun!!!! |