Originally Posted by Anony_Miss

James followed the rest of the crowd into the Great Hall. His dad had told him about this place, but it was much, much bigger than he could've imagined. And the ceiling looked more than realistic, it somehow looked, better. He stopped staring, and looked up. Someone was calling out names in alphabetical order. Ah, the sorting then. He would be near the end of the line, unfortunately. It was a long way until S. He watched carefully to see where people went. It seemed like some people stayed longer under the hat than others. He hoped the old rag wouldn't take too long for him.

Eventually, though, his name was called. He nervously walked up, in front of the entire school. It was rather nerve-racking. He sat down on the old stool, and the hat was put on his head. It was too large for him, though, so it slipped over his eyes, which was actually a blessing. That way he didn't have to look at the sea of eyes watching him.

'Gryffindor, Gryffindor, please let me be in Gryffindor!' he thought.
'Gryffindor? Your father did so well in Hufflepuff...' the sorting hat replied. His father had luckily told him about the sorting hat's knowledge of people's thoughts.
'I'm not like my father. Please, put me in Gryffindor.'
'Well, then you should be in... "GRYFFINDOR!"

James almost threw the hat off with glee. He set it down quickly on the stool and ran over to the Gryffindor table. This was so exciting! He was in Gryffindor! He'd thought he'd be in Hufflepuff, but he supposed he was more like his mum than his dad. He sat down at the nearest spot at the table.
Looking around, he said, "Er, hello, I'm James Henry Stapleton."