Where She Belongs

Hello there, young lady.

(Er... hello!)

Hmmmmm. Oh, dear. You're going to be one of those, aren't you. May as well settle in and get comfortable, I suppose.

(One of which? And I wish you would stop flopping into my eyes like that. They'll stare at me.)

One of the children that take at least ten minutes to Sort properly. And if I may hazard a guess, they have already stared quite a bit at you.

(...)

You could have told me to shut it. I wouldn't have minded - plenty have thought of much ruder things. At any rate... there's a lot going on in here, isn't there? And it all seems to be rather tangled up with each other. Well, let's start from the most logical place: Which House do you think you should be in?

(I... well, I don't know. My dad was in Hufflepuff. My mum was in Ravenclaw, but she thought she'd be in Slytherin. I think her family was, mostly, that's why. I don't know any of them, though, so I can't ask.)

I see.

(And... well, all the Houses have something interesting about them, don't they? Not really fair to say one's better than the other, I don't think. Rather mean, in a way.)

Yes, you would say that... You're not a very clear-cut mixture of traits, unlike some of the others I Sort. You've a clever mind, I can definitely see that, but books and theories aren't what make you tick - you'd rather skive off for a bit of fun and spend the last hour before the exam revising like mad.

(Aheh... well... It works for me! Usually, that is.)

Quite. And no need to make your mum worry, little girl, as I'm sure she would (I remember her Sorting quite well, the scream she gave when I told her Ravenclaw...) - you're not the sort for Slytherin. You can be tricky and cunning if you need to, but you don't like that sort of thing all too much when it's not good clean fun. Honesty and fair (if a bit mischievous) play, that's what you're about. As for Gryffindor... Well, I considered it, you've quite the brave streak in you, but there's more to it than that. I think your bravery stems from the traits that define you best of all. You like all things fair and kind and honest, to the point where you'd fight for them. You're persistent - you won't stop until you get the job done. And I can see clearly that you are deeply, fiercely loyal to the ones you love... to the point where you may get hurt, I fear. Ah, but such is life, isn't it? Or so I hear, not being alive myself... Yes, overall, I feel you belong in

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And upon hearing this, Nymphadora Tonks slid off the stool, taking off the battered old Sorting Hat (some of her classmates gasped to see her hair had flushed a vivid pink, as if in embarrassment or pleasure), and made her way to the Hufflepuff table, stumbling over her own feet no less than three times on the way.