Conversations with a Hat

Andromeda's Sorting

Andromeda walked forward with a regal bearing that belied her nervousness. She walked with all the decorum and grace that being a member of the Black family required. She walked with her nose a fraction of an inch in the air and ignored everyone around her. Just as she'd been told to do. She approached the stool and did something no one had done for hundreds of years. Something no one had done since Calypso the Vain had put the Hat on the floor so she could comb her hair before being Sorted. Andromeda took the Sorting Hat and placed it on the floor.

There were shocked gasps around the hall as people wondered how she could disrespect something so sacred in Hogwarts as the Sorting Hat. She ignored the gasps and smoothed her robes before picking the Hat up and placing it on her head. As the Hat was just about to cover her eyes, she snuck a glance at Trixie, sitting at the Slytherin table. Her sister nodded slightly in approval and watched her out of her half-lidded eyes.

Andromeda didn't let her posture slip, though she nearly did with relief. She hadn't been sure that she was going to go through with it. She'd been trying all summer to think of something that would set her apart from everyone else from the beginning. She was the middle child, but under no circumstance would she succumb to being regarded as the least important. On the train, her brainstorm hit. The Sorting Hat was regarded as the most wonderful thing the Founders left Hogwarts. What if someone put it on the ground? It was disrespectful, unheard of. So she did it.

"Impressive. You know how to make a first impression last, don't you?" the Hat whispered in her ear.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said primly.

"I think you do."

That voice sent a shiver down her spine, but she stayed rigid.

"Where to put you? Slytherin? Slytherin is for survivors. Somehow you just don't fit in there. Hufflepuff perhaps? No, I don't think so. Not especially loyal. Gryffindor? I can sense you had some doubts about what you did. But you did it anyway. No, no, that wasn't really brave. You do have brains though. I can't ignore that. Where to put you?"

"My family has been in Slytherin for generations."

"You're not particularly keen to join them though, are you?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Care to give reasons?"

"Life is about more than survival. Slytherin seems to reek of everyone believing in 'survival of the fittest'. I don't care to be there; I believe there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, they don't. Besides, my brains have a better use I'm sure. I just don't know what it is yet."

The Hat seemed to chuckle. "A little bit of spunk in you after all, I see! Maybe I was wrong to disregard Gryffindor as a choice for you."

"I don't think you were. Bravery is a little to close to loyalty for my tastes. I think you and I both know where I belong."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"For the last time, yes!"

"Good, birdbrain. The perfect place for you is RAVENCLAW!"

Andromeda stood up serenely, taking off the Hat. She placed it gently back on the stood and with a small smile walked to the Ravenclaw table. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. She wouldn't be following the same path as her sister and her parents and the rest of her family. But she wasn't so far away that she would be thrown away. After all, she'd still need them for seven years. Then she could dismiss them. She was a Ravenclaw; she was pretty smart after all, she knew her limitations.

She sat back and watched the rest of the Sortings with interest. Hogwarts just might be pleasant after all.