The Third Orphan

Chapter 7

The castle rose before them, tall and impressive. Briella admired its high towers and graceful arches. The pictures in Hogwarts a History had never quite managed to capture its magnificence, she thought. The boats drew slowly up to the shore and Briella managed to break her gaze from the castle long enough to stand and exit the boat. Then she continued to stare, mesmerized, at the castle.

The large man's voice cut across her reverie. "Hurry up!" he called, shepherding the nervous group toward the stairs that led to the castle's great front doors. The doors were opened by a small man who introduced himself as Professor Flitwick. Briella hardly heard his words of welcome as she gazed around the enormous hallway in which they stood and worried about the sorting.

When Professor Flitwick finished explaining about the sorting and the houses, a large set of doors in front of them opened, revealing a room with five great tables and a ceiling enchanted to look like the sky outside. Briella was barely able to register the thousands of stars twinkling above them before she was swept forward with the other first years towards the front of the hall where an old ripped hat sat upon a stool.

'That must be the sorting hat!' though Briella excitedly, and, sure enough, a rip near the brim opened like a mouth and it began to sing, explaining the founding of Hogwarts and the four houses. Gryffindor: the home of the brave and bold. Slytherin: where dwelt the ambitious and cunning. Ravenclaw: the place for those who were wise and, finally, Hufflepuff: the loyal and hardworking.

When the song ended, Professor Flitwick stepped forward and called out, "Agan, Tina!" A small girl stepped forward and the sorting hat was placed upon her head. After about thirty seconds it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" and one of the tables cheered loudly as Tina ran over to join it. "Brockhall, Aria!" Professor Flitwick said. Aria moved forward quickly and put on the Sorting Hat. After a minute it yelled, "Slytherin!" and, looking devastated, Aria moved to join a newly cheering table. Briella was shocked. Aria had seemed so nice on the train. Then again, she had said she wanted to be in Gryffindor just for the purpose for winning the House Cup...

"Duncan, Alyssa!" came Flitwick's voice and Briella held her breath as Alyssa moved to the stage. "HUFFLEPUFF!" called the sorting hat almost the moment it touched her head. With a relieved smile, Alyssa went to join her brother at the cheering Hufflepuff table. Briella once again held her breath as this time her name was called and she moved to the stage, placing the Sorting Hat upon her head.

When the sorting hat was placed on her head Briella heard a small voice in her ear. "Hmm, tricky tricky..." it said.

Feeling slightly annoyed, Briella thought, 'Why do people always say that about me?' as she remembered Olivander muttering the same words a week previous.

She was slightly surprised when the voice answered back, "Because you are indeed a most tricky child. So much potential... so much character. But where to place you..."

There was a silence during which Briella thought, "Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff," as hard as she could. 

"You want Hufflepuff, huh?" said the Sorting Hat. "An unusual choice. But no, my dear, my job is to place you where you will thrive and while you do have some characteristics of Hufflepuffs, there are others that outweigh them..."

Briella's stomach dropped. 'But I want to be in Hufflepuff!' she thought desperately.

"No my dear," replied the Sorting Hat rather unsympathetically. "That is not the place for you."

'But that's where my twin sister is!' thought Briella in return.

'Ahh, your twin," said the Sorting Hat. "Very similar to you in some ways, but oh so different in others. Now Slytherin, that is a possibility. You have a healthy amount of ambition. They could make you great."