Little Red |Sirius Black|

The Fortunate Fluke- Sirius

They waited.

And then they waited some more.

They were waiting for the hat's decision, but it didn't seem to be coming anytime soon. Remus checked his watch. "It's been three and a half minutes." he whispered. Sirius gasped. A minute and a half more, and Arianna would be a hatstall.

A hatstall was a student with such varied abilities and personality traits that the sorting hat couldn't place them in a house straight away, and had to take longer than five minutes to decide. Hatstalls were a true rarity that only happened about as often as once every fifty years.

Rumor has it that in their time, both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were hatstalls.

Sirius himself had almost been a hatstall four years ago but the hat had decided in the very last minute. Hatstalls were supposed to be game changers- not conforming to the ideals of any one house. They made waves and were exceptional leaders.

The Black family had always despised hatstalls, calling them indecisive and revolutionary- both words that were as good as abusive in the noble and most ancient house of Black.

"Four minutes." Remus said eagerly. The entire hall was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. I can't wait to see Mother's reaction when she comes to know I'm friends with a hatstall! Sirius thought with glee.

Sirius had been looking at Arianna's expressions the whole time. Even though the upper half of her face was covered by the giant hat, Sirius had no problem figuring out the direction of the conversation.

The times she smirked, Sirius knew she was proud of whatever trait the hat was naming. Then there were sheepish smiles, which suggested that the hat was pointing out something she wasn't proud of, but acknowledged it nonetheless. And then there were the frowns. The frowns meant that the hat was bringing up things she'd rather forget.

"Four and a half minutes." Remus whispered and Sirius was practically jumping off the walls, he was so excited.

After a few seconds, he saw Arianna bite her lip, and he didn't need to see her entire face to know that her eyebrows were scrunched too. "The hat is asking her to choose." Sirius said in amazement. Everyone looked at him surprised. Before anyone could say anything though, the sorting hat's resounding voice shouted.

"Gryffindor!"

The fifth year Gryffindors rose and burst into applause, Frank loudest of them all.

Arianna, for the most part looked shaken as she made her way towards the Gryffindor table. She sat down next to Lily and nodded at everyone's congratulations.

"Here, have this." Frank said from across from her, handing her a goblet of pumpkin juice. She looked at the goblet for a second, dazed before accepting it with a whispered 'thank you'.

Lily patted her on the back and said, "The sorting takes a huge chunk of energy out of you. The longer you stay under it, the more energy it takes. Feeling dazed is normal. Just give it a mo." Arianna nodded.

"Vera Westwood." Professor McGonagall called out. It took the hat about two minutes before it yelled out, "Slytherin!" The Slytherin table cheered.

Arianna's shoulders sagged and Sirius fought the urge to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Get a grip! Sirius reprimanded himself.

"Miranda Windsor." Professor McGonagall called out. Sirius started. Miranda? he thought confused.

His question was soon answered as Mandy stepped up. The sorting hat was barely on her head for a second before it yelled out,

"Slytherin!"