The sorting hat began to sing it's annual song, talking about Slytherins having true friends, Ravenclaws being clever, Hufflepuffs being loyal and Gryffindors being brave. The usual. Albus just stood rigidly, wondering which house he wanted to go, when the sorting hat yelled, "Abbott, Emily!" A girl with freckles and pigtails rushed forwards. The instant the hat was placed on her head, it yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The sea of yellow and blacks cheered as Emily joined their house table.
Next was, 'Adams, Sabrina,' who was a girl of average height. She had dirty blonde hair and stumbled forwards slightly to the hat. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled about three seconds later. Sabrina instantly joined the mass of silver and greens. After Sabrina was 'Ashton, Riley', who also joined Slytherin. Then 'Barnes, Mark' made Ravenclaw and 'Brown, Lucas' made the first Gryffindor. After that was 'Chase, Annabeth', and that was when things started to turn weird. A tall and slim girl with blonde hair had the sorting hat on her head, when the sorting hat suddenly yelped. "Raven... GRYFFINDOR! And take me off now!" hollered the sorting hat. Professor Longbottom took the sorting hat off the girl and she ran towards the Gryffindors whose massed appeared too stunned to cheer. A glimpse at her face showed Albus that her eyes were swimming with tears. He was shocked himself, to be honest. When ever did the hat change decisions in the middle of saying another house name? Then, Albus suddenly realised something. She was one of the exchange students. The second odd case was 'd'Angelo, Nico'. The sorting hat also yelled GRYFFINDOR instantly and yelled to be taken off right now! Professor Longbottom looked bemused as he did so, but the dark haired and good- looking Italian boy looked murderous.
And then the next weird things occurred to a couple. 'Grace, Jason' had the hat yelling, "Impossible! GRYFFINDOR! That was scary!" and 'Grace, Thalia', the girl with a silver circlet, had the hat hollering, "Huffle... GRYFFINDOR! Definitely! I do not need any more creepy experiences, thank you very much!" Albus stared shell-shocked as the two of them ran to the red-and-gold adorned table. Both of them and the dark Italian boy were exchange students too, he recalled. The two 'Graces' had to be siblings then, but that seemed impossible to believe. True, both were tall and good-looking, and both had electric-blue eyes, but apart from those, they bore no similarity. Jason was broad and had blonde hair, whilst Thalia was slim and had black hair. Queer.
Then the next weird occurance came up when Professor Longbottom called another exchange student. A black-haired guy with sea-green eyes called Percy Jackson ran up. The hat instantly yelled, "Huf... GRYFFINDOR! And take me off! Those dreadful memories are killing me!" Professor Longbottom began to look uneasy as the boy fought back what seemed like tears and joined the Gryffindor table, hugging the beautiful blonde girl Annabeth, before sitting down. Then it was it was time for 'La Rue, Clarisse', another exchange student, to be sorted. When the hat was placed onto her, the hat yelled at the top of his lungs, "GRYFFINDOR! No doubt at all! Now I've seen enough scary memories, so take me off now!" Professor Longbottom was beginning to look thoughtful, and then it was 'Letus, Aldora!" Albus watched as the tall and lithe girl took the stage and sat on the stool. The sorting hat was placed on her head. Silence reigned at first, before the hat snapped, "Stop employing Occlumency against me! How am I to know where to sort you if you just show me a blank black wall instead of your memories?" Aldora flushed slightly. Then, the hat slowly stiffened. "Not enough. Just showing me one memory is not enough. Let me in," the hat grumbled. Aldora shook her head. "Yes, let me see your deepest wishes, your greatest desires," the hat growled. All of a sudden, the sorting hat screamed. "Why show me a scary memory like that one? Show me some other less scary memory!" the sorting hat insisted. Aldora hesitated, before she seemed to come to decision. The hat seem to freak out. "Fine, that's enough. I'm beginning to think you have no good memories at all. Which house do you want?" the hat asked. Aldora black eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. "Very well. SLYTHERIN!" the hat exclaimed. Professor Longbottom stared slightly suspiciously at Aldora as she leapt off the stool and joined the Slytherins. Then, 'Malfoy, Scorpius' got Slytherin as he had predicted. The last and final exchange student, 'McLean, Piper', made the sorting hat cry to get off after being sorted into Gryffindor. Soon, before he knew it, Professor Longbottom was calling 'Potter, Albus'.
Albus walked shakily up, still thinking about which house to get into. His two new friends had both made Slytherin and he was beginning to think that perhaps Slytherin was indeed a good idea. After all, all Albus had wanted was to fit in somewhere and Scorpius, Aldora and even the sorting hat had affirmed that Slytherin was the best place to make true friends. But then, he would be the first Potter to ever make Slytherin... "Ahh... Young Albus Potter. So much potential... And I see you are already acquainted with the most stubborn female of them all..," Albus thought, "Are you talking to me alone, sorting hat?" The sorting hat laughed. "Of course I am. Now let's see your mind, Albus," the sorting hat said. "Wait! Why did you speak aloud for all of us to hear with Aldora, then, sorting hat?" Albus asked. "I had to... She would never have showed me her memories otherwise," stated the hat. "Then why did you start yelling with the exchange students and say that her memories were awful? What is Occlumency?" asked Albus eagerly.
"The exchange students had scary memories that are too much even for a grown man in my opinion. Aldora's memories were not exactly pleasant, and she gave a particularly scary one to spite me, though I have the distinct feeling that she actually has worse. And occlumency is to block anything or anyone from seeing your thoughts. Usually only accomplished wizards or witches can do them... Both of your namesakes Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape could do occlumency. Your father, however, was horrible at it. And on to your sorting... Clever enough to make Ravenclaw, not loyal enough for Hufflepuff, brave enough for Gryffindor, and cunning enough for Slytherin. This is an interesting mix. Where to put you? Where do you want to go, Albus Severus Potter?" the sorting hat whispered quietly in Albus's mind. He mentally shrugged. "Well, if you have no clue where you want to be placed, then I suppose I should heed a request from two of your fellow students and sort you into... SLYTHERIN!" the sorting hat announced the last part to the whole school. He suddenly felt unsure. Should he be Slytherin or Gryffindor? But it was far too late to riscind his initial choice. With a heavy heart, he joined the Slytherin table.
Rose Weasley got sorted to Gryffindor soonafter and Cara White was sorted in Hufflepuff before the sorting was finally over, and the Feast began. To his surprise, Albus was only a little impressed by the way the food had magically appeared on the table. He still felt horrid at not making it into Gryffindor, seeing as his uncle had even said that he would disown his daughter if she got into Slytherin... did that mean that his uncle would hate him forever?
"Hey Albus. Are you still upset about your not being sorted in Gryffindor?" asked Aldora, who was staring closely at him. Her hands were energetically fiddling with her handsome wand. She was not touching the food either. "But Potters never get Slytherin! And I - I'm ashamed of wanting to get Slytherin when my whole family has always been in Gryffindor," confided Albus in Aldora quietly. Aldora shook her head. "Look, Albus. Has your father ever talked to you about his godfather Black?" Aldora queried. "Sirius Black? Yeah, loads of times," Albus replied. "What you should know, Albus, is that he was the only Black to have made Gryffindor. So you making Slytherin is like Black making Gryffindor. Also, your own namesake Severus Snape, a Slytherin, was a hero in the last war too. If your father named you Severus, then he probably doesn't mind you making Slytherin. So why are you upset? Look at Scorpius!" Aldora said. Albus turned to look at Scorpius to see him munching on his food like a pig. His jaw dropped and he snorted. Scorpius turned to glare at Albus momentarily before returning to his plate filled with all sorts of food. Albus was about to start eating too when thunder rumbled, coming from the Gryffindor table. He turned, and caught sight of Aldora doing the same from the corner of his emerald-green eyes. The exchange students were holding their food halfway to their mouths, looking guilty. They shot one another coveted glances and then dropped their spoons on their food laden dishes. The seven of them glanced up at the sky rather nervously. At last, the handsome black-haired and sea-green eyed guy stood and strode over to Professor Longbottom at the teacher's dining table. He said something to Professor Longbottom, who nodded and stood, before conjuring a fireplace near the exit. The exchange students looked grateful. They thanked Professor Longbottom and took their food to the fireplace, dropping some of their food there before returning to their seats and eating without any thunerous rumblings. Albus took that as his cue to return to eating his food too.
