Harry Potter Next Generation: Family Legacy

Chapter Forty: The Sorting Hat Again (Rose)

"Can you four children control yourselves enough for me to leave you in this office alone?" demanded Professor McGonagall. I winced a little under her gaze, and nodded.

"I will if she does," said Hazel. I looked up to see her staring at me with daggers in her eyes.

"Miss Malfoy..." started McGonagall.

"I'll be fine." Hazel thrust out the words like they were daggers as well. The two boys said nothing. Scorpius was glaring at me like his sister, and Albus was glaring at his best friend.

Glares all around.

Professor McGonagall sniffed and quickly left the room. I knew what she was going to do. Telling Mum and Dad that I had been suspended from Hogwarts for the rest of the year. And telling Hazel's parents too.

It's not my fault! Scorpius saw me crying— what else was I supposed to do? I knew the answer, of course. My conscience knew, although I had been trying to silence it for months.

When he saw you crying, it said quietly, what did he do? He didn't laugh, like his sister. He reached out a hand to help you up. He asked if you were okay. You, Rose Nymphadora Weasley, are the one to blame for this mess.

And how do I get out of it?

Apologize, my conscience said. And before the real me could respond in my thoughts, it said quickly, it's not a sign of weakness, Rose. And isn't doing the right thing better than being strong and intimidating all the time?

No, I thought. Being intimidating is the only thing worth doing.

Apologize!

Again something interrupted me from responding. Not my conscience, but a low, raspy voice that had been haunting me for the last year, the one that had told me I should be in Slytherin...

"A Potter, a Weasley, and two Malfoys," the Sorting Hat said. I twisted around in my chair to see the patched hat on a shelf being me. The rip that served as it mouth was moving, and I felt behind me the other children stare at it as well. "I never thought I'd see all four of you in the same room without attacking one another."

I blushed, and hated it. Blush is a traitor riding underneath your skin.

"That's why we're here," Scorpius said from behind me. "One of us did a Body-Bind on me although I was doing nothing but being nice."

The Sorting Hat's rip widened into some kind of a smile. "It was you, Miss Rose, wasn't it?"

I blushed and opened my mouth. "I-I..."

"When I sat atop your head I could tell that something like this would happen," the Hat said. "I could see that you were too headstrong, too confident for your own good." There was a silence, and I felt beads of sweat emerge on my back. "Put me on your head, Miss Weasley."

I sat still. "What are you going to do? Re-sort me into Slytherin or something awful like that?" There was a ruffle of fabric as Hazel Malfoy stood up furiously. She stalked to the Hat, grabbed it around the middle, and thrust it on my head.

"Hey!" I said, but the other girl just stood next to me, hands on her hips.

"Ah, that's better," the hat said. "Talking aloud is so tiring."

I gripped the sides of my chair and stopping looking angrily at Malfoy.

"Now Rose. You think that kindness is... a waste of time? A weakness?"

"Yes," I snarled under my breath. "It is!"

"Quite the contrary, Rose. Showing kindness and mercy is a strength. You want to be Minister? Well, people can connect to someone who isn't continually shoving people out. If you push people away, they'll never come back. You'll be alone, Rose, forever."

"Should I have been in Slytherin then," I whispered," since that's where all of the mean people are?"

"The Slytherins are not bullies, they are not mean, Rose. In fact, the Slytherins can be the kindest of anyone. The Hufflepuffs could be the meanest. Gryffindors can be the weakest, and Ravenclaws the dumbest."

"You don't have to fit the mold of the houses, you know. The founders knew that there would never be one child who fitted into their house exactly. You are the one who makes your own decision, Rose. Not the title of you house, or your grades, or even your family's legacy."

I closed my eyes. Did the Sorting Hat know that one of the reasons I wanted to be Minister was because I wanted to be better than Mum and Dad? The people, however much I tried to deny it— had achieved so much?

You make your own choices... Kindness is a strength, not a weakness.

Gosh... Who knew that hats could be so smart?