Thomas Sanders and the Neverending Cycle of Problems

The Sorting Hat

The four boys all got off of the train and followed the man off of the platform. The children around them were talking loudly about the year ahead. Patton and Roman continued to talk while walking beside Virgil and Logan.

They loaded into a boat, but Virgil stayed on the docks. "What are you waiting for, Virge?" Patton asked.

"The water..." Virgil looked down at the dark liquid surrounding the boat. The reflection of the moon was the only thing that made the water distinguishable from the boat and the ground.

Roman sighed, "Virgil is afraid of water. Along with everything else in the world."

Logan looked over at him. "Virgil, I can assure you that there is nothing wrong with the water. The boat is fairly buoyant and I doubt that your added weight would cause it to capsize."

The boy's eyes widened at me. "The boat could tip over...?"

Roman sighed even louder before climbing out the boat. "Nice going, Wikipedia. I guess I'll handle this," he declared and picked up Virgil. The smaller boy yelped and held onto Roman as they climbed into the boat and pushed away from the dock.

They followed the boats in the distance towards the large castle in the distance. Once there, they piled into the corridor in front of a pair of large doors. A woman with a green hat stood in front of the doors. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "In a moment, you will enter these doors, and be sorted into your houses. The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. These houses determine who you will be with for the seven years you will be at Hogwarts. Now, if you'd follow me."

The woman led the large crowd of children through the two doors and through the large crowd surrounding four tables. She led everyone to the front where a small brown hat sat on a stool. The woman began to call out names as the talking hat responded with a few words, and then a house name.

Patton saw Virgil looking down, not acknowledging the crowd around him. He would've tried to comfort him, but the woman called his name.

Patton pushed through the crowd and sat on the stool and the hat was set on his head. "Hm..." the hat muttered before saying, "Oh god, you're a little puffball. Hufflepuff!" The crowd at one of the tables began to cheer as Patton ran over there.

Logan was next. The hat went on his head and said, "You have an eye for knowledge... and a hidden love of puns." A few people snickered as Logan's eyes widened. "Ravenclaw!" Logan quickly ran to his table and Roman was called up.

"You're brave," the hat said. "But you're abnormally flamboyant. Oh well, Gryffindor!" Roman smiled and replaced his little crown as he went to his table.

Finally, the woman called up Virgil. The small boy went up to the stool and the hat was placed on his head. "Interesting..." the hat said. "You're definitely not reckless... not impartial... not a strong leader... or a problem-solver. Where could you go?"

Voices erupted around the great hall and Virgil looked down with tears in his eyes. "Please... just pick one..." the boy begged quietly.

"Very well," the hat responded. "If you don't care... then it'll have to be Ravenclaw!" Virgil ran to his table, and the woman grabbed the hat off his head before he stole it. He heaved a sigh of relief as he sat next to Logan and the headmaster stood up to make his opening statement.

Author's Note Oh wow this was a long chapter. I usually don't write stuff this long, so I'm really proud of myself oh my gosh. Alright, now my creativity needs to take a break. Stay awesome!
-V