Harry Potter: Another Chance

Chapter 17: Sorting

Disclaimer: 
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
 
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
 
Chapter 17: Sorting

"A hat?...have I been worried for nothing?" Ron looked around, confused.

"Did you seriously believe that you had to fight a troll?" Dean stared at Ron in disbelief.

The voice of Professor McGonagall resounded in the hall.
"As soon as I call your name, I want you to come over here and sit on this stool, I would then place the sorting hat on your head. This is a magical artifact created by founders, and it will decide which one of the four houses is best suited for you."

The first years stared at the hat with concern. That strange thing was going to decide their house?.

"Hannah Abbott!"

A very nervous blonde girl with pigtails walked to the platform where the professor was.

McGonagall placed the hat on her head and waited. This one started to move its mouth and mumbled some inaudible things like it was seriously considering the matter at hand. After a few more seconds of this, the hat seemed to have made its mind and spoke loudly:
"Hufflepuff!"

Most of the students in the hall cheered for her and gave her a round of applause as she walked toward her table to join her new housemates.

Draco chuckled and said something about 'the worst house'.

"Susan Bones" Was the next one to be called.

The redhead girl walked quickly to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on her head and this one quickly announced.
"Hufflepuff!" Once more.

Susan smiled with joy and hurried to join her friend Hannah at their table.

Then, a boy named Terry Boot was placed in Ravenclaw, followed by some others.

"Hermione Granger" Called the professor.

After a long period, the hat decided to choose Griffindor for her.

"Neville Longbottom" 

The murmurs in the great hall increased in volume after the name was called. It got loud enough that Albus Dumbledore himself had to stand up and order silence.

Neville sat down and fidgeted nervously on the stool while the professor put the hat on his head.

Everyone was watching him with rapt attention, wondering which house would be the one chosen for Britain's youngest hero.

Harry's attention was instead centered at the teacher's table. He recognized everyone sitting there except for one person.
Next to Professor Flitwick, was a middle-aged man with long black hair.

'I don't think I have ever seen that man before, but it seems like he is going to be the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Unless they have given that position to Snape in this world.'

His eyes moved to Severus Snape. He looked just the same as he remembers. Same greasy long hair, the same dark robes, and the same uninterested scowl on his face.

'Is he still working as a spy for Voldemort or did he defect completely?, considering that the Dark Lord never actually died.'

He wondered for a moment what Voldemort could have been doing during the last ten years he'd been missing. What kind of preparations has he completed during this time? 
The Voldemort of his world was already an extremely dangerous individual and this one had more time to prepare…the mere thought worries him.

He clenched his fist and pushed those negative thoughts out of the way. There was no point in worrying about the unknown, he will need to carefully collect more information when he gets the chance.

His focus returned to the professor's table. Most of them were watching Neville with a similar expression, something between happiness and curiosity.

Snape was not paying attention and just looked annoyed by the fact that he was forced to be there.

Dumbledore was staring at Neville with great intensity like trying to discern something explicit in the boy. 

Lastly, the new professor was also staring at Neville with interest but his face failed to show any particular emotion. He had a perfect poker face.

By Harry's experience, this was normally a sign of someone with great proficiency in occlumency.
'Maybe we will have a competent teacher for once…well, other than Remus I guess.'

Not that he was expecting to learn much during his second attendance at Hogwarts.
Especially when it came to Defense against the Dark Arts. If anything, he was the one who had much to teach in that respect, after all, he had spent many years fighting dark wizards and all sorts of monstrous creatures.

People started to murmur and whistle to each other again. It has been almost ten minutes since Neville put the hat on but this one has yet to make a decision and people were getting anxious.

"What's wrong?"
"Why is it taking so long?"
"Is he too good for any of the houses?"
People started to say.

Harry saw that Neville looked very distressed and ready to cry. He was also muttering something to the hat. Harry could make the word "Gryffindor" spoken over and over.
'He probably wants to be there because it was his father's house.' 

He recalls some stories that Neville told him about how his grandmother would always be pushing him to be more like his father while growing up. 
'Augusta may have put even more pressure on him this time around. Given that his father died and he became the boy who lived…'
Harry looked at Neville with pity and decided that he would help his old friend whenever he had the chance.

The hat would always take into account the wishes of the student in the end, so it wasn't a surprise when it finally reached a decision.
"Gryffindor!"

Neville sighed in relief as most of the hall erupted in cheers. The loudest ones coming from the Gryffindor table, of course.

The energy of the room went down quite a bit after Neville's sorting was over. This was the event that most were looking for and now all that was left was finishing the rest so they could start the feast.

"Draco Malfoy" Of course went to Slythering to no one's surprise.

A few others were sorted before it was finally his turn.
"Harry Potter"

He received a polite amount of cheers as his name was called and he walked to the podium. People were barely paying attention to the sorting at this point.

This was a new sensation for him, being just one of the bunch, instead of the center of attention. 
'This is actually nice.' He thought.

Harry sat down while McGonagall held the hat over his head. Before this one even made contact with his hair, the hat was already speaking.
"Griffindor" It shouted loudly.

"Well, that was fast." He could hear the professor exclaim.

He was already expecting a quick decision. During his past war, he spent quite a few years using this castle as headquarters for the resistance army. Harry explored every nook and cranny of the castle and studied many of the magical artifacts left behind, including the sorting hat.

And so, he has a great understanding of how the hat works. The artifact created by the founders was unable to read the minds of the students, what it read instead was the aura of the person.

The personal imprint left behind by your own experiences reflects your individual values as a person.
Based on this, the hat made the decision on which house is closer to the student's values.
When it came to Harry, other than Godric Griffindor himself, there may be no one else who came closer to represent the values that house, so the hat did not need any time to make a decision.
Harry had become the very embodiment of the house of Gryffindor. Bravery and chivalry, no matter the cost.

A.N - I know many people are going to complain about the decision to put him in Griffindor again. But at the end of the day, there were only two realistic choices. 
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were out because none of the important characters for the story are in those houses, at least for now. 
Slytherin could have been interesting, as it would allow Harry to get close to his enemy's children and gather information that way, but there are other ways to do that. 
I like Griffindor because I like the idea of Harry being this 'embodiment' or ideal of that house, whether he likes it or not, so the sorting hat would immediately feel this and put him in that house without giving him any choice on the matter. In the same way, Draco could be considered a model student for Slytherin. -