Orla Fallwater's Sorting

Orla felt shivers all over as the hat began to speak. Each word was weighted with wisdom and she felt herself tucking her shoulders to her ears as though the tatty hat weighed a ton. The expectant faces in the hall were blurred by the hat rim hanging over her vision and Orla felt suddenly very alone.

She had to press her lips together and bite back a retort when the hat called her stubborn - "never have I met such a selfish, stubborn Fallwater!" The words of her nasty Aunt Cara had left their mark - but too much was happening to linger for long. There was a long moment (or month, or year) of silence before Orla realised the hat was expecting a reply.

"Oh, er..." She began, reverence for the fabled hat making her voice quiver. She swallowed and tried again, a little stronger now as she considered the options. "My family is all mixed houses, so I never thought to have a preference...but Gryffindor..."

Here she paused and looked at the blurs of red and gold in the crowd. She felt a little smothered by the weight of their expectant gaze, and it reminded her of home in the worst way.

"They all work together for their house...and my ma says I'm not good at thinking about others. Don't they get tired? My aunties always think of the family, but they look so stressed all the time!"

Most of her aunts didn't even seem to like each other that much, but Orla didn't say that out loud. She didn't think she was the kind of person that could be brave or resourceful for anyone else but herself...but she'd never made friends her age before. Would that change things?

She cast her gaze to the cooler tones of green and silver. 

"Hat, is it bad to feel selfish sometimes? I like me... Do Slytherin's always think of themselves first?"

Orla quailed under the hat when it said that it knew her thoughts, but she felt that her secret ambitions were kept safe. She chewed her bottom lip in thought, her mind racing.

Many of her Aunties had come from Slytherin, but it wasn't really something they talked about. Orla had seen old photos, dusty uniforms and even some Quidditch memorabilia sporting the silver and green; she thought she would suit those colours after all.

"I think...I think I would like Slytherin," she said, the thrill of making a choice for herself making her feel light-headed. She smiled, and spoke again. 


"Thank you for letting me choose, lovely hat!"