Verity Ashworth's Sorting Ceremony

Verity was quite proud of the hat stating that she was different from Kody, though she couldn't quite put a finger on why. Maybe it was because of that person who had wondered aloud if they were twins, maybe it was typical irritation with her family.

She thought the hat was supposed to take less time than this. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It made sense to Verity, because she was pretty sure she had no idea which house she would want to end up in. The Sorting Hat was probably just as confused.

At the mention of her father, Verity's breath caught, and thoughts of sorting left her mind. "My father...Can you tell me anything more about him?"

It wasn't common that she got the chance for information on him, and Verity would take the chance where it was given. She could give the information to Ezra, tell him more about the dad they both should've gotten the chance to remember. She was already composing the letter in her head when the hat spoke again.

Ravenclaw? That's where Jaxen was, she knew that much. They wore blue. Would she be in Ravenclaw, and the hat was just explaining it to her? She did appreciate it.

But then the hat mentioned Hufflepuff. With Jaxen in Ravenclaw, Reena in Slytherin and Kody in Gryffindor Verity thought it made a little sense for her to consider the house as an opportunity to make her own friends and relationships.

The hat asked for her own input, and Verity found herself wavering, uncertain, between the two choices offered to her. "I don't know." she admitted.

"I mean, I think I'm loyal. I guess I would like to make friends, but I don't want to pick the wrong house and be stuck there the whole time I'm at Hogwarts." Verity appreciated the choice, but it was larger than any she'd been given up to that point. This had the possibility to affect the people she met, the friends she made, her entire Hogwarts experience.

It was a lot to put on an eleven year old.

Verity frowned. Yet another...person? Object? Whatever the Hat was, it, too, did not want to tell her anything about her father. She supposed asking after her mother would be a bit of a moot point, though she did think about it, just in case the Hat decided that it would make up an epic song about Verity's branch of the Ashworths.

She thought she would quite like that, actually, though with the whispers surrounding her she was beginning to feel a bit embarrassed. Was this how she was making her first impression? She wished Jaxen and Reena had told her more about the sorting process. Were they staring at her now? Was Kody?

This would definitely being going in the letter to Ezra.

The change in the Hat's tone made Verity a little more defensive. Why did it suddenly sound so superior? What did it know that she didn't? Was everyone laughing at her? Irritation was the first thing that came to mind.

The question was welcome. Verity could answer questions, more than she could figure out the Hat's musings. She wondered briefly if it was because it was so old that it liked to talk. Or maybe it just liked to befriend all the students before being stuffed into a box or wherever the Hat went when the Sorting Ceremony was over for the year.

"Honesty, I think." Verity said, "I know that the truth can be uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know it!"

She was uncomfortable and knowing nothing a lot of the time. At least if she had someone being honest with her about her life, she would have that, and maybe that was its own form of comfort.

"But..." Verity thought back to the blurry memories of childhood, when tears trailed down her cheeks and it seemed like no one could comfort her. "I don't want to lose everyone, either. Especially not Ezra!"

Verity sounded defensive, but it wasn't like the Hat was asking her to abandon her baby brother, was it? She was pretty sure it didn't even know him. Or maybe it did, having peeked into her cousins' minds.