"Hufflepuff!"
But before Harry could tell where the voice had come from, the Sorting Hat had already decided Hannah's house.
The next student to be sorted was a girl named Susan Bones. This time, Harry listened carefully, and sure enough, he heard that judgmental voice again.
"Very talented, but not confident enough..." "Hufflepuff!"
The third student to be sorted was a boy named Terry Boot.
"Clever, with a bit of quick wit..." "Ravenclaw!"
After listening to three students in a row, Harry finally figured it out: he was hearing the Sorting Hat muttering to itself!
It seemed that whenever the hat sorted a student, it would assess them while making snide comments. Students with clear-cut traits got sorted quickly, while others took longer... and, of course, the hat had more to say about them, too.
Harry also realized that none of the first-years present—not even the professors, perhaps—could hear the Sorting Hat's muttering. They could only hear its final decision.
So... had his ears mutated after that trip to Diagon Alley?
The matter of Harry hearing his wand's call was still unresolved, and now there was the hat's running commentary, too. He had no idea whether these changes were good or bad.
The Sorting Ceremony continued. When the next name was called, Professor McGonagall's voice sounded noticeably excited.
"Next is... Harry Potter?"
There was no response.
"Harry... oh, right. Harry Granger."
Harry's position was obvious, and when Professor McGonagall saw his noncommittal expression, she immediately realized she had misspoken in her excitement.
That's more like it~
Harry's stern expression relaxed again. Ignoring the whispers about his surname echoing around the hall, he strolled toward the Sorting Hat.
"Hmm... Your name is Harry Granger, right? To be honest, I'm having a really hard time deciding where to put you~"
The Sorting Hat kept wriggling on Harry's head. It was so conflicted that it seemed ready to curl up into a ball, yet it still couldn't reach a suitable conclusion.
"You certainly aren't lacking in courage, and your heart is... decent enough. As for talent... oh, impossible! Your talent is simply... I can't believe it! And then there's the last thing... never mind, your ambition doesn't come close to matching your talent~"
This was a real headache~
In the Sorting Hat's view, Harry had both the courage Godric prized and the loyalty Helga admired, yet he was also an extraordinary talent whom Rowena and Salazar would fight tooth and nail to claim. It had no idea how to choose!
"Harry, ever since Godric and the others created me, I've never met a child like you..." After agonizing for a while, the Sorting Hat asked as if seeking his opinion, "Where do you think you belong?"
"Huh?" Harry was stunned by the hat's question.
Did that mean he could choose for himself?
That Lousy Hat Was a Bit Too Burnable
"Let me think... Sorting Hat, if there were a proud, brilliant, genius girl, where would you put her?"
After thinking for a while, Harry seemed to come up with a plan. Instead of making a direct choice, he asked the Sorting Hat a few other questions.
Harry hadn't expected the Sorting Hat to let him make the choice himself, but since he'd been given that advantage, he was certainly going to make good use of it.
It didn't really matter to him which house he ended up in. What mattered was which house Hermione would end up in.
If he wasn't in the same house as her, how could he drag her into getting expelled with him... no, how could he protect her properly?
In the original story, Hermione had been sorted into Gryffindor, but the plot had already been affected by his presence, so things might not unfold the same way. It was safer to check with the Sorting Hat in advance.
"Ravenclaw, of course!" the Sorting Hat answered without hesitation. "What Rowena likes best is a clever girl like the one you described."
"Then I'll go to Ravenclaw!"
"Splendid! Harry Granger is a new Ravenclaw!!"
Harry made his decision without a second thought, and the Sorting Hat promptly sorted him into Eagle House!
"Oh, right. The girl after me is that brilliant girl I just told you about. Just put her in Ravenclaw, too."
As he was about to leave, Harry worried that things might not go according to plan, so he pointed at Hermione and reminded the Sorting Hat.
Professor McGonagall's list of first-years was clearly arranged alphabetically by surname. Since Harry had registered as Harry Granger, Hermione was sure to be sorted right after him.
Giving the Sorting Hat a heads-up would keep Hermione from getting sorted into the wrong house.
"No problem~" the Sorting Hat agreed readily.
In its view, the girl Harry had mentioned definitely met Rowena Ravenclaw's standards for a student~
"Hermione Granger!" Sure enough, Harry had barely left when Professor McGonagall called Hermione's name.
She was probably going to Ravenclaw, no doubt about it...
"This is... a bit tricky~"
What the heck?
Harry had barely settled in amid the Ravenclaw students' cheers when he heard the Sorting Hat muttering in surprise.
What was going on? Was that lousy hat going back on its word?
"Like he said, you are certainly very talented, but if I consider your personality..." The Sorting Hat agonized over it for a long time, then seemed to finally make up its mind. "I still think your house should be Gryff..."
"Hold it right there!!"
The Sorting Hat's verdict on Hermione was drowned out by Harry's furious roar. In the next instant, Harry himself had dashed back to the middle of the Great Hall!
"You're going back on your word?!" Harry grabbed the Sorting Hat off Hermione's head and glared at it. "What did you just promise me? Weren't you supposed to put Hermione in Ravenclaw?!"
"She certainly meets Rowena's standards, but I think the courage in her heart is even stronger~" the Sorting Hat replied matter-of-factly, showing no guilt whatsoever about changing its mind at the last minute.
As if! It had presided over the Sorting Ceremony for centuries. It was an authority among authorities!
It couldn't possibly be wrong... and even if it really was wrong, then it had to be right!
In short, the Sorting Hat had no intention of changing its decision to put Hermione in Gryffindor!
"Mr. Granger, return to your place!"
"Harry, will you stop messing around?"
Professor McGonagall's reprimand came from nearby. Hermione looked equally at a loss. Harry's sudden disruption of the Sorting Ceremony had clearly caught them off guard.
But when Harry saw Professor McGonagall's shifting expression, his thoughts raced, and he suddenly came up with a way to bring himself and Hermione one step closer to being expelled.
"Hat... going back on your word comes with a price!!"
Harry discreetly brushed his hand over his ring, quickly pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and poured the whole thing over the Sorting Hat!
Then, with a flick of his wrist, he produced a lighter as if by magic and set the Sorting Hat on fire in front of the entire Hogwarts student body and faculty!
"Fire! Oh, damn it! Put it out! Hurry up and put it out!!"
A few scattered flames caught the alcohol and shot up in an instant. The Sorting Hat, suddenly engulfed in fire, frantically cried for help.
It might not have truly been afraid of a little fire, but it was certainly panicking.
After all, it had presided over the Sorting Ceremony for so many years. This was probably the first time a student had set it on fire~
"Aguamenti!"
Professor McGonagall immediately conjured a torrent of water with a spell, trying to extinguish the flames on the Sorting Hat. Several older Ravenclaw students scrambled to help the other professors restrain Harry, and the whole scene descended into chaos!
Harry had succeeded not because the Hogwarts professors had let their guard down, but because it had all happened so suddenly that they hadn't seen it coming.
These wizards had lived in the magical world for years, so whenever they ran into trouble, their first thought was to solve it with magic. If Harry had used a spell to start a fire, Professor McGonagall or someone else would have stopped him in time.
But who could have expected Harry to carry alcohol and a lighter around with him?
For Harry, who had trained in medicine, keeping supplies on hand for disinfecting and cauterizing was basic common sense.
Especially since he had doubts about the medical standards in the Wizarding World, his stock of supplies in the Space Ring was naturally even more extensive~
The fire on the Sorting Hat was out, and Harry had been successfully restrained, but the Great Hall still erupted in noisy discussion.
Several students who were always getting into trouble were practically starry-eyed as they looked at Harry, as if he were a new king about to be crowned!
"Oh my goodness... Harry, why on earth would he do something like that?!" Hermione, who had been left out of the commotion, was so frantic that she jumped up and down on the spot.
"Mr. Granger, you..."
"Hat, I'll give you one chance to take that back. Which house are you putting Hermione in?" Harry, held by several students, ignored Professor McGonagall's question and threatened the Sorting Hat in a sinister voice. "I'll tell you now: I can burn you today, and tomorrow or the day after that I can use scissors, strong acid, or even magic. I'll try every way I can to ruin you!"
"Here in front of the whole school, I solemnly promise you this: if you insist on putting Hermione in another house, Hogwarts won't have a usable Sorting Hat for much longer!!"
"Fine... Ravenclaw! Hermione Granger will go to Ravenclaw. Is that good enough for you?!"
After Harry threatened it, the Sorting Hat had clearly lost its nerve. It finally changed its verdict with a scream.
It had just gotten a rough sense of Harry's personality, so it knew perfectly well that he wasn't joking!
So... pride was precious, but life was worth more~
Dumbledore's Punishment Was 'Very Serious'
The Great Hall at Hogwarts was filled with the din of voices. Everyone was talking about what Harry had just done, while their eyes all turned toward Hermione.
The legendary Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter... no, he was Harry Granger now. He'd caused such a huge scene and even set the Sorting Hat on fire in front of the whole school, all just to change Hermione's Sorting result?
Even if they were adopted siblings, that was an awfully big price to pay!
At that moment, many people in the hall—especially the students who thought of themselves as experts—were giving Harry and Hermione a very particular look.
He was willing to risk his future and brazenly defy the Sorting Hat's authority just to be in the same house as the girl he spent every day with... tsk, tsk~
Ah, the beauty of youth!
"Harry, you really didn't have to make such a scene..."
Standing in the middle of the Great Hall, Hermione was both angry and anxious. But when she saw how nonchalant Harry still looked, she couldn't bring herself to scold him.
Her thoughts were actually much like those of the onlookers, just without all their fanciful interpretations.
Hermione knew that Harry had done this because he cared about her.
After what had happened earlier, Harry was worried that people at Hogwarts might bully her, so he was always particularly sharp with people like Malfoy.
Now he'd even forced the Sorting Hat to compromise by setting it on fire, just so they could be in the same house and he could look out for her whenever he wanted!
But... had this guy not thought about what would happen to him?
With things this bad, how was he going to get out of it?
And, for that matter... what would everyone at school think of her after today?
"Miss Granger, your Sorting is complete. Please take a seat at the Ravenclaw table."
With something this serious going on, Dumbledore couldn't keep sitting back and watching. He rose slowly and was the first to speak, dismissing the flustered Hermione.
"Yes..." Hermione headed toward the Eagle House table, looking back every few steps. She was very worried about what would happen next, and even more worried about what punishment Harry would face!
At the Ravenclaw table, only a smattering of applause rose to welcome Hermione.
The students in Eagle House were mostly clever, so many of them were already calculating how many points Harry's actions had just cost their house!
Dumbledore watched Hermione's back until she was seated, then turned his gaze away and walked slowly toward Harry, his long beard trailing behind him.
"Harry... Granger, how did you set the Sorting Hat on fire?"
"Rubbing alcohol and a lighter. I had them with me~" Harry nonchalantly took the tools he'd just used out of his robe pocket, while slipping his ring back into his pocket.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Dumbledore fixed Harry with an unfathomably deep gaze and asked.
"Didn't you just hear my reason, Headmaster?" Harry glared resentfully at the Sorting Hat, which was now soaked through. "That hat went back on its word, then refused to admit it! I was furious, so of course I set it on fire~"
"So... being furious gives you the right to do whatever you want?" Dumbledore's expression darkened at Harry's answer.
"Say whatever you like. I've already done it." Harry casually folded his hands behind his head. "You can decide on whatever punishment you want. I don't care~"
Harry acted like it was no big deal, but he couldn't quite hide the veiled resentment in his eyes.
Oh, so this was "doing whatever you want"?
If setting fire to a hat counted as that, then did it count when Dawlish casually put William and Harry under hypnosis?
Before you continue