Hatstall

The girl with two golden braids ran forward, her face bright red as she put on the Sorting Hat, then tugged it down again until the brim covered her eyes.

Wizet seemed to understand a little why the Sorting Hat was covered in patches.

Most likely, it was not to show a weighty sense of history, but because the hat really had been yanked apart before.

A short while later, the Sorting Hat split open again. "Hufflepuff!"

Cheers came from the long table on the right, and the applause was especially enthusiastic.

The ghost who had spoken to them earlier popped up out of the long table and waved both hands in the air in congratulations.

Hannah Abbott pulled off the hat and let out a long breath.

As if she had relaxed too much, she looked a little dazed and stumbled toward the applauding long table.

"It's actually that simple!" Ron was furious and secretly glanced behind him. "George is making faces at me. He did it on purpose!"

"Susan Bones!"

"Hufflepuff!"

The children were much more relaxed now. Quite a few were eager to try, hoping they would be the next person to put on the Sorting Hat.

However, the order of the Sorting was decided by the first letter of their surnames, so they were doomed to do nothing but wait anxiously.

The time the Sorting Hat took to call out a house varied. Some people had only just put on the hat when the Sorting Hat shrieked out their house;

Others had to endure a long silence after putting on the Sorting Hat before the final result was announced.

Just like Hermione, who sat on the three-legged stool for more than four full minutes before the Sorting Hat reluctantly called out her house: "Gryffindor!"

"Oh..." Ron groaned.

Neville likewise sat on the three-legged stool for a long time before the Sorting Hat called out in a firm tone, "Gryffindor!"

"Wizet Lovegood!"

Wizet walked forward unhurriedly and placed the Sorting Hat over his head.

With the help of the Guardian Meditation Method, he could sense many gazes focused on him.

Two girls sat at the long table on the left. Cho Chang and Penelope both cast concerned looks his way.

There was also a gaze of attention beside him. Professor McGonagall leaned forward slightly, seeming rather expectant about the Sorting result.

Behind him, there were two more kinds of attention.

One gaze carried a familiar kindness and likely came from Dumbledore.

The other gaze, however, was full of malice, like a robber coveting treasure.

That gaze only lasted a few seconds before vanishing without a trace.

It even made Wizet think the malicious gaze had merely been an illusion.

"Does it need this long?"

He was somewhat puzzled. More than four minutes had already passed, yet the Sorting Hat still had not called out a house.

"This Great Hall is wonderful. Of course I know that." A faint voice appeared, as omnipresent as surround sound.

"Although you're a new student, so many people are watching you. How very interesting..."

The voice suddenly carried a hint of helplessness. "But I have to say, you should think about your own matters. You're too special. I don't know where I should put you..."

"You're the Sorting Hat?" Wizet raised an eyebrow, his lips moving lightly.

"Oh! Yes!" The Sorting Hat's voice grew a little more spirited. "I don't know where you want to go. I can only follow your thoughts and feelings, and sense all the different gazes in this Great Hall."

Wizet's heart stirred, and he immediately understood. It was because of the Guardian Meditation Method.

He was a little curious about the Sorting Hat's principles. "Mr. Sorting Hat, may I ask how you sort people?"

"A very polite child," the Sorting Hat said cheerfully. "Have you heard of Legilimency? If you haven't, I may find it a little difficult to explain. After all, I'm only a hat."

Wizet recalled the plot of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which had mentioned Legilimency. "Mr. Sorting Hat, Legilimency is... you can know what I'm thinking?"

"Quite close!" A touch of surprise came through in the Sorting Hat's tone. "If you want to know more, you can go to the library and have a look. Hogwarts possesses the most ancient magical knowledge!"

"But now... I still need to fulfill my duty. Since you're so special, why not decide for yourself which house you want to go to?"

Wizet said without hesitation, "Let me go to Ravenclaw."

"You like knowledge, yes?" Happiness showed in the Sorting Hat's tone. "Powerful wizards always especially love to explore, to swim through the ocean of knowledge..."

"The library welcomes you, child! Then..." The Sorting Hat finally split open and shouted the house's name. "Ravenclaw!"

Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged a glance, then shook their heads lightly, looking somewhat helpless.

The Ravenclaw long table burst into warm applause, and this round of applause was louder than the applause that had greeted the other new students.

Wizet found an opening and sat down. Faced with such enthusiastic applause, although his expression did not change, the tips of his ears turned a little red.

Cho Chang showed a brilliant smile. "Congratulations on becoming a Hatstall."

Wizet asked, "Hatstall? Is that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Of course! It's an old term," Cho Chang explained. "Only students whose Sorting takes more than five minutes are referred to with that term."

"You know how quickly the Sorting Hat sorts. If you want to make the Sorting Hat hesitate over which house a student belongs in, the student has to possess a variety of virtues and traits."

Wizet nodded. He felt that becoming a Hatstall had, in a way, been a bit of a trick.

Back then, he had been maintaining the Guardian Meditation Method, which had made things difficult for the Sorting Hat, and in the end it had let him choose his house himself.

Beside him, Penelope said, "As far as I know, there have only been two Hatstalls this century. Unfortunately, both of them went to Gryffindor."

"Perhaps one needs extremely distinctive qualities to become a Hatstall. Take Professor McGonagall up on the stage—she was once a Hatstall too, a Gryffindor."

"Professor McGonagall is the deputy headmistress, and she is also highly skilled in Transfiguration. You'll understand once you have her class. The other Hatstall was Peter Pettigrew. Unfortunately, he was a Gryffindor too."

"When You-Know-Who fell, he faced You-Know-Who's follower Sirius Black head-on, and in the end paid with his life. To commemorate him, the Ministry of Magic posthumously awarded him an Order of Merlin, First Class."

Gryffindor suddenly erupted into noise, shouting, "We've got Potter!"

"And we have Wizet!" Cho Chang said teasingly. "Hatstalls are just as rare. You're a Hatstall who belongs to Ravenclaw."

Thinking of the House Cup Professor McGonagall had mentioned, Wizet could not help sighing. "Looks like the competition for the House Cup is pretty fierce..."

"Yes." Penelope nodded in agreement. "It's the highest honor in the school. It represents recognition for the house."

The Sorting Ceremony finally ended, and Ron ultimately became a member of Gryffindor as well.

After Professor McGonagall took away the four-legged stool and the Sorting Hat, Dumbledore walked to the front of the stage and stood before an owl statue.

The owl statue immediately spread its wings and transformed into a small lectern.

"The new school year begins tonight. Welcome back to Hogwarts, everyone! Before the feast begins, I intend to say a few brief words..."

The statue seemed to be a kind of loudspeaker, amplifying Dumbledore's voice several times over so that everyone could hear him perfectly clearly.

Wizet looked at the bare plates and suddenly thought of the headmasters he had encountered in his previous life.

Those headmasters would say they were going to make a few brief remarks, only to launch into long speeches for at least an hour before finally putting down the microphone.

"And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! You may all enjoy the feast! Thank you, everyone!"

"Huh?" Before Wizet could react, a rich aroma had already surged into his nose.

Amid a burst of enthusiastic applause, all kinds of food appeared on the plates.

There was everything one could want, whether roast beef, pork chops, lamb chops, potatoes, roast chicken, sausages, or chips.

The mountain-like piles of delicious food gave off steaming heat, instantly stirring his appetite.

As Penelope scooped out a spoonful of mashed potatoes, she did not forget to add, "Dumbledore is exactly this kind of special headmaster. If only he were a Ravenclaw."