An Unexpected Twist at the Sorting Ceremony

"Hufflepuff!"

The hat rested on the little girl named Hannah's head for only a moment before quickly announcing the result.

At once, the Little Wizards at the far-right table among the four long tables stood up and applauded, cheering to welcome Hannah into Hufflepuff.

"Susan Bones! Hufflepuff!"

"Terry Boot! Ravenclaw!"

"Hermione Granger!"

After the Sorting Hat had assigned seven or eight Little Wizards, some quickly and some slowly, Hermione's name was finally called.

"Good luck!"

Encouraged by Jerry's shout, Hermione jogged all the way to the stage.

"Gryffindor!"

The Sorting Hat hesitated for a moment, but as if it had sensed something, it ultimately called out Gryffindor.

Hermione happily ran toward the Gryffindor table at the far left, filled with applause and laughter.

"Jerry Carmen!"

No sooner had Hermione's sorting ended than Jerry's name sprang from Professor McGonagall's mouth.

After straightening his Wizard Robe, he walked calmly toward the stage, picked up the Sorting Hat, and placed it on his head.

"I want to be sorted into—"

Jerry had just planned to tell the Sorting Hat, like Harry did in the movies, that he wanted to go to Gryffindor. Yet the instant the hat touched his hair, it directly announced the result:

"Slytherin!"

"Slytherin? What the fuck!"

The moment he heard the Sorting Hat's result, it felt as though ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through Jerry's mind. All the plans he had made seemed to shatter completely with that single word.

He stiffly removed the Sorting Hat. Seeing the regret on Professor McGonagall's face beside him, Jerry helplessly headed toward the Slytherin table, second from the right.

At the Gryffindor table, Hermione's face also showed disappointment when she saw that Jerry had been sorted into Slytherin.

She had desperately wanted both herself and Jerry to be sorted into Gryffindor. Yet fate had played its trick, and this rare friend she got along with so well had been assigned to Slytherin by the Sorting Hat.

Still, she forced down her disappointment and waved at Jerry across the hall.

Because she knew that Jerry had wanted to go to Gryffindor too. Now that he had been sorted into Slytherin instead, he had to be upset.

Just look at how stiff his expression had been a moment ago.

"How could Jerry be sorted into Slytherin? There isn't a single bad Wizard who didn't come from Slytherin!"

Still waiting in line to be sorted, Ron looked at Jerry being assigned to Slytherin and spoke to Harry beside him in disbelief.

"Jerry isn't a bad person. Don't forget, he helped us teach that guy Malfoy a lesson on the train!"

Although Ron's words had given Harry a poor impression of Slytherin, that did not stop him from being deeply grateful for Jerry's chivalrous intervention on the train.

So even though Jerry had been sorted into Slytherin, Harry still believed that he could not possibly be a bad person.

"Oh, I know. I don't think Jerry's bad. I just think the Sorting Hat might have put him in the wrong house. Jerry should have gone to Gryffindor!"

Ron shrugged.

Just then, Little Malfoy on the stage was also sorted into Slytherin by the Sorting Hat.

Seeing that, Harry could not help nodding. Slytherin was where people like Malfoy belonged.

"Why Slytherin? This makes no sense!"

Sitting at the Slytherin table, Jerry no longer had any interest in watching the Sorting Ceremony. Frowning, he began to ponder why the Sorting Hat had instantly decided he belonged in Slytherin.

As he carefully recalled all the things people said about Slytherin, he gradually came to a realization.

The most basic requirement for entering Slytherin was being pure-blood or half-blood. In other words, either both parents had to be Wizards, or at least one of them did.

Little Wizards whose parents were both Muggles, such as Hermione, could never be sorted into Slytherin, no matter how outstanding they were.

Then there was Jerry. Who were his parents in this world?

They simply did not exist. His body had been brought over from the Marvel Main World by the Peculiar Panel, and the Wizard Bloodline within him had also been exchanged with Little Red Stars.

So Jerry guessed that the Wizard Bloodline he had exchanged for with Little Red Stars might be the purest and most ancient Wizard Bloodline.

After all, the Peculiar Panel had brought him from the Marvel world to the Harry Potter World. There was no reason for the Wizard Bloodline it gave him to be some mixed variety.

It was not that half-bloods were inferior. He simply felt that a pure-blood Wizard Bloodline should have a higher growth ceiling than a half-blood one. For example, it might grant more magic power than others of the same age.

After all, the most powerful figures, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, both seemed to be pure-bloods.

Of course, true strength depended mainly on one's understanding and application of magic. Those slight advantages in magical power were not much.

Voldemort, Snape, and Professor McGonagall were all half-bloods, yet they were still immensely powerful. Voldemort in particular was second only to Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

Actually, someone like Hermione also counted as a half-blood, except the concentration was probably not as high.

Jerry believed that among Wizards born to Muggle families, one side of their parents' ancestry must have produced a Wizard at some point. It was just that the Wizard Bloodline in their descendants had not awakened.

Then, judging by personality, Slytherin Wizards were seen by outsiders as arrogant, highly ambitious, scheming, and fond of fighting for power and profit.

Jerry did not feel that any of those traits suited him.

But after thinking it over carefully, he felt that interpreting Slytherin that way was far too one-sided.

Perhaps an evaluation of Slytherin that he had happened to see online once suited his situation better.

That evaluation mentioned that the person who truly represented Slytherin was actually Professor Slughorn, who appeared in the sixth year.

He pursued fame and profit and liked taking famous people as students, but he would not actively harm others. He created the Slug Club, yet it was also a mutually beneficial arrangement with outstanding students, a win-win situation.

He supported the Blood Purity Theory, but he was not a blind follower. He still greatly admired Hermione, who was Muggle-born yet exceptionally talented, and Lily, Harry's mother.

He was very clever and knew how to assess the situation, ensuring that his interests would not be harmed. Yet he also had his own bottom line. During the final battle, as a Slytherin, he firmly stood with Hogwarts.

So perhaps Slytherins were self-interested people with principles—selfish people who would not actively harm others.

Seen that way, it seemed to match, at least somewhat, the person he had become after living a second life.

A pure-blood lineage, combined with his truest nature and his current highly goal-oriented actions... Were those the reasons the Sorting Hat had judged him to be a Slytherin?