"Dumbledore, you don't need to say that. It was all Voldemort—" The Sorting Hat tried to continue, but Dumbledore cut him off.
"Old friend, of course it was my fault," Dumbledore said gravely. "If I'd stopped Tom's problems sooner, none of this would have happened."
"But you couldn't have foreseen any of it, could you?"
Dumbledore shook his head, his voice firm. "Not the first time. But this time, I could have."
The force of Dumbledore's conviction startled even the Sorting Hat. "I haven't seen you like this in years, Dumbledore. You really have made up your mind this time. But what about Harry? Are you actually going to make him gamble with his life?"
The Sorting Hat couldn't bear the thought. After spending so much time with Harry, he had formed a deep friendship with him, along with something like a bond between teacher and student.
"No. I'll give Harry a chance," Dumbledore said, his voice heavy with emotion. "I have no right to decide his fate on a whim."
"Is that so?" the Sorting Hat said. "I thought you'd already decided it for him. After all, you're the greatest white wizard of this age."
"I'll leave the choice to Harry. I don't think anyone should decide another person's fate so lightly." Dumbledore shook his head. "I do hope Will learns that someday."
"Will did say, 'It's for the Greater Good,'" the Sorting Hat said. "Doesn't that worry you?"
"That isn't what Will truly believes," Dumbledore said, unconcerned. "The fact that he said it in front of Harry proves he isn't hiding anything from us. If he were truly like Gellert, he would never have said it where Harry could hear. That would be as good as telling you outright, and me by extension."
Dumbledore was remarkably forgiving.
The