Surely Harry Potter should not have been last, whether they went by alphabetical order or anything else?
And yet, the fact was that Harry was practically the grand finale of the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts!
Never mind. That was not really a bad thing.
At least, among all the professors teaching first years, none were bad people except the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, who was possessed by Voldemort.
Let me stand out, then. With this scar on my forehead and that epic title, I was never going to keep a low profile anyway.
As Professor McGonagall read out the name "Harry Potter,"
the entire Great Hall at Hogwarts instantly fell silent.
Yes, utterly silent. You could have heard a pin drop. However you described it, the point was that it was extremely quiet.
All the young witches and wizards were curious.
Which house would the Boy Who Lived, the fellow who had ended the era of You-Know-Who, enter?
They kept craning their necks to watch the Sorting in the middle of the Great Hall.
Other people's Sortings were nothing worth watching. Harry's was a must-see!
Over on the Gryffindor side, because of Ron,
all four Weasley siblings held their breath, concentrating on Harry's current situation.
Especially Ron-the anticipation in his eyes was practically spilling out!
The Slytherin side was no exception.
Most of the other young Slytherins had nothing more than curiosity in their eyes.
Draco Malfoy, who had been sitting with her legs crossed, rose straight from her house table when she heard the name "Harry Potter"!
The worry, anticipation, and gloom in her eyes could practically have formed a complete pie chart!
In short, Potter had to come to Slytherin. That was an order!
Of course, if he really could not come to Slytherin, he absolutely could not go to Gryffindor, no matter what. Even Hufflepuff was fine, but definitely not Gryffindor!
Seeing the nervous look all over Miss Malfoy's face,
Prefect Ailifen, who had first offered Malfoy a hand, seemed to think of something, and a trace of darkness flashed across his face.
However, he said nothing and continued watching Harry's Sorting as normally as ever.
It was not just all the young witches and wizards at Hogwarts and the professors seated at the staff table who were curious about where Harry would go next.
Even Harry himself was curious.
Because Harry genuinely felt that, after his arrival, he no longer held any prejudice toward the four houses.
From the outside, a change in his internal "prejudices" would not really have made much difference to Harry.
But to the Sorting Hat, this change was now as enormous as a change could possibly be!
In the original story, one of the biggest reasons Harry had entered Gryffindor was actually his own inner voice.
After all, the Sorting Hat had already made it very clear that Harry was best suited to Slytherin.
However, in the original story, Harry's feud with Malfoy had made him hate Slytherin.
In the end, after his repeated pleas, the Sorting Hat had naturally followed Harry's wishes.
It had placed Harry straight into Gryffindor, beginning his school life at Hogwarts.
So, here came the question.
The current Harry no longer held that prejudice of "not Slytherin."
In fact, because Malfoy was so entertaining, Harry actually rather wanted to go to Slytherin...
Wake up every morning and start by bullying little Draco in the classroom, leaving her all puffed up with anger but unable to do a thing about me.
Ah, life could not get any better than that!
In that case, would the Sorting Hat still put him in Gryffindor because of "not Slytherin"?
Harry did not know.
But after he put on the Sorting Hat...
"Courage. You possess the courage to forge ahead without hesitation. That reminds me of your father, child. James Potter..."
"Yet you are also very ambitious. Slytherin is where you belong best, am I right?"
Harry did not react. He simply listened quietly without answering.
Any of the four houses would be the best arrangement fate could offer. There was no need for me to insist on anything.
I had only one request.
Just do not decide I was unsuitable for every house and expel me on the spot...
"...No, courage and ambition are secondary. You seem to have quite a vision for the future, and wisdom..."
"You have actually learned this many principles of magic? So you are quite the 'learned' young wizard, then?"
"During the summer holidays, even though you could not use a wand to cast spells, you still seized every moment to study your school textbooks patiently and carefully..."
The more the Sorting Hat spoke, the more astonished it became, and the more astonished it became, the more it wanted to say.
Goodness, among all the many wizards it had seen, this young wizard ranked quite high in complexity!
Were there not a few too many elements in his mind?
In some respects, Harry also possessed quite a few Hufflepuff qualities. At the very least, Harry was kind at heart.
Harry was still loyal in friendship and love, though whether he would be loyal to just one was rather hard to say.
He lacked neither courage nor ambition...
Spurred on by courage and ambition, Harry now possessed an extremely strong drive to improve and a powerful motivation.
That drive and motivation had, in turn, directly brought about Harry's current shift toward being "learned"...
Interesting. This child really was very interesting...
Harry did not care either way. It could say whatever it liked; he simply gave no reaction.
In the end, the Sorting Hat muttered away for more than ten minutes straight.
Just as even Professor McGonagall began to wonder whether something was wrong with the Sorting Hat,
the Sorting Hat finally left Harry's head and loudly announced the final result!
"...In that case, off you go to..."
Who knew what was wrong with the Sorting Hat? It actually stopped at this critical point!
Even Dumbledore was a little displeased.
The old man's bright blue eyes gazed at the Sorting Hat from behind his half-moon glasses.
The other professors and students also expressed considerable anger at the Sorting Hat's suspenseful pause.
Malfoy had even begun thinking about telling her father!
"Ravenclaw!"
The Sorting Hat paused for more than ten seconds.
In the end, it still opened a slit and announced the final result.
"What?!" several voices exclaimed.
Yes, almost all the familiar witches and wizards present wore expressions of disbelief.
Before you continue