Imagines

The Sorting Hat x Reader

Author: lookitchanged (Tumblr)

I know it sounds weird just read it.

“[Y/N].”

‘Oh no, that’s me,’ you thought as you quickly looked up and felt everyone in the hall staring at you. You stood up quickly, a bit too quickly as your foot caught on the bench as you tried to step over, causing you to stumble a bit, all the other students eyes still trained on you. 

Wasting no time to collect yourself, you quickly made your way to the front of the hall with your head down, trying to make yourself as small as possible. You hurriedly sat on the stool placed beside Dumbledore, staring at your hands as they picked invisible lint off of your robes. 

‘Great, now no ones going to want to be my friend,’ you thought right as Dumbledore placed the sorting hat onto your head. 

‘Well, that can’t be true.

You jumped slightly, looking up to see the blank faces of the other students still staring at you. You scanned their faces, looking for someone who looked like they were expecting a reply from you. 

‘It wasn’t them who spoke.’ 

Before you could voice your confusion, the voice spoke again. 

‘I can see that making friends has never been a problem for you before. Why would it start now?’

‘Oh my god,’ you thought, ‘it’s the Sorting Hat.’

‘Yes indeed it is,’ it answered on queue. ‘And you have no reason to be nervous. You are a wonderful, beautiful girl who anyone would be lucky to even be aquatinted with. It is an honor to be conversing with you right now.’

You ducked your head once more to hide the embarrassing red flames that were overtaking your entire face from the students who were still looking at her expectantly. You weren’t used to being so openly complimented, even though no one else could hear it but you. 

‘Everyones staring at me,’ you thought, not knowing how to reply. 

‘As well as they should, a beautiful young lady such as yourself should be placed on a pedestal to be admired at all times. But, as it seems, I need to place you somewhere. This is going to be quite the challenge, as you are quite extraordinary. You show great courage in the face of danger, but the cunning required to pass the course of the one named Snape is also present. Your love of books would fit you well with the Ravenclaws, but then there’s Hufflepuff. No, not Hufflepuff. I do believe you will do well in Ravenclaw.’

You held your breath, waiting for the loud cry of a house name to come from the hat, as it had done for all the other first years before you, only to be met with silence. 

‘Haven’t you decided Ravenclaw?’ you wondered. 

‘Oh yes of course,’ the hat answered after a few seconds. ‘I was just enjoying your presence a bit longer, as it will be the last time we will have together.’

‘What?’ you thought, ‘That can’t be true.’

‘Oh but it is, when I took on the job of sorting the first years into houses, I still had a body and a life to live. But I was turned into a hat, and only ever leave Dumbledors office for this one night a year.’

‘How did you get turned-‘

“Miss [Y/L/N],” Dumbledore said. 

Your head snapped back up, once again remembering everyone else in the room, and turned your head to look at the headmaster who looked at you somewhat knowingly. 

‘I regret to say that our time together has ended. Thank you,’ the hat said. 

“RAVENCLAW!” 

The table of students dressed with blue ties and hoods stood up and began cheering. Dumbledore took the hat off of your head and had called up the next name before she could protest. Somewhat reluctantly, you made your way down the steps and towards your new housemates, a smile slowly making its way into your face as you momentarily forgot about your conversation with the hat. 

————

The staircase was quiet as you made your way up to Dumbledore’s office.It was a few months into the school year, and you had been saddened to realize that after countless nights of looking around the hall during dinner, you never once found that special wizards hat that you seemed to be looking for. So you took the initiative and asked the Ravenclaw prefects how you could get into Dumbledore’s office.

They had told you the password, hamburger patty meat of all things, and you were currently at the door at the top of the staircase. Taking a deep breath, you knocked. 

“Come in,” Dumbledore’s voice came from inside. 

You opened it slightly, peeking your head in first before entering completely and shutting the door behind you. The room was amazing, with books covering every wall, and knick knacks of all sorts placed haphazardly upon everything. You made your way to where Dumbledore sat at his desk, when you noticed the object that had been crowding your minds every thought placed on a shelf behind him. 

“What can I do for you, Miss [Y/L/N]?” Dumbledore smiled at you.

Your hands immediately went to play with the ends of your hair, trying with all your might to keep eye contact with Dumbledore and not stare at the damned hat. But your eyes kept betraying you and you glanced at it. 

“Did the sorting hat used to be a person?” you blurted out before you could lose your courage. 

Dumbledore’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Who told you that?”

“The sorting hat.”

“The sorting hat did?” the shock was still apparent on his face, causing you to tug a bit more at your hair. 

“I was just wondering if there was a story behind that.”

“Well,” Dumbledore said. “I think if he’s told you this much…” He stood up slowly, not taking his eyes off you as he reached back and took the hat off the shelf. 

You couldn’t breathe as Dumbledore rounded his desk and set the hat on the carpet before you. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. After examining you a bit, Dumbledore reached down and tapped the top of the hat. Suddenly a poof of blue sparkles exploded and filled up the entire room. 

You coughed and waved your hand around, trying to clear the smoke. When you opened your eyes, they were met with a boy standing before you; the hat was gone. The boy mirrored your surprise, and you spent a good ten seconds just staring at one another. 

“I’ll leave it to you two then. Get on,” Dumbledore smiled as he motioned to the door of his office. 

The boy grinned widely, as he made his way to the door. He turned around when he realized that you weren’t beside him. You were still frozen on the same spot from earlier. You turned around to see that the boy held the door open with one hand, while the other was reaching out for you to take. He was still smiling as he encouragingly glanced down at his hand and back to you. 

You walked over and took his hand.