"The hat is smoking!"
Hearing Harry's exclamation, the teachers and students in the Great Hall all turned their eyes toward the Sorting Hat.
Sure enough, wisps of white smoke were drifting from the grayish-brown hat.
"Oh, rlin's beard, has the Sorting Hat finally broken?!"
"This isn't fair! Why won't future first-years have to wear this old, filthy hat!"
"…"
The older students were all gloating, occasionally letting out cries of "unfair."
"Who is that first-year? He actually made the Sorting Hat crash!"
"Oh, he looks like a very handso young man. I wonder which House he'll be sorted into?"
anwhile, the first-years who hadn't been sorted yet were dumbfounded. If the hat really was broken, how would they be sorted into Houses?
Suddenly, a short, chubby little wizard with a flat-top haircut turned pale and muttered tremblingly,
"Malfoy, if we can't be sorted into a House, we won't be expelled, will we?"
Standing beside him, a lean boy with light blond hair glanced at him with cold grey eyes, his tone mocking.
"Crabbe, how could you ask such a stupid question? Have you forgotten who my father is?"
Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius, was the current head of the Malfoy family and also one of the Hogwarts school governors.
A school governor's child couldn't attend this school? Impossible.
Malfoy looked at Lucien, who was standing on the stage, his eyes full of interest.
He had originally thought that only Harry Potter, the legendary boy, was worth his attention this year and qualified to be Draco Malfoy's friend. But he hadn't expected soone else so remarkable to appear now.
Lucien Grafton… hmm, he should try to get to know him.
But Grafton?
Was there such a pure-blood family?
Professor McGonagall had taught at Hogwarts for decades, and this was her first ti seeing the Sorting Hat behave so strangely.
She turned to Dumbledore, intending to ask how to handle the situation.
But Dumbledore rely stroked his beard, smiling as he looked at Lucien.
He had lived for over a century, spent most of his life at this school, and had taught countless students.
Yet he had never encountered a young wizard who could make the Sorting Hat take more than ten minutes without reaching a result.
And judging by the Sorting Hat's state, it was on the verge of overheating. Truly hard work for this old relic.
From Professor McGonagall's earlier report, Dumbledore already had so idea of Lucien's magical talent and was quite interested in eting this "genius."
But before they had even spoken or formally t, Dumbledore had already witnessed Lucien's uniqueness.
The Sorting Hat had once belonged to Godric Gryffindor, imbued with the thoughts and wisdom of the four founders. It was an ancient and intelligent magical artifact.
It could directly peer into a young wizard's talents and qualities, draw out the most prominent and purest parts, identify the traits suited for each House, and decide their placent accordingly.
Yet the ti Lucien was taking—and the difficulty of the process—surprised and delighted Dumbledore.
It indicated the depth of Lucien's qualities and the extraordinary strength of his talents. His traits were so abundant and powerful that the Sorting Hat struggled to make a decision.
Only those with distinct characteristics and exceptional gifts could rise higher and go further.
Dumbledore wondered if, once this was over, he should ask the Sorting Hat what talents and qualities in this boy nad Lucien had left it so conflicted.
Catching Professor McGonagall's questioning glance, Dumbledore simply shook his head, signaling that there was no need to worry.
And at the center of all these gazes stood Lucien...
He was currently in his ntal world, comforting the Sorting Hat.
"Hat, don't agonize over it. It really isn't your lack of ability. Maybe you're just not in good form today?"
A sowhat ethereal Sorting Hat floated unsteadily in Lucien's ntal world.
"No!"
"I will never sort a young wizard into the wrong House!"
"Never!"
Lucien was a bit speechless. He really wanted to argue—had the Sorting Hat truly never made a mistake?
For example, Peter Pettigrew: a traitor, a coward, a filthy rat—yet he'd been sorted into Gryffindor.
However, Lucien restrained himself. He didn't dare provoke the Sorting Hat further, afraid he might completely fry its thinking.
"Although you are Muggle-born, your talent is truly unique in my entire hat-life, and you have ambition, an ambition to wield power."
"Slytherin!"
"Um.. No, that's not right. Your ambition is more accurately a thirst for knowledge, a pursuit of knowledge. In the wizarding world, knowledge is power."
"Ravenclaw!"
"Ah.. No, no, no, you completely lack the courage to explore the unknown, that steadfast, fearless quality."
"Gryffindor!"
Lucien had stopped agreeing with or responding to the Sorting Hat's rambling, because…
"Ugh.. There's still a problem. Your tireless studying, your remarkable patience and effort."
"Hufflepuff!?"
That's right—the Sorting Hat once again contradicted what it had said only a mont earlier.
Lucien suspected that if the Sorting Hat could split into several clones, they would probably tear each other apart.
This won't do. It feels like too much ti has passed already. Today's reading isn't finished, and there are still a few spells left to practice.
He couldn't waste any more ti with this hat.
"Ahem, Ravenclaw it is."
After listening to the Sorting Hat ramble on and drawing on his own mories of the original story, Lucien had a clear grasp of the four Houses' traits.
Gryffindor was the lion of courage—but also a gathering place for reckless hotheads. Who knew how much unnecessary trouble he'd run into there?
Slytherin was the cold viper. Although full of cunning egoists, it was also crawling with pure-blood brats constantly prattling about bloodline theory. Lucien was sure he could always use his wand to prove that in the face of true strength, bloodline was nothing more than a useless decoration.
But like with Gryffindor, Lucien wanted to avoid unnecessary annoyance as much as possible.
He needed ti—ti to study and dive into magic, especially Transfiguration. He had to master it all within a year.
That left only two suitable choices.
Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were both relatively low-key, leaving the stage to the lions and snakes.
Hufflepuff had the largest number of students. They were gentle, unassuming badgers, and most were kind-hearted, which would likely provide a stable daily environnt.
But Lucien still leaned toward Ravenclaw.
These sharp and wise eagles had already built a very competitive nest.
Lucien loved competition—competing with others, but even more so with himself.
The pioneers ahead, the companions beside him, and the pursuers behind him together ford a delightful competitive landscape for him.
The Sorting Hat fell silent.
After more than ten seconds, it quietly conceded.
"What you said makes sense!"
Then, in reality, its mouth split open, and it made its loudest declaration yet:
"Ravenclaw!!!"
_____
Hear out:
Almost 90% of fanfics send their MCs to either Gryffindor or Slytherin—and honestly, that pattern's getting a bit tired.
If he were sorted into Gryffindor, he'd likely get lumped in with the Golden Trio, and the story would quickly beco predictable. The plot becos a retread: familiar characters, familiar arcs, and a "tag-along" dynamic that leaves little room for sothing fresh.
As for Slytherin, it sounds tempting at first—ambition, cunning, the "rising from within" angle. But let's be real: he'd spend half his ti dealing with bratty pure-blood elitists and trying to constantly prove himself. And in most fics, Dumbledore becos paranoid the mont an OP MC goes to Slytherin, adding unnecessary drama and surveillance.
Ravenclaw, though? That's the smart play. It opens the door to underexplored dynamics, especially with characters we rarely see fleshed out— Padma, Cho, Terry, Michael, Su, Luna etc. It's a house that values knowledge and independent thought, which fits perfectly with Lucien's goal: learning magic efficiently to pay off his debt.
Any other House would honestly be a bad decision from Lucien's point of view. Ravenclaw gives him a position where he can be friendly with any other house and a high-focus environnt he needs this year!
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