The September Challenge - week 4 RESULTS!!!!!

[Equinox Chick]

Ah, yes, it's the end of the journey for our hapless pupils. And what awaits them at Hogwarts? Why the Sorting of course.

Your chosen character is about to be Sorted.

Easy, huh?


Well, no, because I'm chucking in a twist.

You must Sort a character whose house is known in canon, but into a different house. Yes, I've gone AU! This challenge must involve the reasons the character is Sorted elsewhere, and what matters is that it can be backed up canonically. So, for instance, you could easily Sort Hermione into Ravenclaw because we know the Hat thought about sending her there. It's the same with Harry and Slytherin.

Are we cool?

Oh, and another catch. Because we already know that the Hat debated over Harry and Hermione, you're not allowed to write them.

EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that we know the Hat debated over some others as well (McGonagall, Neville and Seamus to name but three). Therefore, I am tweaking the catch. You may write Hermione because we don't know the actual conversation, and you may also write Harry ... BUT - he can't end up in Gryffindor or Slytherin.


Use this form for your entries

[B]Name:[/B]
[B]House:[/B]
[B]Title:[/B]
[B]Rating:[/B]
[B]Warnings:[/B]
[B]Word Count:[/B]
[B]A/N:[/B] 

The rules for the September Challenge are detailed in week 1. You may read them here.

I will close this thread next Saturday 29th September at 7PM BST.


Have Fun!


Madame Carmerta.

[Nagini Riddle]

Name: A slithering snake with the surname Riddle
House: Luna's realistic lion hat, though it wasn't chewing a snake (thank goodness!)
Title: Friend or Slytherin?
Ratings: 1-2 yrs
Warnings: debate and doubt; alternate universe
Word count: 490... It was originally 653!!!
Note: Okay, don't throw cabbage at me. I just feel like canon events made this a possibility- especially if we reread some of Snape's memories. Dumbledore said that Snape wasn't a coward, and also that he felt they Sorted too soon...


He could feel the anticipation rising, but he felt calm. He couldn't wait to be Sorted into Slytherin with Lily and finally get to learn magic.

He glanced over at the Slytherin table, and saw their somewhat unpleasant faces. He would fit in perfectly.

A name caught his attention and he turned to see red hair swinging as his best friend rushed forward eagerly. The hat plopped over her, and he could see her winning smile.

His heart plummeted when he heard, "Gryffindor!"

She bounced down to the Gryffindor table, excited, but as she sat down, she sought him out and gave him a sad smile.

As he looked back at the Sorting Hat, he gulped, nerves suddenly crashing inside him. He had been looking forward to Slytherin with Lily... His best friend was now in enemy territory. What would happen if the hat sent him somewhere other than Slytherin?

He shut his eyes, a headache emerging from his conflicting thoughts. He wanted Lily. But he also wanted Slytherin! He asked himself which was better- being among people like him, or being among rash Gryffindors just to be with his best friend? He definitely wanted to be brainy, not brawny. Yet he felt some misgivings. He wasn't a coward. But loyal? He snorted. Stupid Gryffindor loyalty. They were worse than the Hufflepuffs.

The Slytherin table was looking less and less inviting- there wasn't a smiling Lily to brighten it, and he had to admit that Lily brightened everything. That's why he loved her so much.

He remembered their various conversations over the summer, and how scared she had been. He had felt an urge to protect her, and now was no different. He had tried to cheer her up on the train, hadn't he? She would need a friend to help her out, just like she had helped him out.

He hesitated when his name was called. He didn't know what he wanted. He had been yearning to be in Slytherin for years; he had been yearning to be with Lily for about the same time, it felt like. All those times watching her greedily from the bushes...

He somehow found himself on the stool and felt the hat come over his eyes. He tensed at the touch.

A tiny voice filled his mind. "Hmm... What a strange turmoil! A thirst to prove yourself, and talent! Yes! But a strong desire to be with your friend... I can see you are no coward..."

The hat kept muttering, and he felt frozen to the stool. What was it going to decide? Ravenclaw? Hufflepuff? Slytherin? Or Gryffindor?

"Well, I have made my decision. GRYFFINDOR!"

Snape groaned, but he could make out an enthusiastic clapper- it was Lily and she was standing tall and smiling so big. He only had eyes for her, and he let himself smile. If he could always stare at her, he felt that maybe Gryffindor wouldn't be so bad.

[Equinox Chick]

I have edited week 4s challenge.

Nagini, if you wish to write a different drabble, then you may.

Carole

[AidaLuthien]

Name: AidaLuthien
House: The Mighty Badgers!
Title: Brewing Fame
Rating: 1st-2nd
Warnings: none
Word Count: 385
A/N: I don't even know. This drabble fought me so hard. Also, I didn't mean to write another Snape drabble... but there it is.

“Snape, Severus!”

He walked to the front of the diminishing group of first years. Almost everyone had already gone. She had gone to Gryffindor. The rest of the school was just waiting for the Feast now.

He climbed up on the stool, feeling so very exposed and very small. Everyone was staring at him: waiting for him to be Sorted, to join the House that would become his new family. His robes didn’t quite fit, and the ends were frayed. They were an old set of his mother’s.

Unbidden, his eyes found Lily, sitting at the Gryffindor table, with a quiet, somewhat overweight boy. She gave him a reassuring smile.

He tried to return it, but then the Sorting Hat dropped onto his head, covering his eyes.

“I want to be in Slytherin,” he said immediately. Slytherin was the only house for the Princes, and for him.

“Don’t be so hasty,” the Hat chided. “Gryffindor might be a good choice for you.”

He scoffed. The house of the brash idiots who always leaped into fires without looking? No, he would never be a Gryffindor.

“What’s wrong with Gryffindor?” the Hat asked. “Your best friend is a Gryffindor.”

Lily didn’t belong in Slytherin. He hoped Gryffindor House would be good for her, that she made friends in her House. But it wouldn’t be for him. Even the thought of sharing a House with Lily wasn’t enough to make him a Gryffindor.

“I don’t belong there. I’m a Slytherin. I want to bottle fame, brew glory, stopper death!” He had read all of his mother’s magic books, and he couldn’t wait to start Potions.

“You have the drive to learn, the thirst to know - could you be a Ravenclaw, perhaps?”

Ravenclaw. The house of the intelligent. Where his brilliance would be appreciated for its own sake, and not just for what it could provide, where it could lead.

“Yes, I think that is the best choice for you, young Severus Snape. A place that your brilliant mind will be appreciated best - RAVENCLAW!”

Severus pulled the Hat from his head.

He took a quick glance to the Slytherin table, that was already ignoring him, and then turned to his cheering Housemates.

Ravenclaw. His lips slowly quirked up in a smile, as he ran for his House.

[the opaleye]

Name: Theo Paleye
House: Slytherin
Title: Unbroken
Rating: 1st - 2nd years
Warnings: Mild profanity
Word Count: 498
A/N:

She sits outside the tent and watches the snow falling around her. In her mind, she can hear her mother telling her to put on another jumper. She doesn’t want a chest infection, does she? Or a chill in her kidneys?

It’s all so awfully hopeless.

All Hermione can think about is not the cold, or the snow, or the prospect of another silent, aching night in the tent. All she can think about is Ron, and the sound of that pop he left in his wake. All she can think about is Harry and his parents’ grave and the broken pieces of wand that can’t be fixed.

He needs that wand if they ever hope to end this bloody war, and she is the one who broke it.

They also need Ron but he’s broken and gone and never-coming-back, too.

Hermione closes her eyes and for the briefest moment she wonders what it would be like if she had grabbed Ron’s arm as he spun on the spot.

It sickens her.

She bends over, hanging her head between her knees.

Could she have left?

The stool is a bit uneven as she sits down, trying to keep her back straight, her chin up, her eyes wide open until the brim of the hat settles upon her head.

“Ah,” says a voice, that sounds a bit ancient, and her mind begins to whir, wondering how old it is. “Interesting. Very interesting.”

It makes a change from all the girls calling her boring. Or bossy.

“What a conundrum. There is fire in your heart, girl, I can feel that. If you hold your head much higher, I might tip off. And if you grip that stool much tighter, you could end up with a splinter.”

She softens her grip.

“And now you’re trying to match the date of the castle to my own age. Yes, yes, interesting. What a conundrum.”

She doesn’t try to soften her thoughts.

“But there is something else, too. Oh yes, you could do well in Gryffindor with that fire, and you would be an exceptional student in Ravenclaw… no doubt about that. But there is something… something stronger than anything else. Do you have many friends?”

Hermione feels her fists tighten once more around the stool’s edge.

“No,” she replies, firmly. “Why do you ask that?”

There is almost a chuckle and she feels a flare of anger.

“I think,” begins the Hat, “when you find those friends you so desire, you will understand why I am putting you into HUFFLEPUFF!”


The snow continues to fall around her as her thoughts drift to a troll in the bathroom, to the strange and awkward bloom of friendship between the two Lions and the perfectly misplaced Badger with fire in her heart.

And even when things cannot be unbroken, even though there is a lost boy in the forest with numbered breaths, Hermione Granger knows why she is here.

She knows why she could never leave.

[Equinox Chick]

RESULTS!

Oh, why do you do this to me, drabblers? Why do my last three barflies insist on making my life so hard as I flail to make a decision and close this competition.


As there were only three of you this week, I can only award one place.

And that is


AidaLuthien - Hufflepuff - Brewing Fame - 15 points
Aida's drabble placing Severus Snape in Ravenclaw made perfect sense. Despite Dumbledore suggesting he'd have been an excellent Gryffindor, (and I am not doubting his bravery) I have to take issue with the Supreme Mugwump, because Snape was never foolhardy and reckless. Ravenclaw would have suited him perfectly. And maybe he could have stayed friendly with Lily ... but then we wouldn't have had the books.


Points for EVERYONE detailed below.


Gryffindor - 60
Nagini Riddle 35
Karaley Dargen 25

Hufflepuff - 80
minnabird = 10
AidaLuthien = 55
Acaciacarter = 15

Ravenclaw - 20
Theloonyhermione - 15
noblefate - 5

Slytherin -45
Hokey - 10
Silverlinings -5
the opaleye - 30

Participants received five points per week and an extra five if they completed all four weeks.

Minna 5+5 =10
Nagini Riddle 10 +25 =35
Hokey 5+5 =10
Silverlinings 5 =5
Theloonyhermione 5+5+5 =15
Noblefate 5 =5
Aidaluthien 15 +15 +25 =55
Acaciacarter -10 +5 =15
Karaley Dargen 15 +10 =25
The Opaleye -5 +25 =30


Thank you all for entering.


Carole