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“Interesting, interesting. Brave enough to be in Gryffindor, loyal enough to make Helga proud and cunning enough to be a wonderful addition for Slytherin. Where should you go?”
“Ravenclaw.”
The sorting hat stop musing for a moment, confused. The boy, man really, remains steadfast in his decision.
“I want ravenclaw.”
The sorting hate tries to let him down gently. It happened all the time. Kids wanting to fullfill their dream of being in the same house as their parents. However, it was unexpected from someone with no magical background at all.
“No no Ravenclaw won’t fit. No thirst for knowledge. Desire to prove yourself oh yes. Maybe Sly-“
The boy roughly shakes his head. “No. I’m going to ravenclaw.”
The hats stumped. It’s usually not met with much resistance. The kids who posed problems were usually too overwhelmed to argue in the moment. Clearly, that was not the case for the 16 year old demigod.
“Surely you’d do better in a house with those like yourself?”
“How can I grow if I’m with people like me?”
Never in its thousands of years had the sorting hat been stumped. Looks like the sorting hat could still experience firsts.
“It’s how it’s been done for centuries.”
“My mom says the beauty of time is change.” The sorting hat sees an image of his mom, a kind woman with blue eyes and brown hair that seems to radiate warmth. It can practically feel the unwavering adoration the boy feels for her, despite the fact that most kids his age would balk at the thought of admitting it.
“Yes but it would be unfair for those who were sorted before you.”
The boy seems stumped for a moment and the sorting hat goes back to choosing between the other three houses when -
“Then I’ll prove I’m better suited for Ravenclaw.” The boy perks up again and smiles widely.
The sorting hat barely refrains from sighing. “Firstly, it’s rare but I’m know to be smart on occasion. Exhibit a was fighting ares when I was 12 and goading him into the water so that I could win.” The kid smirks. “He still hates me for embarrassing him like that.”
Huh, he had a point.
“Secondly, I’m dying to know how they charmed the ceiling of the hall. I need to know how to charm mine. It would be so cool. ” He trails off for a moment, forlorn. “It would be nice to see Zoe again.”
The sorting hat was harshly reminded of how hard it was to be a demigod. Over the centuries it had forgotten, considering their lack of interaction. And even when there were demigods, they were kids of minor gods who went their whole lives without knowing about their parents.
The kid soldiers on. “Next, when we had to go to the underworld for our first quest I said that we all drowned in a bathtub.”
The sorting hat halts, sure it’s misheard. “You said the cause of death was three people drowning in a bathtub?”
The boy doesn’t even seem ashamed.“Yes. Was it realistic? No. But was it creative? Yes. If that wasn’t creative I don’t know what is.”
“Next, I literally memorised all of ravenclaw traits in preparation for this. That has to mean something.”
The sorting hat sighs. It can feel itself being worn down. This was officially the longest sorting in the history of hogwarts and the kid didn’t seem to be backing down anytime soon.
The kid had ravenclaw traits sure, but his traits were much better suited to literally any other house. The sorting hat didn’t understand why the kid was trying so hard to get into Ravenclaw.
“Before I sort you, I just have one question. Why Ravenclaw?”
The boy smirks. “It’s blue.”
Merlin. Perseus Jackson was single handedly going to destroy hogwarts oldest artifact.
With that the sorting hat finally yells out after a record breaking 30 minutes. “RAVENCLAW”
Percy Jackson smiles triumphantly.
Well at least one of them was happy.