Scott Jamison wrote:

     Duncan scurried to the chair, and plopped it on his head.

     "You're a surprise," said a voice in his head.  It was the hat's
voice, but it seemed to be speaking to him alone now.  "It's rather
messy inside your mind, did you know that?  You need to take charge
of your own destiny, so for you, it's--"

     "Slytherin!" it shouted out loud.

Oh yeah.  Slytherin would approve of THAT choice. 
I...don't...think...so.  Frankly Duncan strikes me as a Hufflepuff, a 
guy who struggles along doing the best he can.  But maybe the Hat is 
overstocked with suitable candidates for the other three houses and 
Duncan, being the kind of boy who is picked last for everything, ends in 
the house which is now the last choice for everyone.

     Duncan took a look back at the students waiting to be sorted. 
Several were staring at him with looks of surprise or pity.  Martin
looked like someone had punched him in the stomach.

     Professor Snape said, "Vert et argent, serpentus rampant." 
Strangely, his voice was almost soft now.

     Argent was silver, and only one set of banners had a snake on
it.  So Slytherin was the half-empty table.  As Duncan headed their
way, most of them stood and applauded.  His heart sank, as this was
most assuredly not a good sign.

What, that the table is half empty or that not all of them even stood up 
for him?

     A large blond boy with a prefect's badge like Thomas gestured to
an empty place near him.  "Hello, Duncan.  I'm Gunnar Malison,
welcome to Slytherin House."  His handshake was perhaps a little too
firm, and Duncan winced.  "Sorry, don't know my own strength."

     More students went to each of the three other houses, then it
was "Kinnock, Kirsten."  Duncan crossed his fingers, as she was
possibly the nicest girl he'd ever known, and it would be nice to
have all his friends together.

     Alas, the call was "Hufflepuff!" and she skipped to that table
without a glance to either side.

     "Fancy her, do you?" said Gunnar.  "Don't worry, seven years is
a long time, and you'll be seeing her again."

     Duncan's ears burned.  "It's not like that!"

     Gunnar laughed.  "Sure it isn't.  But remember, we have girls in
Slytherin too."

Sure, they're all psychos in thrall to the Dark Arts, but that just 
makes them cuter!

     As if to confirm this, "L'Arc, Genevieve", a sharp-featured girl
with a decidedly orange hue to her elaborately braided hair, was
sorted to their table.  After an introduction, she looked Duncan up
and down, and said, "You're fat."

Oh yeah.  Slytherin's dating pool is obviously prime.

     Gunnar said, "Well, now we know why *you're* in Slytherin.  But
a little tact will go far."

     Genevieve sniffed and turned to the girl next to her.

     Cuchulain was sorted into Gryffindor, and shook his hands in a
victory pose as he was welcomed.  Duncan felt a pain in his chest.

     There wasn't another Slytherin until "Talbain, Quentin."  He was
a swarthy boy whose eyebrows met in the middle, making one long
streak of hair.  Genevieve shrank away from the newcomer.

     "Geez, I'm perfectly safe," growled Quentin.  "Got my shots and
everything."

OK that's definite.  Slytherin is no longer the house of the ambitious, 
malicious and well connected.  It's the dumping ground for freaks.

     A witch with bushy brown hair stood up, and there was a strong
round of applause, especially from the Gryffindors, who seemed to
know her.  Duncan noticed that she was seated on the exact opposite
end of the table from Professor Malfoy, and that man had stiffened
when she was introduced.  Wait a minute, Duncan was sure he'd heard
that name before.

     "Who's Professor Granger?" he asked Gunnar.

     "Were you raised by *Muggles*?  

Said Gunnar, apparently oblivious to the significance of the name 
"Dursley" even though Martin is generally despised at school for some 
kind of vague connection to them.


             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'