63 The Sorting Hat

The last days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were always a bittersweet moment. Some were glad to have the opportunity to return home and finally take a break from all their studies, while others were sad that they would have to part with their friends. No one could remain indifferent today.

Harry also did not remain indifferent. If for the past two years he was glad to return home and spend time with the one who became his adoptive mother, now he was only waiting with dead eyes for his punishment.

Bellatrix was visiting Hogwarts once again when she heard that Harry was back in the Medical Wing. And if you believe what the map showed him, then she spent enough time with Dumbledore and Khromov for them to tell her their version of events. Only then did she visit her godson and, with a stony expression on her face, tell him to explain himself.

Harry broke down under his adoptive mother's gaze and began to talk, as Hermione sometimes did, only occasionally pausing to take a breath of air. He had no idea if Bella was satisfied with his story, but she didn't say anything. She just turned around and left the Castle, leaving him to marinate in his own thoughts.

Hermione and Ron looked no better – except that his red-haired friend was more confident in himself and his survival through the summer. This wasn't the first time someone in his family had done something extremely terrible at school, he knew what he could expect. After all, the Weasley twins were still alive.

The girl could not sleep for the last week; every day she came down from her room, looking as if death was hanging over her. One could say that she looked even worse than when she was tormented by nightmares after her meeting with Danil.

The fear of condemnation from her parents and unknown punishment frayed her nerves. It was good that in the magical world there were various potions that could later correct her nervousness. Because otherwise the girl would have taken a long time to recover from such a shock.

Looking at his friend, Harry thought that she had already brought enough punishment on herself. No matter how much of a genius Hermione was, the girl had a habit of overthinking. In this case, it didn't help her at all.

"Somehow the year is not ending very well." Harry said thoughtfully, receiving two nods from his friends.

"It just means we have to do everything in our power to make next year better. If there will be a next year for us." Hermione said wearily, but it was clear that she had little faith in her own words.

"Don't be silly, curly," Ron grinned, "it's only two months of punishment, it's not that bad. We could have been forced to work for a whole year. I remember the twins messed up so hard with their pranks that Mum spent a very long time working on their behavior."

Ron was betting on one simple part of human psychology. People like to know that there is always someone worse off.

"I don't think it's that simple, Ron." Hermione said thoughtfully, tapping her nails on the wooden table.

Almost all the students and teachers had gathered in the Main Hall, with the exception of a couple of people at the teacher's table. Professor Dumbledore had not arrived yet, just like Khromov, it would definitely be easy to notice him among the other students.

But finally, the conversations in the Hall began to abruptly die down. Dumbledore arrived in the Hall, leading Danil, who quickly took a seat at the end of the teacher's table, standing next to Hagrid and Remus. Dumbledore took a seat behind his throne, but did not sit down yet; after all, first he had to make a speech.

"Another year at Hogwarts has come to an end! And what a busy year it has been! I sincerely hope that today you are sitting in the hall with new knowledge that you will not forget after a couple of months of rest." Laughter rang through the hall, even a couple of professors smiled. "And it would be worth starting the banquet, but first we must do something that has been put off for later too many times."

With a wide wave of his hand, the very chair on which all the first-years who had gone through the sorting ceremony appeared in front of the table. At first, not everyone understood why this chair appeared here, but when Khromov theatrically teleported into it, everyone understood why they were here.

For some reason, his non-involvement in each of the Houses went unnoticed by the students, but the Professors knew about this very well.

"Well, you were supposed to sit in the chair after I called your name, but that'll do. Let's get to Sorting!" Albus muttered. Well, if his student doesn't want to waste time, then so be it. Waving his hand again, an old hat full of leather patches fell on Danil's head.

It moved sharply on Danil's bald head and a silhouette of a mouth and two eyes appeared on it, looking not forward, but into the essence of things.

"Hmm… What do I see…?" The hat started as usual, but then shuddered and stopped moving. And then something happened that no one expected.

At first, it seemed that the room became darker for a moment, and then the shadows in the room moved. But this obsession lasted only a second, after which the Hat perked up and shouted to the whole hall:

"Hufflepuff!" What almost no one expected.

And Danil, to the uncertain claps of the audience and the joyful cries of the baggers, walked up to their table on wobbly legs and sat down next to Gabriel and Jamie.

Something strange happened, but no one understood what. Celebrations and farewells continued until the evening, after which everyone went to bed. Only Danil couldn't sleep. Images of chaotic Gods danced at the edges of his vision, leaving him irritated and tired.

That day, Danil promised himself that he would gain enough strength to withstand the presence of creatures like The Wanderer. He really didn't want to repeat the experience a third time.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Sitting on a chair, the monster boy waited for the Hat's voice to start speaking in his mind. Danil knew that this artifact somehow communicated directly with the consciousness of people, something similar was said by his sister. But he considered it nonsense.

How could an artifact of such complexity be created by the wizards of the Middle Ages? When practically nothing was known about the workings of the mind! And there is no need to say that magic has smoothed out the corners here; influencing and communicating with the human mind requires considerable skills. Even the Legilimens of this world thought so! And here the hat, and even everyone's mind reads.

Danil didn't know how the Sorting Hat actually worked, but it was too early for him to be interested in that. What interested him at the moment was why sounds had disappeared from all over the world.

"We meet again, interesting human."

The voice. The one voice he could never forget, even if he wanted to. The voice was full of interest and apathy at the same time. The creature, who wanted to see something new, but knew the outcome of all events in the universe, again appeared before Danil.

Danil felt like he was under water, and his brain was shaking inside his skull. The presence of a higher being affected gifted people much more than ordinary beings. But then the moment passed, and the pain was gone. The Wanderer took control of his power.

Danil exhaled, feeling like his body could move calmly again.

"I won't say I'm glad to see you." He admitted, looking up at the supreme being. "I thought you would just watch, why did you come here?"

The Wanderer swayed in place, standing on its long legs. Even now, it towered over Danil, who was standing at full height.

"You put on the Hat." It said, stating the fact as usual. "The Hat, as much as you might hope, still reads memories and thoughts. Good work. High quality work."

Blinking his eyes in shock, Danil took the motionless hat off his head and looked it in the eye. "So, this thing-? What? Why make such a dangerous artifact just to sort children?!"

"Because they could do it back then." It shrugged… it had shoulders? "Funny human. You would run away if the Hat found out about your past life."

Danil froze. The words of The Wanderer rang true in his ears. He would definitely run away, at least because with this knowledge, even so limited, he would know too much. And he will be removed. Yes, even if no one finds out, he will no longer feel relatively safe. His choice? Run. Run and don't look back.

"Really funny. And boring." The Wanderer said. "I came so that this wouldn't happen."

"For what?" The monster boy immediately asked. "Why would you stop it? I wouldn't have died; my story would have continued." Looking at the thing that called itself a God, Danil tensed with realization. "You want me to stay at Hogwarts."

The Wanderer nodded. "Naturally. All the fun stuff will happen here. You should stay on the Tin Islands. Your life will simply not be interesting if you are given the chance to leave Britain forever. Now your fate is tied to this place for at least the next few years. My work here is finished."

Danil wanted to ask something else, but The Wanderer's hand reached out to the hat on the boy's lap. The Wanderer placed the Sorting Hat on top of the boy's head and patted him on the shoulder, causing him to shiver in fear.

"Yes, this house will do. It's too dangerous to throw you with the others."

And just as suddenly as it appeared, God disappeared, allowing time to move on.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat screamed and flew off his head, disappearing somewhere under the ceiling.

And Danil remained the only one who will have to heal his heart from the second meeting with the chaotic god.

'What's his domain? He's the God of what?' It flashed through his head, but the thought was quickly forgotten. It was not enough for him to go crazy from thinking about the nature of the gods of chaos.

[author] I think I've messed up somewhere in my explanation… As you probably know, there's a chance that I'll go to serve in the army for a year, that's true. But a lot of you think that I'll end up fighting the war. That's… not correct. 

Probably. 

Short version: I'm just going through a year of military service in the army, and I'm not going into active combat. 

Long version: people in my situation – the majority, that is, not contract soldiers, just dudes who spent a year in the army – serve for only a year, where everyone is undergoing training. Nobody is going to throw people like us into a military zone, they have enough meat shields as is. 

I'm leaving on the eighteenth of October. By that time the novel will already be over, at least the first part. Maybe by then I'll have time to write a couple of crack chapters and put them on a delayed post.

So you can breathe out, I'm not going to die… Probably. 

If I do, Imma haunt someone else to complete my novels. [/author]