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Hogwarts Castle.
Professor McGonagall continued to preside over the Sorting Ceremony.
However, her thoughts lingered on Holmes, who had just been sorted into Gryffindor.
She hadn't expected that this young wizard, who had left a deep impression on her even before school started, would turn out to be a true Hatstall, just like herself.
This term, often used teasingly towards the Sorting Hat, had a more common name: Hatstall.
As the name implied, it referred to students whose sorting took longer than a certain amount of time – conventionally agreed upon as five minutes – and whose personality traits suited several different Hogwarts houses, causing difficulty for the Sorting Hat.
True Hatstalls were rare, appearing roughly once every fifty years.
More often, students were near-Hatstalls.
Like Granger, just before Holmes.
Many years ago, on McGonagall's own first night here, she had captured everyone's attention.
Because the Sorting Hat had taken a full five and a half minutes.
It had mainly hesitated between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.
But ultimately, it chose the former for her.
Even today, she still felt that Ravenclaw would have been a fine choice as well.
Especially after becoming the Head of Gryffindor House, whenever faced with a group of audacious troublemakers, this feeling became particularly strong.
Yet, over the years, the Sorting Hat had consistently maintained its opinion, believing Gryffindor suited her better.
Counting the time, it had indeed been nearly fifty years since her own sorting.
She had almost forgotten about it.
Unexpectedly, Sherlock Holmes and Hermione Granger had reopened those sealed memories.
She recalled how the Sorting Hat had also hesitated for a long time when sorting her current colleague, Professor Flitwick, the Head of Ravenclaw.
But in the end, the Hat made the opposite decision to McGonagall's, placing Flitwick in Ravenclaw.
Over the years, this inevitably became a topic of casual conversation between her and Professor Flitwick.
They had both pleasantly mused that if they had been slightly more decisive or hesitant in their youth, perhaps their positions would have been swapped.
Then today, McGonagall would be the Head of Ravenclaw, and Flitwick the Head of Gryffindor.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but glance towards the staff table.
Sensing her gaze, Professor Flitwick offered her a smile.
Clearly, Sherlock and Hermione had also reminded Professor Flitwick of McGonagall and himself back in the day.
McGonagall withdrew her gaze and looked back at Sherlock, finding him conversing with the Gryffindor prefect, Percy. She didn't know what Sherlock had said, but Percy's expression seemed rather odd.
Percy was indeed feeling awkward.
Because after listening to his explanation of Hatstalls, Sherlock had directly commented:
"It doesn't sound any different... their explanation is actually easier to accept."
With just one sentence, Sherlock had successfully shut Percy down.
Does this first-year even know how to talk!
I'm a prefect!
"Hahahahaha!"
The twin brothers burst out laughing.
"Well done! You've got talent! Hang out with us from now on!"
"Yeah, Holmes, we'll definitely make a splash in front of the whole school!"
Sherlock: `_`
He ignored the two brothers and continued watching the Sorting Ceremony for the other first years.
After him, a few more students took a relatively long time to be sorted, approaching Hatstall status.
For example, the small, round-faced boy whose toad had been found, Neville Longbottom.
He tripped on his way to the stool, then sat fidgeting on it for nearly five minutes before being declared a Gryffindor.
Then he ran off still wearing the hat.
Amidst general laughter, Neville had to jog back sheepishly to return the hat to McGonagall.
Following him was Draco Malfoy, who was immensely proud of his bloodline.
In stark contrast to Neville, the hat barely touched his head before screaming:
"SLYTHERIN!"
It was incredibly swift and decisive.
Watching Malfoy swagger over to the Slytherin table to join his buddies Crabbe and Goyle, Sherlock wore a thoughtful expression.
From the current situation, it seemed that cases like his own, Hermione's, Neville's, and Malfoy's were exceptions.
Apart from them, most others, like the first student called, Hannah Abbott, were sorted into their respective houses within half a minute.
Occasionally, someone took longer, but it usually ended within two or three minutes.
Never mind Hatstalls like Sherlock who took over five minutes; even near-Hatstalls like Hermione and Neville were few.
From a scientific perspective, it did conform to the pattern of a normal distribution: few at the extremes, many in the middle.
Thus, the Sorting Ceremony proceeded smoothly under Professor McGonagall's direction until she called out a name:
"Harry Potter!"
The attention garnered by the Saviour was undoubtedly the highest in the entire hall.
As Harry walked out from the line of first years, a wave of hissing whispers swept through the hall, like indrawn breaths.
The temperature even seemed to drop.
"Potter? Did she say Potter?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"That's him! If your eyesight is good enough, you can even see the scar on his forehead!"
"How could you possibly see that..."
At this point, the twins couldn't resist again. George turned to Sherlock:
"Holmes, heard you're quite friendly with Potter?"
Seeing Sherlock nod, Fred quickly asked, "Then you must know him well? Which house do you think he'll be sorted into?"
This time, Percy didn't stop the twins from asking, as he was also very interested.
"The hat will take a long time," Sherlock answered without hesitation, "The final result will be Gryffindor."
"Why?"
Hermione finally found an opportunity and quickly asked.
"Yeah, why?"
The Weasley twins also inquired.
Not just them, but others nearby who overheard their conversation couldn't help looking at Sherlock.
If Harry Potter really came to Gryffindor, it would definitely be a joyous occasion.
But... why?
On what basis could Sherlock make such a judgment before the sorting?
Of course, it's based on personal experience.
From my own sorting experience, the hat respects personal choice.
Based on Sherlock's understanding of Harry, apart from Ravenclaw, the possibility of Harry being sorted into the other three houses was not small, with Gryffindor and Slytherin having a slightly higher priority than Hufflepuff.
However, Harry himself didn't want to go to Slytherin, so that left Gryffindor.
After hearing Sherlock's (internal) explanation, the group of little lions exchanged glances.
Wasn't that a bit too mystical?
The Weasley twins wanted to press further, but this time Sherlock said no more.
Seeing his demeanor, the others could only give up.
Anyway, they would soon find out if this fellow was bluffing.
(End of Chapter)