A Sorting to Remember

Harry looked around the Great Hall. It was his fifth year at Hogwarts, and he was glad to actually see a sorting ceremony again. Even though he had been at the school for five years, he had only seen 2 ceremonies including his own.

Therefore, he was not quite sure whether it was normal for there to be rather loud muttering coming from the other side of the large oak doors that separated the school from the soon-to-be-sorted first years. The words were muffled and incoherent, but they were clearly being said in anger. Even Dumbledore, standing behind his owl-lectern, seemed to be looking towards the door with a perplexed expression. The noise was loud enough to be heard throughout the entire Great Hall, after all.

Finally, the doors opened and in streamed the next batch of first years. They looked pale, and some seemed to be visibly shaking – Harry thought they were shaking a little too much for it just to be nerves, surely? When he had been sorted, nearly the entire school sat ogling at the Boy Who Lived and he could feel a tangible pressure over the result of which house he would be placed in. That he decided deserved nerves.

However, it was then that Harry noticed something he was sure had never happened in a Sorting Ceremony, despite having missed so many of them himself. He immediately worked out that this was most likely the reason for the first-years' discomfort.

Behind the group of tiny first years walked four considerably taller people. They looked to range between maybe fifteen and twenty years old? Though Harry couldn't be sure. But what stood out about them most were their appearances.

One was a pretty girl that looked to be around Harry's age. She had black-green hair that flowed to her shoulders, vivid purples eyes and a kind expression as she walked directly behind the first years. She didn't seem at all nervous, despite the incredulous looks she was receiving as she walked pass.

Another was a lanky red-headed male that looked to be around nineteen in Harry's opinion. What he was doing at a school that only accommodated for those up until seventeen, Harry had no idea. Although, what any of them were doing here at all was also unknown. The man had an eye patch that covered his right eye and his face held the qualities of a child's – all lit up in a bright curiosity at the scene around him, particularly, Harry noticed, the floating candles and clear skies that were reflected on the ceiling.

There was also a male with long, dark hair. His mouth was in a tight line that Harry figured to be annoyance of some kind, and he seemed to move in a way that gave off an aura that screamed 'get the hell away from me if you want to live.' He was interesting, but in a dangerous way.

However, it was the last male in the line, who looked to be the youngest of the group, that seemed to be gaining the most attention. He had white – and Harry meant white hair. The kind that people could spend hundreds of dollars at a hairdresser on, and still wouldn't be able to get the same shade. Though this wasn't the oddest thing about him. He also had a bright red scar that ran down the length of the left side of his face. Harry could see an upside down star shape that poked out from under the boy's fringe. Harry noticed that the boy was clearly uncomfortable with the attention he was getting from the student body, but he seemed to deal with it with an air of someone who had ignored other's stares for a very long time. Harry couldn't help but be reminded of himself when he saw this. Harry also couldn't help but notice that the white-haired boy and the darkhaired one seemed to occasionally glance at each other with clear animosity in their eyes. As the group passed where Harry was sitting, he distinctively heard the dark haired one utter something along the lines of 'che' right after the two had exchanged one of these looks.

Once they had reached the front of the hall, the first years were slowly sorted one-by-one. Harry saw a twinkle in the headmasters eyes, as he sat with his chin rested on folded hands. And eventually, it was time for the mysterious group to be called up.

Allen stood at the back of the group as he watched the first-years head to the three-legged stool and sit down for a few moments, before a hat screamed some nonsensical word out and the child hopped off to sit at a particular table.

Frankly put, he had no idea what he was doing here. He, along with the rest of his comrades, had been called into Komui's office only a few hours earlier. Their Chief had said something about a top secret mission that was incredibly urgent. Though the only phrase Allen had really listened to was 'An inconceivable amount of akuma in the area.' And with that, the four had made a quick trip through the ark to a nearby town (that Allen had travelled to previously, of course) where a group of strange people showed up to 'escort' them to a place called Hogwarts. Allen could still remember how one of the group grabbed a tight hold of his arm, followed by the feeling of being squeezed through some kind of tight tunnel, then seeing that he was standing before giant iron-wrought gates, a castle laying behind it.

And this had led to his comrades and himself to having to march through a very large crowd of very curious teenagers. It didn't help that he was in a bad mood from having a spat with Kanda right outside the doors to the hall, of all places. It was his fault, obviously, for mentioning how Allen didn't even stand out from the crowd of eleven-year-olds.

When they got back, Komui would pay for this.

Throughout the entire march, Allen had had to put all his concentration into not letting his eye activate. At this point, he wasn't sure if there were any akuma in the crowd of school children, but in a crowd this large, Allen figured it was a very high probability. At least it gave him a chance to practice controlling the activation of his eye, which he had only recently gotten the hang of through extensive meditation programs.

And now he watched as an elderly woman cleared her throat and said with an authoritative voice, "Kanda, Yuu."

Kanda scowled at the fact the woman had dared use his first name, and walked stiffly up to the stool. The woman made to put the hat on Kanda's head when the swordsman held out a hand and growled, "Not a chance in hell, Lady."

Her response was incredible. It was like Allen was looking at a female version of Kanda's own Glare of Death, and it was directed at Kanda himself. Allen was sure Kanda wouldn't have backed down, but it did create a second of confusion, and that was enough for the woman to roughly shove the old mangy hat onto the samurai's head, smiling in a very self-satisfied way when her mission was accomplished.

The hat hummed to itself for a while before finally speaking out loud.

"Well. No other place for you, is there? You embody this house through-and-through. GRYFFINDOR!"

Kanda stood, clearly annoyed, and followed the loud sound of cheering that was issuing from one of the tables.

"Lavi…" The woman trailed off somewhat put-out by the lack of surname. The rest of the hall seemed to murmur in response to this as well.

Lavi, however, took it in his stride and walked confidently up to the stool, taking the hat from the woman himself and popping it straight onto his head.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat roared, and Lavi pulled off the hat to reveal an almost pained expression. The reason for this was unknown to Allen, but he knew that something had to be wrong with the bookman apprentice. Allen then saw how Lavi blatantly ignored the loudest cheering table and instead went to seat himself next to Kanda, that expression still haunting his features.

"Lee, Lenalee."

Lenalee had clearly also seen Lavi's worrying expression, so she walked up to the stool with a wary face, as if she was bracing herself for the worst.

"GRYFFINDOR!" bellowed the hat, and Allen saw Lenalee take of the hat and it seemed as though she was trying to fight back tears. From the buzzing in the hall, Allen could tell that the other students seemed to be wondering about the exorcists' strange reaction to the sorting. He noticed that even a silver-bearded man perched upon a throne-like chair wore a slightly concerned expression.

"Walker, Allen." The woman said his name almost hesitantly, apparently also having had noticed something was wrong.

Allen grit his teeth and marched up to take the hat in his hands before placing it on his head himself. He then felt an unpleasant probing feeling in the deepest regions of his mind.

Oh no, there's another one of you is there? Allen thought the hat seemed rather weary as it all but sighed as it spoke, Well, I guess everyone needs to be sorted, no matter what kind of lives they've had before now. Let's take a look, then, shall we?

Allen waited, his hands clenched into fists by his sides. He did not like this feeling. He didn't like it at all.

What is this? What IS this? There's two minds in here? Allen was displeased that the hat seemed to be able to see that particular feature of himself, Well, that's not entirely new to me. Not exactly common though… but still. I guess I'll just have to look into your past to sort you – it's what I had to do to your friends anyway.

A few moments of silence and then

"NOOOO!"

Allen flinched violently at the scream of the hat. It was shouting at the top of its lungs out loud to the rest of the hall.

"NEVER IN MY YEARS HAVE I SEEN…. NOOOOOO… I CANNOT LOOK INTO THIS MIND ANY LONGER…. PLEASE…. RELEASE ME!"

Allen quickly picked the hat up from his own head and it abruptly stopped its deafening screams. He glanced around at the dumbstruck students around him, noticing that they looked shocked and some even looked nauseated. He then looked behind him at the teachers, who held equally shocked expressions.

He then held the hat out to the woman who had passed it to him.

"Er… I think I broke it…"

Hey guys. A break from my other fic I'm updating, but this idea would NOT leave me alone. At this stage, I'm only publishing this as a one-shot, but by the end of writing this, I was getting that tingly feeling that was telling me, 'hang on, this could actually turn into something a fair bit longer…'

So what do you guys think? Keep it a oneshot? Or maybe build on from it…? I don't know…