Chapter 21: The Hat-Stall of the Century

Hogwarts Castle.

Professor McGonagall continued to preside over the Sorting Ceremony, though her thoughts remained fixed on Holmes, who had just been sorted into Gryffindor. She had not expected that this young wizard, who had already left a deep impression on her before the term even began, would be a true "Hatstall," much like herself.

This term, often used to tease the Sorting Hat, had a more formal name: a "Hatstall." As the name implies, it refers to a student for whom the Sorting Hat takes an unusually long time to decide—conventionally, more than five minutes—because their personality traits suit several different houses, leaving the hat in a dilemma. A true Hatstall is rare, occurring roughly once every fifty years. Most cases are merely students who come close to that threshold.

Hermione Granger, who preceded Holmes, was one such case. Many years ago, on her first night, she had captured everyone's attention. The Sorting Hat had spent a full five and a half minutes debating between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before ultimately choosing the former for her. Even today, she often felt that Ravenclaw might have been a fine choice as well. This feeling became particularly strong after she became Head of Gryffindor House, frequently facing a group of daring troublemakers. Yet, over all these years, the Sorting Hat had remained firm in its judgment that Gryffindor was the better fit.

Thinking back, it had indeed been nearly fifty years since her own enrollment. She had almost forgotten about it until Sherlock Holmes and Hermione Granger revived those buried memories. She recalled that the Sorting Hat had also hesitated for quite a while when sorting her current colleague, Professor Flitwick, the Head of Ravenclaw. However, the hat had reached the opposite conclusion, placing Flitwick in Ravenclaw. Over the years, this had become a lighthearted topic of conversation between them. They would often playfully wonder if they had been just a little more firm or a little more hesitant in their youth, perhaps their positions would be swapped today, with McGonagall as Head of Ravenclaw and Flitwick as Head of Gryffindor.

Lost in these thoughts, she glanced toward the staff table. Sensing her gaze, Professor Flitwick offered a smile; clearly, Sherlock and Hermione had reminded him of the past as well.

McGonagall looked back at Sherlock, noticing him speaking with Percy, the Gryffindor prefect. Whatever Sherlock had said, Percy’s expression turned rather peculiar. Percy was indeed uncomfortable, as Sherlock had just responded to his explanation of what a "Hatstall" was by saying, "That doesn't sound like there's any difference... their explanation is actually easier to accept."

With that single sentence, Sherlock had successfully choked Percy off. Did this first-year not know how to speak? He was a prefect, after all!

"Hahahaha!" The Weasley twins burst into laughter. "Well done! You've got talent—come hang out with us from now on!"

"That's right, Holmes! We’re going to make quite a scene in front of the whole school!"

Sherlock: (눈_눈)

He ignored the twins and returned his attention to the sorting of the other students. After him, a few more students took a long time to sort, coming close to being Hatstalls. There was Neville Longbottom, the round-faced boy who had lost his toad; he tripped on his way to the stool and sat there, looking like he was on pins and needles, for nearly five minutes before being sorted into Gryffindor. He even walked away still wearing the hat, and amidst the roar of laughter, he had to trot back to return it to McGonagall.

Following him was Draco Malfoy, who was very proud of his bloodline. In stark contrast to Neville, the hat had barely touched his head before it shrieked, "Slytherin!" It was swift and decisive. Watching Malfoy swagger over to join his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, Sherlock looked thoughtful.

It seemed that the cases of himself, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy were exceptions. For most others, like the first student called, Hannah Abbott, the sorting was over within half a minute. Occasionally, a student would take two or three minutes, but it was rare to find anyone who took as long as five minutes like Sherlock, or even approached the threshold like Hermione or Neville. Scientifically speaking, it followed a normal distribution—few at the extremes, many in the middle.

The ceremony proceeded methodically under Professor McGonagall's guidance until she called out, "Harry Potter!"

The Savior naturally commanded the most attention in the hall. As Harry stepped out from the line of first-years, a collective gasp swept through the Great Hall. The temperature seemed to drop.

"Potter, did she say Potter?"
"Is it that Harry Potter?"
"It's him! If your eyes are sharp enough, you can even see the scar on his forehead!"
"How could you possibly see that from here..."

The twins couldn't help themselves again. George turned to Sherlock, "Holmes, I heard you're on good terms with Potter?" Seeing Sherlock nod, Fred quickly pressed, "Then you must know him well? Which house do you think he'll be sorted into?"

This time, Percy didn't stop the twins, as he was also quite curious.

"The hat will take a long time," Sherlock replied without hesitation. "And the final result will be Gryffindor."

"Why?" Hermione finally found an opportunity to ask.

"Yeah, why?" the Weasley twins echoed.

Not just them, but everyone nearby who heard the exchange turned to look at Sherlock. If Harry Potter were to truly end up in Gryffindor, it would be a joyous occasion. But... why? How could Sherlock make such a judgment before the sorting?

Naturally, it was based on his own experience. From his own sorting, he knew the hat respected personal choice. Given what he knew of Harry, aside from Ravenclaw, the odds of him being sorted into the other three houses were quite high, with Gryffindor and Slytherin holding slightly more weight than Hufflepuff. But since Harry himself had no desire to go to Slytherin, that left only Gryffindor.

After hearing Sherlock's explanation, the young lions looked at each other. This felt a bit too mysterious. The Weasley twins wanted to press for more, but this time, Sherlock remained silent. Seeing his expression, everyone else had to drop the subject. In any case, they would soon see if this fellow was just bragging.