Chuckle. 

Now, unless you have something else to ask right now - and if you simply want to talk later, I'm usually in the Headmaster's office - I think this is enough for the Sorting. 

All right, thank you.  And she returns the Hat and departs.

Next up is - well, another G, but next up among Harriet's friends is Neville.  He is also nervous and excited both, but in different proportions, and approaches the Hat more hesitantly.

Good evening. 

Hello, he says timidly.

Hm. Quite a few notable traits - but I do believe you fit best in Gryffindor, Mister Longbottom.

That... doesn't sound right, to him.  It doesn't quite come out in a sentence, like the Hat's words do, but - he's always so scared and nervous of everyone and everything, and Gryffindors are supposed to be big brave heroes, and - and everyone would be able to tell he's not what a Gryffindor is supposed to be, and what if they make fun of him -

Sometimes the path between who we are and who we want to be can seem very, very long, standing at the beginning. No one is static, Mister Longbottom, and you would be quite surprised at the paths many people have walked.

Who we want to be...

Of course he fantasizes about standing up to bullies and helping the downtrodden, but -

What do you mean?

The image of Godric Gryffindor now is of a hero, valiant, always standing up for what he believes in, always fighting hard and ceaselessly for the right.

It's normal, for people's images to change after their deaths, but even at the end Godric believed he'd never finished his journey toward bravery - which he saw as an ideal no person could truly ever embody, but that they must strive for as best they can, with no shame when they can't.

Godric is, perhaps, the most dramatic example I've ever had the honor of knowing, of someone who walked the path to bravery. He wasn't particularly brave, as a child - certainly not in the stereotypical way, for bravery is the mastery of fear, not the absence. But Godric let his fear rule him, and he frequently gave up if things seemed too scary. This continued even as he became a teenager - and, around the time Hogwarts students now graduate, the war between his fear and his beliefs came to a head. He had an opportunity to save the life of someone else, at risk to himself... And he hesitated long enough the opportunity vanished.

That haunted him, and he began, slowly, hesitantly, walking the path to bravery, one he mapped out, because he wanted no student to be as unprepared as he had been. He wanted to teach bravery, for it is a skill often far more difficult than any magic we work here.

No one reasonable expects you to simply know how to cast spells, or brew potions, or identify creatures without ever being told. No one reasonable expects you to simply know how to be brave. Learning is what schools are for, Mister Longbottom.

I... guess I never thought of it as something that could be taught.  He always thought - and he doesn't quite say this in words, not to himself or to the Hat, but the impression is there - he always thought that if you weren't brave enough to do the right thing when you really needed to, there was already just something wrong with you.

(With him, really.)

It is. What the right thing is, how to do it, how to not do the wrong thing, how to recognize when you need to... These are skills, too, beyond mere bravery.

And you think I should go to Gryffindor, to learn them?

I think you should go where you will grow best, Mister Longbottom. What do you want to learn?

He... does kind of want to learn to be brave, like Godric Gryffindor - it still seems like such a fantasy...

If you really think that I can, he says at last, that I can learn to be a hero, I mean - I think I want to go to Gryffindor.

Alright. The Hat's voice is warm. I think you'll do rather well there, Mister Longbottom.

Grin.  Thanks.

You're quite welcome, Mister Longbottom. Now, do you mind passing me to the next student?

Oh, sure - thanks again -

He returns the Hat to Professor McGonagall.

The interviews proceed, through the Ms and Ps and Ws.

The Hat is silent, for a few moments, after it talks to the last student; and then it turns toward Professor McGonagall and says, out loud, "I am ready."

Professor McGonagall nods smartly, and turns toward the first years.

"All right, children," she says in her carrying voice.  "Next you must line up in alphabetical order outside the door to the Great Hall.  The Hat and I will enter first, and then the doors will open for you.  You'll walk down the middle of the Hall toward the Hat, and one by one we will call you forward to the front of the Hall, where the Hat will announce your House."

Harriet nods, joining in the broad jostling of students until they're in a single line.

They're ready soon enough.

Happily, pretty much everyone ends up going where they want.