Whispers, giggles, and the occasional finger pointing welcomed the young Gil Geller and his mother, who'd just insisted on taking him directly to Hogwarts herself. No other student's parents had walked them there and waited for their sorting to begin. And as surely as the other children were probably snickering at the boy, the boy took no notice at all. On the contrary! He stood in line with a huge smile on his face. But the boy was an oddity in himself. Even visually. It looked as though he'd bought every possible Hogwarts (particularly Gryffindor)-themed accessory and decided to wear them all simultaneously. You see, he'd been reading the pamphlet and to him, it seemed the best house out of them all was House Gryffindor, and surely he'd be sorted into the best! Scarlet and gold with the lion as its mascot, bravery and chivalry, and so many powerful wizards that came out of it, which one could compare? Sure Slytherin was ambitious and Ravenclaw had intelligence, but dark wizards and scientists? Hah! Nothing like the noble Lion with their sword of Gryffindor and their long history of championship. There was another house too... Puffy-something. The only thing he could really remember about it was that it had a badger as its mascot.

And now it was finally his time to be sorted.

He stamped his foot and gave a triumphant yell, causing anyone who hadn't been paying attention to turn, perhaps dumbfounded and stare. And then he marched over to the chair, pulled the sorting hat down below his chin, so that his entire head was engulfed in the thing.

"Hm... let's see... This one is... interesting", said the hat in Gil's mind, "Well first off, you're not Ravenclaw material. We can rule that out right off the bat. Not Slytherin either, I dare say. You've plenty of bravery, and I can see you may wish for something else, but... I think that where you would shine most is... ironically..."

At this point, the hat announced aloud, "Hufflepuff!"

His mother's camera snapped a picture, and the hat was taken off his head. He looked stunned, dazed almost, as he waddled over to his mother and looked down at the floor, eyebrows knit. Well, she didn't know what to do! To be so disappointed by his placement... She put a hand on his back, as if to comfort him, but he suddenly looked up at her and said in all seriousness, "I'm going to need a badger... a dozen badgers! Well... at least five badgers!"

His mother teared up and threw her arms around her son before being escorted away by various miffed wizards.