Hogwarts: Transmigrated as the Top Student

"Difficult, very difficult!"

A sharp voice echoed in Jon's ears:

"Brave, kind at heart, quite talented too…"

"I want to go to Hufflepuff," Jon repeated silently.

"What?" the Sorting Hat's voice sounded surprised.

"I want to go to Hufflepuff."

"No doubt you meet all the qualities of a Hufflepuff, but I don't think that's the best choice…"

"I want to go to Hufflepuff."

"Are you sure? If you went to Gryffindor, there's no doubt you'd achieve greatness…"

"I want to go to Hufflepuff."

"Don't you have any other ideas?" the Sorting Hat asked, sounding irritated.

"I want to go to Hufflepuff."

"Is that the only thing you can say?" It sounded exasperated now.

"I want to go to Hufflepuff."

By the sixth time Jon repeated it, the Sorting Hat had had enough. It shouted the name across the entire hall:

"Hufflepuff!"

Cheers erupted from the table on the right, and the Fat Friar gave him a wave.

Over at the far right, Astoria let out a small sigh when she heard the result.

Jon breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to go to Gryffindor and spend every day nervously surrounded by the main characters.

"To be honest, you're only the second student this century to ask to be placed in Hufflepuff," the Sorting Hat said in his ear.

"Oh? Who was the first?"

"Newt Scamander. I hope you'll be just as exceptional!" the hat added warmly. "Mr. Scamander was expelled from Hogwarts in his fifth year..."

Before Jon could say anything else, Professor McGonagall came over and rather brusquely yanked the hat off his head.

"Luna Lovegood!" she called out.

The strange girl who had shared a boat with Jon rushed forward.

Jon walked over to the Hufflepuff table. A tall student came to greet him.

"Welcome to Hufflepuff, Jon. I'm Gabriel Truman, Prefect."

"Nice to meet you, Gabriel."

"Come sit here, Jon!"

A small girl with twin golden braids tugged him toward her former seat.

The Sorting Ceremony continued.

Luna Lovegood was sorted into Ravenclaw… Steven Lucas, like Jon, joined Hufflepuff…

Applause rang through the hall again and again as more students found their houses.

The final two were Ginny Weasley, sorted into Gryffindor, and Madeline Yaxley, who joined Slytherin.

With that, the Sorting Ceremony concluded.

Professor McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and was about to put it away when the doors to the Great Hall swung open. Professors Snape and Flitwick returned—with Daphne Greengrass following closely behind. Her head was down, and tear streaks marked her face.

Professor Snape directed his students back to the Slytherin table, then approached McGonagall and whispered a few words.

Her expression shifted noticeably. She didn't even bother to stow the hat—just turned and followed Snape out of the hall.

Flitwick moved to the front of the hall and whispered something to Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's expression changed at once, and he too quickly exited the hall—without even delivering his usual speech: "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

With both the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress gone, it was left to Professor Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, to climb onto Dumbledore's seat and welcome the new students. He introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, and reminded everyone not to enter the Forbidden Forest and to pay attention to upcoming Quidditch tryouts.

...

The banquet began!

"Want some steak?" the girl with the golden braids offered enthusiastically. "Hogwarts steak is amazing!"

"Thanks…" Jon quickly cut himself a piece. "By the way, I don't know your name yet."

"Hannah—Hannah Abbott. I'm in second year!"

"Wow!" Jon set down his knife and fork solemnly, then shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Abbott."

Hannah chattered away, filling Jon in on everything: how safe the school was, how Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard in the world, how united the Hufflepuff students were, and how kind Professor Pomona Sprout was. She also warned against wandering the halls at night—last year, three Gryffindor students got caught roaming and lost 150 points.

"Hey, do you know Harry Potter?" Hannah asked with a conspiratorial grin.

"Harry Potter? You mean the Boy Who Lived?" Jon played along, putting on a surprised face.

"Yup!" Hannah beamed, clearly pleased with his reaction. "He's in our year—Gryffindor House. My granddad always hoped I'd be sorted into Gryffindor—he graduated from there—but the Sorting Hat said I didn't have enough courage…"

Her voice trailed off a bit, tinged with disappointment. She glanced toward the Gryffindor table, clearly looking for Harry to point him out.

What she didn't know was that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were likely still in Professor McGonagall's office, having just caused a major incident... McGonagall, Dumbledore, and even Snape had rushed off to deal with it.

"Oh, there's something people outside Hogwarts probably don't know…" Hannah went on when she couldn't spot Harry. "At the end of last term, Harry stopped You-Know-Who's plot again. Professor Dumbledore gave him and his friends 160 points—it helped Gryffindor snatch the House Cup from Slytherin!"

"Wow…" Jon nodded along.

So this was the legendary Hannah Abbott—apparently a total Harry Potter fangirl.

But the House Cup? Jon didn't buy it. A prize awarded retroactively with enough bonus points to erase any deficit? How was anyone supposed to compete with that?

"How long has it been since Hufflepuff won the House Cup?" he asked curiously.

"Well…" Hannah looked a bit embarrassed.

"Seventy-nine years," a tall, handsome boy turned around and said seriously. "The last time Hufflepuff won the Cup was in 1913."

"Uh…" That was even worse than Jon had expected.

For a moment, Jon had the idea of helping Hufflepuff win the Cup. But that kind of miracle was harder than taking down Voldemort barehanded—he quickly dropped the thought.

"Jon Hart, right? I remembered your name during the Sorting Ceremony," the handsome boy said with a smile. "I'm Cedric—Cedric Diggory."

"Cedric's the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain… the only fourth-year in this century to become a team captain!" Hannah whispered reverently. "He's also top of our year."

So, Jon thought, she's not just a fan of the Chosen One after all.

"Nice to meet you, Cedric." Jon smiled and shook his hand.

He chatted with Cedric a little while longer as the banquet wound down... and then Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape all returned.

Dumbledore reintroduced Gilderoy Lockhart to the students, then led them in singing the school song:

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot

…