Kaatjie was nervous. Hogwarts houses, as she understood it, were a Big Deal — and what if she did not get placed with anyone who liked her? She wished that Spaans started earlier in the alphabet — this would have already been done with if she had her father's last name. Finally, the hat was lowered onto her head. She closed her eyes.
"Describe yourself in three words."
Just three? How on earth was she supposed to describe herself in three words? Creative, she thought, first — people always told her she was creative, whether it was drawing or telling stories (or sometimes telling fibs.) Stubborn. Stubborn was, as Kaatjie understood it, not a compliment — but it had described her mother, too. Enthusiastic. Or, as her aunt put it: Kaatjie had a lot of energy.
"Would you rather be able to change into an animal, change your appearance, or see the future?"
Oh, see the future, Kaatjie thought, right away. She liked her appearance, and being an animagus seemed cool — but the future. If she had seen the future when she was a child, maybe she could have saved her mother. Then she would have gone to school on the continent, and been spared from the hat speaking to her in the first place.
"If you could invent a potion, what would it do?"
Any potion? If it was any potion, I'd try to stop death. Kaatjie thought things like that existed already, right — but they did not exist well enough, if Ana had still died. And the hat had not asked her what she thought was attainable — it asked her what she thought was possible. So there.
"Imagine you see someone cheat in class. What do you do?"
Well it depends on who it is, Kaat thought. If I don't like them, I'll tell the whole class. But if we're friends, I'd talk to them about it later — maybe they just need help. Maybe I saw wrong. She did not think she would be friends with a person who would do wrong like that forever — she would need to talk to the person directly. And if they were already someone she did not get along with, then well — Kaatjie did like to be proven right.
"Who is your enemy and how will you defeat them?"
Kaat thought about this, nose wrinkling. My father, but not on purpose, she thought. And he won't be for long. I'm going to get him to know me, and then — well, then we'll be on the same team, and he'll probably take me on trips and tell me I'm just like him.
Hopefully that would be enough?
"Describe yourself in three words."
Just three? How on earth was she supposed to describe herself in three words? Creative, she thought, first — people always told her she was creative, whether it was drawing or telling stories (or sometimes telling fibs.) Stubborn. Stubborn was, as Kaatjie understood it, not a compliment — but it had described her mother, too. Enthusiastic. Or, as her aunt put it: Kaatjie had a lot of energy.
"Would you rather be able to change into an animal, change your appearance, or see the future?"
Oh, see the future, Kaatjie thought, right away. She liked her appearance, and being an animagus seemed cool — but the future. If she had seen the future when she was a child, maybe she could have saved her mother. Then she would have gone to school on the continent, and been spared from the hat speaking to her in the first place.
"If you could invent a potion, what would it do?"
Any potion? If it was any potion, I'd try to stop death. Kaatjie thought things like that existed already, right — but they did not exist well enough, if Ana had still died. And the hat had not asked her what she thought was attainable — it asked her what she thought was possible. So there.
"Imagine you see someone cheat in class. What do you do?"
Well it depends on who it is, Kaat thought. If I don't like them, I'll tell the whole class. But if we're friends, I'd talk to them about it later — maybe they just need help. Maybe I saw wrong. She did not think she would be friends with a person who would do wrong like that forever — she would need to talk to the person directly. And if they were already someone she did not get along with, then well — Kaatjie did like to be proven right.
"Who is your enemy and how will you defeat them?"
Kaat thought about this, nose wrinkling. My father, but not on purpose, she thought. And he won't be for long. I'm going to get him to know me, and then — well, then we'll be on the same team, and he'll probably take me on trips and tell me I'm just like him.
Hopefully that would be enough?