There were many good things that Caroline had encountered about being a Weasley. She had the world's best mother and her father could give any man a run for his money when it came down to the title of world's best father. She had a thousand cousins that she loved and that meant that almost wherever she went she almost always knew somebody and that gave her a sense of confidence and belonging that she might not have elsewhere. Even now Lou was watching her from the Hufflepuff table, and she’d watched her cousins Jameson, Gideon and Chloe get sorted along with other friends and acquaintances… and then she encountered the downside of being a W. She was forced to stand there watching all the others get sorted, though thankfully not alone thanks to the fact that her final cousin also shared her misfortune in being at the end of the alphabet. It was probably the hardest thing she’d been forced to endure and she struggled not to squirm or play with anything under the attention of so many people.

She shoved her hand into her pocket and realised as she felt the squishy skin of her toad that she should’ve put him somewhere else before the feast… however it was too late now and as her name was called she tried to respectfully go over to the hat, trying not to jump as it began whispering in her head. She remembered what she’d been told about not trusting anything that you couldn’t see where it kept its brain (which she had decided was very handy advice) and wondered how the very old spell worked. Obviously people trusted it to sort them into houses that seemed to matter for the rest of their lives. So… obviously there were  exceptions. She wondered how it worked. Would it read her aura or her mind or-

"Describe yourself in three words." Caroline was quite unprepared to describe what she was in three words and remembered the alliteration that her teacher liked to use to describe her: I think I’d use… curious, caring and uh, and with that she paused… trying to remember the last one. Creative? Crafty? Compassionate? Cheerful? Charming….It wasn’t that last one she’d thought… What was it….  Chaotic! That was it! But maybe it was wrong to use those words, afterall those were some that came from others and was she supposed to say only what was good about herself? Maybe she should add the fact that people called her forgetful, prone to not paying attention when she was uninterested (if she could figure out one word to describe that trait or the way that if she found something interesting her entire life became about that until she grew tired of it… she got called impulsive, thoughtless and reckless alot.. Did that count?  She liked Determined more.. Determined sounded better. Determined and Focused… just on what she liked to focus on.

"Would you rather be able to change into an animal, change your appearance, or see the future?" That one required less thought. It was out of her mouth before she remembered she only had to think it. “Animal” Caroline loved animals and the chance to be one, any animal, would be amazing.

"If you could invent a potion, what would it do?" Again, that one was easy. ”I’d invent a potion that would allow me to talk to animals and understand what they are saying. I think there would be so many things that we could learn and that they could tell us. They’d be able to tell us if they were hurt, or if they needed our help and would be able to answer so many questions about things we don’t know about them. Like where they go for the winter or-” Caroline tried to stay on track however the idea of talking to animals made her eyes slightly glaze over as she imagined learning about why Nifflers stole things, and answering so many of her unanswered questions.

"Imagine you see someone cheat in class. What do you do?" The hats voice echoed in her head, obviously attempting to get her back on task. Another hard question. Caroline frowned. It really does depend I suppose... In most cases I really don't not care because it doesn't affect me at all and aren't they usually harming themselves the most by cheating? And if they cheated off me … in most cases wouldn't that be a complement, and I might think it really funny?"That of course was her first reaction and then she remembered the few times that Wesley had cheated off her during the rare times the work their governess had set them overlapped. She’d worked hard on her answers and had not appreciated him trying to copy.  She’d sabotaged her answers and made it so obvious that he was cheating off her that he’d gotten in alot of trouble and he’d never cheated off her again.  That’s probably what she’d do - afterall usually if you were cheating you had to be sure that you were cheating off the right person and often she found that trying to cheat when your teacher knew magic and all the tricks and spells often required far more effort than actually doing the work. In fact that meant if the person was cheating was using a cool method to do so she’d probably be far more interested in what and how they were trying to cheat and go ask them about that after class… though if it were as boring as sneaking notes in she bet the teacher would catch them cause that had to be oldest trick in the book. If she had had to cheat she would-

"Who is your enemy and how will you defeat them?" The voice in her head interrupted the stream of thoughts and consciousness rather firmly attempting to return her to the task of sorting and Caroline inwardly flinched. She’d done it again - gotten lost in her thoughts and off topic. She ought to well - Well, she ought to think of the next question. Enemies and How to Defeat them. She thought long and hard. She didn't have anybody she would think of as an enemy. What would her enemy be like? What would her enemy be like? She tried to think.... she was eleven afterall and she didn't think there was anybody she would think of as an enemy - even the very unhelpful girl who made her to fall from the tree in the park. She also didn't think any of her friends had anybody they'd declare as an enemy (that sounded awfully dramatic) - though maybe some might declare their governesses or parents to be so when they forced them to do things they didn't want to do. Caroline, for all the lectures she had to put up with about proper behaviour and reminders to concentrate, to stay on task and to focus didn't think of her Governess as her enemy...If anything Caroline rather thought the poor woman thought that she and Wes were the enemies to her dream of an orderly classroom full of children like Lou who behaved and hung onto every word... maybe the question meant something like that? Something symbolic or metaphoric. If that was the case Caroline's enemy could... would it be her inability to concerntrate on anything that didn't particularly interest her? or the fact that she couldn't just act like Lou even if she tried - what would that be called? Her stomach seemed to clench and she pushed that aside.  Maybe she was thinking about it the wrong way.

She didn't have an enemy now but if she did who would that be? She'd seen boys chase the geese who lived in the park once and throw rocks at one that had fallen behind. She had been very angry then. People who hurt animals made her mad. She and Wes had gone after those boys with some of the kids they hung around with and they'd run away - she didn't even remember their faces now but her enemy would be like that. They'd be somebody who'd treat animals bad and who made other people feel bad especially about things they couldn't help. She'd like to think if she encountered anybody like that she'd stand up to them... but she wasn't that brave. And defeat was a really strong word. She'd... want to find a way to get them to stop doing what they were doing like they'd done at the park. She'd had friends and numbers then but she knew she wouldn't always... and that wasn't often the better way to do it. There was always a solution. She knew that. She just needed to be clever enough. There was always a way to stop a person doing something she disliked. Even if it meant winning because you had more people and friends then they did.

"Are we supposed think of an actual person? Or an idea? Or is this an if I had enemy?" She tried to ask for clarification. "I think I'd like to think I could defeat them if I was cleverer enough. Or if I knew enough. I think theres always a way to do things we've just got to find it.