Ahh yes, Principal, no what was his name? Dumbledore, yeah that's it. Yes, Professor Dumbledore, I'm here to tell you about a revolutionary product. It's called a 'chandelier'. I reckon you've heard of it. Oh, you haven't? It's a light source made from glass or materials of the like. Oh, you want the short version? No problem. To simplify, it's a way better lighting source than fucking floating candles.

I mean for fucks sake, why would you waste this much mana? Professor Dumbledore, this is just posing, isn't it? You're waving that 'strongest light wizard' title in our faces. Yeah, you sure are a strong light wizard, as evidenced by your excessive need for candles. Thank god, you had the idea to use the Permanence Charm on these candles, or else I can't imagine the problems it would cause students when hot wax drops on their face. Wait, aren't these some good weapons as well? Just remove the charm when intruders break-in. Hot wax in their face and eyes, of course, I don't think that'd work against wizards but hey every thought counts in proving the usefulness of this excessive waste of mana I'm seeing in front of eyes now. I'll stop, I'm over it now.

There's also an artificial night sky above the candles. I can't question this bit of posing. You can't just have a hole in the ceiling of the huge room which I'm presuming to be a grand hall as evidenced by the rows of tables and benches with all of the students here. But Professor Dumbledore, if you didn't have your need of shameless posing, you could've finished the Wizarding War a bit earlier. No? Well, that doesn't matter. Hearing, the Dark Lord getting his ass handed to him by a baby was funny as hell. Ahh, if there was some way to meet the dude, I would never let him hear the end of this. Maybe his ghost is here? I'll search later.

I look at the other first years, their eyes sparkling. It seems they both enchanted and eager. That's good. Childlike wonder is good lest you become like me who can't understand the use of those candles! Fuck, I'm still not over it. Calm down, Sol. There are more important things. I move along with the first years and we sit on a long bench. I see the previous girls who were doused with soup. They sat next to me for some reason. That doesn't matter to me. It's not like I own the seats. I look at the back of the huge room to see some people who may be the Professors. There's a short man who looks to be a dwarf with dark-brown-oiled hair with a middle part and glasses. No, wait, he may be a goblin. There's a chubby older woman with grey, frizzy hair. She looks a bit motherly wearing yellow robes. There's also a pale-faced man with long black hair. He was wearing black robes and looked a bit evil.

"Well, appearance can be deceiving.", I think to myself as I start Mana Eyes.

If someone was corrupted, it would show up as a black miasma-like aura around them.

That's fairly small. Guess, he's not too evil. Hmm~ whoa what's that?! Such a blinding aura!

I turn of Mana Eyes and look at the source of this aura. A man with a long, white beard and hair is sitting in the middle of the table reserved for professors on a huge chair. That must be Dumbledore! Even with his aura, he's showing off his 'strongest light wizard' title. What a shameless poser.

I look at him and he smiles back at me. Did he hear me call him a shameless poser? I was sure I didn't say that out loud.

I look away from him and start to think about what I needed to after this night ended, when:

"U-Uh, excuse me. Thank you for drying us off.", said the girl with long, black hair.

"Yeah, you must be smart if you could cast a spell in your first year.", added the girl with the short, dark-brown hair.

Didn't you guys thank me once? Haah...

I sigh inwardly, nonetheless, I put on an amicable smile, "It was nothing. By the way, I'm Sol Balor."

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"I'm Cho Chang.", the black-haired girl introduced herself.

"I'm Katie Bell.", the dark-brown-haired girl also introduced herself.

"Hey man, we just came here and you're already making friends.", said the boy opposite to me suddenly.

"It's a school and getting a headstart on making friends isn't too bad.", I say with a smile.

"That's true, I'm Cormac McLaggen.", said the boy.

"Sol Balor.", I briefly introduce myself.

"So, which house do you guys wanna get into?", asked Katie.

"Gryffindor.", replied Cormac.

"I don't really know.", replied Cho.

"Well, I'm getting into Gryffindor." declared Katie, "What about you, Sol?"

"Well, I don't really care. Any one would do.", I say indifferently.

"Come on, put some more thought into it. It's your house, one you'll going to be staying in for the next 7 years.", urged Katie.

"Yeah, Sol, would you go into Slytherin?", asked Cormac.

"Well, does it matter? I'm a half-blood so if I do get into Slytherin, I'll probably attract some hate from those Slytherins.", I pointed out.

"What's a half-blood?", asked Cormac.

Haah~ seriously? You don't even know this?

Although I'm thinking this, my face still has a faint smile on it.

"Half-bloods are witches and wizards born from a magic parent and a muggle parent as opposed to pure-bloods who are born from parents with magic.", explains Cho.

"Huh? Why will the Slytherins hate you for being a half-blood?", asks Katie.

"Because Slytherins prioritize pure-blooded witches and wizards. They look down on half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards.", I explain.

"Isn't that super bad?", she asks again.

"That's why the other houses don't generally like students from Slytherin.", I confirm.

"Then, why don't you care about not landing in Slytherin?", asked Cormac this time.

"That's beca-", but before I could finish I see Professor McGonagall come forward on the dais and put an old hat on a stool.

Then, she opened a long parchment and said, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

What you wear that dirty hat to get sorted? No, come on, do you do this every year? I won't go near that, that looks lice-infested.

Then the Professor started calling out names in alphabetical order. The students' whose name was called, went forward and sat on the stool, putting the hat on. The hat started squirming on their head, forming a sort of face.

Ohh~ so it's a magic item. I guess it doesn't have lice then.

After squirming a bit, the hat would scream out a house and that's the house the students' would get sorted in.

This is how you get sorted? Yep, makes sense. Clearly the most superior way of judging someone's qualities. At least, they don't drop us in a battle royale.

It doesn't matter what house I get, there are bigger fish to fry.

"Sol Balor.", the professor calls out my name.

I walk up to the dais, still in deep thought. I sit down on the stool and Professor McGonagall puts the hat on my head. I still wasn't fully conscious of what was happening rather I didn't care. No house is gonna stop me from achieving a peaceful life.

I feel a spiritual connection.

Must be the hat. First, I need to find a place to train. Yes, also a place to brew potions. Do they perhaps rent rooms here? Maybe...

I had endless thoughts meanwhile the hat was speaking in my mind, "Your heart is a bit complicated. You crave knowledge meaning you're knowledge-hungry which should sort you in Ravenclaw. But it seems that knowledge is only a means for you to acquire strength. So you're power-hungry like Slytherin. You're cunning as well, also like Slytherin. But you won't shy away from a challenge like Gryffindor. Rather, you'd always have your wits about you like Ravenclaw and won't recklessly charge in. You have enough confidence in your cunning, power, and wits which gives you the courage to tackle anything. It takes a great deal of work to make you loyal to someone but it seems when you find someone you can trust, you won't ever betray them like Hufflepuff. You're one of the few students I've found in this decade this difficult to sort. So, I'll ask you. Which house do you want?"

...Should I act like a genius and ace all my classes? It'd give me some good credit and help me out if I ever needed some help from the professors. No, acting like a genius is too much of a pain. People will always have high expectations of me and clamber around me. I don't need that. I should just act as a regular student. Yes, that's the way to live a quiet life...

Meanwhile, ten minutes have passed and the professors were getting more and more surprised. But I didn't know that. Suddenly, "Boy! Are you listening?", the hat called out to me.

Abruptly torn away from my plans, I say in a daze, "H-Huh, what? Yeah, j-just put me in Gryffindor or something."

"Are you sure? It may not be the best choice.", asked the Sorting Hat in confirmation.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure.", I tell him just so he could stop interrupting me.

The hat suddenly screams, "GRYFFINDOR!!"

That sudden scream broke me from my daze as the Gryffindor students started applauding.

"Huh, w-what happened?"