Albus Potter and the Dream Staff

Hogwarts After

      In the mind of Albus Severus Potter, Hogwarts was the best thing that had ever happened to him in his life.
    For all the many times Mum and Dad and James had told him stories, nothing could have prepared him for the floating candles in the Great Hall or the huge mass of students seated on wooden benches.
    As he marveled all of this, he suddenly realized he and the other first years had reached the front of the hall near the staff table and a stool with a dilapidated, old patched hat. The Sorting Hat.
    A wriggle of nerves began squirming in his stomach. This was it. What if he didn't end up in Gryffindor? He would never hear the end of it from James. The crowd of students around him began to thin as names were called one by one.
    The blond boy he'd seen earlier on the platform was rubbing the knuckles of his fingers anxiously. Out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed his cousin Rose, distinguishable by her startling head of red hair. Trying to reassure himself, he watched as "Lidding, April" was called up and placed in Ravenclaw.
    "Malfoy, Scorpius," called the squat wizard reading the names off the parchment.
    The blond boy hesitated only a second before sauntering up to the stool upon which the hat sat. He placed the hat on his head and waited. And waited. Finally the hat shouted, "Slytherin!"
    Smirking, Scorpius Malfoy walked down to the table full of students decked in silver and green.
    Now Albus's nerves were growing, but he remembered what Dad had told him before he boarded the Hogwarts Express. "The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account." He took a deep breath and waited.
    "Potter, Albus!"
    A hush descended upon the entire hall and Albus could feel the weight of hundreds of eyes on his back. The silence was deafening.
    Someone squeezed his arm. He looked up to see Rose smiling at him. He took another deep breath and forced his legs to move toward the stool, hands sweating.
    Albus picked up the old hat, sat down on the stool and placed the hat on his head.
    There was a very tense moment where nothing happened. He panicked for a second- was he supposed to do something? Then a voice spoke into his ear.
    "So this is a son of the great Harry Potter. I sorted your father, and your mother too, all those years ago. Two years ago I sorted your brother. And now I will sort you."
    The Sorting Hat then preceded to go through Albus's mind. It was a most curious sensation, rather as if a balloon was slowly inflating in his head. The Hat combed through his thoughts and memories, making the occasional "Hmm...".
    But odder still was when the balloon sensation finally stopped, it occurred to Albus that the whole process had taken barely a second.
    "Well," said the Sorting Hat, "I think-"
    I don't want to be in Slytherin, thought Albus.
      "You don't want to be in Slytherin? Ahh, your father said the same thing. But neither of you understands how great you can become. What you can do for Slytherin. I know that you think that all witches and wizards in Slytherin are bad, but I can tell you that is not true! It's all about who you are and how you decide to use your ambition. How you decide to pursue your dreams. You have a good mind and a strong desire to prove yourself, which would work well in Slytherin. I can tell you now that you would be great in whatever house you're in, but the final decision is yours."
    Albus thought of the wizard he was named after suddenly, Severus Snape, and his dad's words on how he was the bravest wizard he'd ever met. And then he made his decision.
    Ok, he thought to the Sorting Hat.
    "Well, if you're sure, then... SLYTHERIN!