The Great Hall was full of chattering, giggling students and older students looking on. Dion stood with Dax towards the front of the line of newly-arrived first years, Dion standing with a straight back and high chin and Dax...well, Dax had found his usual way of lounging while apparently standing straight, his twin looking around with a passive sort of curiosity. They stood in their baggy uniforms, blond hair uncut and shaggy. Both were tall for their age, but slim.

"Wonder what house we'll be in?" Dax wondered, as the first students started to make their way to the stool. Dion kept his eye on the staff table, though, rather than the hat - even as the strange thing sang. He wasn't here to impress the hat or the older students; the teachers would be the ones he needed to study, to find ways to excel at all of their subjects. And to find a way to keep Dax up with him - he knew his twin wouldn't like the idea of homework. Dion's foot on Dax's back would be the only reason his twin didn't fail, he was sure.

Dion was used to that role - with a father constantly away on business and a mother who often didn't have time to deal with them, he had taken on the role of defacto man of the house...and Dax-wrangler. Mostly the latter.

Gryffindor! The hat had sorted a befreckled girl with short hair, and Dion now looked at the Sorting. With an F name, they weren't too far back in the line. The next student ran forward - a smaller girl with huge blue eyes and wild brown hair. The hat had barely touched her heat when it called out Hufflepuff.

It was when Dax's name was called, just ahead of his, that Dion felt the nervousness rise. He'd been trying to hold it back, to ignore it, but now the descision would be made. He'd been unable to guess at Dax's likely destination, house wise -

Hufflepuff! The call went out barely a moment after the hat had touched Dax's head, and Dion's face was stony for a moment as his brother grinned, heading for the table decorated in black and gold. It wasn't a..bad house choice, strictly speaking, but...

"Fayette, Dion!" Dion strode forward automatically, picking up the hat and sitting on the stool in one smooth movement. He sat the hat on his head and then crossed his arms.

Well, well. The hat's voice was whispery, slightly dark - definitely unsettling. Aren't you the different one? Not like your brother, no. He's unfocused, lives in the moment. You live for the future. Planning for it, are you? Got everything figured out for yourself already. Good, good. Ambition flows through your blood.

It was then Dion had a moment, a flicker, of doubt - certainly not due to being tempted towards Slytherin, Merlin no. But he'd always thought of himself as a Ravenclaw sort, not a Slytherin. He scowled darkly.

"Hufflepuff," he said, sternly - as stern as an eleven year old boy could be, when addressing a hat.

Ah, but Slytherin would serve you so well, the hat crooned. The connections, the power - the bloodlines and money are there, boy. All you'd have to do is show them...

The temptation was there, and Dion knew it, as much as he tried to deny it. The hat's words rang true - he'd be ahead in Slytherin. The children there had connections, the Professors were respectable...

He looked at Dax, who waved and grinned widely at him. Someone had dropped a black and gold scarf around his brother's shoulders already, and with that simple, lazy grin on Dax's face, the temptation vanished.

"Hufflepuff," he said firmly. The hat was silent a moment, and he wondered if it would disregard his choice. But in the end, the hat spoke to him once more, the whispery voice more amused than anything.

Loyalty, is it?...even before Dion could think much about that comment, the hat bellowed. "HUFFLEPUFF!"