Oho! A Hatstall!

Warning: This post contains Pottermore spoilers.

You heard/read me right. I overheard from a student from my Charms class that hatstalls in Pottermore are actually possible! What's more is that, the lucky few who gets to be hatstalls have the privilege to choose which house they prefer. Who's jealous?

Here's a screenshot of how hatstalls look like in Pottermore:

If you're wondering what a hatstall is, it's because the term was never introduced in the books. But Pottermore included it in one of the "New from JK Rowling" exclusive content. Put it simply, a hatstall is someone who takes a very longtime to get sorted by the Sorting Hat.

To be more precise, this is how Pottermore explains it:

An archaic Hogwarts term for any new student whose Sorting takes longer than five minutes. This is an exceptionally long time for the Sorting Hat to deliberate, and occurs rarely, perhaps once every fifty years.

Of Harry Potter’s contemporaries, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom came closest to being Hatstalls. The Sorting Hat spent nearly four minutes trying to decide whether it should place Hermione in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. In Neville's case, the Hat was determined to place him in Gryffindor: Neville, intimidated by that house’s reputation for bravery, requested a placing in Hufflepuff. Their silent wrangling resulted in triumph for the Hat.

The Sorting Ceremony

WARNING! BIG SPOILER ALERT
Halt! If you want haven't played Pottermore yet and you want to optimize your experience. 
Scroll down if you still want to read more. 












































The following are screenshots and a list of questions from the Sorting Ceremony at Pottermore. In order to be sorted, you'll be taking a quiz, kind of like a personality quiz with no right or wrong answer. Your answers will be the basis for which house you'll end up with: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.


The questions you are given have a sort of randomness. Here are a list of known Sorting Hat question:

In a fire, in which order would you save a nearly perfected cure for dragon pox that the headmaster has been working on for years, student school records dating back 1000 years and Merlin's book? 

• cure, records, book 
• cure, book, records 
• records, cure, book 
• records, book, cure 
•  book, cure, records 
• book, records, cure 

A troll has gone berserk in the Headmaster’s study at Hogwarts. It is about to smash, crush and tear several irreplaceable items and treasures, including a cure for dragon pox, which the Headmaster has nearly perfected; student records going back 1000 years and a mysterious handwritten book full of strange runes, believed to have belonged to Merlin. In which order would you rescue these objects from the troll’s club, if you could?

Select order:

• Book/Records/Cure
• Book/Cure/Records
• Cure/Book/Records
• Cure/Records/Book
• Records/Cure/Book
• Records/Book/Cure

Which of the following would you most hate people to call you?

•  Ordinary
• Ignorant
• Cowardly
• Selfish

Which would you rather be:

• Envied?
• Imitated?
• Trusted?
• Praised?
• Liked?
• Feared?

Once every century, the Flutterby bush produces flowers that adapt their scent to attract the unwary. If it tried to lure you, it would smell of:

• A crackling log fire
• The sea
• Fresh parchment
• Home

Which of the following do you find the most difficult to deal with?

• Hunger
• Cold
• Loneliness
• Boredom
• Being ignored

Four goblets are placed before you. Which would you choose to drink?

• The foaming, frothing, silvery liquid that sparkles as though containing ground diamonds.  
• The smooth, thick, richly purple drink that gives off a delicious smell of chocolate and plums.  
• The golden liquid so bright that it hurts the eye, and which makes sunspots dance all around the room.
• The mysterious black liquid that gleams like ink, and gives off fumes that make you see strange visions.

Four boxes are placed before you. Which would you try and open

• The small tortoiseshell box, embellished with gold, inside which some small creature seems to be squeaking.
• The gleaming jet black box with a silver lock and key, marked with a mysterious rune that you know to be the mark of Merlin.
• The ornate golden casket, standing on clawed feet, whose inscription warns that both secret knowledge and unbearable temptation lie within.
• The small pewter box, unassuming and plain, with a scratched message upon it that reads ‘I open only for the worthy.’  

Which of the following would you most like to study?

• Centaurs
• Goblins
• Merpeople
• Ghosts
• Vampires
• Werewolves
• Trolls

A Muggle confronts you and says that they are sure you are a witch or wizard. Do you:

• Ask what makes them think so?
• Agree, and ask whether they’d like a free sample of a jinx?
• Agree, and walk away, leaving them to wonder whether you are bluffing?
• Tell them that you are worried about their mental health, and offer to call a doctor.

One of your house mates has cheated in a Hogwarts exam by using a Self-Spelling Quill. Now he has come top of the class in Charms, beating you into second place. Professor Flitwick is suspicious of what happened. He draws you to one side after his lesson and asks you whether or not your classmate used a forbidden quill. What do you do?

• Lie and say you don’t know (but hope that somebody else tells Professor Flitwick the truth).
• Tell Professor Flitwick that he ought to ask your classmate (and resolve to tell your classmate that if he doesn’t tell the truth, you will).
• Tell Professor Flitwick the truth. If your classmate is prepared to win by cheating, he deserves to be found out. Also, as you are both in the same house, any points he loses will be regained by you, for coming first in his place.
• You would not wait to be asked to tell Professor Flitwick the truth. If you knew that somebody was using a forbidden quill, you would tell the teacher before the exam started.

What are you most excited to learn about at Hogwarts? 

• Apparition 
• Everything magic 
• Transfiguration 
• Flying brooms 
• Hexes and curses 
• Magical creatures 
• Exploring the castle 

How would you like to be known to history?

• The Wise  
• The Good
• The Great
• The Bold

Which path would you take? 

• Through the forest 
• To the castle 
•  On the beach 

Black or white?

• Black
• White

Heads or tails?

• Heads
• Tails

Dawn or dusk?

• Dawn
• Dusk

Moon or stars?

• Moon
• Stars

Left or right?

• Left
• Right

It is debatable which choices points you to which house. However, if you want to figure it out on your own, you can study first about the qualities embodied by the different houses. Be warned that they're not exactly how they've been portrayed in the books. You'll be surprised about what you learn about the other houses and you'll find that you have many misconceived ideas about them. Pottermore reveals a more complete view of the different houses, which I will be sharing on my next post! Before I forget, here are the screenshots I've promised: