Cas sighed. "It will have to wait. Until the Sorting Hat has placed you in one of the Houses, you're bound to this room. And before you ask, I don't know how it's done or any way around it." He was also a bit stymied as to how to go about obtaining that information. The Hat kept its own counsel, and the occasional rampaging terrorbear aside, its power over this place seemed absolute.

"Try to contain your displeasure, brother," he added. "The wait is a harmless formality, and all who dwell here have endured it." Granted, many of them weren't especially pleased about it. "Neither Heaven nor Hell holds sway in this place, and it isn't possible to die here."