Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling and therefore do not own Harry potter or any of the other cannon characters.

Five Professors sat in front of me, looking at me expectantly. In my hands I held a tattered hat- Godric Gryffindor's. I wished that I had a little more privacy at this stage. Was I actually supposed to do this here?

"Please sit Miss Megh", said my new headmaster looking just as he had when he'd waved at me out of my first chocolate frog card.

I didn't sit down. It made me uncomfortable. Back in my old school we were taught not to before the Professors did. As if sensing this Professor Dumbledore sat down behind his desk and the rest of them followed his lead. I sat on the rickety three legged stool offered to me and put the Sorting Hat on my head.

I waited- nothing happened. I opened my mouth to tell them that something was wrong- when it spoke. "Parineeta is an unusual name", it said.

"Indian" I whispered.

"Of course. You don't need to tell me that. I can see it all in your head Ms. Megh. The good things and the band things and-", it's voice shook, " the terrible things."

I gripped the stool on both sides hard. My knuckles turned white.

"You have loyalty yes, but you are not stupid. You know when to take a friend's side and when to turn your back. I'm very inclined to place you in Ravenclaw. You have a good brain and you crave knowledge. You also have the Ravenclaw pride. Slytherin won't do for you nor will Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff's are content with being content. An admirable trait don't you agree? And a certain degree of selflessness that, no offense, you lack. I don't think you will stop at contentment, will you? So where does that leave us? Ravenclaw seems to be the logical choice. "

I made a move to take the hat of my head. It wouldn't be a moment too soon. It's musings were- to say the least- disturbing and the fact that it could read my mind was not only unsettling- it was downright dangerous.

"Wait!" the hat said and I reluctantly stopped. The tone of its voice was peculiar, almost giddy.

"I'll take a gamble." It said in the same tone of voice. "I can't see the future but I do sense possibilities. It will be GRYFFINDOR! ". It shouted the last word out loud. It went limp on my head and I pulled it off, I was glad that the talking hat's monologue was over.

Professor Dumbledore beamed. It was as if my sorting had been the most joyous occasion he had witnessed for a year.

"Professor Mcgonagall ", he said. " I believe you get Ms. Megh ". He inclined his head to a tall thin woman. Her profile was stern and rigid but she smiled and her welcoming smile was genuine.

"These are the other heads of houses", Professor Dumbledore addressed me and I stood up. He introduced me to them. The head of Ravenclaw was also the charms Professor, Professor Flitwick, a dwarf-like man with white hair and a beard. The head of Hufflepuff was a woman, Professor Sprout who taught herbology. She had flyaway gray hair and her fingers were stained with mud. And last the round, jovial looking man was the head of Slytherin. He also taught potions.

Professor Mcgonagall handed me a slip of paper. "This has your password on it. Come on now Ms. Megh."

I tensed. I wanted my transition into this new school to be as inconspicuous as possible. Definitely a hard task. I was joining at the beginning of the seventh year. People were bound to ask questions and I had to be evasive.

"Just a few more things", said Professor Dumbledore. "Your Charms and Potions seem to be at a more advanced level than needed for your N.E.W.T.s. ". It should be since I was training to be a healer. We did specialised training back in beaxbatons, fourth year onwards after three years of general studies. I had just given my owls the year before. The system was poles apart at Hogwarts.

"Your Transfiguration borders on acceptable. I'm sure you will catch up." I grimaced. Transfiguration was one of my weaker subjects and as a true aspiring healer I hated this reminder of my weakness. But worse was yet to come.

"Your Defence Against The Dark Arts however need a lot of work." I kept my face expressionless. As a healer I'd never had to study Defence. Which of course had ultimately been my undoing. Not knowing how to fight, how to defend myself had put me in the position I was that day. And since I made no move to complete my incomplete education, my father had apparently taken the matter in his own hands and Professor Dumbledore was probably doing him a favour by placing me in a class I was clearly unqualified for.

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his half moon glasses like who knew exactly what I was thinking. He was kind of reassuring. He seemed to be a really nice guy.

"Of course Professor, I'll do my best", I recited dutifully.

"And of course we should let Ms. Megh find her own way to the common room." I tried not to let my relief show as Professor Mcgonagall gave me directions. I thanked the heads and wondered if they knew about my . . . history. It seemed probable and this thought did not make me any less uncomfortable.

Still, I left the office optimistic. Hogwarts had a larger student body than Beauxbatons- almost triple. Maybe I'd slip in without much ado, fit in as part of the routine. Maybe no one would notice one more girl in their classes, one more girl sitting with them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

One could hope.

I was supposed to take the second left and go down two flights of stairs. I was halfway down the first flight when the entire thing moved. I lurched afraid and held the railing tightly with both hands as the entire thing shifted itself to another corridor. All around me similar movements were performed by the other flights of stairs. Nobody else was around. The curfew was at ten and it was ten-oh-five. The corridor I was supposed to be in was diagonally opposite but if the staircases of Hogwarts moved around often I really couldn't be sure if I was right.

So what was I supposed to do?

I decided to go down one more flight. That way I'd at least be on the same level my new common room supposedly was.

I ran down the nearest flight of stairs but when I reached the third to last one my foot sank right into it and I lurched to a stop. I tried to pull myself out but my foot just sank in further. It was now up to mid calf.

Tears of frustration sprang to my eyes and I took deep breaths trying to keep the hysteria at bay. But I was just so hard. I was bright, hardworking and capable. I had had I very promising future ahead of me. For almost eighteen years of life I had gone without a blemish on my record. So how did it come to this?

Here I was. Expelled from the school I'd studied in for six years. Fresh out of a broken engagement. And it was the first day of my new school and I had already broken curfew. I had no idea where my new common room was or how I was to get to it. And to top it all off, my foot was stuck in the middle of the staircase.

So I did something I was not very proud of. I sat down and started bawling. I was tired and nervous and my leg hurt. Things couldn't have gotten worse. Then it did.

I thought that there was no one there to see me.

I was wrong.

We saw each other at the same time. He was sauntering with a bit of parchment in one hand. He didn't seem surprised to see me but I was pretty surprised to see him. His pace was slow and almost luxurious, like it wasn't after curfew and he had no reason to hurry.

But he did seem very uncomfortable with the tears. I was mortified. Seems I had another thing to add to my list of grievances.

I quickly wiped my eyes with the sleeves of my robes and when I looked up I saw that he had offered me a white handkerchief but seeing I was done, he put it back.

"Need help there?" he indicated to where my leg was trapped.

"Yes please", I said. But my grip immediately tightened on my wand. I had definitely learned from past experiences. In this new school I was definitely not going to be little red riding hood lost in the woods. He walked up to the second last step and using both hands, he hoisted me up.

For that one moment we were so close that I could smell him and I took an involuntary deep breath. Mint. And. . . . Soap? Not one of those masculine ones but one of those 'unscented' ones that did have a very faint fragrance.

So close that if I tilted my head up ever so slightly I could look into his eyes. So light that they looked gray.

So close that if I tilted my head down I saw his lips. His extremely kissable lips and the stubble made it even more appealing.

In other words- too close for comfort.

I tightened my grip on my wand and my knuckles turned white.

Dark hair that he kept much too long. He was around an inch or two taller than me. He had strong features and a well defined jaw line. Very attractive.

Very very attractive.

He took a step back. My wand was poking him in the ribs.

"Sorry", I said. But even though I shifted it slightly I didn't loosen my grip.

He looked at me curiously. He was waiting for something.

"Thank you." I said.

He dismissed that. "You're welcome"

We stood facing each other in awkward silence. He had a slightly haughty expression on his face. It wasn't offensive or anything. It seemed to be an unconscious thing.

Well somebody had to break the silence.

"Could you- Could you show me where the Gryffindor Common Room is?"

Getting help was preferable to wandering around without a clue looking for the damn corridor.

He relaxed slightly perhaps relived that I didn't look like I was going to burst into tears again. He relaxed and started walking. Presumably leading me to the elusive corridor that housed the entrance of my new common room.

"Gryffindor ?", he asked. "Bit late aren't you?".

I couldn't figure out if he meant late that day since it was almost three hours since the starting of the year feast, or late in my education years considering I couldn't even be mistaken for someone younger than seventeen. In fact I had turned eighteen three months ago.

I decided to just assume the later. "Failed the first six times." I said and shrugged with one of those 'what can you do?' expressions.

"Honestly." He frowned. "Isn't seventh year a bit late?"

"I'm a transfer." I said.

There was a pause as he waited for me to elaborate. Again.

Which I didn't. Again.

He stopped suddenly and I panicked. The grip on my wand tightened again and I raised it about half an inch. Luckily he didn't seem to notice as he gestured to a portrait in front of us. The painter had depicted a middle aged lady of voluminous proportions dressed in pale pink silk.

"Password?", she asked pleasantly.

That was my cue.

"Uh. . . ", I scrambled for the piece of paper." Right. . . Polyjuice Potion."

"Friend of yours, Love?" she said as she swung open. Took me a moment to figure out that she was talking to the boy.

"New student Fanny", he said as a circular entryway was revealed. "Ladies first.", he said with a gallant flourish and as I climbed through it I could feel the portraits curious eyes following me.

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