"Firs' Years over here!" A deep voice boomed out into the darkness, a bearded face lit by a lantern he held aloft. "Hagrid!" Albus cried out recognising the half-giant. The trio walked towards Hagrid and when the rest of the first years had all arrived in a scared huddle before the man-mountain, he turned and led them along a winding trail, lit by flaming torches every metre on both sides, down towards a jetty where small boats were floating next to the wooden jetty. On the front of each boat a lantern hung from a curved metal holder. Scorpius, Rose, and Albus got into one boat together, and at a cry from Hagrid "Four to a boat!" a small girl climbed into their boat and sat at the edge. Scorpius raised his eyebrow and turned to look at Rose, who shrugged. Albus decided to speak first "I'm Albus, this is Scorpius…"
"Hey" Scorpius said nodding.
"…And Rose" Albus finished indicating his cousin.
"Hello" Rose smiled at the girl who smiled nervously back.
"I…I'm Siobhan." She stammered, her hand reaching up to mess with her curls, which tumbled down around her shoulder in a curly ponytail.
"Everyone in? Right, Forward!" Hagrid yelled and the boats suddenly started moving and Siobhan started, and Albus grabbed her arm and held her steady, Albus smiled at her and started talking to her about where she came from and her history. Scorpius and Rose listened in and made comments every now and again, but Albus was mostly talking to her and keeping her talking. The trio learned that she was a Muggle-born girl from a small town near Chester called Macclesfield. Her parents were artists, and so she had picked up her skills from them. Whilst she was an artist, she was very nervous and shy, but she started to talk more and more as the trip went on, and they learnt more and more. She was very smart, and had read some of the books on the trip up, but hadn't memorised any like Rose had ("You've actually read Hogwarts: A History?" Scorpius said raising his eyebrows, looking at Albus who looked as baffled as him, whilst Rose shook her head and said to Siobhan "Boys, tch").
A little while after setting off, Hagrid yelled out "You'll be getting your firs' look at Hogwarts in a moment, jus' around this bend." And, to much oooing and ahhing, Hogwarts came into view. The towers stood illuminated against the starry night sky, the full moon was hanging in the air over the highest tower, shining down and casting flickering reflections in the water.
Ten minutes after they had first seen Hogwarts, the little boats pulled up at a pier, and after checking that everyone was out of the boats, led the group of first years up to the massive wooden front doors, where a tall thin woman stood in front of them, hands clasped behind her back, a pointed hat perched on her grey hair.
"Hagrid, right on time." She said, her voice crisp in the night air.
"Professor Francis" Hagrid said as he stopped before her.
"Follow me." Professor Francis said and turned to the doors, which opened before her, and as Hagrid stood to one side, the group of 11 year old soon-to-be students followed her down the Entrance Hall, past a massive staircase in the centre, directly opposite the doors, to a stone corridor lined with torches, and opened the door to a small room. As the group trailed in slowly past her to the room and filled it, they turned to face her as they realised there was nothing there.
"In a moment you will follow me into the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your individual houses. Whilst in your houses, doing them proud will earn you points for your houses, whereas points will be lost for rule-breaking." At which point Professor Francis turned around and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, frantic whispering broke out amongst the first years.
Albus looked slightly worried, "What do we do at the sorting? How do they sort us?"
Rose turned to him "I asked Dad and he just burst out laughing and told me that we'd have to fight a troll…"
Scorpius and Siobhan paled immediately, and Siobhan started to mess with her ponytail again. The frantic whispering continued for five minutes before the door opened and Professor Francis stood in the open doorway.
"Follow me to the Great Hall."
She immediately turned again, and led the way back out into the corridor, around a corner and up a staircase and they found themselves at the top of the massive staircase opposite the front doors. The followed the deep red carpet for about a minute in total silence, before they came to two tall ornate doors. Professor Francis turned to face the group once more. "When you follow me into the Great Hall, you will stand in a group when I tell you to stop. Then, when I call forth your name, you will sit on the stool, and try on the Sorting Hat, where it will shout out your house. You will then go sit on the table with your housemates." She turned to face the doors, and walked towards them, and they opened inwards to let her and the group of first years in.
Rose looked thunderous as she heard that, and Albus smiled as he recognised the look on Rose's face. 'Uncle Ron's gonna be in trouble when Rose gets hold of him' he thought as he followed Scorpius behind Rose, with Siobhan behind him. As they walked past myriads of students, all wearing their Hogwarts robes with their house colours proudly presented on their chests, sitting on the four long tables – Gryffindor on the far right, with Ravenclaw next to them, with Slytherin next to them, and Hufflepuff on the far left – they all felt hundreds of eyes on them as they walked between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables towards a small space of ground in front of the long table that stood at the far end of the hall. As they walked they stared up at the ceiling, the starry sky mixing in with the rafters so that the first year students couldn't tell what was part of the building and what was sky. Siobhan's mouth opened wide as she stared up, realising that no amount of reading could have prepared her for it.
Finally Professor Francis stopped in front of the stool, with the old, battered black hat on it. She turned, holding a scroll in her hands that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. "When I call your name, sit on the stool, and put the hat on." The first years looked at each other nervously.
"Abbot, Clarence"
A girl with brown pigtails blinked nervously before walking up to the stool. She sat down and Professor Francis placed the hat on her head. It stayed still for a few minutes, before a small slip near the rim opened a voice called out:
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Cheering erupted from the table on the far right as the yellow clad students clapped and cheered as she took the hat off and ran towards the table, taking her place amongst them.
The names continued to be called, and when "Lanet, Jamie" became a Slytherin, Scorpius went completely white.
"Malfoy, Scorpius."
Scorpius stayed rooted to the spot for a second or two, before slowly walking up to the stool. The hat was placed on his head and he closed his eyes. The hat stayed on his head longer than anyone else's so far. Rose and Albus looked at each other, and Siobhan looked worried. Eventually, after five minutes of silence, the hat cried out "GRYFFINDOR!"
The smile on Scorpius' face couldn't have been wider. The Gryffindors cheered, although not as loudly as they had for some of the others who had been sorted into their houses. Rose looked around, and saw that the Slytherins had a mix of joy and disgust on their faces, which did make her wonder. She missed the next two sorting's, but looked up when "O'Neill, Siobhan" was called. Siobhan looked up frightened, and started to walk towards the stool slowly, as if she dreaded every step. She sat down on the stool, and the hat barely had time to touch her head before it screamed "RAVENCLAW!"
She smiled and jumped off the chair to cheers from the Ravenclaw table. Albus smiled as well, nodding to her as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table, and she smiled back. "Potter, Albus." The room went silent. Rose looked at her cousin. He was muttering something under his breath as he walked past her to the stool. She wondered what he was saying, and whilst she (and no one else) couldn't hear the mantra Albus was muttering, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin." He hoped it would work. He sat down on the stool, and the hat was placed on his head.
"Hmmm, a Potter eh? What shall we do with you? The way of your brother and parents? Or shall we follow your ambition and cunning, large that they are, and put you in Slytherin? Or maybe your bravery and loyalty for Hufflepuff? Hmmm…a difficult decision to be sure."
"Not Slytherin. Not Slytherin." Albus was whispering
"You take after your father then? Following his advice will work here as well, and so it's obvious where you need to go…GRYFFINDOR!"
Albus grinned almost as wide as Scorpius had, and walked over to the Gryffindor table to cheers from the Gryffindor table. James and Fred jumped up and slapped Albus on the back as he sat down next to Scorpius grinning like an idiot.
Rose smiled and started to worry. She didn't want to be last, but was fairly certain that there wouldn't be any more first years after her. As the rest of the first years were sorted, it was finally time for her to be sorted. "Weasley, Rose."
She gulped and walked up to the stool.
"Well, well a Weasley eh? The number of Weasleys I've sorted over the years…before a while ago it was the easiest thing to sort you all. However recently, it has become more difficult. A couple of you have been in Ravenclaw, and some in Gryffindor. Hmmm, it is simply a question of where to put you…you are brave and courageous, but also highly intelligent. Hmmm…I went with Gryffindor for your mother, but I think you will do better in…RAVENCLAW!"
Rose opened her eyes. The Ravenclaw table were cheering loudly and Siobhan looked happy as hell. She ran over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down next to Siobhan, with Albus and Scorpius directly behind them on the Gryffindor table.
A tall, elderly witch stood up and the hall quietened down as she raised her hands for silence. "Hello, and welcome. To all those who have come before, I welcome you back, and to those who come for the first time, I am Professor Wandritch, and I welcome you to Hogwarts. Now, I have no time for long-winded speeches, as much as Professor Finch would like me to give one, so I will say only this: Enjoy yourselves, and dig in!" And at her words, the tables and plates became covered in food. As the food filled the tables and plates, Siobhan gasped in amazement, before tucking in to some pork chops and chicken drumsticks. Rose laughed as she piled vegetables and lamb onto her plate, whilst Scorpius and Albus started to pile food onto their plate, grabbing nearly everything in reach. As the mains faded away, and dessert started to appear, Rose looked up as she heard her cousin Victoire say angrily "What did you just say?" The room quietened slightly, and several people turned to look at the Ravenclaw table.
Victoire had turned around to face the Slytherin table, where two first year girls had been talking. They turned to face Victoire with a vicious look on their face.
"Nothing much Weasel, just that you and your cousin can't be proper Weasley's, you might look like them, but that's it. Can't be a proper Weasley if you're in Ravenclaw, every Weasley goes in Gryffindor," they sneered.
Rose went pale. Was her dad really kidding when he said he'd disinherit her if she wasn't in Gryffindor? Victoire was the only other Weasley in Ravenclaw, but she was Head Girl and had been getting brilliant grades from the start, so there wasn't anywhere else she could have gone. But every other Weasley was in Gryffindor. Same with the Potters. Did she really belong with her family if she was in Ravenclaw?
Victoire's face was contorted with anger. Before she got a chance to speak however, another voice yelled out, "Say that again why don't you!" Albus, Fred, James, and the rest of the Weasley/Potter clan had heard and risen to their feet. They were staring furiously at the Slytherin table.
The two girls laughed along with a group of other Slytherins. "What a surprise, the whole clan gets up. But are there any others who disagree with us?"
Scorpius yelled out "I do."
James looked at him in surprise. Was a Malfoy actually standing up for them? Yeah, he'd heard from his dad that Draco Malfoy and his mother had helped his dad and the other Aurors prosecute the Death Eaters and given evidence against them, and then voluntarily gone to Azkaban for their parts in the atrocities committed during the war, but he was still surprised.
One of the older boys laughed, "What a surprise, the bastard dog of one of the greatest blood traitors ever and a mudblood stands up for other blood traitors. What a match."
Scorpius went a mix of pale and pink and looked down. Albus and Rose looked furious, but before either of them had a chance, the boy crumpled backwards over the table, plants growing from his nose. Everyone turned to look at James, who twirled his wand around his fingers before pocketing it. Cheers and laughter sprang up from the tables as the other boy got back up to his feet and stared at James in fury. He reached for his wand, but a voice roared out over the crowd "DESIST IMMEDIATELY!"
Everyone turned to look at Professor Finch who was striding down the Great Hall towards the group. The Slytherin hesitated before lowering his hand.
"DISGRACEFUL. UTTERLY DISGRACEFUL!" She bellowed, "Fifty points from Slytherin and a hundred from Gryffindor. Hoxen you will serve detention with me every night this week for those comments. Nott and Patrick will join you." She indicated the older boy and the two first year Slytherins. "And as for you!" She turned to face James, "You…"
"Will face detention with me. As he is in my house and not yours Matilda." A small professor was walking down from the teacher's table. "James, you will serve detention with me for the rest of the week for that curse. Hoxen, to the Hospital Wing, now. Madam Pomfrey will fix you up, unless that happens to be the latest comedy curse from Weasley's Wizards Wheezes?" His eyes sparkled in amusement.
James smiled, "What do you know, it happens to be just that, Professor Stratus."
Professor Stratus smiled, "Well that does produce a problem then does it not? Those curses are devilishly tricky to remove without the correct counter curse. Fred, you are to write to your father tonight asking for the counter-curse. Within a week. It would be most dreadful if poor Hoxen here had to suffer those plants for very long wouldn't it?" His eyes sparkled again. "Now, as I mustn't show favouritism, James you will spend the next month in detention with me. Do you understand?"
James sighed, "Yes Professor."
Professor Stratus smiled, "And may I just say that you live up to your namesakes? I had the fortune of being with them at this school, and you live up to your namesakes most adequately. From what I've heard of your namesake, Fred, you live up to him and your father as well."
The smiles on James and Fred's faces couldn't have been bigger. James bowed in a grand gesture, and pretended to wipe a tear away from his eye "That's the best compliment I've ever received Sir. Thank you."
Professor Wandritch clapped her hands. "That's enough excitement for tonight. Prefects if you would lead the first years back to their houses it would be most appreciated. To bed!" And saying so, she hopped down from the dais where the teacher's table stood, and swept out before the students.
As Siobhan and Rose climbed into their dormitory with their roommates, Alexis, Elizabeth (or Lizzie as she preferred), and June, they were all talking nervously. "That was incredible!"
"The way your brother cursed him that quickly when he's only a third year was unreal Rose!"
"Do you know if James has a girlfriend? And if he likes younger girls?"
"The way Malfoy stood up for you as well Rose, didn't realise he was like that, guess I thought he was like his father…"
Rose smiled and laughed with the rest of them, and Siobhan joined in every now and again, but they all made sure she felt part of the group. As Rose lay down to go to sleep, Siobhan turned in the bed next to her, "I wasn't expecting that for a first day…"
"That wasn't even the first day, that was just the first evening…Merlin knows what the first day will be like…"
Rose rolled out of bed the following morning to find Lizzie and Alexis arguing over whether to rush down to get a good breakfast, or to try and put some makeup on to make a good impression first day. June was yawning on her bed and Siobhan was still sleeping in hers, the covers pulled up tight around her head. June shook her head at Lizzie and Alexis and pulled her robes on over her head. Rose looked at June, as she stood up, taking in the dark black hair that reached her hips, held back with a bronze pin of an eagle that June had said last night belonged to her mother, who had given it to her as a lucky charm to get into Ravenclaw. It had clearly worked. June stood quite tall for her age, brilliant blue eyes staring out, taking everything in, she'd already decided on being an Auror when she was older, and had proven that she was well suited to it by making guesses about the other four girls in her dorm that turned out to be correct – Rose loved wizard plays, but was a terrible actor, Siobhan was a bookworm, and loved to write, whilst the identical twins Alexis and Lizzie were both boy-crazy and very similar. Alexis and Lizzie were both brown-haired, with Lizzie having her hair cut quite short, barely reaching past her ears in a boyish style, whilst Alexis wore hers down to her shoulder blades. Lizzie seemed to prefer boyish clothes, whilst Alexis went for the girlish look, but despite that, they seemed to have the same taste and fashion sense, with Lizzie and Alexis sharing makeup together.
Rose and the others charged down to breakfast, Alexis and Lizzie still arguing over their eyeliner. Rose slid down into a seat with her back to the Gryffindor table, and Siobhan and the others joined her, Alexis and Lizzie sitting opposite Rose. "Might as well start the day well," Rose said and three rashers of bacon, toast, crumpets and some raspberries appeared on her plate.
Lizzie chuckled, "I'm not sure I'm ever going to get used to seeing food appear like that," as a bowl of cereal topped with strawberries and a glass of orange juice appeared in front of her, and the same in front of Alexis. June raised her eyes "Same in everything?"
Alexis laughed, "Yep, that's why we cut our hair differently, otherwise no one could tell us apart."
That reminded Rose of a story her dad had told her once "That's sort of like my Uncle and his twin, only they did everything the same, and enjoyed fooling others."
As Siobhan tucked into her grapefruit, Albus dropped himself down behind Rose, with Malfoy and another boy sitting down next to him. "Morning girls," Albus laughed as he turned in his seat to talk to them. "I have not had the pleasure of your company or your names yet, mine is Albus Potter, although everyone calls me Al" he did a little bow in his seat.
Rose burst out laughing. "Albus Severus Potter since when have you turned into James?" Malfoy laughed, as did the other Gryffindor next to him at Rose's rebuttal.
Albus looked embarrassed and muttered something about "…trying to give a good first impression…"
Malfoy looked at the others, "I'm Scorpius Malfoy," Alexis and Lizzie's eyes went dark and narrowed immediately, "And I am nothing at all like my father or grandfather, as you probably saw last night at dinner. Although I know you won't believe me until I prove it, but hopefully you'll give me a chance."
The third boy smiled "I'm Lance, Lance McCall, originally from Derry, but my dad moved over to Edinburgh two years ago and took me with him, him being the wizard outta me parents." He spoke with a weird mix of Irish and Scottish in his accent and smiled at each of the girls in turn, and brushed a lock of black hair out of his eyes.
Alexis and Lizzie smiled warmly at him, and said in unison "We're Alexis and Lizzie" they indicated each other as they said it, "And both our parents are magic." The others introduced themselves, with Siobhan being the only muggleborn amongst them and June having a Muggle father and a witch mother. Introductions done, the boys turned around to eat breakfast, and a couple of Professors started walking along handing out timetables, Professor Stratus walked along to Al and the others, and handed their timetables out, grinning at Al as he did so, who raised his eyebrows as the Professor walked away.
Malfoy turned to Rose, "So, what have you got first? We're stuck in Potions with the Slytherins, oh joy of joys."
Rose laughed "We've got Herbology with Uncle Neville and the Hufflepuffs first, so it could be worse."
Malfoy and the others raised their eyebrows, "Uncle Neville?" Alexis said, grinning slightly.
Rose blanched "Err, I mean Professor Longbottom."
All of the girls other than Siobhan burst out laughing, "It's okay Rose," June said, "We know that he's one of the DA, and was good friends with your Uncle, so it's no surprise that you call him Uncle."
"Err, I don't want to sound stupid, but DA?" Siobhan asked, looking confused.
Everyone turned to look at her. "How can you not know?" Alexis asked looking astonished.
"Muggle-born remember?" Siobhan reminded them.
"Oh yeah…"
"Who wants to take this question then?" Albus said, looking at everyone. When no one answered he sighed, "Fine, I'll tell the story then. Almost 20 years ago, there was the Wizarding War, which you've probably heard of if you've read anything factual written in the last five years?" Albus looked at Siobhan hopefully, and she nodded, "Phew, that's good to know, wouldn't have time to explain the whole war, or what came before it, but the DA, which stands for Dumbledore's Army, were basically a group of teenagers led by my Dad that fought against Voldemort" A couple of gasps went up from Alexis and Lizzie, "And they won. Uncle Neville was one of them, as were my parents, Rose's parents, and quite a few others. After the war, they finished school, as a few of them, Rose's parents and my dad, had left to do what they had to. Then life went on as we know it. Or at least that's how my Dad explained it. And the DA have been coming round for dinners and stuff every so often for the past few years, and Uncle Neville in particular."
Siobhan nodded in comprehension, "So Professor Longbottom has been coming round your house loads, so you know him pretty well then?"
Albus nodded "Yeah, he's been round loads, he gets on well with Aunt Audrey, who's a herbologist as well, so Molly" he pointed out a girl with short hair sitting further along on the Gryffindor table with three other girls and two guys, "knows him really well. She'll probably try and get some favouritism from him, but that hasn't worked for anyone else so far, but you never know."
"Why hasn't trying to get favouritism worked yet? If he's a friend of the family then surely he should give you a bit of favouritism?" Alexis asked looking slightly confused.
"Because Uncle Neville is determined to be fair to everyone, so whilst he's nice outside of lessons, he's fair in them to everyone." Rose replied, then looked up at the clock on the wall "Merlin! We've got five minutes to get down to the greenhouses!"
Albus laughed, "Typical Rose, doesn't want to be late first lesson."
"And we do?" Scorpius said grabbing a piece of toast and climbing to his feet.
"No, we don't. So let's go. Ladies, I will see you soon if fate permits it." Albus bowed again, to sniggers from Lance and Scorpius.
Alexis and Lizzie giggled and got up as well, and Rose, Siobhan and June followed them down to the greenhouses, whilst Albus, Lance and Scorpius went down the stairs to the dungeons and Potions.
Rose's first Herbology lesson started with a laugh, as Professor Longbottom was tripped up by a trailing vine as he walked into Greenhouse 1 to the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs standing in small groups of friends. As Professor Longbottom straightened up and flattened his robes down, he chuckled to himself before facing the class, "How many people got tripped up by this little trickster here when they walked into the greenhouse?" A few shaky hands rose slightly as they looked around trying to not seem too foolish. Professor Longbottom chuckled again "I'm surprised not more than six of you got tripped up by this vine here. Trickstus Trinitus was developed as a small safety feature by a group of witches who wanted to keep unsuspecting wizards and witches away from their valuable herbs and plants. They used it as a sort of trip wire as I believe the Muggles call them, where the person would trip over the vine and usually end up in a hidden pit or, much more likely, a plant by the name of Dionaea Muscipula Magicus, or the Magic Venus Fly Trap. Not a very inventive name, but simple and explained what happened. The unaware victim would trip over the vine and fall into the trap, where it would be caught and held until the owners came along and said the counter spell to open the trap, as the plant was immune to the vast majority of spells from the inside. Ingenious in some ways, but foolish in others. Especially when one of the witches setting the trap fell into her own plant and couldn't get out. She eventually managed to break free by eating her way out." Several students moaned and a couple put hands to their mouths, "Yes, I suspect it was horrible. She spent a couple of months in St Mungo's babbling about plants and trying to eat every plant in sight. By the time she got out the Ministry had found out about the little allotment and closed it down and quarantined most of the plants. I requested one of the Trickstus Trinitus as it has no real danger, and is a good warning about Herbology, that even the smallest plant can be dangerous and tricky to handle."
Professor Longbottom waited a moment to let his words sink in before continuing, "However, you are only in your first year, so you won't see any dangerous plants yet, not until your third year at least, which isn't too far away" he said sternly as a couple of the Hufflepuff boys moaned at that announcement, "And that does not by any chance mean these lessons will bore you. You'll have to keep up because if you don't then I will not let you near the dangerous plants until I decide you're ready." He walked round to the front of the class and looked back at everyone. "Pick up your gloves and get into pairs or threes. This is where the fun starts." He smiled and the class began.
An hour and a half later, with muddy fingernails – despite the gloves they had worn, the dirt had managed to find ways under their nails, which led Alexis and Lizzie to declare that the dirt itself was magic, and enchanted to do so, but not by Professor Longbottom, who both of them, to Rose's horror, had decided was "Delicious. We don't normally go for older guys – well, much older – but he is gorgeous!" Rose had looked to June and Siobhan for support, and was relieved to see equal looks of bewilderment on their faces. They trudged up the steps to the castle, and headed up the main staircase to the Charms corridor, where their next lesson lay. Rose walked into the Charms classroom, and smiled as she spotted Professor Flitwick struggling to climb onto his pile of books behind his desk. Her smile was wiped off her face when she saw who they were having Charms with. The Slytherins. The same two girls who had laughed at her for going in Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor were sitting on the far side of the classroom with a couple of their friends around them and laughing with them. One of the group of Slytherins noticed Rose looking and narrowed her eyes. Almost instantly, the others turned to look at her and narrowed their eyes as well. Rose narrowed hers as well, before flicking her hair and walking to a place on the far side of the room to the Slytherins.
"I guess those are the same Slytherins as last night?" Alexis whispered as she sat down behind Rose, with Lizzie beside her and Siobhan next to Rose with June next to her.
"Yeah. Don't know their names, but I don't like them." Rose decided, as she turned to look at Professor Flitwick. It seemed to Rose that Flitwick seemed determined to learn the names of every member of the class, first lesson, as he went around everyone's names three times throughout his lesson. As Rose was leaving the classroom, one of the Slytherins bumped her shoulder knocking her bag off and spilling her books all over the floor as they left the room. "Whoops, didn't see you there Weasel" she laughed and swept out the classroom. Rose's ears went bright red – an embarrassing habit she had picked up from her dad, much to her annoyance every time it happened – and she stooped down to pick her bag up, hoping her hair would cover her ears and nobody would notice. Unfortunately for Rose however, someone did notice.
"Rose, why are your ears bright red?" Siobhan's voice came out from behind Rose as she scooped her books into her bag. Rose froze and gripped her book so hard her knuckles turned white.
"Err…" Rose tried to think quickly but couldn't find something to say, and left it at that, looking down towards the floor.
"I guess she gets it from her family, when I get nervous my fingers start flickering about, I get that from my dad." June said walking out next to her.
"Ohhh" Alexis and Lizzie said in unison.
They all bent down to help Rose pick her books up, then they left for Gryffindor Tower together.