I only got an hour of sleep that night, but that was okay. More than I'd gotten lately. I stayed in my bed, reading a book I'd brought. At least, until one of the muggle-borns' phone's started screaming something about… "Livin' on a Prayer?" It was… nice music, I suppose. Annoying at 5:50 in the morning, but…

"What the crap is that?!" Normally quiet Cas was screaming in anger. He was obviously asleep at the time and did not take well to this rude awakening. He didn't usually.

"Sorry, sorry," Calvin muttered. "I forgot to turn off my phone's alarm. I'm used to getting up early during the summer, and I didn't turn it off like usual." Calvin hit the screen of his phone, and the song shut off. Cecil and Carlos gave a synchronised glare at him, and Sollux and Felipe just laughed. Somehow, Hamilton stayed asleep through the whole debacle.

"But really, Calvin! I've been stuck in the same room as you for 3 years and never heard anything like this before," Cas complained.

"As I was saying, I forgot to turn it off on the train. I usually do, but this time, there was someone I was talking to."

"You were staring at Emily." Felipe added. Emily was a Slytherin girl in our year. I didn't have much info on her, other than Calvin seemed to like her.

Calvin blushed and said "No, I wasn't!"

"You were, and that's why you forgot to turn it off."

"Ugh, fine," Calvin admitted. Hamilton woke up at that and we all went down to the common room. It was too early for breakfast, so we stayed by the fire.

"Where did Cat go? Is she still asleep?" The girl's and boy's rooms were connected, and more often than not one of the boys would sleep over with them after a study group. Or… whatever it is they did. But because of that and how physically close our dorms were, if the guys woke up, so did the girls.

"Oh." Roxy turned to me. "She's down getting coffee. Text her if you want some."

Well, I didn't have her number. I told Roxy that and she let me use her phone. "At some point you should join our group chat. It's one hell of a ride."

I found Cat in her contacts somehow, despite her name being "my small bby" with a cat emoji. I asked her for a cup of coffee. Quickly enough, she replied, 'black as my soul?' and asked if anyone else wanted anything.

From the other side of the room, Felipe must've been on a call with her. "Ham wants a java chip iced coffee, Cas wants coffee 1 cream 5 sugars, Cecil wants hazelnut coffee, Carlos wants an Irish Cream, Sollux wants a- and I'm quoting him here- 'pumpkin spice latte like a white girl', Calvin wants a coffee two creams and two sugars, and I want blood."

"I'm not getting you blood."

"Fine. Get me hot chocolate."

"And how many sprinkles does the wittle toddler want?" she mocked.

"Muggles are weird." I commented.

"I know what you mean." Calvin had finished being punched by people who were mad about his phone going off (everyone in my dorm whose name started with C except Calvin himself), and came over to talk to Felipe. Within the next few minutes, the 4th year girls joined us.

As an explanation as to why they were awake as well, Kanaya said, "Roxy woke us up after hearing her favorite song, and now we're here." She must've read my expression. The fires were warm, and everyone was curled up, comfortable. The rain still came, lulling some of us to sleep. It was interesting. Was this what family was supposed to be like? Or was I just pulled in to their insanity and closeness? I didn't think I liked any of them particularly, but… maybe it was just how they were as people.

Cat arrived a few minutes later, levitating the drinks on trays behind her. "I'm just going to call off orders. Starbucks time bitch."

I'd been to Starbucks a few times. As far as I heard, she had a summer job there, which is why she could make this stuff for herself.

"2 coffees, black as souls." I got up, and so did Roxy.

"1 cream 5 sugars!" She sang, weirdly. Cas just grabbed it.

"2 hot chocolates!" Felipe and Ashley got up, racing to get their drinks.

"2 and 2." Calvin got up, his drink in his hand in seconds, with no thanks. She gave him a Look™ and flicked him in the head, causing him to yelp.

"2 Irish Creams." Carlos and Molly got up, actually thanking her. She smiled and stared at Calvin.

"3 Hazelnut." Cecil, Jade, and Kanaya.

"Chai Tea Latte." Ashmin gave Cat a hug, which didn't faze Cat in the least. As far as I could tell, Ashmin would hug anyone and anything if it did something for her.

"Pumpkin Spice Latte, like a white girl." Sollux just accioed it. "Which leaves Charlie with the espresso and me with mine." Their drinks didn't reveal much, except for Charlie. I suppose she didn't sleep well either. I already knew Cat didn't sleep. Possibly ever…? She scared me a little. She was headstrong- if I had given her a house, it would've been Slytherin-she was too odd to be Gryffindor- just based on that. But she was smart, I guess.

"Cat." She hadn't sat down before Ashley said her name.

She took a deep breath. She sounded like she was about to snap. "What?"

"I need my books, slave. Get me my books. Or my phone."

"Did you really not bring it down?"

"Shush child."

Cat raised her eyebrows. I hid a smirk behind my mug. She looked like she was about retort, but before she could, Roxy asked her, "Can you get mine too?"

Which, of course, started everyone off asking for their books. Or any book. Didn't matter. It was like 6 in the morning. Not early for me, but the Great Hall didn't open until 9.

"Of course, my masters." She rolled her eyes and went upstairs.

"She has to be from heaven," Sollux said.

"She's not. She's just nice when tired. And you should know better," Ashmin stated. "She isn't from heaven."

"Really?" Cas questioned. "I don't know."

It was weird watching these people interact. The ones who Cat knew best acted like one large family, incorporating many of the people they met. There weren't specific stated groups in our school, but they were there. Most of the kids in my year were their group, at least the ones in Ravenclaw. And Slytherin. But not Hufflepuff. Wait, yes. No?

I didn't even know.

Cat got back a few moments later, with her arms full of books. She passed out books from her trunk, as well as from Ashley's, Kanaya's, and Felipe's. How she unlocked them, I wasn't sure. All our trunks were "Alohomora" proof, so she must've used a key. Or maybe picked the lock? I got one called 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I sipped my coffee and started to read. It couldn't be too weird.

A few minutes later, however, I was proven wrong. It was weird as fuck. About 3 hours later, at 9, I had finished the collection. At this point, the other Ravenclaws were up and the Hall was about to open. There was a group of us at the door, waiting, when a prefect said, "The Great Hall is open now." I was caught up in the rush, barely moving down the stairs.

But before we got to the Hall, Rowena, the ghost, showed up and said, "Dumbledore has an announcement. Be warned." We exchanged looks. This could be either good or bad. When we got into the Great Hall, there were no tables. Weird. But in the corners, there were large cloths covering… something. I was sure there would be an explanation. The other houses were there already, just as confused. There was a mild level of chatter until Dumbledore got up at the podium.

"We have two announcements. The classes will be switched around this year: Hufflepuff with Slytherin, and Ravenclaw with Gryffindor. But that's not our biggest news. As you may be aware, there are no tables. We have decided, due to our efforts to help the houses interact, we will have new, levitating desks that make interlocking tables. You each have your own, and may customize it. The 7th years have made this as their final project, so you may talk to them if you have feedback. Please, enjoy this opportunity to talk to the others in your school." There was a moment of silence, in which Dumbledore revealed the desks. Then, there was chaos. Some people stood up on chairs to get their friends to one place, and it didn't take long until there were about 20 tables. I was in the largest, with the 4th year Ravenclaws and Slytherins in the center. There were also Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but not in the numbers that the others were. I was there, but alone. That is, until John came up. "Can I sit here?"

"If you would like."

"So, I heard that Ravenclaw stayed up most of the night. Were you a part of the party?"

"I did stay up, but I was not a major part."

"Hmmm." The food had just appeared, and John started eating. I only ate a few bites before being done with it. I didn't eat much at home, and I doubted this year would be any different. I'd tried to eat more in 2nd year, but I ended up sick. While John was eating, I started to deduce the groups around I personally didn't have a "group" officially, I knew what one looked like. Also, rivalries between the people here would tell me who liked who and help, if anything from my books happened. It was unlikely, but who knew. It seemed like a medieval court, with factions within groups, and kingdoms. In fact, you could map almost everything about these groups onto that metaphor. There were kings and queens, and those who were closer to the leaders than others. They all had positions, and some of the groups even had "laws." Then there were nomads, who usually talked to a few but not all of them, alone for the most part. And then there were people like Mycroft, who were "powers behind the throne." Everyone answered to him. Well, almost everyone. The 4th years were the one that refused to talk to Mycroft.

All the groups had unofficial names. The popular fashion-obsessed girls (see Gryffindor girls and a few Slytherins) were known as the Lemon Drops. They tried to call themselves the Powers, but gave up last year. The Quidditch players who weren't in another group were part of the jock group, who wanted to be called the Dominators, but were called the Jocks. No cool name for them.

The quieter kids- especially the Hufflepuffs who had cried at the beginning when Flitwick had died- were the RomCommers. It was a terrible name, but it stuck. Some people called themselves the Avengers, but were constantly changing their name. We just called them the Marvels. I'm not sure why. The Countries were another group entirely. There were more groups, of course, but I didn't really care.

Even within the 4th years, there were two groups. One Karkat, a Slytherin, led, which also included most of the siblings of his friends, and the one the rest of Ravenclaw led. (Kanaya and Roxy were over with the others. We called them the Homestucks behind their backs, and I was pretty sure they used that to refer to themselves too. The group I was "in" was called "Chaos" or "Sorcery." The kids who were "royalty" called it simply "friend group" but they did know what the common names were.)

The fourth and sixth years were also the ones that didn't respond to anyone, period. I was still mentally assigning kids roles when John said, "Sherlock, are you really in the exchange program? Who signed you up?"

"It was my brother, Mycroft. He's a dick. I'm working on disinheriting myself from the family."

"Oh. So that was the prefect, right?"

"Yes, it was." Mycroft came by and answered John's question. "And don't swear, Sherlock."

"I'll do what I fucking want."

"No, you won't. And the schedule is that you will report to Gryffindor tomorrow night. Right after class." He walked away, not letting me get a word in.

Right as Mycroft did so, a 4th year Slytherin walked up. "Are you Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yes, why do you want to know?"

"I just wanted to see you. You're quite the talk in Slytherin."

"Hmmm."

"I don't want to annoy you, but I would like to sit here." And he didn't already? As a fourth year Slytherin, he must've known what the Ravenclaw table was. As I mentioned earlier, there were not only the Homestucks taking up a large portion of Slytherin (4th years Rose, Terezi, Vriska, Dave, Karkat, Eridan, and Equius, along with Cronus, Kurloz, Mituna, Meenah, Porrim, and Damara in 6th), but a good chunk of the Chaos group was in Slytherin too (: someone had to bring the sneaky, since Ravenclaw was surprisingly rambunctious and infectious.

But I didn't like how this one was sleazy. My subconscious was trying to tell me something, something about him, so I got up and left the Great Hall. John followed, asking if I knew who that was. I didn't, and told him so. That was odd. I thought I knew everyone in the school, at least their face. There were only around 270 students total. Couldn't be too difficult, right?

A few minutes later, Sam Schmidt came running up. "Someone help! Anyone! Help! Please!" She burst into tears. I grabbed her shoulders and said, "I can help. Just tell me what's wrong."

"I was- I was- I was in the bathroom and my friend Annabeth was outside and I was about to come out when I heard someone yell 'Imperio' so I stayed inside 'cause I was scared and when I went out Annabeth told me she wanted to kill everyone and took my wand and I ran but she's coming please help." She said it all in one breath, quickly, then went back to crying. I ran towards where she pointed, wand out.

Annabeth was still in front of the bathroom, but before I could do anything, she petrified me. She raised her wand and started to say something, but before she could, John came up from behind and yelled, "Impedimenta!" She stopped casting the spell. John unfroze me and then said, "Watch her. I'm going to go get a teacher."

I petrified her as an extra precaution and got the wands she had. It didn't take long for McGonagall to show up. "What happened?" I explained to her the situation. She looked horrified. "Can you remove the curse?" John asked. "No, I can't, I never studied this, I need to go get Professor Lupin, and-"

"Professor, with your permission, I've been trying out these sorts of spells to practice. May I try?"

McGonagall was skeptical, but said, "I suppose." I had taken it off several spiders at home as practice. Some say it's inhumane, but spiders can't talk. The spell took about a full minute of talking, but it worked. Annabeth was out of the curse. Sam went over and helped her to the hospital wing. As we walked, I asked her, "Who did this?"

"They were wearing all black, and had a deep voice. I couldn't say anything else about them." John turned to stare at me, probably going to say something along the lines about me being insensitive. But before he could, Madame Pomfrey shooed us away. I left and made it out to the hall before celebrating. "Yes! An Imperio, a mysterious person, and it's only the first day!" I got into mystery books over the summer, and got very good at solving crimes. Which was also why I was assigning groups. I'd used to be more focused on my studies, but now there was something that interested me far more. I'd been waiting for one to occur, and here one was. I ran into the Slytherin common room, getting the password in two tries.

"Sherlock, how-" Irene greeted me at the door.

"Doesn't matter. I need a list of everyone in the school. Their names and faces. Where's Mycroft?"

"I'll go get him." We'd interacted few times in these past few years, but she knew me well enough to decide against fighting me. She left to find him and I looked around. I got some curious looks from the people who decided not to come to breakfast, but that wasn't surprising. Not only was I the Head Boy's brother, but... what did that 4th year say? Right, that I was the "talk of Slytherin." Surprising. Mycroft came down a few minutes later with the sheet, which I grabbed without saying anything.

I ran back up to the Ravenclaw common room, and from there to the library passage. When I was a second year, I had found that the passage had a closet within it. I only had been in a few times, but now I had a use for it. In third year, I had lined the stone walls with fabric, and now I pinned the list to the wall. I enchanted it to move the names around and match them with their faces. The blood status was next to the names, and I checked to confirm my suspicions. Yes, Annabeth was a muggle-born. "This could be a hate crime, so try purebloods first." I sorted them by blood, and, using a Pensive, looked at my memory from this morning. I checked through everyone, ruling out faces as they went by. It took me awhile, but I got down to 6 faces: Lilah, a 1st year Slytherin, Egan, a 2nd year Hufflepuff, Garth, also a 2nd year Hufflepuff, Conrad, a 3rd year Gryffindor, Meenah, a 6th year Slytherin, and Gabriel, a 5th year Slytherin. All of them but Lilah and Conrad were pureblood, and I put them at the bottom. I also put the boys at the top, although voices could be disguised. I made a mental note to visit them, and came out of the closet.

I couldn't see anything once I got to the common room, which confused me for a moment. There was a 2nd year coming down with their nightclothes on who said, "Why the fuck are you up?" I didn't answer, and instead felt a wave of tiredness come over me. I went up to my room, managing not to wake anyone up. Although, it's more likely than not they were awake and just let me be. I had class tomorrow, didn't I? I might as well try to sleep. I sat on my bed and again, tried to sleep, my head spinning with names and motives. Annabeth… Who didn't like her? Who did? And why now? The first few days? Revenge? Anger? Or random? But eventually, I gave up. I needed to find out more. The fastest way to get to tomorrow was to sleep. If only I could.