As soon as Dumbledore finished welcoming them and warning about stuff, the plates filled with more food Daphne has ever seen. It's not like she was from a poor family, but her mother never really cooked that much. Daphne was usually just eating instant noodles and baguettes. So when a whole roasted duck appeared right in front of her, she had to hold her tears.

"It's so great we're all together, right?" - she said to Hermione while filling her plate with mashed potatoes. She still couldn't believe this whole situation but she was just too joyful right now to think what this all means for her.

"Yes, I must say, it's very lucky" - Hermione noted with a concern on her face. Ron and Harry were deep into conversation and probably even more hungry for all this delicious food than Daphne. But Neville, sitting by Daphne was listening to the girls. He was looking at his empty plate with a worried face.

"I think there was a mistake or something... I thought I was gonna go to Hufflepuff... I don't think I'm suited for Gryffindor..."

"Nonsense!" - Daphne patted his back cheerfully. "I'm sure you just didn't discover it in yourself, but the hat seemed very smart. I would trust her judgement!" - she said like was some kind of expert on that matter when in reality she had no idea what was going on and if the Sorting Hat wasn't just a big trickster who love chaos.

"Thanks, maybe you're right..." - Neville finally cheered up a little and reached for the roasted duck. "That's the spirit!" - Daphne smiled at him and got back to her meal. "Hey, wonder what's on that third floor, am I right?"

"We'll probably never know, Dumbledore was clear that we shouldn't go there" - said Hermione and Daphne rolled her eyes at her.

"Come on, aren't you a little curious? He literally said it in a way so we become curious. He could have said: "We're renovating the third floor so don't go there" or "We're keeping a dragon there", and it would work better in my opinion. Now I really wanna know what's up there. Am I alone?" - she looked at Hermione and then at Neville. They avoided her gaze, pretending to be interested in their plates. - "Wow, so maybe the hat made a mistake, you're not brave at all!" - she said accusingly but laughed at the same time. Hermione scoffed.

"I'm not gonna get in trouble right in my first year in Hogwarts!"

"Okay, so I'll come back to you when we're in the second year, noted."

Daphne laughed and so did Neville, but Hermione looked embarrassed. The joy didn't lasted long – Daphne just noticed what she said. How could she think about second year when she's not sure she will be here tomorrow. Now she felt very stupid, and anxious. She shook like hit by a sudden wave of cold and couldn't stop shaking for the rest of the dinner. Fortunately it wasn't too long when everybody was done with their food and Dumbledore wished them goodnight and instructed the prefects to take them to their dormitories.

Everybody started standing up and walking towards the main door but Daphne was frozen in her place until Hermione grabbed her and said "Come on!". She pulled her new friend behind her and together they followed a red-head boy who introduced himself as Percy Weasley and started shouting commands at them. Daphne was grateful Hermione was still holding her arm cause she would absolutely faint on their way. To be honest Hermione was almost as surprised when they first saw moving paintings, waving at them and greeting them in the castle. Together they gasped when a ghost-like figure floated trough a wall and started mocking them. Well, it wasn't exactly a nice experience but the girls were more amazed than offended.

"Peeves, get out of here or I'll call for Dumbledore!" - shouted the prefect.

"Oooh, I'm so scared, Weasley Boy!" - he screamed in a funny voice and blew a raspberry at him. - "Soooo many babies you're bringing! Don't wet your bed, kids!"

"I'm not gonna repeat myself!" - shouted Percy and Peeves stuck out his tongue and then flew away, laughing at his own jokes.

"Wow, what was that?" - said Daphne to Hermione, because she was too scared to ask the prefect in case it was something very obvious in the magical world.

"Looks like it was Peeves – a poltergeist that has been living in this castle since the founding of Hogwarts. I read about him in the History of Hogwarts but it was something else seeing him in person. That was kinda scary!"

"It sure was... I hope he doesn't pick on me when I'm alone... I might start crying."

Hermione laughed but nodded her head in agreement. They were climbing the stairs for some time now. Fortunately, the stairs were doing most moving which made Daphne hold the handrail as tight as she could. She was sure she liked normal stairs better. Especially when they were already at the top of the staircase and the ground was incredibly far.

They were now standing in front of a big portrait of a woman dressed in pink silk. She cheered up when she saw the children and when a crowd gathered around her she spoke:

"Hello, young Gryffindors! I'm called Fat Lady and I'm guarding your dormitory. Please, memorize the password, because I won't let anybody in if they don't say it!"

"Fat Lady? That's kinda mean, isn't it?" - Daphne whispered to Hermione and the fellow girl nodded but said nothing, listening closely to what the portrait was saying.

"Pig Snout" - said Percy to the crowd and then turned to the lady and stated the password to her. She waved with a smile to all the kids and her portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall. Nobody was waiting for invitations, they all jumped inside impatiently and a loud gasp was heard. Daphne's mouth were opened wide as she touched every pillow on every armchair. The portraits inside were also greeting them happily and Daphne was not far from crying. She shouldn't be here and yet she felt so welcomed by everybody (maybe except Peeves, but she already forgot about that nuisance). More welcomed than anywhere she ever was, actually.

The fire was cracking beautifully in the fireplace, the stars outside were shining and the sofa Daphne collapsed on was the most comfortable ever. She could die right now and she would be happy probably. But nevertheless she wasn't ready to die yet – she was ready to fight for her place in that school.

Percy showed them staircases to girl's and boy's dormitory, bathroom, pin board where their schedule was and reminded them one last time that the password was "Pig Snout". After that he wished them good night, went inside the boy's dormitory and in a few seconds most people were gone from the common room. Daphne was still lying on the couch and soaking up the heat, as was Neville – sitting in front the fireplace.

"Are you still cold after your swim?" - Daphne asked, chuckling. Neville turned red at the reminder of his fail.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall made me dry with a spell but I was still cold..."

Daphne noticed blankets beside her so she threw one to Neville and he thanked her with a smile, covering himself tightly.

"Oh, somebody drag me away from this bookshelf or I won't sleep tonight" - said Hermione, studying all the books that were in the common room. She was already holding four tomes under her arm.

"The important thing is, you recognize your problem" - Daphne laughed and got up from the couch. - "Come on, you will have many years to read them. For now you want to be rested for tomorrow." - she took the books for Hermione's hands and put them back on the shelf. Fellow Gryffindor whimpered sadly but followed her friend to their dormitory.

They shared a room with five other girls and Daphne got so excited at that sight – she was an only child, so it was refreshing to have company in her room. She could already imagine all the girls talk in late evenings, maybe painting nails together and listening to music. And of course as soon as she thought that she was reminded she probably won't live there long enough for them to become close friends. In that case, she had to speed things up.

"Hello! I'm Daphne Ch... Zamora" - she walked to one of the girls, who was unpacking her trunk. She had cute curly hair and a pink hairband. She instantly smiled and shook Daphne's hand.

"I'm Lavender Brown, but you can call me Lav. And that's Parvati" - she pointed to an Asian girl standing nearby. - "We already made friends. But I hope we can all get to know each other!"

"Yeah, that's would be great."

Parvati joined them and introduced herself, so did Hermione and two other girls – Fay and Agatha. They started to chat as they all unpacked. Daphne didn't unpack, she just shoved her backpack inside her drawer. She didn't have almost nothing to unpack and she wanted to be ready when they throw her out – sooner or later.

"Wow, Harry Potter is our year, that's crazy. I'm gonna write my folks first thing in the morning and I'll mention that." - said Fay and Daphne opened her eyes wide.

"Is he a celebrity or something?" - she whispered to Hermione, but Lavender must have heard that as she responded:

"Don't you know? His parents were known enemies of You-Know-Who. They were killed by him but Harry survived the death curse."

Daphne made a stupid face.

"Should I know who? I don't think I know who..." - she said in an embarrassed tone, staring at her toes.

"You don't know who is You-Know-Who?" - said Parvati in surprise.

"Are you all just mocking me right now...?"

"Em... Daphne, they are talking about a powerful wizard who was terrorizing the magic world before we were born. People are scared to say his name so they call him "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You Know Who"."

"Wow, that's so unnecessary. Will somebody tell me his real name or...?"

The girls all looked at each other in fear. It was clear nobody wanted to say it at loud so Daphne waited few second and finally shrug her shoulders.

"Well, maybe I will read about him somewhere. And then I will say his name at loud and you will probably slap me for that."

Parvati chuckled.

"Probably." - she said and the rest chuckled as well.

Daphne took off her (or Hermione's) robes and not having other choice – she just took off her jeans and slipped under covers. If she managed to lie her way trough next days she had to find a lost-and-found room or something. Hopefully somebody lost a t-shirt or two, and maybe pajamas. It was a magic school after all – anything was possible.