Nice long chapter for you today! Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Settling In

Dear dad,

I'm here! Hogwarts is amazing! Candles float, staircases move, and the paintings on the walls talk and move! The train ride took most of the day, but when we arrived we had a big welcoming feast and got sorted into our houses. The house system here is kind of complicated, but basically we had to put on this hat that could read our minds. I am now a member of Hufflepuff, which apparently means I am 'just and loyal'. No surprises there.

On the train, this girl called Daphne came to sit with me and Justin. She has lived in the wizarding world her whole life, so she was very knowledgeable, if a little biased. Justin and I spent ages just asking her all kinds of questions, and I 'casually' brought up the subject of Hogwarts letters. It turns out that Mr Greengrass is on the board of governors for Hogwarts, and has told Daphne an awful lot about the way the letters system works (big coincidence, I know!). But… I now have a birthday! Apparently, the first Hogwarts letter normally arrives on or around the 11th Birthday, so you can put the 31st of July in the diary! I then asked her what would happen if a child was adopted, or their name was changed. Daphne reckons that as long as the adoption was legal (either magical or muggle), then the name in the 'magical book' would also change, and the original name would vanish. Of course that makes it nigh on impossible to work out who I used to be, but as I said before, I'm not really sure if I want to know. But anyway, she gave me a funny look after that, so I quickly changed the subject.

I'm in the common room now. Everyone else has gone to bed, but I'm still wide awake. I guess my body clock is still adjusting. For the first time, I'm actually grateful that you insisted I stay on a twenty four hour day (but do NOT tell Zed I said that!) as trying to go from thirty seven hours in to school hours would not have been fun.

I should really go to sleep now. I'll send this with Hedwig in the morning, and write again in the next couple of weeks to let you know how I'm settling in.

Lots of love,

Your son,

Epsilon.

XXX

Morning came, and for a moment Epsilon was confused. He was not in his room at MiB headquarters, but neither was he in his bed in his father's apartment. Then he remembered. He scrambled eagerly out of bed, tumbling onto the floor where Justin and Ernie sat, surrounded by green plastic figures.

"Morning Epsilon!" said Justin brightly. "I'm just showing Ernie my toy soldiers."

"Awesome!" said Epsilon, picking up one of the pieces. "I used to have hundreds of these, but I kept accidentally leaving them around headquarters, and people fell over them. Zed was cross enough when the third agent ended up in the med-centre, but then a Chonyuthian Prince ate some, and when they made him sick he nearly started a galactic war…"

He trailed off to find Ernie and Justin staring at him.

"Um, what are you talking about?" asked Justin.

"Hey, guys?" said another voice. The other two Hufflepuff boys were watching them, already fully dressed. "The prefects said to tell you that breakfast is in thirty minutes, and if we meet them in the common room in ten, they'll take us to the great hall."

"Okay, thanks," said Ernie, and the three hurried up to get dressed.

"I don't think we were introduced properly last night," said Justin. "I'm Justin Finch-Fletchley."

"Yeah," said the boy on the left. "I'm Oliver Rivers, and this is Kevin Entwhistle. We were sat on the other side of those girls."

"My dad's called Kevin," said Epsilon, pulling on his robes. "But most people call him K. Pleased to meet you."

The five boys followed the prefects to breakfast, chattering about everything and anything. When they reached the Hufflepuff table, Epsilon saw a face he recognised, and ran to claim the empty seats, dragging Justin and Ernie behind him.

"Hi Cedric!"

Cedric Diggory grinned at Epsilon, his grey eyes shining.

"Hello there kids! Sleep well?"

The three nodded eagerly.

"Here, I've got something for you, the first year timetables."

"Cheers," said Justin. They all studied the timetables carefully. "Okay, so we've got… potions first with the Ravenclaws, then transfiguration, and then defence against the dark arts with the Slytherins."

"Sounds like fun," said Epsilon. "Hey, Ced…"

He was interrupted by a loud clattering noise, and then hundreds of owls swooped into the hall, delivering letters and parcels. Justin cried out in shock, and Epsilon nearly fell out of his chair. Cedric laughed, and helped steady him.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," he laughed. "Post comes every day. Be prepared to get wet when it's raining outside!"

To Epsilon's surprise, Hedwig swooped down in front of him, and nipped his finger affectionately.

"Hey girl," he said, giving her some of his toast. He pulled his letter out of his pocket. "Can you take this to dad for me?"

She hooted softly, and Epsilon assumed it meant yes. She took the letter in her beak, and flew away.

"So…" he said, turning to Justin. "Potions?"

XXX

By the time Defence rolled around, Epsilon could not keep still. The lessons at Hogwarts were very interesting. In potions, Professor Snape had set them brewing a simple potion to cure boils. After several years training in the chemistry labs under C, it was simple for him to mix the right ingredients in the right quantities and the right order. Apparently the others found it more difficult, and two Hufflepuffs managed to melt their cauldrons in the course of the lesson.

Transfiguration was more of a challenge. Epsilon could not focus on writing the pages and pages of notes, and got increasingly frustrated as the match stick stayed stubbornly wood. He spent the whole lesson wrestling to ease his will through the wand in his hand. When he finally managed it, he was mentally drained. Now, he waited outside the Defence classroom with the other Hufflepuffs. All of a sudden, the door was flung open, and Professor Black stood there. He regarded the Slytherins coldly, and then turned to the Hufflepuffs with a smile.

"Come on in!" he said cheerfully. "Nice to see you all, if you could just go get yourselves sat down…"

His gaze landed on Epsilon, and the man audibly gulped. Tearing his eyes away from the now nervous Professor, he realised the seat next to Daphne was still free, so to everybody's surprise, he shot forwards and claimed it.

"Hey Daphne,"

"Hello Epsilon," he said quietly. Epsilon leaned back, and waved to the boy next to her.

"How're you doin', Dray?"

Draco glared at him. Epsilon grinned.

"Aw, quit sulking."

Daphne snickered into her hand, but before Draco could retort, Professor Black had reached the front of the room, and was demanding their attention.

Epsilon's mind wandered as Black went through the syllabus. He felt restless, and now realised why the hat had put him in Hufflepuff rather than Ravenclaw. He couldn't cope with being cooped up, or sitting behind a book all day. He needed action. The feeling of unease grew as he sat hunched over his desk in the dark classroom. When the bell rang, he grabbed his stuff and bolted, but someone caught his elbow. When he looked around, Professor Black had grabbed him.

"Actually, Mr Brown, I was wondering if we could have a little chat."

"Ah, yes, perfect!" gabbled Epsilon, seeing the detailed ground's knowledge in the man's mind. "Professor, how far is it around the edge of the school grounds, if I cut across the front of the forest?"

"Five miles, give or take."

Epsilon frowned, and then shrugged.

"I can go around twice," he said to nobody in particular. He wriggled out of the teacher's grasp, and set off down the corridor.

XXX

"Neeeeaaaawm…"

Epsilon sprinted along the corridor that led to the entrance hall, arms outstretched. Justin was following him closely, also making aeroplane noises. A slightly bewildered Ernie trailed slightly behind them, carrying Epsilon's football. Kevin and Oliver were bringing up the rear, Kevin trying to explain the rules of the game to a thoroughly confused Oliver.

The boys burst into the entrance hall, and Epsilon rolled commando-style across the stone floor, pretending to shoot Justin down as he went. Justin cried out, and then 'crashed' dramatically onto the floor, laughing. Then they realised that they had drawn the attention of about thirty people who had been milling about in the entrance hall, including Professors Black, Dumbledore, and McGonagall.

"Sorry Professors!" shouted Epsilon. "We'll take it outside! We're going to have a big game, lots of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw boys are coming! Aha!" he spotted Draco emerging from the hall, and dragged his wrist. "Draco! Come and play football! See you later, Professors!"

He dragged Draco with him out of the front doors, leaving a shell-shocked audience behind him. He had been so worked up, he failed to notice that he had said all of that in fluid Archillian.

XXX

"Alright," said Dumbledore. "Let's bring this meeting to order. I hope you all had a present first week of term. Today I'd like to begin with the first years. Does anybody have any pressing concerns?"

There was silence, so Albus picked up the register, and they went through the names one by one.

"What about Epsilon Brown?" said Dumbledore eventually. A lot of the teachers exchanged meaningful looks. "He took a long time to sort. Pomona, how is he doing in Hufflepuff?"

"He's settled in well. Made a lot of friends, but he's a… peculiar child. Highly imaginative."

"That's putting it lightly," snorted Professor Sinastra, the astronomy teacher.

"I heard you threatened him with detention," said Flitwick. "What for?"

"Cheek," she grumbled.

"He's a lively child," continued Fillius. "But he seems intelligent."

"Intelligent doesn't do him justice," said Snape quietly. All the teachers turned to stare at him. "That boy learns faster that I could ever teach him, even if I was tutoring him one-to-one. He has a way with potions that I've never seen in a student before. At least, not since Lily."

"You've noticed it too then," said Black. "He has her eyes."

Snape nodded. "And Potter's face."

For a moment, all childhood grudges were put aside for their minute of mutual understanding, but then they were snapped back to the harsh reality of the present. The Potter boy, Lily's son, Snape corrected himself, was long since dead.

"Do you think he would benefit from some extra, advanced tuition?" asked Dumbledore.

"NO!" said all the teachers together.

"He finds it hard enough to sit still in the classes he has already," said Sirius. "It seems that he is used to an extreme amount of physical activity. He runs at least twice around the school grounds every day, even if it's pouring with rain. Then, if the weather's nice, he'll go straight back outside after dinner."

"He gave us quite the gymnastics display on the lawn yesterday," said Flitwick. "It was very impressive."

"Does he show off?" asked Albus.

"No," said Snape. "It was more like it was something that was necessary to him, rather than looking for admiration from others. I think giving him extra hours of studying would be detrimental to his already fragile work ethic."

"He doesn't have a work ethic," grumbled Sinastra. "He's already stopped going to Binns' class. He came swanning up to my lesson, informed me that the names I use for the stars are 'positively medieval', and tells me a load of fairy tales on their 'politically correct' names, the planets that revolve around them, and the life forms that live within those systems. The nerve of them! If I didn't know better I'd say he was related to the Lovegoods, he reckons he knows more about the universe than I do!"

"He does."

Sinastra froze and rounded on McGonagall, furious. Minerva held up a hand to stop her retorting, and continued calmly.

"If I were you, I'd listen to every single word that child tells you about the stars, and if possible, write it all down."

"Minerva," said Dumbledore warningly.

"No, Albus," she said. "I think we owe them an explanation."