The next morning, at breakfast, James stopped at the Slytherin table to say hello to Mari and Ron. They introduced the other first-years, other than Malfoy and Pansy, and explained that they were willing to go along with changing Slytherin's reputation and somewhat favoring the idea of inter-house unity. When James went on to the Hufflepuff table to say hello to Kyle, Theo asked, "What's James's blood status? I don't recall Lydell being a wizarding name."
Mari frowned slightly, but answered, "He's a halfblood," which was the truth, after all. Ron opened his mouth, no doubt to ask how she knew that, but a look from her silenced him.
Theo gave a start. "He's a halfblood? Well, that's better than a Mudblood, anyway. But it's still not -"
"Ron, be quiet," snapped Mari, seeing that her friend had taken offense and was about to say something. "Theodore Nott, if you wish to continue being my friend, then kindly refrain from saying rude things about one of my two best friends since I was six. And please don't use the word 'Mudblood' again when referring to Muggleborns."
Theo flushed and said, "I'm sorry. It's just that I was brought up to think that Mud-Muggleborns were -"
"I understand, Theo," interrupted Mari. "But you need to keep an open mind. Muggleborns adjust quite well to the wizarding world. And what about those that aren't Muggleborn but are forced to grow up in the Muggle world? After all, if one was left an orphan and the Muggle authorities took charge and couldn't find relatives since they knew nothing about the wizarding world, they could very well send the child to a Muggle orphanage. Then when said child turned eleven and learned about magic, it be exactly as if he or she was Muggleborn."
"Growing up in the Muggle world?" asked Tracey, shuddering. "That would be awful!"
Mari was about to say that it had happened to her, but then changed her mind. Her position among the Slytherin first-years wasn't firmly entrenched, and the others, besides Ron, could turn away from her and side with Pansy and Malfoy if they knew right now. Well, maybe Vince and Greg wouldn't, since they really weren't that smart and didn't appreciate Malfoy insulting them, and as a result, could possibly not care what world she had grown up in for the past five years.
James left the Gryffindor table, where he had just bid Hermione and Neville a good-morning and been introduced to their yearmates. Other than two that were uncertain, they all wanted to take part in promoting inter-house unity, though had some reservations about befriending Slytherins. Several older students also wanted to take part, though they also had reservations about befriending Slytherins. That was understandable, considering the animosity the two houses had for centuries.
When the mail arrived, James got something of a shock seeing so many owls fly in. Hedwig was one of the owls that flew in, even though she carried no letter or parcel. James gave her some toast and bacon, stroked her feathers, and then she took off again. He resumed eating as next to him, Su Ling began reading the Daily Prophet, which she had delivered to her every day. "Hmm, Harry Potter still hasn't been found," she commented. "Today they're going to search Coldwell Orphanage, and tomorrow go to Sunnybrook Orphanage."
At that, James choked on his pumpkin juice. Anthony, who was on his other side, pounded him on the back, while Su turned to ask, "Are you all right, James?"
"The juice went down the wrong tube," James responded once he could speak. He then shot his older siblings a worried look.
"Isn't Sunnybrook Orphanage where you grew up in, Stella?" asked Marissa Stephans, Stella's friend. "Why are they even searching there? You would have said something if Harry Potter turned up there, since you were five around the time he defeated You-Know-Who and already at the orphanage."
"I don't think they know about it," said Stuart. "I'm going to tell Dumbledore and ask him to tell the searchers that there's no reason to go to Sunnybrook Orphanage." With that, he got up and went to the staff table.
James calmed down and managed to finish the rest of his breakfast, though he had little appetite after hearing what Su had said.
After breakfast was Charms, taught by Professor Flitwick. It was a very interesting class, and Flitwick was a good and fairly easy-going teacher. That was followed by Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. It was very clear that crossing was a Very Bad Idea, for she immediately gave a speech on how anyone who misbehaved would leave her class and not return. She then turned her desk into a pig. Everyone was impressed, but then disappointed when they found out that they wouldn't be learning such difficult magic yet. After taking some complicated notes, each student was given a match and told to turn it into a needle.
Padma, Su, Anthony, and Terry were the first ones to succeed, winning a point each for Ravenclaw and a rare smile from McGonagall. James finally managed to do the same towards the end of class, though the end with the eye was a little too much like the end of the match. Mandy was the other person that also managed to succeed before the end of class. Nobody else was able to turn their match into a needle, but since they were Ravenclaws, managed to get some changes on their matches, ranging from it going silvery and pointy, but still made of wood, to actually looking like a needle except still having the colors of the match. Other houses tended to have at least one student that didn't make any changes at all.
That was followed by lunch, and on the way to the Great Hall, James, Terry, and Anthony managed to be unlucky enough to lose their way and try to force their way through a locked door in hopes of it being a shortcut. It turned out to be the out-of-bounds third-floor corridor, and when Filch caught them, refused to believe that they were lost, even when James tried his puppy-dog eyes and sweet smile and Terry attempted to sweet-talk the old caretaker. They only avoided punishment when Professor Quirrell happened to pass by and rescued them, pointing out that as first-years, they wouldn't know the castle well and logically could get lost.
Lunch was then followed by Herbology, taken with the Slytherins and taught by Professor Sprout. Though Ravenclaw naturally sided with the rest of the school in matters like Quidditch and the House Cup, it was the one house Slytherin got along the best with. Partly it was due to the fact that Slytherins prized intelligence, though not quite as much as they did ambition and cunning. It also wasn't a disgrace if someone from a family of Slytherins ended up in Ravenclaw, though it definitely wasn't encouraged. Therefore, the two houses got along fairly well during the lesson, and most of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws partnered together in effort to promote inter-house unity and see if they could befriend one another. Mari had to partner with Mandy and Ron with Terry, though, since the other Slytherins wouldn't go quite as far as to be paired with a Muggleborn unless told to by the teacher.
There were no more classes after that, so it was decided that all the first-years that were willing to participate in promoting inter-house unity would look for a place for them all to meet. They couldn't really do it at the library, since it could create noise that Madam Pince wouldn't like. An empty classroom wouldn't do, either, because none of the classrooms could fit thirty people, only twenty-five at most. Finally, when they were walking back and forth opposite a tapestry of a wizard attempting to teach trolls to do ballet, a door appeared. Everyone froze to stare at the door and then Dean worked up the courage to open it. Inside was a large room, able to fit at least thirty people, with a number of comfortable sofas and armchairs, three tables that could seat twelve people each, several bookcases, and two cupboards. On the walls were hangings of each of the four houses.
"Wow," said Seamus. "That's the perfect place for us to meet. But how did it appear like that?"
James gasped, remembering that his siblings had told him about a room they'd found out from one of the Hogwarts house-elves, one that would appear when there was need of it. Most students didn't know about it, though a number had accidentally stumbled on it when they needed it and then never found it again. It looked as if this was the room.
"I think I know what this room is," said Mari, apparently remembering the same thing James did. She gestured at him. "This is James Lydell, one of my two best friends, and his twin siblings told us about a room that they found out about from one of the house-elves at Hogwarts. It's called the Room of Requirement and only appears when there is a great need of it. I suppose when we were walking back and forth in this corridor and thinking about a place to meet, we caused the room to appear. Most students don't know about it, though I'm sure plenty have accidentally stumbled on the room and then never found it again."
Everyone went inside and immediately promised not to reveal the existance of the room to others unless anyone else wanted to join their group on promoting inter-house unity. They decided that it wouldn't include anyone that was over second-year since the older students could try to run things. After a few suggestions, there was a vote and United Hogwarts was the name decided on for their group, Unity for short. Padma and Daphne, who had the neatest handwritings, were nominated as secretaries. Padma was given some parchment and she wrote down the rules of Unity that everyone agreed on, first and foremost being that there would be no name-calling, especially the use of the word "mudblood". There was no rule against insults, however, since it was inevitable that there would be arguments and insults often were exchanged during such instances.
Daphne was assigned to write down a charter of sorts, listing what Unity would do to promote inter-house unity and such. After that, everyone signed it to show their agreement. Since all of them had been assigned an essay from McGonagall, they began working on it, helping each other at the same time. Prompting from Mari made the other Slytherins (besides Ron) talk to the Muggleborns. By the time Unity went down for dinner, the Slytherins had seen that Muggleborns weren't so bad after all and were starting to change their views that their parents had instilled.
Author's Note: I couldn't really think of a very good name for the group, so in the end I just went with the name of the fifth house I created in my other HP fic, Katherine Harper and the Philosopher's Stone.
