Chapter 32

First Day of School.

.

.

Mindy can't help it and whispers under her breath as she thinks of her father.

"Well Dad, I really wish you could see me now. We never had a chance to have much in the way of fun once we actually got busy, and those bastards took you from me entirely too soon. But you'd have gotten a kick out of this I think."

Dave, the only person close enough to hear her over the general din in the area, puts an arm around her shoulders as they both look at the side of the massive red steam engine that pulls the Hogwarts Express.

"Yeah. I never got a chance to know him as well as I would have liked, but there is no doubt that he loved you. I think he'd have been thrilled to be here just to see you smile."

She leans against him while behind them on the platform they can hear the Lovegood's making their goodbyes, and Luna's father offering one last time to pull her out for homeschooling. Though it must be said, he isn't quite as worried now as he was ten days ago.

Watching Dave and Mindy's training had done a huge amount for his faith in this being a good idea, and seeing the speed at which his own daughter and himself had gained sheer skill and power after joining the 'group' absolutely floored the man.

In the end, they had spent nearly forty thousand Galleons on books within a week getting all three of them one hell of a leg up on their schooling, and even Xenophilius himself had eaten a few dozen books on things he was interested in getting skilled in. Though, in his case, he had chosen to buy his books himself. At this point, all three of the children have the basic knowledge of all seven years of Hogwarts as well as various other topics that interested them in other more advanced trades in the Magical World. Granted, they can't really do all that much with skill levels of one, but all that is needed to fix that is practice and they will be getting lots and lots of that.

A few minutes later, Luna walks up to them her bright smile is beaming from her face, the eyes over it wide open and excited.

"I think it might be time to get on the train if we want a compartment to ourselves."

Mindy nods to her new adopted sister. Against all reason, she has found that adopting Luna as something of a kid sister was just entirely too easy. Especially after all the time she spent training Butterfly, she's found she has a knack for interacting with children about that age. She is crass, loud, and a demanding trainer who expects real effort. But she also never lies to a trainee, always does her level best to assist them in their efforts to get better, and she genuinely cares about people that show her kindness.

Dave completely caved in and fell prey to her innocence and adorableness within minutes. While neither of the Gamers is quite willing to tell her for fear she might take it the wrong way, the fact is that the 'Space Cadet' had easily filled the jagged hole in both of their hearts that had been filled by Butterfly.

It took Luna about two days to figure all that out just based on bits of conversation here and there. Since then she has easily slipped into the kid sister roll for both of them. At first, it was because she is simply a very kind-hearted young girl with heaps of empathy, and had sensed somehow the pain in their hearts from losing their previous 'little sister' when they had gotten pulled from Remnant. At this point, she just loves it and plans to take as much advantage of her temporarily enhanced family as she possibly can before they are stolen from her by some poopy god wannabes. She hugs, and cuddles, and constantly asks intelligent and insightful questions about her world, their world, the other worlds they had visited, and of course, the Gamer System that they have.

"Yeah, if we don't want to risk getting stuck sitting with some moron that would probably be a good idea. Let's go."

Dave, being significantly larger than either of the other two, has his own trunk on his shoulder and is pulling Luna's behind him while Mindy is just pulling hers with her. All three of them have trunks with their own little wheels and pull handles, so there are no carts needed.

It still astonishes both the Gamers that their new smaller size hasn't even affected their stats aside from them both having a new stat under physicals that just says that their effective carrying capacity is reduced by half due to size and they are more susceptible to knock-back and grappling while being harder to hit from range and giving a bonus to hiding and skulking about.

As for the trunks, Mindy is mostly just annoyed that they are actually having to use these garbage trunks they purchased at all. Especially when their better ones are already made and in the inventory. Eighteen trunks each, and four huge and separate expansion charms on each of them. Four different settings, each one of which opens the trunks into a new massive container with built-in stasis charms that kick in when it's closed. You see, while they only have four separate spaces each, the reason for that is that each of these 'trunks' is three feet by four feet and two feet tall. Then when they are opened, the interior at first glance looks like a standard trunk, if larger than the norm. But the reality is that this is just where they put things they want easy access to. Once it is open, if you flip the same toggle again, the interior will begin to raise up, revealing up to ten feet worth of Bookshelves, bins, cupboards, racks, and the like. Whatever they needed for that particular space is hidden beneath the main dumping area. Letting go of the toggle will stop it at the desired height so you can access what you need, flipping it the other way will lower it. Additionally, each trunk has one of its spaces that has been left wide open after you simply pick up and remove the bin from it altogether, giving you a ten-foot deep storage pit. In fact, the only reason that they each kept two inventory slots open was for the motorbikes. Even the pieces for the rickshaw and the water barrels are currently in storage pits, and the top drop bins of three of the trunks for each of them are set up as armories. And yes, that means that they each have twelve bins just for their 'easy access' portion of their armory. Plus, and always a good thing, it has come to their attention that if they use the quick-change system to swap between armor, clothes, wand, and weapons, it can pull from and put things back into the trunks.

Between the two of them, they have more storage space in their inventory now than they would have in Dave's home growing up at this point. The Lovegood's, after seeing what they were doing and getting an idea of how useful it could be, are already planning to get one each at some point so they could use them for when they travel. Slightly smaller versions, as the maker had advised them that trying to use a shrinking charm on them might not be the best plan, but the same basic idea.

Mindy had been considering either getting a 'wizarding tent' which is a space expansion charm on a tent that is then made up into a nice small home on the inside, or kitting out one of the trunks as a home away from home. But Dave's question of what would happen if somebody were to destroy the things while they were in them killed that idea stone dead.

The answer of course being, nothing good. Considering what their lives are like these days, it's just too much to ask that they never lost a tent or trunk if it was sitting out in the open after all.

It takes them a few minutes to find an open compartment and once they get settled Luna talks to her father from the window for the last few minutes until the train starts to move. It doesn't take long for things to go awry.

The train was still in sight of the station when the door to their compartment is thrown open. A slight, platinum blonde-haired boy flanked by a pair of near-human gorillas is standing there. The smaller boy speaks.

"Hello. You must be first years, or you'd know better. This is my compartment. You'll have to find another of your own, now get out."

Luna is cringing into her seat, and Dave is groaning in dismay. Mindy has a different response. A response that Dave was expecting, hence the groan.

"Fuck off you moron, before something bad happens to your dumb ass."

She is not quiet when she says this, her American accent strong and loud on the train. The entire car they are on immediately becomes silent to all other voices as the other students strain to listen in. The monotonous clackety-clack of the wheels on the rails being the only counterpoint to what follows.

The boy who spoke before begins to redden in range as he draws his wand.

"American? I've heard of you. Some idiot tourist that must have been raped and left for dead in Diagon. Adopted by the idiots that write that worthless rag of a paper because nobody else would take you, isn't that right? And this must be the boy you were found with then?" He smirks. "My father told me all about it. Has the ear of the minister, you know. Since you are so new here, I'll give you just one more chance to get out of my sight before I will have to take action."

Luna at this point speaks softly when she sees Mindy smirking back and begin to shift her weight as though she is going to get up.

"Don't kill him. Please. Maybe he can learn better?"

Mindy pats her new sister on the head as she stands and sends her a surreptitious wink. Then she faces their tormentors.

"Look you toe-headed shit stain, my patience is wearing unbelievably thin. We aren't going anywhere. So if you are going to do something stupid that makes me hurt you, go ahead and do it. We'll see where it gets you. But there is something you should know before you try it."

His sneer is epic.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Mindy rolls her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Really? 'Oh yeah' is your response? Dude, your banter is weak as hell. But the thing you need to know is that your skull?"

Her hand flashes out in an open palm strike to the brass rail next to the door, mutilating the metal and ripping a few feet of it off the corridor wall, where the now twisted thing skitters across the center passage and makes a horrifying sound as it impacts the far side.

"Is a lot weaker than that. Now. Are you absolutely positive that this is a road you wanna go down? Or can we all just call it a day and you go fuck off like I told you to?"

The three twelve-year-olds find that their feet have more of a self-preservation instinct than Malfoy's brain does and they are all but sprinting down the corridor to the next car, with the harried voice of the 'shit stain' yelling something about his father as he runs away. Once he is out of sight, Mindy holds the rail in place and a quick wand-less repair charm gets rid of the evidence. They had come to find out that it is the wands that the Ministry tracks and they were able to find a book on wand-less magic that they had all eaten copies of. It makes the charm a lot harder and costs a lot more magic points to cast. But since it was, by far and perhaps predictably, the one she and Dave had gotten the most practice with during the last ten days of extreme training? At this point, it is old hat for them.

Dave shakes his head. "So that's Draco, huh? Wow. They really nailed him in the movie, didn't they? How long you figure before he finds his balls and comes back with a prefect or something?"

Mindy shrugs as she shuts the door again and sits down.

"I doubt he will. Oh, he'll try to screw with us if he can. But unless I am way off he is still trying to go for some kind of status in his house. If he has to go run to prefects because a mean, unsorted, girl first year scared him off? He'd lose too much face. My bet is that we'll end up catching some heat from Snape tonight or tomorrow. By the end of our first class with him at the very latest would be a good bet."

Luna looks between the two of them, eyes wide. "He's a professor! I've seen the movies and I understand that he isn't a nice man, but he can make your lives unbelievably difficult!" She whispers. Not panicked, but merely worried for them.

Dave shrugs as he leans back in his seat on the other side of the compartment from the two ladies.

"Not really. We're a lot older than we look, remember? A bit of hardship and age kinda puts things back into perspective. I mean, he can give us detentions I guess. But given who we are, that's going to happen more than likely anyway. He can crap on our grade point average I guess, but it isn't like either of us really cares about that. If he tries anything more, he's fair game. Another thing you need to understand is that guys like that? I won't say he is a coward, but I will say that he has a pretty good idea how far he can actually get away with pushing a person. If you just don't put up with it, there isn't much he can really do about it and if you start making his position difficult to maintain, he'll either have to back off or escalate. Which will, of course, again make him fair game. Whoever we get for a head of house is probably going to get really tired of us showing up at their door constantly to complain about things though." Then he frowns. "So, if they pull us in alphabetical order, I'll probably be up to bat first with the hat. We still going to push for Hufflepuff? I admit I am a little worried about that. I mean, suppose I get it. Because frankly, I think I maybe could. You two? I'm not so sure about unless the hat is a lot more of a pushover than I think he is. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love you both to bits, really. But it isn't like either of you have a huge amount of experience with things like 'friends' and 'fairness' you know?"

Mindy all but growls, annoyed at the whole situation.

"That is our only other realistic option aside from Ravenclaw, Dave. They'd eat Luna alive in Slytherin and being in Gryffindor would put us entirely too much under Dumbledore's nose I think. Not that I really think he's an evil man or anything, but it would be an unbelievable pain in the ass to be too close to Potter and still get anything done."

He shrugs apologetically. "Look, it's up to you two. You want Hufflepuff that bad, I'll do my best. But personally, I'd rather we were all in Ravenclaw than split up between a couple of houses."

Luna's voice, soft and quiet as a windless snowfall, is heard.

"We'll do Ravenclaw. I think... I think knowing at the outset how bad it could get will stop me from letting it get that bad. I can only think that it must have crept up slowly over a few years because I can't imagine I would put up with the things we saw in the movies if they were to happen right now. Besides, if I am being honest knowing I now have and will have more friends will help me keep to myself and not make myself a target for them. I hope." This last bit is so quiet that it barely registers even in the room. She looks up to them, and it is obvious by the haunted look on her face that she had put a lot of thought into her state from the fifth movie on, and was desperate to keep that from happening to her. Almost as desperate as she was to stay with the only real friends that she had, aside from Ginny. She actually felt a little bad about that one. Mostly because between the training and not wanting to be around the diary for fear she would give something away before they were ready to act, they had made it a point to not be where the Weasleys were for the last week or so, and had seen to it that Luna was Hidden behind Dave on the bench until the bulk of the people wandering the corridors looking for a place to sit had found one.

It gnaws on her something fierce though, to abandon a friend like that when she knows the girl is in desperate need of help even if she doesn't know it yet.

Mindy scowls. "You sure? If it's possible to get resorted, I've never heard of it happening. And Dave and I could be gone tomorrow. You know that we've told you a thousand times at least during training."

They had, too. At least that many. Dave and Mindy both considered it essential that the young girl understand that all these benefits of being in their group would be gone when they were, and all that would remain was the actual bonuses she'd earned while she had them. Given what they had seen in her, it appeared to be a winning tactic for keeping her motivated.

Luna nods, her face still full of worry, but considerably more sure of her decision now than when she had initially brought it up.

The rest of the trip was largely spent practicing a few things with their wands. Little things, like the light spell, and floating objects. Basically, the vast majority of the first and second-year charm and transfiguration spells. When the train finally made it to Hogwarts and they crossed the lake on the silly little boats to get to the school, all three of them were feeling the anticipation and slight dread of what was to come.

Though it must be said that the shared smirk the first time Dave and Mindy saw Hagrid, the half-giant wall of hair and muscle, and realized that in all probability they were both actually quite a bit stronger than the man with Dave likely being heaps stronger? Yeah, that was something that brought their spirits up considerably.

.

HP HP HP HP HP HP

.

The trip to the castle is only slightly annoying, and the speech from the head of Gryffindor concerning the houses and such from McGonagall was something of a snooze fest to people that had already seen it in the first movie. But then, things once again go off the rails a bit when it isn't Dave that gets called first after all by that same teacher.

"Luna Lovegood."

There is silence for a moment, and then the little blonde starts walking forward, sitting on the stool provided in front of the entire school, and then has the sorting hat of Hogwarts plopped on her head. The rough, coarse voice of the hat easily heard in her head.

"Hmm... Interesting. From another world are they?"

If Luna's face got any paler, she'd be unconscious due to blood loss to the brain.

"Oh, don't panic. Nobody else can hear us, and I am bound by the magics that created me not to reveal anything to anyone. Even when I was made, there were lords that would have done their level best to destroy both me and this school if they thought their spawn could have somehow betrayed them through me. But you do present me with a problem."

Her soft voice is barely heard, even by the hat.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a bother."

If a hat could roll its eyes, this one would be doing so.

"Oh, do stop blaming yourself for things you have no control over. Besides, it isn't you that is the problem. It's apparently Ravenclaw house that has the problem and unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to fix it from here. I can't even tell a teacher, due to the constraints imposed on me by my creator. Which is unfortunate, because if ever there was a mind that deserved to be in the house of eagles, rest assured it would be yours. Fortunately, we have options that I am guessing my counterpart in your movie did not have. Even assuming the poor rag even had a clue what he was throwing you into."

Her quiet voice is heard again.

"What other options? I want Ravenclaw, you must see that if you've seen everything else."

The hat snorts. "Now you are just lying to me. A trait that generally comes out of Slytherin cunning and ambition. Something you might want to consider before you do it again, given how little you want to be placed there. What you actually want at this point is Hufflepuff, and before you met your two new friends I am positive there would have been nothing in your incredibly adept mind that could lead you there. But now? Now things have changed."

"How?" She asks, at this point genuinely getting curious and feeling some of her trepidation melting away.

The top of the hat bobs up and down once and the hat chuckles in her ear a bit.

"Before you met them, you wanted friends and loyalty. But you didn't value them. How could you? Aside from your father, the closest you had to a friend at the time was a Potter-obsessed fangirl that was more dedicated to her tattered old copies of fictional ridiculousness than she was being a friend to you. It's all in your mind, you see. Don't be too hard on the girl. Children, by and large, I've found over the course of many, many years, are very rarely at fault for their ways of thinking at least until the age they come to me. You're like little personality sponges, and you tend to suck up the most obvious traits available from the adults in your lives and are easily swayed by things like bedtime stories. I see you are rather fascinated by the scribbling of a given bard, as an example. I suppose it is a good thing that she eventually manages to pull herself together, though the temptation to keep her out of Gryffindor is decidedly there. The house of lions is not the best place for such a wounded animal, while they can be brave and noble they also tend to feed on the weak to a degree there. Children being what they are, you can't really expect anything else. But, I'll have to see what I find when I get to her. Given your memories of her, I am not sure she would be a fit for anywhere else. She does have quite the temper, doesn't she?" The hat pauses for a moment. "Let's get back to what is important now."

The hat almost seems to sigh, the brim drooping some, and then popping back up when he decides to move on.

"You were also willing to work, but you hadn't yet dedicated yourself to toil for anything. If there were chores, you did them without complaint." He chuckles again. "For the most part, anyway. But you hadn't truly made it to the point where you recognized the value of a hard day's labor. Now, that is no longer an issue. You've dedicated yourself for the last week to a level I have rarely seen in a child, and you have received rewards for it that have locked that knowledge and will to work hard for what you earn into your very soul. So, I am willing to offer you a choice, Lovegood. A choice that the scrap taking my place in the movie obviously didn't and probably couldn't. I can offer you Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. If it helps your decision any, while I can't make promises until I have seen their own minds I suspect that they will be able to meet you there. While based on your mind they are both good candidates for Gryffindor, with Dave being a likely candidate for Hufflepuff and Mindy Slytherin, the fact remains that in all probability they would easily have what it takes for Ravenclaw as well, and they have both shown you that hard work and loyalty feature high in their priorities."

He nods his peak abruptly as Luna even dares to consider the answer.

"Good enough then." Then the sound transfers from a whisper in her mind to a loud boom outside the hat. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

.

HP HP HP HP HP HP

.

Dave and Mindy stare at her as she makes her way to the wildly clapping table of Hufflepuffs, the newly minted yellow trim on her robes as she sits at the table that is under the mascot/avatar of the badger. Mindy turns to Dave and whispers.

"Well, something has definitely gone wrong, but at least whatever else happens she isn't stuck with those bitches again."

Dave nods as they wait for one of them to be called. And wait. And then wait some more. After a while, it becomes obvious that they will be the last as everybody else is being called in alphabetical order by their last names. Mindy once again turns to Dave.

"Whatcha think?"

Dave shrugs as he looks around.

"My hope is that because we're last because the paper was already made and they just penciled us in on the bottom. We were kinda after the deadline I think, weren't we?"

Mindy nods but doesn't look convinced.

Finally, in the end, there are only the two of them left. Looking up and seeing them there, McGonagall turns to the aged Albus Dumbledore and holds the parchment up that she had been reading from with a decidedly annoyed expression on her face.

"That's all I have here, Headmaster."

The old man smiles and stands.

"Indeed it is, Professor McGonagall. That is because these two are a bit of a special case. Please, all of you welcome Dave Lizewski and Mindy McReady. They aren't on the normal parchment because they are exchange students from MaCUSA, and I am told will be here for a currently unknown amount of time while some paperwork gets sorted. I am given to understand, from what I have been told, that they are both very pleasant and intelligent people. Given their obviously different backgrounds from everybody else here, I am hoping that while they grace our halls that we may learn something from each other over and above what you'll find in class."

He then leads the school in a round of applause for them, and McGonagall schools her features into something indecipherable and calls out. "Mindy, is it?" At her nod, the Professor motions her up. "Well, come on then. They love you now, but you'd not want to keep them from their meal too much longer I dinnae think." There is a small amount of tittering laughter through the room at this.

Within seconds of her butt reaching the stool and the hat being on her head, the voice she expects is in her mind.

"Quite the tale your life has been, hasn't it?"

Mindy shakes her head.

"Just put me with Luna, please."

The hat shakes for a moment and she realizes it is laughing.

"Oh, we'll get to that in a minute or three. First I want to... Hmm. I can't actually read anything in your mind that you aren't already thinking about. Very annoying. Though I suppose I should have expected it. I imagine that Dave will be the same way, will he?"

Mindy nods her head, smirking a little.

"Don't get too uppity, I can still dump you in Slytherin. Based on some things I saw recently from somebody, I can't help but think I probably should anyway. Might solve a lot of problems in the wizarding world on the whole if I let you stalk amongst the snakes for however long you'll be here."

Then the hat seems to slump in on itself.

"To be honest my dear, it is extremely tempting. If I thought for a second that you could find it in you to stop short of murder after a month down there, I no doubt would. But since I don't, and because based on memories I gained elsewhere you will no doubt find your way into the Headmaster's office just to burn me to ash if I did it, I guess it had better be...HUFFLEPUFF!"

.

HP HP HP HP HP HP

.

A few minutes later, Dave is joining them at the table of Hufflepuff and the Headmaster spends a few moments reminding everybody of the basic rules of the school after everybody has eaten their fill. No spells in the halls. The list of items that the caretaker has banned on school property. That the forbidden forest is, in fact, forbidden. A few various other worthless tidbits, including introducing the new 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' Professor, One Gilderoy Lockhart. Then they are led to their common room by the current fifth-year prefects for Hufflepuff house. It isn't until they have made it to the badger's den, located past a knock password protected portal off a small offshoot corridor from the kitchens that is full of old barrels and such, that they have a chance to speak at least for a short time before they are to be trotting off to bed. The prefects having given them only a half-hour after cheerfully explaining the simple house rules of Hufflepuff. Be kind, be clean, be loyal and be hardworking, and then all can be friends together. This was followed by a brief explanation of the next day, and that they would all need to be down to be in the common room by seven-thirty if they wish to be led to breakfast. They also mention that generally, their Head of house would be available to speak with them and answer questions. Unfortunately, she had been called away due to some kind of emergency on the grounds that involved one of the magical plants having been potentially hurt. As the Herbology professor, seeing to such things was one of her duties. But they are assured that she is as kind and sweet as it is possible to be as long as you showed her the same courtesy and that as tomorrow was Saturday and she tried not to infringe too much on their free time, she would be available for any that needed her but her formal introduction would have to wait until Sunday evening.

The three of them find the badger's common room rather to their liking. It has a low ceiling, and soft yellow light that is spread from a number of copper and brass fixtures around the place. The rounded edges and circular doorways make Dave and Mindy think fondly of a Hobbit's dwelling, while Luna is reminded of a hunting cottage they had stayed in for a month the previous summer while they were scouting about looking for the elusive Crumple-Horn Snorkacks in Finland. Everything in it is worn but comfortable. Patched, but sturdy. It wouldn't shock any of them to discover that many or even all of the furnishings there date from the founders. Once they have found an out-of-the-way corner to chat in where they won't be overheard, they begin their plotting in earnest.

Dave starts things. "So, what happened Luna? I thought we were going for Ravenclaw. Not that I am upset or anything, this is way better. I just didn't think it was a real possibility for you two."

She brightens considerably, which is quite the trick considering she was practically weeping happiness from every pore already.

"The hat saw the movies in my mind, and decided that you two had already taught me enough about loyalty and hard work to make it here." She blushes a bit. "Thank you so much. I... I don't like the thought of what could have happened in Ravenclaw if you had been taken away." She looks around. "The hat told me that he'd like to put me in Ravenclaw because he said my mind was plenty good enough for it, but he gave me a choice, kind of."

Mindy raises an eyebrow. "Kind of?"

Luna shrugs. "He gave me the options and then as soon as I had even considered what I might want, he plucked the answer from my mind. So it was kind of a choice? I think it worked out for the best anyway, so I can't bring myself to be mad at the hat over it. I am disappointed that he apparently couldn't send Ginny here as well, but I guess Weasleys are just Gryffindors. I'll admit I kind of expected that. She's been fighting with and practically at war at times with three of her six older brothers since she could crawl. She loves her family, but she also knows a lot more about conflict and bravery than she does about friendship or how to work hard for her own reasons."

She hangs her head a bit at that, wondering if there had been something she could have done that might have helped in that regard. Mindy wraps an arm around her from the side, as the two girls are sitting on a curiously short couch that had luxuriously soft leather-covered cushions from some kind of beast or another while Dave is on the chair just across from them on the other side of an equally short table that is just at the right height to do homework at. Mindy gives the area another surreptitious look. What she is bringing up isn't against the law, particularly. But it would likely get them in trouble if anybody knew about it.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her. Even in the movies, she survived well enough. With us here? We'll see if we can get things sorted out a bit better. But for now, if we are going to do this? We may as well start now. It takes at least a month after all, according to the book, and then we need a lighting storm. October is probably a good time to find one of those."

Dave grimaces. "Are you sure it's worth it? I tasted one the other day just out of curiosity. They're terrible. Kind of a sweet and bitter thing. Like a thousand-year-old stale 'Sour Patch Kid' crossed with a bay leaf, maybe. Tasting nothing but that for a month will be gross as hell."

Mindy shakes her head. "Yeah, it needs to be a thing here if we are going to do it at all. If we fuck it up somehow, they know how to fix it here. We wait until later we might need to die to fix a mistake. I know you haven't had to deal with that yet, but I'm here to tell you, it sucks ass. My plan is to just use a sticking charm to attach the thing to the roof of my mouth and then try not to think about it, honestly."

Then she hands out the mandrake leaves, and the three of them solemnly take the first step in trying to become Animagi.

Dave rolls his eyes. Trust the wizarding world to sort out something so complex that at least some of it almost had to be an accident the first time.

After they have all gotten their initial reaction applied their sticking charms, Mindy continues.

"Since we have the next couple of days to do whatever, I say we head up to the seventh floor and use the Room. It's time to get some real training in." She smirks at Luna. "I can't wait to see what you make of a Grimm, kiddo."

Then she laughs at the look of moderate horror on Luna's face.

.

HP HP HP HP HP HP

.

Author's note:

Kudos to anybody that guessed Hufflepuff. I suppose I could have done Ravenclaw, but frankly? I think the hat is a decent enough chap that once he knew what was actually going to happen, he'd look around for another possibility for her if he could.

As for Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff? She's currently out on the grounds trying to decide if the damage to the Whomping Willow is severe enough to need immediate healing or not. If you are familiar with the second book, that should make perfect sense. If you are not, then what the hell are you doing reading my garbage? Go read those instead. :P

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated!