Chapter 10

Special shoutout to my beta unspeakable3 who has been invaluable both in helping me with some story ideas as well as clearing out a massive amount of grammar issues and Brit-picking. She's fantastic and I hope anyone who enjoys this story goes and checks out some of her work: /users/unspeakable3

I don't own the characters or the wizarding world, that goes to JKR and the various publishing conglomerates.

playlist/6FRmgY64Pu9d8ojvR5Dl8m?si=20841e41552e4041

em September 1st 1991 /em

The morning dawned early, and as was always the case, The Burrow fell into chaos. No matter how many times they were reminded to prepare their trunks early, nobody ever seemed to be ready on time. Ron was heaving his trunk down the stairs to the floo when it suddenly lifted off the ground and floated over his head.

"Don't worry son, I've got it," his dad said. He brought the trunk down the rest of the stairs and immediately sent it through the fireplace to Grimmauld Place, while Ron turned to fetch Joplin.

As he entered his room he noted the cage was empty and went to the window to whistle for her. She flew to the window, settling on the ledge, and clicked her beak at him before taking flight again, heading north. Ron followed her with his eyes for a minute before carrying her cage down to the floo.

"Where's Joplin?" his dad asked when he noted the empty cage.

"I think she wanted to spread her wings a bit, she took off heading north. I hope she doesn't get lost," Ron said.

"Oh, she won't. I imagine being cooped up on the train is a pretty rough fate for most of the owls, especially with how energetic she is. I'm sure she'll meet you at Hogwarts. After the welcome feast try to double-check at the Owlery, though."

Ron nodded and carried the cage through the floo into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place.

"Ron!" Harry called from his seat at the table. "We're finally going!"

"Yeah, it'll be good. Right?" he said while looking at Remus.

"Of course it will," Remus responded with a warm smile.

"You two will get into plenty of trouble, right?" Sirius said with a broad grin.

"Sirius!" Remus scolded his friend.

"We'll be ok. We've always got the twins to get us into trouble anyway," Harry said with a laugh, and the group fell into comfortable conversation while waiting for the rest of the Weasleys to join them at Grimmauld Place.

With just enough time to spare for the walk to King's Cross, the remaining Weasleys piled into the kitchen and quickly made for the door. The large pack of redheads drew a few looks from the locals, but after a short walk they were in King's Cross and taking it in turns to go through the wall onto platform nine and three quarters.

As they entered the crowded platform Molly and Ginny began openly crying and hugging the Weasley boys who were leaving. The boys took it in turns to roll their eyes at their mum and offer encouragement to Ginny.

"Don't worry Ginny, you're only a year behind us," Ron said. "And you'll get to start learning with Luna and Pandora at the shop."

"True, getting all the perks that Ickle Ronnie got," Fred commented. "But don't worry Ginny, the year will fly by and we'll see you over the Christmas hols soon enough."

Their mum interposed herself and began sternly lecturing the twins about following the rules and not getting into any more trouble. "If I hear that you were caught in the forest, or blew up another toilet-"

"We've never blown up a toilet!" George exclaimed.

"True, it's a great idea, Mum!" Fred called out.

"Yes, we'll send you a Hogwarts toilet, Ginny!" George yelled as he dodged his mother's swat.

Ron and Harry took advantage of the distraction to pull their trunks onto the last carriage and claim an empty compartment. They opened the window and continued chatting with Sirius and Remus who had followed them.

"Oi! Neville!" Harry called when he spotted their friend in the crowd.

The round-faced boy lit up and immediately made for the last train. "Hey Harry!" he called as he got closer - the call drew stares, as many of the adults on the platform knew that Harry Potter was starting at Hogwarts this year.

"Alright you two, try not to get into too much trouble," Remus said.

"Right, but make sure you get into a little, just don't lose too many points," Sirius said with a grin that quickly faded to a scowl when Remus smacked the back of his head.

Remus stepped over to assist Neville in getting his trunk up the stairs and onto the carriage while Sirius whispered to Harry and Ron, "Listen, the twins have a map, so if you ever need to get into some mischief or sneak around, ask them if you can borrow it - Marauders' honour - alright?"

The two boys had heard about the map before and eagerly nodded. Then whistle blew on the train and they said their final goodbyes as Neville settled in.

"No! Trevor!" Neville shouted as the train lurched and he lost his hold on his pet.

"Got him!" Harry said as he caught the leaping toad out of the air. "You really need to get a cage for him or something, Neville. He's a sneaky bugger."

"Joplin decided to fly up to Hogwarts, so you can borrow her cage if you want," Ron chimed in.

"Might be for the best." Neville sighed.

Once the toad was safely stowed away, Ron pulled out his stereo and played some music for the compartment, and they fell into idle chatter. Further down the train, word had spread that they had a stereo and Harry Potter in their compartment; a steady stream of visitors began coming through the door for a conversation or to simply gawk at the Boy Who Lived.

Eventually, the trio was joined by some of the muggleborn students. They didn't seem nearly as keen on gawking at him, and they soon settled down for the packed ride to Hogwarts.

"So what house are you all hoping to join?" Justin asked the assembled group during a lull in the conversation.

"Gryffindor," Harry said proudly. "It's the house that my parents and my godfather were in."

"Gryffindor for me as well," Ron added.

"Same," came Neville's comment. "My grandmother would be furious with me if I was sorted anywhere else."

"I'm hoping for Ravenclaw myself," Chris said, his kind, dark eyes excited. He raised a deep, browned-skinned hand and gestured toward the blue banner.

"I quite like the idea of Slytherin, I've always been keener on working smart, not hard," Ryan countered with a laugh as he peered up at the taller boy. He shook his sandy hair out of his face, revealing dark grey eyes with a hint of mischief.

"I'm not sure if there are any muggleborns currently in Slytherin," Ron said thoughtfully.

"Really?" Ryan seemed taken aback by that piece of information. "Why not?"

"Did McGonagall tell you about the war?" Ron asked. "The one that Harry sort of ended?"

The group nodded.

"Well, the leader of the dark side hated muggleborns, and his whole group was in Slytherin. It started to get a bad name and now they have mostly purebloods who think like that, too," Ron said with a shrug. "Of course it's all rubbish, whether someone's pureblood or muggleborn doesn't really matter, except for at the start because some purebloods start studying magic before Hogwarts. Harry and I did, but it's not like you can do much - we don't have enough control over our magic yet."

The compartment settled into a few quiet conversations before Justin spoke up, "I've always preferred digging into problems and working hard, I think Hufflepuff would suit me rather nicely."

That got the conversation going again and soon they were pulling in to Hogsmeade station.

"Quick, pull your robes on, you can just pull them over your muggle clothes, no one will notice, although you might get a bit warm," Ron said as he pulled his robes over his head, knocking Chris in the side of the head.

"Oi! Watch where you're swinging your arms!"

"I think eight people in this compartment was a little much," Harry said with a laugh. "But thanks for helping to ward off the people who were just coming by to stare at me."

As they exited the train they heard a shout and saw a floating lantern. "Firs' years! Firs' years follow me! Come on, you lot!" The voice could be heard not far below the floating lantern and soon the small group noticed that the lantern wasn't floating, but being held by an enormous man who was calling for the first years.

"Leave your trunks and cages, they'll get sent ahead to your common rooms. Firs' years follow me!" he continued calling.

The group followed after him and found their way to a small beach with boats gently bumping into the shore with each wave, although none of them appeared to be tied to anything.

"Alright, three or four to a boat, climb in!" the large man called.

Harry quickly clambered into a boat, reaching back to help Ron, Neville, and Chris in. Once they were all seated they looked around expectantly, but nothing happened. After a few moments though the man called "Forward!" pointing his umbrella at the lake and all of the boats began moving of their own accord into the water.

"Wow," Chris said quietly. "It's beautiful." The comment was met by murmurs of assent from his fellow passengers. The trip passed quietly and without much conversation; all the boats' occupants seemed to be taking in the beauty of the lake, although, as they rounded a cliff, a sudden gasp rippled through the crowd of boats as people saw Hogwarts, fully lit up, for the first time.

Soon the boats pulled into a cave and slowly docked themselves, allowing the first years to exit and slowly follow the giant man up the stairs that seemed to be never-ending.

Eventually, they were led to a pair of tall oak doors and the man raised a massive fist to knock, and the doors opened, apparently of their own accord. Behind the door was a stern-looking woman who exchanged a few words with the giant man before speaking directly to the children.

Ron tried to pay attention, he really did, but there was an undercurrent of conversation rolling through his fellow first years. At one point, after the woman had left them briefly, Draco Malfoy shouldered his way through the crowd and tried to introduce himself to Harry while managing to insult both Ron and Neville. Ron had bristled and been about to attack the blond boy when Harry calmly insulted the entire Malfoy family and turned back to Ron, ignoring further advances from Draco.

A shout came out from the group and Ron looked to see ghosts floating casually through the room, high above the heads of the students, holding some conversation or other. However, between Malfoy and his lingering fear over the sorting, his mind was too unsettled to pay much attention to the happenings above him.

They were summoned through another pair of tall oak doors and followed the stern witch between four long tables to a stool with an old hat on it.

Ron was no less calm now, looking around and seeing all eyes on the group of new first years. They seemed to be especially focused in his direction, which puzzled him, until he tried to pick up on the conversation around him and overheard many whispers about Harry.

Being born a Weasley occasionally had some benefits, but having a last name that started with a 'W' just allowed Ron more time to internally panic - especially after he witnessed both Neville and Harry being sorted into Gryffindor.

"Weasley, Ronald!" came the call from the woman.

Ron slowly stepped forwards and put the hat on his head while he sat.

"Another Weasley, eh?" He heard a voice that seemed like a cross between a whisper in his ear and a voice in his head. "Interesting, you're a bit different from the rest."

Ron's heart immediately fell to his shoes.

"Oh dear, not like that," the hat said with a chuckle. "You've got plenty of courage, as most of the Weasleys I've sorted had. You're also fairly intelligent, you aren't afraid of a little work, and you've also got some ambition in you. So, the question becomes, where to put you?"

"Gryffindor?" Ron asked.

"Well, certainly you could. You've got what you need to do well there, but you'll likely be in the shadow of your friend. On the other brim, putting you into a different house could let you strike out on your own."

Ron thought about that for a bit - was he really so concerned about being overshadowed? He'd been overshadowed by his brothers already, although he'd started to build a bit of a name for himself within his own family, which he liked. What could the harm be? Maybe being around Harry would leave him in the shadows- or it could push him out of them.

"I think Gryffindor," Ron said, smiling as he heard the hat shout the decision to the room. He hurried over to sit at the spot that Neville and Harry had saved for him.

The sorting concluded shortly thereafter and Professor Dumbledore stood. He gave an absolutely bizarre speech before encouraging everyone to "tuck in", and as food appeared on the serving plates all around them, everyone dug in with enthusiasm.

The feast flew by and soon Ron was trudging behind Percy, who was shepherding the first years up to Gryffindor Tower, completely in his element. They were introduced to the Fat Lady, and given the password to enter their common room. As the rest of his housemates piled through the portrait hole, Ron hung back and approached Percy, who was standing beside the opening.

"Percy, where's the Owlery? Joplin took off this morning and I want to make sure she got here ok."

Percy sighed and peeked in after the rest of the house for a moment; he hollered to the other prefect that he would be in shortly and led Ron along a few more corridors and up several more flights of stairs. As soon as they arrived at the Owlery Joplin fluttered to his shoulder, before taking off into the night, probably to hunt. Percy huffed but didn't say anything before turning back around and heading for Gryffindor Tower.

Ron was exhausted by the time he got back to the portrait hole. He climbed in, trudged through the surprisingly full common room, and followed Percy straight up the stairs. Percy indicated that Ron's dormitory would be at the top of the stairs, so up he went. By the time he got there most of his roommates had changed into pyjamas and were idly discussing what they thought their classes would be like.

"Stereo tonight, Ron?" Harry asked.

"Nah, we can do that tomorrow. I'm exhausted. The owlery is even higher up than we are."

The next morning came, and Ron woke up to the soft snoring of several of his new roommates. He stayed in his bed, listening to the sounds of the room for a few minutes before deciding he should do something, so he headed to start his morning routine. After a shower and change of clothes, it seemed the rest of his friends were going to be sleeping for a while, so he set his stereo up on a nightstand, grabbed his bag and walkman, and headed down to the common room.

He found a few couples there, who largely seemed more interested in… reacquainting themselves than talking to him. So Ron found a free corner of the room, pulled out a notebook and started listening to the mixtape that Z had given him on his last day at Kemp's shop. He had received a few mixtapes that day: Colin had even stopped by and dropped off about half a dozen, including ones from Eleanor, Karen, Luke, and even one from Mr Blakemore.

Ron was jotting down lyrics and generally lost in his thoughts as a hand grabbed his shoulder, causing him to jump almost out of his chair.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Oliver Wood said, once Ron removed his headphones.

"Meeting your girlfriend before breakfast?" Ron asked with a gesture to the few couples who were occupying the other couches.

"No - I'm trying to join a professional Quidditch team after Hogwarts, so I wake up and work out every morning before class, then practice afterwards," Wood answered with a smile. "Your brothers mentioned you spend a lot of time on a broom, do you want to play Quidditch?"

"I always play Keeper at home. I suppose I was hoping to play for Gryffindor eventually," Ron said with a shrug.

"If you're serious, and you're up this early anyway, I'm happy to walk you through my workouts."

Ron shrugged. "Sure."

"Actually, go grab your stereo and something… energetic?"

Ron nodded and jogged upstairs.

Harry was waking up, looking around a little groggily as Ron was flipping through his CDs.

"Party?" Harry asked with a sleepy smile.

"Working out with Wood - he wants to join a professional Quidditch team and since I'm used to waking up early, I figured I'd join him."

"I'm in," Harry said, instantly wide awake. By the time Ron grabbed the CDs and stereo Harry was already dressed and heading for the door.

Shortly they were on the Quidditch pitch with the stereo set up and the small group working through some basic drills. Wood gave them some specific, low-intensity exercises that even as young and relatively uncoordinated as they were, they could easily handle and repeat, building strength from the repetition. It was a sweaty trio that headed back up to the castle about forty-five minutes later for breakfast.

Ron and Harry quickly fell into a routine. Workouts with Wood in the mornings, breakfast with Neville - where they always tried to convince him to join them - followed by classes. As they began getting into their practical classes they both realised how much the lessons on wandwork and pronunciation with Pandora were paying off - they regularly found themselves helping to correct fellow students. Unfortunately, Snape seemed to have it in for Harry in particular, and Gryffindors in general.

The weeks passed quickly and the Hallowe'en feast was upon them. That day found Ron learning how to float items, a spell that he had some success with during his sessions with Pandora, so he spent most of the class trying to prevent Seamus Finnigan from lighting everything on fire.

On the way out of Charms, Harry caught up with him. "We should really ask Pandora to help us every summer when the shop is slow."

"Huh?" Ron asked, already thinking about the feast in a few hours.

"Our lessons have been pretty easy so far. I bet if we ask her she can help prep us for each year."

"Or maybe we should have her start tutoring muggleborns," Ron said with a shrug.

"That would help, it's been a bit of a culture shock if I'm honest." The comment came from the bushy-haired girl that Ron recognised from the shop that summer, he remembered her name was Hermione.

"I'm sure it's tough," Harry commiserated. "I can imagine, I was only introduced to magic about a year ago and I still can't always wrap my head around it."

She nodded. "Actually, your brothers have been very helpful. Apparently, my dad asked them to keep an eye on me after meeting them at your shop this past summer, but it's still been quite a lot to try to keep track of all the different things."

Ron and Harry nodded their agreement.

"It doesn't help that this castle is so massive. Why is it so big anyway?" Harry asked. "The Great Hall is only half full even during the feasts and there's a ton of unused classrooms."

"The war," Ron answered. "Apparently there have been fewer incoming students than normal for the last five or ten years. Next year is probably going to be even smaller. It'll be interesting how many firsties there are when we're in third year… And how many will be named Harry! I imagine quite a few."

"That makes sense," Hermione said, "Especially with you stopping He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," she added to Harry, who just sighed and shook his head in response.

"Alright, well we'll see you later," Ron said as he peeled off down a less-trafficked corridor, followed by Neville and Harry.

"I just hope that she can still tutor me this summer," Neville said, forlornly, going back to the previous conversation.

"You're doing fine, there are plenty of people who are struggling," Harry said, patting his friend on the back. "By the way, where are we going?"

"I wanted to send a letter to Charlie, I was just heading up to the Owlery."

The rest of the day passed without any unusual occurrences. When the trio entered the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast they were shocked by the transformation. It had only been a few hours since they had stopped by for lunch, but they could barely recognise the room.

"Wow," Neville said, staring at the giant pumpkins in the corner.

"Yeah," Harry said watching the bats flying above their head.

They walked over to their table and began excitedly chattering with those who were already there, while they waited for the feast to begin in earnest. They didn't have long to wait and soon they were gorging on massive amounts of delicious foods before an interruption occurred - Professor Quirrell burst in and said something about a troll in the dungeons.

The entire hall seemed to erupt, until Dumbledore called for quiet. Suddenly there was a burst of fire above his head and a bird emerged to a few soft 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

"It's a phoenix!" Hermione shouted excitedly, although the whole hall was more confused when it landed on the twins' shoulders and flashed back out of existence, taking the twins with them.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"No idea," Ron answered.

After a few more moments of confusion, the Gryffindors were trudging up the many, many flights of stairs to their common room to continue the feast in safety and seclusion from the rest of the school. A lot of the conversation that evening centred around the events that had just happened. Ron was happily chatting in the corner with Neville, while Harry was talking to Katie Bell about the upcoming game against Slytherin.

"Oi! Ron!" came a voice that he couldn't immediately place. "Weasley!"

Ron looked over to see one of the sevent year prefects and pointed at himself in question.

"Of course!" the older boy shouted. "Charlie told us you'd be bringing your stereo - bring it down here!"

The rest of the evening turned into an odd sort of party with dancing and food, although there were plenty of Gryffindors who escaped the noise to their respective dorms.

The next morning came early for most of Gryffindor Tower and it was a fairly bleary-eyed Wood who informed Ron that he didn't work out the day before a match, so Ron settled back into his chair and waited to head down to breakfast. When the inevitable tide of students came Ron allowed himself to be swept down, listening to the conversation flowing around him. The primary topic seemed to focus on the events of last night again, although he did receive a few compliments on his music from the 'afterparty'.

When Ron entered the Great Hall that morning he noticed that breakfast seemed to draw a larger crowd than usual. It seemed most of the castle was turning up, hoping to get an explanation for the odd activities that had occurred the day before. What was a low hum rose quickly in volume when a new adult came from an antechamber near the head table.

Once the man had approached Dumbledore and exchanged a few words with him, the headmaster stood up, holding his arms high with open palms and getting the room's attention instantly.

"Good morning all. I extend my apologies for the disruption during the feast last night. I can assure you that the troll has been dealt with, as has the one who allowed it into the castle. However, that brings us to another problem, as our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was the one at fault. As such, I will be introducing you to your new professor in just a moment, after the Minister for Magic has said a few words" After this, he gestured to the man standing beside him.

"Greetings, students. My name is Minister Diggory - I'm sure many of you know my son, Cedric. This past summer there have been discussions about how we might improve the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum given the… high turnover of this position, something that has given us cause for concern. Given the circumstances with your former professor, I have reached out to Dumbledore to discuss a solution, which we have agreed on. I will now let him tell you more about the plan."

"Thank you, Minister. As many of you will know, we have struggled to keep the same Defence professor for more than a year at a time. As such, Minister Diggory and I have decided upon a better solution and thanks to his generous offer we will begin by welcoming a different Auror to Hogwarts each year. While they will teach on rotation, they will all work together to develop a cohesive curriculum that will prepare N.E.W.T. students to join the Auror academy, if that is what any students desire."

At this pronouncement, the volume in the hall ratcheted up due to the excitement shared by the students.

Minister Diggory took up the address, "As such, I would like to introduce two people whom you will get to know over the coming years. First is Head Auror Bones, who will be in charge of assigning Aurors." As he said this Amelia Bones strode out of the same antechamber that Diggory had been in. "Head Auror Bones, would you like to introduce the students to their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"Thank you, Minister. Your first Auror-professor will be one of our most seasoned: John Dawlish." A tall man exited the same door that the others had come from and stood a little behind them, with his hands folded behind his back. "Auror Dawlish has been with the Department for fifteen years, and will certainly be able to instruct you competently."

Dawlish didn't speak but held his wand up in a salute before taking his seat at the staff table.

"I certainly think that will be enough excitement for one day. Thank you all for your time, and enjoy the rest of your day," Dumbledore said with a smile.

The volume in the hall jumped again.

"Wow, so we'll get real Aurors to teach us!" Ron said excitedly.

"It's certainly nice to see the Ministry stepping in to help sort the problem out," Percy said.

"I guess it's good that today's Friday - we've got his class right away," Harry said, equally excited.

"True, but we've also got double Potions," Ron said to a disgusted groan from Harry and a fearful squeak from Neville.