Lafiel could not believe what she was seeing. She had just assumed she would stay with the others when they finally got to Hogwarts officially. Instead a scruffy hat was going to figure it out for her? Unacceptable.

Unfortunately, she well knew that sometimes you don't get what you want, or what is reasonable.

"Lafiel Paryunu Abriel," announced McGonagall.

Lafiel smiled. It was quite similar to the smile she gave Draco Malfoy on the train. Whispers swirled around her as she walked confidentially to the rickety three legged chair and sat down, all as if she was preparing to hold court in place of her grandmother.

The raggedy and slightly smelly hat flopped down on her head.

"This is new. Your my first alien princess," she heard in her head. She had hoped it would fail to be able to look at her thoughts, but that hope was clearly dead.

She pictured in perfect clarity how she would take her sidearm and burn the hat to ashes if a word of her thoughts were made public, or better yet, maybe a variant of that runic array they were working on. Could they get the hat hotter than the sun? It would be interesting to see how long it lasted.

"I get death threats several times a year, though I have to admit, yours do actually worry me more than most."

"It is not a threat."

"No, it is not. You have made the decision already. If X occurs this is your path. The decision made well ahead of the need. No time wasted. Remarkable."

Lafiel remained perfectly poised as the hat sat there apparently giving her case deep thought.

"You don't have to worry about your privacy. I can't reveal a sorting."

"Good. My promise remains."

"Of course. We'll first off, by traits, you could fit any of the houses. Given your people's symbol is snakes, and your desire to triumph over all obstacles, I'd have normally considered you for Slytherin."

"I doubt that would end well, if what I hear of Slytherin is accurate."

The hat replied, "I'm quite sure it would end very badly, likely with many deaths. Weather or not you would survive it is something I'm not prepared to speculate about."

On the chair Lafiel's smile grew wider.

"I leave the choice to you. You need not my help in finding your place."

"Explain the choices to me."

"In Gryffindor, you would be with Miss Granger and Mr. Potter. In Hufflepuff, you might find more allies. Susan Bones would be sometime you might want to meet, among others. In Ravenclaw you might find others that would help you accomplish your goals, and young Miss Lovegood would no doubt appreciate the company. If you like, I will tell you my preference, but the choice is yours."

"Speak then hat."

"Of the houses, two have most lost their way. Were the risk not so high, I'd have sent you to Slytherin anyway. They need a new path, but it would not work, though I would ask you to keep an open mind about them."

"Always."

"The other house that has most lost its way is Ravenclaw. Many seek knowledge to have the most, or to get the highest grade. They seek to set themselves as the paragon of the archetype. They treat Luna poorly, because she is different, never knowing her true burden, and yes I have protected that secret as well. Rowena Ravenclaw always sought the answers, and was never afraid of the truth. She never lied. She never deceived. To her, life was wonder; an unending journey to understand just her part of it. You have some of it. Look at you. It has been so little time, since you first walked on this Earth and that was your first step on any world, yet you have done so much. I ask you to help them. The magical world is caught in a mess of its own making. I know you wish to leave one day. I do not know if you ever will be able to, but even so, I think of how much we could learn from one such as you."

"Thank you hat. I have made my choice."

"And it is?"

"Please announce that I have the freedom to choose."

"You are serious. You will commit to none?"

"I was often told that if I ever could not choose to stay or to go, then I must go. I choose to have the freedom of all houses." Lafiel's expression grew a bit more somber and serious just before the hat burst out in laughter.

The hat then shouted, "Lafiel Paryunu Abriel has the freedom to choose."

Albus stood, "I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean that the student gets to pick their own house?" He said the idea as if tasting it, trying to determine if it was edible, and finding out it was not.

The hat repeated, "She gets to choose. She will be a member of the house she sleeps in, until she sleeps in another."

"But just twice?" suggested Albus.

"She can change houses every day of the week," said the hat.

"That is absurd. I demand you sort her."

"My job is done," stated the hat.

Lafiel said, "I choose to be a member of Ravenclaw house today." Her robes immediately changed to be trimmed in blue and bronze. She sat down next to a grinning Luna who made space for her.

"This is absurd," Draco complained as they returned to their common room. "That Potter groupie could just walk into our house and do whatever she wants."

Blaise said dryly, "I rather doubt anyone is going to give her the password."

Draco looked thoughtful. "If she gets it somehow, make sure it is changed."

The others nodded.

Daphne asked, "I got a letter from professor Vector. She is going to be teaching an advanced group, and I've been invited."

Tracy said, "I wonder who else is in it? Granger for sure. Maybe some upper years?"

"No idea. I need to get going. She wanted to have our first meeting this evening. I should know something afterwards."

Blaise asked, "See if you can figure out why such a course was offered. I'm curious. I kind of wonder if the new girl is involved."

Pansy said, "And what is up with all their hair?"

Draco said, "Severus said it was the result of some mess at the Weasley hovel and potions. It's apparently permanent."

Tracy said, "It looks good on the new girl, and even Granger's hair is tamed, and rather nice looking, well, if your into the blue thing."

Daphne gave her a flat stare.

"What? It is. Heck Potter's hair is no longer a rats nest. I wouldn't have thought magic could fix that."

"Lovegood as well," Draco mentioned.

Blaise said, "Lovegood seemed less lost than usual. I say the blue is something more than the story. There is also the ears on the new girl. That could be the result of an accident, if an accident really happened, but they look natural."

Daphne said, "Unfortunately, I need to go, but there is one more thing you may have missed."

"What?" Draco asked.

"Potter's scar is gone, and so are his glasses."

Draco's eyes widened. "Has anyone ever heard of a curse scar like that just being removed?"

No one had, but then no one else had survived the Dark Lord.

Daphne entered the Arithmancy classroom. The classroom consisted of several round tables, with chairs around them, with a bigger desk at the front for the professor.

She was not, entirely surprised to see, well she would have to think of a better name than the blue group. They were all sitting around the middle table. Lafiel and the other's stood.

Lafiel said, "Professor Vector wanted us to get started on our own. She told me to tell you that much of this group would be self study, and that her own time would be limited to the time she was free from her normal course load."

"I see."

Lafiel smiled, "Hello, I'm Lafiel."

"Daphne"

"I'm sure you know the others. Will you join us?" she asked.

"I am uncertain if this is a good idea. Arithmancy is a very difficult subject. I, for one am puzzled how Potter is even here."

Hermione said, "Harry surprised me over the summer, picking this up quite quickly."

"If that is so, then perhaps he won't mind joining me at this other table. I would like to evaluate him for myself."

Obviously puzzled, Hermione asked, "What for?"

"Something here doesn't make sense. If Potter had such skill, then why have I not seen it before now. If he does not, then best we end this quickly, so I can return to the normal class."

Harry said, "Okay. I'm still catching up a little, but I should be able to answer your questions."

He moved over to the far table and Daphne joined him. She used her wand to clear and reset the table. It was now a matte black surface. She then used her wand to quickly sketch a complicated runic diagram of dozens of interlinked symbols."

Hermione had come over and was standing looking at what Daphne had drawn. Her eyes bulged slightly as she looked. Lafiel came over to the other side of the table and looked down, carefully inspecting what she had drawn.

Hermione said, "I'm not certain this is entirely fair to Harry. I could answer if you want, eventually..."

"The question was to Potter. If he fails, well we will get to that shortly."

Harry said dryly, "I thank you for the belief you have in me."

Daphne almost grinned, before her face resumed its neutral expression.

Harry pulled out his books and parchment and began making notes. One page, turned into two then into ten. Several of those got scratched through and new pages written. Finally, over an hour after he had started he said, "I admit I don't fully understand this, but it is definitely intended as an array to remove some curse that is tied to I think magic. No family magic. It's not complete, I can tell that, but I'm not entirely sure how to complete it. Frankly its beyond where I've worked."

Daphne's eyes widened. "You have my attention, but can any of you spot the errors I put in this?"

Hermione said, "Nice try, but I've watched you work. This is your best work. Frankly it is probably better than what I could have done at the end of last year. The real question is why. This isn't something you did for fun. How long have you been working on this? Weeks? Months?"

Luna said, "The Greengrass family has a blood curse. I suspect it hit Astoria, but it could be Daphne I suppose. Whichever one inherited it probably won't live past thirty or so."

"You are remarkably well informed," said Daphne with obvious annoyance.

"We own a newspaper. Just because we get tips, doesn't mean we print them."

Lafiel asked, "What can you tell me about this curse? Do you have the Arithmancy for it, or even the name?"

Daphne shrugged, fishing a potions book out of her bag, which she then proceeded to tap several places with her wand, only for it to change to a very old leather bound volume. She opened it carefully to a bookmarked page."

Lafiel, Hermione, Harry, and Luna read carefully. At the end they looked more than a little ill.

Lafiel moved back over to the middle table and repeated the steps Daphne took to clear it. She then started writing symbols, starting with Daphne's layout, clearing parts of it, adding parts to it.

The others, including Daphne came over to see what she was doing.

Lafiel wiped more parts away before included an additional layer of symbols on the outside of the array. She continued to stare at the array for several minutes, before she used a feature she had discovered in the table, where she made space in the inner core. There she wrote a set of seven interlinked symbols, which suddenly seemed to push at the surrounding symbols as they naturally set into new positions. She added lines and curves to the design, noting power flows and reactions. Finally she removed the space at the outer edge and looked over the whole design.

Lafiel stood, continuing to look and examine what she created. She said, "That is the best I can do. It may work, but this is all theoretical."

Daphne's eyes widened as she studied what the new girl had made. "What do you want?" she asked.

"For this? Nothing. It may not even be safe. I understand the theory, or at least I think I do."

"What do you want for both your silence and to help me save my sister?"

Lafiel said, "There are many factions in this world. If you wish for my ongoing help to save your sister then I require your word that you will not act against us."

"That's all? No money, or spying on my house mates or loyalty?"

"If I can not earn your loyalty, then I do not deserve it."

"And what stops me from taking your help and then betraying you?"

Lafiel smiled. "If your betrayal caused harm to myself or those I care about, then I would revisit that harm on you ten times over."

Daphne blinked, looking carefully at Lafiel. "I think I believe you."

Lafiel smiled again.

"If it helps..." Daphne sighed. "Do you want a witches oath?"

Lafiel turned to Luna in question.

Luna said with audible distaste, "A witches oath given freely with a binder would use Daphne's magic to bind the oath. She could never break it."

Lafiel said, "Then I have one more requirement for you." Daphne's face looked sad, but she nodded. Lafiel finished with, "That you abstain from oaths."

Daphne's eyes lit up in surprise. "I cannot. My family. I swore an oath. I had to."

"What was your oath to your family?" asked Luna.

"I promised on my magic and life never to betray my family. If father directs me to do something, I won't have any choice, at least till I hit my majority."

Lafiel said, "We will try to find a way to free you from that too."

"You mean that," Daphne said in wonder. "If you can help me help Story. Just ask, I'll do what I can."

Hermione asked, "What are you going to tell your housemates?"'

Daphne shrugged. "There is no point in lying about who is here. That will get found out, sooner or later. My best bet is just to say it is mostly self paced, and while its not that much better than the normal class, at least I get more time with the professor, so it's worth doing. I'd probably also point out that Granger is at least a decent study partner. They would expect something like that. No, they would expect Granger with Potter. I'll say that Abriel is. That will fit, and not be too suspicious."

Lafiel said, "I could wish such deception was not required."

Daphne shrugged. "We'll its either something like that, or get a lot of people interested in you that you don't want interested in you. Are we about done for tonight? The longer this is, the more they will question."

Lafiel said, "I was hoping Harry and I could try to cast a Patronus again?"

"Huh? I had heard that Potter knew the spell..."

Harry grinned. "I suppose we should really finish that."

He walked towards Lafiel and she slipped inside his arms, pulling out her wand as his hands covered her own. They silently waited a dozen or so seconds until Harry said, "On Three. One. Two. Three." Their combined hands moved in a circle, with Lafiel's hand glowing blue white magic and her wand glowing like the sun as Harry whispered, "Expecto Patronum." and the beam of lavender light shot out and stopped at the end of the room as a golden dragon struggled to form in the crowded room. Each scale was visible, just as if it was a real dragon. The only way you could tell it was not was the lavender glow that rimmed it.

The dragon kicked the third table out of the way and it shattered against the wall. The others all backed up. It snorted and they felt the hot breathe singe their skin. It looked around for threats, finding none, curled up into a ball and vanished.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Daphne.

"It was a true Patronus," whispered Luna in awe.

"That corny legend? Everyone knows that's bunk."

They were interrupted when Vector rushed through the door, followed quickly by Albus, Snape, Minerva, and Filius.

Minerva said, "Just what is going on in here?"

Harry looked around, trying to figure a way out. Hermione was similarly thinking.

Lafiel said simply, "We cast a Patronus Charm."

"Do you think I be a bloody fool? Ye, did something a heck of a lot bigger than that."

Daphne said, "They did what they said they did."

Vector asked, "Then how do you explain the wreckage of the table? Those aren't easy to make you know."

Albus said, "Just forget it. They did what they said they did. Next time, let me know and we will find a more suitable location. If asked, I suggest people say that Mr. Potter tripped a prank someone left behind last year, but was unharmed."

Minerva said, "And ye think they will believe that?"

"Probably not, but believe they are lying is one thing. Knowing the truth is another."

Albus looked down at the middle table, which was now mostly in the first third of the room. "You have been busy. Professor Vector, can you make sure.." He looked around, his eyes settling on Daphne. "Daphne I think gets this down correctly and also please give them what guidance you can in the future on this. I'm not sure if this will work, but it is a promising bit of work nonetheless."

Snape looked down at it, then back at Daphne before seeming to realize something. Minerva eyes widened, but understanding eluded her. Filius said, "I'll stay too. This is interesting."

Lafiel said, "If, its just writing this down that is the problem, let me just get it done. Do you have a large paper?"

Vector pulled a large clean sheet of round parchment from her desk, exactly the size of the table and set it on her desk. Hermione offered her a eight color set of fine tip pens, and some more loose printer paper, which she accepted. She drew lines with each pen, then set them all in order, and set the loose paper aside, then she began sketching symbols. Primary symbols were in black. Secondary power symbols were in red. Balancing and connecting symbols were in green. Lines tracing the paths energy radiated were drawn in orange. She quickly drew symbol after symbol, line after line, maintaining the pattern she started with until ten minutes later she announced. "This should be correct."

Vector announced, "I didn't spot any errors, but it would take me hours to review this. Just go. Filius and I will review it before we clear the table."

Before they left Professor Vector said, "I'm not giving any points for this, since you destroyed one of my tables, and I don't give points for carelessness, no matter what the results are. I will, however, give Miss Granger fifteen points for clever use of muggle instruments. Please be sure to let me know where to get a set. They may be useless for actual magic, but this is still remarkable."

Hermione's cheeks pinked. "I'll write my parents."

"We'll if this is all settled, Let's get some sleep. Remember runic prank left behind by someone last year that went off is what destroyed the table. No one was seriously hurt, but you had to all be examined." Albus yawned before exiting the room.

The others, save Filius and Septima followed after.

After they were gone Filius said, "We'll I think my new Ravenclaw is going to be something."

"That is, assuming you can get her to stay in Ravenclaw."

"We'll I can hope. Have you seen any problems yet?"

"The design is textbook. We'll its more than that, but it is limited by that. It's Lafiel's design based on Daphne's design I think. I know she has been tinkering, trying to find something to save her sister. I have helped her with it more than a few times."

"Will it work do you think?"

"Probably not. It is technically correct from what I can tell so far, but the old curses are wily and tend to resist straightforward solutions. That being said, the potential is there. With work, I'm betting we could turn this into something that would. It may take a full curse breaking team, including a master healer and months of work before we dare risk it. Don't forget, Astoria is fine now. If there is a mistake in something of this level, she could become dead very quickly, or worse."

"Still, I'm sure it will be a relief to her family to know there is hope."

Vector replied, "Possibly, but I doubt Daphne mentions it to anyone, even her sister. If it were to be general knowledge that Daphne's sister was defective, or some such nonsense, it could cause her a lot of trouble."

Filius sighed.

"Did I ever tell you that Lafiel showed me a design a couple weeks ago for basically generating super high pressure steam and launching it out the back. It was for thrust. Why anyone would really need such a thing is beyond me, but at least they assured me it wasn't for a broom. That would be crazy."

"A muggle airplane like thing?" Filius guessed.

"Something like that."

"Did they say how fast it would be?"

"At the time I was more concerned with convincing them to never ever try to activate anything remotely like this anywhere near Hogwarts. It would make the 'bomb' we just had here look like a joke in comparison, at least if it worked as I thought it would, or rather didn't. I'm still not sure her design would have failed, but the potential destructive power of it made me really worried. I still am."

"Make sure you keep me updated. Mr. Potter should easily have the resources to buy or travel to a suitable test area, should such a thing be tested. If you think they are apt to test it here, do whatever it takes to stop them. There is nothing more dangerous than a true Arithmancer with time to prepare and the power to activate their designs, and the group around Potter has that power.

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped.

"No, I'm sure you do. I just wanted to be sure, given how concerned you were."

"Of course," Vector said. "I'll make sure to get Beth up to speed as well."

Filius asked, "Out of curiosity, is the design for the thing they had something that can be shrank, say to a less risky size?"

"I don't think so. She used standard runic shorthand, likely right from the textbooks. There was a lot of detail missing, because it could not fit on standard parchment, so instead we write the essentials and assume the user is smart enough to know how to fill it in, at least for initial drafts. Add back in those details and I would be hard pressed at carving the runes required much smaller than what her scale notation indicated, at least if I expected it to work."

Filus said, "You know my schedule. Please try to schedule meetings when I can be present, particularly if you won't be."

"Of course. There is a scary amount of potential here."

"I believe the key word is scary."

Vector nodded.