Dumbledore wasted no time in taking Hermione down to the Great Hall, he wasn't sure when Hermione had last eaten but of course the first thing to do was to sort her into a house. It only took a few seconds to yell out 'Gryffindor' throughout the silent hall.
James grinned when the hat called out Gryffindor and he wasted no time in waving her over ignoring the looks he got off the other Maunders "Mia over here!" he said moving to make space for her between him and Sirius.
Remus leaned over the table before the new girl reach them "You snuck to the hospital wing last night, didn't you! I knew you didn't go to bed last night!" he whispered over the table before moving back into his place as Mia approached.
Hermione – 'Mia' took the space that James had made for her between him and Sirius, she could recognise them but they looked so different, happy and carefree "Hi, I'm Mia, Mia Redthorn" she smiled looking between them.
James grinned "That's Remus, next to him is Peter and next to you is Sirius" he told her introducing the rest of the gang "I knew you'd be a Gryffindor! How did it go with Dumbledore?" he asked not taking a breath until Remus knocked him with his foot under the table "Sorry" he laughed rubbing the back of his neck.
Mia smiled round at the others "It's nice to meet you all" she said taking in their faces still before looking at James "Well it was a close call between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but I felt Gryffindor was the right place for me. It was ok, went as well as it I guess" she added with a shrug "I don't want to focus on all, I do however want to see how good the breakfast is" she told him as she reached over grabbing some toast.
The rest of breakfast went on smoothly, when Mia excused herself to go to the toilet Remus turned and looked at James "So how comes the map says she is Hermione Granger and she is introducing herself as Mia Redthorn?" he asked, he had a good feeling about her but why would she lie about who she was.
James gave a small shrug "She told they were attacked, maybe it's to protect her, they might not know she survived and the only way to stop them finding out is to give her a new identity, Dumbledore wouldn't want her looking over her shoulder all the time" he suggested.
Sirius nodded with what James was saying "That makes sense, if they were worried she was still alive they would be listening out for any word of her. It's a shame really, she's a muggle-born witch and now has no one and nothing. I might be disowned by most of the Black family but I still have a good amount of Galleons in my bank"
Remus, the smart one in their group hadn't thought about it like that "I'm sure Dumbledore will help her with anything she needs, he's helped me when needed in the past" he told the others "So James, for someone who usually quotes poems to Lily on a daily basis I am surprised you have taken such an interest" He turned to his friend-raising his eyebrow questioningly.
James shrugged "She was alone, mum would have gone mental if I wasn't nice" He told Remus "I just didn't want her to be alone alright? And I haven't seen Lily to even try quoting anything to her" he added defending himself.
Sirius laughed "Mate, Lily is like five seats away from you, today is the first day she's been in the same room as you and you haven't said something to her. Maybe… Just maybe you have been so distracted by Lily it became more about the chase and now Mia is here, you are realising there are actually more girls in the world other than Lily Evans" he grinned.
James turned to where Sirius had motioned with his head "So she is" He mused surprised he hadn't noticed her coming into the Great Hall, to be honest he hadn't even thought about Lily this morning at all, he'd been too focused on Mia, who seems to have been gone quite a while now "Mia isn't back yet, do you think we should of gone with her? What if she got lost?" He said standing up and looking towards the door, but just as he was about to move he saw her coming back "It's alright, she's back now" He said in a reassuring way as he back sat down.
Remus grinned "James. None of us were worried she was lost, she was probably gone the whole of ten minutes" He looked at Sirius who shared the same look, they knew their friend was now hooked on a new girl.
Sirius threw his arm around James shoulders "For someone who is as good looking as you are, you are hopeless. Mia doesn't seem like the kinda girl who wants someone clinging to her or be constantly asking where she is going. You're gonna need to learn how to relax a little otherwise you're gonna scare the girl away" He told his best friend.
James frowned "What are you on about, I'm not clinging onto her, I'm just concerned, Hogwarts is a new place and I still like Lily" He said defensively to the group and cast a quick glance over at the beautiful red head, he always thought she was untouchable almost like a goddess, but now she just seemed like another pretty girl. How has his feelings changed so much in barely any time at all. He didn't have much time to think about it as Mia returned back to them.
"Professor Dumbledore told me to get Lily to take me up to the Common room, he's had some things sent up there for so I need to get changed before class" Hermione was about to walk straight to Lily but she remembered that she wasn't meant to know yet "Who's Lily?" she asked the boys.
Sirius noticed James was just smiling at Mia and not actually answering the girl's question "Shes the red haired girl just there" He said and pointed towards Lily, although he saw the red head already looking at them "Hey Lily, Dumbledores asked for you to take Mia up to the Girls dormitory to get changed before class" he informed her smiling.
Lily jumped straight up and headed over "Not a problem!" She smiled "Hey Mia, I'm Lily, its nice to meet you" She said as she focused on the new girl "Come on, you've been hanging around these guys too long already, you'll just get you into trouble… Except you, of course, Remus" she grinned before linking arms with Mia and leading her out of the Great Hall "They're not that bad, well they are, but they have good hearts. Especially Remus, he is always trying to keep the others in check" she told Mia.
Mia let out a quiet laugh as she listened to Lily, it was odd but she was kinda getting the feeling that Lily liked Remus "Lily… Do you, erm, do you like Remus? As in more than a friend? She asked curiously letting Lily continues to pull her.
Lily's face went red rather quickly "Oh… Well kind of. It's just James has this massive thing for me, and I promise it's not just me being big-headed, he very loudly tells everyone, but how bad would I be if I went for one of his best friends? There is not a chance Remus would even consider me in that way because he would feel he is betraying James" she said with a sigh "We sometimes sit in the library and just talk, I feel so at ease and it's really great." She paused as they reached the portrait for a moment "Cherry Pop"
Mia watched as the portrait swung open and followed Lily inside, she felt bad for her, part of her wanted to tell her to go for it but if she did there would be no Harry and how could she in good conscious not encourage Lily to be with James "Have you tried sitting down and talking to James? See if there is any spark there, it sounds like you haven't really given him a chance because he is so loud about how he feels about you" she said as she followed Lily up the staircase which she knew lead to the girl's dormitory. As she walked in she felt back at home straight away.
Lily pointed over to a neatly made bed "That one will be yours, it looks as though Dumbledore has issued a Hogwarts drunk, it should have everything you need in it" She said and took a seat on her own bed "Being honest? I don't want to give him a chance because I'm not interested in him. I know it sounds bad but why should I be nudged or talked into spending time with him? Especially when there is a guy I like"
A pang of guilt hit Mia, Lily was right of course, she shouldn't try and persuade her to be with somebody she isnt interested in. Opening up the trunk that sat at the bottom of her bed she took out a book 'Hogwarts: A History' and it made her smile, she thought about Dumbledores words because not letting the future prevent her from living "You're right Lily. You should talk to James though, maybe let him know that you like Remus but you don't want to hurt his feelings?" She suggested as she got out her uniform and quickly changed.
Lily sighed again and fell backwards on her bed looking up at the ceiling "You think? You could be right, I never thought of it like that before" She said and sat back up "You know Mia I'm glad you here, while I love the other girls sometimes they are more focused on their makeup and the conversations can be quite limited"
Letting out a laugh Mia gave a nod "Oh tell me about it, the girls in my year were the same, I've never been into hair or makeup so I didn't fit in with the group and my best friends were guys. As you can probably tell from breakfast I'm more used to guys company" she flushed "Oh that sounds so wrong, I meant I have more male friends then I do female"
Lily laughed "I get you don't worry, come on we should hurry we have Potions first!" she said grabbing Mia's hand and pulling her out the common room.