Day One

I woke in the morning to Professor McGonagall's voice calling my name. I made the foolish mistake of opening my eyes before putting on my glasses, and it was instant agony. My cry of pain made the headmistress flinch and ask if I was alright. I bounded up, eyes closed shut and reached for my glasses. I found them after a moment of grabbing at thin air on the bedside table. I opened my eyes. The sun was barely up.

The hospital wing was a long room, much longer than I'd noticed. It was a sand colored brick, with large windows with decorative iron bars making diamond shapes. There big iron chandeliers on long chains, and very few beds. The wing looked rather sparse and I wondered if Madam Pomfrey would just conjure beds when she needed them.

Professor McGonagall was to my right. She wore an emerald green robe, with a gold brooch at her throat. The brooch bore the shape of the Hogwarts coat of arms, but with an H instead of the four house animals. Her hair was neatly pulled back, and she stared down at me through her spectacles.

Just to her right I could see the boy, Lucas Morigan, being helped to his feet by a lavishly dressed older fat man. The old man wore green robes, trimmed with gold, a chain for a pocket watch was stretched across his enormous mid-section. "Come me boy," he said. His voice was boisterous and good-natured.

"I'm to take you to your new common room Mr. Husher," said Professor McGonagall.

"Shouldn't Professor Silsbury do that?" I asked. "She's head of Gryffindor, isn't she?"1

"Professor Silsbury has enough on her plate with orientation commencing. You are to follow me." She swept her robes up began to walk towards the great gray double doors of the Hospital Wing. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. "You are feeling well enough for the day's activities, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Change then, and quickly."

The teal dressing curtains pulled themselves around my bed. I noticed a pair of school robes on the desk. They were my robes from Madam Mulkins, but they had been altered slightly. Where the inside of the robes had been black, they were now scarlet, and a Lion patch with the Gryffindor colors behind it was on the chest. I didn't dare groan with the former Head of Gryffindor just outside my curtains. Next to my robes were a fresh pair of underpants, a pressed white collared shirt, a black leather belt, a V-neck gray jumper, and a gold and scarlet tie. On the floor were a pair of shiny black shoes.

I pulled off my pajamas and pulled on my new school uniform. I hesitated before tying the scarlet and gold tie around my neck. Still, I was dressed fairly quickly. I felt my wand—well, not my wand, the wand I was borrowing—in an inside pocket of my robes. Someone had placed it there. My clothes from yesterday were nowhere in sight, and my pajamas vanished.

I followed behind the headmistress, thanking Madam Pomfrey as we left.

I could already start to feel a headache, with all the light pouring into my vision from the peripheries. I pushed the glasses hard up against my nose, so there was as little room as possible for the magical light to seep into my sight. I made a mental note to ask Professor Flitwick to extend the shield charm when I next took my glasses to him.

We exited through the double doors into hallway. The trip to, what I soon learned was called, 'Gryffindor Tower,' felt like we crossed half the castle.2

My impressions about the castle: it would be very difficult to insulate, and the founding four could not choose which stone to build the castle out of. Whole sections of the castle were built from sandstone, while others were made from granite or limestone. Being made entirely of stone, the winters would be exceptionally cold.3

We must have passed thousands of portraits. Most were awake, while a few still slept. We passed by a rather rude knight who chased the headmistress and me up a few flights of stairs before a portrait involving six trolls and a goblin taskmaster throttled him for entering.

Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a portrait that was double my height and four times my width. A morbidly obese woman, who looked to be in her late forties, sat on a white bench. Grape vines surrounded her and she held in her hand a glass of red wine. She wore a long white toga and had a sort of thrifty tiara of grape vines and red roses in her hair. In the background sat an ancient Greek temple on a high cliffside.

"Oh Headmistress!" The obese lady said. She threw her whole glass of red wine out of sight. It could be heard shattering in the background. "Password?"

"Rasberry Marmalade," said Professor McGonagall.

The portrait swung. Behind it was a round hole about the size of the portrait guarding it. Professor McGonagall stepped aside and gave me a curt nod.

"Professor Silsbury will be here shortly, I believe. Please wait for her in the common room. Your fellow first years should be down from their dormitories soon." She turned to leave but paused. "And your belongings have been delivered to your dormitory."

I meant to thank the Headmistress, but instead I said, "How?"

"Hogwarts has a fairly large staff of House Elves that-"

"I know that, I mean, do they carry it themselves or-"

Professor McGonagall had no objection to interrupting me the same way I had her. "No Husher, they use a banishing charm."

"Sorry Headmistress," I responded.

"Anything else Mr. Husher?"

Did she want me to ask questions? Was she not annoyed by them? "Why do the staircases move?"

"The founding four did so when they built the school, as you probably already know."

"Yes but 'Hogwarts a History' doesn't cover why."

"Then I'd recommend reading Elfrid Bludger's biography of Godric Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall responded. "There should be some illumination as to why several choices were made when the school was built that is not covered in 'Hogwarts a History'. You'll find several copies in your common room library."

She remained standing. It was inviting.

"My owl-"

"Has already been given food and a perch in the owlery. Our caretaker Argus Filch tends to all the school owls, but it would do well for you to visit and feed your own pet frequently. Filch needs all the help he can get. And your owl needs a personal care as well."

"Do you have any advice for new students?"

Professor McGonagall peered down her glasses, surveying me. "I believe my normal advice may not be of interest for you Mr. Husher."

"Please Headmistress, you may call me Raven."

Her lip twitched. "Thank you, Raven." She looked out the window and drew in a breath. "It has been ages since a student thought to say that."

"What is your normal advice?"

"To pay close attention to your teachers and ask them for help and resources to give you a deeper knowledge of each subject. And to take Magical Theory as soon as they can, because I believe with a knowledge of how it all works, one can grasp the needed level of mental effort to produce magic, easier." She gave me a real smile, "But for you Raven, I'd recommend that you not forget to explore Hogwarts and to explore magic. Dumbledore always thought an education was wasted on students who never explored or experimented while under these many roofs."

I nodded, and the Headmistress left without saying goodbye.

"Come on," said the obese lady. "I haven't got all day."

The entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was large circle two feet off the ground, which required a bit of clambering to get into. The stone was warm to the touch, and the hole was not very long. I had to stoop to walk through it. Another three inches of height and I would have to start crawling through. I shut the portrait behind me.

No one was in the Common Room yet. Pale gray light flittered in through the windows. There were six windows in all. Four normal size rectangles, and two very large windows. One was a circular window in a small hallway behind the two staircases that, I assumed went up to the boys' and girls' dormitories. The other large window was to my left. It was a large rectangle, from ceiling to about three feet above the ground.

The room itself was round. A roaring fire was to my immediate right. Above the dark wooden mantel was a portrait of a lion. It slept momentarily, and a small breeze blew through its mane. In front of the fire were several squashy chairs, covered with pillows and blankets. There was a large couch, several tables—one specifically designed for chess, and a large study table in front of me. To my left were nine floor-to-ceiling bookcases, filled with ancient looking books.

The whole room looked as if a giant had dipped it in red. The chairs were red, the blankets were red, the wood had a reddish hue to it. The bulletin board to the left of the stairs had a red and gold spiraled outline to it. There were red and gold banners hung along the room—a particular one said, 'Welcome First Years.'

I stood for a moment, then walked to the bookcase. Upon further inspection it seemed there were many more recent books than I'd thought there were. All of Gildaroy Lockhart's collection were in the bookcase, including the post memory-loss biography on Lockhart. My father's books were in the shelf as well. I brushed past these, having already read them. All the books were in alphabetical order, and I had no problem locating the biography by Elfrid Bludger. It was a burgundy leather book, with gold lettering that simply read, "Godric Gryffindor."

Two whole shelves were devoted to shelving copies. I went to take the first one and noticed that one book had already been removed. Not the first of the two rows, but one in the middle of the second shelf. Seeing how the bookcase was stocked full, I doubted it was just a missing copy. Someone had already borrowed from the bookshelf, wanting to know more about this house's founder.

I took the copy I wanted down and cracked it open. I walked to the large couch and plopped myself upon it, skimming past the introduction written by Albus Dumbledore. I put my feet up on a wooden lopsided coffee table. The opening pages read:

If anything impresses upon the reader the difficulty of acquiring information on the Founding Four of Hogwarts, it is this; Historians are at a loss for when any of the founders were born, how old they were when Hogwarts was founded, or indeed, when they died.

In Godric Gryffindor's case, we are lucky in knowing where he was born. The little West Country village, Godric's Hollow, is indeed the place Gryffindor was born, a fact vetted by numerous sources, including Gryffindor's grandson's letter to his sister, informing her that (in a more modern English)"Grandfather's birth town has hence been re-named for him."

The first mention of Gryffindor comes around 950 AD when a local priest spoke of a man named 'Grifindu who cleared away the beasts'—an event believed to be when Gryffindor cleared a small colony of Acromantula from the forest near Godric's Hollow.

The last mention of Gryffindor is of course when he and co-founder Salazar Slytherin dueled in 1052 AD, where Slytherin is believed either to have died or escaped out of the country to the south. Knowing that Hogwarts was founded in 990 AD, and that Gryffindor retired from the school in 1047 AD, it is hard to predict exactly when he was born.

950 AD to 1052 is 100 plus years already, and it is hard to believe that even a 17-year-old should be able to drive away a single Acromantula, not to mention a whole colony. Yet this is greatest wizard of his age you're reading about, so, it's quite possible that Gryffindor was, at the very earliest, in his adolescents.

As commonly known, Gryffindor was the best dueler in all of Britain, if not the world and—

Footsteps echoed their way to me. I looked up. A girl, shorter than me, walked down the stairs, her face buried in a book. She wore the same school uniform, with the Gryffindor trim. White light from outside bounced off the top of her black hair, and I noticed she wore emerald earrings.

"Courtney?"

She jumped and dropped her book. Her head swiveled looking for the speaker. She spotted me on the couch and smiled. "You're out of the hospital wing," she said.

She bent and retrieved the book. I stood and walked towards her. My wand was out, but she picked up the book before I could levitate it to her. I slid my wand back into my robes.

I stopped a couple steps in front of her, as she straightened out her robes. She gave me a hug. My arms were late to react, and I sort of pulled her in as she pulled away. She took a step back, holding the book to her chest. Her eyes lingered on mine for a second too long.

"Madam Pomfrey—sorry the school healer," I said.

"Oh, I know who she is. I've got four older siblings who went to Hogwarts" Courtney said.

"I thought it was just Christopher and Claudia."

"No, my oldest brother, Crispin, has been out of Hogwarts a couple years. He's watching ink dry at the Ministry. And my oldest sister, Cristen, she's in Paris working for the English Ambassador."

I nodded, then noticed the book in Courtney's arms. It was the other borrowed copy of Gryffindor's biography. "You too huh?" I showed her the book in my left hand.

Her eyes widened. They were so blue. "Christopher banned me from learning anything about Gryffindor growing up. Thought it would help to make sure the hat didn't sort me there." She wrinkled her nose. "Lot of good that did. He's going to kill me." She glanced over to the portrait of the lion. "Ah well, trying to catch up now. You know he told me Gryffindor's common room was in a hut by the Forbidden Forest."

I laughed. "That's the gamekeeper's cottage I think." She smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear. "Are any of your family in Gryffindor?"

Courtney sighed. "Yeah, my dad and Crispin. But Christopher doesn't get on with them. No, Christopher's the only Slytherin, actually. My mom and Cristen were both in Ravenclaw, and course, as you know, Claudia's in Hufflepuff."

She was so polite. She hadn't even mentioned the color of my eyes.

"Do you know what we'll be doing today?" she asked.

"No," I answered. "I don't think much though, right? If they're doing both Gryffindor and Hufflpuff tryouts, they won't want us to miss that."

"Are first years allowed to try out for the house team?"

"Course. Just not allowed brooms." She looked out the giant window. "Are you thinking of trying out?"

"You know I've never been flying," she answered, looking back at me. "But I love Quidditch. Do you follow it?"

I could not shake my head more enthusiastically. "Absolutely. I follow the British Quidditch League religiously. What's your team?"

Courtney' eyes shifted, as her weight did from one foot to another. "Well, I was born in Wimborne, so the Wasps. You?"

"Magpies, my family lives quite near Montrose. Where do you live now if not in Wimborne?"

"London. Mum and Dad both work at the Ministry and prefer the city life. We've got a flat in Chelsea."

I smiled and leaned in. "Are you a Chelsea fan? A soccer fan?"

"Oh yes, my mom is muggleborn and loves the EPL."

"My mom is a muggle, and she grew up in London, rooting for Chelsea as well."

The portrait hole opened, cutting our conversation to a halt. In walked a young woman. She dark skin, and black hair that formed a perfect circular afro. She wore a more modern set of purple robes, cut in a pant suit like fashion, with yellow button on the coat portion. She plucked her wand, a white wand, from her hair and used it to scribble notes on a clipboard that hovered in front of her. She wore black heeled boots with yellow splashes of paint on them. She was slender, looked no more than twenty, and wore heavy eye makeup.

"Where are the rest of you?" she spoke with a scouse accent. She flicked her wand and the clipboard disappeared. She flicked it again and two gunshots went off above us. She marched past Courtney and me, ascending the stairs to the girl's side. "Oy! Peebrains, up we go," she called.

Soon after Alice, her hair all tangled, her school uniform disheveled, came racing down the stairs. The woman was not far behind her. She pointed her wand at Courtney and I and said, "Sit on the couch, I'll be right there."

"Raven!" Alice cried. She gave me a giant squeeze and held me at arms length. I was reminded powerfully of mom. "Your eyes, they're—"

"Pink, I know," I said dryly. I turned my back on her and went to the couch. Alice continue talking.

"We have so much room up there," Alice said. "It's just Courtney and me. Have you been to the dormitories yet?"

"No." I sat on the couch and sagged into the leather. Alice sat next to me, and Courtney on her other side. Courtney leaned forward so she could see me. She still held the Gryffindor bio to her chest.

"Oh, they're wonderful. You get a great view of the quidditch pitch, and the forest. You can even see this little hut down there. I think it's Professor Hagrid's, you know the man who took us on the boats last night?"

"The man who took you on the what?" I asked.

Alice curled her legs beneath her and bounced on the couch. Courtney had to lean farther forward. "That's right, you missed that! Professor Hagrid, he's this giant man with a massive beard. He led us to the castle last night on boats. We crossed the lake and everything."

She picked at her ear for a second, then flicked away some earwax. I saw it fall on the coffee table. Courtney scowled at it. I muttered a vanishing spell while Alice talked, and the earwax disappeared. Courtney looked confused, then spotted me putting my wand away.

"Anyway," Alice continued, "he was outside the hut working in a vegetable patch. And he's got a hippogriff."

"You know someone spooked the hippogriff last night?" I said.

"What?" Courtney and Alice both asked.

"Lucas Morgan; sorted into Slytherin," I said. "He got taken to the hospital wing last night. Saw him in Professor Hagrid's arms. He's okay though. Some rather rotund professor picked him up this morning."

"That'll be Professor Slughorn," Courtney said. "Head of Slytherin. My brother loves him."

"Why would he do that?" Alice said. "It could have killed them."

"It'll be part of the Slytherin initiation," Courtney answered. "My brother told me about it. All the Slytherins must do something to prove their worth. That boy probably had to get a feather off the hippogriff or something."

"Getting sorted into Slytherin sounds much more fun," I said. "You get enchanted objects and an initiation."

"That only started a couple years ago," Courtney said. "And all the houses do it now. We were supposed to have an initiation last night, but they didn't want to do it without you."

Alice started to bounce again. "I can't wait for that. I wonder what we'll have to do."

Footsteps made all three of us turn our heads. Two boys preceded the woman. One was a short, and slightly plump, white boy, with sandy colored hair. He had rather big lips, a shade of pink that gave the impression he was wearing lipstick. The other was a skinny boy with darker skin. He had grayish blue eyes, a prominent brow, curly black hair, and hollowed cheeks. This other boy stood with poor posture, leaning a bit forward, his shoulders hunched.

"Good lord," the young woman said. She did not elaborate. She pointed at the two boys to sit down. The round boy sat beside Courtney, who shuffled closer to Alice. The skinny boy sat next to me, leaning against the arm, plenty of space between us. He said nothing to me, or anyone else, while the round boy said good morning and adjusted his clothes.

The young woman whipped out her wand, and the clipboard reappeared. She looked down at it. "Right. Five of you this year. Merlin's beard, that's not a lot." She looked up at us, looking slightly shocked to see us there. "Sorry. Well no—you're late, I swear—we're even." She took a big breath and waved the clipboard into nothingness.

She gave a flash of a smile. "I'm Professor Silsbury, your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of Gryffindor House. And before you ask, this is my second-year teaching. And God help you if you think that means you can be cheeky with me. Oh, and, I've only been out of Hogwarts for two years, which I'm sure some idiot is bound to tell you. But I'll have you know I got twelve outstanding NEWTs and I beat out some serious competition for this job. So, I'm well worth the teaching post."

She flushed a bit, "Thought that doesn't stop the Headmistress from thinking it inappropriate for me to teach the sixth and seventh years. But mind you that's only for a couple more years. I'll have you lot no doubt, so don't test me."

She produced her clipboard again and squinted at it. "Right, so you haven't had your-" she drew air quotes with her fingers, "'initiation' that I'm not supposed to know about." She paused and looked back at us again. "Okay who is who. Raise your hand. Arthur Gully." The round boy raised his hand. "Zephyr Gruger." The boy next to me raised his hand. He had perfect posture as he did so, looking straight at Professor Silsbury, while his hand went straight into the air. She nodded and he withdrew his hand back to his side, as smooth as could be. "Alice and Raven Husher." We both raised our hands, followed by "Courtney Nighy." Professor Silsbury nodded to Courtney who put her hand down.

With a wave of her wand Professor Silsbury sent two rolls of parchment into our laps. The first was a schedule for our orientation weekend. And it was full.

After this introductory meeting with our head of house, we were to get a tour of the castle, then breakfast, followed by Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts, then lunch. During the Hufflepuff team tryouts, the Gryffindors were to tour the grounds before dinner. When I first looked at the schedule it said we had a free evening tonight, but as I read it, words appeared on the schedule saying, "Gryffindor Initiation."

"Don't lose these," Professor Silsbury said. "I've charmed them to update with each day, and to include the homework you have with its due dates. I won't take any excuses from my Gryffindors that you forgot."

I skimmed over the activities for Saturday and Sunday. There was a scheduled meet and greet for all first years, an introduction to teams and clubs after the Ravenclaw tryouts, and a lecture for the first years by the Groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, and Caretaker Argus Filch.

I flipped over to the second piece of parchment, while Professor Silsbury went on about what it means to be a Gryffindor and gave an explanation about house points and the inter-house championship.

The second piece of parchment was my class schedule, which, I assume, was the same as all those around me. All first year Gryffindors had the same class schedule.

Mondays: Double Potions w/ Slytherins 9 - 11:50; History of Magic w/Ravenclaws from 1:30 - 2:50; Herbology w/Hufflepuffs from 3:00 - 4:20; Study Hall from 4:30 - 6:00.

Tuesdays: Charms w/Ravenclaws from 9 - 10:20; Transfiguration from 1:30 - 2:50.

Wednesdays: History of Magic w/Ravenclaws from 1:30 - 2:50; Herbology w/Hufflepuffs from 3:00 - 4:20; Study Hall from 4:30 - 6:00; Astrology Midnight - 1:30 w/all First years.

Thursdays: Charms w/Ravenclaws from 9 - 10:20; Transfiguration from 1:30 - 2:50; Flying 3 - 4:20.

Fridays: Double Defense Against the Dark Arts 1:30 - 4:20.

Even as I read the schedule, writing appeared on Saturday and Sunday, labeling the times for our orientation schedule. It was a cool bit of magic.

"Any questions?" Professor Silsbury asked.

My hand shot up at once. "Professor, I've only ever heard of orientation at muggle schools." It wasn't a question, but Silsbury got the point.

"It's quite new to Hogwarts. Headmistress McGonagall implemented it in her second year as Headmistress. She thought it would help new students adjust easier."

"Why had no one else done that?" Alice asked. She didn't raise her hand at all; she just blurted it out.

"I know that Professor Dumbledore thought the students ought to find out things for themselves," Silsbury answered.

I internally nodded. Much better to just let us all have at it.

"Any other questions?" No one moved. "Right then, off we go."

We hadn't taken two steps before Alice started squealing. "No Mochi! No, you're supposed to stay in the dormitory."

I looked to the dormitory stairs. There she was, the slender brown tabby, her eyes big as she took in her surroundings. She spotted me and made a small meow.

"She can come with us," Professor Silsbury said. "Either way, but let's be off."

Alice ran to the stairs and picked up Mochi in both arms. Mochi rubbed her mouth on Alice's hand, and attempted to headbutt Alice's chin, but couldn't reach. Courtney started to pet Mochi

The round boy, Arthur Gully, started to pet Mochi too. "She's so sweet," he said. "It even sounds like she's saying Mochi."

I made every attempt to not roll my eyes. It did not sound like that at all. But now that someone other than mother had said so, I expected to never hear the end of that stupid comment. Alice would proclaim it for an eternity.

"She's so small," Arthur said. "Is she still a kitten?"

"No," Alice said, positively beaming at all the attention her and her cat were getting. "She's past two now. I think she's going to be this small forever."

"Come on you lot." Professor Silsbury had one leg out the portrait hole. By her stood Zephyr, silent and still, looking down at the ground.

I followed, leading the pack of cat droolers to and out of the portrait hole.

The tour of the castle took two hours, and we didn't even see most of it. I don't know if any of us go anything out of the tour either. Professor Silsbury told us the history behind some things, but for the most part was more concerned with showing us the location of classrooms we'd be attending. It wasn't much help though. I couldn't remember how to get to any of them, except for the Defense Against the Darks Arts Classroom, which was a floor beneath Gryffindor tower.

We passed both the Ravenclaw and Slytherin first years, also getting a tour of the castle. I very clearly heard Lucas Morgan say, "Are his eyes pink? That's queer." All the Gryffindors fell quiet. Professor Silsbury did not hear. She was consulting her clipboard about what to show us next.

We arrived in the Great Hall with a half hour to spare for breakfast. Professor Silsbury finally departed our company and headed up to the staff table. I stopped at the entrance, flanked by two massive dark wooden doors. Both Arthur and Zephyr continued, but Alice, still holding Mochi, and Courtney stayed back with me.

The Great Hall was much larger than I had thought. A thousand students fit in it easy. Long brown tables ran from the entrance to the staff table at the other end of the hall. The floor and walls were made of the same sandstone, though the floor looked like it was polished regularly, and the walls had a sort of worn hue to them. In the air were hundreds of candles, suspended by magic. Along with them were purple and black banners with the Hogwarts crest on them. Above each house table was an even larger house banner. I spotted the Gryffindor Lion, made with gold thread on a scarlet background.

The most impressive part about the Great Hall, was the ceiling. It was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Today was overcast, but just barely and a bright light poured into the hall from the ceiling. Yet there were small bricks of the ceiling that did not look like the sky, but like normal sections of a ceiling. Was the spell wearing off?

I couldn't look long at the ceiling though. The glare of magical light coming into my eyes from the edges of my glasses, was just too bright. I had to look down, but

"My brother, Crispin, that is, said it's never been the same since the Battle of Hogwarts," Courtney said, noticing what I was staring at.

Now that I had spotted the initial damage, I could see cracks in the walls, and floor. A whole chunk behind the staff table looked as if it had been glued back in.

"Can they do nothing?" Alice asked.

Courtney shrugged, absentmindedly petting Mochi, who purred.

I adjusted my glasses. "It must have to do with the amount and type of dark magic used here. It probably left a mark."

"A mark?" Courtney asked. I could see any interested fading in Alice's face. Why did she always tune out when I talked?

"Magic always leaves some type of mark—though usually invisible. Dark magic often has the effect of some type of scaring. I suppose that's what happened here."

"Very good," said a voice behind us.

I turned. The lavishly dressed wizard, in green and gold robes, from earlier in the hospital wing bent down towards me. He squinted a bit, neglecting to use the spectacles on a chain around his neck. His mid section seemed even more massive than before, and there were a great deal of fat folds in his neck. "Such knowledge for an eleven-year-old. Such knowledge. What is your name?"

"Raven Husher, sir."

"Professor Slughorn." He straightened up and shook my hand. His grip was firm, but his whole body shook as our arms pumped. "What house are you in? Ah but of course," he noted trim of my robes, tapping it with a finger. "You're in Gryffindor. Five points to it then." He laughed. "I'll look forward to seeing you in potions my dear boy." He shuffled off to the staff table without a word to Alice or Courtney.

Sitting down to breakfast, Alice had difficulty holding onto Mochi, who both wanted to stay in human contact, and eat all the meat on the table. I poured myself pumpkin juice, and porridge. Alice spilled bacon on the floor, and I took pity on her. I grabbed Mochi by both legs and stretched her over the back of my neck. She started to purr, and I fed her pieces of the bacon that Alice had let fall to the ground and ate my breakfast.

1 I do not believe the headmistress liked that question, and looking back, I must admit it was rather ungrateful of me.

2 We climbed seven stories worth of stairs.

3 As I soon learned.