"What Serenity?" The portrait of King Arthur Pendragon swung open onto a room filled with squashy black armchairs with gold trim The whole room was done in black and gold, set off by the light of a fire. "Boy's dorms- left, Girl's dorms- right." Cedric Diggory told them, pointing at twin staircases. He was their tour guide for the night. They had left the Great Hall early, as soon as they were full. "Oh, and a trick we picked up from the Gryffindors, if you run out of food, go down to the portrait of fruit and tickle the pear, then ask the elves for food, we overheard them one night. anyhow. No wandering at night, no entering the restricted section of the library, never get caught with mud or exploding things, stay far away from Filch, and his cat, just to be safe. Nice little thing you've got there by the way, what's it's name." "Eos." Aeris answered, but was two preoccupied looking at the fire. "Do you think we could get an apple log in here. or cedar. they smell so nice." She was intoxicated by the dancing of the flames. Jake shot her a strange look. "What?" "Quit scaring me. blimey, you're touchy." "Whatever, just don't bother me. I love fire." Cedric turned around. "And, the two of you are required to do 1st and second year homework over breaks to get caught up." "What?" This broke Aeris from her spell. Jake looked annoyed, but obviously had known this was coming. "It's ok, if you're good with plants and animals, Hagrid and Professor Sprout don't give any homework. All the others are decent if you don't talk too much. Beware of Snape though. He can get nasty with Hufflepuff's." "He's my Uncle." Aeris informed him, acquiring a shocked look from Cedric. "Yeah. I think he knew ages ago. I was his favorite niece." "Good for you. Buy me a good name with him. he scares me." "And why should I, what did you do for me?" Aeris retorted, crossing her hands over her chest. "You know what?" Cedric asked. "They should have put you in Slytherin with your Uncle." Jake raised his hand, looking fidgety. "Uhh, Cede? I've gotta go pee." Aeris smirked, and Cedric laughed. "Bathroom's over there." He turned to Aeris. "And I hope to god that it's that time of month for you- I hope you never get worse or more Slytherin than this." "Oh, I'm sorry." Aeris said sarcastically, voice dripping with mock sympathy. "But since when were my technical difficulties your business?" "I don't think I like you very much." Cedric said. "I didn't expect you to. I expect you to get used to me. But come on, you know you love me." "You're crude... We're going to Hogsmeade next weekend, it's the wizarding town nearby. You wanna come?" Cedric asked. "Three minutes alone in a room and you're already asking the girl out?" Apparently, Jake was out of the bathroom and leaning against the wall. "Damn, you go fast." He grinned secretively. "Of course not- it's an open invitation." Cedric replied, but his cheeks were flushed with color. "I'm going to go. I'll leave you two to do as you wish. You have an hour before people will start to arrive. Professor Sprout might stop by to explain house points though." Cedric started to look mischievous, Aeris knew what was coming. "I think she'll be here in about forty-five minutes, if that's enough leeway for a few kisses or so." Aeris grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at him as he left. She turned to Jake. "And he called me crude?" "He might have had a point. I think we're all just as bad." "Jerk." She muttered, but Jake ignored her. There was a long silence. "So, Aer, what are we going to do for a half an hour?" he asked suddenly. "I want to unpack. Then I'm gonna go to the library. You want to come?" He shrugged. "I guess. I'll meet you down here in ten minutes?" "Ok. Jake." Aeris went up to her room and unpacked her trunk, checking her bed. She laid her small, green quilt at the foot of her bed and pulled out a book she had found in the attic of her house that had proved every few generations another wizard, a powerful one, had been born into the family. It was a family wizarding history. Most of her family lived as muggles though. It was quite interesting, a witched diary so it would hold everything that had ever happened in a wizard in her family's life. She held it to her, then slipped the thick, leather-bound, brass-clasped book under her pillow. Next she took out the second thing she had found- a picture of her family, including Uncle Snape, her father's mother's brother's son. They moved around occasionally, and she pulled the book back out to slip the photo in, smiling, then pushed it back under her pillow and did a compacting spell her grandmother had taught her within the week that she had found out. She pushed the trunk under her bed and went to meet Jake. He's not that bad. She thought. I might just survive this after all. I have two allies already. She arrived downstairs to find Jake leaned against the wall, yet again, looking at the wall hangings. They held a gold checkered two by two with black, with a black badger in the middle. He was holding the book Hogwarts- A History. She glanced at it and looked at him, annoyed. "Already been to the library without me?" "No. parents bought it for me in Flourish and Blotts." "Flourishing what?" "Wizard's bookstore in London." "Oh. Professor McGonagall helped me get mine." "Go?" "Yep!" "Then let's, my brain is hungry." "What?" Aeris asked, stifling a laugh and covering her mouth with one hand. It sounded funny. "My brain is hungry. It's an expression I tend to use a lot." This time Aeris let herself laugh. "Well if you keep that up, Professor Sprout's going to walk by and decide it's time you were put in a mental institute." She laughed some more, a light, happy laugh. She realized she'd been laughing a lot more lately. she hadn't cried in about two weeks, a definite record for her. There were no bruises on her arms, and no one, no one would hurt her. She suddenly felt very strange, in a good way.