Aidan got up to see Professor Dumbledore after the feast. He had left Harry, Ron and Hermione to back up to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione told him she would stay to show him where the portrait hole was, so she waited just outside the large oak doors.

            Aidan walked quickly to the High Table and found the headmaster sitting there with the twinkling light-blue gaze that was described in his books. "You wished to see me Professor Dumbledore?"

            "Yes, Aidan O'Reilly, congratulations on becoming a Gryffindor, though I do not pick favorites," Dumbledore said with a smile.

            "Thank you, professor. Is that what you wanted to see me about?"

            "No. I just want to make sure you have gotten settled in with your surroundings. I'm quite sure that Hogwarts is a lot different than your old school." Aidan then got the feeling that Dumbledore knew.

            "Err, Professor, do you, um, know?"

            "Yes, Aidan, it was I who recommended the switch."

            "Thank you, professor," Aidan replied, awestruck. "Can you promise not to tell anyone?"

            "I'll do what I can, Aidan. You are the centre of controversy between myself and Mr. Fudge, the Minister of Magic."

            "Oh, okay."

            "I think I will need another meeting with you soon though, Mr. O'Reilly, just to check up on you."

            "Okay, professor. I promise I'll do my best here. I know I can."

            "Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly."

            Aidan's heart felt lighter than air. So it was Dumbledore who did it. He helped him get here. Did he let his parents know? His new parents. He doubted whether his old parents would have cared. Did Sam and Jennifer know, or did they think he was there the whole time? So many new thoughts were forming in his head that he barely had time to pay attention to where he was going, let alone talk to Hermione.

            "So, do you like it here, Aidan?" Hermione asked.

            "Of course, it's brilliant. It's quite a bit different from my old school though."

            "Well, of course. All of the magic schools are different in some way or another."

            "I knew that. Hermione, do you, err, like Ron?"

            Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, blushing furiously. She gave Aidan a look that consisted mostly of her wide eyes. "Of course, not," she said in a small voice. "You heard me at dinner. I think he is a mindless git!"

            "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

            "Oh, it's okay. I didn't mean to blow up like that. I guess I'm just sort of sensitive about that."

            Aidan walked through the portrait hole satisfied ("leprechauns"). He now knew he wasn't the only one lying.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Harry and Ron had been waiting by the foot of the stairs to wait for Aidan. Ron was still completely touchy about the subject and could only find things to complain about him. "You know, Harry, maybe he is a spy. I don't like him, he knows too much."

            "Oh, Ron, come off it. He's probably just read the papers. You know how Rita Skeeter made such a big deal out of me last year, and Hermione was the subject of one of her articles. Besides, we haven't exactly given the papers a reason not to print us. I mean, the Sorcerers' Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, Sirius, the Tournament…"

            "Harry, he said he lived in the States. I doubt the Daily Prophet ships over there."

            "Ron, there are other papers in the world. And not to send you on another jealousy fit, but I'm not exactly just local news."

            "News flash, Potter. He. Is. A. Muggle! They don't read the wizard papers!"

            "Oh, yeah. I guess we're back to square one. Aidan is the only one who knows how he knew about us, so we'll ask him at the right time."

            "What?"

            " You know, I think the girls are right, you are losing brain cells," Harry said jokingly. Ginny heard him.

            "THANK YOU, HARRY!" she called across the common room.

            "Anytime, Gin."

            "You like her don't you, Harry. You like my little sister."

            "Oh, Ron I do not."

            "I think you do."

            "I think you're crazy. Can't I be friends with a girl other than 'Mione?"

            "If you say so," Ron answered with a mischievous smile. Harry pushed him.

            "Oh, would you two stop horsing around?" Hermione called when she got into the common room.

            "'Mione, 'Mione, 'Mione… Us? Horse around? Preposterous!" Ron said in his most innocent voice.      

            "Yeah, yeah. You two show Aidan your dormitory. I'm going to change and study."      

            This time Harry spoke. "Study! We haven't even had a class yet!"

            "Oh, Harry, I have to be prepared. Ancient Runes is supposed to become way more advanced this year."

            "If you must," Harry said, rolling his eye. "Aidan, come on." Harry led the way up the stairs to a door that had a sign that said "Fifth Years" on it. The only difference to the room was the addition of another four-poster. Aidan's things had already been brought up and were laid neatly on a chair next to his bed or in his trunk. It was the best thing that Aidan had ever seen: His own bed in Gryffindor Tower.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Aidan got up early to shower the next morning. All five the other boys were still asleep and Aidan hoped he could get dressed and down to the Great Hall without waking them up. He wanted to see the Hall when it was as close to empty as possible, just to see if it seemed bigger without eight hundred students swarming it.

            He pulled on his uniform and robes stealthily and tiptoed down the stone stairway. A few second year girls were awake, playing chess in the corner, but other than that, the common room was empty. Aidan then walked quickly toward the portrait hole and pushed it open to reveal the labyrinth-like halls. Aidan remembered that he hadn't been paying attention to the path Hermione took to get them to Gryffindor Tower. He knew he was on the seventh floor, should he just go straight down?

            Much to his good fortune, Seamus came down, fully-dressed, ready to go to breakfast. "Hey, Seamus, do you mind giving me a hand?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Harry woke to a bath of sunlight. He was somewhat pleased to see that Aidan had gone down to breakfast. Now he and Ron could talk to Hermione, who had seemingly been avoiding them all night. He got up, showered and dressed quickly. He hurried down the common room which was a bit fuller than when Aidan had gone down. He saw Ginny sitting on the couch in front of the empty fireplace. "Hey, Ginny, have you seen Hermione?"

            "No, Harry. I think she's still up in her dormitory. Why?"

            "I need to talk to her. Do you mind if I sit down while I wait?"

            "Not at all," she said and she scooted over for Harry to sit.

            "So what have you been up to, Weasley?" Harry said playfully.

            Ginny laughed. "Oh, you know, Potter, just being Ginny."

            "Nice, I'm just Harry, myself," he said.

            "Always the joker, you are. I'm so glad to be back here. I feel safer here than I do at home with the refugees. Some of them scream in their sleep. Dad had to put a sound charm around the rooms they were in."

            "Oh. I'm sorry Gin. Your family's doing the right thing though. These are tough times and we have to get through them." He put his arm around her shoulder.

            "Thanks, Harry. You're a really great friend."

            "Well, well, well. What have we here?" Ron said. He had woken up and come downstairs. His suspicions seemed confirmed. Harry quickly removed his arm.

            "Ron, we were just talking," Ginny said indignantly.

            "Boy, I wish I could talk. It looks extremely comfortable," Ron said with a smirk. Harry smiled. He knew Ron was just amused. He wasn't mad. Finally, Hermione came down.

            "Hermione, Ron and I have to talk to you," Harry said when he spotted her.

            "We do?" Ron asked.

            "Brain cells…" Ginny muttered.

            "Yes, Ron. Uggle-May, Alk-tay!"

            "Oh yea. Come on, Hermione." The boys led the girl to a corner of the room and all three sat down.

            "What do we have to talk about? I understand pig-Latin. About a Muggle?"

            "Yea. You know the Muggle I told you about in Diagon Alley?" Harry asked in a low whisper.

            "Yea," Hermione said.

            "Well, we think—we know that it's Aidan."

            "Well, of course it's Aidan. I figured that out when we met him on the train. I wasn't going to make him uncomfortable, of course. Besides, he's really nice."

            "But 'Mione, you said yourself that he could be a spy," Ron said.

            "Ron, come off the spy bit," Harry said.

            "He's not bad, Ron. He's just a little out of place. Just treat him like normal, okay? He's fine, really."

            "If you say so."

            "Now I have to talk to you. Harry, could you excuse us?" Hermione asked. Harry looked from her to Ron who looked befuddled.

            "Err, go on, Harry, we'll be down in a minute," Ron said.

            "Yea, just a minute," Hermione chimed in.

            Harry went down to the Great Hall by himself. The trip wasn't long so he got to the Hall fairly quickly. He saw Aidan sitting at the table near Seamus and Dean. Seeing Dean, Harry was reminded of something Ron had said on the train. As he sat down he brought it up. "Hey, boys. What a train ride. Don't you think so, Dean?" Dean blushed.

            "Oh, come on, Harry…" Harry smiled.

            "I'm just pulling your leg. What's going on, Aidan?"

            "Oh, nothing. Where's Ron and Hermione?"

            "They are, err, 'talking' upstairs." Dean and Seamus stifled laughs.

            "'Talking,' eh? Sounds a bit more interesting than Dean's little adventure on the train," Seamus said.

            "We didn't do anything!" Dean nearly shouted.

            "Ha, ha!"

            "So, we have Transfiguration first, today, eh?" Harry asked. Dean nodded. "Reckon we'll do any Animagi soon?"

            "Yea. We start that next week," Seamus said.

            "Excellent."

            Just then Ron and Hermione entered the Hall, each wearing their own shade of red or pink on their faces. They weren't mad at each other, it was more of an "I'm embarrassed" blush.

            "Lovebirds, yet?" Harry muttered to Ron when he sat down.

            "I'll talk to you later."

            Once everyone had finished eating, the Gryffindor fifth years made their way to the Transfiguration classroom. Instead of taking the form of a human, Professor McGonagall was sitting as a cat on her desk. By now, the Gryffindors were used to this and they didn't dare act out when they saw the cat.

            When everyone had taken their seats, McGonagall transformed into a human and the class applauded politely.

            "Thank you, class. Now today we will do a bit of a review before we study Animagi. Please take out your wands, this will be practical." The class proceeded to take out their wands. In front of each of their work stations was a dead beetle, a pincushion, a teapot, and a water goblet. "I will call your name and you will perform what I ask you. Mr. Weasley. Please turn your water goblet into a rat."

            Ron cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the glass. "Ferro Verrto!" he said. The most he had managed to do was make the goblets sprout fur and a tail. The class giggled.

            "Mr. Weasley, come on. This is second year work. Mr. O'Reilly would you like to show him how to do this spell?" McGonagall looked to Aidan with a smile. Of course Aidan wanted to show him. The problem was that he didn't know how.

            "Uh, professor? I didn't learn that one at my old school. What is the spell?"

            "Ferro Verrto. Roll your 'r's. Go on then."

            "Ferro Verrto!" Aidan said, pointing his wand to the goblet in front of him. With a small crack, the goblet had turned into a rat that scurried off the desk, out into the hall.

            "Well, done, Mr. O'Reilly! Five points to Gryffindor." Aidan smiled as Harry did the same toward him. He had no idea how good a wizard he was until that moment. Ron turned around, looking sour that the Muggle had showed him up. Hermione hit him gently on the arm. The first thing he would do during the lunch period was write a letter to his mum and dad. He was having the best time.

            Aidan continued to do well throughout the day, even at Potions with Professor Snape. They were to make a Slumber Solution today and even with Snape breathing down the Gryffindors necks, Aidan did well. His potion did third best in the class aside from Malfoy's and Hermione's.

            After the bell rings for Potions, Malfoy usually makes some snide remark and today was no exception. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Aidan were walking out together and Malfoy strode over flanked by his cronies Crabbe and Goyle. "Now what do we have here? A Potty, a Weasel, a Mudblood, and a Leprechaun? Dumbledore will let anyone in won't he?"

            Now, Aidan was quite a bit taller than Malfoy so he didn't know where the Leprechaun thing came in. Perhaps it was his name. Either way, Aidan was mad. "Did say something?" he asked Malfoy. "I'm sorry, I don't speak ferret." He left grinning, though he knew he had opened a can of worms.

            Harry, Ron and Hermione were laughing also until Harry stopped. "How did you know?"

            "Know what?" Aidan asked.

            "About Malfoy being turned into a ferret last year?"

            "He was?" he answered inconspicuously. "I didn't know. He just looks a bit like a ferret I saw in the forest once."

            "Right," Harry said nodding his head.

            "This is getting weirder," Ron muttered so Aidan couldn't hear.