Harry heard the laughter of his family, the Dursleys, as they drove away from King's Cross. Harry was now left alone, with nothing but his school supplies and an owl.

He looked at platforms nine and ten. Uncle Vernon was, of course, right. Platform nine and three-quarters was nowhere to be seen.

Harry spotted a passing guard and was about to ask him for help, before thinking better of it. A History of Magic, where he got the name for his owl Hedwig, mentioned something called the 'Statute of Secrecy' which basically said that Magic was to be kept a secret from Muggles, and that the Ministry of Magic, created to enforce this statute, would punish the offenders greatly. He also thought he remembered Hagrid mentioning something like that on the boat ride to London. Harry decided that he didn't want to go to prison yet, nor did he want to offend the new world he was about to enter.

"I got it!", he thought joyfully in his head as he realized the answer, "It's obvious! I use the same method Hagrid showed me when we entered Diagon Alley!"

He pulled his trolley towards the wall separating platform nine and ten, and pulled out his wand to tap it. The wand went through the wall as if there was nothing there in the first place, and as Harry attempted to put his hand against the wall, the hand, too, went through the wall.

"Wicked!", he excitedly murmured to himself, as he quickly pushed the trolley through the wall before he was noticed by the Muggles and arrested by the wizards.

Harry looked around and saw a scarlet steam engine. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock.

"Wizards are the coolest", Harry was certain, "After all, what could be more brilliant than Diagon Alley, and walking through walls?". Harry felt like a right superhero, and he thought that if he could learn all the interesting spells he saw in Diagon Alley, and certainly the spell Hagrid had used on Dudley, then he could die the happiest boy in Queen's dear England.

He boarded the beautiful train, and with great effort and a lot of trial and error managed to push his trunk inside too.

"I really need to learn some spell to make carrying luggage a breeze", Harry decided, as he set off to find an empty compartment seat.

That proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Everywhere he looked, the carriages, and their compartments were full, but with a bit of dedication, and quite a bit more walking, he found less and less compartments that were totally full. He did not go into ones where the people inside knew each other. It'd be awkward to interrupt friends, and maybe family, not to mention rude. He wanted to start off his school year making friends, not enemies, maybe with the exception of that blonde prat he met in Madam Malkin's who strongly reminded him of Dudley.

Soon enough he found a compartment inhabited only by a lonesome girl that looked to be his age, only that she seemed about a head taller than him, he noticed somewhat resentfully. When he knocked, and she did not object, he entered and more clearly observed her. The girl was blonde, her eyes greener than his, a pointed nose, though not so much that it would look ugly, and her face was looking like one of them rich girls that Aunt Petunia always complained, and envied, about. All in all, aside from her expression, that bore a frown, she looked rather pretty. There weren't any muggle clothes on her, wearing a fancy-looking wizard robe.

"Can I help you?", the mysterious girl asked coldly.

"That's not the best start", Harry thought to himself, but resolved to make a friend during this train ride, and nodded to her.

"Can I sit with you?", he asked, and then hurried to explain, "Most other places seem full, and I don't want to interrupt compartments full of friends."

He hoped he didn't sound to desperate.

"If you must", the girl said, and Harry took the chance he got, and put his trunk behind his seat.

"So, what's your name?", Harry asked the girl. He didn't want to keep thinking of her as 'that mysterious cold girl'.

"Daphne Greengrass", she introduced herself. She looked him up and down, and her eyes lingered noticeably on his muggle clothing. "Muggleborn?", she asked, although from her expression, Harry didn't think she was really waiting for an answer, seemingly having decided for herself.

"I was raised by Muggles, if that's what you mean", Harry admitted, "but both of my parents were wizards"

"I'm sorry for your loss", she said, and unlike the blonde boy in Madam Malkin's,she seemed genuine, "and it's a shame you had to grow up with those Muggles. Are they as terrible as I hear?"

"I'd rather not talk about them", Harry said mood worsening by the second, "I don't really like them".

That admission seemed to brighten the girl up somewhat, and Harry was quickly getting the feeling that he made a bad choice in his first attempt of a friend.

"You should really change your clothes into something else", she said, "Honestly, I've seen second-hand robes that looked like they were better taken care of than this".

Harry couldn't blame her. Dudley's hand-me-downs weren't exactly a pretty sight.

"I'm Harry", he said instead, "Harry Potter".

He expected her to react like the people in the pub did, but she just looked at him with unimpressed eyes.

"Yes, and I'm the female version of Merlin, if you couldn't tell", she said sarcastically.

Harry decided that he liked the girl after all. "You can't love sarcasm, and be a bad person", he thought to himself.

Daphne pulled out her wand, and Harry heard "Wingardium Leviosa", before he felt his hair move to reveal his scar.

Daphne looked somewhat impressed now.

"Oh, you weren't lying then?", she asked rhetorically.

"Does that happen often?", he asked, fearing the embarrassment that his copycats would bring on him.

"Everyone knows you are supposed to be here", she said, "so today's the only day and year anyone could successfully try to impersonate you."

She thought for herself.

"So, you know nothing about the Wizarding World?"

"Only what I read in a history book", Harry admitted, "and what Hagrid, he's the gatekeeper at Hogwarts, told me"

Daphne nodded as if that was more or less the answer he expected.

"You're a Half-Blood", she informed him, "Your father was a respected Pureblood, and your mother was a Muggleborn. Mixed blood. Hence, Half-Blood."

"Does it really all matter?", Harry said, hoping it really didn't. This seemed to be veering uncomfortable close to the kinds of statements the blonde boy had made before.

"Of course, it matters", she said indignantly, "even if you don't believe in difference of blood, it is still important to know. Some people do believe in difference of blood, and knowing exactly what kind you are can help you see how much you can get out of them. Play the 'poor little Muggleborn', that part was said mockingly, "card and teachers start pitying you, becoming more lenient"

Harry blinked.

That didn't sound as horrible as he expected.

"Wait!", he said, "How'd you know? Aren't you a first year like me?"

She looked at him like he was stupid, and the expression was so strong that Harry felt quite stupid indeed, without really knowing why.

"I have friends, Potter", she said slowly as if talking to a five-year old.

"Oh", is all he could say, and he could know understand why she looked at him like she did. Then the fact that she used his surname caught up to him. "Should I call you Greengrass then? That sounds too stuffy"

He saw her face looking amused.

"You look like a lost puppy", she said humor clear in her tone, "Would I be your first friend?"

The blush on his face was answer enough, and she laughed. It wasn't cruel, mocking laughter that Dudley and his gang used, but he still wasn't happy with being laughed at.

She must have noticed his expression, as she tried, and in a span of few seconds, managed to calm herself and stop laughing.

"Relax, puppy", she said teasingly, "I'll be your friend. "

Harry perked up, and smiled at her happily. He wasn't exactly sure that she was the kind of person he should be friends with, but, hey, goal achieved! He made a friend! Now if he could get confirmation that Hagrid saw him as a friend too, and not just that one duty, then maybe this wouldn't be so terrible. Can't be worse than with Dursleys.

"Now, Harry, could you please change into something better looking?", she asked, "Even school robes would do"

"Well, can you leave the compartment so I can change?", he asked instead, not unopposed to the idea of changing. School robes would probably be more comfortable anyway.

"I'm not doing that", Daphne said with a shake of her head, "I'm busy relaxing. Go find a loo or something. Or change here, I won't look"

Harry blushed again, but grew a determined smile. If she wants to make it awkward for him with all her teasing, he'll make it awkward for her by taking it literally.

He turned around and began changing.

"No peeking!", he said.

Daphne pulled out a book, and focused her attention on it.

"I already said I won't", Daphne said, slightly annoyed at the need to self-repeat.

In no time at all, Harry was in his school robes, and he turned back to show off to her. To his dismay she did not look burdened or embarrassed at all.

"Who would have thought?", Daphne said rhetorically, "You can look like a normal human being with the right clothes"

"Maybe you should change too?", he suggested as a retort, "Might make your attitude a bit better. Lots of room to improve"

He did not regret saying that. Friend or no friend, Daphne was acting mean.

To his surprise, she simply smiled.

"And here I thought heroes were supposed to be nice to fair maidens", Daphne said sarcastically, "Aren't you a hero, puppy?"

"I'll be sure to be nice if I see any fair maidens around", Harry retorted.

They both laughed, and Harry thought he now had a better idea of just what kind of humor Daphne enjoyed. And, although, some of it was a bit mean, he thought he quite enjoyed this banter of theirs.

"So, are you one of them Purebloods, then?", Harry asked, curious if her family was made entirely of only wizards. That must be pretty interesting life to have.

"Of course", she said in a haughty tone, "All the respectable families are."

Harry frowned.

"Why?"

"Hmm?", Daphne murmured while looking at Harry. It seems like she wasn't clear about his question.

"Why only the Pureblood families respectable?", he clarified.

"I didn't say that, now did I?", Daphne said in response, "Half Blood families are pretty good too."

Harry was now positive Daphne was one of those people who bought into the whole difference in blood idea that Daphne had mentioned earlier.

"But why?", he asked genuinely confused, "What makes them different from Muggleborns?"

Daphne thought about it carefully for a minute before shrugging and deciding to answer him truthfully.

"Depends on who you ask, I guess.", she said as an answer, "Some think they are stealing Magic from proper wizards, others believe that the more wizard blood you have in you, the better you are. I believe they are simply far too tainted by views of those Muggles they hung around with all their lives."

"What do you even know about Muggles?", Harry said in retort.

"I know that my friend, you, doesn't really like his Muggle family. I know what my father and mother told me. I know what I heard from my other friends.", she answered simply, "Or are you really asking what Muggle views I think are tainting Muggleborns?"

"Well, what are they then?"

"Money, for example", Daphne said, and then hurried to elaborate, "Don't get me wrong, I love money, and so do all other Purebloods and Halfbloods, but money for us means something else than it means for them."

"How?", he asked confused, "Money is money, isn't it?"

Daphne sighed.

"You're lucky you have me to guide you, Harry", she said, before answering him with another question, "You lived with Muggles, right? What do they use money for?"

"All sorts of things. Food, rent for homes, water, buying stuff, you know…the normal things?", Harry asked confused, unsure where the conversation was headed.

"And all that is just a Muggle problem", Daphne said, "You can transfigure rocks into food, or duplicate whatever food you have on hand, you can use the Aguamenti Charm to conjure drinkable water, and use transfiguration, or a creative use of levitation and cutting charms to make yourself a home. In fact, there are no homeless wizards in the entirety of the wizarding world. Even Weasley family, Purebloods too, but very poor, and Blood Traitors to boot, have a home. It's not pretty, but it has everything a home needs. And with the Extension Charm, made illegal by the Ministry because they like to make people suffer, even something as small as a toilet cubicle could house over a hundred wizards."

"Really?", Harry thought surprised, "They are that evil? The Ministry, I mean?"

Daphne shrugged her shoulders.

"Depends on who you ask. I only have the perspective of my family on this."

"Did they give any reason for banning the spell?", Harry asked intrigued.

"It's not entirely banned", Daphne admitted, "just banned for personal use. All school trunks are made with that spell attached, for example. That's one of the few exceptions. The Ministry says it's necessary to make it harder for wizards to knowingly or unknowingly violate the Statute of Secrecy."

"I think I get their reasoning", Harry said, "But still, that's so awful! So many wizards would not be leaving in horrible conditions if it wasn't illegal"

Daphne just laughed at him.

"Any wizard worth anything uses the spell anyway. They just make sure the Ministry has no reason to come knocking to check."

"And if they do?"

"Ask to see the Ministry official's warrant, and if he has one, delay the official until someone in your home can undo the charm. They can't charge you for a messy and crowded room, after all."

Harry gaped at her. Daphne chuckled and patted his head.

"Relax. I'm not going to get into trouble. Everyone does it. Everyone knows everyone does it. Ministry officials do it, again Weasley home, Purebloods do it, Halfbloods do it, teachers do it, and anyone who has any right to calm himself or herself a wizard does it"

Harry wasn't stupid, and immediately caught on to the fact that she didn't explicitly name Muggleborns.

"And Muggleborns?", he asked.

"They are stupid", was the response he got, "Ministry sells them a sob piece about how harder using this spell makes their job, Muggleborns buy into that because 'surely the Ministry would know', and then buy awful apartments for large sums of money"

"Wouldn't that mean there are homeless people in the wizarding world? Ones that can't afford to buy or rent those apartments?

"Well, of course there are", Daphne said, "But they are Muggleborn, so they don't really count. I meant proper wizards."

"You can't just say that!", Harry said loudly, outraged.

"If they want to be considered proper wizards, they should stop being homeless. They were given a wand for a reason", Daphne said fully committed to her ideals, "Besides Muggleborns are like the Magical version of the French"

"Completely understandable then", Harry said with a nod. He wasn't going to be caught dead defending the French. He was a British boy through and through. Suddenly a horrifying though rose in his head, "Wait, are there like actual Magical French?"

Daphne nodded gravely.

"They all go to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic", Daphne informed him.

"Horrifying", Harry said honestly, "But at least they stay out of Hogwarts."

He thought through what she said before.

"So what do you use money for?", he asked.

"Anything we can't do ourselves or are too lazy to do.", she said, easily admitting the last part, "We could make our wands ourselves, it's not particularly difficult. Apparate-"

"Apparate?", Harry interrupted her.

Daphne frowned at him, and he let out a meek 'sorry'.

"Disappear from one place and appear in another.", Daphne said to him, "Honestly, Harry, it's in the bloody name."

"So, like teleportation?"

"What's that?", Daphne asked curious, "Some sort of Muggle thing?"

"Yeah. It's a fantasy power used in comic books", he explained.

Daphne nodded in understanding and continued.

"Anyway, as I was saying, you Apparate to go to one place, stun whatever animal you need, apparate somewhere else, pick up other parts, and so on, but it's a lot of work, and so it's just easier to buy the already made wand from someone who does that constantly anyway. That person can then use the money to buy something he can't easily make himself.", she explained, "Everyone can transfigurate a table, but not everyone has the skill and patience to make a breathtakingly beautiful table. Money's really used for nice frivolities."

"What about the school books?", Harry asked.

"That aside, of course", Daphne agreed, "Although if no one's looking you could always just duplicate it, and pocket the copy. It won't last forever, mind you, only about a single lifetime. After that it will start rotting far quicker than the original would have."

"That's still a long time", Harry said amazed.

"Well, Magic is wonderful, isn't it?", she countered, before continuing, "Anyway, problem is, Muggleborn bring Muggle problems, and Muggle solutions, and refuse to look through our perspective. That can range from something as silly as debate over wages, to changing entire laws or cultures."

"Can't they be taught, though?"

Daphne smiled.

"We'll see. After all, I'm going to teach you."

After that, Harry spent the next half an hour looking through the window, marveling at the passing land, while Daphne was reading some sort of book, and at some time when he wasn't looking, she switched the book to a wizard magazine. The magazine looked to be about fashion.

Soon after they were interrupted by a smiling, dimpled woman offering them sweets to buy. Harry quickly learned that they sold no Muggle candy (when he had asked, Daphne's face turned to one of disgust), but there were plenty of interesting Magical sweets. He bought some of everything, and then happily sat back down ready to try them all.

"Careful with those beans", Daphne warned, "The name is not just for show."

"You mean they have every flavor?", Harry asked in disbelief.

She nodded.

"Everything from grass to chocolate, to vomit.", she explained, "Adults hate it because they lived long enough to get unlucky to get the nasty flavors"

Harry suddenly wasn't all that sure he wanted to try these out, but Daphne assured that normal and mostly-normal flavors were far more common than the gross ones.

He offered her some too, to which she politely declined, but as Harry was eating the beans, he was certain some of them kept mysteriously disappearing. When he, probably with help from Daphne, though she denied, finished his bag of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, he was pleased to find that he got none of the particularly nasty flavors. He got coffee (yuck), sandwich (best one he ever had), Earl Grey tea (finally, a proper English drink), chocolate (sweet and not at all bitter), marmalade (it was okay), and bunch of other different flavors.

He turned his eyes at something called 'Chocolate Frogs'.

"They aren't real frogs, are they?", Harry asked warily.

Daphne seemed offended at the question.

"We are still British, Harry."

Harry nodded at her, and guessed that made sense. It was the French that ate actual frogs.

He unwrapped his Chocolate Frog, and took a bite out of it. It tasted amazing!

"Unlucky", Daphne commented, and seeing his confused look, she elaborated, "See, some of these are animated to try to run away. Others aren't. The first one's are more fun"

Harry gaped at her horrified.

"That sounds horrible!", he exclaimed, "Are you just supposed to chase it and then eat it while it's struggling?"

Daphne nodded.

"Of course.", seeing his look she chuckled, "Remember, they aren't really real. It's all animation charms. We learn them this year in Charms."

Harry shook his head.

"Still seems horrible to me", he said.

"It sounds much worse than it is", Daphne said, "Just give it a go. It doesn't even struggle as hard as a real animal would if you tried biting his head off"

Harry blinked, and slowly and carefully asked.

"That's just…like an example, right? You aren't speaking from experience, right?"

Daphne seemed amused.

"Do I really look like I go around eating heads of animals?", she asked humorously, "Am I that scary?

"Definitely", he said quickly, "The frown you gave me when I interrupted you that one time was the scariest thing I've ever seen"

She laughed.

"Well, thank you for the compliment then, Harry", she said pleasantly.

"It wasn't one!", he protested.

"Sure sounded like one to my ears", she retorted.

She was teasing him, he was sure. Instead of giving in, he finished his Chocolate Frog, and then looked at the card that came with the sweet.

"So, what are these cards?", he asked his friend.

"These are cards with the name, picture, and description of famous wizards.", she explained.

"Do you collect them?"

"Of course I collect them!", she said sounding offended, "Every proper wizard does, even the Weasleys do."

"Why?"

"It's fun collecting things", she admitted, "and you can trade them and whatnot. They are also informative."

Harry looked at his card, and it was a card of Albus Dumbledore with his picture. On the back of the card it read:

Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

When he flipped the card back, the picture was gone.

"He's gone!", he exclaimed surprised.

"Of course he is", Daphne said unimpressed, "They are like portraits, they have lives of their own, not exciting ones, but there're lots of cards to visit and all"

"Wait, wait, wait, your images are alive?"

"Not all of them", she said not understanding his shock, "All of them move around to show off the scene better, like if it's in a newspaper or whatever, but the ones that are alive are ones in portraits and these frog cards. Why are you so surprised?"

"In Muggle world they don't move at all, and they are not alive at all", he explained.

Daphne frowned slightly.

"Well, that sounds boring.", she then thought a bit and inquired further, "Don't they have like this thing called the t-vision or whatever? I think I heard about that"

"Television", Harry corrected her, "And it takes sometimes months of work to make the pictures in there move, and it's very hard to do and expensive."

Suddenly they were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open, and girl, with lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, dressed in her Hogwarts robes, entered alongside round-faced boy with a dejected expression.

"Longbottom", Daphne sneered, upon recognizing the boy. He meekly greeted her back.

"You know him?", Harry asked.

Daphne gave him one of her 'you are acting stupid' looks, and explained.

"He's a Pureblood. We all know eachother.", she said, before giving Harry a warning, "Keep clear of him. He'll try to corrupt you with his twisted and warped ways"

The Longbottom boy didn't look offended, but he did sigh as if he heard this many times already.

"What, are you the only one allowed to corrupt me?", Harry asked, with humor in his voice.

"Yes!", Daphne explained, seeming completely serious, "And either way, he's going to corrupt you way worse than me!"

"You're just being rude", the other girl said in a bossy tone, "What's wrong with Neville?

"He doesn't even collect Chocolate Frog cards!", Daphne said in outrage completely serious, "And he'll probably try to corrupt us to his unreasonable, and completely evil, ways of not collecting frog cards"

"That's the issue you have with him?", Harry asked incredulously.

"See?!", Daphne said, "He's already corrupting you!"

Harry shook his head and looked at the boy and that other girl.

"Hi", he greeted them, "did you want something?"

"Neville's lost his toad", the bushy-haired girl said, "Have you seen it?"

"Nope", Harry said in response and turned to Daphne, "You know any cool spells to help with that?"

"I refuse to help that evil boy.", she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Please?", Neville meekly asked.

"Daphne", Harry said sternly, "be serious. He needs help."

Daphne shook her head.

"Not helping. I'd sooner help a Blood Traitor"

Sternness clearly wasn't working with her. Harry decided to try a different approach and appeal to her pride.

"But you must know something, right?", he said, "You already taught me so much. I'd be soooo impressed with your wicked knowledge."

She looked at him unimpressed.

"That was the worst attempt at manipulation I've ever seen", she said, but despite her words she seemed to be considering it.

"Come on, Daphne, help him out", he encouraged, "He's practically begging for your help"

She seemed to consider his words for a few moments before she sighed and relented.

"Fine", she agreed, "But only because you're the one asking".

She seemed to consider the problem and voiced her thoughts aloud.

"Well, there's the Summoning Charm, of course, but that doesn't work on living things. Then there's plenty of tracking charms that may work. There's few famous spells invented by Newt Scamander-"

Harry looked at her like he wanted to ask who he is, but didn't want to interrupt. Daphne clearly saw that and elaborated.

"He's famous for his works on Magical creatures", Daphne explained, and then continued, "Right, so like I said, there's that one spell that shows Magical footprints, that's probably useless here.", she considered the issue for a bit longer and then turned to Harry, "Ask the Longbottom boy if he has anything of that toad of his"

"You can ask him yourself", Harry countered.

"And be corrupted by his depraved ways? No, thank you. Besides, I am helping you, the least you can do is follow my instructions"

"I have his bedding", Neville helpfully supplied.

"Thank you, Harry", Daphne said as if it was Harry that told her that information. She turned to look at the bushy-haired girl, "Go find a prefect, fifth years and above, and ask them to do the Avenseguim spell. Everyone knows it, if only to be able to say that they can do one of Scamander's spells, and have them find the toad."

Both the girl and Neville thanked Daphne (who frowned in a very scary way at Neville when he thanked her), and left to find the toad.

"Thanks for helping them out, Daphne", Harry said, happy that his friend could be nice too.

"I helped you", she said stressing the last part, "I did not help the evil, degenerate, corrupt, debased, no-card-collecting boy"

"Of course you didn't", Harry hurried to assure her. Even partial nicety from Daphne was a win in his book.

Sometime later they heard a voice echoing through the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Like on clockwork, in five minutes, the train slowed down and then stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air, though, jealously he noticed that Daphne did not. She smirked at him, and informed him that her father had taught her a simple spell to warm herself up. They were then interrupted by the sight of a lamp that came bobbing over the heads of the students and Harry heard a familiar voice:

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry?"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. Harry nodded to him in response.

"You know him?", Daphne said surprised, "I thought you were new to this world"

"He delivered me my Hogwarts letter, and rescued me from my relatives", Harry said with a happy voice, feeling glad to meet Hagrid again. Unseen to Harry, Daphne's face held a small frown.

"C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!", they heard Hagrid say, and they all followed him down a steep and narrow path. On either side of the path was darkness, almost impossibly so.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec", Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud 'Oooooh!', for the narrow path had suddenly opened to the view of Hogwarts, and the black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Daphne were followed into their boat by Neville and the bushy-haired girl whose name neither Harry, nor Daphne had yet gotten.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself, "Right then – FORWARD!"

By Hagrid's command, the boats set of, sailing so gently one could think it was flying on the surface of the water. They sailed towards the cliff on which Hogwarts stood, and then into and along a dark tunnel in the cliff, that seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here?", Hagrid asked, and looked over the group of students. He then raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall", said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. She stopped and addressed them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts", said Professor McGonagall, "The startof-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

She finished off her long speech with a simple message:

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you", said Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly."

She left through the door on the right into the Great Hall, while the rest were left to wait nervously.

Harry turned to Daphne.

"Tell me more about those houses", he asked her, "I heard from Hagrid that everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot of duffers, and that there's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."

Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Sirius Black was in Gryffindor, wasn't he?", she said as an answer, "Everyone says he had ambitions to be the Dark Lord's second-in-command"

"The Dark Lord?", Harry asked.

"Some of us find 'you-know-who' a mouthful to say", Daphne explained, "Others use it as a term to respect. He was very powerful, I hear, and even some who fought against him respected him"

"What happened to him?", Harry asked.

"Killed thirteen Muggles with a single spell when the Dark Lord was killed, and laughed until the Aurors came to arrest him. He's in Azkaban now", Daphne explained, then after seeing his questioning look she elaborated, "Aurors are the special forces of the Magical World used against practitioners of the Dark Arts. Azkaban is a prison. The worse the crime, the closer you are to the Dementors"

"Dementors?"

"Unkillable creatures who suck up every happy feeling of anyone they are near", she explained, "if you're lucky, I mean."

Harry was horrified, and barely constrained himself from indulging his curiosity of what happened if you weren't lucky.

"Dementors have a sort of uneasy truce with the Ministry", Daphne continued, "Dementors obey the Ministry, and in return the Ministry lets them feed on the happiness of the people sentenced to Azkaban."

"The houses, please, Daphne", Harry almost begged her, wanting to move to less horrifying topic, "So, the part about Slytherin is untrue?"

"Slytherin is a house of ambition and cunning", she explained, "people like that don't really always follow the law. Most of the Dark Lord's followers were from Slytherin, that's true."

Harry stared at her, thinking, and he had a gut feeling that he spoke aloud.

"You want to be in Slytherin, don't ya?

"Of course, I do", Daphne confirmed, "All of my family were there, and I think it's the best one."

"And you don't care that the Dark Lord was in it?"

Daphne laughed.

"If being in his house will let some of his power and talent to rub off on me, then all the better", she said, "But anyways, who cares? Again, one of the biggest followers of the Dark Lord was in Gryffindor. There were people from other houses too.", she paused for a few moments, and then asked, "Do you feel like murdering some Muggles?"

"What!? No!", Harry responded horrified.

"Well, then you'll do fine, won't you?", Daphne said, "You have the ability to make choices for a reason"

"That's true", he thought for himself, still uneasy about the idea of Slytherin, but willing to try it out to stick with his friend.

"And Hufflepuff?", he asked.

Daphne waited for a second, before carefully asking.

"Would you consider yourself loyal to me?"

"That was a strange question", Harry thought, before verbally answering, "Well, you are my friend, so yeah, I think so"

"Try to focus on something else then", Daphne said, "Hufflepuff is the house you recruit minions from. And if you want to be my minion you can get that privilege while being in more respectable house for personal achievements."

"I'll keep that offer in mind", Harry said sarcastically, "I've always thought that the only thing my life was missing was a Master to serve"

Daphne smiled at him, and continued.

"Anyway, they do loyalty above all, which is why many consider them to compromise on ability like Hagrid said. Then there's Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The first one is for stupid and brave, and the second is for people who value learning above all."

"Stupid? Not biased at all, Daphne", he said continuing his sarcasm.

"Well, bravery often requires stupidity, doesn't it?", she said rhetorically, "And besides, there's two houses that value intelligence, so there must be two that valued stupidity."

Harry didn't think that quite make sense, but didn't get the time to voice it before Professor McGonagall returned.

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, "and follow me."

She led them through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Looking up, Harry and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. It once again reaffirmed his belief that Magic was simply wicked.

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty.

The hat's mouth opened, and Harry could swear there wasn't one before, and it sang a song about the Hogwarts houses and it seemed that Daphne was more or less correct in the descriptions of all of them.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted". she said.

Harry didn't pay much attention to most of them, far too nervous about his own sorting, but he did notice that the bushy-haired girl, apparently called Hermione Granger, was sorted into Gryffindor alongside Neville Longbottom. Daphne bore a smug look as she was sorted into Slytherin.

And soon enough, it was his time to get sorted.

"Potter, Harry!", he heard Professor McGonagall call out.

As he stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Hmm", said a small voice in his ear, "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting ... So where shall I put you?"

Harry tried his hardest to focus on the feeling of wanting to prove himself.

"Slytherin, please", he whispered to the hat.

"You would do well in Slytherin, indeed. You could be great, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that", the hat mussed, "And then again, I sense loyalty and a desire for friendship. In Hufflepuff you would find both in spades."

"You said I would do well in Slytherin", Harry whispered, "and I already have a friend there. Put me to Slytherin, please"

"Hmm", mussed the hat, "very well. But before I do remember this small lesson, for it will be the kindle to the deep ambition I sense within you, one you may not fully realized yourself out of fear of false-hope. Every rule of Magic has twice as many, if not more, exceptions. To those particularly powerful and cunning, nothing in this world is impossible."

Before Harry could form a response, or even thank the hat, the hat bellowed 'Slytherin!'

There was silence in the Great Hall as Professor McGonagall removed the hat from his heat. Harry stood up, and went to the farthest left table, and as he was making his way there, he saw and heard his friend Daphne begin to clap, and soon enough the rest of the house began clapping, some enthusiastically, and yet more just enough to be polite.

Harry sat down near his friend, and smiled at her.

"You know, the Hat did consider me for Hufflepuff", he said to Daphne.

"Don't worry, Harry, you'll get to be my Minion here if you want that so much", she joked, and he laughed lightly.

"Wait, I'm the famous one here", he said as a counter, "shouldn't you be my Minion instead?"

"Maybe when I finish teaching you about the Wizarding World", she replied, "What kind of Master gets taught by his Minion?"

They both laughed some more. Harry didn't really think either one of them were suited for Minion work, but it was fun to joke about it.

Soon their conversation was interrupted by the same blonde boy he met at Madam Malkin's.

"So, you are Harry Potter, then?", the boy said, "I am Draco Malfoy. We should have properly introduced ourselves earlier."

Harry politely nodded.

"I happened to overhear that Greengrass is teaching you about this world", he began, "You will soon find that there are no better guides than Malfoys. Some families are simply better than others. I can help you there"

He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"I'll be fine with Daphne, thanks", he responded.

Draco's eyes narrowed, and with an angered expression he returned to his seat.

"Perfect", Daphne said happily, "You already got yourself a rival, Harry. You seem to learning the ins and outs of being a wizard quickly."

"Every wizard has a rival?", he said looking back at her surprised.

"Every wizard that's worth anything does", she said, "Look, it goes like this, Muggleborns, then wizards with rivals, regardless of the blood, although a Muggleborn with a rival means less than a Halfblood with one, then goes Halfbloods, then Purebloods, then the Sacred Twenty-Eight Purebloods, then wizards with assassins. The importance moves here and there, but that's mostly how it goes."

Harry was about to ask something, but Daphne beat him to it.

"My family is part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and yours isn't"

That was honestly not what he was going to ask, but he nodded at her and asked his real question.

"Assassins? Really?"

"If you have assassins after you, you must have done something big to warrant that", she explained, "Having an assassin after you is considered very prestigious. There're even whole books written on assassination etiquette."

Harry opened his mouth to ask, and then shut it. wizards were bonkers, he decided, but he guessed that with world changing powers at the tips of their wands, they are bound to come up with crazy-sounding traditions to normal minds.

"I think I'll be fine without an assassin for a while, thanks", Harry said somewhat jokingly.

"You can't just say that!", Daphne said outraged, "You don't just refuse an assassin! Harry, as your new teacher, I have to insist that if you ever get an opportunity to get an assassin after you, you take it!"

Harry nodded and placated her that he would. That was a promise easily made, as he really didn't think he'd ever get into a situation like that.

Soon enough the Sorting had finished, and the Hat was taken away.

Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!', he said, "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.

"Is he…mad?", he asked Daphne.

"I sure hope so, if he wants to be our Headmaster!", she said in a haughty tone.

Harry was almost too afraid to ask, it was going to be stupid, he knew, but his curiosity won out.

"Why do you want him to be mad?"

She gave him one of her 'you are acting stupid' looks, and it was weird just how quickly he picked and categorized them all.

"All best wizards are crazy", she explained, "and all of their best products are too."

When he asked her for an example, she began listing them.

"Well, Dumbledore, obviously mad. The Dark Lord grew crazier the stronger he got. Grindelwald chased after fairy tales and wanted to rule over Muggles. Clearly insane. Nicolas Flamel, despite everything he has done, decided to still remain French and live in France, so clearly there's some insanity there. Adalbert Waffling discovered all Fundamental Laws of Magic, and only an insane person would try to do that.", she went on and on, before Harry interrupted her.

"Because every rule has two or more exceptions?", Harry asked recalling the Hat's words.

"Exactly!", she said, before pausing, "How did you know that by the way?"

"The Hat gave me a cryptic hint", he admitted.

"Perfect!", she said pleased, "The more cryptic the hint from a powerful wizard of his item, the better!"

"That sounds silly"

"Well, clearly someone as old as the Hat who has seen so much of life and was created by the Founders would know a thing or two", she countered.

"Why not just say it plainly then?"

"Why don't they just solve the problem for you instead? Maybe do your homework too? It's on purpose, if you can't even uncryptify-

Harry was positive that wasn't an actual word.

"-their words, then obviously you couldn't even take advantage of the words hidden within."

He could see some sort of logic in that but as food of all kinds appeared on the table, that discussion seemed irrelevant, as his hungry belly demanded food.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of icecream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding and so much more.

At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.

"Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did, and the only one at the Slytherin table, he turned to Daphne.

"He's not serious, is he?"

"Why wouldn't he be?", Daphne asked confused, "Imagine the paperwork and the political trouble if a student died unwarned."

"Why would there be anything in this school that would kill us?"

"Why wouldn't there be?", she asked, confusion still present, "What kind of school doesn't have something to kill its students? I hear Hogwarts has the most of all schools. The moving staircases you can fall from, steps that trap your legs until someone saves you, or you save yourself, or you starve to death, some steps just disappear when they feel like it, there's the poltergeist who isn't exactly murderous, but close enough, forest full of dangerous creatures, the caretaker of the school who wants to hang children, and now there's the third floor corridor."

He gaped at her as his brain struggled to come up with a fitting response. Daphne must have misread his expression because she smiled and nodded.

"I know, right? It all sounds so prestigious. I hope Hogwarts has at least half the death traps my friends told me about."

"Why?", he said weakly, "Why all the deathtraps?"

"There's lots that makes a successful wizard. Part of it is awareness. The other part is being able to get out of tricky situations.", she explained, "So, maybe it's just a practical helping hand to become a better wizard-"

The last thing Harry would describe this was a 'helping hand'.

"-or maybe they just want to weed out the weak students so total failed-to-graduated ratio seems better", she said with a shrug, "who knows really."

Harry didn't really think it was the kind of thing that you could just shrug away, but Dumbledore continued his speech.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune", said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

The song was a disaster, and Harry quickly realized why the other teachers were so displeased. Everybody finished the song at a different time, the tunes were all over the place, and all in all, both his head and ears hurt.

Even Daphne seemed to not be having fun, though many of the older students seemingly enjoyed it. Two boys happily finished off the song in a slow funeral march.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes, "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Prefects were supposed to lead them to the common room, and a fifth year female student led them through a door in the Entrance Hall, and down to the dungeons and through a wall that looked no different than any other (after saying the password that was 'Cunning'), and into their common room.

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and
ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an
elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and around it were high-backed chairs that looked old-fashioned but pretty comfy. Looking around, Harry could see the windows that seemingly showed the black lake of Hogwarts. To Harry's surprise at that moment he saw a giant squid swim by.

"Congratulations! I'm Prefect Gemma Farley, and I'm delighted to welcome you to Slytherin House", the girl that led them here introduced herself and continued, "Now, there are a few things you should know about Slytherin – and a few you should forget. Firstly, let's dispel a few myths. You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we're all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that."

Harry didn't really know what the Dark Arts were, but they sounded ominous, and so he figured Daphne would just love them. He was really interested to hear what the prefect had to say. From his talks with Daphne it seemed like wizards did place great emphasis on fame. "Did Slytherins not do that", Harry wondered.

"Well, you don't want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I'm not denying that we've produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don't like admitting it.", the girl continued, and Harry noted to himself that this is pretty much what Daphne had said to him too, "And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you'll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent."

This too was in like to what Daphne had said. Halfbloods were okay, and from the lack of mention of Muggleborns, he guessed that they weren't really accepted here.

"Here's a little-known fact that the other three houses don't bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth? I didn't think so."

Farley then shook her head and changed the topic somewhat.

"But that's enough about what we're not.", she said, and Harry rather agreed, "Let's talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin. We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you've got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case."

Harry got the feeling that she and Daphne would get along really well, if she wasn't one of those friends Daphne mentioned she had already. Harry didn't think he wanted to be feared per se, but not being bothered when he didn't want to be, or not being picked on like Dudley's gang picked on him sounded nice.

"But we're not bad people. We're like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood.", she said and then continued to explain to them what it means to be a Slytherin, " For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you'll be glad you've got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we're concerned, once you've become a snake, you're one of ours – one of the elite. Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You've been chosen by this house because you've got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. All right, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room whom you might not think are destined for anything special. Well, keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there's something great about them, and don't you forget it."

Involuntarily Harry smiled, and as he looked around, he saw that others were smiling as well. It was great to know you are something of worth, that in some measure of the word you'll be great. After all the years with Dursley's this was like cold water to a man dying of thirst.

"And talking of people who aren't destined for greatness, I haven't mentioned the Gryffindors. Now, a lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represent two sides of the same coin. Personally, I think Gryffindors are nothing more than wannabe Slytherins. Mind you, some people say that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor prized the same kinds of students, so perhaps we are more similar than we like to think. But that doesn't mean that we cosy up with Gryffindors. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them.", she said, and having finished talking about the other houses, she moved on to other important things, "A few more things you might need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he'll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don't ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn't like it. And finally, the password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries."

She clearly saw someone yawn, as did Harry, and so she hurried to finish up her speech.

"Well, I think that's all for now. I can see you are all ready to go to bed, and I'm sure you'll like our dormitories. We sleep in ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins cover the walls, and silver lanterns hang from the ceilings. You'll sleep well; it's very soothing, listening to the lake water lapping against the windows at night."

With that, she bid them away, and sent them to sleep, and as Harry laid down on his bed, for the last conscious moment, he realized that the prefect was right, it was very soothing listening to the lake water, and the dormitories were fancier than anything he has ever seen.

He slept soundly, and without a care in the world, dreams full of upcoming adventures, and mastery of the great force that is Magic.