Chapter Three: New Friends

Harry Potter was woken by the sound of yells, hollers, hisses, meows, and squawks. He groaned and turned on his side, then tried stuffing his ruffled head under his pillow, but it barely even muffled the noises his fellow Gryffindors and their animals were making.

Harry groaned again and sat up. He squinted in the direction of where his glasses were supposed to be, felt around for them, and realized they weren't there. He felt along the floor beside his bed and the bedside table, and had no luck. "Ron! Do you know where my glasses are? I put them on the table, but they're not there now!" he hollered above all the noise.

Somehow Ron heard and managed to get it quieter in the room. "Quiet down, please!" he yelled and came over to Harry, but he didn't sit. "Morning Harry!" he panted, "I don't think I know where your-oh! Wait, never mind, I put them in the case and into the drawer there so that they wouldn't get carried off. Crookshanks got out last night without Hermione or any of the other girls noticing. He, don't ask me how-I don't know- managed to get into our room, and he's been making terror the whole time. Honestly! Hermione should lock that cat up. He scratched me and poked little holes in my blankets. Not to mention other little minor things. Here you are!" Ron handed over Harry's glasses with the broken nosepiece. The tape was now pealing off. "You should fix those, Harry, you know. You could have Hermione do it, she's done it before."

"I know. I just haven't gotten around to it yet, that's all." Harry stood and looked around. There were feathers strewn around the large room, Hedwig's were among them, and a couple chairs were turned onto their sides and backs. Some of the boys had Hermione's cat cornered and hissing wildly. The spit that Crookshanks had spat out from the hissing and growling made it look as though she had some sort of disease related to rabies. "Thanks for saving my glasses, Ron."

But Ron had gone to join the boys who had cornered Crookshanks. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," he pestered. This made Harry smile, but Ron seemed to get frustrated. "Oh, come here, you stupid cat!" He made a grab for Crookshanks, but the large tabby swiped at Ron, slashing a long streak across his forearm. Ron recoiled, glared at the cat and stomped his way out the door and down the steps, trying to resist kicking the large cat. He was followed by others who had crowded around to watch his attempt.

Crookshanks followed Harry into the stairway a few minutes later at his order, and before Crookshanks could turn back, was back in the dormitory. Crookshanks was locked out, and there was no more cat to cause additional damage. Harry dressed himself and started on his way into the Great Hall for breakfast. As he turned a corner, someone slammed into him, and the both of them fell to the ground. Books, papers and quill feathers flew everywhere. Harry looked at what had hit him. It was the girl he had seen when he was on the train. She looked up at him for a long moment, apologized, and then started to hastily pick up her things. Harry helped her, saying that it was okay. "Are you all right?" he asked her when they were finished.

She seemed a little startled at the question. "Me? Yes; I'm fine. How about you?" Her deep green eyes met his, and she smiled a sweet smile, the same one he had seen her smile to her owl in its cage two days before.

"I'm perfectly fine. No damage. What were you running for, though? Classes don't start for another hour."

"They don't? I thought I was late; I slept in so much…What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty. You'll need to wear your robes to class, though. If you don't, teachers take points off and make you change into them anyway. What house are you in?"

"Slytherin." Milly answered shortly, feeling a little awkward.

"'Slytherin?' Are you serious? That's all right." Harry held out a hand. "Hi. My name's Harry. What's you name?"

Milly took his hand and shook it. "Harry? Harry what?" They let go of each other's hand and continued to walk.

"Harry Potter."

Milly stopped at a corner near a suit of armor. "No offense, but I've never heard of you. Not to be rude of course!" she added quickly, "You just said it like I should have known. You asked for my name, and you got it. I'm Milly Ridell. What House are you in? Gryffindor?"

"Yeah. I have another question for you. What school did you transfer from?"

"Me? Beauxbatons. Why?"

"What did you transfer for? Didn't you like the school? We had a visit from them a few years ago. They seemed pretty nice."

"Weird things kept happening. My bad luck around the students, I guess."

Harry thought, from the tone of her voice and failure to make eye contact, that this was a touchy subject for her-or that she wasn't being truthful, but he dismissed it. They continued walking in silence, both feeling a little awkward not knowing what to say, until they reached the Slytherin Tower. "Do you know where the Great Hall is from here? I can wait for you to change, and then lead you there if you don't." Harry asked but regretted it. He didn't want any encounters from Malfoy and his gang of idiots like he'd had on the train.

Milly smiled back, but replied, "I'll manage. Thank you for all you've done." Harry was only slightly disappointed with her goodbye, but he left with a last smile and a "See you later, Milly." He then walked to the Great hall, thinking about what she might have meant.

Most of the people were already in the Great Hall and eating by the time Harry arrived. He saw Hermione and Ron waving him over at the Gryffindor table. Harry sat down between them, and, almost immediately, a large plate and some fine silverware popped in front of him out of mid air. "Come on, Harry; have a bite to eat! The food's better than ever! Those kitchen elves really know how to cook a meal. They've modified it since last year. Much better, much better," Ron complimented.

Harry picked up a fork, scooped some eggs and bacon onto his plate, and then placed it back down again. He poured some orange juice into his glass and took a sip. Ron was right; the juice was much tastier than he remembered it from last year.

"I'm surprised there's so many of them left! I left out so many clothes for them last year, you'd think there wouldn't be any left!" replied Hermione.

Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

As he placed the glass back down, Harry noticed Draco at the Slytherin table, stuffing his face with eggs, talking to Crabbe and Goyle and some other Slytherins, but still trying to look good for them. Harry smiled and looked down the Slytherin table. Milly hadn't arrived yet. He thought for a moment. She might just be wandering around the castle trying to find the Great Hall. Or was she up in her room trying to find her robes? Was she worried?

Harry was brought back to reality by Ron's voice. "Harry? You going to eat? Classes start in 30 minutes. They put all this food in front of us, but they don't give us enough time to eat it all! How unfair's that?"

Hermione laughed. "You just eat slow, and put too much onto your plate."

He glanced at Ron's plate. Had Ron even eaten anything yet? His plate was mostly full. "Yes, Ron. I'm eating." He bit a piece of his bacon the took a bite of his eggs. He swallowed and took another drink. He finished his meal in this manner and left to his dormitory room and gathered his books. He headed to the door, but stopped when Ron opened it and entered. "Harry. I'm glad you haven't left yet. I don't know which class to go to first."

"Ron! We studied our own schedules and each other's last night! You lost yours, didn't you?" Ron nodded. "You and I have Care of Magical Creatures together first. With the Slytherins." He and Ron walked down the staircase with their books.

"Harry," started Ron, with a tone a little more serious. "I know it's a touchy subject, but I could have sworn I saw Snuffles last night.

Harry stopped walking and supported himself on an old fashioned door knob as his stomach gave an uncomfortable, nauseating lurch. Harry knew Ron was talking about Sirius Black, former friend of his parents' and former legal godfather. Sirius had died in a battle with his Death Eater cousin, Bellatrix Lastrange, the previous year. He'd been given strict orders from Dumbledore not to leave shelter of his mother's old house at number twelve Grimauld Place, but had disobeyed them. Sirius had been on the run from the Ministry of Magic for supposed murder of twelve muggles and Peter Petigrew. But it was Peter Petigrew who was the real murderer. He was what is called an Animagus, a person that can change into one animal of choice. They were all Animagus: Harry's father had been a stag; Sirius a large black dog; Former-Professor Lupin an unwilling werewolf. Petigrew had chosen a rat. He faked his own death and had gotten away with murder. Sirius Black was charged for the murder and placed in the wizard prison, Azkaban. He escaped as the dog, but was killed by his own cousin.

Harry looked Ron in the eye. "Seen him?" he said slowly.

"I thought that I saw some sort of dog-like animal outside the Great Hall's window last night, but I couldn't tell what it was," said Ron, explaining what he meant.

"How could it have been him?" He turned, a bit agitated at Ron for even mentioning having seen Sirius-which was, as Harry knew very well but didn't admit, impossible. He took a step toward the open picture frame of the Fat Lady, but Ron grabbed his arm.

"Harry, I'm sorry. It's probably just my imagination playing horrible tricks on me… Really, I'm very sorry."

Harry nodded, and smiled at Ron.

"Well? Are you leaving or not? I can't stay open all day!" The Fat Lady was getting impatient, so the two of them left without another word.