Chapter Two

A New Arrival

That night Ron and Harry made their way back across the grounds and into the the entrance hall. It had rained the previous day and the ground had been muddy, and as a consequence they were both extremely filthy (Ron more so, after having fallen off his broom in an attempt to catch the quaffle. It had been thrown into the goal by Harry, who was playing a chaser in the absence of their team-mates, who had all been otherwise occupied). They were stopped on the way across the hall by McGonagall, who was on her way up to Gryffindor Tower, and who reprimanded them for slopping mud across the floor.

"If Mr Filch sees you..." she muttered, and then performed a complicated swishing motion with her wand. Harry glanced down to see that his shoes and the hem of his robes were clean and completely mud-free. She repeated the wand-flick on Ron, and then replaced it into a fold in her robe.

"You two better follow me up to the common room," she said briskly. "I want all Gryffindor students to be present. I have an announcement to make." That said, she spun around and started up the stairs. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, and then fell into step behind her.

They didn't speak on the way up, and finally arrived at the portrait hole on the seventh floor.

"Fiddlesticks," McGonagall said loudly, and the Fat Lady swung backward obediently, allowing them passage.

The common room was packed full of students, who had already been notified of this meeting by a n announcement pinned to the noticeboard. Hermione bounced on her tip toes to sight them over the crowd, and then pushed her way through.

"I thought you weren't going to come," she said warningly. "Didn't you see the notice?"

"No," Harry said. They had returned to the dormitory after the last lesson only to pick up their brooms, and had then gone straight down to the quidditch pitch.

Hermione clicked her tongue and then turned to McGonagall and fell silent. McGonagall moved to the center of the room and motioned, unnecessarily for quiet.

"I have called you all here to announce the arrival of a new student into Gryffindor. She was transferred here from another school and has undergone a private sorting ceremony just this morning." McGonagall then smiled at someone in the crowd and beckoned them to come forward.

A girl stepped reluctantly up to McGonagall's side and faced the other students. Harry realised at once that it was the same girl he had seen in the corridor that morning.

"This is Lily Flanagan."

Parvati and Lavender smiled at her excitedly. "Can she stay in our room Miss?" Lavender piped.

"She has already been assigned a room."

Hermione looked indifferently at the girl, unable to tell whether she would be an interesting study partner or not.

"I would ask you to make Miss Flanagan feel as welcome as possible, and please have some consideration for her feelings- do not ask too many questions. I'm sure she feels nervous enough coming into a new school in her sixth year. So please, keep questions to a minimum and make her feel comfortable."

McGongall turned to Lily and smiled. "I think you will find our Gryffindor students very easy to get along with, Lily. You'll fit in just fine."

Professor McGonagall nodded at the students and gave Lily's shoulder a little pat. "Now, I'll leave you all to get accquainted." She moved to the door and stepped through it.

Immediately a crowd of girls surged towards Lily, and steered her to a chair by the fire, where she sat and began answering their questions. Hermione, Ron, and Harry lingered at the edge of the group.

"Should we go and say hello?" Harry asked, not feeling as though he wanted to, and very glad he didn't have Parvati and Lavender simpering over him.

"You'll never get near her with that lot there," Ron said.

"Anyway, I'll have plenty of time to say hello later- she is in my dormitory," Hermione added. "Why don't we get started on that History of Magic homework?"

Ron and Harry both groaned, in such uncanny succession that they burst out laughing. "It's the first day of term, Hermione," Ron said. "At least give us a chance to put our brains back in."

They made their way across the room to a spare group of chairs, and sank into them. Hermione kept looking over her shoulder at the group around Lily. "Funny that she was transferred in her sixth year," she mused.

"Maybe her parents moved," Harry said.

"I heard she doesn't have any parents."

Ron and Harry both looked at her. "Who told you that?" Ron asked.

"Parvati ."

Ron snorted. Hermione didn't seem to notice. "And why did she need a private sorting ceremony?"

"Well... It would have looked a bit funny, wouldn't it- if she got up there in front the school with all the first years. Talk about embarrassing," Ron said. He had taken a pile of chocolate frog cards out of his pocket and was shuffling through them. "Harry, have you got Merlin?" Harry shook his head, watching Hermione with amusement. Realizing that they had no other juicy input concerning Lily Flanagan, she crossed her arms.

"Well I think it's odd."