On the morning of the second of September, before they even went down to breakfast, Harold and Lorna called the first years over to give some more advice. Lorna, sounding as serious as her exessive accent and oversized mouth would allow explained: 'Do your homework as soon as it is set. On the same day if you can. That means that if ever you find any mistakes in it, you have plenty of time to correct them. Turning in in essay which was obviously written at a rush the night before will automacally receive a bad mark and that is one thing you want to avoid. And for goodness sake, read ahead. Don't wait for the teachers to tell you to read your books. When they get round to telling you to read a chapter, you should already be able to summarize it from memory. And before you attend your first potions lesson, be sure to read the first few chapters from the book. Professor Snape likes to spring a surprise quizz once in a while, especially at the beginning of the first lesson. Not knowing the answer to one of his questions means losing a house point.' Harold interrupted by telling her: 'Come on Lorna, you don't want to scare them to death.' And to the first years, who were beginning to feal rather anxious: 'Don't worry, it isn't as terrible as Lorna makes it sound. The trick is to work together and keep well on top of things. You'll soon get used to it. If you have any problems, us prefects are here to help. Now I think we could all do with some breakfast.'

As they were all climbing the staircase which led up to the ground floor, Harry noticed his left shoe had come undone. He told his friends to go on and that he'd catch them up in a minute. When he had tied his shoe-laces properly and found his way the the great hall after getting lost, he bumped into the one person he did not want to see. Between him and the doors to the great hall stood Draco Malfoy and his two piggish gorillas Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy sneered at him and then spat: 'So Potter, Huffelpuff is it? Boy, your parents would be disappointed. Hufflepuff? Why that's the house for squibs and idiots!'

Harry felt like punching Malfoy in the face but thought better of it. First of all because Crabbe and Goyle would make mincemeat out of him and secondly and probably post importantly, he didn't think his new friends would take kindly to the idea that he had resorted to violence without being attacked. Later, he realised that it was very much the Hufflepuff way of life which had already begun to influence him. He then used the only alternative to violence he could find. He simply asked: 'May I enter the great hall please, I would like to get some breakfast before classes start.'

This had the effect of making Malfoy rather angry. His tone became more menacing as he barked: 'What do you think your doing? Asking nicely like a good little girly Hufflepuff are you? Well I don't think you need any breakfast today, Potter. You don't look like you need much food anyway.' This comment made Crabbe and Goyle burst out laughing. What Malfoy hadn't noticed was that while he was trying to find nasty things to say in his attempt to provoke Harry, a crowd of students, who were also on their way to breakfast, had gathered behind Harry and some looked somewhat annoyed at being held up.

Suddenly a tabby cat ran through the crowd until it was beside Harry and transformed into Professor McGonagall. She looked very cross as she turned on the three Slytherins. This is where Harry First heard her particularly authoritative voice and was only too glad he wasn't the one being scolded.

'What on Earth do you think you're doing?', she barked as Malfoy cowered away and Crabbe and Goyle only just realised she talking to them. 'Bullying three on one and holding everyone up, and on the first day of classes I might add! Ten points from Slytherin each and I'll be talking to Professor Snape about this, you mark my words! If I see either of you three put another toe out of line, it will mean detention! Now open those doors and get out the way!'.

As the students began flowing through the doors, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. He turned to face Professor McGonagall. She spoke in a more pleasant voice this time: 'Potter, you were quite right not to rise to their provocation. You have just earned Hufflepuff its first point of the year. See you later in tranfiguration class.' And strode off towards the staff table. Harry thought he had seen a flicker of a smile but it had been so quick that he wasn't sure if it was real or if he had imagined it. He finally made his way to the place his friends had kept him at the Hufflepuff table.

As he told them of his encounter with Malfoy and co, the others looked rather anxious. Susan said: 'My aunt has mentioned Malfoy's father several times. She says he's always inviting himself to the ministry though he has no business going there really. He is suspected of donating large sums of gold in exchange for certain favours, whatever those may be. And he was known to be a supporter of You-Know-Who.' Harold leaned over and gave yet another piece of advice: 'You want to remember that there are students who think it's clever to bully and get other students into trouble. They think it's funny. I don't, and neither do any of the teachers. Try not to move around the school alone if you can avoid it. You're safer remaining together as much as possible. But if ever you are cornered, the golden rule is: don't repsond to provocation, don't hit back if you're attacked, and in general remain polite and pleasant. That's usually enough to put them off.' Harry found his breakfast tasted much better than he would ever have dreamed.

Harry settled down in his new surroundings very quickly. He discovered that the main spirit of Hufflepuff House was based on unity and helping each other without necessarily expecting anything in return. Hard work was more a second nature than a standard to meet for most of the students in the house and this was where Harry realised what the Sorting Hat had meant by saying that Hufflepuff would be a big challenge for him. Before coming to Hogwarts, he had never had the chance to even attempt to do any hard work for school. If he did better than Dudley, that meant getting beaten up, starved and locked up for countless days ('How dare you put our son to shame after all we've done for you!'). On the other hand, if the Dursleys ever received a letter from his teacher saying that it was obvious he could get much better marks if only he put in some more work, the Dursleys would punish him just as severely for putting them to shame...

One thing which helped him a lot in making the necessary efforts to keep on top of his homework was the team spirit which was the force driving all the Hufflepuff students. All the students in the same year would do their homework together and help each other out if ever one had difficulties grasping certain points or principles. Sometimes, they would have to consult an older student who, if he or she could not provide help for any reason would direct them towards someone else who could.

After the first day of classes, they all followed Lorna and Harold's advice and got their set homework out of the way the same evening. It actually went quite quickly with them all working together. The began by simply discussing the lesson and what they had learned. They then took it in turns to read passages from the set book out loud to each other, so that they could complete their notes. Then they would discuss the essay subject and which information to use in it. After that, each would write his or her own essay. They went through each subject of the day following the same procedure. Then they agreed on the chapters they were going to read up on for the classes the next day. Other times, they would coach each other at practising wand movements and saying incantations properly. After learning 'wingardium leviosa', they spent a good half hour together practising it until they could all get it right. Harry surprised everyone, including himself, by levitating the big table in the common room.

At the end of the first day, Harry was very tired but happy to have such friends. Having struggled to read the first two chapters of his history of magic book, he decided it was time to go to bed.

The first potions lesson came later in the week and Harry and his friends had all learned the first chapter of the book by heart. They found they had potions with the Ravenclaws. Harry hoped they would be as friendly as the Gryffindors with whome they'd had herbology the day before. Professor Snape really did look very strict and quick to anger and his voice was the closest thing possible to a whisper without actually making it. As he went through the register, he stopped at Harry's name: 'Ah yes, our new celebrity. I must say, Hufflepuff is the last house I expected you to be in. Let us see wether you stand up to the standards of your house.' And he began firing questions at Harry about details of the first chapter of the set book, obviously hoping to catch him out. But Harry answered each and every question without the slightest hesitation. Snape's reaction was like a poisonous gift: 'Exellent, Potter! Twenty-five points to Hufflepuff! Since you have set this extremely high standard, I will now tolerate nothing less from anyone in this group. Indeed, from now on at the beginning of every lesson, I will select a student at random and ask up to tweny questions about the reading assignment for that lesson. Each and every wrong answer will cost ten house points. You have been warned!'

At this annoucement several Ravenclaw students glared at Harry. Because of his overdone preparation for the lesson, they would all have to work extra-hard at their potions homework. Maybe, Harry thought, they would even think that he had done this on purpose to make them look bad, and to promote his image of the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. He was relieved to feel Susan's hand pat his forearm. At least one person didn't blame him for the awkward situation Snape had put them in. Harry hoped his other friends would understand too.

They then began brewing a potion for curing warts. Harry was working with Susan and Yvon and between them they diid rather well. But Snape, it seemed, was determined to make everyone dislike him. As he inspected their cauldron, he praised them loudly about how well Harry had stewed the slugs. Harry wanted to tell him that the slugs had been Yvon's work but knew that it would probably cause Yvon to become equally unpopular so he had to keep it quiet. Yvon, of course, couldn't have told Snape himself because that would have been showing off as well as contradicting the teacher. Anyway, Snape awarded Harry another ten points for the perfect potion and told them again that he would tolerate nothing below that standard in future. At the end of the lesson, as they were about to leave, Snape told them: 'Huffepuff and Ravenclaw are always very pleasant to teach. Between good brains and hard workers we can usually get along very well. But be warned, I have no patience for dunderheads and I don't hesitate to hand out detentions to those who don't pull their weight!'

As soon as they were out of ear-shot of the potions dungeon, Harry began to almost implore his friends and the few Ravenclaws who were still walking the same way. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this. I only wanted to be ready for the first lesson. I never thought he would make such a thing of it.'

Jon and Ernie were the first to answer in an attempt to reassure him. Jon said: 'Don't worry about it, Harry. If he'd asked me, I'd have done exactly the same.' Ernie added: 'Yeah, you don't want to be doing less than your best just to prevent other people from being jealous. Harold warned me that Snape is capable of everything. If you hadn't answered his questions correctly, he would have taken house points and probably humiliated you in front of the whole class.' Harry was relieved that his friends understood. But the three Ravenclaws behind them didn't look so understanding.

A girl called Mandy Brocklehurst sneered at him: 'Oh yes, of course, you didn't mean to do so well, did you? Just because you're so famous, you really have to be the best don't you?'. A disgruntled boy called Terry Boot added: 'You know I can't blame you for doing your best. I too had leanred that chapter. But you, I was looking forward to a nice week-end of reading. Now it's going to be spoiled by learning more bloomin' potions lessons. It isn't that I don't like potions, but now, because of you, we're all going to up to the neck in it.' And to cap it all, a very beautiful Indian girl, Padma Patil added: 'We're not all as clever as you, you know! And we happen to like spending time doing other things besides school work. Now, because of your showing off, we're all punished for the whole year! Now would you please let us past, you're blocking the way.' If Harry had been all alone, he would have felt immense hatred, for those three Ravenclaws for being so selfish, and for Snape for using his celebrity to bully other people. But as it was, he had seven friends all around him who were all reassuring him that he wasn't alone, and with this, he realised that it wasn't so bad after all. Though he wasn't looking forward to the flying lesson on Friday morning, which would also be with the Ravenclaws.

During lunch, Hedwig landed on the table beside his plate with a letter in her beak. It was from Hagrid, inviting him to tea on Friday afternoon. That was something to look forward to at least.