"Firs' years! Come this way!" Hagrid called out. He waved a badly scarred hand. They were wounds the last tragic battle against the Dark Lord. A couple of blast-ended skrewts had come to Hagrid's aid in a fit of loyalty and in the process bounced a spell onto Hagrid. His hands had never recovered and he had refused to have them treated.

"Where will you go?" Tonks asked a very disgruntled Reggie.

"With the damned first years," she stormed away.

"What's eating her?" Fro asked.

"Who knows?" Sirius yawned. "Cripes, I'm hungry."

"Yeah. Let's get back for some chow." Fro clapped his hands together and the three friends traipsed over to the thestral-drawn carriages. The three friends clambered inside and leaned back against the seats.

"Man, this year's gonna rock," Fro said dreamily. "How many girls do you expect we can recruit?"

"Dunno," Tonks shrugged, glancing out the window towards the huddled first years. Reggie towered above them with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face.

"I'd say at least twenty," Fro tried.

"You're not just an optimist," Sirius rolled his eyes, "you're bloody delusional."

The carriage began to roll towards the castle.

"Obviously they'll all be in our year, and the metamorph mages I think are a good bet," Sirius continued. "Suzie, Danika and Elaine I think might also do it, but that's about it."

"Eight, twenty, same difference," Fro scratched his jaw.

"Nine, if you count Reggie Malfoy," Sirius said grinning. "Mad sexy, that one."

Tonks frowned. "I don't know. I can't see her doing that sort of thing."

"Why?" Fro and Sirius chimed.

"Did either of you pay any attention to her?"

"She was about a B-cup, slender-waist, probably has washboard abs, killer ass…shapely calves and thighs…." Sirius's eyes glazed over.

Tonks laughed. "You moron, that's not what I meant. Sheesh, if your mum could hear you talk…."

"I'd rather have Mrs. Potter hear that than my mum," Fro said darkly. "If she knew our plans for the bordello…."

They had a brief vision of Hermione Weasley towering above them, wild hair standing on end, eyes apoplectic with rage….

"Ooh, that's not a nice thought at all." Sirius grimaced. The carriages pulled up to the entrance hall where Professor Longbottom stood watching the second through seventh years walking up the steps.

"Hey Professor," Tonks called out as he walked by.

"Hello Mister Shacklebolt," Longbottom responded cheerily. "Looking forward to your last year?"

"You bet I am, sir,"

Neville Longbottom fluctuated in weight every year due to varying levels of stress. His wife, Lavender Brown Longbottom, came to visit frequently to help him with his tension. This year he was looking better than last year.

"Looks like he's seen a fair few beaches," Sirius commented, nodding in approval as they passed the ornamental winged boars on the steps.

"Good for him," Fro agreed.

"Hey! Hey! Sirius! Sirius!" A small critter of a human tripped up the steps. It was the Creevey twerp. There was almost a visible sign of irritation beginning to weigh on Sirius' face as the third year got closer. Sirius liked attention, that was true, but mostly if the admirers were attractive girls. He tried not to be mean to anyone except for Sarth Snape, but he was obviously an exception to any rule of kindness.

"Hello Christopher," he sighed, waiting reluctantly for the young boy to catch up. Fro and Tonks exchanged a rolling of the eyes. "How was your summer?"

"It was amazing," the small brown-haired boy breathed excitedly, practically shivering. "I found some old pictures of your dad with Gilderoy Lockhart!"

"Wow, that's quite cool,"

"Yes! Yes it is!" His big brown eyes gazed up eagerly at Sirius. "I brought them to school, but they're in my suitcase. I'll show you later!"

"All right then, Christopher,"

"Yo! Tonks, my man!" Robbie Jordan, a seventh year black boy with dreadlocks waved Tonks, Sirius and Fro over.

"See you later, Christopher," Sirius said quickly. The three friends scooted away to leave the small boy to fight his way through the crowd.

"Sup?" Robbie asked as they walked easily through the mass of students into the great hall.

"Same old stuff, pretty much," Tonks responded, seeing the sparkling of golden plates and glowing of candles up ahead. His stomach called out to them, knowing food would soon appear.

"Cool. Hey, I heard there's a new girl this year," Robbie said in a lower tone.

"Reggie?" Tonks scratched his ear.

"Is that her name?" Robbie shook his head. "Is she a babe or a troll?"

"She's a metamorph mage, but she's got a nice bod," Fro said grinning.

"Ooh, another one, eh?"

"Yeah, I know."

The great hall opened up before them, the night sky glittering overhead.

"I see it almost every day, but it always gets me," Fro said, head tossed back to look at it.

"What? Oh, the ceiling?" Robbie looked too. "Yeah, it's cool. I love when it rains and snows in here. It's sweet."

They sat down at the Gryffindor table as the rest of the older Hogwarts students filed in.

"Veronica Davies is looking pretty fine this year," Robbie noticed, looking over at the Ravenclaw table at the hourglass figure of the Ravenclaw Keeper. "Think she'll let me take her to Hogsmeade?"

"Sure, you're a stud," Tonks winked.

Tonks looked up and down the Gryffindor table to see who all was there. Nearly-Headless Nick, pearly and translucent as always, was sitting in a group of third years who were merrily sharing their summer stories. At the staff table he saw Professor Hagrid, Professor Potter, and Professor Weasley chatting away. Old Professor Sprout and Professor Longbottom were engaged in an animated conversation. Professors Sinistra and McGonagall spoke softly as they surveyed the noisy room with their wizened eyes. It had been said that, in her youth, Sinistra had been quite pretty, but Tonks couldn't imagine the white-haired old lady as a beauty.

"What are the first years doing?" Fro moaned, rubbing his belly.

"Albus, you're such a whiner,"

The four of them looked over to see Favian Weasley, Fro's twin sister. She was Head Girl this year, which didn't come as a surprise to anyone. Fro was far from pleased. She wasn't completely anal: it seemed that her father's genes had fared decently in the battle against her mother's neurotic genes. Still, she spent more time studying than was healthy. Her hair was wavy, long and auburn, a mix between the Weasley red and her mother's chestnut, and her eyes were a dark hazel. When she was younger, she had been plagued by a hideous bout of acne which had earned her the name "Troll-Face McZitty." She had never forgiven her cousin, Sirius, for that. Now that she had grown out of her zit stage, she was really quite stunning, not that any of Fro's friends ever mentioned it around him or Sirius.

"Yes, it's true. It's how I deal with stress." Fro said coolly.

"Whatever," Favian rolled her eyes at him. "Look, Mum wanted me to remind you to stop in and see her tomorrow. She has some stuff you forgot at home."

"Right," Fro said, turning red. Favian was about to turn back to her friends when Fro stopped her, "Fav, before I forget, what's the password to our House?"

"Pixie dust," and Favian turned away.

"Sorting Hat," Robbie motioned to the head of the room. Tonks looked to see the ratty old hat sitting on the ceremonial stool.

The hall went silent. Everyone looked towards the entrance to see the frightened line of first years shuffling in. Tonks looked at the line, waiting to see if Reggie was there. She came in from the back, looking a bit nervous at being in front of so many people. Her hair was longer than it had been on the train, a bit shaggier, but it was still violet.

And she's still really pretty, Tonks felt himself thinking.

When all of the first years had come in, the Sorting Hat began to sing, causing a few first years to jump in surprise. Reggie, Tonks saw, raised an eyebrow.

"Double trouble boiling bubble

I find thoughts among your rubble

Are you brave? Are you wise?

Do you oft spread dirty lies?

Do you belong in Gryffindor, home to all the brave?

Or how about in Hufflepuff, with friendships you will save?

Maybe you'd like Ravenclaw, where they all sharpen wit

Or perhaps in striving Slytherin, where the way is brightly lit

Any choices, all are fine

But for now you wait in line

Put me on, have no fear,

For your House mates are all here!"

The hall burst into applause. The song had been blissfully short. They were all very hungry.

Professor Weasley stood by the Sorting Hat and held out a scroll.

"I will call you in alphabetical order. You will sit on the stool and put the Hat on. When you have been Sorted, you may sit at your House table." Weasley cleared her throat.

"Aaronson, Celeste,"

A platinum-haired girl rushed up to the hat and pulled it quickly down.

"RAVENCLAW!"

There was applause from the Ravenclaw table as Celeste trotted over to take a seat next to a brunette girl with the same last name.

"Byron, James,"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Corby, Yolanda,"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Tonks drummed his fingers a bit impatiently on his knee. He shot a furtive glance at Robbie's watch to see how much time had passed and looked back to the line. Reggie crossed and uncrossed her arms a few times looking uncomfortable. It was easy to spot her over the heads of all the tiny first years. She stood at five foot seven while the tallest first year was about five foot two. Reggie looked over at Tonks just as "Hinckley, Tom," was made into a "HUFFLEPUFF!" She lifted an eyebrow at him and he grinned. Then, out of a random desire to make her laugh, he scrunched his eyes shut and made his nose into a gargantuan conk of a beast. He opened his eyes as "Lithuanian, Jurgis," took a seat at the Gryffindor table. Reggie smiled a little, looking on the verge of laughing. A small giggle escaped her as he wiggled it.

"Kynn, Odin," Professor Weasley read.

A few minutes passed as the dark-haired boy sat beneath the Hat waiting to be sorted. And then….

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Tonks remembered to clap, but he was watching Reggie curiously.

"Malfoy, Regina!"

The hall went silent. Whispers from the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables echoed around the hall.

"Did she say Malfoy?"

"You think she's related to him?"

"Does she look like him at all?"

"I can't tell from here-."

People craned in their seats to get a better look.

Reggie strolled slowly up to the hat and put it on with a smooth motion and allowed her face to disappear entirely. Everyone was positive that she would be a Slytherin, everyone that knew that last name, everyone knew she had to be in green like her father, everyone thought this… except for Tonks.

The brim of the hat opened and shouted loudly at the hall.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

No one clapped. Everyone was frozen in their seats in surprise. Reggie removed her hat and raised her eyebrows.

"Don't everyone greet me at once," she muttered.

Tonks started clapping. It took a few seconds for the trend to catch on. Reggie smiled a bit uncertainly and walked over towards their table, looked at the staring Gryffindors, who weren't budging to make room for her.

"Scoot over," Tonks said to Favian's friend, Marina. The blonde did as she was told and gave Reggie room. "Here you are, Reggie."

"Thanks," Reggie said softly.

The Sorting continued and finally finished with "Zabini, Dominique," being put into Slytherin.

Professor McGonagall stood up before the school and smiled kindly.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I'm sure this year will prove to be just as good as the rest, if not better. Be sure to observe the rules regarding hours and the forest. Mister Filch has a list of illegal objects, which has been updated to include Fainting Fancies, and Puking Pasties. I shan't keep you any longer. Eat up!" Professor McGonagall sat down slowly. Her steely gray hair was pulled back in a severe bun but her face looked even older with it worn that way.

Food appeared on the golden dishes and everyone helped themselves to their sumptuous dinners.