So far so good, right? Hmm, maybe. Anyways, I've been working on the more complicated plot lines for the big stories, it's weird to think this is the last part of the small stories…And then we can get into the big arc of stuff. Thank you for your patience.

Note: Yes, while reading the sixth book, Jade's chest swelled with pride when she read about the Inferi. Perhaps now people (read: Teresa) will stop making fun of the name of this series.

Pobbin: Pobbin, more and more lately, I have noticed that my author notes regularly include a disclaimer, a warning, and a little note to you. I want you to know that seeing '6k' next to how large a review is for a story that I wasn't sure anyone would like is always deeply appreciated. I'm glad you liked my Hermione there…I was really worried about not getting her right. Anyways, about this story, the chess thing…okay, you caught me. I didn't think anyone would notice but Teresa and I did it to freak her out, it doesn't actually mean anything, but I'm rather proud that anyone noticed. As always, I look forward to your reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Oh, the usual…

Fool

Part the Fourth

Hagrid took their bags from them, insisting he could carry them, and that should be shown to their rooms. Harry smiled gratefully up at him and he could have sworn by the twinkling in Hagrid's eyes that Hagrid was smiling back down at him.

"Come on!" Ron tugged on Harry's arm. "We're here!"

The doors opened, although Harry couldn't see who had opened them, and they stepped inside. It was a huge front hall, with staircases and doors twisting off of it. Harry wondered where everyone of them led and hoped that it would be okay to do some exploring later.

"This way." Hagrid gestured up one of the staircases and the two boys ran ahead of him, playfully shoving one another as they were so glad not to have to spend another day in the carriage.

This place is fantastic!

At the top of the stairs, there was an archway and framed perfectly in it was a tapestry, hanging on the wall. It depicted four people and was so amazingly done that Harry thought it had to be done by magic.

The first figure, on the left, was a pretty, pink-cheeked blonde haired young woman who was so good natured looking and smiling in such a manner that you felt yourself smiling back. She was wearing a long yellow dress and in her arms was a plant pot, which a healthy growth of large yellow flowers were flourishing.

"This tapestry is of the founders. Done by one of their first students, girl named Arachne." Hagrid explained the tapestry proudly when he noticed both boys had stopped to look at it. "That one," He pointed to the blonde haired young woman, "That's Helga Hufflepuff. And the one next to her," He gestured towards the next one, a young man whose cunning, almost smug, face was framed in green-black hair. There was a snake twisted around his shoulders and in one upraised hand, he was holding a vial of green liquid. "That's Salazar Slytherin. Then there's Godric Gryffindor." He paused to let them take in the noble young man who looked like what Harry always imagined a knight looked like. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail but his brown eyes belied his noble stance as they were twinkling with mischief, as though he were waiting for the picture to be done so he could get into trouble. In his right hand, pointing at the ground was a sword, gold with rubies inset into the hilt. "And the last one's Rowena Ravenclaw." The last woman had blue hair and was extremely pretty but it was obvious she was rather wise as well, from the way her deep penetrating eyes seemed to be looking right through you. In one arm she was holding a book and in her hand a quill. "It's somethin' isn't it?"

"Excuse me." A girl's voice interrupted them and they turned to their right to see a young girl, about Harry and Ron's age, standing there. She had rather untamable hair which red ribbons were trying to keep back and an ink smudge on her cheek. At her feet was a ginger colored cat which had a red ribbon tied around its neck. "Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost him again." From her tone, it was clear that this sort of thing was always happening.

"Hello Hermione." Hagrid greeted her.

"Oh, hello Hagrid." The girl, presumably called Hermione, beamed at him. Then she turned towards them. "You must be the new students. McGonagall told me that there would be a couple of new arrivals in the next few days, but she didn't say much more than that—although," She stopped to take in Ron. "You must be another Weasley!" She clapped her hands together. "Ginny told me she had another brother coming…" She trailed off and turned to Harry. "And…well, I suppose you don't have any family here, either then? That's me too."

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry offered a hand out to her.

"I'm Hermione Granger, you'll absolutely love it here, I've only been here for a couple of months and I positively adore it. The library is huge and full of all these fascinating books on so many subjects—I don't think I'll ever be able to read them all—which is a shame—and the teachers are all really good and the rooms are nice, even though you have to share, but that's okay because everyone's really nice except for a couple of people but I just ignore them anyways." She said all of this in one breath. Ron and Harry stared at each other.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron decided to just go with it. She smiled at him.

"Well, Crookshanks and I are going to look for Trevor. If you see a toad…" Hermione trailed off as she started to walk away, her large ginger colored cat following her.

"We'll tell you." Harry promised. As soon as she was out of ear shot, Ron leaned over to whisper into his ear.

"Mental." He muttered in reference to the girl who just left.

"Now for your rooms…" Hagrid led them down the direction Hermione had come from and soon, they went through a pair of doors into a large common room. There were two fireplaces, one on either end and there were couches and chairs set up for people to relax in. There were a couple of book cases and lots of windows, but the room was devoid of people. "It's a nice day out; suspect the others are outside."

Then they went into another hallway, which was lined with doors. One of them opened.

"We'll see how long it takes that jumped up Granger to figure out where Longbottom's toad is." A blonde haired boy sneered as he walked out, a rather bored and cold-faced boy right next to him. "Maybe I should feed him to that stupid cat of hers…"

"I don't even see why you bother." The boy next to him rolled his eyes. Then the first boy turned to see the group in the hallway. His blonde hair, pale skin, and pale blue eyes made him rather good-looking but Harry didn't think he looked very nice, from the expression of disdain on his face and from what he had just heard the boy talking about.

"We've got company, Nott." The blonde-haired boy looked at them haughtily. Then his face fell a little. "Another Weasley? They really are starting to clutter up the castle…" Ron stuck his chin out a little.

"You better keep your comments to yerself, Malfoy" Hagrid warned the blonde-haired boy. "And I better hear you gave Longbottom back his toad as well, or I'll be reportin' you."

"We were just having a bit of fun." The blonde-haired boy, Malfoy, scowled. "What's the crime in that?" He took a few steps closer to the group, his eyes going from Hagrid to Harry in a matter of moments. His eyes narrowed for a moment and he then straightened up a bit.

"I mean it." Hagrid reiterated but Malfoy wasn't paying attention.

"What's your name?" Malfoy questioned Harry.

"Harry Potter." Harry answered warily.

"Well, Potter, I see you've already been introduced to the Weasley clan. But you should know that some wizards are much better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." He offered his hand out. "I'm Draco Malfoy, I can help you there." He put extra emphasis on his last name, as though it would mean something to Harry. And it did. Harry remembered what Hagrid said about them all being dark wizards…if so, then why was Draco Malfoy here?

"I can figure out the wrong sort for myself, thanks." Harry ignored his hand. Ron grinned next to him. Draco's eyes narrowed dangerously and his mouth tightened. Obviously, he was not happy with this reply.

"Come on Nott, we have better things to do with our time." Draco stepped around them and the boy once more rolled his eyes and walked off after Draco. Ron immediately turned to Hagrid.

"I thought you said the Malfoys were all bad wizards." Ron said in confusion.

"I did. But Dumbledore says he was thrown out of his house, same with the other boy, Theodore Nott. Couple o' bad lots." Hagrid shook his head. "But if Dumbledore says it's alright…"

"He didn't seem very nice." Harry commented. That seemed like an understatement.

"You don' have to worry abou' him." Hagrid reassured the two of them. "Now, here's your room…" He opened one of the doors and stooped down to come in after them. It was a large room with two of everything. Two beds, two desks, two dressers, two windows…Harry and Ron immediately claimed their beds by bouncing on them a few times.

Hagrid dropped off their bags and told them that Dumbledore would probably send for them later, but in the meantime, they should probably meet the rest of the students. Harry and Ron were unpacking, almost wanting to skip to go meet the others.

"It's too bad we haven't run into any of your brothers." Harry commented.

"Well, Charlie and Bill are already done with schooling and they do work for Dumbledore—I don't know exactly what." Ron unpacked a cage and put Scabbers in it. Scabbers didn't seem to like his cage but gave up his squeaking protest after a few moments. "Percy's almost done…but Fred and George and—argh!" Ron, who was standing by his bed, suddenly fell over. Harry saw that a hand was holding his leg, a mottled green hand, which ugly clawlike fingernails.

"I want your blood…" A terrible raspy voice whispered. "I want to devour your flesh." Ron yelped and tried to scramble away.

"Ron!" Harry rushed forward, grabbing Ron's arms and trying to pull him away from the green hand, which held on tightly.

"Help me Harry! Don't let it devour my flesh!" Ron's eyes were wide with terror. All of a sudden, the hand let go, and instead of the horrible voice saying anything else, there was an outbreak of laughter.

"That was priceless!" One voice exclaimed, wheezing with laughter. "He was about to wet himself!"

"It's the only way to welcome him to the family." An identical voice replied and two boys crawled out from under the bed. They were completely identical and Harry blinked several times, because it looked as though the person was standing next to a mirror or something. They even blinked at the same time.

"Hullo Ron." One of them clapped a hand down on Ron's shoulder. "I'm Fred."

"And I'm George." The other one clapped his hand down on Ron's other shoulder. "We're your brothers."

"That was a stupid prank." Ron, red-faced, muttered to the floor. "I was just pretending to be scared."

"'Don't let it devour my flesh!'" Fred imitated and George pulled out the green hand, which turned out to be a sort of glove. He chased Fred in a few circles around Harry and Ron before the two sat down on Ron's bed.

"And who are you?" George asked Harry.

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry wondered how many times he'd have to introduce himself that day.

"We'll take you two outside." Fred explained. "It's easy to get lost—"

"In a place this big." George finished for his twin. "That's where everyone else is. Except that git, Malfoy and his faithful sidekick, Nott."

"We've already met them." Ron told the two sourly. "I can't believe you two are my brothers, how could you do that to family?"

"That's what a family is for." Fred explained as the two got up. "Now let's get going—it's a nice day out—and George, stop using that hand to pinch my bottom."

"I don't know what you're talking about." George put on a staged face of affronted innocence and Harry laughed. The twins sure were entertaining, to say the least. When they got outside, through a side door, Harry saw that there were some young people hanging around by the lake.

"Here they come!" Fred and George trumpeted together. "Presenting, Harry Potter and this bloke who came with him."

"Hey!" Ron protested but the twins just ignored them.

"Ron?" A pretty, red-haired girl, looked up from where she was making little birds out of paper. She dropped the one she was halfway done with and ran over to Ron, throwing her arms around him. "It's you! It's been ages!"

"Hi Ginny." Ron grinned, patting her on the back. "It's good to see you're okay too."

"Never been better." Ginny beamed. Then she turned to Harry. "You must be Harry Potter, then."

"Nice to meet you." Harry shook her hand.

"Oh, it's you two again." Hermione walked over to them. "Trevor's been found. Crookshanks did it for me." She grinned down at her cat. Harry suspected that the only reason Crookshanks found the toad was because Malfoy had gone through with his threat.

"I-I'm glad." Ron nodded.

"Let me introduce you to everyone." Hermione gestured towards the other people. They followed her around to each person. They first went up to a happy, round-faced boy who was holding a toad. "This is Neville Longbottom."

"Hello!" Neville greeted them, looking a little shy. "Hope you like it here." Then next came a boy was sitting away from Neville and had been preening in a mirror until he saw they were there and then put the mirror away quickly. "This is Blaise Zabini."

"Good afternoon." Blaise greeted them. He had rather high cheekbones and bright blue eyes, his face almost looking feminine. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued on.

"He's much more interested in his reflection then anything else." Hermione explained and Harry saw that he once more had his mirror out now that they were away. He also saw Blaise glance around his mirror at Ginny Weasley, who didn't notice him as she walked along with them. "And this is Tonks!" Harry looked up to see a girl about Fred and George's age who had short spiky black-blue hair, a heart-shaped face, and twinkling blue eyes. Tonks let out a laugh and then closed her eyes for half a moment—turning into a perfect copy of Hermione, albeit a little taller.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed in amazement. "How did you do that?"

"She's a Metamorphmagus." Hermione answered promptly. "I've read all about them in the library, they can change their appearances at will and…" Hermione's lecturing voice continued on but Harry let it fade to the background. Tonks stood up on the rock she was sitting on, turned her appearance back, and jumped on George's back. George tossed Fred the fake hand. Fred took out his wand and tapped it once. The hand wiggled a little and then jumped out of Fred's hand and onto Tonks' back.

"AHHHHHH!" Tonks screamed, not really scared, but more going along with the joke. She let go and started rolling on the ground.

"…But in 1435, I think it was…" Hermione frowned and saw that no one was paying any attention to her. "Well, let's leave them to it." Ginny stayed behind to watch as Tonks pulled out her wand and said muttered something. Harry glanced over his shoulder again to see Fred suddenly dancing a jig, quite uncontrollably.

"You aren't supposed to do magic when no teachers are around." Hermione told Ron and Harry.

"Ah, come on, Hermione. Let them have some fun." They all turned to see a very pretty girl standing there, with long black hair.

"This is Cho Chang." Hermione explained. There was another girl standing a few feet away with white-blonde hair, who was humming to herself, and looking as though she had wandered there quite by accident. "And this is her roommate, Luna Lovegood."

Ron tried to stifle his snigger at this name but it appeared that Luna Lovegood didn't notice. She looked up dreamily at the two of them.

"Hello." She nodded at them and then turned her attention to the Tonks, Fred, and George, who were now demonstrating how well they could do hand stands and turn cartwheels for Ginny. "Look how energetic they are…I wonder how the twins have any energy left for what they get up to in the broom closet…" Then she wandered away. Ron and Harry blinked. Hermione let out a nervous giggle.

"Luna's a little…" Hermione tried to think tactfully. "Well…she's really nice." She finished lamely.

"And weird." Cho giggled into her hand. "When she first got here, you see that bag she has tied to her waist?" Harry could make out a small bag that was attached to Luna's waist. "It's full of seeds." Ron and Harry stared. "Don't ask me why." Cho flipped some of her hair over her shoulder. "But, the first time she saw Instructor Snape—he teaches us Potions—she threw a handful of them at him. Funniest thing I ever saw…"

"Why'd she throw seeds at him?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea." Cho laughed again. "Well, I'm going to go see what the others are up to." She waved over her shoulder and walked off. Hermione sniffed in disapproval.

"Cho, she's really nice." Hermione repeated her past compliment. "A little vapid…but nice."

Harry turned to see all the others and grinned to himself. From the Dursleys to a place full of people like him. Maybe he wouldn't get along with all of them but still…

It was perfect.

The End

It's done! Dun, dun, DUN! So, next are the big stories…okay, to explain something, I know, I know, nothing terrible happened to Harry, other than his years living with his aunt and uncle, so why didn't something happen to him like it happened to the other kids? Well, it's because he's the main character of the rest of the stories so I thought I'd cut him a break. I hope you'll tune in for the next story, The Eternal Snowlands. It's romping good times.