((sorry for the confusion, but this is the real chapter 3. The other one was chapter 4. If you read chapter 4 thinking it was chpater 3 and are now mad at me because of it, I just have two words for you. No, it's not "I'm Sorry". Cheers!))

Ch. 3

The tables were overcrowded with students, each trying to find a place to sit next to their friends, or others just trying to find a place to sit at all.

As soon as everyone was calmed, Professor Dumbledore stood up and opened his arms, the usual greeting before the feast and the sign to be quiet.

"Welcome, new and old, to Hogwarts. Now that the sorting is complete, we will just have a few reminders before we are able to fill our stomachs. To all first years, you will get your schedules in your common room, a slight change from the previous years. And to all, the forest and the lake are out of bounds. Enjoy!"

And with the last word, food of all types filled the plates as the teachers and pupils reached forward to do exactly what he had said. A little ways into the desserts, Hermione stopped her fork when it was about halfway to her mouth.

"Wmu ith eh?" asked Ron, for he had just taken a bite out of his steak-and-kidney pudding and struggled to get it down. "You seem a little distracted," he said, finally managing to swallow all of it.

"Oh nothing, I was just wondering why the lake is out of bounds, is all. It never has been before," she answered, still looking confused.

"Maybe the giant squid blew chunks everywhere, and they're trying to clean it all up?" suggested Ron only half-jokingly.

"I'm not kidding, Ron! There must be something really wrong or dangerous to not let anyone go in there."

"I know! The merpeople found out that that Cannons got a new player, were outraged like any fan would be, and now if you go down there they'll kill you due to 'involentarinisticallivisionary'… rage," which was Ron's way of trying to sound smart like Hermione by using big words.

"Or the merpeople got sick after eating the squid's chunks so they threw up too."

Deliverance, who was sitting across the table, laughed in to her pie and kept her head down for a few seconds to pull herself back together as he simply shrugged and continued to devour his pudding, ignoring the scathing looks he was receiving from Hermione.

"No, it's something more, something the teachers obviously don't want us finding out about."

"Well you know the teachers," said Harry, raising his glass, "They are always keeping something from us, eh?" he smiled and drank the remains of his pumpkin juice like a shot glass, and finished by setting it on the table with a satisfying "Ahhhhh" as he leaned back in his chair, full from the night's feast.

Although Harry made it seem like he didn't care what the teachers were up to, something bothered him in the back of his mind. But it was probably nothing, something he ate didn't agree with his stomach, he though, and forgot about it.

Through the rest of desserts, Hermione kept her head bowed and her brow creased in thought with the occasional mutter of "No...no, could they?" or "Unless, but that would take years…"

Finally, Dumbledore stood up and, as the lasts of the food disappeared from the tables, bade them all good-night.

The group of four stayed behind as any experienced student (or new student with experienced friends) would do to stay away from the huge clot that usually formed at the door made of first, second, and third years trying to get to their dormitories first.

As they stood up and started off, all heading to the Gryffindor dormitory, Hermione finally spoke to them, not herself, "What if there's something down there, something they don't want us to find or see? Like the sorcerer's stone?"

"I still say its squid chunks," whispered Ron as they gave the Fat Lady the password and stepped in to the long-awaited common room.