Halfway through the ride to Hogwarts, there came knock at the compartment door that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville were sharing. Harry was resting his head on the window, when Ron slid open the door to reveal a golden-eyed girl standing there.
"Who're you?" Ron asked rudely.
"Nice," mumbled Ginny, who was playing exploding snap with Neville.
"What?" Ron asked his sister.
"Nothing," she said. Then she looked up at the visitor. "How can we help you?" she asked sweetly.
The girl in the doorway glanced at Harry who was still staring out the window. "I was just looking for Harry," she answered.
Hearing her voice, Harry's head jerked up, and he smiled widely at Kit.
"How are you?" he asked happily, motioning for her to come in.
She smiled widely. "I'm good," she said.
"Nervous?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"So much," she answered, but smiling all the same.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" asked Ron, who was still standing at the door.
"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Everybody, this is Kit. Kit, this is my best friend Ron, his little sister Ginny, and Neville."
"Nice to meet you," she smiled, rising to shake their hands.
"Er, you too," said Ron, shooting Harry a questioning look over the Kit's shoulder.
Harry shrugged; Ron smiled.
They all sat and talked for the rest of the trip. Ron and Neville warmed up to her quickly enough, but it did not seem that Ginny liked her at all by the end of the trip. Kit, on the other hand, had a great time meeting Harry's friends, and did not understand the coldness she was receiving from Ron's little sister. It seemed too soon, but the train did come to a stop in Hogsmeade. They all left the train, and Ginny ran ahead to save them a carriage. As Ron and Neville climbed into the horseless carriage, Kit noticed it only seated four. She glanced up at Ginny, who was already seated smugly, and speaking to Neville about Quidditch. Harry noticed that there was not room for all of them, and turned to Kit.
"You can go with them," he said, "I'll find another carriage."
"Oh, no, that's alright," she said, "I don't mind taking a different one."
"But it's your first time," he said, "you should go with someone who –"
"No, really, it's okay," she told him. "Go with your friends." She smiled and turned back to find another carriage.
Resentfully, Harry climbed in and sat next to Ginny. "Why didn't you save a bigger one?" he asked the red head.
"I forgot," she said simply.
"Would you have forgotten if Hermione was here, instead of Kit?" he asked her, staring out the window.
Ginny looked at him, at a loss for words.
"I didn't think so," he said, and quickly got out of the carriage before Ginny could stop him. As he reached the steps up to the castle, he heard a voice behind him.
"Potter!"
"What do you want, Malfoy," he asked, turning around to see Draco Malfoy walking up the steps with his arm around a very uncomfortable looking Kit.
"I was just wondering where your mudblood friend was," he asked, his hand sliding down to rest on Kit's hip. She tried to pull away, but he held her there. His anger mounting, Harry clenched his fists.
"I don't know," he said, moving his gaze from the pained look on Kit's face to the sneer on Malfoy's. "But I'm pretty sure you do," he said, amused by the way Malfoy's eyes seemed to widen at that statement.
"What's that supposed to mean," asked the blonde boy, an increasingly ugly look replacing the sneer.
"Whatever you want it to mean," Harry retorted in a threatening tone.
"Are you threatening me, Potter?" Malfoy asked, starting to advance on his archenemy.
"Yeah, I am," Harry replied, pleased that Malfoy was catching on as quickly as he was.
"Then you better take it back," Malfoy hissed.
"Then you better let her go."
"Which one?" Malfoy asked slyly.
"So you admit you have Hermione?"
Malfoy's face paled. "I didn't say that."
"You might as well have," Harry retorted.
Malfoy sneered. "But I didn't, and that's what makes the difference," he said, "now what if I just –"
"Keep on your merry way? That would be great," Harry said.
"That would be great, wouldn't it?" Malfoy asked. "And I'll just take this pretty girl with me, won't I?"
"Actually," Harry said, "you won't take her with you."
"And what makes you think that?" Malfoy asked, sneering at the Potter boy.
"Because she's coming with me," he said, reaching for Kit's hand.
Malfoy laughed. "No, she's not," he said, "you're coming with me aren't you, honey?"
"No," she said. "I'm going with Harry."
Malfoy looked disgusted. "Yeah right," he said, "you need a man, honey, not a –"
"Ass?" she asked, giving him a look that could kill. "Yeah, that's why I'm going with Harry."
"Only if I let go," Malfoy said. But before he could say anything else, Harry's fist had collided with the side of the blonde boy's head.
"Potter!"
Harry turned to find Professor McGonagall rushing towards them.
"What do you think you are doing?" she screeched at him.
"Giving Malfoy what he deserves," he said, looking her straight in the eye.
The professor was not expecting that response: she opened and closed her mouth a number of times blankly. She ended up saying, "Detention tomorrow night at eight, Potter," and deserting the scene.
By this time, Ron, Neville, and Ginny had caught up with Harry.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked as Malfoy proceeded, sulking, into the castle.
"Nothing," Harry said, leading the group into the Great Hall.
"So, do you have to be sorted?" Neville asked Kit.
"No," she replied, "Dumbledore let me have my own private sorting during the summer."
"So what house are you in?" Ron asked.
Kit beamed. "Gryffindor," she said.
Harry smiled. "Come and sit down then," he said. "We'll get you settled in."
Kit laughed. "I appreciate that."
Once the sorting of the first years was complete, Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," he said, beaming around at all of the students sitting at their house tables. "Before we begin our magnificent feast, I would like to say two things; Squee Squittle."
The students all burst into laughter and applause. The golden plates filled with food, and everyone began to eat. Harry, glancing over at Kit, smiled at the expression of shock on her face.
"Is something wrong?" he asked her, almost laughing at the look on her face.
"Umm – well – that is –" she began, but Harry laughed and cut off her stuttering.
"Just dig in!" he said, and her golden eyes lit up with enthusiasm.
"Yes, sir!" she exclaimed, and they all laughed and ate.
As the feast wound down they all headed up to the common room for a good night's sleep before classes next morning. Kit found the whole castle fascinating, gasping as she stepped into the Gryffindor common room. Harry laughed and said, "You haven't seen anything yet." And so Pavarti Patil and Lavender Brown took her up to the sixth girl's dormitory, and the boys went up to theirs.
The next day, Harry, Ron, and Neville went down to breakfast together. As they made their way over to Gryffindor table, Kit waved them down.
"Come and sit with us, you guys!" she called from where she was eating breakfast with Parvati and Lavender. They both smiled at the boys, and Lavender winked at Harry.
"Is the D.A. still on this year?" she asked him as he slid into the seat next to her.
"Of course," he replied casually, pouring himself some pumpkin juice. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well," she began, "we noticed that Hermione wasn't here, and – what?" she asked, as Ron and Harry's expressions turned stony.
"Did something happen to her during the summer?" Parvati asked.
Harry silently nodded, buttering his toast with trembling hands.
"Did you want to talk about it, Harry?" Lavender asked quietly.
At this, Ron dropped his fork with a clatter. "We aren't allowed to talk about it," he said angrily, "so leave it alone."
Lavender and Parvati appeared shocked at Ron's behaviour. Speechless, they quietly continued eating their breakfast, occasionally throwing miffed looks at Ron. Kit, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. Ron, on the other hand, certainly was not.
"What's so funny?" he asked her roughly, when she kept looking at him, sighing and turning away, and then looking at him again, and silently laughing.
"Nothing," she said, and sighed at him again.
He looked her in the eye and said, very angrily, "I don't like her."
At this, Kit burst out laughing, causing everyone in a ten-foot radius to look up in surprise. "I never said you did!" she exclaimed, laughing so hard she could not keep her utensils steady in her hand. "But you just proved my thoughts correct," she said, somewhat triumphantly.
"What thoughts?" Ron asked her, as she tried, and failed, to pick up her fork. All she could do was giggle, as Professor McGonagall was making her way down the house table, handing out timetables.
Upon receiving their schedules, Lavender glanced over at Harry's timetable, as Parvati said, "Professor Trelawney's teaching again!" Ron groaned.
"Wow!" she exclaimed, "we have nearly all the same classes together!"
Harry frowned. "Nearly?" he asked, "Why? What's different?"
Lavender pointed at the piece of parchment in his hands. There, plain as day, beside "Divination: S. Trelawney," was a scribbled note. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that the headmaster himself wrote it.
"Sybill has been told that you may not attend some of her classes. You are excused from these in order to prepare your own lessons."
A mischievous smile replaced Harry's frown immediately. He turned to the small group of Gryffindors. "Start recruiting members for the D.A.," he told them. "We'll meet on Thursday at seven o'clock in the Room of Requirement."
"But what if Herm–" Pavarti began.
"Just stop talking about her!" Ron shouted, his ears turning a bright shade of fuchsia. At this, Kit burst out laughing, this time harder than before. Ron was furious. "What is so funny?" he asked her angrily.
It took a couple of minutes before Kit had calmed down, but once she did, Ron was still glaring at her angrily. She leaned closer to him, so that the others could not overhear what she was about to say.
"I think you love her," she whispered.
"I do not," Ron said, turning back to his toast, his face beginning to burn.
"Liar," she said a little more audible. He glared at her, but did not say anything. She gave a little laugh.
A few minutes later, the five comrades were on their way to their first class together, Defence Against the Dark Arts, when Kit began singing out of the blue.
"You want to hug her," she sang merrily, glancing at Ron with a mischievous grin playing at her lips. "You want to date her," she continued, earning herself confused looks from other students. "You want to kiss her," she sang as Harry and Neville began snickering. Ron's ears were turning redder with every step the group took. Finally, in the middle of the corridor, she stopped, and facing Ron, sang quite loudly, "You want to love her!"
"Pretty voice you have," a voice laughed from behind her.
"Shove off, Malfoy," Harry said.
Malfoy sneered. "And what are you going to do if I –" he began, but Kit, once again, got the better of him.
"Get out of my way, you sexy git," she said.
"You really think so?" Malfoy asked her, a flirtatious air to his voice.
"Yep," she said, "but there's no way in hell I'm going to do anything about it, you stuck up –"
"Please do not finish that sentence, Miss Ravencraft," a smooth, mature, tired voice said from behind her. As she whipped around, surprised, Lupin smiled. "Now, I believe I have Defence Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindors now, so please, come in," he said courteously. "Off you go, Mr. Malfoy," he added to the blonde boy, who smirked, and swept down the hall, just as his father did many years before. Sighing, Lupin entered the classroom, ready for the year of teaching ahead of him.