The next morning Harry and Neville are woken up by someone pounding on the door. Bleary eyed he staggers over to the door and opens it to see a frazzled looking Susan.
"Good morning Susan, what's so important that you needed to nearly knock our door down?"
"It's Lin, she's making this horrible noise and she just won't shut up. I can't move her either."
"Oh, right I've still got the alarm set. Just say something like, 'Good morning Lin, I'm awake now tell me the news'. She should then give you a morning briefing and then shut up."
Susan runs off to her room in her nightie, then sticks her head out a moment later and gives him a thumbs up. Yawning he heads back into his shared room.
"Well, as we're up, do you mind if I redecorate a little in here?"
"No, go ahead." Squeaks Neville
"Thanks, while these beds are comfortable, I really miss my bed at home."
Harry opens the build mode and promptly puts both beds in home storage so that he can put them back at the end of term. That's where he starts running into trouble, as when he tries to place the bed he'd normally buy a message pops up instead.
Error: System levels too low in current area.
Restricting purchase complexity to sustainable levels.
Harry frowns as he sees that the interface is now limiting him to purchases of less than 1,000 each. Quickly checking the comfort levels on the existing beds he goes for two Cozy Bundled Sleeper singles, and places them foot to foot against the back wall. Once he's done that he finds a couple of the same dressers they use in the realm of magic and places them by the bed. With the extra space, he places a desk with a chair that has a comfort rating, as well as a bookcase. The last thing he does is section off a corner of room with walls and a door, and places a shower in there.
With the furniture done, he moves onto the decorations and almost sags with relief when he sees that the Lin-Z is still purchasable. Quickly buying two, he almost comes out of the build mode before realising how dark the room is. Shrugging he buys a few magical wall lights as the Lin-Z is going to be here. As an after thought he places a full length mirror on the wall that hides the shower. Coming out of build mode he turns around and looks at the room. When he sees his friends crowded around the door he jumps.
Susan smiles at his reaction, "You know, it's more than a little freaky watching that happen. You kinda just freeze in place then the furniture starts appearing out of dust or moving on it's own. Oh, and I want a shower in our room too please."
Hermione walks in and bounces on his bed, "These bed's aren't as nice as the ones you have at home."
Harry shakes his head, "I got an error when I tried to buy one. Then it restricted me to purchases of less than 1,000 Simoleans. I get the feeling that they're less a currency and more a measure of something, that is also used as a currency. Anyway, Susan, I want my Lin back. I got one for each of your rooms so you have no excuses."
"Oh great, thanks." Susan quickly darts over and grabs a Lin-Z before running back to her room and bring back Harry's one.
"Thank you, I missed her this morning. Anyone know which room Sally-Anne is using?"
After a round of headshakes he asks Lin the time and finds that it's still before 7am. They all decide to get up rather than going back to bed, and agree to meet in the common room.
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The group meet up in the common room, where they find Professor Sprout already sitting going through some paperwork on one of the chairs.
"Good morning, you're all up early."
Susan looks sheepish, "That's my fault professor, I kept Harry's Lin-Z and the alarm went off at 6 this morning. So I woke up Harry because none of us could stop the alarm. When I went back to his room to ask him more about the Lin-Z he was redecorating their bedroom, so I woke up the other girls and we watched as the redecoration continued. As we were already awake we decided to meet up here after cleaning up."
Harry continues, "Last night, Jamie said that I needed to talk to you about redecorating in the common room. I'd like to add a cauldron at least so that I can practice my alchemical potions."
"Hmm, if you've got space you may add a cauldron, but for more than that I'd want you to draw out what you want to do, and we'll have a house meeting and decide if it's something we want as a house."
Harry quickly goes into build mode and finds out that the value of things he can buy has dropped again, moving around some of the furniture he buys the cheapest cauldron in gold and black. When he comes back from the build mode Professor Sprout is looking at him appraisingly.
"What else can you do with that interface?"
Harry laughs, "On the world where the portal to the realm of magic is, there are a minority of people that live their life only using the interface. Equally, there are people that live their lives eschewing the interface."
"Fair enough, this next question is a little personal, but why Hufflepuff?"
Harry laughs, "Why not? For a more complete answer, I was never going to fit into Gryffindor, but while I could have thrived in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, both of them would have left my social skills atrophying. Social skills that I sorely lack in the first place. So I chose the house that would encourage me to learn the things that come hard for me, rather than a place where I already know I excel or can excel."
Hermione adds, "The same is true for me too. Especially given that L has made it patently clear over the last month just how lacking I am in those skills, and how important they are."
Daphne smirks, "We met Harry and Hermione on the train, and realised that in the current climate, being is Slytherin was about the worst thing we could do if we wanted to make friends with the most influential people of our generation. So, we both decided to go for Hufflepuff, as that's where it looked like they were aiming for. Failing that, any house except Slytherin. I fully expect to get a strongly worded letter from my father at some point this week. I'd also like to get to the realm of magic so that I can ask L to give me magic along with teaching me Simian the same way Hermione learnt it, though hopefully without the embarrassment."
Harry moves over to the new Cauldron while continuing to talk, "I'm just going to try to make a potion of plentiful needs if anyone wants to watch."
Hermione hurries over, "Can I join in?"
"Sure."
With a wave of his hand he fills the cauldron with raw magical energy before taking an apple out of his inventory and dropping it into the centre. With the words "Light it up" and a wave of his hand at the logs under the cauldron, the logs catch fire. He then taps one of the gems around the edge of the cauldron and takes hold of the large stirring spoon that appears, and directs Hermione to sprinkle some magic into the cauldron as the spoon passes her. This continues with him sometimes doing the stirring and sometimes getting Hermione to stir in particular patterns while he examines the progress of the potion.
While they were brewing, other Hufflepuffs make their way into the common room and watch the two at work. One of the upper years comments, "I didn't know we were now Ravenclaw."
When he has a spare moment Harry responds, "This isn't knowledge for knowledges sake. When I finish this potion it will magically fill all of your basic needs when drunk. That's Food, Hygiene, Bladder, Social, Play, and Sleep. The occasional potion will be wrong, but that will just increase your needs, so drinking a second potion should resolve that effect. While I wouldn't depend on it, if you're ill and haven't been able to eat or sleep well, this could allow you to recover far more quickly than you would otherwise."
Neville puts his hand up nervously, before Professor Sprout just gestures for him to speak up, "I had one yesterday after I used too much magic with my new wand, and I felt absolutely brilliant afterward, and was still ready to keep going even after the feast. If it wasn't for Harry telling me I should sleep even though I didn't need it, I'd probably be starting to get tired now."
"While I'm going to keep one or two bottles for myself, any others I'm going to give to Professor Sprout so that she can judge when it's best to use them. As it's an alchemical potion, there's no addictiveness to it, only the psychological desire to have more time. Which, given that I don't think any of us are averse to hard work, could be a problem."
The upper year asks, "So why aren't you in Ravenclaw then?"
To which Daphne laughs, "It's because being a towering intellectual comes easily to those two overachievers. So they wanted to be in a house that would help them develop their social skills. I swear that they were running circles around me on the train, and I'm no slouch intellectually and I grew up in the magical world."
Hermione shrugs, "We were just lucky enough to meet L and Simeon, who are both really good teachers. Their style of magic requires knowing exactly what your magic is doing in a spell. Hannah, in my book bag there should be a largish tome written in a language you can't read. Could you pull it out please?"
Hannah does so and it's quite a weighty tome, "That tome is just to describe one apprentice level spell, Inferniate of the school of untamed magic. If you look through the tome you'll see that there's a lot of diagrams and math involved even if you can't understand them. It basically tells you exactly how to form your magic so that you can cast the spell, and gives you the basic form for the spell. I've not had a chance to look at it yet, as I want to learn this potion first as it seems more useful. And that is the point, I want to learn magic to use it, not just for the sake of learning. I want to learn how to get along with others and communicate my needs and desires, and understand other peoples needs and desires too. I don't think I could do that in Ravenclaw."
Professor Sprout applauds Hermione's speech, "Well done, and so many people don't realise just how important friendship, loyalty, and hardwork can be. I think that you'll make an excellent addition to this house.
It doesn't take long after that for the potion to turn from grey to blue and Harry extinguishes the flames before bottling the potion up into four bottles, much of the potion evaporates as he pulls out the viable liquid from the swirling magic that it's suspended in. He then gives the bottles to Professor Sprout and takes out a tome and hands it to an obviously overjoyed Hermione.
"Another thing about these cauldrons is that they can also be used for cooking some basic recipies in bulk. At the moment I can only make mac and cheese, but I've seen Chilli and Chopplino made in one too."
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Professor Sprout puts the potions into her office before returning to the common room.
"Well, since everyone is now here, I think we should have our house meeting before going to breakfast. Now normally I'd have given a speech last night, however the feast ran more than a little late. I blame Fawkes for burning Albus' hat. Not that the four hatstalls helped matters either.
"To our first years, welcome to the house of the badgers. While we have a Phoenix as a house mascot, our banner has been a badger since the founding of the school. For good reason, like the badger we are industrious, hardworking, and loyal to a fault. In this house you should find all the support you need to succeed in school and later in life. While, with a few exceptions like Madam Bones, members of our house don't tend to rise high in the government or businesses, that's simply because we tend to eschew the politics and corruption of our morals that getting into those positions usually entails. Instead we and others like us form the backbone of our society.
"For your first week here one of the prefects that has a free period will be escorting you from class to class so that you can learn your way around the castle. They won't be taking any of the multitude of secret passages and back routes that litter the castle. As while they may be quicker, they can often be temperamental. Instead you will be shown the routes that are stable throughout the week, usually through the central stairwell.
"If you're having trouble with a subject, we do expect you to ask your year mates for help in the first instance, and if you're all stuck then one of the prefects."
She waits for a moment for that to sink in, and seeing that nobody has any questions she continues, "There are a variety of clubs and societies in the school, details of which can be found on the board by the entrance to the common room. I run a gardening club every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for those that are interested. There is also Quidditch for those second years that want to try out on Saturday. Beyond that, please check the noticeboard. Also feel free to add a notice for any group activities that you want to do. I will be checking them every few days, so anything inappropriate will be removed.
"Finally, I will be in my office over there from 5 to 7 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and from 7-8 on Tuesday and Thursday if you have any concerns. That's everything I have to say for the moment, the floor is open to other people."
Xingwei steps up next to Professor Sprout, "Good morning, my name is Xingwei. I am a red dragon bound to Miss Hermione as a familiar. I wish to travel to the realm of magic with Sunbeam and then see if I can teleport myself here. If I can then with Professor Sprouts permission I would like to sponsor a club that revolves around learning another style of magic."
Hermione speaks up from the crowd, "Before you dismiss the idea as something only for the smarter people in the house, the three sages of magic are all different people because their schools suit different traits. So far as I know, the only genius there is L, and she uses that for pranking and causing mischief, which is appropriate considering that she is the Sage of Mischief Magic. The sage of Practical Magic is a moody person who excels at it because he expects everything to go wrong and has learnt the magic needed to fix it when it does. All that's needed is a willingness to work and study hard at it, and you will be able to learn everything they have to teach. Every school has it's own laws and limitations, and L has bragged about how she's been yanking someone called Minerva along because of that. Apparently, the school of magic that she practices can't create food out of nothing, while there's a practical magic spell for making a meal out of magic. But because they're operating on different internal but consistent principals it's not a contradiction. This is why the tomes for the spells are so large."
"Hmm, I have a meeting about scheduling this afternoon. So maybe after breakfast, Harry and his familiar may be generous enough to take myself and the senior Prefects with him to this Magical Realm so that I can speak to the sages and get a read on them and how safe the place is. Note, I am only considering this because Harry has a phoenix as a familiar so I know that if you wanted to go you could do so with or without my permission. So it is better for me to know that it's safe than deny you and for you to do it anyway."
"Not only that, but when you are given a connection to the magical realm you get a piece of crystalised magic like this that is attuned to you. This allows you to travel there whenever you want, though it takes around 24 hours to recharge." Hermione fishes her necklace out from her blouse, "I'm saying that because the sages are obliged to do that for anyone that asks, no matter if they're magical or not."
Professor Sprout nods, "I should probably go through the process myself then, if for no other reason than being able to get to a place where some of my students might be. This will be tabled until I've seen the place myself, after that we'll hold a house meeting and decide what to do about it. Any other business?"
Harry puts his hand up, "Yes Harry?"
"Sally-Anne, I remember you being concerned about being able to properly care for yourself last night. If your room mate agrees, I can swap your large beds for single beds and add a bath to your room. I've added a shower to Neville and my room if you want to see what I mean."
Someone shouts, "Wait, what do you mean you can add a bath in it's own room?"
"I have access to a, I suppose the best way to describe it would be life assistance interface, that allows me to do certain things automatically, has it's own inventory, telephone, internet access, and a couple of other things. One feature that it also gives me is something called a build mode where I can make changes to a building, such as building or knocking down walls, or buying and placing furniture. That feature also comes with a location specific inventory that can store items of any size."
"Oh, that makes sense."
Sally-Anne says softly, "I would like that Harry, thank you."
"Would you like me to cast a cleaning spell on you to tide you over until I'm able to do it later?"
"Yes please."
Mysteriously a circle manages to form around the two of them before harry starts casting, he doesn't bother drawing his wand as he pulls the spell together and says "Make her clean, including her prosthetic." In Simian. Sally-Anne squirms as the spell cleans all of her, including her clothes and prosthetic leg. As she's a pretty hygienic person anyway, there doesn't appear to be much difference, however she can feel how her sock and stump are no longer feeling irritated by not being cleaned properly."
"Please teach me how to do that, it would make my life so much easier."
Harry shakes his head, "I'm sorry, I don't understand the spell well enough to teach it. You'd need to ask Simeon, the sage of practical magic to teach you, or find a tome of it to study."
Professor Sprout asks, "Do you know what other spells are in the school of practical magic?"
"One mo, let me open the spellbook that the interface provides. Right, I can only give you the names as it doesn't fill in a description unless I know it, there is Repario, Scruberoo – which I just used, Delicioso, Floalorial, Transportalate, Copypasto, Herbio, Homewardial, and Rite of Ascension."
Hermione laughs, "It seems like they're Ronseal spells. Erm, Ronseal is a muggle product used to protect wood from the elements, and their slogan is that 'it does what it says on the tin'."
Justin, one of the other first years, laughs, "They do seem like that, though Floalorial and Herbio are a little dense."
With that, everyone laughs and the house moves out to breakfast. Just outside they take the time to show the first years how to open the door again before Professor Sprout leads them to the great hall.
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Once breakfast is finished, Harry returns to the dorm with a few of the other Hufflepuffs and Sally-Anne so that he can show her and her roommate his and Nevilles room. Once he's confirmed that they're both happy with the beds and furniture he places a bath/shower combination with a built in shower curtain in the corner of the room then sections it off with a wall and door, as well as a magical wall light. He also provides them with the same furniture that he did for his room, including a Lin-Z. As an after thought he buys enough Lin-Z's for every first year room to have one, as it's probably not fair to exclude anyone, even accidentally. These are left outside the door for each of them.