When Eddie went down to breakfast the next morning, there was a great deal of chatter and nearly everyone had a copy of The Daily Prophet. With a feeling that he knew what all the hubbub was about, he sat down at the Hufflepuff table with Lily, muttering, "I guess Dumbledore owled the Ministry." He sat down, took an abandoned copy and began to read. A certain familiar, angry, unshaven face was looking up at him, screaming silently.

BLACK TO BE GIVEN TRIAL

The Ministry of Magic has agreed to give a hearing to the notorious mass-murderer Sirius Black over his crimes committed almost ten years ago, in talks with Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, first class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, late Monday evening, provided Black be given Veritaserum. Black is an accused Death Eater who was sent to Azkaban in 1981 for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles. It is rumored that it was he who leaked the hidden location of Lily and James Potter to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, allowing the now-deceased Dark Lord to murder them.

Black's hearing will be held Sunday, the eighth of September.

"Wow," said Eddie. "I can't believe we ch-" He was cut off by a warning look from Lily. "I mean, can't believe he did that." That drew some weird looks, but no one thought much of it.

That morning they had double Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins. 'Great,' Eddie thought, 'two hours with Quirrell.' Knowing what he was, it would certainly be difficult to concentrate. Quirrell began the lesson by taking attendance, and played his part well, in Eddie's opinion. No one in their right mind would think that Lord Voldemort was on the back of his head, under that purple turban. Lily, evidently thinking along those lines, asked him what was under the turban.

"G-garlic," was Quirrell's reply. "W-wards off the v-v-ampires, y-you know," and he attempted a smile. 'Playing the nice guy,' Eddie thought. Who would suspect "p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell"? After that, lunch, and then break. That afternoon he had — History of Magic. Disappointing, but he figured he'd make the best of it. As Sean had forewarned him, they "learned" about the Gargoyle Revolution of 1911. He was out within the first five minutes. Well, in and out. Every once in a while he'd look over and see Lily scribbling notes. When the bell rang, Eddie asked her what she was writing.

"A list of every major sports championship winner since the start of the century." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I only did up to today cause I didn't want anyone to get suspicious, I know the chances are slim, but I wasn't taking any risks." Eddie asked to see her notes, and was fairly impressed by them. That afternoon after classes he planned a surprise. He himself was almost jumping with anticipation when the idea struck him. He definitely wouldn't miss something like that. He led the other seven Hufflepuffs down a certain seventh-floor corridor, to near a painting of a wizard trying to train trolls in ballet. They were puzzled when Eddie turned to face a blank stretch of wall, scrutinizing it as he would a math test.

"What's all this about?" Megan Jones asked, almost out of breath. Eddie was almost shaking from excitement as he prepared to tell them, and in fact he wanted to, to further believe it himself.

"Okay, guys, you're going to like this," Eddie said to the group at large, hardly able to stop his hands shaking. "This," indicating the expansive space of the empty wall behind him, "is the Room of Requirement." He paused for dramatic effect, in which he could hear at least three people mutter: "The what?"

"You can make this room contain whatever you want, with some notable exceptions, those being the Five Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration." At this Ernie nodded, to act like he knew what Eddie was talking about.

"So, what shall we come up with?" Eddie asked.

"Dunno," said Lily.

"Hmm…" Eddie thought long and hard, also feeling the pressure of the awkward silence. "How about… erm…" He came up with nothing.

"How about a Quidditch pitch?" Megan Jones suggested. She was a huge fan of the sport herself. There was a general murmur of excited assent throughout the group. Eddie visualized the pitch in his head, with its bright colors and tall goal posts. Taking three strides past the wall, he turned to the door that was just appearing on the stone wall, and wrenched it open. Waiting for them inside was an exact replica of the Quidditch pitch just outside the castle walls. The stands with the four house colors, the three tall bronze hoops, and a crate of Quidditch gear lying at midfield. They decided to split into teams of five and four, (playing without Beaters or Bludgers,) after teaching Justin to fly. Agreeing on boys vs. girls, they played an exciting match. Lily played Seeker and caught the Golden Snitch to break a tie at 480. By that point it was almost curfew, and they were glad they finished up in time. They walked back to the common room, laughing and talking, about how Ernie had made a particularly spectacular save off of Hannah, lunging across from the right hoop to the left one to block the shot, how Eddie underhanded the Quaffle and it rang off the middle hoop over Susan's head with a loud bonk, how Justin had scared Megan into dropping the Quaffle with a shriek when she was about to pass to Hannah.

Yeah, Eddie thought, welcome home.

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The following day Eddie woke up and groaned as he realized that he had Potions. Not being a favourite subject of Harry's throughout the series, Eddie had a hard time trying to believe he would enjoy it either. Double Transfiguration went by way too fast and soon enough he was walking down to the dungeons with Lily, Nathan, and Victoria. The four of them walked in just before the bell, earning a glare from Snape, who said nothing. When the class started, Snape gave the same speech like the one he would give to the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins. At the end of his speech, he trailed off mysteriously and Eddie thought he was looking at him. But he shrugged it off and decided it was a trick of the light. Eddie looked at Justin and raised his eyebrows, and Justin looked back utterly confused. An embarrassed Eddie buried his head in his textbook. Then he once again heard a generally unfriendly voice calling him.

"Pattinson! What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Oh, boy, get ready to be surprised, he thought.

"They're the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite," Eddie answered coolly. Though, he was partly taken aback when he heard the question, for originally Snape had asked Harry about the result obtained on mixing asphodel with wormwood.

"Well it seems our little reader has an aptitude for potion-making," Snape drawled in the tone he usually used with the Gryffindors. This earned some approving glances from the rest of the Hufflepuffs until Snape snapped, "Ten points from Hufflepuff."

Shocked that Snape could hate him so quickly, Eddie inquired, "With all due respect, sir, why?"

"Don't talk back, Pattinson. For cheating. You had your insolent little head in your textbook right before I asked you that question. I'll take another off for your cheek."

This shut Eddie and the rest of the Hufflepuffs up, though he could tell Ernie was about to contest the points Snape took. He quickly advised him to shut up. "It's not worth it."

"Five more for talking," Snape's voice rang out.

"That was completely unfair," Ernie was saying as the Hufflepuffs filed out of the dungeons two hours later. "You were completely respectful and there was no way you were cheating."

Eddie told him he didn't really mind, he'd make up the points later. His mind was on something else anyway.

He figured that he'd take the other world-jumpers to the Room. So, after they had sat around for forty-five minutes, he and Lily got up, told Ernie and the rest where they were going, and went to meet the others. Tom and Natalie were already there, as they were on the same floor. Not long after, Nathan and Victoria arrived. Sean and Natalie were the last to show. They all filed in, each one grinning widely, knowing they could never get used to magic, or knowing that they were truly in Hogwarts. Eddie said:

"We need to name our group. You know, something unique to refer ourselves with, like how the Marauders named themselves…"

"The New Marauders?" Victoria suggested, deriving the name from that of the legendary four.

"The Bringers of Balance?"

"The Ravenpuff Lionsnakes!"

"I've got it!" Nathan exclaimed. "The Fateful Eight! Y'know, cause fate brought us together?"

"Ooh, that's a good one," said Claire. "I like it."

"Brilliant!" said Eddie, "So we all agree on the Fateful Eight?"

Everyone did. Glad they had chosen a name, Nathan revelled in his minor victory, of it being him who had picked.

"So that's decided. Um, that's kinda the only thing I wanted to do, so I'm heading back. Figured it would probably be easier than trying to all meet up at breakfast or something." Shrugging, he walked off.

And so the Fateful Eight was born.

When they got back to the common room, Eddie and Lily played Exploding Snap with the rest of the Hufflepuffs, which Justin ended up winning. After, when the rest of Eddie's fellow badgers had gone to bed, he was left staring into the dying embers of the fire. He thought for a long while about why he was not telling his classmates anything. Could he not trust them?

'No,' said a voice in his head, 'they just can't handle the information'. Plus, it was a major risk. If word got out, all their lives would be in danger.

At around ten-thirty, Eddie finally got up and went to bed, his head still swimming in thoughts of what lay before him.

As the rest of the week progressed, Eddie and the rest of the Fateful Eight made regular trips to the Room of Requirement, which helped them come further together as a group. It also created some very humoring memories. On one such occasion, Nathan had snuck bowls of cereal from the kitchens, then proceeded to dump a pair of them on Tom's head, causing the Gryffindor to glare at him the whole time he was wiping his glasses.

They had their first flying lesson after classes on Thursday, which was held with all Houses. Their fourth flying lesson, they were told, was going to be a tryout for the Quidditch teams. Eddie desperately hoped to make the Hufflepuff team. Hufflepuff had not won a house Quidditch cup in ten years, the longest active drought at Hogwarts, according to Lily. Slytherin had won it the last four seasons in a row. Before that it was Gryffindor with two consecutive championships, led by Charlie Weasley. Ravenclaw had last won in 1984.

"Oh, and I've spoken to McGonagall," she said after telling Eddie this. "I've explained to her what a color commentator is and she said that I could do the job with Lee."

"Nice," Eddie said uncertainly.

Walking up to them, Tom greeted them with a cheeky grin and then told them he had told Neville to leave his Remembrall in the common room.

"Great," Eddie said. He didn't want Malfoy trying anything, though he was unsure if he would, given the extra scrutiny on the lesson.

As their first flying lesson progressed, they were taught how to summon their brooms, which the Fateful Eight already knew. The school had upgraded from Shooting Stars to Cleansweep Sevens for the year. Nathan's broom flew to him on the first try, Eddie's on the third. Natalie got it after ten or so tries. On the other end, Claire was having a very difficult time summoning her broom, but she got it at last. They then practiced mounting their broom.

After that, they did a few laps around the Quidditch pitch, and landed. Once everyone was circled around Madam Hooch again, she told them they'd be practicing basic Quidditch skills, such as passing, shooting, dodging Bludgers, saving goals, and catching the Snitch. They divided evenly by house, with twelve each. The Gryffindors took turns shooting against the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs against the Ravenclaws. After a while they switched positions, the "Chasers" became "Keepers", and vice versa. Eddie did get to shoot against Victoria, and he made the most of the opportunity, swerving left before deceptively throwing the Quaffle through the right hoop.

When the practice was over, they returned to the common rooms. It had been an exhausting day,

A/N I know the Fateful Eight is really cheesy, but there is no way I will go this entire fanfic without thinking of a group name.

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