Chapter 2-

"Now, now, this is very strange. In all my years at Hogwarts have I not been able to decide. You have the bravery of a Gryffindor, the kindness of a Hufflepuff, the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, and the loyalty of a Slytherin. You would do well in all houses, much like Lily, your mother's sister, so I leave it for you to decide. Pick wisely."

The Great Hall sat in silence watching the anomaly happen. Even the professors were wide eyed and intrigued.

"Gryffindor, please…" said the small voice of Emery Maddox confused and intrigued to hear her mother had a sister: maybe she was still alive, maybe Emery could meet her?

"Gryffindor it is!" the hat yelled and the hall erupted into applause and murmurs.

Dinner was a madhouse, never had Emery seen so much food. It shocked her, especially since they were always tight on food at home as they only got monthly deliveries. She continued only to eat a little, as she was used to restricting to preserve the supply, and it didn't matter much anyways because she didn't have any appetite either.

Emery was taken out of deep thought from a " Hi there, my name is Max, and this is my twin Mason, your Emery Maddox right?"

Emery's eyes went wide and she replied " Nice to… erm… meet you, and yes, I'm Emery."

"Wow? That is so cool! Did it hurt when you got hit by the killing curse?" another boy named Dominic chimed in.

Immediately Emery went cold and looked back down at her food. "Oy! You there Dominic! Shut your mouth, if you don't maybe you will know what it is like to be hit by the killing curse."

Emery raised her head "Teddy?" Emery had forgotten to look for Teddy, the one boy she had met before school started, Harry Potter's godson!

Teddy made a wide mouthed grin at her and turned his hair bright violet and returned to his meal, Emery smiled and felt a little relief that at least she didn't have to face Hogwarts completely alone.

"First years follow me" yelled a pinched face boy with blonde hair. "This is the most direct path to the Gryffindor Common Room, make sure to keep your eyes on the stair cases, they like to change."

All the first years looked up to see dozens of staircases shifting. Emery was intrigued, but also very overwhelmed. As they walked up the stairs to the common room, she felt exhausted. The day had held so much; people she had never met, places she had never been, and feelings she rarely felt, so she was relieved when she made it to her bed in her dormitory.

There were only two other girls in her dormitory, but she didn't learn their names, because as soon as each of them hit their bed they were out for the night.

Emery slept for what seemed like hours, but she woke up at 4:00am and could not fall back asleep, so she headed down to the common room and wrote a letter to Harry to let him know how her first night had been.

Dear Harry and Ginny,

I am sorry I did not write last night, I was exhausted. I wanted to write to let you know that I was sorted into gryffindor, well kind of. The hat couldn't decide where to put me, so he let me decide. Also the hat said my mother had a sister named Lily, I thought that was kind of odd because that was your mom's name wasn't it? Anyway, no major trouble so far, I had one boy make fun of me, but teddy shut him up pretty quick! Classes start today, and I am nervous, but I hope they will be interesting.

Best,

Emery

Emery sealed the envelope and decided she would find the owlery to send it to them. For her 11th birthday Harry and Ginny got her a ginger cat that she named Solomon saying that she would probably like the company more than a delivery service, and Emery Completely agreed. So far Solomon followed her everywhere, and because she obviously had no idea where the owlery was, she and Solomon set out in the castle towards what turned out to be the green houses.

As she approached the green houses, she couldn't help but be intrigued. The amount of plants she saw was incredible. At home, she had been confined to the couple of pines and aspen trees in her backyard, but this, this was a whole new world. She saw this one plant that looked slightly like a cactus, but without the spikes. It was chubby, if you could call a plant that and had fat round bulbs building it. Emery walked closer to it, hand outstretched.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." said a voice not far behind her. Immediately Emery tensed up, she drew her hand back in and turned around. " That is a Mimbulus Mimbletonia, a plant my Gran gave to me my 5th year of Hogwarts. If you touch it like you were about to, it would spray a disgusting smelling sap on you. I don't think you would want to go about smelling like that on your first day now would you!" he smiled and held out his hand " I'm Professor Longbottom, Herbology professor here."

Emery looked up to him and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't realize that it was dangerous. Thanks Professor, I was looking for the owelry, but I found this instead and was intrigued."

"Dangerous, no; smelly yes! No worries Ms. Maddox, when I was your age, I was a curious kid too, maybe just too scared to act! May I ask what you are doing up at 5:00 am to go to the owlery when breakfast doesn't start for another three hours?"

"I…I guess I couldn't, erm, well I guess I couldn't fall back asleep. So I wrote a letter and decided to try and send it."

" May I ask to whom the letter is for?"

" Harry and Ginny Potter sir."

"Ahaa, that is right, Harry did tell me you were staying with him." Professor Longbottom said more to himself than to Emery.

"You know Harry?"

"Why yes, I was in his year at Hogwarts. How about I show you where the Owelry is and then we can maybe head to breakfast?"

"That would be helpful, thank you sir."

It was a long walk to the Owlery. Turns out Emery had walked the wrong direction and ended up on the opposite side of the castle.

After sending her letter off with a milky white owl, Professor Longbottom gave her a tour of the rest of the castle, he showed her where all of her classes would be and even shortcuts on how to get there. She was extremely grateful for all Professor Longbottom was doing for her, and at the end of the tour it was time for breakfast.

"I guess I forgot to mention this, but I am your head of house, so if you ever need anything, I am here. Also, as a first year you are all required wellness checks, so that will be at some point this week."

"Thank you Professor."

Emery walked into the great hall and sat down next to the girls from her dorm.

"Hi Emery! My name is Mavis Clearwater, we didn't get a chance to meet last night so I wanted to introduce myself this morning, but when we woke up you were already gone!"

"Hello, and oh yes, sorry about that, I just wanted to send a letter before I forgot and got a bit lost! It is nice to meet you Mavis, and you are?" Emery said gesturing at the other girl.

"My name is Rachel, Rachel Luback."

" Nice to meet you Rachel."