A brief summary of the story below to remind readers about the events that have taken place:

Harry is adopted and raised by Altrouge Brunestud instead of the Dursleys. His adorable behavior is slowly causing her to care about other people again for reasons beyond alleviating her boredom (usually through indiscriminate slaughter). Harry is raised in the Swiss Alps alongside Arceuid, Primate Murder, Zelretch, and his now vampiric teacher Lorelei. It is discovered that he has excellent qualities for magecraft along with an unusual pair of elements (wind/blood- was originally blood element/blood origin but I feel this fits better), but his origin appears to be an unusual one and remains unknown. During this time the Einzberns show up, remove his horcrux, and he befriends Illya and they grow very close. Illya then disappears from his life following the 4th war (which proceeds nearly the same as in canon, but occurs in 1988. The main difference being that Kiritsugu has a grudge against Archibald for events that took place in chapter 8 and utterly destroys him). This drives the young Harry into extensive training, so that he can become strong enough to reunite with his friend.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore discovers several mistakes that he had made and makes some moves to rectify them, somehow causing Sirius to become a respectable person in the process (and also not in prison). Eventually he finds out about Harry hanging out with the magi and strikes a deal with Lorelei to have him attend Hogwarts. Last chapter, Harry met several people on the Hogwarts Express befriending some of them and is in the process of being sorted.

Formerly Chapter 11

Chapter 12: Feast

'Flattery will get you everywhere young magus. Very well then, you had better be…'

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was a moment of stunned silence as the hall attempted to digest the information. Hufflepuff? Harry Potter was going to Hufflepuff? Something must be terribly wrong. Then the table on the right side of the great hall broke out in wild celebration. Hufflepuff, long considered the least of the four houses, finally had something they could be proud of.

Harry walked over and sat down next to an older boy who introduced himself as Cedric Diggory. He ignored most of the remaining sorting, which took nearly an hour as there were 72 students to sort, but paid attention to those he knew.

Daphne and Tracey went to Slytherin, as they had predicted. Malfoy did as well, much to their displeasure. Hermione was immediately sorted into Ravenclaw as was Alex Keefe. Sarah Davies took a little longer but also became a Ravenclaw, while Neville joined Harry in Hufflepuff. Meanwhile, the Weasley boy, Thomas Smith, and Dean Thomas were sorted into Gryffindor.

Eventually, after a Zabini, Blaise, was sorted into Slytherin, Professor McGonagall put the hat away and a very old wizard with oddly colorful robes got to his feet and spoke. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Everyone clapped and cheered and suddenly there was food. There were mountains of food. There were plates with precarious stacks of roast chicken, roast beef, pork chops, lamb chops, steak, fish and chips, piles of potatoes (boiled and fried, but strangely not mashed), hundreds of sausages, bowls of fried mushrooms, peas, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, tomatoes, gravy, meat pastys, and every other sort of British food imaginable with the exception of haggis. No wizards like haggis, not even the Scottish ones. There was, unfortunately, far less variety in drinks. Most appeared to be some odd sweet concoction called "pumpkin juice". The hundreds of students in the hall were quickly piling their golden plates full so Harry followed suit.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Cedric commented from beside him.

"It is. Why is there so much food? Surely it won't all be eaten in this meal!"

"Have you ever seen how much a teenage boy can eat? They have black holes for stomachs and there are over 200 of them in this hall. I'd be surprised if much food was left at the end of the feast," a familiar voice to Harry's left said.

It was Altrouge. She must have returned sometime during the sorting as she was eating a steak. Strangely, no one else seemed to notice her presence.

"Hmm… It's not bad, somewhat overcooked, but not great either. Your food is far better. The kitchen elves could probably use some instruction on proper cooking."

"Any steak cooked for over a minute is overcooked to you Alt. Some of us like them medium rare instead of almost raw. Though you do have a point, most of the food was cooked a little too long. Do you know if the kitchen uses stoves or magic for its cooking?"

"Probably magic," she replied, "which would explain the quality. Food always turns out better if cooked in the mundane fashion. I doubt wizards would even walk if there was a spell to do it for them."

"Well they do seem to be both lazy and overly reliant on magic. I have yet to see an athletic wizard," Harry replied.

"There are some, but not many, mostly because there are only a few wizarding sports. As far as I know it primarily consists of quidditch and dueling." Then, leaning behind Harry, Altrouge called, "Hey Cedric, what wizarding sports are there?"

"Well there is quidditch of course, and dueling… there are board games and card games as well as a few types of racing. I think that's it, why do you ask?"

"Because there are hundreds of sports in the mundane world. It's just weird seeing how few sports wizards have," Harry replied before focusing on his food.

"Several of the muggleborn students tried to start up a football club a few years ago, but it never really caught on," A slightly older girl across the table added.

"Well that's not hard to explain," the boy sitting next to Cedric said. "It's just so… mundane. Why play a game with a ball on the ground when you could be doing it in the air? Why play a normal card game when you could have your cards explode if you misplay? Why play regular chess when you can play wizard chess where the pieces brutally murder each other and sometimes won't follow your orders. It's just so much more interesting."

"But still, you'd think there would be a bit more variety especially with so many more options," Harry commented.

"Do remember," the girl across from him spoke up again, "that there are far fewer wizards than muggles. I'm sure that many other games were created, but they just never caught on. I'm Anne Hathaway, third year," she finished, reaching across the table to shake his hand.

"And I'm Wilhelm Lorenz, fifth year. But please, just call me Will, not to be confused with the other fifth-year Will, the American, over in Ravenclaw. My grandpa and grandma fled Germany when Grindewald was coming to power and my family has stubbornly kept to German naming conventions to 'remember our roots'."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Harry Potter Brunestud, my second name being from my adopted family," he responded while pointing at Altrouge. "Now, I do believe we were talking about sports. I'm not too familiar with wizarding sports, could you tell me about the most popular ones?"

"Certainly," Will replied. "The most popular, of course, is quidditch. It is also one of the oldest currently played, being nearly 1000 years old. In it, two teams of seven face off in the air and are split between several different positions. There is a keeper who guards the three hoops through which the three chasers can score with the quaffle. There are two beaters who knock a pair of iron balls called bludgers around to disrupt plays and knock the opposition off of their brooms. Finally, there is the seeker, whose job is to catch an elusive winged golden ball called the snitch along with a variety of other helpful tasks- they are allowed to help the chasers or the keeper so long as they do not hold on to the quaffle for more than a second or attempt to score a goal."

"Well, that sounds quite dangerous. How often do people die while playing?"

"Die?" Annie responded, aghast. "No one dies in quidditch! The worst that happens is the occasional broken bone."

"But how is that possible when there are literally iron balls flying through the air with the goal of knocking people off their brooms from who knows how high up?"

"Well," Will mused while chewing on a piece of chicken. "I do believe that in the sport's early days people died. But many safeties have been put in place since then to mitigate that. The bludgers, for example, are specially charmed not to cause serious harm. The worst it can do is give you a bad bruise, or perhaps break your nose if one hits you in the face. If you get knocked off your broom by one, there are charms in place to slow your fall so you will merely be winded, though you might break a bone if you fall badly. The biggest problem with being knocked down like that is that the game does not stop and it can take a little while to catch your breath and retrieve your broom so you can get back into it which gives the other team a huge advantage for a little while."

"Oh, you seem quite knowledgeable about the game, do you play for the house team?" Altrouge said, finally speaking up.

"I dabble. I'm a reserve chaser for the team. I assist them in practice but don't quite have the skill to play in an actual game unless someone is sick or injured. I prefer it this way, less stress."

"So how is game scored?" Harry asked.

"It's pretty simple. Each score with the quaffle is worth 10 points. The game continues until the snitch has been caught, and it has a value that increases with time. It used to be worth a flat 150 points, but that was changed a few decades back as in shorter games whoever caught it would automatically win while in longer games it was pretty much worthless unless the game was close. Now it starts the game worth only 20 points, but has its value go up by 10 points every fifteen minutes to a maximum value of 500 points after 12 hours."

"Can games really last that long?"

"Well, the longest recorded game lasted three months. I think both of their seekers must have been hit with blindness curses or something for that to happen. That practice was outlawed immediately after the games' conclusion. Then again, they may have just been that bad. But typically, at least in a school game which have a much smaller stadium than professional games, it'll last an hour or two. Professional games generally last about three hours."

"So, tell me about the other sports."

The conversation about magical games continued through the rest of the meal with those nearby contributing. And so it was that the feast came to an end with every student filled to the bursting. The plates magically disappeared back to wherever they came from, Dumbledore stood up and said a few words, something about one of the corridors being quite dangerous- an open invitation for the adventurous spirits in the castle- and then they finished with one of the most discordant examples of music that Harry had ever heard.

Soon he, and the other first-year Hufflepuff students, found themselves being led staircase by a sixth-year prefect who introduced herself as Alice. They found themselves being led down a winding passageway that exited from the back of the great hall, down a flight of stairs, into a passage concealed by a tapestry, making several turns in quick succession, up a short flight of stairs, past several paintings of food, to a pile of barrels in a nook next to another staircase up.

"Sorry about taking the roundabout path here, there's a pair of troublemakers in Gryffindor that have been attempting to locate our common room for the past year- no doubt to prank us. To help stymie their efforts, this week you'll be shown a variety of paths leading you to and from the entrance to the great hall. We'd like to ask that once you have memorized the routes, that you randomly pick a different one every time you return to or leave the common room. Now, the easy path is down that passage past the entrance to the kitchens going up the second staircase. Head left from there and you'll find yourselves in the room you were in before being sorted. Use it if you are in a hurry, but make sure that there are no red-heads in the vicinity first.

"There are a few false entrances that look like this. Some even have secret passages within them and similar traps to better confuse members of the other houses. To further confuse them, about half the time when leaving the common room, you will find yourself exiting one of these other areas. This, however, is the only entrance. Now, watch closely." Alice walked around the stack of barrels and rapped against a barrel near the bottom in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. The lid swung open revealing a low earthy passage.

"Be sure to use the correct rhythm on the correct barrel. If you get it wrong, you'll be drenched in vinegar. Now, come along." And with that, she disappeared into the passage, the first years quickly following.

"Welcome to The Den!" Alice said as they emerged from a trapdoor near the back of the room. "This is the Hufflepuff common room. Make yourselves comfortable, but do be careful with the plants. Some of them are sensitive. Another prefect will be along in a few minutes to start settling you all in." And with that, she turned and went down one of the passages radiating out from The Den.

The room was large and circular with a lower ceiling than Harry had seen anywhere else in the castle. The whole place was covered in warm earth tones from the mahogany flooring, the cedar paneling on the walls, the couches, chairs, and cushions that came in yellows, oranges, browns, and greens, to the plants that burst out of every alcove, many of which were covered in bright flowers.

A pleasant scent hung in the air, a mix of wood smoke and cedar and flowers. A large fireplace was located across from the entrance, a fire merrily crackling within the hearth. The large number of comfortable chairs, couches, and cushions were arranged into numerous circles, each seating 5-10, that were close together but left enough space to easily navigate the room. A large and un-enchanted portrait of Helga Hufflepuff hung over the fire and above it several windows looking over the dark grounds from right at ground-level. It seemed that the common room was slightly below ground. 9 corridors led off from the room, their round shape making them appear to be tunnels rather than halls. The whole room felt extremely cozy and comfortable and organic- there were hardly any sharp corners to be found- but strangely there were no tables anywhere that Harry could see.

Others were entering the room now, Harry could hear their soft voices behind him but neither he nor any of the other first year students, having settled into chairs and now having difficulty keeping awake, paid them any heed.

"Firsties, come over here and gather around," An older student with bright purple shoulder-length hair called, but they were incapable of rousing themselves. "None of that now, I know that the room is awesome and great for naps but I can't talk to you all spread out like this." After some poking and prodding followed by much grumbling from the first years she began to speak in much too chipper a tone: "My name is Tonks. Just Tonks," she started giving them a warning glare. "I am a 7th year prefect here in Hufflepuff and I'll be giving you lot an overview of what to expect in this house before professor Sprout talks to you about classes. Alright, listen up now. This is very important." Tonks started pacing in front of the group of first years like a caged lion.

"The first rule of Hufflepuff: don't talk about Hufflepuff.

The second rule of Hufflepuff: do not talk about Hufflepuff.

"Now, I know what you guys are thinking- 'aren't you saying that just because it's a funny movie reference?' For those of you who don't know what a movie is, you are sad sad people and we will rectify this. For the rest of you, no, well yes, but not entirely. Here in Hufflepuff we do things differently than the other houses. Now, I don't want to hear the Gryffindors whining and complaining about 'why can't our house do that' or 'why are they more awesome than us' because it's annoying. Therefore, we do not talk about Hufflepuff to outsiders because it will blow their tiny minds into a million billion pieces and make them realize that they are missing out. Any questions?"

"But Gran always told me that Huff-"

"Your gran was WRONG! Your gran was not a Hufflepuff and therefore doesn't know what she's talking about. We take great care in maintaining our image of being duffers. Of being "nice" and "sweet" and "hardworking" and "not very bright" while not standing out because if we didn't EVERYONE would want to be Hufflepuff because Hufflepuff is the best. Now, sit down and shut up maggots before I make you run laps around the lake!" She yelled.

Tonks surveyed the quivering firsties. Messing with the newbies was so much fun! "Now, the reason Hufflepuff is different from the rest of the houses is because we are a family. Every last one of you are my younger sisters and brothers. I am sure that there are times that you will annoy each other, or me. After all, what kind of younger sibling does not annoy their older siblings? There will be fights and hurt feelings, these things are unavoidable. But at the end of the day we are family and will stick together. If you are having trouble with class or the Weasley twins catch you in a prank or there is an insufferable bully in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, whatever your problem is, bring it to us. We will take care of it. We will tutor you in your schoolwork, prank the terrible twins back twice as hard and make sure that the bully is educated about the error of their ways. We are family and we will stick together no matter what.

"I am aware that not all of you are from good families. Not all of you have families who will love you unconditionally, who will look after you when you are sick and comfort you when you are sad. The world is filled with broken people and the sad reality is that broken people often lead to broken families. This is not how it is meant to be! Families should love and care for one another regardless of anything else. Here in Hufflepuff we strive to make that into reality. I don't care what your family life is like back home, whether you have loving supportive parents or whether they are super critical- the type that might punish you for entering a "lesser house"- or even if they are dead or divorced and you are stuck with some uncaring aunt or uncle. Here we may not always succeed but we will be your family and will love and care for you for the rest of your life no matter what. In 10 years when you can't find a job, have no money and are living on the street, we will invite you into our homes and provide for you. In 15 years when you find the love of your life and get married we will be there dancing at your wedding. In 20 years when you have your first child we will be beside you celebrating. In 30 years when your child enters Hogwarts for the first time we will be next to you wishing them luck. In 100 years when you are on your deathbed ready to pass on into the great beyond we will be there offering you and your children and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren comfort. You belong to us now. You are a Hufflepuff, and we will never abandon you!"

Tonk's hair had been slowly changing as she spoke. By the end of her speech it was a brilliant yellow with black stripes- the house colors. She took a moment, collected herself, and then continued in a softer tone: "To this end, we have a class mentorship program here in Hufflepuff. The class three years above your own, that is 4th year, will take you under their wing until they leave Hogwarts. If you have any problems or need help with something, you go to them first. If the problem cannot be resolved with that alone, they will come to us, their mentors. As I said before, we are all family here, and that is especially true of your mentors. They will be your older siblings the entire time that they are here. To help cement this relationship, you will be sleeping together. Well, across the hall from each other. Instead of splitting you up by year and gender, you will be split up by gender and mentorship. This will be the case until you reach 4th year yourselves and take on the newest class of firsties yourselves." She stepped back and finished with a soft smile, "I can't wait to see what you all become."

A squat little witch with a patched hat and grey wavy hair then stepped forward, there was a smile on her face as she turned to Tonks, "Thank you for your introduction Tonks, I couldn't have put it better myself." Turning back to the assembled firsties she said: "Welcome to Hogwarts! I am professor Pomona Sprout, your head of house and the chief professor of Herbology in this school. As you can see, there are nine passages that lead out of the common room. Eight of them are dormitories. Starting with the rightmost passage, that is where the boys of 1st and 4th year will be sleeping. Then we have the girls of 1st and 4th year on the opposite side of The Den from the leftmost passage. Moving on to the next passage, second on the right, we have the boys of 2nd and 5th year and the girls of those years on the left followed by those in 3rd and 6th year until we have the 7th year dormitories on either side of the central passage. This passage, the one directly across the room from Helga Hufflepuff's portrait and behind the trapdoor, leads to several rooms that can be used for studying, partying, hanging out, or whatever else you may wish to do in them. The only exception is the final room in which an epic game of Wyrms & Wizards has been ongoing for the last 50 years which is usually played for a few hours every night. Should you wish to join, I'm sure your mentors will explain.

"Now, the other reason I am here tonight is to hand out your schedules," She continued, taking out a stack of papers and passing them around. "This will give you some extra time to prepare for tomorrow which I feel is especially helpful as there have been some curriculum changes in recent years. Breakfast begins at seven-thirty, though most people don't arrive until after eight, and class starts at nine. Be sure to be finished eating by eight forty-five so that the fourth-years will have enough time to show you the way to your classroom and then reach their own on time. They will also take you between each of your classes for your first week here, long enough for you to figure out how to navigate on your own. Now then, it is late, your tummies are full of food, and you should all head to bed. If you'll excuse me, I do believe that the 7th years are waiting on me." And with that Professor Sprout headed down the central passage while pulling a bag full of oddly shaped dice out of a pocket.

"Right then," a fourth year boy spoke up, it was Cedric Harry realized after a moment, "boys follow us this way." He, and six other boys, went down the rightmost passage, followed by yawning first-years. It sloped gently upwards.

Soon they came upon round doors unevenly spaced in the warm light of copper. Three were to the left and five to the right. Each door, with the exception of one of those on the left, had a pair of names engraved upon it.

"Now," a new boy spoke up. He had sandy hair that stuck up in tufts making it look like he had just climbed out of bed. "My name is Alan Burton, I share a room with Harold Ross," he said indicating a slightly shorter boy with dark hair that fell to his shoulders. "As you can see, each room is assigned to two people with the exception of Cedric, Samuel, and Anthony's room. Mine is the first door on the left. If everyone would find their rooms and take a look inside?"

The first years did so. Harry found himself to be roommates with Neville, the fourth door on the right. Inside, the room was large but sparsely furnished. Two large four-poster beds in the house colors covered in patchwork quilts, a simple desk with a chair, a closet on one side, and a small fireplace on the other. The room was lit by a pair of small copper lamps, like those in the corridor, set into the walls beside the beds. There was a large window in the center of the room that Harry was just tall enough to peer out of. He could see blades of grass along the bottom of the window, numerous stars in the sky above, and could just barely make out the dark shapes of trees- the forest- a ways off.

Leaving their room, Harry and Neville returned to the passage just in time to hear Harold speak, he had a surprisingly deep voice for a boy his age and size. "You will find that your room is highly customizable. Take a look at the room Alan and I share." He indicated an open door.

His room's floor was covered by a very thick and lush carpet which seemed to depict a jungle, complete with roaming tigers, elephants, monkeys, and snakes that flickered in and out of view as they traveled around the dense foliage. A large bookcase stood against one wall filled to the brim with colorful books. Instead of two smaller desks, a single large table was found in the center of the room with a pair of padded chairs on either side. The walls were covered in posters, each depicting a different spectacular magical creature from dragons to the elusive blue-spotted tiger. Somehow, despite seemingly facing directly into the castle, there was a large window in the room showing a very similar view to the one Harry had just seen from his own room.

"Your room," started Cedric once the first years had all gotten a chance to see the room, "will be yours for your entire stay at Hogwarts, unless you elect to take a single room during seventh year. While it's location in relation to The Den will change, your room itself will not. Do not ask how this works, none of us are really sure either. Magic is wondrous like that. At the end of the hall you will find the bathroom, it is large enough that you won't really need to worry about having to wake early in order to shower. If you have any problems or need any help, don't hesitate to ask. Just know that we won't do your homework for you or otherwise help you cheat. After all, what's the point of being in school and learning if you don't actually learn? Now, are there any questions before we all head to bed?"

"Er… yes," a brown haired boy spoke up.

"All right. First of all, what is your name?"

"Justin, Justin Finch-Flechley sir."

"Now, now, none of that. I'm just Cedric, not a teacher or even a prefect. So, what is your question?"

"Well… er, how exactly did all of the furniture get inside? It's rather larger than the door and I noticed that your rooms have more furniture than ours."

"Magic, of course," Cedric replied cheerfully. "You'll be hearing that answer to a lot of your questions. More specifically, there are a large number of house elves in the castle. They are somewhat odd creatures and are, as far as I can tell, a type of brownie. Most of the castle upkeep, cleaning, and cooking is done by them, though they tend to stay out of sight. Once you decide what you want to put in your room, whether it's a piece of forgotten furniture that you found somewhere in the castle or your favorite chair from home, you simply need to make the request and they will take care of it, though you may want to get permission from your family before moving your bedroom here.

"Was there anything else any of you wanted to know?" A loud yawn met his question. "Right then, once more welcome to Hufflepuff and goodnight. We will be meeting in the common room at 7:45 to show you one of the many ways to make it to breakfast from here. Be sure to bring anything you need for morning classes with you- we won't be returning here until after lunch."

Following Cedric's dismissal, the first years shuffled off toward their rooms to bed. Entering their room again, Harry and Neville found themselves with a conundrum: who would take which bed. A dilemma that lasted for all of five seconds. Just as they were about to voice the question, a pair of trunks appeared at the foot of each bed. Harry's was on the left and Neville's on the right.

"Well, that happened," Harry said, breaking the silence. "So, what now?"

"Well… I suppose… we could take a look at our schedules. Tomorrow is Monday and it would probably be good to know what books to bring," Neville answered somewhat hesitantly.

"Alright, that sounds good," Harry said as he took out his schedule. "It looks like we have writing at 9:00 with a professor Shakespeare, maths at 10:35 with a professor Verrick, lunch at noon, charms at 1:00 in the afternoon with a professor Flitwick, defense against the dark arts with a professor Quirrel at 2:35, and finally art with at 4:10 with a professor Ross with dinner beginning at 6:30 in the evening. It also appears that these classes are repeated on Thursdays, except for art which is replaced by music. Interesting, it seems we have 80-minute periods for all of our classes, except the last ones."

"Well not our Wednesday classes," Neville interjected. "There's only one morning class- history with an afternoon class indicated but no details. Not even for a professor."

"That's odd. Maybe they just haven't worked out all the kinks just yet."

"Also odd is that they don't appear have proper rooms listed. There's no 'room 302' or 'room 512', just 'the charms room, charms corridor' which isn't very helpful. It doesn't even say what floor that corridor is on!"

Neville jumped, and turned around slowly, she was back. In his room. Effortlessly bypassing the wards his Gran had told him about. Sure, she had helped find his toad and seemed to be nice, but she was just biding her time, waiting for the perfect chance to strike! There was no escape, no hope for survival…

"Harry, your friend isn't breathing," Altrouge said while gently prodding the unresponsive Neville.

"I know you get a kick out of scaring people witless, but could you not?"

"Scaring people?" Altrouge asked appearing confused. "Me?"

"Yes. Most normal people are downright terrified of you. Now why don't you give poor Neville a bit of space."

"Boo. You're no fun," she said moving over to Harry's bed. Neville stayed frozen in place, his complexion very pale, but he did appear to be breathing again.

"So, what brings you here? Did Len change her mind about wanting to come for the 8th time?"

"No, actually. Last I saw of Len, Arc had grabbed her and was heading out to the Rockies to 'hunt down bigfoot'. Someone else wanted to come."

A small portal opened and a knee-high fluffy… thing came out.

"Dear lord what is that? It looks like someone crossed an eevee with a poodle and dumped the resulting creature into a vat of bleach!"

"Now Harry, don't be mean," Altrouge chided while picking up the rather sad looking creature. "Prim missed your company and wants to stay here with you."

"Wait what? Prim? That's Prim? The elephant-sized great fuzzy wolf thing?"

"Yup! This is what she looked like when I first met her. Isn't she adorable?"

"Well, yes, she is absolutely adorable in an odd sort of way. But how in the world is that Prim?"

"She really wanted to join you for school and keep you company, and before I knew it she was like this again!"

"How exactly did Prim grow from this cute little thing into Primate Murder?"

"Blood. Lots and lots of blood," Altrouge stated darkly, before continuing in a cheerful tone. "Prim will be staying in here with you and be responsible for keeping you from getting into too much trouble this year. I'll be back later. Night!"

And she was gone leaving the fluffy squirrel-like thing that was apparently also the most terrifying creature in existence on Harry's bed where she promptly curled up and went to sleep.

"Well Neville, it looks like we might be in for an interesting year."

-End Chapter 12-

Author's Note:

I originally had another scene planned for this chapter, one in which a 5th year Hufflepuff starts ranting about how Hufflepuff is actually more Slytherin than Slytherin as it's rather counterproductive for all the sneaky and ambitious people to go to the house known for its sneakiness and ambition. And where better for them to go undercover than Hufflepuff who absolutely not sneaky at all (or so everyone believes). Turns out, he has deluded himself because he was hoping to make it in to Slytherin but failed and is unable to accept that fact. Unfortunately, there was no good place in the chapter to put this scene, maybe I'll write it up as a canon omake when I make those changes to earlier chapters.

Also I just (Sept. 14, 2018) made some very minor changes to the chapter (where they are talking about their schedule) to keep it consistent with the next several.