Chapter 8

"Hufflepuff!"

Emily removed the talking hat that had slumped over her eyes, and found herself looking at disappointment on Jon's face.

"Very good," said McGonagall, taking the hat from Emily.

"Sorry we're not in the same house, Jon. At least we have classes together."

Jon shrugged sadly. "Yeah, I guess. But not knowing anyone in my house is gonna suck!"

Emily comfortingly patted his shoulder as McGonagall shooed them out of her office. "This way to the Gryffindor dorm." She briskly started walking towards a steep stairway down the hall. Jon and Emily ran after her.

They walked through the amazing castle. The stairs moved, the portraits talked- it was all so fantastic! Just as they were passing through a spacious hall, Emily heard a girl's voice shriek, "Jon!" Emily turned to see where the shocked voice had come from. Across the hall was an older girl with bushy, brown hair and two boys the same age. Her face was similar to Jons. It had the same gentle curves and full cheeks that gave her and Jon an appearance of being serious, yet kind.

Jon stood wide-eyed next to Emily. "Wh-what are you doing here? I thought…I thought you were a muggle!" With his voice he was trying not to scream. He was obviously incredibly confused.

"Well, that makes two witches mistaken for muggles by you," smirked Emily.

The girl attacked Jon in a hug.

A cold feeling formed in Emily's stomach. Who was this girl? Why was she hugging Jon like that?

The two boys who had been standing with Hermione, a brown-haired boy and a red-head, also looked shocked. The red-head clenched his fist and looked ready to punch Jon.

Jon, smiling, turned to Emily. "Emily, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Hermione Granger, the smartest girl in the wizarding world."

Hermione blushed and waved away his compliment. "I can't believe you're here! Of all the people in our family I would never have suspected you were magic too. And why in the world did you come in the middle of the year?"

"I transferred from Durmstrang."

Something in Emily's head clicked. Jon went to a school that used to be very involved in the dark arts. Her mom mentioned it once when she was telling Emily about her pen pal when she was in school.

"Oh," Hermione looked stunned. "Were you here for the Triwizard Tournament three years ago?"

"No, I was too young. I heard what happened though. Viktor Krum came. He's out of school now. I heard he met a really pretty girl at the Tournament."

Hermione blushed again. "That was me."

Jon's jaw dropped. Then he burst into laughter.

"What?" asked Hermione, insulted.

"I just never thought…" Jon said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"How come you didn't know your cousin was a wizard?" asked Emily suddenly.

Hermione shrugged. "I just figured nobody else in my family was magic. Nobody told me anyone else was magic. My parents sure didn't know."

Jon explained, "Grandpa had magic, but he never told your dad. He felt bad, because your dad had gone past age twelve and not gotten a letter. My mom's a witch, but we all figured the rest of the family was muggle. All those holidays we thought we had nothing to discuss…figures!"

Hermione giggled.

"Hey, have you heard about that Harry Potter. He's supposed to go to this school. Poor guy's been all over the newspaper lately. The Boy Who Lived and everything…"

Hermione's red-headed friend laughed and punched his friend. The brown-haired boy shot him a look.

Hermione shook her head and beckoned the two boys over. "Jon, these are my two best friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

Emily froze. Probably the most famous wizard in the world, Harry Potter was standing right in front of her as if he was a normal guy. This was the same baby who had overthrown Voldemort. What was he doing here? Wouldn't he go to some fancy, private school for wizard heroes or something instead of Hogwarts?

Harry nodded with a smile at Jon and Emily. Ron gave a little wave that went alone with his huge, friendly grin.

"So what house are you two in?" Hermione asked.

"I'm in Gryffindor and Emily's in Hufflepuff," started Jon, "but we're both going to have classes with all the houses because we came so late in the year."

"That's great!" squealed Hermione. "You'll be in the same common room as us, but three years younger. Emily, I know some Hufflepuffs and they're all really nice. Ernie MacMillian is a bit pompous, but he's nice. So are Hannah Abbot and Padma Patil. You'll like that house."

"Hermione, we gotta go," said the red-head, Ron Weasley, nudging her in the side. "If we're late again…"

"Right," agreed Harry Potter. (Emily still couldn't believe he was standing right in front of her)

With a wave, the three raced off to class.

"You two, hurry up! I don't have all day," ordered McGonagall crossly from a doorway. Emily and Jon followed her to a portrait of a very large lady in a frilly, pink dress that current-day witches wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Bye, Emily. See you at dinner," smiled Jon, after the headmistress had showed him how to get into his common room and had asked the 5th year prefect to show him his room.

McGonagall led Emily to another part of the school. Down a short set of stairs was a tapestry. Unless you said the password, nogtail, the tapestry would be stuck to the wall. Once you said the password you could pull it back to reveal a giant hole in the wall which led to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Just stay here for a few minutes before going up the stairs to the left. The house elves are making your bed and bringing up your bags….I mean, bag."

McGonagall turned and left, leaving Emily alone in her new house. Who knew how long Emily would stay at Hogwarts? Until she found her mom or the man in her house was settled, it wouldn't be safe for her to go back. So what would she do until then? She'd have to wait and see.