By the time Hermione and Kellen joined Neville, Harry, and Ron in the Gryffindor common room, it was already less than an hour from lunch.

"Took you long enough," Ron said to Hermione half-jokingly. "You must really find him interesting to talk with him for nearly three hours."

"Three hours? It sure didn't seem that long… and everything Neville said about Kellen is true. He's a real sweetheart," replied Hermione. "Part of me wishes he could stay with us."

Harry approached Kellen with a smile. "Hello, Kellen, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I'm Harry Potter." He offered his hand, which Kellen surprisingly accepted with little hesitation.

Kellen smiled back. "I've heard a lot of good things about you, Harry Potter. You're a fellow seeker on the quidditch team. Making it as a firstie is a very impressive feat indeed."

"Oh, I didn't know you played quidditch," Harry replied. "Did you just make the team this year?"

Kellen nodded. "I just did. My other best friend Anastasia is our best beater."

Neville grinned and showed Harry the picture Ana gave him. "Here's us at the Spring Dance… doesn't Ana look amazing?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "She's a very pretty girl, that's for sure. She looks good in deep purple, without a doubt."

Ron scooted over to get a peek at the photo, and whistled softly. "She's an angel, Neville. Love that halo braid of hers. She really does look way better in Muggle clothes."

Hermione then squeezed her way between Harry and Ron. "She's not at all bad looking, but I rather fancy the two handsome gentlemen next to her," she said, winking at Neville and Kellen. She arched an eyebrow at Kellen. "You know… you looked a bit too much like Malfoy there."

Kellen shrugged. "How was I supposed to know? I never met the dude, but Neville sure thinks he's a wanker."

"It sounds so strange hearing you use British slang," Hermione giggled.

Kellen shook his head. "Very well… Neville sure thinks he's an asshole." He grinned. "Is that better?"

Hermione giggled harder. "I'm just playing with you!" She giggled so hard that she started to hiccup.

Ron then offered his hand to Kellen. "I'm Ronald Weasley, but I usually go by Ron. Nice to meet you."

Kellen grinned as he shook Ron's hand. "I'm Robert Grimseth, but I usually go by Kellen. I'm very glad to meet you as well."

Neville chuckled. "Ana kind of took me by surprise when she addressed him by his full name at the Spring Dance. I didn't know that Kellen was actually his middle name."

"I was named after my maternal grandfather," Kellen explained. "Professor Bob Moultrie. Like my mum, he's obviously also British, but he taught British literature at the University of Chicago for a while before returning to the United Kingdom to retire a few years ago."

"I can see why you're as smart as you are, Kellen," Hermione replied. "A farmer with a degree in agricultural engineering, a veterinarian, and a university professor. You have some very educated family members."

"As do you," Kellen said with a grin. "You have two parents to be very proud of. And perhaps the exact people my brother needs to see," he added with a silly grin.

"What's wrong with your brother?" Ron asked.

"He's a hockey player," Kellen responded. "He refuses to wear a mouthguard when he plays. I love the kid, but he can be a dingbat sometimes."

"So I take it he's not gifted like you are," Harry said.

"Correct. He's not gifted with my eidetic memory for instance, but he can at least, you know, talk to people without people looking at him strangely. I'm very envious of him sometimes," replied Kellen.

"Do you think he's a wizard?" Ron asked.

"I seriously doubt it," Kellen answered. "I don't think he would know how to hold a wand, much less know how to use one. But he might as well be a wizard on the ice, his dream is to play ice hockey professionally one day." He smiled at Ron. "By the way, how did Wizard's Chess go?"

"Four games, we won two apiece," Neville answered.

"I was surprised at how good of a player he is," Ron said. "A year ago this time, I don't think he could name all the pieces… you did a great job of teaching him. I'd love to try my luck against you, if you're good with that."

"Sure, Ron. Would you like to play now? We have a bit less than an hour before lunch, so we should have time for a game."

"I was hoping you'd want to play now. Want to take black or white?" Ron asked.

"Hmm… I'll take black, I guess," replied Kellen.

Forty five minutes later, Ron cracked a grin. "Checkmate, Kellen," he said with a chuckle.

Kellen extended his hand over to Ron. "Well played, Ron," he said sincerely. "You truly are a skilled player."

"Well played, Kellen," Ron replied. "I guess I got lucky there."

"I don't believe in luck," Kellen said. "I didn't give you the game, you simply outplayed me."

Ron's cheeks turned slightly pinkish. "Thanks, Kellen. I guess I wasn't expecting you to be that gracious in defeat."

"Losing isn't so bad, as long as you learn something from it," said Kellen.

"That's a great way at looking at it, Kellen," said Harry.

"It's about time for lunch, so do you guys want to head back down to the Great Hall?" asked Neville.

"Sounds good to me," replied Harry. "I'm getting a little hungry anyway."

"After lunch, we probably need to do some classwork," Kellen reminded Neville gently.

"That's easy for you to say, you could do that in your sleep," Neville said. "Professor Goode piled it on us pretty good, I say."

"I promise it's not as bad as it looks," Kellen replied. "Like she suggested, just a little bit each day, and we should be done by Friday afternoon." He smiled at Neville. "I'll make sure that you complete it, and that you understand the material. Have I let you down before?"

Neville smiled back at Kellen. "I guess you haven't."

"Mind if I take a look at your list?" Hermione asked.

"It's in our room, hang on," replied Kellen. He left the common room to retrieve his assignment list, and returned a couple of minutes later.

"This isn't bad at all," replied Hermione. "Then again, we already covered a lot of this stuff… some of it was even toward the end of our last term." She looked at Kellen. "You sure you don't want to consider transferring to Hogwarts? You have to be bored stiff over there…"

"I'm not really interested, to be honest. I love our instructors. Neville can attest because he's had exposure to both schools. And while our academics are not quite as rigorous as those of Hogwarts, it's the extracurriculars that Ilvermorny offers that lets our school shine," Kellen said.

Hermione smiled. "I can see that. Neville has told me about your professors… I wish we had some of them, particularly your Potions and History of Magic instructors. They sound far more delightful than what we have."

Kellen beamed. "I know you'd be interested in a Quiz Bowl… have you spoken with Professor McGonagall about that yet? You'd totally kill it for the Gryffindors."

"I'd definitely be interested in that," sighed Hermione. "I haven't spoken to her about it yet, but I suppose I can owl her this week. It may take some time to get it set up… and I am not overly optimistic about the level of interest. I guess we'll see."

Kellen nodded. "I know there is an interscholastic competition with other European schools – Durmstrang and Beauxbatons – but Ilvermorny rarely interacts with schools from across the Atlantic, and I'm not rightly sure why. I was hoping there'd be more goodwill between Ilvermorny and the European schools, namely Hogwarts."

He smiled warmly at Hermione. "I was actually interested in Durmstrang due to my Norse heritage. Since I speak both Norwegian and German, that would be very helpful as well since many of the boys that attend that school speak those languages. I know a smidge of Russian as well, but not enough to carry deep conversations. Perhaps one day."

"That doesn't surprise me," replied Hermione. "I could see you doing well there too. And I agree, I would love for there to be more interaction between Hogwarts and Ilvermorny. And I can't thank you enough for helping Neville out – it pains me to admit it, but he's so much better off with you and Anastasia. You two are miracle workers."

"I love Neville like a brother," said Kellen. "I'd do anything for him."

Hermione smiled sweetly. "I know you would. It's in your DNA."