Harry and Kellen had just arrived in the Gryffindor common room. Neville was busy teaching back his History of Magic lesson to Hermione. She seemed to be catching on to his every word, perhaps even fascinated by the material because it was so different than what Professor Binns taught at Hogwarts.

Kellen smiled. "How's he doing so far, Hermione? Neville's become a very respectable student ever since we became study buddies."

"I still can't believe I didn't think of this last year," she replied with a grin. "You're right, Neville is a much more confident student this term. I'm just sitting here listening to him re-iterate the material. He's really doing a good job because I find myself lost in the lesson, it's really quite fascinating."

"We rather like Professor Esposito, don't we Kellen?" Neville asked. "Professor Binns never gave us snacks or anything…"

"Yeah, I know…" Hermione sighed. "It sounds like you have far more interesting instructors at Ilvermorny than we do at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, you should get a load of Professor Goode… yowza!" Neville exclaimed.

"What about her, Neville? What does she teach?" Hermione asked.

"She teaches Astronomy, and she's Ilvermorny's youngest-ever deputy headmistress… she's in her mid-twenties and she's hot," Neville answered, winking at Kellen.

"She's a really cool lady," Kellen added. "She accompanied us on our trip, I'm sure you'll bump into her sometime. She's a somewhat tall witch with flowing red hair and she likes to wear Doc Marten boots and knee socks with short skirts… she's definitely got her own style."

"Do you need me to take over?" Kellen asked Hermione. "I promised Neville that I'd study with him, but if he's comfortable working with you, I'll wait."

"What would you prefer, Neville?" Hermione asked. "Do you still want me to help you, or do you want to work with Kellen?"

"Actually Kellen, I'm good right now. As long as she wants to be up here with me, I'll continue to work with her. Is that all right with you?"

"That's fine, Neville. I'll crack open our Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook in the meantime and then we can go over that together next, if you'd like."

"Works for me," Neville replied.

"They're having us learn about sasquatches right now. Pretty interesting stuff," Kellen murmured as he dived face-first into his textbook. His fingers zipped over the words at an alarmingly fast rate.

Meanwhile, Ron and Harry were playing a round of wizard's chess. Naturally, Ron was thoroughly embarrassing Harry. "I don't remember the last time I beat you," Harry sighed as he resigned himself to yet another loss.

"I don't think you ever have, Harry," Ron replied with a grin. "If it makes you feel any better, Kellen hasn't beaten me yet, and he's really, really good."

"That's not much consolation," Harry replied. "I stand no chance against him either."

"Neville's gotten really good," Ron said. "We played four games already and we split them. Kellen's a great teacher to have Neville beat me twice. Maybe you should ask Kellen to help you."

"Ehh, maybe," replied Harry. "I don't fancy chess like you three do."

Just a few minutes later, the unmistakable sound of a book slamming broke up the relative silence. "All finished," Kellen exclaimed.

"The whole week's worth of Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Neville asked.

"Yep," Kellen confirmed.

"That took you ten minutes! I'm still not finished with History of Magic and I got a thirty minute head start," replied Neville.

"Did you want to take a break in between?" Kellen asked Neville. "How much more do you have left?"

"Not too much, hopefully," said Neville. "I'll let you know."

"Kellen, would you like to meet a good friend of mine? I suspect that Neville might need a little more time than he says he does," Harry offered.

"Who's that?" Kellen asked.

Harry smiled. "Hagrid, our gamekeeper and keeper of keys. I think you'll like him."

Kellen shrugged. "Lead the way."

Harry, Ron, and Kellen left the common room and went downstairs and out through the castle's entrance. They marched towards the edge of the Dark Forest, where they saw a primitive hut with a very large front door. Harry rapped on it.

A very large, bearded man opened the door and greeted Harry.

"Well, hullo there, Harry. What can I do fer yeh today?" the half-giant beamed.

"Hi there, Hagrid. I have someone that I'd like for you to meet," Harry replied with a smile.

Kellen was completely taken aback by Hagrid's enormous frame. He stood about three feet taller than Kellen, and had a thick, almost black mane and a beard to match.

"Hello, my… my name is Kellen. Kellen Grimseth," Kellen stammered, clearly alarmed by Hagrid.

Hagrid beamed at Kellen. "Hullo there, Kellen. Pleased ter meet yeh," he said as he extended his hand. Kellen nervously extended his own hand, and felt his entire arm go numb as Hagrid shook it.

"I'm from Ilvermorny," Kellen continued. "I came with Neville to visit Hogwarts this week."

"Neville yeh say? Neville, as in Longbottom? He's at Ilvermorny now?" Hagrid asked, with eyes the size of saucers.

"That's right," Kellen confirmed. "He's studying with Hermione right now. I just finished my schoolwork for right now, and am waiting for them to finish up. Harry offered to introduce us, so that's why I'm here."

"Yer sound a bit different than most students here," Hagrid noted. "Can't put my finger on exactly where yeh're from."

"I'm from Minnesota, in the States," Kellen replied. "Though my mum's Scottish. She grew up in London."

"Ahh, I see," said Hagrid. "I take it yeh're Muggle-born then?"

Kellen nodded. "I am, but at Ilvermorny, we call it, no-maj."

"No-maj," chuckled Hagrid. "I rather like that. More… ter the point."

"Kellen's an exceptionally intelligent student," Ron said. "He's a very good Wizard's Chess player, and Neville said that he got completely perfect marks in all his classes last term. Not even Hermione could say that."

Kellen's cheeks turned red. "Ron… please," he said softly. "I don't really like it when people brag about my intellect like that."

"Ahh, so yeh're a modest one," Hagrid chuckled. "Yeh're rather different than Miss Hermione in that regard. She's a sharp one, but she isn't afraid to tell yeh."

"Maybe," replied Kellen. "I don't know her like you three do, but when I talked to her today, I kind of get the feeling that she almost feels… unworthy to talk to me. I don't really know why."

"I'll say the quiet part out loud," Ron said. "It's because you're a lot smarter than she is, and it kinda bothers her."

"She's a very, very bright girl," Kellen told Ron matter-of-factly. "There are things she does that blow me out of the water. She doesn't have to force herself to make eye contact. She can more easily express her feelings, she doesn't have to worry about invading other people's personal space… she understands social norms… and I struggle with all of that. And she'll find true love one day. I highly doubt I will."

"You don't know that, Kellen," replied Harry. "I don't sense anything terribly wrong with you. You're a little different, but not a bad different." He smiled. "And if I don't know any better, I think she… fancies you a little bit."

Kellen cocked his head. "What makes you think that?"

Ron chuckled. "She spent three hours talking to you, mate. She doesn't talk like that to any of us…"

Kellen shrugged. "I don't think I'm that interesting."

"She does," Harry said. "You're the closest thing to an intellectual equal that she has here. Or, more accurately, she's the closest thing you have to an intellectual equal. I know you're not used to people talking to you, but truth be told, she isn't either. You two are actually way more alike than you are different… you're both introverted, you both like books, you're both incredibly intelligent, and you're both very nice. I mean, something clicked there."

Ron sighed. "And she thinks you're cute. Neville showed her your picture in your school robes. She thought you looked really smart then, too."

Kellen chuckled. "You clearly see things I can't… but remember, I just met her for the first time a few hours ago. I mean, there's still plenty of time to scare her off. Professor McGonagall thinks she's a little shallow and basically said that there was no shot of the two of us ever becoming friends."

"If you were going to scare her off, you would have already done that," Harry replied. "She is self-conscious and still struggles with her bossy 'know-it-all' tendencies. She clearly already sees you as a friend. She overlooks stuff that Ron and I do, and she'll do the same for you. She really likes you."

"And I feel bad because she doesn't get complimented for her looks very much… she is really a pretty girl," Kellen admitted. "Much better looking than how Neville described her. You two may want to try telling her that she's attractive sometime… I promise she'd appreciate that."

"She's our friend," Ron said glibly. "That's different, it's not like I'm going to date her or anything."

"That's where you're wrong, Ron," Kellen replied. "It doesn't matter if she's just a friend, or if you want to become something more than friends sometime. You need to tell her she's pretty sometime. Girls like that sort of thing, trust me on that."

"Do you know this from experience?" Ron asked. "Neville got to dance with Anastasia, not you, remember?"

"I do," replied Kellen. "And I danced with Anastasia's friend November, actually. She's a good-looking girl in her own right."

"November, now that's a right interesting name," chuckled Hagrid. "Never heard of anyone being named after a month, at least one of the fall months."

"Her friends call her Nova," clarified Kellen. "She's British, if you can believe it. She actually got invitations to attend both Ilvermorny and Hogwarts, but as she lived in Canada at the time, she stuck with Ilvermorny. She's a chaser for the Horned Serpents quidditch team, as well."

"Anyone for some treacle fudge?" Hagrid asked.

"No thanks," Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"I could go for a bite, I guess," replied Kellen.

Hagrid handed Kellen a piece of the fudge. Kellen took a bite out of it, and nodded in approval. "This is quite tasty," he said. "Sort of like my grandmother's fudge."

Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock.

Meanwhile, Neville and Hermione had just finished going over History of Magic together.

"Finally," Neville said as he exhaled. "Thanks for listening to me, I'm sure that was very boring."

Hermione smiled. "On the contrary, that was some very fascinating stuff there. I guess it's because it is rather different than what we learn at Hogwarts. And you do a very good job of telling it back, by the way. You're much easier to listen to than Professor Binns."

Neville arched an eyebrow. "You really think so?" he asked.

Hermione nodded. "I know so."

"Kellen says I do a good job too, so I guess he must know what's he's talking about," Neville said.

"He certainly does," agreed Hermione. "I've never met anyone as gifted as him before. I thought I was going to be bothered by the fact that his talents put mine to shame. I mean, I don't have to compete against him which helps. But even if we did, he is such a sweetheart… he's so kind and selfless."

"You kind of fancy him, don't you?" Neville asked.

Hermione's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. "Erm… maybe just a little bit."

Neville smiled. "I think he likes you a fair bit, too. He's a great guy… I know I'm lucky to be his best friend… I know this sounds horrible saying this, but I'm kind of glad that he doesn't have a ton of friends, because I can share him with a lot fewer people."

Hermione smiled back. "He told me that I was pretty earlier today. That kind of took me by surprise because people rarely compliment my looks." Her cheeks turned pink again. "And the way he holds me… it makes me feel special."

"You should have seen him when you hugged him for the first time," Neville chuckled. "His whole face turned bright red."

"I don't doubt that," Hermione replied. "He says that the way I hug him, it reminds him from back home. That was a very sweet compliment, I think."

"Yeah, I definitely think he likes you," Neville said. "Oh, I think Kellen is going to hang out at the Ravenclaw table again for dinner tonight to spend more time with his cousin. I'm not sure if you want to meet us there or not, but I just wanted to let you know that's what's going down this evening."

"We'll see," replied Hermione. "I'm sure he and his cousin enjoy catching up, and I don't want to really interfere."

"Desiree's a nice girl," Neville said. "I'm sure you'd like her."

"Perhaps," Hermione replied with a smirk. "For now, it's time for me to crack open my own textbooks."

"Very good," replied Neville, "Kellen provided me some reading material so I can kill a couple of hours. He gave me the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – it's the first volume in the Chronicles of Narnia series. It was one of the few books that looked readable, everything else was so bloody advanced."

Hermione giggled. "Knock yourself out, Neville. I'll talk to you in a bit."