This chapter is the longest of any that I have written, and it is probably my favourite. It doesn't have much to do with the plot, but it sets things up. I hope you like this!

In which the gang learns about the people in their houses.

The sorting hat told Elizabeta that Gryffindors were generally very brave. They didn't shy away from a fight and they were usually the heroes. (She couldn't help but think that this was the house America would be in, it just fit so well).

She learned that Hufflepuffs were loyal and kind, and that Ravenclaws were intelligent and open minded, and that being a Slytherin meant you were cunning and helped yourself before others.

Thinking about it, the houses fit each of the nations that were placed in them.

She was strangely honoured that the hat thought she was brave, or that she had hero potential. Of course, she was a knight, so it really didn't come as much of a surprise.

Breakfast the next morning was chaotic. There were people everywhere, and many of them were talking. World meetings weren't even this loud, and that was saying something. She was wondering whether it was necessary to sit with her housemates when Gilbert dragged her to the Gryffindor table, near Harry and his friends. 'Ron and Hermione' she thought.

Really, it was Gilbert that was getting close to Harry and his friends. He sat with them, talked with them, generally acted friendly with them all throughout yesterday evening. It wasn't as though Elizabeta wasn't friendly, she just made other acquaintances. Neville, for example, warmed up to her quickly. She found him quite adorable.

It was then that Basch chose to show himself. He put his hand on Gilbert's shoulder, and put his head between hers and Gilbert's. He looked grim.

"The weasel in my house is killing me."

"May I ask why?" questioned Elizabeta.

"All he talks about is his father. 'My father did this', 'my father said that'. That's all he ever says, and it's starting to get on my nerves."

"You must be talking about Malfoy." Ron butted in. Elizabeta noticed he had a somewhat annoying tendency to listen in on others conversations.

Basch looked over to Ron. "Yeah, he said he was called something like that. Drake or whatever."

This made Ron snort. "It's Draco. Draco Malfoy." he tried to imitate Draco's voice.

"Yeah, that. They all follow him too, most of them at least. It's ridiculous."

"Have you made any friends yet?" Elizabeta asked worriedly.

"I don't know if I would call them friends, but there is a group of kids on the end of the table. They're alright. Malfoy annoys them too. "

"Good."

With this, Basch left the Gryffindor table and walked over to the end of the Slytherin one. Elizabeta tuned back into Harry's conversation. Hermione was telling them their schedules.

"We have the same classes as you three, then." Elizabeta exclaimed. She was glad to have people she knew in her classes.

"Oh, that's nice. We can show you to the classrooms." Hermione replied.

This was the end of the conversation, as many people at the table had dug into the food in front of them. The food was not bad, in fact, it was rather good, which made Elizabeta wonder why England himself was so bad at cooking. (Though she supposed some mysteries just couldn't be explained).

When their small group had finished, they packed their bags and went to their first class, which, according to Hermione, was History of Magic. Having been taught by England, she thought she knew what to expect.

She did not expect a ghost.

-Linebreak-

Basch was absolutely positive that he hated Slytherin. He understood why he was put there, as the traits Slytherin stood for fit him well, but the people... were less than pleasant. This wasn't the case for 'all' of the house. Just most of them. The first thing he was asked when he sat down at the table after the sorting was,

"So, are the Zwingli's, a powerful family in Germany?"

This was, of course, asked by a weasel faced blond boy. Basch, not understanding what was meant by the question, didn't answer. The other boy didn't like this, apparently, because he asked a follow up question.

"I mean, only purebloods get into Slytherin, so is your family well known in Germany?"

"Not really."

"Why not? Surely you'd want to advertise your power."

"... Not really. I'm not a pureblood."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not a pureblood. I'm muggle born." This kid was really starting to annoy Basch.

Of course, to avoid suspicion, they would tell people they were muggle born. That way their ignorance about magic things wouldn't be strange. He couldn't just tell this kid that Basch didn't have parents, and that he didn't know if Germania or Gaul or Rome could use magic (they were the closest he had to parents, anyway).

"Really? Well, then you're better suited for Hufflepuff. All the muggles go there."

"Why does it matter? The sorting hat said I was a Slytherin, so now I'm here. I don't think I can tell the hat to change my house just because some kid thinks I'm not suited for it." Yes, this kid was definitely annoying him.

"But you're a mudblood. You're tainting Slytherin's reputation."

"Oh well. That changes everything now doesn't it." Basch hoped this kid understood sarcasm.

"... I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, by the way."

"Great, it's been a pleasure meeting you." His tone stated that it was anything but a pleasure. The kid, now named Draco, huffed and turned to his goons. Basch continued eating until he was, yet again, interrupted by someone asking him questions.

"So, what's Germany like?"

Looking over to who asked, he saw a young looking girl with dark hair and light green eyes. Her head was tilted to one side, and she seemed genuinely curious.

"It's alright."

She leaned in to whisper to him, "'I'm muggle born, too." Then, she spoke up and said, "I'm Charlotte Walker, nice to meet you!"

"A pleasure. Basch Zwingli."

She smiled at him, and Basch thought that maybe this house wasn't so deplorable after all. They made quick friends, but Malfoy and Basch made quick enemies.

As they walked back to their common room, he overheard Draco telling the first year Slytherins about his family. Basch heard enough to know that the Malfoys were a powerful family, and that they held influence over many important things in the English Ministry of Magic. As soon as he could get away from Draco, he did.

It was a good night's rest, all things considered.

-Linebreak-

Roderich decided early on that he would try and make as many allies as possible. It would make it easier to get through the year. Granted, it would be even easier if he had one of the other nations in his house, but he couldn't complain. He seemed to be doing better than Basch anyway, who, after sitting down, was assaulted with questions that appeared to make him mad.

Ravenclaw was the house of wisdom and open mindedness. Roderich didn't think of himself as wise, but the open minded part was certainly true. Anyway, it was a good house, and the people were nice enough. One girl with long blonde hair, who he later learned was called Luna, warmed right up to him and started talking all about magical creatures he had definitely never heard of. Thinking it would be rude to tune her out or interrupt, he listened to what she had to say, which she seemed to appreciate. 'Perhaps people don't usually listen to her' he thought.

Luna ended her rant as abruptly as she began it, and then introduced him to the girl next to her. She had long black hair that went down her back in a plait, and tan skin that suggested she, or her parents, weren't from here. (After all, it was impossible to get a natural looking tan in England, there was just never any sun). The girl was introduced as Padma Patil, the twin sister of a Gryffindor that was later pointed out to him. Roderich kept talking to these girls throughout the night, and kept talking even when they stood to lead the first years to their common room. He was still in conversation when they entered said room, and only stopped when they said goodnight.

Yes, Roderich quite enjoyed the Ravenclaw house.

-Linebreak-

Lilli was good with people.

It was a well known fact to all the nations that if she had the opportunity, she would jump right into conversations and be welcomed straight away. People just seemed to love her adorable looks and charming personality.

Ludwig was not so good with people.

For the most part, he followed Lilli around, joining in occasionally and answering questions when they were directed towards him. It wasn't that he was bad with people, he just never had to deal with this many. It made him uncomfortable, and he didn't feel uncomfortable very often.

Thankfully, Lilli took most of the questions and comments. She made sure people weren't staring at him for long. She knew when he wasn't comfortable with the amount of people talking to him, so she dealt with them, slowly bringing them away from him and towards her. It was actually somewhat unnerving, but he supposed Basch taught her to be observant. After the hype of new foreign students wore off, only a few still asked about where they were from and what it was like. One of these people was a girl with blonde hair, who Lilli told him was Hannah Abbott, one of the Hufflepuff prefects.

Hannah was kind enough, and, though Ludwig didn't intend to make friends while he was here, she grew on him. It couldn't hurt to be friendly with people.

"So you both have siblings in other houses, right?"

"Yes, my brother, Gilbert, is in Gryffindor. Lilli's brother, Basch, is in Slytherin." Ludwig told her.

"And you're all from Germany?"

"No, Lilli and Basch are from Switzerland, Elizabeta" he pointed Elizabeta out, "is from Hungary, and Roderich" again with the pointing, "is Austrian. Our school accepts people from across middle Europe."

"Like how Hogwarts accepts people from all around the British Isles."

"Exactly."

"Is it nice there? What's your school like?"

Lilli was the one to answer this time, "Germany is a nice place. Our school is really big, and there are a lot of students. We are broken up by year, though, not into houses like this. It gets really cold in the winter time, so the grounds freeze up and we have a big ice rink behind the building, it's really fun!"

Ludwig found it odd that she could come up with such vivid lies so quickly, and again wondered if Basch had taught her this. Lilli continued to tell Hannah about their non-existent school, going deeper and deeper into what the school was like at various times of year.

Ludwig might not be the perfect Hufflepuff, but Lilli certainly was.

-Linebreak-

Basch woke up early. He always did, so this was no surprise. He got up early, dressed quietly so as to not wake any of his roommates, and tried to find his way into the Great Hall for breakfast.

The castle was very large, as Basch found. Larger than most castle ruins in Europe, and it was completely intact, despite its age. The Slytherin common room was downstairs in the dungeons, so he had to climb many stairs and walk down many hallways to find the Hall. This gave him time to think. He wondered how Lilli was getting along with her house mates. He wasn't at all worried about her being in a different house, after all, she could protect herself. Plus, she had Ludwig with her. She would be absolutely fine.

He only took one wrong turn before finding the Great Hall. Of course, since it was so early, there were only a few people at the tables. He was the second Slytherin, and apparently the first nation to get to breakfast.

It was peaceful.

That peace didn't last for very long. Malfoy and his group of goons, which now included Pansy Parkinson, were approaching the Slytherin table. Considering Basch was one of two people sat down, it didn't take long for Malfoy to find him.

"Why are you up so early, mudblood?" He sneered. Basch was amused by the fact that Draco looked just as annoyed to see him as he was to see Draco.

"I could ask you the same."

"I don't see any of your friends around. Are they avoiding you?"

"Even if they were, at least I don't pay them to stick around."

"Hah, I don't need to pay anyone. They know that when purebloods rise to power again, my family will be one of the most powerful. They know what's good for them, right Crabbe, Goyle?" He smirked, and the boys on either side of him ('beastly looking boys' Basch thought) nodded.

"Well then. Good for you."

Malfoy must have realized that there was no point in tormenting Basch anymore, because he stormed away and sat down at the other end of the table. Then Elizabeta and Gilbert walked into the Great Hall, and Basch got up to talk to them. (Really, he was complaining, but that part isn't important) After assuring Elizabeta that he was talking to people that weren't biased weasels, he packed and went to his first class.

-Linebreak-

Roderich wasn't an early riser. He got grumpy in the mornings, and he didn't like it when people woke him up. Of course, his new housemates couldn't possibly know this. That was probably why he was shaken awake by a young boy telling him that breakfast was ending in thirty minutes. Upon hearing this, he sluggishly rolled out of bed, nearly hitting the boy, and rushed to put some clothes on.

He ran into the Great Hall with ten minutes until his first class. It wasn't his fault he got lost so often. Elizabeta and Gilbert were leaving the room, and none of the other nations were anywhere to be seen. Presumably, they had already left.

Roderich took a seat next to Luna, who looked at him questioningly but didn't say anything. He ate quickly, and let Luna drag him to their classroom.

-Linebreak-

Lilli usually woke up earlier than most. But this time, she just sort of... laid in bed for a while. It was so comfortable, and so nice and warm. She mused with the idea that the bed was enchanted to be this comfortable.

Unfortunately, Ludwig didn't seem to be as entranced by the beds, as he sent Hannah to get her out of bed (this brought up some questions, were boys not allowed in the girls' rooms?). Hannah almost had to drag Lilli out of bed, but eventually she got up, got dressed, and walked with Hannah and Ludwig to the Great Hall. She could see Elizabeta and Gilbert at the Gryffindor table, but Basch and Roderich weren't around. They must've gone to their classes already. Lilli ate a fair amount, but Ludwig didn't eat much. She wondered if he wasn't hungry, but it would've been rude to ask. Maybe he was nervous about his classes?

Hannah checked the time, yelped, and rushed then out of the Great Hall toward their first class.

-Linebreak-

And thus, a new school year officially began.