The next morning Michael woke with a start and sat up. He shook his head groggily and swung his feet out of bed. Then his eyes cleared and he remembered where he was.

"Uhhh" he groaned.

"Morning" came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Harry sitting up in his bed grinning and rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

"Morning" Michael replied and smiled as well

"What's up?" Harry asked as he got out of bed and stretched. Michael shook his head and grinned.

"Just not used to waking up without shouting matches in the background. It's a little unnerving." Harry nodded and then spun around as a loud thump reverberated around the room. Neville had just woken up and rolled out of bed. He yelped and sat up, his face was bright red. Dean and Seamus had lurched upright at the noise and were laughing at Neville's predicament.

"You alright?" Michael asked as he got up and made his way round to help the boy up. He nodded and flushed an even brighter shade of red.

"Yea thanks" he nodded. Harry looked around the room and sighed.

"Well now we are all up we might as well go down for breakfast" At the mention of food everyone jumped up and scrambled into their clothes. When they were already they went down together. They found the common room empty except for Hermione who was sitting on one of the comfy chairs next to the fireplace. She looked up at the sound of the 5 boys tramping down the stairs and smiled.

"Morning all" she said looking at each of them in turn. Michael noticed that when her gaze locked on Harry she reddened slightly and she looked away quickly. A quick glance sideways confirmed that Harry had mirrored her actions.

"Morning" they all answered in turn. Harry was a second slower than the rest but no-one except Michael seemed to notice. She joined their group next to Harry and they all left together.

The first week of term was terrifying to all of them. To start with, the castle contained 142 different staircases that seemed to keep to their own timetable about where they were meant to be. Some were wide enough for four people to walk abreast while others required single file. There were ones that disappeared on different days or that had invisible steps that you had to jump over. The doors were worse, some were fine but some required passwords, others needed to be asked nicely or tickled in the right spot. There were some doors that were not doors at all but rather walls just pretending. The ghost were a mixed bag, while there were friendly ones, like Nearly Headless Nick who would always endeavour to help out lost students, Peeves would divert you through locked doors and trick staircases if you were unfortunate enough to run into him on your way to where you were heading.

But worse than Peeves was Filch, the caretaker. He had a pet cat called Mrs Norris who had large bulging eyes that glowed like torches. If she spotted you breaking the rules she would quietly slink of and fetch Filch who would arrive on the scene faster than you would have thought possible, due to the secret passages that dotted the castle that he knew better than almost everybody.

When the group finally got to their lessons they found they were a lot harder than they had anticipated.

Astronomy was Wednesday at midnight and they spent the time looking into the night sky looking at the stars and learning about the movements of the planets. They went to the Herbology greenhouses three times a week with Professor Sprout who taught them about the different types of magical plants and fungi. Professor Flitwick, the charms master was different again. He was so small he had to stand on a pile of books to be able to see everyone, and when he called the register and got to Harry's name he grinned, squeaked and fell backwards of the pile. The whole class came to the same decision about History of Magic classes. They were awful. The teacher, Professor Binns was boring and a ghost. He had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire one night and the next morning got up to teach and left his body behind. The lessons were boring and monotonous and the students soon found themselves falling asleep. Professor McGonagall lived up to the idea most of them had of her: that she was not to be crossed. She started the lesson by giving the whole class a stern talking to.

"This is one of the most complex and dangerous subjects you will cover while at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around will leave and not come back." She said sternly. The whole class was scared into silence after her announcement. She turned around and swiftly turned her desk into a pig and back again. This impressed the class a great deal and they all perked up. They were all eager to give it a try. McGonagall handed out a matchstick to everyone and told them about turning it into a needle. By the end of the lesson only two students had managed to make any change to their match. Hermione had successfully turned hers into a needle, while Neville had managed to set his on fire.

Defence of the Dark Arts sounded like it was going to be really interesting but it turned out to be a bit of a waste of time. Quirrell was nervous and twitchy and the whole room smelled of garlic. He said it was because of a vampire he had met in Romania and he was protecting the room in case he came back. His turban also drew some attention and he explained that it was a reward from an African prince for ridding him of a troublesome zombie. There was a funny smell coming from the turban and the Weasley twins came to the conclusion that there was garlic in it as well to make sure he was protected at all times.

They were all excited about Friday, because they got the afternoon off. Michael, Harry and Hermione got to the Great Hall before most of the other students because they had not got lost.

"So what's the schedule for today?" Michael asked as he buttered his toast. Harry glanced at the timetable while he swallowed his mouthful of porridge. Hermione looked up from her Breakfast to join in.

"Double Potions with Slytherin" Harry said and Michael grimaced. Hermione shot him a questioning look.

"What's wrong Michael?" Hermione asked and Michael shook his head.

"I've heard that Professor Snape favours the Slytherin's over everyone else" Hermione nodded her understanding. She opened her mouth to answer but just then the post arrived and she closed her mouth. Black Velvet and Hedwig had landed in front of Michael and Harry, both carrying letters. Harry looked surprised. Michael saw his face lift.

"What's the matter?" Michael asked as he reached towards Black Velvet to remove the letter tied to his leg. Harry still looked a little shocked as he answered.

"I wasn't expecting any letters" he said as Hedwig lifted her leg to allow Harry to take the letter. He pulled it off and opened it. Michael mirrored his actions and read his letter. It took him several attempts because the writing was very untidy.

Dear Michael

I remembered you get Friday afternoons off, so would you, Harry and Hermione like to come for tea with me at around three? I would like to hear about your first week. Send your answer by your owl.

Hagrid

Michael looked at Harry to talk to him when Harry spoke first.

"Hagrid wants us to go to tea with him this afternoon" he said excitedly. Michael nodded and waved his letter.

"Mine says the same. Me, you and Hermione" At this, Hermione lifted her head from her food. She finished her mouthful.

"Me?" she asked and Michael nodded. She looked confused.

"Why me?" she asked. Michael and Harry shook their heads.

"Dunno, we will just have to find out later" Michael said. They finished their breakfast and headed down to the dungeons for their first Potions class with Professor Snape.