Figuring out what they were going to do about Aslan's decisions really put a damper on the celebrations. But they also were busy with helping Caspian figure out how to begin running the country. Caspian hadn't realized how hard that would be until Peter began telling him all the problems they had faced at the beginning of their reign. But Hermione ended up being a big help, even though having her two friends with her annoyed Peter.

"I had originally thought I was going to student politics and international relations when I went to college, until I got my acceptance to Hogwart," she explained.

"Hermione, we got our acceptances when we were 11," Harry said dubiously.

"The perfect time to start considering college," Hermione responded. She of course gave ideas that were wildly radical for Narnia, but versions of her ideas were in fact adopted. The Lord's Council that the Telmarines had became representative of all Narnians, not just the elite. The idea of voting was discussed and approved for at least certain issues, which Caspian hadn't seemed to happy about, but he didn't protest. A committee of Narnians and Telmarines were busy writing a constitution which included some of Hermione's British suggestions including trial by jury of peers.

"You know, it's kind of attractive how easily you take charge," Peter murmured when he finally caught a moment alone with Hermione, sitting on a bench outside the Telmarine castle. Hermione twisted to look at him, pleasantly surprised that he had complimented her leadership ability.

"Usually boys only think to compliment a girl's looks," she commented, rolling her eyes to show she didn't agree with that.

"Yes, but I've seen how poorly that works on my sisters," Peter joked.

Hermione laughed. "Totally can see Lucy getting annoyed by that. Susan though?"

"Her too. That's why she turned down every suitor that came for her hand. All of them thought they were so unique, complimenting her beauty. She occasionally got archery compliments too, but those were rarer," he said.

"On a more serious topic though… Do you know what you plan to do?" Hermione asked.

Peter sighed. "I really don't want to pull Lucy and Ed away from Mum and Dad again so young. It was hard enough the first time we were in Narnia, but then we didn't have a choice."

"And you? Do you feel comfortable never seeing your parents again?" she inquired.

"Yes," Peter said with no hesitation. Hermione raised her eyebrows and he sighed. "After being adults and in charge, Susan and I both found it difficult to be children again. Lucy and Edmund, being younger, were almost like our little kids, so the transition back into children again was still difficult, but not nearly as much. But Susan and I quickly found that we were constantly in arguments with our parents and quite honestly, it's horrible to say I know, but we probably won't miss them much. But we do care about them enough that we would never leave if there wasn't some greater cause calling us away…"

Hermione felt bad that he didn't seem to care much about leaving his parents, but realized she probably leave her parents if the fight against Voldemort required her to. She put her arms around Peter. He looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to make the first move, but quickly shifted to a more comfortable cuddling position.

"The several of the other Narnians and Telmarines are planning on coming with us. You don't have to feel like you personally have to save the world all the time," Hermione said, trying to sound more cheerful than she felt. She did not want to be the reason the Pevensies, especially the younger ones, had to leave their parents. But Peter caught the sadness in her voice.

"Hey, I'm the High King. It's kinda my business to save the world all the time," Peter said teasingly, wrapping her hair around his fingers. "But enough of this talk. We spend so much time concentrating on this, when there are many much more fun topics to be discussed. Like the celebration today." He leaned into kiss her but only got a bunch of hair as she had turned her head.

"Ugh, that's not fun. I still don't see why I have to go," Hermione sighed. Peter snickered and she turned to glare at him.

"Trust me, you'll want to go."

Hermione had been bored through most of the "celebration." It was all speeches in old, archaic language she had to work to understand and niceties she would not have cared to share. But then she suddenly heard her name in the middle of a list of names. Everyone else called seemed to be lining up somewhere near the front, so she joined them. Then Peter went down the line, knighting several Narnians who had done great feats in the battle. Some of them got special titles even, making Hermione wonder if she would receive any sort of special name.

The first person knighted was Caspian, which Hermione thought was odd since he was already a king, but Peter knighted him Sir Caspian Narniankin, which Hermione thought was rather a mouthful. She understood though that this was Peter's way of telling all that Caspian was as much a Narnian as any who were born such.

"Rise, Sir Hermione Fay," Peter called gravely, to a smattering of applause. When she rose, he took advantage of her body covering his face from being seen by anyone else and gave her a wink. Fay? Hermione thought, her mind thinking of medieval mythology and the evil Morgana le Fay. And didn't it mean fairy? While others like Peter got fantastic names like "Wolfsbane" she was named "fairy."

After Caspian was officially made king, the ceremony shifted into a ball which Susan had done a remarkable job with throwing together at the last minute. The royals apparently had to begin the dancing with their choice of partner as per both Narnian and Telmarine tradition. Unsurprisingly, Peter immediately asked for her to dance with him, much to Ron's annoyance and Harry's amusement.

"Your majesty," she said politely with a lame attempt at a curtsy since everyone was watching.. "I do not know this dance."

"The Telmarines do not know Narnian dances nor do the Narnians the Telmarines'. Come, my extraordinary lady. I can lead you," he said gallantly. Hermione had to admit, the chivalrous, medieval ways were rather flattering. She allowed Peter to lead her to the center of the room and began with waltzing as she had learned in Britain. It seemed Peter was familiar with those steps as well and they actually managed to successfully dance. She turned around and saw Lucy dancing with a faun, Susan with Caspian, and Edmund with a Telmarine woman. Lucy and the faun seemed to be the only other pair who had enough dance steps in common to successfully dance, although occasionally it seemed they were confused by steps that had changed over the past 1300 years.

"By the way, not so happy with my name. Fay?" she said.

"It's a compliment!" Peter protested. "In Narnia, Fay magic is good magic, whereas witchcraft… well, you saw how we all reacted to that."

"Fine, whatever," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, maybe you'll also get another name by reputation," Peter offered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like how they call me the magnificent? That just came from people talking about me. I'm not so conceited that I would start calling myself that," he explained.

"Hm, are you sure you're not that conceited?" Hermione teased.

"By the Mane, sometimes you're worse than my sister at belittling me!" Peter protested.

After the first song had passed, others were permitted to join in and the room was full of dancers.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, noticing Peter's frown.

"Each are only dancing with their own kind. I had wished the Telmarines and Narnians would dance together, but I suppose that was too much to ask so soon," he said. Hermione smiled, prompting Peter to ask, "What?"

"Statements such as that make me understand why you were made a High King," she responded, causing him to blush. Soon they parted, as Peter's duties required him to dance with more than just Hermione throughout the night.

The next day, all that were to travel to Hogwarts met in the Hall of Lords at the castle. Ron, Harry, and of course Hermione were there. Glenstorm and two other centaurs were there since Hermione said centaurs in fact existed in England, something which shocked the Pevensies. Caspian was there since Aslan promised very little time would pass in Narnia, along with three other Telmarines which he assured everyone would fight with them. He had grown up with them and they would have joined the Narnians if they had known before Miraz did that Caspian was fighting with the Narnians. Instead, they had been imprisoned, in a different cell from the Professor. Neria the recently awakened mermaid was coming, but the others weren't too sure how much of a help she would be since she couldn't stay out of the water for too long. Several others wanted to join, but only creatures that also existed in the other world could pass over and they had to keep their numbers relatively small.

Just before the meeting was to begin, the doors opened once more. They all looked up, not expecting any others.

"Peter? Susan?" Hermione gasped. Last everyone had heard, the Pevensies were not comfortable with leaving their parents. They both walked up solemnly.

"We didn't want our parents to lose all their children at once. And Lucy and Ed, they are still young enough to want to have parents taking care of them. But us, we can go. And we spoke to Aslan, and he says we'll see them again. In Narnia," Susan said. Hermione heard the sadness in her voice and couldn't help but feel a bit angry with Aslan for making them have to make such a difficult choice.

"Don't try to convince us otherwise," Peter commanded in a voice that few would ever have the nerve to disobey. "Our decision is final."

Hermione was about to protest, but she also selfishly wanted them with he, so she kept quiet.

To everyone's surprise, Caspian was the first to speak up. "But will the younger king and queen be safe without the two of you there?"

Peter and Susan nodded. She said, "We're ordinary there. We don't have enemies and such. And… we were soon to go to different schools, so we even if we had returned with them we would not always be able to be there to protect them."

"So, time for introductions and explaining about Hogwarts?" Harry asked. They quickly all introduced themselves and Hermione, Ron, and Harry tried as best they could to explain how the wizarding world worked, which proved to be a nearly impossible task.

There were tearful good-byes all around when it came time for half the Pevensies to return to their own home and time. They had even protested against Peter's and Susan's decisions, alternating between insisting they come home to and insisting on accompanying them to Hogwarts. But their older siblings knew they did actually want to return to their own time and be with their parents. And even though it killed them to leave their siblings, they knew they would hardly be seeing them soon when they switched schools. But the actual separation was still difficult, especially since they had no clue when they would both be back in Narnia again. And tearful goodbyes between the Narnians and Pevensies because it well may be a millennium again before they return.

A cheer went up as Lucy and Edmund finally turned to the tree to return. Even some Telmarines had joined in, having already witness their charm for a bit.

"Don't cry, Pete. No one wants to see the magnificent High King cry," Susan muttered under her breath.

"I wasn't going to cry!" Peter whispered furiously. "Why, were you?"

"Sure you weren't," Susan whispered sarcastically.

"It's our turn now," Hermione said, hoping that distracting them by getting on with their work might help them deal with it.

"Wait. First, come here Caspian," Peter instructed. Caspian frowned in confusion, but followed dutifully. Peter pulled out his sword and sheathe and held them out. "Rhindon was meant to defend Narnia. As it's king, it is your duty to be the first to defend it. Therefore, Rhindon is yours."

"I… I don't deserve this. And you'll be back," Caspian stammered.

"But I cannot always be here to defend it. But you will be, until you pass on and then your descendants will defend Narnia."

Caspian bowed and accepted the sword to great cheering from the Narnians, Hermione, and some of the Telmarines. Harry and Ron also cheered, figuring it was more fun than just standing there, even though they had no clue what was going on.

"Now, time to go defeat the White Witch!" Susan exclaimed to another round of cheers. Hermione was impressed by how both Peter and Susan seemed to perfectly at ease in front of so many, but then realized that as King and Queen they were probably used to it. Peter held out a hand to Hermione and after a moment's hesitation, she decided to take it. They led the others through the portal in the tree….

…. Straight out of Dumbledore's fireplace, as awkardly as if they had travelled by Floo Powder and quickly tripped over each other.

"Um, hello, Professor," Hermione said awkwardly while getting off of the floor. "Ah, may I present you the High King Peter of Narnia. Peter, this is Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Peter quickly got up and gave Dumbledore a small bow. Dumbledore blinked, and then bowed back to him.

"I understand you are the one who sent Potter and Weasley to find Hermione and seek aid against battling the White Witch?" he asked. Soon the others fell into the room and Hermione introduced each of them to Dumbledore as well.

"Well, we will have to pretend you humans are students here in order to not cause mass panic," Dumbledore said slowly.

"And the rest of us?" Glenstorm asked.

"There are centaurs in the Forbidden Forest. If Aslan sent you, he may mean that we will need their assistance to defeat the White Witch. But they despise working with humans – with good reason based on how some humans treat them – so it may be difficult."

"We will be in a good position to understand them, having been persecuted by humans as well," Glenstorm said. "I'm sure we can work with our brethren."

"And I?" the mermaid asked.

"There are merpeople in the lake. Perhaps we will need their help too," Dumbledore said frowning, wondering why Aslan would think the merpeople around Hogwarts would be necessary. They weren't much help out of the water. "The rest of you, you five humans, we will have you sorted into houses and pretend to be students."

"But we don't have magic," Susan pointed out.

"If my guess is right, which I do like to think my guesses often are, then Aslan enchanted the portal to give you magic once you came through it. Here, try this wand," he said, handing the queen his wand. She took it and shook it, releasing a rainbow of sparks. "Fascinating, usually it only releases one color of sparks. I suppose though your magic would be special."

"And no one will notice a bunch of new students?" Peter asked dubiously.

"If there are particular people that will cause problems, there are spells that can aid with that. But here, since the actual sorting from this year is past, let's sort you right now," Dumbledore said, picking up a ratty old hat.

"How does a hat sort us?" Susan asked uncertainly. As a queen of Narnia she had seen many strange things, but this…

"There are four houses, based on your qualities. Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the wise, Hufflepuff for the loyal, and Slytherin for the ambitious," Hermione explained. "The Sorting Hat sees into your mind and figures out where you will fit the best."

The other Telmarines looked uncomfortable about the idea of magic hat sorting them. Susan, Caspian, and Peter all exchanged glances. As Kings and Queen of Narnia, they were expected to have all those qualities. How was the hat to choose just one for them?

Surprised they split up? Teehee, I like being unpredictable... Speaking of unpredictable, anyone want to guess which houses they'll be sorted into?