Rose woke the next morning to a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She cracked open an eyelid and saw the blurry outline of a person standing above her. Opening her eyes fully, it became apparent that it was one of the girls who shared her dormitory. Rose hadn't bothered to remember any of their names last night. She'd been too upset.

Upset...

She sat up with a start, almost making the other girl jump out of her skin in surprise. She'd just remembered why she'd been so upset the night before.

"Dammit Al!" Rose yelled, slamming her fists down onto the mattress of her four-poster.

The other girl took several paces back, wearing a look of shock and bewilderment. Really, it wasn't like she was going to bite. But let her think what she wanted. Rose needed to speak with her cousin.

"Hey." she turned to look at the other girl, figuring she may as well acknowledge her since she would need her assistance, "Could you show me down to the big room from last night? Is that where they're all having breakfast?"

The girl looked confused, "Er...you mean the 'Great Hall'?"

"Yeah, whatever..."

"Um...yes, that's where the other girls said they were going. We missed them though. I decided to stay behind to wake you. No one deserves to be late their first day." She gave a feeble smile, as if doubting her own words.

Rose felt a tinge of guilt at this. Did the girl really feel it would have been better to leave her? She supposed she hadn't been very polite. Without Al by her side to moderate her, she tended to glaze over pleasantries.

"Uh...thanks for waiting. Sorry I scared you. I have a lot on my mind. Wanna help me find my way down to the um...Great Hall? I don't remember anything from the walk here."

The other girl smiled in earnest this time, "Sure. Lucky for you, I have a photographic memory."

The two made their way out of the dormitory. Rose was halfway to their destination before she realized she hadn't bothered to tidy herself up before they'd left their room. She was still in her robes from last night and they were crumpled from having been slept in. Her curly red hair was untamable at best and she judged it probably wasn't helping paint a very flattering picture of her. She also realized that she still didn't know her companion's name.

"Hey uh...I forgot to ask...sorry, but what's your name?"

"Kitty Spence." she replied immediately, as if she'd been waiting the whole time for this question to pop up, which...come to think of it, made perfect sense.

"Oh. Cool. I'm-"

"Rose Weasley. I know."

"How do you know?"

The girl laughed, "Rose, after last night's display, everybody's going to know your name."

Rose was surprised to find herself laughing too. She supposed she had looked like a nutcase last night. Al would probably scold her when she finally found him.

"Uh...Kitty? Could I call you 'Cat' instead?" she asked. Then not wanting to appear any more rude she added, "Not that 'Kitty' is a bad name, it's just that...I don't know...um..."

Kitty's face lit up, "No, Rose, that's a good idea! I like it; Cat. My name always made me feel like a little kid or something. Can I introduce myself to people as that?"

"Cool by me." Rose replied, glad she had taken to the nickname.

"We're here!", Cat said and Rose looked around.

They were indeed in the entrance hall from the night before. Off from this room was the Great Hall, where they could see through its open doors hundreds of students conversing with each other and eating their breakfast. During their conversation, Cat had somehow managed to steer them here, through tapestries and odd doors and over staircases that had moved under their feet and tried to deposit them on other landings. This girl is good, Rose thought. Too bad she wouldn't be able to find her way back now. At first Rose had tried to keep track of where they were going, but in the end she couldn't remember and had to rely on Cat's excellent memory and sense of direction. Ah well...she could figure out the route later.

"Wow..." Rose smiled, "Thanks!"

"No problem. Want to sit by me at breakfast?"

"Um...sorry, I have to go talk to someone at the Slytherin table. Thanks though!"

"Your cousin?" Cat asked.

"How did you know...?"

"Rose..." Cat laughed again, moving off in the opposite direction, towards the Gryffindor table, "After last night, everyone knows, remember? See you later!"

Rose smiled and waved and then made her way over to the table seated beneath the emerald banners. She quickly scanned the rows of students until she found Albus, sitting at the very end of the long bench, next to the blond Malfoy boy. Hurrying over, she called his name and waved. As she approached, she saw that there were three Slytherin girls seated by them that kept stealing glances at Al and giggling. Rose made sure to scowl at them on her way over. Her cousin noticed her approach and smiled widely.

"Hi, Rosie!", Al waved and the Malfoy boy nodded.

"'Hi Rosie'? That's it? Not, 'Save me, Rosie!' or anything like that? Come on Al, after breakfast, let's go talk to McGonagall and ask to have you re-sorted. It's obvious you-"

"But Rosie..." said Al, looking confused, "I actually like it here. The boys in my dorm are really cool and nice to me. Well...all except Montague, but otherwise fine. Scorpius and I are getting along fine! We even support the same Quidditch team! Isn't that-"

"Oh, bloody brilliant!" Rose scoffed, reaching up to grab chunks of her hair, "Alright, I get it. They brain-washed you, right? You!", she rounded on Malfoy furiously, "What did you do to my cousin? Was it a potion you slipped into his drink? Or did you use the Imperius Curse? If you don't tell me, I swear I'll clobber you in front of this entire hall!"

Malfoy looked disdainfully up at Rose, as if he had come to the conclusion that she was a lesser being whom he had no more desire to associate with. This only made Rose angrier.

When he didn't answer, she yelled, "Well?!"

"I'm not going to grace your rantings with an answer." he sniffed, and then turned his pale, pointed face away from her with his nose up in the air.

For a moment Rose was speechless. Was he really going to ignore her...? Then the shock wore off and she was angry again. Let's see how long he could ignore her when she-

"Rose Weasley!" came a voice from behind, accompanied by a tug on the neck of her robes, which had just stopped her from diving on Malfoy and pummeling him into the bench he was perched on.

Rose looked up into the face of her parent's old friend, Neville. He was wearing a look of exasperation.

"Yes, sir?"

"Can I have a word with you, Rose?"

"Of course, sir." she said innocently, not budging from the spot.

"Privately, please?" Professor Longbottom pointed a few feet aside, looking unamused.

Reluctantly, Rose shuffled off after him as they walked in the direction of the Entrance Hall. Finally, when he had judged they were out of ear shot of the other students, they stopped outside the open doors of the Great Hall. Then he turned on her, looking unhappy.

"Rose?"

"Yes?" she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Don't give me that. You're not five years old anymore. I knew you then, remember? You need to look at me and act your age, please."

Looking down at her own crossed arms, she realized with a feeling of shame, that he was right. This was exactly the stance she had always taken when she'd been angry and unwilling to listen to whoever was scolding her. She looked up into Neville's face and saw he was smiling a bit. Rose sighed and dropped her arms to her side and smiled back. Once again, she'd let her emotions get the better of her.

"That's better!", Neville grinned in earnest now, "Thank you, Rose. I know how difficult it must be for you. I admit I was shocked when Albus was sorted into Slytherin aswell." he looked a bit less happy now, "But that house is different now, do you understand? Both of your parents were in the war and so they had reason to feel animosity against them, but it's not like that anymore. I'm guessing your father has told you a thing or two about how our two houses had fueded while we were here, but it's changed. For the better, okay? But you're at school now Rose. And that means you have to start following the rules. I am a professor you know. And I'm the head of your house. If you don't stop losing your temper, I'm going to have to take action."

"Yes, sir." Rose looked at her feet again.

She didn't want to cause trouble for Neville. That was the last thing she wanted, in fact. He'd always been like one of her many uncles while she was growing up and she could remember asking, as a small child, for him to bring odd plants for them to see. Ones that levitated, ones that tried to grab hold of you as you walked by, and ones that sang and danced. Those were good times. She'd been schooled at home and had never been in a place other than her family's houses where there were rules to follow. She supposed she understood where he was coming from. But one thing was really troubling her...

"Neville?" she asked, and he looked like he had to stop himself from correcting her, "Why is it that Al is suddenly all chummy with that Malfoy kid? I heard about all the things he did to Al's dad when they were in school. Is Malfoy trying to trick Al?"

"Rosie...people aren't always like their parents, okay? Give him a chance."

"Okay, sir." she replied, unsatisfied with his answer.

The students in the Great Hall were starting to flood out of its doors now. Apparently breakfast was over and it was time to go to class. Rose realized that she had no idea what classes she had or where she was supposed to be going. Neville handed her a sheet of paper with a grin.

"That's your timetable, Rose. I figured you'd be needing it. Your first class is charms. That's up on the third floor. Go get your bag first though. You seem to have forgotten it in your mad rush down to yell at Malfoy." he laughed and started to move off into the crowd, "Good luck, Rose! I'll see you in class tomorrow. Behave yourself!"

He disappeared into the horde of students and Rose looked around. Ahead of her she spotted her new acquaintance, Cat. Realizing she'd need help getting back to the dorm to grab her books, she dashed over to her and tugged on her robe. Cat turned around and looked at her.

"Hi Rose, how'd it go?"

"Um, I'll tell you in a bit. Look...I need your help again..."

"The charms class is up on the third floor, Rose. I asked one of the older students."

"Uh...no, that's not quite it. I kind of forgot something..."

Cat looked her up and down, confused at first. Then she realized what was missing.

"Oh Rose..." she groaned, "Where's your bag? Didn't you bring it before we left?"

"No..." Rose grimaced, "I was so worried about getting here to talk to Al that I forgot. Can you please help me again? I really need it."

"Okay..." Cat sighed, reaching for Rose's arm so she could pull her along through the crowd, "We have to hurry."

Together, they fought their way through the sea of students and raced up staircase after staircase to reach their common room. There were only a few older students there. Rose rushed up to the dormitory and threw everything she thought she needed into her bag and hurried back down to where Cat was waiting. The last thing she needed was to be late her first day. She especially didn't want to make Cat late on her account. Together, they flew back down towards the third floor. It seemed they were going to make it. All was going well. Until...

"Argh!"

Out of nowhere, the step beneath Rose's foot disappeared. One of her legs went through the floor and the other was left kneeling, holding her weight at an awkward angle. She felt herself sliding downward and, panicking, swung her arms around, reaching for anything she could grab onto. Just as she felt herself slipping into whatever abyss lay beneath, someone else's hand gripped hers. It was Cat. She tugged and pulled on Rose's arm and eventually, Rose found herself in a position where she could lift herself out. Feeling exhausted from the terror, she rolled herself down the last few stairs and onto the landing, far away from the hole she'd just been stuck in. Cat collapsed down beside her, eyes wide, looking completely horrified.

"Rose, are you okay?" she gripped Roses's arm.

"Uh...yeah. Thanks to you, mate. Merlin's pants...what the bloody hell was that!?"

"I don't know, Rose." Cat shook her head and looked back at the staircase, "That was scary. Look at the thing. All the steps look like they're there. It's like there's a ghost one."

Rose felt her heart rate finally beginning to return to normal. She put her hands on her head and tugged on her wild, red hair.

"Blimey...we have to watch out for these things now. Help me remember this stupid stairway."

"I have a photographic memory, remember? And believe me, this event is burned into my memory forever. Oh uh...Rose! We're late! Do you realize what this means? We're horribly late! Quickly! We need to find Charms!"

With that, Cat sprang to her feet and grabbed Rose's hand. Pulling her along behind, they made their way through the corridors back down towards the third floor. Every time they came to a staircase, Cat would quickly test each step before she put her weight on it. Rose found herself, once again, relying on her new friend to guide her to where she needed to go. This time, however, she was being dragged along, stumbling over her own feet and feeling as if her arm was about to be yanked from its socket.

"Here!" Cat exclaimed as she made her way towards an old oak door with a heavy handle.

She opened it and led Rose in. Before them, lay a class already in session. By the looks of the students present, they had this class with the Ravenclaws. At the front of the room was probably the oldest, smallest man she'd ever seen in her life. He was the size of a child and had to stand on a stack of books behind his desk in order to be seen.

"Why hello there!", the little, aged man squeeked, "Welcome to Charms! I'm Professor Flitwick! Your names?"

"Uhhhh...", Rose realized she'd been standing there with her eyes practically falling out of her head, "Rose Weasley. And this is Cat...errr, Kitty, sorry."

"Ah! Another Weasley! Good to have you, good to have you. Now please, take your seats."

They sat down at the front (all the seats in the back were taken). Professor Flitwick went on to explain Charms class and all that it entailed. The class was
disappointed when they learned that they wouldn't be learning magic their first day. Instead they had been given homework. They were to read up on the levitation spell; Wingardium Leviosa. At this, all the Ravenclaws in the class practically pounced on their quills and began scribbling away, probably making reminders and then three or four other reminders for those reminders. Rose scoffed at them. She could remember. If not, it was only the first homework assignment.

When Charms was over, Rose and Kitty put their books away and pulled out their timetables, moving through the crowd in the corridor.

"Next we have Potions..." Cat said, frowning slightly, "It's with the Slytherins."

She glanced quickly at me, taking in my expression and trying to analyze what action I'd take next.

"Good!" I cried, "Where is that?"

Cat looked at me wearily, "Down in the dungeons. But please, tell me you aren't going to start any more fights with that Malfoy boy. I don't want to end up in detention, and I'd rather you didn't either."

"I can't make any promises. I will, however, make an attempt."

Cat sighed. Apparently that wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for. She motioned me down the hallway.

"C'mon then, let's go to class. I asked a Gryffindor prefect earlier how to get to Potions. She was a rather stern looking girl. I almost would have preferred finding it myself."

"Oh." I laughed, "That was probably my cousin, Lucy. She and I don't get along very well."

"I wonder why..." Cat muttered under her breath.

"What's that?"

"Nothing..."

Together, they made their way down, through the halls and down more staircases. When they got to the Entrance Hall, Cat lead her to a set of stairs which she hadn't noticed the previous night. They climbed down those too, and as they did, Rose swore she could feel the tempurature drop with each step. At the end of the curving, stone staircase was a darkly lit hallway. This too was paved with stone, and there was a large group of students congregated there. Rose noticed that not all of them were from her house.

Slytherins, she thought.

Standing off to the side were Al and that Malfoy boy. It was easier to search for the boy's pale face and white blond hair in that darkly lit corridor than Al's black hair. She and Cat approached cautiously. Al looked at her uncertainly, as if he was wondering if she were explode again.

"Hi!" Cat waved, at the two, breaking the awkward silence, "I'm Kitty Spence. You can call me Cat though. You're Rose's cousin, aren't you?"

Al nodded, looking relieved at the fact that I'd found a sane companion.

"I'm Albus," he replied, "Albus Potter. And this is Scorpius Malfoy. He's-"

"Potter?" Cat gasped, "Like...Harry Potter? Are you related?"

Al and Rose looked at each other, confused.

"Yes," Rose said, "That's his dad. Why? Have you heard of him? He's an auror, you know."

"Yes, of course I know! Hasn't he ever told you?! He-"

"Welcome, students!", came a loud, cheerful voice.

They all turned to see another ancient-looking teacher. This one looked very different from Professor Flitwick though. Instead of being tiny, he was quite the opposite. He had a large, round belly that poked out from the folds of his robes. On his face, he sported a rather large, bushy mustache. All Rose could see was a jolly walrus dressed in teacher's robes, greeting them.

"I am Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master. Welcome, first years! Come on into the classroom now."

The walrus-man stood clear of the doorway to allow them all to pass, gesturing towards the tables.

"Take a seat, take a seat!" he cried enthusiastically, "Three to a cauldron, please!"

"Three to a cauldron..." Rose frowned, "But that means one of us will have to sit somewhere else."

"You sit with them, Rose." Cat offered, "I'll sit with Alex and Scott over there."

"Who?" Rose asked, confused.

"Honestly, Rose!" Cat laughed, "You really do need to learn everyone's names! Don't worry, they're in our house."

She walked off to sit with two Gryffindor boys. Rose recognized one of them as the dark haired, Asian boy who had been in their boat the night before. The other was somewhat burly looking and was making odd motions with his hands as he chattered excitedly to his friend. It appeared they were discussing Quidditch. For a minute, Rose itched to join in. She loved those types of discussions and never missed an opportunity to talk about the Chudley Cannons, even though they were bottom of the league. She felt someone pull on her arm as Kitty walked away.

It was her cousin.

"Rose, c'mon" he said and pulled her to a table towards the back of the room.

Malfoy followed.

"Good going, Malfoy." Rose snapped, "Way to be a gentleman, making Cat leave and all. Thanks a lot. You could have gone to sit with one of your Slythein pals over there, couldn't you?"

"I am sitting with my 'Slytherin pal', dimwit." Malfoy rebutted.

"What did you just call me?!"

"And for that matter," Malfoy continued, with an unpleasant sneer on his face, "You could have been the one who acted like a gentleman and left."

Rose laughed condescendingly, "Is that really the best you could do? Calling me a man? Didn't daddy teach you any better insults? Probably didn't want to waste his time on you-"

"What did you say?! You better watch it! Or I'll-"

"Run to daddy, rich boy?"

Scorpius's retort was lost as Slughorn made his way to the front of the class and addressed them.
"Right! Now, my young potioneers, pull out your copies of Magical Drafts and Potions, by our wonderful Mr. Arsenius Jigger, and let's get to work on reading the introduction. How about you start us off, Ms. Weasley. You can speak loudly when you want to."

He winked at Rose to make sure she knew he was joking. Rose started off reading the first page of the introduction. She read, but didn't take in many of the words. She was too busy mulling angrily over the situation they'd found themselves in. To her left, Scorpius kept shooting her disgusted looks as he sat over his textbook, clearly fuming. Albus sat in the middle, acting as the barrier between them, staring hard at his textbook. Rose just wanted this lesson to be over.

At the end of class, Slughorn assigned them more homework. This time, only a couple of students in the room bothered to write it down.

******************
Cat and Rose sat together at lunch, but didn't talk much at first. Rose was still fuming and she stabbed the food on her plate with her fork using great vigor. Cat and a couple of the Gryffindor boys watched her warily.

"That Malfoy boy got your wand in a knot?", one of them asked.

Rose looked up. It was the burly one from Potions.

"I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Wood. You're Rose Weasley, aren't you?"

"Wood?" Rose perked up, forgetting her bad mood, "Like Oliver Wood, the keeper?"

"Yes!" he cried, excitedly, "He's my dad! I can't believe you've heard of him. He's been out of the league for a few years now and well...no offense of anything, but most girls I've met aren't interested in Quidditch."

Rose waved this statement aside with her fork in hand, "None taken. That's incredible though! Your dad was great! Puddlemere United is one of my favorite teams. My dad's a big Chudley Cannons fan-Hey!" she cried defensively, as Scott pulled a face, "This year for sure! They won't finish last this year!"

Scott repressed a laugh, "Uh...sure they won't. They've finished last for as long as I can remember."

Rose waved this aside too, "This year for sure. They finally ditched that bloody keeper of theirs, Fannin. He was really bringing the team down. They're sure to do better this year."

Scott nodded politely, "Any other teams?"

"Well, there's also the Hollyhead Harpies. My aunt Ginny played on that team for a few years, so I'm a pretty big supporter of them."

"Wow, really? That's pretty cool. Do you play?"

Rose nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! I can't wait until next year when we can try out! I hope I can make it! I've been training for years! Of course, it was on my dad's old Cleansweep, but he said he'd get me a good broom for my birthday this year!"

"A Cleansweep?!" Scott laughed, "You should take good care of it. That could count as an antique now. What position are you going to try out for?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Cat cried suddenly, "Can we please discuss something other than bloody Quidditch?!"

Alex laughed, and said "I didn't mind."

Cat rolled her eyes and turned to a girl in our year who was sitting next to her. Remembering her duty to learn everyone's names, Rose leaned back and called to the girl.

"Hey, what's your name? I'm trying to learn everyone's."

The girl looked Rose up and down with her eyebrows raised.

"Sloper," she replied curtly, "Eliza Sloper."

"Oh...okay. Nice to meet you."

The Gryffindor boys waved as Rose did, trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Thanks." Eliza turned away.

"Well then..." Rose said, feeling slightly defeated, "I was just trying to be nice. I didn't know anyone's names this morning."

"Hey, you knew mine!" Alex said, "I told you last night in the boat!"

"Ah...yes, about that..." Rose shrugged apologetically, "Was there a last name to go with that, Alex?"

Alex rolled his eyes and grinned, "Prewett. Alex Prewett. Not related to any Quidditch stars though, sorry."

The name sounded familiar to her.

"My grandma Molly's maiden name was Prewett! Are we related?!"

"Uh...no. My dad's a muggle. I'm a half-blood. It must just be a coincidence. My mum's a witch though, her name's Cho Chang."

He looked shocked as Rose burst into hysterical laughing.

"What's so funny about that?" Alex asked defensively.

"Oh nothing. Just that your mum was Al's dad's first girlfriend. My dad told me about how awkward it was to be around them."

While everyone laughed at the shocked expression on Alex's face, they continued their lunch. Rose continued talking to them enthusiastically and for a while, forgot about her worries. When lunch was over, it was time for their last class of the day.

"History of Magic..." Cat read off the timetable.

"Sounds invigorating." Scott muttered, looking bored.

It turned out to be everything but invigorating. The most exciting thing that happened was when their teacher, who was a ghost, entered the classroom through the blackboard. It turned out his name was Professor Binns and he was easily the most boring person Rose had ever come across. The group listened for all of five minutes before they sank into a deep stupor and didn't come out of it until the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Finally!" Scott cried, throwing his hands in the air as they headed towards their common room, "We're free!"

"What about that Binns? I thought maybe I'd die from boredom and become a ghost myself."

Rose nodded in agreement at Alex's statement. The only thing good that had come from that lesson was that they'd all gotten a good nap. They reached the Gryffindor common room and gathered in some armchairs by the fire. Rose broke into animated conversation with Scott and Alex again about Quidditch. Cat rolled her eyes and went to talk to a friendly second-year girl. For the first time since she'd gotten there, Rose felt really happy and at home, laughing and passing the time until dinner with her new friends.