Chapter 33: The First Day of School

Thanks for all the reviews.

Oops my bad. California's schools start in August, but for this fic, they start at the same time as Hogwarts.

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Harry and Neville made it the rest of the trip, with a sullen Ron, unscathed. There were no further interruptions and they just played Exploding Snaps and enjoyed the candies they had purchased earlier, sharing them with Ron.

The trip to the castle proper was dark, but beautiful. The castle sparkled in the night against the mountains that it was next to. The ride was cold though. Scotland was not a warm environment for Harry. The Black Lake didn't help at all as there was a chilly wind on the waters.

When they got to the large doors that would let them in, the giant, that had been guiding them, knocked on the door.

"Why is he knocking?" Harry asked Neville. "Don't they know we're here?"

"Don't know," Neville whispered back. "Maybe, it's to scare us into behaving, or some such rot," he said, thinking that was something his gran would do.

"Weird," Harry said, waiting in the cold with the rest of the first years.

A stern lady came and answered the door and looked at them like she was expecting them to cause trouble. Not a warm welcome. Harry was already having second thoughts. He looked at Neville who nodded. He wasn't feeling the warm and fuzzies either.

They went inside and listened to the woman, Professor Minerva McGonagall, make a speech about Houses and families. She still wasn't making them feel welcome at all. She left them alone and went into the Great Hall.

They milled around and there were people looking for Ivy. Even Ron, who knew she wasn't there, was speculating as to where she was.

"She's shunning us," a boy with slicked back white hair said. His nose in the air.

"Oh, why do you say that?" Harry asked, really wanting to know how he came to that conclusion.

"She'd be here if she wasn't," the boy said as if it were obvious.

"She might just be too far away," Harry offered. It was the truth after all.

"Yeah, I heard she was in the States," Ron said, winking at Harry.

"No one asked you, Weasley," the git said, all but snarling at Ron.

"No, but I'm telling you anyway, Malfoy," the redhead said, ready to fight.

"They're ready for you," McGonagall stated, making everyone jump. She was glaring at them disapprovingly. "There is no fighting at Hogwarts," she stated, looking for all the world like a proper schoolmarm.

"Yes, ma'am," the two boys said, cowed. They shot each other a glare and then turned back to the teacher.

Everyone marched into the Great Hall for the sorting. The rest of the school was waiting for them. In the front of the Teachers' Table, there was a stool with a dirty hat sitting on it. The hat burst into song, which was about the Houses and what values they favored and why.

McGonagall said that they had to wear the hat to be sorted.

"Eww," Harry murmured and cringed. The hat really was filthy. He wondered if they'd let him clean it. Oh well. He'd do it when it was his turn.

She called the students up one by one, and Harry and Neville waited their turn, quietly discussing where they wanted to go.

"I hope I get in Hufflepuff," Harry whispered to Neville. He had thought about it long and hard and that was where he wanted to go.

"Why Hufflepuff?" the other boy asked lowly.

"I'm too cute to go anywhere else," Harry said, giving him a winning smile.

Neville laughed, making quite a few people look his way. He just laughed harder and turned back to the sorting. It was his turn to be sorted and he marched up to the hat. He put it on his head with determination. A few seconds later the hat yelled, "Hufflepuff!"

Harry clapped wildly for him. He knew that Neville was rebelling against his family by going there. They thought of that House as the House of the Leftovers and Losers. Harry felt differently. It was the House of the Loyal and Honest. He was going to do his best to get there himself.

Soon enough, it was his turn.

"Harry Potter," McGonagall called.

"Harry Potter?" quite a few students questioned.

"Not Ivy Potter?" they asked.

"Where is Ivy Potter?" someone yelled.

"Ivy Potter has decided to seek her education elsewhere," Dumbledore stated, standing from his throne-like chair. "She was adopted at a young age and no longer resides in the United Kingdom," he offered as an explanation.

Harry continued to walk up to the stool and was still looking at the hat with apprehension. It was still filthy, and he really wanted to clean it. He subtly threw a cleaning charm at the inside of it at the very least. He didn't want lice.

"Ahchoo," the hat said, sneezing hard, jerking in McGonagall's hand. She held on tight but was staring at it like it would bite her. A large ball of dust fell from the inside of it, and it actually sniffled. "Ahchoo," it sneezed again as more dust fell. It did this three more times, until no more dust fell. "That's much better," it said, sounding clearer than it had earlier. "Thank you, young man," the hat said, nodding in Harry's direction.

"You're welcome," Harry said, brushing off the stool and sitting down. "Madam?" he said to McGonagall, giving her his best cute smile. Like he could do no wrong.

She smiled back and put the hat on his head. He was such an adorable child. She had never seen such a sweet innocent child.

"You are one cute kid," the hat said in his head. "You'd do well in Slytherin," he ruminated, searching Harry's mind for clues as to where he should go. "However, you'd not last long in there," he added, thinking they might hurt the boy. Or he'd hurt them. Either way, someone would wind up dead. He could see it in the boy's head. The non-cat would eat them. "Gryffindor is out too," the hat continued, still searching. "Ravenclaw is a good fit, but with your cuteness factor there really is only one place for you. It'd better be… Hufflepuff!" He shouted the last out loud.

Harry was happy to hear that and went to sit by Neville. There were congratulations all around him as his housemates welcomed him to their House. He sat and watched the rest of the sorting. The Ron kid went into Gryffindor, which wasn't a surprise. All of his brothers were there too.

Dinner was fun as Harry fielded questions about Ivy and gave their cover story. He dispelled a lot of myths and had a great time doing it. There were some creepy teachers at the Teachers' Table. One was looking at him with loathing, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. Then he remembered this might be that Snape guy, who hated all Potters. Siri had warned him about the man.

Later that night, Harry called Siriusly. "I got sorted into Hufflepuff," he said after they greeted each other.

"That's great. Now you don't have to deal with that stupid rivalry," she said, happy for him.

"I know, that's why I did it. Neville's here too," he stated, giving her a smirk. He then yawned. It had been a long day.

"I'm glad you got what you wanted. Go to bed and call me tomorrow," she said, ready to get to bed herself.

"Will do," Harry said, saying his goodbyes he hung up. He wasn't looking forward to classes, but he was happy he made the decision to be here. He was going to make a lot of friends. They would be beneficial later in life. He just hoped he didn't make many enemies.

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Luckily the walk across the house was uneventful for Ivy and Gandr. They had already done their normal day and had gone to bed. It was the middle of the night when they went back in time. They were now prepared for Sirius and Remus to teach them wanded magic. She had had them as teachers for Runes and Arithmancy, so Ivy at least knew they were good teachers. Gandr was still in a wait and see mood.

When they entered the room, Sirius was sitting in his chair pouting. His arms were folded across his chest, and he looked like a toddler that had had his toy taken away.

Remus was standing over him looking smug. They could tell right away that the werewolf had thwarted some mischief.

"What did he try to do?" Gandr asked, knowing the dogman would have had to have tried something childish. It was just the man's nature. He was always trying to prank them. He never succeeded, but he kept trying. Ivy would pout at him when she caught him at it, and he just smiled at her. It was a game between them. It looked like Remus felt the classroom was not the place for said game.

"Just a prank," Remus answered, waving for them to sit at the two desks that were arranged in front of a larger one. There was a sitting area too, but for theory they were shooting for a more schoolroom environment. "We're going to start with the basics today." He went to the blackboard that was on the wall behind the desk and picked up a piece of chalk.

Ivy and Gandr sat at the desks and took out paper and pencils. They were not going to use quills, no matter how much Sirius thought they should. They had had that argument with him. They felt he was just arguing for argument's sake. They knew he liked his cellphone and other modern conveniences.

They started with Charms and then Transfiguration. Theory was boring, but necessary, if one didn't already know it. Then it was time for practical. Ivy and Gandr were moved to the seating area. They settled in the chairs and took out their wands. Ivy's wand was an English oak and phoenix feather. While Gandr's was a butterfly vine and ashwinder scale.

"Okay, let's see how good you listened," Remus said, taking out some matchsticks and putting them on the coffee table. "Change these to needles," he said, waving to the objects. He was hopeful they would get it on the first try. They were both very smart children. They would move along quickly.

"Why?" Gandr asked, not seeing the point.

"To show you were paying attention," Sirius said, looking at him queerly. "It's the simplest transfiguration," he reminded them.

The two of them shrugged and turned the matchsticks into needles.

"I knew you could," Remus said with a grin.

Sirius was looking at them with a different expression. "You already knew how," he accused, sounding putout.

"I learned to do that, ages ago," Ivy said, sweetly. She didn't want to hurt their feelings, but she needed to learn more advanced magic. "I read the books before I got my wand and was able to do up to third year stuff without a wand. I'm sorry," she said, making her eyes huge and innocent.

"That's okay. It was just a test anyway," Remus said, though they were going to have to change their strategy. "We'll just start you on third year things. Are you this advanced in Charms?" he asked, needing to know so he could plan accordingly.

"Yes," she answered, keeping her eyes harmless. "We can do most of them wandlessly as well," she added, making sure they understood what skill level they were dealing with. They couldn't teach them if they didn't know that.

"And you, Gandr?" he asked, looking at the snakeboy.

"I am as well versed as Ivy," Jormungandr answered with a nod of his head.

"Great," Sirius sighed, looking like he was let down. "I was so looking forward to teaching you too." He had had it all planned out. It would take years that he could spend being useful. He would be in Ivy's life, finally being someone she would look up to.

"You can still teach us, just more advanced stuff," Ivy said, giggling her cute little giggle. She got up and kissed him on the cheek, and then returned to her seat. "I love you, Sirius. I know, let's have some tea and discuss what we need to learn," she offered and snapped her fingers. Tilly popped in. "Tilly, can we have some tea, please?" she asked the elf.

"Yes, Miss Ivy," the elf said and popped away. A few moments later a tea set with cakes appeared on the coffee table.

"There now," Ivy said with a happy sigh, "tea solves everything." She started pouring for everyone as they settled to make a lesson plan.

Sirius was feeling better about it now. Ivy still loved and respected him. All was right with his world. He would still be a part of her life and that was all that was important.

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When that was done, Ivy felt that she needed to expand her network of friends. She had no female friends, bar Luna, but she was in England. How did she go about finding a new friend without making her daddy mad at her? That was the question. She decided to try scrying for someone who had a lonely life for whatever reason and went to her room.

She took out a bowl of water and cast a scrying spell upon it, then gazed into it. There was a blonde girl who looked lonely, even though she was surrounded by people, who seemed to admire her. Ivy got her name, which was Laurie Collins. She was a small girl with long blonde hair. She was very pretty, but she didn't seem to like her looks. She kept trying to hide behind her hair. It was a bit heartbreaking to watch her.

"Jarvis, can you research a Laurie Collins for me?" Ivy asked, thinking she might write to this lonely girl and reach out a friendly hand.

"Yes, Miss Ivy," the AI said, doing a quick search for the child in question. "Laurie Collins is a student at Xavier Institute. She is a mutant, though I don't know her mutation," Jarvis informed her.

"Thank you, Jarvis," Ivy said, and stopped the scrying. It was beginning to be an invasion of privacy. She sat and wrote to the girl, saying that she had a vision, which was partially true, of her and thought she could use a friend. She explained who she was, but not what she was. She put all the goodwill she could into the letter without making it compulsive. She added her cellphone number, but not her address, and then sent it off with one of the owls. That would get the other girl's attention.

Ivy then went to find her daddy. "Daddy," she said when she found him in his lab, "I've reached out to a lonely girl." She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed his cheek.

"How did you do that?" Tony asked with a sigh. So, she told him what she had done, and he sighed again. He'd do a more in-depth search into this Laurie Collins. "Don't invite her here until I know more about her," he warned her.

"Okay, Daddy," the little girl said brightly. He didn't say anything about meeting her elsewhere.

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Harry's first day of school was boring, in the beginning. He, like Ivy, knew all of what was being taught. Unlike Ivy, he could not get advanced training. The best he could do was research in the library. Which is what he was going to do. Still, he had Neville in all his classes so that was helpful. He spent most of his time helping his friend.

There was a girl that seemed to think they were in competition. Granger, something or other. He had no idea why, but whenever he answered a question, she seemed to get upset, like he had taken something from her. She was in Gryffindor, with that Ron kid. And she did earn them a lot of points, but damn she needed to mellow some. He wasn't going to stop trying to earn points for his House just to appease her sensibilities.

They were making their way to the Potions' classroom, with the Ravenclaws, which was their last class of the day.

Snape seemed to be a bastard according to the upper years, and Star insisted on accompanying him. He didn't think the teacher would like that, but she was there. Once they got to the dungeons, she broke off and found her own way to the classroom. There were many ways to get to places in this drafty old castle.

They waited in the hallway with the rest of the students. It was cold and windy, and Harry made a mental note to wear heavier clothes to Potions from now on. He pulled out his phone and started playing a mindless game on it while he waited.

"How are you doing that?" one girl asked, looking at his phone.

"Doing what?" he asked, looking up from his game.

"Using your phone. I was told they wouldn't work here," she said, huffing like she had been lied to.

"I have always used my phone in the magical world," Harry said, turning it around and showing that it was working just fine.

"I'll have to write my mum about mine," she said, glancing at his like she was itching to ask to use it to make a call.

"Five points from Hufflepuff for using a muggle device," Snape said, going to take the phone. He got it in his hand for all of two seconds.

Harry snatched the phone back and tucked it in his bag. "There are no rules against it. I checked," he said, glaring a cute glare. That was the problem with cuteness. Glares were cute too. They had little effect on people like Snape.

"The point deduction still stands," the dour man said, turning and storming into the classroom barking, "Come."

"Arsehole," Harry mumbled under his breath. Only Neville heard him, and he nodded his head in agreement. They went in and sat down at the tables in the front of the class, and they pulled out their equipment. When they were set up, they waited for Snape to give instructions.

The professor gave a short and useless speech that was meant to scare them. Then said, "The instructions are on the board. Begin."

Star was sitting on a beam on the ceiling and watching the man. She couldn't decide if he was evil or just an arse. There was an evil aura around his arm, but that was it. She decided to wait and see. Still, she was going to scare him soon if he didn't leave Harry alone.

The man stalked around the room criticizing everyone and didn't offer a word of advice on how to properly brew. He banished many potions and made them start over. There were many crying first years.

Harry and Neville made a halfway decent potion, but it was not good enough for Snape. He gave them a Troll for their efforts and vanished their final results. Harry protested, and swore he was going to go to Sprout about this injustice.

"You do that," was all Snape said with a smirk. Like he knew it would do no good. He turned from tormenting Harry and was confronted by a mass of tentacles. They grabbed him and started dragging him in and then shook him some until they threw him against the wall. He hit his head and blacked out.

The class screamed and ran from the room. No one saw where the tentacles came from.

Harry and Neville stayed behind to check on Snape and get Star. Neville checked on the teacher, while Harry scolded his pet.

"Star," he said, exasperated. "Why did you do that?" he asked, picking her up and petting her.

"He was being mean to you," she said as if speaking to a child.

"I can handle it," he said, pressing his cheek to her head. "I appreciate it though." In the back of his mind, he was laughing his arse off. He just didn't want to let her know he approved of this behavior.

"Now, he'll think twice," she offered, glaring at the man who was still knocked out. Next time she was going to eat him, consequences be damned.

"I just don't want you to be caught," Harry said, worried for her. He had no clue if magic could capture her.

"I'll eat anyone who tries to catch me," she stated as if it were fact. "Don't you worry about me. You just enjoy school." It was strange having this man-child worry for her. She was not used to it.

"Fine," he said, putting her down when he heard footsteps approaching. "Hide," he hissed.

She jumped back up to the beam and watched.

Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey came into the room. "What happened here?" the old man asked. He had his wand out and was ready for action. He knew there was an alien about. The reports they got from the students stated as much. He just didn't know what it looked like.

"We don't know. Tentacles came out of nowhere and threw him against the wall," Neville said, telling mostly the truth. It is what most of the class would have seen anyway.

"You did not see where they came from?" the headmaster asked, looking around the room, but not up. He saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Pomfrey was tending to Severus. She saw that he was only knocked out from the blow to the head and was fixing him up right there.

"No, sir," both boys said. Harry turning on his innocent look.

"Very well, you may go. Ten points to Hufflepuff for looking after your professor. Each," the old man said, a twinkle in his eyes. He didn't know if this Potter knew his cousin, but it didn't hurt to get into the boy's good graces.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, little hearts dancing around his eyes, making Dumbledore blink.

They left the room and were soon joined by Star. "Well, that was eventful. I hope not all of our days are going to end like that," Harry said, looking at his non-cat.

"If they treat you right, I have no issue with them," she said primly. She moved off with her tail in the air.

"Let's go to the library and do our homework," Neville said, not knowing the Flerken was talking to Harry.

"Okay," the other boy said, moving to go that way. They did their homework until dinner and got most of it done. Dinner was a boisterous affair with what happened being talked about. Ron kept cutting them funny looks, which they ignored. There were rumors of aliens in the school and students were both scared and excited. Harry was playing along with Neville doing the same.

Harry called Siriusly before bed and let her know what Star had done.

"She should have eaten the git," Siri said, huffing at the missed opportunity.

"He's not that bad," Harry protested. "He's just an arsehole," he added. He really didn't want Star to go around eating the staff.

"First off, language. Second off, he's a spy. You can't trust them," she disagreed. She was pacing back and forth in her bedroom. She was dressed for bed in a long T-shirt and shorts.

"I know," he sighed, not liking it, but understanding. Even the Widow agreed that most spies were out for number one. Natasha told them to never trust a spy. "I'll leave it up to Star. She's a better judge of character than I am," he stated. He too was dressed for bed in his Iron Man pjs.

"Okay. I'll let you go. Goodnight, Harry," she said, blowing him a kiss.

"Goodnight, Mum," he said, distractedly as he hung up.

He missed the flabbergasted look on her face.