Izuku wears the white button-up shirt and the nice jeans again for his placement tests. Before Mr. Weasley goes to work, he wishes Izuku luck. The rest of the family—sans Percy, who may as well have moved into the Ministry by this point—all send Izuku off as he steps through the fireplace to Floo to Hogwarts.

(He remembers his wand this time, thankfully.)

He stumbles out into Dumbledore's office and brushes some light grey ash off his shoulder.

"Good morning," Dumbledore greets him, standing up from his desk. "Molly has been keeping me appraised of your progress. You've made it through the third-year curricula for all core subjects, correct?"

"More or less," Izuku replies, blushing. "It was a bit of a rush job, after all."

"I'm sure that any gaps will be quickly filled once term begins. In fact, if you test into fourth-year in all core classes, you may also take elective courses at the fourth-year level, so long as you are fully caught up by the end of October."

"Thank you, sir," Izuku replies.

"We have a room set aside for testing use today," Dumbledore proceeds without segue, leading Izuku toward the door of his office. "You will be meeting the majority of your future teachers today, as they will be the ones proctoring your tests and adjudicating your knowledge."

Izuku nods. He'll need to do his best to make a good impression, then. Somehow he won over Aizawa, so hopefully, the professors here won't be more difficult than him.

The room set aside is on the same floor as Dumbledore's office. A mostly-empty sitting room, stone floor shining, is their destination. Two chairs and one table sit in the middle of the room, the only furniture visible.

"Your first test will be Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall should be here momentarily—"

"Ah, Albus, you're already here."

Izuku and Dumbledore both turn to the doorway, where a tall woman in a pointed black hat stands. Her robes shimmer a deep, iridescent blue, the light of the candles catching on them in interesting ways as she walks.

"Minerva, a pleasure to see you." Dumbledore smiles. "This is Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor house, Deputy Headmistress, and professor of Transfiguration. Minerva, this is Izuku Midoriya, the transfer student you will be evaluating today."

"A pleasure," McGonagall says, nodding at Izuku. She turns to Dumbledore and continues, "The first three years of material, correct?"

"Correct." Dumbledore nods. "I will leave you to it."

What follows is an almost hour-long question-and-answer session. She asks him questions about the material, he answers them to the best of his ability, she asks him to demonstrate a few transfigurations, she asks him if he has any question, he asks his questions which she answers with much gusto. At the end of the session, he's led into the hall for a stretch break while McGonagall leaves.

That went well, Yoichi murmurs.

Are you sure? Izuku is not so sure.

Yoichi hums. She enjoyed answering your questions. I think she likes you.

We'll see.

Izuku's attention is pulled away from the internal conversation when he hears footsteps approaching. He looks up—

And then down.

A very short man approaches, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. His ears are faintly pointed and the pattern on the hem of his robe moves, spiraling around itself.

"Hello! You must be Izuku Midoriya. I'm Professor Flitwick, Charms professor and Head of Ravenclaw. I'm excited to work with you today!"

Izuku is hurried into the room, where another question-answer session passes, just like the one with McGonagall save the different subject material.

His day continues in that vein excepting a short break for lunch. He meets Professor Sinistra, the astronomy teacher, who darkens the room and projects the heavens onto the ceiling with her wand. A worn-looking man named Remus Lupin quizzes Izuku on Defense Against the Dark Arts, stating that, while he won't be returning this year, he was the previous Defense professor and as such will be the one adjudicating Izuku.

The change of pace comes with the second-to-last professor. Lupin walks Izuku down to the greenhouses, where a smiling Professor Sprout greets them. Izuku didn't get much chance to study practical Herbology, given the limitations of where he was studying, but she's patient and understanding as she works with him.

She's the one to lead him down to the depths of the castle.

"Professor Snape's classroom, and Slytherin's common room, are both in the dungeons," Sprout explains, chattering at Izuku as they walk. She points out various interesting objects, explaining them quickly and then moving on.

The temperature drops as they descend. One For All takes the cold like a personal challenge, rising toward Izuku's skin and keeping him warm without his conscious direction. He doesn't mind—he can already feel his fingers stiffening up.

A tall man in pitch-black robes meets them. He reminds Izuku vaguely of Aizawa, although Aizawa never looked at any of his students like they personally offended him.

"This must be Midoriya," he drawls. "Thank you, Pomona. I'll take him from here."

"Sure thing." Sprout turns to Izuku and gives him one last smile. "Good luck!"

She turns and walks off, leaving him alone with the last professor of the day.

"I'm Professor Severus Snape. Potions master and professor and Head of Slytherin house. Follow me." He turns in one big sweeping motion and strides down the hallway, leaving Izuku to play catch-up.

He leads Izuku to a thick, wooden door. Large iron hinges attach it to the wall, and Snape shoulders it open and leads Izuku into the room. A few stone tables with firepits next to them dot the room. One workstation has a metal tripod set up next to it with a cauldron handle hung on the hook.

"As you do not yet have your own cauldron, I am allowing you to use one of mine. If you destroy it, that will be an automatic fail."

"Then I won't destroy it," Izuku promises.

"We'll see about that." Snape flicks his wand at the chalkboard, where a recipe scrawls itself out across the surface. "This is one of the simpler potions third-years are expected to learn. You have two hours. The ingredients are already set out for you."

With that, Snape retreats to one of the other workstations, where he sits down and pulls a book out from inside his cloak.

Cold of him, Yoichi muses.

Please don't distract me. Izuku already feels the pressure like a hand slowly wrapping itself around his chest.

Of course. I'll stay out of the way.

Thank you.

Izuku does his best to keep his concentration, crushing and slicing and measuring meticulously. He doesn't have a watch, but he keeps an eye on the clock on the wall. His major hiccup happens when it comes time to light the fire under the cauldron. He spends approximately thirty seconds panicking because he doesn't have any matches (or Todoroki) before remembering that he knows the spell Mrs. Weasley taught him to start fires like this.

At the end of everything, he has a potion, and he has not destroyed Snape's cauldron.

Izuku clears his throat, drawing Snape's attention.

"What is it?" He looks grumpy and Izuku immediately straightens his spine a little more.

"I'm finished, sir."

Snape stands and walks over, staring down his nose at the potion in front of him. After a long minute of staring at it, sniffing the air, he says, "Passable. I'll escort you back to the headmaster's office."

Against his better instincts, Izuku speaks up. "Is that it? All the other professors asked me questions about the material, alongside the practical component."

Snape turns and stares down at Izuku with narrow eyes. "You have demonstrated the ability to perform most basic tasks asked of you without blowing your face off. There's nothing else I need to see or know."

"The practical component is less than half of a class," Izuku parrots something he heard Aizawa say once. "Anyone can fake being good at something. Not everyone can actually understand what they're doing."

Granted, Aizawa was mostly speaking about heroics, but Izuku thinks it's applicable here, too. Especially if potion-making is as dangerous as Snape implies it is.

"It doesn't matter whether you can answer any questions. You demonstrated that you can safely complete a potion. I know one of Dumbledore's favorites when I see one, and I'm sure he's already decided which year group to drop you in with. Therefore, anything short of you destroying the cauldron would still get you into the year he wants to put you in." Snape turns back to the door. "Enough of your questions. Come."

Izuku follows him through the door, frowning as he walks down the hall.

That was rude. Yoichi speaks up for the first time since Izuku asked him not to distract him.

I'll just have to figure out how to impress him once term starts.

Oh, kid, Yoichi sighs.

Snape leaves Izuku at the bottom of the spiral stairs leading up to Dumbledore's office. Izuku ascends them, stepping through the door and startling a Dumbledore absorbed in paperwork.

"Ah, Mr. Midoriya. I've been hearing good things from the staff today. Assuming there's no disagreement from Severus, you'll be placed in the fourth year. Am I correct in guessing that your preferred electives are Arithmancy and Ancient Runes?"

Izuku nods. "That is correct."

Dumbledore picks up a different piece of paper and scribbles something down on it. "Splendid! That leaves us with one last piece of business to attend to before you return to the Burrow: your Sorting."

Someone else in the room groans.

Izuku startles, freezing as his eyes dart around the room. Where did that come from? Who is hiding in here? One For All surges close to the surface, ready to burst into action.

"You may relax," Dumbledore says, holding up a hand to placate Izuku. "That's only an old friend of mine. Hat, would you introduce yourself?"

"No," the same voice says. "I'm not working."

"You agreed to Sort Mr. Midoriya before term starts," Dumbledore says, looking up at a high shelf.

Izuku follows his gaze and catches sight of an old, dirty hat.

"Well, I'm changing my mind."

"Don't be persnickety. I could always mention to Dobby that you need a good washing …."

"You wouldn't dare."

Dumbledore's reply is silence. Eventually, the hat sighs.

"Fine. Feather-duster. Get me down."

The bird perched behind Dumbledore, brilliantly plumed in red and orange, takes off. It flies up to the top shelf, snatches the hat in its talons, and glides back down to the desk where it deposits the hat and returns to its perch.

"A warning before you continue: the hat looks into your mind to see where you fit best. He is not allowed, by the magics that created him, to share anything he finds there. Do you understand?"

Izuku nods, while in his head, Yoichi sighs.

"Very well. Have a seat." Dumbledore gestures at the chair across his desk. Izuku steps forward and sits down on it while Dumbledore stands, picks up the hat, and walks over to stand beside Izuku. "Are you ready?"

Izuku nods. "Yes, sir."

The hat, once placed on his head, falls down over his eyes and covers his vision in darkness.

Peculiar.

Izuku stiffens as he hears a strange, gruff voice inside his head. It's the same voice he had just been listening to with his ears, but it takes on a different, softer quality inside his head.

There's eight and a half of you. Which one am I supposed to Sort?

Me, Izuku responds before anyone else can pipe up.

I see. The rest of them are just hitch-hikers. Very well.

Hey!

The hat ignores Banjou's disgruntled shout. You have ambition in spades. Such a hunger and drive …. And what a thirst for knowledge. Your loyalty and diligence, alongside awesome bravery … or stupidity. It could be argued to be stupidity.

The hat pauses.

Sorting older students is so much harder than Sorting eleven-year-olds. Although, you don't put much value on rules beyond the consequences of breaking them. You don't value rules for rules' sake, which rules Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw right out. Slytherin's disregard for the rules is based on how they can make the rules work for them … and how they can get away with breaking them without being caught. That doesn't fit you at all, now, does it?

You're sorting me based on the fact I've broken the law before? Izuku asks, incredulous.

Yes. That, and your incredible lack of self-regard. Those make you a shoo-in for "Gryffindor!"

The last word is bellowed out loud, and Izuku finds himself rubbing his temple as the hat is lifted off his head.

"I see we'll have to put a sixth bed into the fourth-year Gryffindor boys' room this year," Dumbledore remarks. "Fawkes, if you would?"

He holds the hat out and the bird takes off from the perch, snatching the hat and carrying it back up to the shelf.

"Thank you, again, Hat," Dumbledore says as Fawkes settles back on its perch.

The hat grumbles wordlessly in response.

"I believe that is the last of your business here for the day." Dumbledore walks back to his side of the desk and sits down. "Your supplies list will be sent out with the rest of the students'.

Izuku knows a dismissal when he hears one. "Thank you, sir." He stands and bows briefly.

"You're welcome. I look forward to seeing your progress here in the coming term. Have a good rest of your day."

"You, too," Izuku replies, stepping over to fireplace and tossing a pinch of Floo Powder in. He stumbles out on the other side into the middle of a shouting match between Ron and Mrs. Weasley.

"Are you kidding me?" Ron cries. "I can't share a room with Fred and George! We'd kill each other within an hour!"

"Don't be dramatic. You can handle five days—Oh! Midoriya!" Mrs. Weasley throws her hands up as she catches sight of Izuku. "How did your tests go?"

"They went well," Izuku replies, choosing to omit whatever happened with Snape. "I'm in fourth year, now."

"You got Sorted, right? Which house?" Ron leans forward, eyes wide.

"Gryffind—"

"Gryffindor!" Ron cheers. "Mate! We're in the same house!"

Ginny, who is passing through the living room on her way to the stairs, gives Izuku a quick thumbs-up.

"Yeah." Izuku smiles and chuckles, letting some of the remaining tension drain. "Yeah, we are. Anyway, what—why are you talking about having to share a room with Fred and George?"

"Oh, that." Ron rolls his eyes. "Bill and Charlie are coming to visit on short notice, but we don't have enough rooms for everyone, so someone has to share."

"I'm just not quite sure how I'm going to make it work," Mrs. Weasley mutters.

Izuku shrugs. "I can share a room."

"Yeah!" Ron points at Izuku. "He can share with me!"

"That still leaves us a room short, though." Mrs. Weasley crosses her arms and purses her lips.

"Charlie can sleep on the couch. He's short, he'll fit."

Mrs. Weasley huffs. "No one is sleeping on the couch."

Ginny, coming back downstairs, shouts, "Midoriya is quiet and he gets up early. He can share with Percy, and Fred and George can share with Ron."

Ron turns toward her, indignant. "I am not sharing with Fred and George!"

"Then you can sleep on the couch." Ginny shrugs. "Take one for the team, Ronniekins."

"And there's no way Percy would agree to sharing a room with anyone, even Midoriya."

"Why couldn't Bill and Charlie split with Ron and I?" Izuku asks, sidling closer to Mrs. Weasley. "Or Ron and I split, and Charlie and Bill split."

He has no idea what Bill and Charlie are like—he's just spitting out ideas in case any of them help.

"That could work." Mrs. Weasley nods to herself. "Ron, if you're okay sharing with Midoriya, I'll ask Bill and Charlie if they would be okay sharing a room with each other. Midoriya, when Harry comes to stay, he will be staying in Ron's room, you should probably know that ahead of time."

"I'm okay with that." He's never shared a room with anyone, unless you count the few times he's fallen asleep in the middle of a study session with his friends. It'll be an interesting experience.

Mrs. Weasley nods. "Good, good, that's sorted, then. Hermione and Bill should be here tomorrow—so sorry we're shuffling you around on such short notice," she turns to Izuku to say this, "Arthur just heard that he got the tickets."

Izuku blinks several times. "The tickets?"

"Mate," Ron groans. "The Quidditch World Cup? Haven't you been paying attention? Dad's been trying to get them off Bagman for ages!"

They have been talking about them a lot, Yoichi adds. Although you've been very focused on cramming.

"Oh." Izuku nods. "Right. Sorry." He reaches up to run a hand through his hair and echoes the excuse Yoichi just handed him on a silver platter: "Sorry, I've been really focused on cramming for the tests, I must have just … forgot."

Ron shrugs. "Yeah, I understand that. Oh—you're coming with us, too, Dad got enough tickets for everyone!"

En pops up for the first time in a while. We will definitely understand everything that's happening in that game.

"Oh, that's great! I'm excited," Izuku replies. Just because he knows hardly anything about quidditch doesn't mean he can't be excited to spend more time with his friends, although he may be sick of them by the time he's done spending several nights sharing a room with them.

"Don't worry, we'll explain everything," Ron promises. His eyes gleam as he talks, excitement palpable in every gesture. "You can sit with Harry and I, Harry plays for the Gryffindor team, you won't miss a thing."

Izuku smiles back up at him. "I'm looking forward to it."