Chapter 6: Surprise! Second verse, Same as the First.

After the hat's declaration of what her house would be, Holly grinned sheepishly as Professor McGonnagal removed the sorting hat from her head with her own slightly upturned smile. As she walked over to the table that belonged to Gryffindor house, she was a little bemused by the chants of "WE GOT POTTER" which were being lauded by a pair of ginger headed boys who looked like mirror images of each other. She saw that Seamus had been sorted into Gryffindor as well and went to sit by him, waiting for the sorting to conclude with the rest of the great hall. As she glanced around the table, she noticed that Granger girl had been sorted into Gryffindor as well, along with Mr. Longbottom.

'Well, that will make finding him a lot easier,' Holly thought as she heard "Thomas, Dean" be called in the background. Curious as to where the other boy she sat with on the train would end up, Holly turned her attention to the front. The hat seemed to contemplate for a few moments before landing on "GRYFFINDOR" for Dean, which Holly was pleased by as she at least had two people in the house she was familiar with on friendly terms. Holly did note that the red haired boy who had seemed to involve himself in her interaction with Heir Malfoy, who answered when "Weasley, Ron" was called, was also sorted into Gryffindor. She clapped politely, noting that the twin redheads were cheering loudly for him and congratulating him on not breaking the family streak. Looking about the table, now curious, Holly noted that there was one other red-haired boy whose hair was the same shade as the other three's hair.

'They must all be brothers,' Holly thought, wondering exactly how big their family was.

After "Zabini, Blaise" was sorted into Slytherin, Professor McGonnagal stowed the hat and chair back in the side chamber she had retrieved them from before the sorting, then sat in her chair next to a wizened looking old man who was seated in the center of the head table. Holly figured that must be the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. The old man stood up and moved a podium, which had appeared in front of the head table as he approached it. Once he had taken his place behind it, the elder wizard began, "Greetings, students, to yet another magical year at Hogwarts. I do have some things that we must go over before the year begins, however, I know that if I keep you from the magnificent feast we have here today that there might be a riot. So, for now, all I have to say is this: Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, and Tweak."

All at once, the empty dishes in the middle of the table were filled to the brim with any sort of food you could imagine. Of course, you didn't have to tell a room full of hungry teenagers to do what naturally commences when presented with food. Everyone up and down the tables were grabbing for, or asking for to be passed to them, whatever suited their fancy. Holly had decided on some shepherd's pie and a roll. For some reason, the red haired boy from the train had decided to sit on Holly's other side, while Dean had taken a seat across from Seamus, and was probably the most atrociously mannered eater she'd ever witnessed, and that was saying something. Having lived with the Dursleys all her life, she'd witnessed her Aunt Marge at the dinner table and she was terrible at table manners. Holly would bet that even Marge would be giving this Ronald Weasley boy a sideways look before diving into an Aunt Petunia-like tirade on table manners, something she and Dudley had the privilege of being on the receiving end of a few times in their younger years before her uncle had taken them both aside and explained why her aunt was so uptight about table manners. Hell, Holly could tell you what all of the utensils at a "fancy" dinner were used for and when; that's how much Petunia had drilled it into them on the off chance she would have an opportunity to take them to a "society" dinner.

All of this to say that the boy next to her would not be attracting any witch anytime soon, in Holly's opinion as a witch. Not that she was interested in boys just yet but she knew for sure this Ronald Weasley would not be coming near her with his mouth in this life or the next.

It became much easier for Holly to continue through her own meal once she'd mentally walled off anything going on to the right of her. Desert had come after a while, to which Holly had taken a small amount of everything in front of her. After it seemed everyone was done with dessert, minus the black hole sitting to her right, the plates cleared to their gleaming state that they were at before the feast began, eliciting a small sound of protest coming from Ronald. Before he was about to start complaining in earnest, the headmaster rose from his seat and moved to the podium, which had reappeared in front of the table.

"What an excellent feast," the headmaster began, "and what an excellent start to the year. Now that we are all filled, I have some start of the year announcements to go over.

"Firstly, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind all of the students, with particular emphasis to our older students, that joke items, such as fanged frisbees and the like, are forbidden. For a complete list of all prohibited items, you may consult the extensive list outside of his office. Dueling outside of sanctioned clubs is also prohibited, particularly in the hallways.

"Our groundskeeper has also asked me to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest, as the name implies, is off limits.

"As always, clubs will begin meeting next week. For those first years who may want to be considered for reserve status on their house quidditch teams, it would behoove you to get your name on the list for flying club tomorrow. The starting day for all of the clubs will be on the parchments posted on the boards, however, the final day for signup will be Tuesday.

"And finally, to all those who do not wish to die a most painful death, the third floor corridor on the right hand side is forbidden to all students.

"Now, let us kick off the school year in earnest by singing the school song. Everyone knows the drill, pick your tune and away we go!" Dumbledore concluded his speech.

What commenced from that point forward was sheer chaos. Holly wasn't even sure how it could be considered music but here they were, mired in such resonant dissonance as all of the various song melodies clashed in a horrid distortion that even the most metal of bands would be covering their ears at the truly ugly musical scene in front of them. At the end of the musical massacre, the headmaster used his wand as a conductor's baton as the twin redheads from her table ended the catastrophe with their version of the song being sung as a funeral dirge. Holly thanked the gods of music that it was over as the headmaster said, "Ah, music, a magic all of us can perform. And now, if the prefects will take over in making sure the students make their way to the houses, we can conclude this first evening of the term."

It was then that the thin, tall redhead that was situated further down the table stood up and said, "First years over here, quickly now."

With Seamus and Dean in tow, along with Mr. Weasley, Holly and company gathered around the taller redhead, waiting on Hermione and Neville, who ambled up with a brown haired girl and a girl of Indian ancestry. When it seemed that all of the first years were gathered, the redhead continued, "Right then, it seems we have all of the first years now. I am Percy Weasley and am one of the prefects from fifth year. It is part of my job to help all of you as much as you require, so do feel free to come to me if you have any questions or need help with any of your homework. Now then, the curfew has been extended this evening to account for however long the feast might have taken but we still are up against it so let us move along."

Percy led the group of first years out of the great hall, turning towards a massive staircase, saying, "I suppose we should have a little tour on the way to our common room. As you all can see, this is the grand staircase. This will be your main method of navigating the castle, as well as your most confusing experience these next couple of months. You may have heard from older siblings or parents that the staircases like to change. This is correct and, unfortunately, it's not always clear why they do. Hogwarts is a magical entity in its own right, almost sentient really, and therefore adapts to the world around it. Some have suggested the castle likes to play pranks on the students, although there isn't any sufficient evidence to corroborate those rumors. My best advice is to pay attention when you are in the staircase so you can get an idea for what stairs like to move the most. Also, pay attention because some stairs are missing on certain days of the week. Now, let's keep moving, we've got to get all the way to the seventh floor."

As their little group traipsed up the stairs, the first years were constantly looking around at all of the paintings, which Holly noted all moved, even the ones that looked as though they were just landscape paintings. Some of the people in the paintings moved into neighboring paintings to follow along with the group but would get bored after a few paintings and move back to their original home.

Seeing the staircases in motion wasn't something Holly was prepared for. There's knowing that two thousand plus pounds of stone can move at a moment's notice, then there's witnessing it. It was a sight to behold, further impressing Holly at the sheer capability of magic. Furthermore, the fact these enchantments were performed more than a thousand years ago was even more impressive.

Before long, their little troupe found themselves in front of a painting of a very large lady, who was dressed in a pink, Victorian style dress. She was posing in what Holly could only assume was her opinion of what elegance looked like. As she lowered her handheld eyeglasses slowly and turned her head to face the group, the woman said, "Password?"

"Caput Draconis," Percy responded firmly, to which the lady nodded and the picture swung inwards, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. As he walked into the room, Percy called back to them, "quickly now, keep up."

The group quickly got their bearings about them and entered the common room, to which they were greeted with the sight of about fifty or so students milling about in their friend groups. It appeared that everyone was catching up with each other or sharing the latest gossip that they had heard over the summer. As they walked up to Percy, he spoke again, "This is the Gryffindor common room. As you can see, it can get a little hectic here from time to time. Usually days after quidditch match victories are a little more rowdy than this but, much to my chagrin at times, a random party can be started out of seemingly nowhere. Suffice it to say, Gryffindors like to celebrate for any reason. Now, it would behoove all of you to make sure you sufficiently study before you partake of any such celebrations. My advice would be to knock out as much of your work before the weekend so that you may be able to participate and relax knowing that your homework isn't just hanging out there unfinished. Now, follow me so we can conclude our little tour today."

The group moved over to a pair of staircases at the opposite end of the common room from where they had entered that ascended in different directions. Standing in the middle of them, Percy resumed, "These are the staircases to the dormitories. To my right are the stairs to the girl's dorms and to my left are the stairs to the boy's dorms. Fair warning, although you'll find this out on your own if you try it yourselves, the girl's dormitory staircase is enchanted to keep the boys out of the area. The girls, however, are allowed to go up to the boy's dormitories. Don't ask me why it is this way, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. Suffice it to say that it's been that way since the founding of the school.

"This concludes the tour for today. I hope that all of you were paying attention as best as you could so that you can find the common room on your own. Also, it would behoove you to remember the password to the common room or else you will be stuck outside waiting for someone else to come along who has remembered the password and there is no telling how long that will be. I imagine you all may have some questions but those can wait until tomorrow. All of you will meet me down here in the common room in the morning so that we can go down to breakfast together. You'll find that all of your luggage has been brought up to your dorms already," Percy concluded, walking up the stairs to the boys dorms.

The group of first years stood there awkwardly for a moment before Holly decided she'd had enough excitement for one day and took the lead in going up to the dorms. Bidding the boys goodnight, she traversed the stairs and found that their dorm, which had a plaque on it that read 'First Years', was at the end of the corridor. Opening the door, Holly noticed that there were four four post beds in the room surrounding what seemed to be a pot-bellied stove in the center of the room. Locating her trunk at the end of the bed in the back of the room away from the entrance to the bathroom, Holly went over to it and opened it. Climbing down into the trunk and going to her wardrobe inside, she retrieved a tank top, fleece pajama bottoms, her bathrobe, and a full uniform for the next day. Climbing back out of the trunk, she was greeted by the sight of the rest of her dormmates staring at her climbing out of the trunk. The Indian girl had a very calculating stare and the other two girls sported somewhat of an inquisitive stare.

Holly wasn't particularly sure how this next interaction would go but she also knew that if introductions weren't made that she wouldn't be able to figure out what kind of mindset these girls were in. Deciding to rip it off like a band aid, Holly finished climbing out of the trunk, saying, "Is something wrong?"

"Not at all," the Indian girl answered, bringing her hand up to her chest as though she were inspecting her nails, "I'm Parvati Patil by the way."

"I'm Holly Potter," she said, closing the lid on her trunk and setting down all of her toiletries and clothing she'd collected while she was in the trunk, "and who are the rest of you?"

"Lavender Brown."

"Hermione Granger," came the replies from both girls.

"Good to meet all of you," Holly stated, turning to face the girls, "I look forward to getting to know you throughout the year. However, it is late and I would love to be in bed."

"Yes, I suppose it is a tiring job," Parvati snarked, looking up from her nails with a smirk on her face, "being the savior of the magical world and whatnot must be exhausting."

And there it was. Holly was quite familiar with the mean girl faction of school, having dealt with them before. She had been hoping that her roommates wouldn't fall into that trope but, alas, it seemed too much to ask for. Holly knew that when dealing with mean girls, once must figure out the best way to establish that she was too much of a hassle to be messed with. Fortunately, she had that in spades, or so she thought, ~Kira, darling, I believe it'sss time to introduccce you to my new roommatesss.~

Kira slithered out of her special pocket in Holly's robe and coiled up around Holly's neck, her head facing the girls. Her tongue tasted the air, ~Predatorsss, Massster? Or prey?~

As Holly began to undress from her school uniform, she answered, ~Neither, Kira, just pests to be ignored.~

Holly glanced over at the girls, who were still standing in the same spot by the pot-bellied stove they were when she exited the trunk. They were standing there barely containing their fear, which Holly had to sympathize with them a little bit as they had gone from no snake into the room to one appearing out of Holly's robe. Deciding to push the situation over the top, Holly finished stripping down until she wasn't wearing anything but Kira around her neck. Then she looked Parvati in the eye, saying, "I would like to introduce you to my familiar, Kira. She's quite harmless unless I tell her to be otherwise. Do I have a reason to tell her otherwise?"

Parvati, who managed to find her voice after a moment, looked back at Holly with a smirk, saying, "Not at all. After all, Holly, we're all friends here, right?"

"It's Heir Potter to you, Miss Patil," Holly countered firmly, standing with her arms crossed under her chest.

"Heir Potter," Parvati said slowly, doing a single head nod with an eyebrow raised, "What are we royalty here?"

"Some of us are," Holly said, turning around after she grabbed her toiletries off of the bed, along with her towel, "now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retire for the evening."

"Of course, your majesty," Parvati retorted sarcastically, with a sarcastic bow to accompany it. When Holly stopped, looking over with a raised eyebrow, with Kira gazing intently at Parvati, she amended, "Heir Potter."

Holly smiled and nodded at Parvati, then continued into the bathroom, finding a shower stall and getting into it, ~Do you mind water at all Kira?~

~Ssso long asss it'sss warm, massster, it doesss not bother me,~ Kira replied, loosening her coil around Holly's neck so she was evenly draped down Holly's front.

~That's good,~ Holly said as she looked at the shower stall, noting the knobs looked quite similar to the muggle ones at her aunt and uncles. Grateful for the similarities, Holly turned the knob until the arrow was pointed at a forty five degree angle on the 'H' side of the temperature selector.

~What wasss that all about, massster,~ Kira hissed as the hot water fell on both of their bodies.

~What do you mean, Kira,~ Holly asked, unsure of what Kira meant.

~Why did you fully disrobe in front of the other femalesss? What purpose did that ssserve?~ Kira clarified, coiling around Holly's neck again to get out of her way while Holly washed herself.

~Oh, that,~ Holly said, wetting her hair down so she could begin to shampoo it, ~It'sss sssomething that I've done before to other girlsss who've tried to intimidate me like that in the girl'sss locker room. It'sss sssuposssed to make them uncomfortable. It would ssseem Misssss Patil hasss a little more emotional fortitude than thossse other girlsss. It'sss really quite ressspectable. I imagine that you were really the only thing that got me the edge in that encounter, which isss fine with me.~

~Do you exxxpect thossse femalesss to continue to be a problem, massster?~ Kira asked while Holly really worked the shampoo through her long hair.

~Hopefully not,~ Holly replied, rinsing her hair and then adding the conditioner to it to begin the wait as it soaked into her hair, ~it'sss really quite exxxhausssting dealing with mean girlsss but, if you let them treat you whatever way they wisssh and don't ssset any boundariesss right away, it becomesss a bigger hasssssle than it would have been if you'd dealt with it accordingly in the firssst place.~

~Much like dealing with another sssnake encroaching on one'sss territory, or so I would imagine,~ Kira said, draping herself down Holly's front again.

~Probably,~ Holly agreed. The two of them enjoyed the rest of Holly's shower in silence from that point in the conversation. Once Holly was done and dried, she walked back out into the bedroom. She saw that the other girls were busy with their nightly routines, though it would seem that the bushy haired girl, who had identified herself as Hermione Granger, was intent on being fully unpacked and put away before she went to bed. Holly shrugged, 'Different strokes for different folks I suppose.'

Getting into her pajamas, Holly noticed the curtains around her four post bed that she hadn't noticed when she first walked into the room. Smiling to herself, she thought, 'this will make for a nice quiet evening I suppose.' Closing the curtains to her bed, she snuggled up under the covers, ~Goodnight, Kira.~

~Goodnight, Massster,~ Kira replied as she snuggled up underneath Holly's clothing.

The morning after the sorting showed Holly that it wouldn't be as simple as showing off her snake to the other girls to dissuade them from the hen pecking competition that seemed to be continuing from the previous day. It seemed that the other three girls formed their own clique, to which Holly was a little disappointed. Resigning herself to the situation as it was, Holly got ready for the day with Kira around her neck until she put her school robe on, which Kira had slithered into the undetectable expanded pocket on the inside. As she exited the room, Holly saw herself spending a lot of time inside her trunk for some peace and quiet.

As she descended the stairs to the common room, Holly noticed Seamus and Dean sitting on one of the couches near the fireplace. Both of them had noticed her entrance into the room and beckoned her over. Seamus spoke up, saying, "Mornin', Holly, how was it in your dorm last night?"

Holly glanced around, noticing that the rest of her dormmates were descending the stairs, and said, "I'll explain more at breakfast, want to head down with me?"

Dean and Seamus glanced at each other before both of them answered, "Sure." "Yeah, I could eat."

The trio exited the portrait hole and began their descent down to the great hall. Once they entered the great hall, their senses were assaulted by the smell of the various breakfast foods that were already waiting for the students to consume them. Of course, the teachers were already present at the head table. They appeared to be close to finishing their breakfasts and getting ready to hand out student schedules.

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, Holly began to load up on eggs, bacon, and sausage, with a couple biscuits doused in sausage gravy. The boys didn't blink an eye until she poured the gravy on the biscuits. Seamus, who'd loaded his own plate up with all the items you'd find in a traditional irish breakfast, said, "Never seen that done before, what's up with the gravy on the biscuits?"

"Uncle Siri did some work with some American aurors who were from the southern part of the United States," Holly explained, cutting up the biscuits into bite sized chunks, "apparently this is something they do over there and it tastes amazing. Here, try one."

Holly sat back as Seamus speared one of the biscuit chunks with his fork and put it in his mouth. After he chewed and swallowed it, he said, "Not bad, Holly, I think the yanks might be onto something with that. Still, I'm going to stick with what I have here."

Dean, who had a stack of over easy eggs and toast on his plate, spoke up, "So what was it you wanted to tell us that you couldn't in the common room?"

Holly finished the food she had in her mouth, chasing it down with some orange juice she'd poured earlier, "Well, it would seem that the other girls in the dorm have got it in their heads that I'm someone they can bully into being a follower in their group. Parvati seems to be the lead mean girl."

"Mean girl?" Seamus asked, talking through the bit of sausage that he was about to put in his mouth.

"Yeah," Holly answered, "you know, girls who are popular who make it their business to tear down other people so that it makes them look better? Girls who are mean to others for no reason other than to bully them into doing what they want?"

"Oh," came Seamus' profound response.

"Yeah," Holly continued, "I was hoping that there wouldn't be any of that with my dormmates but I've dealt with them before. Usually all I've had to do in the past is confront them while I'm not wearing anything and they'll leave me alone."

"Wait a second," Dean said as he was putting one of his eggs on top of a piece of toast, "You stood up to them naked?"

"Yeah," Holly answered, "It usually makes them uncomfortable, to which they would avoid me because I make them uncomfortable. If it hadn't been for Kira around my neck, I don't think that tactic would've worked on Parvati. She seems to be a special kind of mean girl, very confident in her own body to not be intimidated like that."

Seamus and Dean looked at each other, shook their heads in disbelief and said, "Girls."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Holly asked in mock offense.

"It's not even been a full day of school and you all are already starting with the drama," Dean said, getting his final round of egg on toast ready to eat.

"Tell that to them," Holly replied, jerking her head towards the door to the great hall where the mean girls had just walked through.

Seamus looked over at the group, then shook his head, "Nah, too much drama for me, I'll let you deal with them however you want. If you want my opinion, it's probably not worth the effort to get Parvati to submit to you."

"I don't care if she submits to me," Holly said, having just cleared the last of the biscuits and gravy, "I just want her to leave me out of her mean girl politics."

"That I can understand," Dean said, "just the little bit you've told us already has my head spinning. See, if a bloke doesn't like another bloke, they just say so and then the both of them know to stay out of each other's way. Problem solved."

"Yeah, what Dean said," Seamus chimed in.

"Well sorry us girls are soooooo complicated," Holly sarcastically replied, smiling afterwards, "So, you lads want to go check the club board with me and see if there are any you'd like to join?"

"Sounds like a plan," Seamus said, downing the last of his pumpkin juice. Dean nodded in the affirmative as well.

"Brilliant," Holly said as the group stood and made their way out to the board that was outside the doors to the Great Hall.

As they soon saw, there was a club for every course at the school, as well as flying club, music club, cooking club, chess club, and dueling club. A lot of the clubs had a requirement that you needed to be able to take the class that the club was modeled after, which eliminated the clubs that were based on the O.W.L. elective classes. Dueling club had a note that first years could be admitted after an evaluation by the teacher running the club but, overall, the club was only open to second years and above. There was also a note that students were advised to not participate in more than three clubs and that anyone who was in more than three clubs would be closely monitored to make sure their grades weren't slipping.

"Which clubs are you thinking you're wanting to attend, Holly?" Seamus asked, looking at the board.

"Well," Holly replied, "Flying club is a no brainer for me, the quidditch captains run the club and it will be the best way for me to get noticed for the team. I've become fascinated with the sport ever since Uncle Siri told me about it and, to top it off, I've got a good feeling that I'm going to enjoy flying very much as I have a need…"

"What need?" Dean asked.

"The need," Holly paused, "for speed!"

Dean and Seamus looked at each other, something it seemed that was starting to become commonplace when interacting with Holly, then started laughing.

"What?" Holly asked, chuckling along with them, "I like to go fast."

"It's just the way you said it all dramatic like and whatnot," Dean said with a grin.

"Yeah, I've got the need…" Seamus said in falsetto, "The need… for speed!"

"Oh laugh all you like, it's a great line from a documentary that I like," Holly responded, crossing her arms in pretend haughtiness.

"Oh yeah?" Dean asked, "Which one?"

"Top Gun!"

"Holly," Seamus began slowly, "You know that's a movie, not a documentary, right?"

Holly looked at Seamus with a deadpan stare, "How dare you say that to me."

Seamus rolled his eyes, "Alright then, Holly, if you say so."

"Thank you."

"Oh, there you three are," Professor McGonnagal said as she came through the door, "I've got your schedules for you. You'll want to make sure to be in the Great Hall shortly as the prefects need to show you to your classes. So hurry up and put your name down on whatever clubs you're picking."

"Yes, Ma'am," the three of them said in unison. Holly turned back to the board and put herself down for Flying club and Music club. She then thought for a moment, it was hard to think of which core class club she would like to take as she didn't have any experience in any of them yet and wasn't sure which one she'd like to take more of. As she went down the list, her eyes fell on Potions club. She'd always heard from Sirius how sometimes he'd have to take a potion to shore up his health or strength enough to get back to a healer after a somewhat particularly difficult assignment.

"Dead useful, potions are," Sirius had told her this summer before she'd gone off to school, "I probably wouldn't be here without them to be honest and I wish I had the patience to get good at them myself. Plus, a lot of your Potter ancestry has a history in potions. Like your Grandpa Charlus, the inventor of the Sleekeasy Hair Potion. He'd done that in an effort to help tame the famous untameable Potter hair that your father seemed to be in possession of. The only downside to you taking potions right now is it's being taught by someone your father and I, I'm somewhat ashamed to say, had bullied when we were at Hogwarts ourselves. Granted, he gave as good as he got and sometimes even gave first but that's a story for another time."

Yeah, that revelation in the conversation had gone over like a brick through a window for Holly. The only thing that made her feel better about it was that it was her mother who had turned them from their bullying ways, though Sirius was very remiss to share how she had achieved that. Suffice it to say there was a very fragile truce between her father's group of friends and Professor Snape. Hoping that it wasn't a bad idea to put her name down for Potions club, Holly scribbled her name on the list.

"Potions club, Holly?" Seamus asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?" she countered, turning to go back into the great hall.

"Oh nothing," Seamus replied, as he and Dean followed her back to the Gryffindor table, "Just that it's taught by the head of Slytherin house who, I might add, has a very lacking fondness for Gryffindors."

"Well," Holly continued, "be that as it may, my uncle has told me many times how useful potions are. Plus, apparently my family has a history in potions inventions."

"Oh yeah?" Dean asked, "What potion?"

"Sleakeasy's Hair Potion," Holly answered, "My grandpa invented it."

"Oh yeah, I've seen me mam use that before," Seamus interjected, "bet your family makes a killing because of that one potion."

Holly shrugged, "I wouldn't know, my godfather and uncle have been in charge of keeping track of my finances for the past eleven years. I just barely had my introductory meeting with my account manager this summer. So, I"m not really sure how much money we have, just that we have more than enough that I don't have to worry about what kind of job I want to do after school."

It was then that Mr. Weasley decided to make his presence known, "I imagine you could buy loads of things and not even make a dent in your vault, eh Holly?"

"I probably could, Mr. Weasley," Holly answered, "but just because one can do something doesn't mean that they should. For example, one could make a comment about someone's wealth in a conversation that didn't include them but that doesn't mean that they should because it might be considered rude."

Apparently Mr. Weasley did possess some level of shame, as he had the decency to look embarrassed, "I'm sorry, Holly, I didn't mean to be rude. I guess it's just that my family doesn't really have the luxury of getting anything we want whenever we'd like but you are right, it was rude of me to say what I said."

Holly smiled, saying, "Apology accepted, Ronald. No harm done."

The look of relief that washed over Ronald was quite amusing to Holly as he sighed, "So, did everyone see what our classes today were?"

Holly shook her head as Seamus said, "We just barely got them. We were signing up for clubs when Professor McGonnagal handed our timetables to us."

"Well, we're pretty unlucky it seems. Double Potions with the Snakes is our first class," Ronald informed them, "then we get History of Magic with the Claws, Flying Lessons with the Snakes, and then Double Charms with the Puffs."

"Well that doesn't sound all that bad to me," Holly replied, "Only an hour of history of magic? I heard that class hasn't changed since the teacher died and continued to teach the class as a ghost, which I might add is a little weird."

"Not that bad?" Ron asked, incredulous, "We've got two hours with the head of Slytherin, who is rumored to be a vampire, while his house is in the class with us. And then, to make matters worse, we have to fly with the snakes after lunch!"

"What's wrong with the Slytherins?" Holly asked, confused.

"You're kidding me?" Ronald asked, "You, of all people, should know exactly what's wrong with the Slytherins. There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."

Holly looked confused, "That can't be true. If so, there'd be loads of dark witches and wizards and, I assure you, not every Slytherin is evil. Take my aunt Andromeda, for example. Or my grandmother for that matter. Both of them were Slytherins and neither of them are evil. Well, in the case of my grandmother, was."

"I assure you, Holly," Ronald continued, skeptical, "the house of the snakes is just a breeding ground for evil. It's best not to associate with any of them if possible."

"Well, Mr. Weasley," Holly said as she got up to go stand by Percy, who'd just arrived to show them to their first class, "I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree and I'll thank you not to bring it up again with me if that's all the same to you."

"First year Gryffindors," Percy called out, "Gather up, it's time to get to your first class."

Grateful for an excuse to get away from Mr. Weasley, Holly quickly went to Percy and stood there waiting. When everyone was gathered up, Percy asked for a timetable, then tsked, "Well, we'd better get a move on to gather up the books you'll need for the day as we've got to get to the dungeons from the seventh floor. Quickly now, Professor Snape is notorious for being unfair to any student not in his house and I'd rather not give him any additional excuses by getting you lot there late."

As the group began to move up the stairs at a quicker pace than the night previous, Holly was truly beginning to wonder if signing up for potions club had been a mistake.

Author's Note: SOOOOOOO terribly sorry that I haven't updated for a long time. I'm more of a reader than a writer. I got caught up in a couple of fics, one that I blazed through the last couple weeks called Daphne Greengrass and the Boy Who Lived. I really enjoyed it. And then, of course, I got myself drawn into the nightmare that is Starfield. One would think that one would learn by now to stop buying video games until one has seen the reviews but, alas, here we are and unfortunately I'm going to be out a lot of money if I don't play the game. It's not terrible but it's not great and I could've saved some money if i'd waited to see the reviews and then gotten it when it had gone on like a black friday sale or something. But that's neither here nor there lol, I'm sure y'all dont really care that much about it. I'm going to try to be better about updating but part of my problem is because the story is so AU, something I did on purpose, I've been having a dilemma on whether or not I've decided to to Stations of the Cannon style or do something else entirely. As it stands, I haven't totally decided which way i'm going to go on that. I really don't have a plan, just a bunch of ideas on a list of things I'd like to accomplish. For those of you who have stuck around, I will continue to write the story but as of now I'm not sure what kind of timetable I can promise updates. Just know I'm not going to abandon the story, even if it takes a whole year to write the first book I will do it lol. As always, review if you thought the chapter or story in general is good. Until next time.

For the guest reviewer who commented, thank you for the comment however there was no point in the chapter that i said the mamba would top out at 6 ft. When i did the research, it said that the mamba could grow 6 ft in a year and you'll note i said that it would be 6 ft in ten months time in that chapter. I appreciate the attention to detail and I'm not upset, it actually shows that you're paying attention too and it is my intent to be as accurate to the time period as well as the small details.

Also, I don't get notifications through the app when I get guest reviews so if I don't thank you for them it's because I only check the reviews on the website when I post. And please don't hesitate to mention if you think i've gotten something wrong. It may be something I overlooked or it might give me an opportunity to clarify or say "Hey wait there's an explanation down the road", etc. As this is the first story I'm doing that I'm actually committed to it's completion, as well as the first story I've had reviews on, I am actually invested in doing a good job. So please bear with me lol, we'll all be going through this together.

Shoutout to guests 1&2, ShadowCub, GryffindorGirly (though i think you were one of the guest reviews lol), and Gryffindorforever4242