A/N: This chapter includes lines from both Philosopher's Stone and Deathly Hallows.

Thursday September 5th, 1991

"Welcome, first years, to our very special Hogwarts introductory seminar!" The Weasley Twins greeted the gaggle of 40 first year students. Standing around them, a handful of third year students watched on in amusement.

"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what's so special about this seminar." George Weasley, possibly, said.

"Naturally they would, dear brother."

"After all, it is a legacy worth enduring."

"Indubitably."

"So, as you all know, the Hogwarts houses are always in competition with each other. Quidditch, The House Cup-"

"But, best of all-" "IN PLAYING PRANKS!"

"Lepus aures!" Two other voices shouted at once. Wands blazed and connected golden lights directly at the Weasley Twins before either could react. They jumped back, alarmed, confused, and their own wands at the ready. The first years in attendance yelped at the spell fire. When it stopped, though, a few of them chuckled or snickered. Then, after a beat, they all started laughing. The Twins looked perplexed, then they looked at each other with more confusion. In unison they reached a hand forward to each other, grasping their brother's ears, which had grown long and furry from the connected spell.

"I do believe you've become hairier since I last saw you, George." Fred remarked.

"I do believe you mean hare-ier, brother mine."

"So it would seem." The twins looked on either side to the wand-wielding witches that attacked them. On one side was the butterscotch coloured prankster, Melissa Bennett. On the other side was the black-haired spellcrafter, Eloise Hyslop. "Pranked during a prank talk, who would have thought?" He remarked playfully at the two witches.

"It seems only fitting that you Chucklebunnies have examples in this talk." Melissa remarked with a smirk.

"It makes for a charming display." Eloise added with a giggle.

The brothers gave each other a playful smile at the thought. "Right you are, ladies!" George answered. Together, the two brothers hopped forward in a rabbit-like fashion. "As you can see, pranks have a long standing tradition at Hopwarts-"

"But sometimes tricks can be taken a bite too far."

"Exploding people's eyes out."

"Setting each other on fire."

"And when things get that bad, you carrot help but reevaluate your approach to what makes a good prank."

"Which leads us to our soon-to-be time honoured tradition-" "The Prankster Pledge!"

At once the twins unfurled a roll of parchment. It was far enough from the first years that they couldn't see it fully, causing most of them to subconsciously lean forward.

"The Prankster pledge is a promise-"

"-Or guideline, if you don't sign it-"

"-that offers rules to ensure that us cottontails have a fun and relatively safe time while at school."

"It reads thusly. A-heh-hem!" Fred turned the parchment around, his rabbit-like ears standing at attention as he read aloud.

The Prankster Pledge

For the assurance of a fun and safe environment during our education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the undersigned students have agreed to abide by the following terms.

1. No prank or practical joke can be damaging enough to cause severe pain, disfigurement, or death.

2. Jinxes and hexes can only be used if the counter-jinx/hex is known to the prank recipient's year-mates or adheres to section 3.

3. Any prank or practical joke meant to affect the physical or mental condition of a student has to be minimal enough that the school healer can remedy it completely within three days.

4. Curses and dark artifacts cannot be used.

5. Any accomplice to a prank has to be a signer of the Prankster Pledge.

6. Any pranks that involve damage to class material or personal property has to ensure that the damage can be undone by a resident at Hogwarts.

7. No stealing from others. Theft is not a prank.

8. Anyone of the undersigned who breaks the above rules is subject to one of three punishments:

8i. They are reported to the prank recipient's Head of House, who will administer a punishment as they see fit.

8ii. With the prank recipient's permission, the prankster's housemates are to punish the pledge-breaker as they see fit.

8iii. If the prank recipient and pledge-breaker are in the same house, the recipient can reach out to fellow pledge-signers in other houses to enact the punishment.

"As you can see, it's a pretty thorough list." Fred noted. "The parchment is also charmed to give a clown nose to thieves and rulebreakers. That said, it's not mandatory for you to sign it, but it does help make sure that no one dies or gets badly hurt from a prank- yes?"

One of the boys, Blaise Zabini, had his hand up. "If it's not mandatory, then why go through all of this trouble? Anybody can break this pledge, so what does it matter if we sign it or not?"

George answered the question with a touch of a frown. "It's the spirit of the thing-"

"A Slytherin boy nearly died during a prank war." Melissa answered loudly. The group all turned to her. She levelled the Slytherins with an authoritative stare. "You might have reservations about it, but putting rules like this are in place helps make sure that things don't go out of control." She paused for a moment, realizing that some of the students looked genuinely frightened by the fact. She changed gears then by giving the group a dispassionate shrug. "No need to put the fun in funeral, after all, am I right?"

"...Right." Fred answered, a twinge of guilt in his voice. "So, how about we give a demonstration!" He said loudly to overshadow the dreary tone. One at a time he flopped his ears back and forth. "So, we have here an ear-changing hex. Mademoiselles, if you would...?"

With a nod, Eloise stepped forward. She went over to each boy and waved her wand while calling out "Reparifarge." In a few seconds the furry ears shrank back to their human forms. She then turned to the students, some of whom applauded at the display. "The rabbit-ear hex isn't a break in the rules because the disfigurement was easily fixed by someone in our own year. There are also some pranks that can be done without actually touching or changing anyone in the process. For example, sphaera tonitrua!" A stream of bubbles shot out from the witch's wand. With the lack of breeze they floated gently near the group of first year students. They all sat calmly, watching them float downwards onto the grass.

BOOM!

They all jumped back at once.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Ignoring the shouts of surprise, Eloise continued. "This spell may not be able to physically affect anyone, but they certainly bring their own little surprise."

Fred cleared his voice for a bit of teasing. "Yeah, a word of caution to all of you. The Ravenclaws are the trickiest bunch when it comes to pranks. So best not to get on their bad side."

Some of the ravenclaw kids giggled at that. The sudden shock, mixed with the jokes, helped to bring everyone back to an amicable state. The seminar went on from there. The third years told stories of some alleged exploits over the past two years. They also answered questions that were asked by some of the students. Then, one by one, students got up to sign the pledge. Melissa watched over the kids as they lined up to the parchment. Zabini, Davis, Runcorn, and Greengrass all signed up about a third of the way into the line. It took a while, but Melissa was surprised to see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all get up and sign the pledge, too, with Nott, Parkinson, and Bulstrode taking up the rear of the line. She noted some whispers and glances between the two latter parties of Slytherin. If she were to guess, the back group would be her biggest worry this year.

"I think that went well." Sierra said, suddenly standing at Melissa's side. They continued to watch the group. "Looks like everyone is signing up."

Melissa nodded. "Mm, but a few seem pretty reluctant."

Sierra followed her gaze to the back of the line. "A couple of firsties who think they're clever enough to not get caught." She announced. "It's nothing to worry about. There's always someone every year."

Melissa sighed in defeat of logic. "I guess."

"So, any chance you can teach me that rabbit-ear hex?" Sierra asked playfully.

"Heh, you're better off asking Hyslop. She's the one that taught me that spell last year."

"Good call." She nodded. The girl then shook her head. "You learned it last year and waited until now to use it on the Weasleys?"

Melissa shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say, I know how to time a good joke."

Friday September 6th, 1991

At lunchtime Harry slid down onto a seat beside Melissa with a tired sigh. "You were right about Professor Snape. He's a tough teacher."

The girl peered at Harry with a look of amusement. "You're just realizing this now?"

"I just had my first class with him. Double potions with Slytherins. He seems to favour them more during class."

"Eh, it's a downside to house loyalty- wait- you still have potions with Slytherin?"

Harry nodded. "A couple of them laughed when I didn't know about the draught of living death; but I was able to answer his questions about the bezoar and wolfsbane."

"That's good." She responded. In her mind, though, she wondered over the not change in Harry's class. "Question, are you taking flying class with Slytherin, too?"

"I'm not sure. Susan says that we'll be getting a notice next week about our flying lessons. Why do you ask?"

"I could have sworn you had both of those with Slytherin, but I also thought you were in Gryffindor at the same time."

Harry considered that a moment. "Maybe you saw both and just thought they were the same timeline or something?"

"Maybe." Her voice betrayed her uncertainty. She glanced at the head table, noting that Dumbledore was watching them curiously. "I'll try to not let it get to me. So, you have the afternoon off, too? I have the same thing."

"Really?" He smiled. "That's good to know. That reminds me, I was invited to the groundskeeper's hut for tea at three o'clock. He says he knew my parents and wants to talk about them. Want to come?"

"At three? I think I can manage that. I just have to do something first."

"Oh? What do you have to do?"

Melissa leaned into her seat. "Well since I have more free time, I'm going to take a look for empty classrooms I can use. I'm thinking of finding a place to practice my music."

"That will be cool." Harry nodded, then stood up. "I'm going back to my table. I'll see you at three."

"Will do. See you, Harry."

Three hours later

"I need a room to keep something hidden."

"I need a room to keep something hidden."

"I need a room to keep something hidden."

Melissa looked about as the thought echoed in her mind a third time. From one end of the corridor to another the hallway remained unchanged.

Well, Seems the first floor's a dud.

At three o'clock Harry and his friends Kevin Entwhistle and Wayne Hopkins went over to the groundskeeper's hut. His nose wrinkled at the stench of meat and animal scents about the place, but tried to compose his face as he knocked on the door. Immediately after the knock came the sound of loud barking.

"Back, Fang, back!" The giant man's voice boomed from the inside, followed by a good deal of shuffling.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Kevin asked the small group.

"It should be fine." Wayne shrugged. "My dog is always barking like that."

After some more shuffling the door cracked open, and the man's big, hairy face appeared. "Hang on." The man muttered. "Back, Fang!" The door opened further, with the groundskeeper keeping his large, black boarhound back by the collar to give them room to step inside.

Harry looked about the room, noting that the whole hut was just one room. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling (which explained the meaty smell), a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yerselves at home," The large man said, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Wayne and started licking his ears. Wayne chuckled at the exuberant dog and immediately started scratching him roughly behind the ear.

"Thank you, Mister Hagrid."

"Jus' Hagrid is fine, 'Arry." The man, Hagrid, said dismissively.

"Hagrid, then." Harry nodded. "I brought my friends Wayne and Kevin, if you don't mind. I had asked Melly to come, too, but I think she lost track of time."

"Not ter worry. Always welcome company." Hagrid assured, looking over each boy. His gaze settled on Wayne. "Say, ye 'ave got a brother 'ere, don't ye?"

Wayne nodded. "Yes. Carl's a year older than me. Though he's in Gryffindor so I don't see him much."

"Right, Carl. Nice chap, seen him once or twice fishin' 'round the lake. How about you?" He turned to Kevin.

The boy looked a little embarrassed by the question. "Me? No, my folks- they're muggles."

"Bah, no need ter be shy wif me." Hagrid assured. "Why, 'Arry's mum was muggleborn, and she was the brightest witch 'er age."

That comment got Harry's attention. "Right, you said you wanted to talk about them."

"Yeah. I got pictures round here, too. Though sit, first, the kettle's boilin'."

They sat around in oversized chairs as Hagrid poured them tea and served them rock cakes. The cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins, and were mostly inedible. As they sat, Hagrid asked them about their first week of school, which they each talked about amicably. Conversation then turned to Harry's parents. Some of the things Hagrid talked about Harry had already learned from Uncle Sirius, but as groundskeeper Hagrid had a better perspective on the things in their school life that didn't involve rule-breaking. He had a lot to say about his mother, and how good of a person she was, which Harry drank in eagerly.

Much as he talked about things beyond their rule-breaking exploits, there was a tangent about chasing his dad and the other Marauders out of the forbidden forest on occasion. It was at that point when a knock came at the door. At once, Fang leapt from Wayne's lap and barked at the door. "'ang on." Hagrid called out once again. When Hagrid finally got the door open, Melly slipped in through the door. "Bennett, good ter see ya."

"Hi, Hagrid. Sorry I'm late."

"No trouble at all. Was jus' talkin' to 'Arry and the others about 'is folks."

"Cool." The girl nodded. She looked about, clearly a little lost at the cramped space. Realizing the lack of chairs, Harry squeezed over to one side and offered her half the space in his oversized chair. "Thanks, Harry. Sorry I didn't see you at the gate."

"It's alright. I figured you were still looking for a room." As she settled into the chair Harry noticed a patch of green scales half-hidden by the collar of her robes. "What happened to your neck?"

Almost in reflex, the girl reached her hand to her neck and pulled the robe higher up. "Just a prank gone wrong. I'll get it fixed later." She assured him with a carefree grin.

"Now 'ere's a good example o' a trouble-maker." Hagrid continued with a grin as he sat back in his chair. He pointed to Melly with a playfully scolding act. "This 'ere missy has caused all sorts o' trouble these past years. Right off the bat, started a prank war wif the Gryffindors in firs' term."

"Really?" Kevin exclaimed.

"Hey!" Melly smiled through her shout of defiance. "The Weasleys started that whole mess, not me."

"S'ppose tha's jus' as likely." Hagrid considered. "But ye did steal young Percy's rat and cause lots o' other trouble."

"Yeah, but I think at this point we can all agree that the rat had it coming." She considered.

Hagrid frowned at that, and looked at Harry with a pitying look. "Right, right. Tha' blasted Pettigrew had it coming."

"Pettigrew? Who's that?" Kevin asked.

That started a whole new tangent of conversation. Hagrid started to explain the background of Peter Pettigrew to the two Hufflepuff boys. Melly also gave her own accounts of the rumours that came around when the rat was found out. Harry stayed silent for the most part. Truthfully the reminder of the topic made him uncomfortable. There have been a couple occasions where Uncle Sirius would get into harsh rants about the traitorous ex-friend, and Harry still would find himself flinching on reflex before his uncle would catch himself and reel back his tone.

As they continued talking, Harry's focus drifted off to the table. Wanting a distraction, Harry picked up a slip of paper half-hidden under a tea cozy. The paper turned out to be a newspaper clipping from the Prophet about the break-in at Gringotts that happened on his birthday. He remembered when it was talked about the next day. All of that chaos and confusion. From what the article said, it seemed that no new leads had been found on the thief.

Hoping to change the subject, he looked up and tuned into the conversation. Hagrid, Kevin, and Wayne were still going on about Pettigrew. Though Harry seemed to have caught Melly's attention, because she was looking down at the paper in his hands and was reading the article.

"The owner of that vault must have been clever to empty it before they were robbed." Harry considered aloud to start the conversation.

Melly didn't answer him, though. She seemed lost in the article. Actually, that didn't seem quite right. As Harry kept his gaze, he noticed that she wasn't actually reading the article, after all. Instead she seemed to be looking far off, like being lost in thought.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm?" Melly shook her head out of the daze. "Oh, um, sorry, nevermind. I shouldn't be asking about it."

"You didn't ask about anything." He pointed out.

The witch blinked twice, then looked about each person in the room, then back to him. "Oh, sorry, you're right. I was just lost in thought."

He glanced down at the article in consideration, and lifted it up slightly. "Was it about what happened-"

"Best not to ask, Houdini." She interrupted. At the same time, her eyebrows lifted and her head gestured over to the others around the table. Harry frowned for a moment. The reaction was an odd one. That said, knowing her sensitivity about others knowing her ability, he let it slide. So instead he turned back to the main group and changed the topic to next week's flying lesson.

When classes completed for the day, Severus Snape reported to the Headmaster's office. "How did you find young Harry?" Albus asked once pleasantries were exchanged.

Severus looked very much like he had bitten into a lemon. "The boy is… unremarkable."

Albus looked oddly amused by the choice of words. "Unremarkable?"

"Yes." Severus answered, reluctant to elaborate further. Only for Dumbledore to give him a prompting look, compelling him to continue. "The boy is timid. Soft-spoken. His knowledge is merely adequate. He makes no impact whatsoever."

Albus hummed at the summary. It probably pained the young man to be so kind as to refer to James Potter's son as anything beyond deplorable. "Yet he does have a way to turn heads. Why, just today he made an impact in the great hall."

Both men stared silently at each other. Each recalling how easily, how casually the Boy-Who-Lived sat at the slytherin table at lunch. Severus, to his credit, scoffed. "Clearly the only remarkable thing about the boy is his fame. He certainly has no semblance of common sense or decorum whatsoever."

Albus did his best to not acknowledge that there may be some truth to that description. Even Lucius Malfoy's son seems to have found some favour with the lad. "I will keep that under consideration." He turned his gaze back to the book on his desk. "Keep an eye on Quirrell, won't you?"