A/N:

Hello readers! If you couldn't already tell, this story is going to have a lot of original characters that end up influencing the plot. I will do my best to keep them to a minimum, but at the very least you are going to meet five or six Hogwarts students who are my own characters. You're going to be introduced to most, if not all of them in this chapter. This is just to give our main little trio some more friends that stick with them. Now, onto the next chapter!

--

Harry awoke much earlier than he was used to, eager to start his day. He got dressed, tying his new red and gold tie around his neck as the finishing touch and heading down to the common room to write home. His perch of choice was a table near the fireplace, mostly because it was in direct view of the armchair Hermione was currently reading in.

She had yet to register his presence, and he was trying to keep it that way. She valued her silence in the morning. So, he wrote his letter and pulled out his schedule, deciding to do some preemptive studying. Potions was first, and he was very excited–despite hearing the professor was hard on the students.

Soon it was 7:20 and Hermione was in front of him, her book bag over her shoulder and a smile on his face.

"Ready for breakfast?" She asked.

"Absolutely…should we wait for Neville though?" He glanced around the common room, noticing several students up and about now.

"No need." Came the groggy voice of Neville as he lazily made his way over.

The three of them left then, getting to the Great Hall just as breakfast had started. They sat down and dug in. Shortly after they had sat down, they were greeted by some of the other first years. Harry held back a groan when Ronals, once again, sat across from them.

"Of all the places to sit…" Hermione mumbled, making Harry choke on his toast.

"Alright there, mate?" Ron asked through a mouthful of eggs.

Just then, he was wacked in the back of his head. "Ron—stop that, seriously."

An older girl, with tired blue eyes and curly brown hair sat next to the redhead, her red and gold tie hanging around her neck loosely.

"Your table manners are genuinely repulsive. So repulsive I might have to write your mother." She leaned on the table lazily, glancing at the three first years across from her. "Ahh, sorry about him kids. He's a bit dimwitted–you understand. I'm a friend of his brothers."

Harry was staring at her with a mix of confusion and admiration. The way Ron tensed up and immediately began behaving was downright hilarious. Her calm demeanor and slightly dry tone gave her a sort of aloof energy that the three quite liked. She seemed easy to talk to.

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself first, extending his hand.

The girl took it, giving him a firm handshake. "Oh believe me kiddo, I know. Nice to meet you though, you seem like a good kid."

She let go of his hand, stretching up briefly and letting out a tired groan. "You two must be Hermione and Neville." She smiled at the two of them. "I'm Samantha Scott, third year Gryffindor, muggleborn. If he ever bothers you, be sure to let me know."

Her accent was strange, definitely not english. Harry thought she sounded similar to his aunt Jackie when she had initially come back from her deployment in America. She was definitely more southern though, almost country. He decided he would ask later.

She gave Ron another flick to the back of his head and got up from the table. They watched her sidle up next to a boy at the Hufflepuff table and give him a quick peck on the cheek.

"She seems nice." Neville chuckled.

"Bloody mean, actually." Ron mumbled, this time without food in his mouth.

–

Potions class had been…less than fun. Harry was trying to remain positive on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was growing increasingly difficult.

Professor Snape turned out to be the cruel looking man Harry had noticed at the Welcoming Feast. His seemingly unwarranted and outward dislike for Harry baffled him, but what could he do? He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I don't know why he acted like that." Hermione said, a hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine…" Harry offered weakly. "I'm sure it'll get better."

Just then, they arrived at their class. Joined by the Ravenclaws, the first year Gryffindors all settled into their seats, waiting for the Professor to begin.

Professor Quirrell turned out to be the man in the purple turban. Harry couldn't shake the absolutely overpowering feeling of discomfort the man brought him, but decided to power through the lesson. He was twitchy and mumbled through half his words, making him hard to understand, but Hermione took diligent notes nonetheless.

–

Lunch rolled around and Harry was having a lengthy discussion about muggle sports with Dean and Neville. Seamus was talking to Ron about chess nearby and Hermione was nowhere to be found. It was only about halfway through lunch that Harry finally mentioned this, and she just so happened to walk through the door.

Next to her was Samantha, one arm around her shoulders and a bright smile on both their faces. Samantha spoke eagerly about something, and Hermione nodded along. They sat opposite Harry, Neville, and Dean and continued their conversation while helping themselves to some food.

Harry and Neville shrugged, turning back to their conversation with Dean. Down the table, Lavender and Parvati were locked in discussion about some gossip column, effectively tuning out everything and everyone else. Harry thought this was much more enjoyable than his first two classes, deciding school really wasn't that bad.

"So, football is a lot like quidditch then?" Neville asked.

"Eh, sort of. Same basic principles when it comes to getting a ball through a goal– although by that logic, almost all sports are the same idea, so…" Dean shrugged. "We'll just have to show you sometime, won't we, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Maybe over break I'll invite you two over and we can play a few games with my dad." Harry smiled. "That reminds me, do you want to come with me to mail my letter guys?" Harry didn't really specify who he was inviting, but it was pretty obvious when Neville and Hermione agreed quickly.

"Harry, how was Potions?" Samantha asked. "Snape can be an ass–sorry, a jerk–but he is undoubtedly amazing at his craft." She sighed. "He's hardest on Gryffindors, but try not to take it personally, it really has nothing to do with us."

Harry frowned. "It seemed pretty personal when he called me out in front of the class three times and took points away even though I answered his ridiculous questions correctly."

"Oh!" Samantha looked slightly surprised. "Well he did have that thing with your dad I guess…"

The first years listening in all blinked in surprise, the strange implication causing them to short circuit. She didn't seem to notice until several seconds into their shock.

"Oh, I meant they had a rivalry in school. Over your mom." She laughed. "Only stories of course, but man they're kind of funny to think about. Anyway, everyone knows you look just like James, he's probably taking out his buried anger on you. What a moron."

Harry sighed dramatically. "Great."

"Well that's just ridiculous!" Hermione crossed her arms. "He shouldn't be allowed to do that. Any of what he's doing really–I mean, come on! Not showing favoritism has to be one of the top three rules of being a teacher."

"I agree, but I don't think he cares about that very much. Plus, Dumbledore isn't sane enough to take any complaints against him seriously. Your best bet is bringing it up with Professor McGonagall and asking her for help." Samantha turned back to her food then.

Harry considered her words. Dumbledore was becoming more of a mystery rather than an easily solvable problem. Which, he supposed, only made sense. Harry had yet to see him since the Welcoming Feast, considering he probably had Headmaster duties to attend to.

"Harry, what did you think about our last lesson?" Hermione had pulled out her notes and was reviewing them while he pondered his Dumbledore dilemma.

"Uhh…Honestly? It was hard to stay focused, but the textbook was interesting. I think with a different professor I might actually enjoy that class."

"How do you mean?" Hermione looked up from her notes.

"I dunno, he was just like…twitchy and annoying." Harry flushed guiltily at his insult, knowing Hermione would reprimand him for it.

She never got to though, a deep voice cut through her thoughts. The Hufflepuff boy they had seen Samantha go sit with that morning had come up and put his arms around her.

"Are we talking about Quirrell?" He said, a smirk on his face. "That guy sucks at teaching. If you wanna learn defense, talk to an older student and get them to tutor you."

"Everette, don't influence the kids too much, they have to come up with their own opinions." Samantha leaned into his touch, smiling up at him.

"Sorry darlin', but I stand by what I said." He moved to sit next to her, making a show of pushing Ronald to the side a bit to sit between them.

His accent was even thicker than hers, and now Harry was really curious.

"Where are you from?" He asked.

"Yes, please tell us, I've been trying to figure it out all morning." Hermione added.

"Oh, we grew up in Texas." Samantha chuckled. "My aunt works at the ministry here though, and she's the only magic family I got. I took this guy with me when I found out he could do magic too."

"You act like you picked me up like a stray dog." He scoffed, taking a bite of something off her plate.

"Didn't I, though?" She shrugged. "Anyway, yea–we're transfers. We actually have another friend who came with us. He's a Slytherin, his aunt and uncle also work here in the ministry. If you ever run into a Jackson Becker, tell him you know me and he'll be nice."

With that cleared up, they all headed to their next things.

—

When classes were done and Harry had amended his letter to include the events of the day, his trio lounged around the Gryffindor common room, each one of them holding a book.

Like clockwork, as soon as they had settled in to enjoy themselves, the youngest Weasley made his appearance.

"Oi, Potter." He called, standing above the couch Harry was currently sitting on.

Harry glanced up and frowned. "What is it, Weasley?"

"I'm sorry." His ears turned bright red and he stared at the floor.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what, exactly?"

"For what I said on the train." He shuffled awkwardly.

"Well, it's not me you should apologize to, is it?" He went back to his book, effectively dismissing him.

Ron stared at him blankly for a moment. He had no desire to be here, apologizing for this, but once his brothers found out what he had done to make Potter dislike him…it was not pretty what they had said. Not to mention, Samantha was currently glaring daggers at him even now—it was her that told him he needed to apologize immediately.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself. Gryffindors charge ahead, after all—even if they don't want to.

"Hermione, I'm really sorry I said those things about you on the train. They aren't true. I don't know why I said them, honestly…" He had turned to her and begun his anxious apology immediately, barely giving her time to realize he was speaking to her.

"Oh…um, thank you. I accept your apology, I suppose. You really should apologize to Neville though, I get the impression you've never been as nice to him as you should have." Hermione said, turning to look at the boy in question sadly.

Ron held back a groan. One apology was embarrassing enough as it was, but three? He wanted to die.

"Right…I'm sorry for what I said about you too Neville, I reckon you're not useless, or you wouldn't be here." He made it through his final apology and stalked away to a chessboard.

Harry glanced at Hermione. "Maybe he has potential?"

She scoffed. "Maybe in ten years. As long as his brothers are keeping him in check we'll be fine though."

Neville rolled his eyes. "Them and Samantha, that girl seems determined to fix his behavior."

They all glanced over to where Samantha was currently lecturing him about something or another. The trio shared a laugh.

"I would hate to be him right now." A voice said from nearby.

One of the girls from Hermione dorm had made her way over, settling next to her on the couch.

"Hi, Liv!" Hermione greeted her enthusiastically. "Harry, Neville, this is Olivia. Olivia, Harry and Neville."

She introduced her friends to each other enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you, Olivia." Harry greeted from the other side of the couch.

"Likewise, I've heard lots about you two." She smiled at Hermione.

The boys chuckled.

"How did you feel about class? I think Snape asked you a question or two as well." Neville asked her.

"I hate that man." She sighed. "And Quirrell is no better."

It seemed everyone came to the same consensus about these professors, Harry could only hope the rest of their classes would be better.

At ten o'clock, Harry and Neville bid Hermione and Olivia goodnight, heading up to their dorm room. Ron was already snoring loudly in his bed. Dean and Seamus were in the showers and their only other roommate was currently staring daggers at Ron.

"Alright there, uhh…?" Neville asked, prompting the boy to introduce himself.

"My name's Tyler, is there any way to fairly shut him up?" He sighed. "I'm a light sleeper and his snoring made my life a living hell last night. I don't want to smother him or anything but…"

Harry chuckled. "Yes, one second."

He pulled out his wand and sent a silencing charm at Ron's curtains, then pulled them closed. The snoring immediately cut out and the room filled with a comfortable silence.

"Much better!" He said, grinning.

"Glad I could help." Harry and Neville made their way over to their trunks, preparing to get ready for bed.

"I've never seen you at any of the gatherings we held, Potter." Tyler said, catching their attention once more. "Not that I blame you of course, they're awfully boring."

"Gatherings?" Harry asked.

"Yea, all the heirs of Noble houses are invited to gatherings a few times a year. Solidifies connections and all that."

Harry glanced at Neville.

"It's true, now that you mention it, I do recognize you from a few of those." Neville smiled. "He's right, they are incredibly boring."

"Well, I suppose they didn't bother inviting me after my parents passed away. Or maybe my mum just never took me." He shrugged. "Are they important?"

"Not particularly, unless you're a pureblood supremacist who's trying to inspire others to follow you with pretty words and shiny coins." Tyler rolled his eyes. "It's really just an excuse for our fathers to spend time influencing us and each other."

"You'll probably be formally invited to the next one, since you've officially been put back into society." Neville sighed. "At the very least, you'll be going simply because I'm making you go for my company."

"Count me in on that group please." Tyler collapsed back into his bed. "I hate sitting alone at those things."

"Sure." Neville shrugged.

Harry went to bed that night hopeful his classes for the next day might be better than today's. Still, he fell asleep with a smile, knowing he and his friend would soon be thriving here in the wizarding world.