Despite officially being spring, the nippy winds of the Scottish Highlands whipped about as the Ilvermorny Quiz Bowl team made its way to the enchanted hot air balloon for its return flight back to Massachusetts. Good thing I brought my overcoat, Ana thought as she boarded the aircraft. She took her seat next to Missy, and pulled out her History of Magic textbook to busy herself during the flight across the Atlantic. Not long afterward, her Gryffindor friends – accompanied by Professor McGonagall – followed suit in an enchanted balloon of their own.

Amazingly, it was still early in the morning in Massachusetts when the Gryffindor contingent arrived; indeed, many of the students were still asleep in the dormitories. Lavender's jaw dropped when she saw the still-rising sun in the east. "We were only in the gondola a couple of hours," she remarked, "but it looks earlier here than when we left after breakfast!"

Hermione placed a hand over her mouth to try and stifle a giggle. "That's because Massachusetts is several time zones behind us. It's nearly lunchtime back in Scotland, but they're just waking up for breakfast here in North America… so we're basically having an extra-long day today."

Lavender shrugged. "It's been a while since I've had a second breakfast. I wonder what kind of scran they've got here…"

Just as her mouth watered at the thought of pastries and other such baked goods, her daydreaming was then interrupted by a deep, booming voice. "Welcome to Ilvermorny. My name is Keith Floyd – Caretaker and Groundskeeper, at your service. If you'll kindly hand me your bags, I'll show you to your quarters." She looked up at the source of the voice – a muscular, two meter tall Black man stood before the small group. Although he wasn't quite as massive as the familiar Hagrid, he was an imposing figure nonetheless. The four girls readily handed the caretaker their bags as they disembarked.

"May I help you with your luggage, Professor?" he asked McGonagall.

"I think I can manage, but thank you just the same," she replied.

Even with four heavy bags filled with clothes, toiletries and other necessary traveling accoutrements, Floyd was able to carry them as if they were filled with feathers. "Right this way, please," he beckoned as he led the Hogwarts contingent inside the castle. He led them up to the base of the Horned Serpent tower, where they were greeted by none other than Old Margie.

"Good morning," she greeted. "Do I detect some interlopers today? There are quite a few unfamiliar faces…"

"It's okay, Old Margie," boomed Floyd. "They're guests from Hogwarts. They'll be spending their Easter break at Ilvermorny, and I was just about to show them to their quarters."

"Oh!" replied Old Margie, sounding quite shocked. "It's been a very long time since I've accommodated any guests from Hogwarts. This little corner of the castle might not be much, but it's what I've called home for over a century!" As Floyd tried to activate the enchanted lift, Old Margie let out an airy chuckle. "Ah-ah-ah, I'm afraid I can't just let you enter my domain, you know."

"Oh, you and those blasted riddles," Floyd grumbled. "All right, let's get this over with."

After a few seconds' pause, Old Margie presented the riddle. "I always run but never walk, I have a face but never talk. I have hands but cannot write, and I'm always awake – day or night. What am I?"

"Do we really have to go through with this? I was a Wampus – logic puzzles and riddles were never my strong suit!" replied Floyd. "This is official business, so I'd be much obliged if you'd let us up."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Old Margie said in a tone that was only modestly sincere. "Rules are rules… no answer, no entry."

"Bah," spat Floyd. "I'm going to have a word with the Headmaster about this…"

A squeak from the cluster of Gryffindors emerged – a petite bushy-haired girl, even smaller than Ana, raised her hand nervously. "Excuse me sir, but may I have a go?"

Floyd shrugged. "All right, little lady. Go ahead."

The studious Hermione Granger smiled confidently. "I think the answer's a clock."

"Well done, young lady," purred Old Margie. "You'd have been a worthy addition to the house of scholars." And with that, the lift propelled itself up the shaft to the top of the tower. When the platform came to a halt, all four Gryffindor students gasped in awe at the sight of the Horned Serpent common room – easily twice the size of the one back home.

Floyd directed the girls to a large plush sofa near the middle of the common room. "One of the female trustees should be here shortly. They'll show you to your room, then take you downstairs to the Mess Hall for refreshments, followed by a guided tour of the castle. In the meantime, make yourselves at home. Please be advised that some students are still asleep, being that today is a Saturday."

He turned toward McGonagall. "As soon as one of the trustees arrive, I'll take you back downstairs to meet with the Deputy Headmistress, who should have returned at least an hour ago. She'll direct you to guest lodging for non-students."

"Thank you, Keith," trilled the Gryffindor head. "I don't suppose you'll need me to try my luck at answering the riddle on the way down?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could," Floyd murmured with embarrassment.

"As luck would have it, when I was sorted at Hogwarts nearly a half century ago, I was very nearly a Ravenclaw – which most closely aligns with your Horned Serpents," she admitted. She let out a soft chuckle. "It took a full five minutes to decide, as a matter of fact!"

"Five minutes?" boomed Floyd. "If it took five minutes to sort each of our new first-year students, we'd be serving breakfast for our Start of Term Feast!"

McGonagall nodded. "Ilvermorny is a fair big larger than Hogwarts – roughly twice as many students, I believe. I haven't witnessed a sorting ceremony at Ilvermorny yet, but I'd have to imagine it's a fair bit more efficient than our traditional method."

A call from the other side of the room interrupted their conversation. "Gryffindors! If you'll grab your things and follow me…" The four young Gryffindors turned around and saw Missy Ludwig standing next to the entrance of the girls' dormitories. They grabbed their bags and scurried toward the trustee as quickly as they could, while Floyd and McGonagall took their leave.

"Welcome to Ilvermorny," said Missy as she led them through the passageway and to their rooms. "Unfortunately, as class is in session this week, we were unable to keep the four of you together, but we were able to keep you in pairs at the very least." She knocked on a door about three quarters of the way down the hall, and all four Gryffindor girls smiled when they saw the familiar face of Ana peeking out.

"I hope you don't mind sharing your room with Miss Granger and Miss Greengrass," Missy said to Ana. "You three seem to have spent quite a bit of time together at Hogwarts, and as luck would have it, there's two free beds…"

"I don't mind at all," replied Ana. She smiled at Daphne and Hermione. "Well, what are you two doing, just parked in the doorway? Welcome in!"

"Miss Patil and Miss Brown will be just a couple of doors down," Missy said, pointing toward the end of the hallway. "I'll be seeing you all downstairs in the Mess Hall in just a little bit. We'll be serving breakfast, but I understand if you just want to eat lightly. We'll be taking a tour of the castle grounds shortly thereafter."

Ana nodded, then turned her attention to her Hogwarts friends. "These are my roommates, Sabrina and Jillian." Both her roommates were barely awake, and acknowledged their guests with a half-hearted wave. Ana just giggled. "Neither of them are morning people, as you can see. And this handsome man is Scaggs…" She picked up her enormous striped Maine Coon, and handed him to Daphne.

"Oh Merlin!" Daphne squeaked. "And I thought Erebus was big!" Scaggs reached up and gave Daphne an affectionate lick on the cheek with his rough pink tongue. "I think he likes me already." Just as she was about to hand the massive tabby to Hermione, Scaggs suddenly batted his paws near one of the pockets on her peacoat, and made a strange trilling sound. A tiny squeak came from the pocket, and a frightened brown rat scampered to the ground and darted toward the common room. Before Scaggs could give chase, Ana deftly scooped her familiar up and cradled him in both her arms.

"Was that… Scabbers?" asked Hermione. "How in the world did Ron's rat end up in your coat pocket?"

Daphne sighed. "He was probably hiding from Erebus… and little did he know that another, larger cat was waiting for him at Ilvermorny!"

"I feel for Ron," said Ana. "I'm sure he's upset that he'll be without his companion all week." She then handed the cat to Hermione, who pressed him up against her chest.

The expression on her face was nothing short of pure bliss. "He's gorgeous! Your kitty purrs about as loud as a chainsaw, Anastasia. I love it."

She then showed them the bathroom area. "It's a bit different at Ilvermorny as everyone has their own designated sink, toilet, and shower stall," she explained. "It's nice not having to wait on your roommates each morning, but the oldest upperclassmen said that the dorms were renovated four or five years ago – they weren't always this nice. We still have two community bathrooms – they only kept them because there was so much uproar that the porcelain tubs were being replaced by shower stalls. I'm not gonna lie – it is rather nice to indulge in a hot bubble bath every now and then!"

"So… do we get to meet the Golden Boy today, or what?" asked Daphne, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"You're shooting from the hip, aren't you Daphne?" giggled Ana. "You'll see him at the breakfast table downstairs soon enough. My advice – try not to make a big fuss over him. He's aware that he's a big deal in Magical Britain, but I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you keep things low-key."

"That first conversation might be a little weird," mused Hermione. "Harry's British-born, but American-raised – his accent is going to throw me off!"

"Canadian, actually," Ana corrected with a giggle. "And his accent is rather cute. Whenever he says 'sorry', it's a dead giveaway he grew up in the Great White North."

"I wonder how he liked growing up in Canada," Daphne wondered aloud. "To my knowledge, I've never met any Canadians, much less spent any time there!"

"It's easy to tell that he's very proud to be Canadian," said Ana. "He always speaks so fondly of Surrey. It's a stone's throw from Vancouver, in British Columbia."

"I've been to Canada once," added Hermione. "My parents and I went to Montreal for a summer holiday a couple of years ago. It's different than much of the rest of the country in that French is the dominant language, and the dialect they use is very strange compared to what they use in Paris, for example."

Ana nodded. "I've been to Toronto a couple of times. It's comparable to Chicago, but thankfully doesn't have as many sketchy parts."

"Speaking of travels," Daphne hummed, "I'm ready to get unpacked and changed into something more comfortable."

Ana pointed toward the nightstand by Daphne's bed. "You can store your clothes in those bureau drawers. There should be a foldable changing screen behind them for privacy."

"Groovy," giggled Daphne as she made her way to the bed and started unpacking. Hermione followed suit shortly thereafter.

Twenty minutes later, the sounds of chatter and shuffling feet gradually filled the castle as the students made their way to the Mess Hall for breakfast. Daphne was so filled with giddiness that the meal was a total afterthought, even though she felt her stomach rumble a time or two.

"This is so much bigger than our Great Hall," gasped Hermione as the girls took their seats at the Horned Serpent table. Their once-empty cups were suddenly filled with a green, tangy juice that was quite unlike the familiar pumpkin juice back at Hogwarts; their plates were then topped with hot sausage links, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns.

Daphne took a dainty sip from her cup, and grinned with delight. "This is delicious," she said. "What exactly do you call this?"

"Puckerberry juice," replied Ana.

"It's really tasty," agreed Hermione. "A pleasing mix of sweet and sour!"

A few moments later, a familiar cry pierced the commotion. "G'mornin', Ana!"

Ana whirled around and saw Harry, looking groggy and his dark shaggy hair even more unkempt than usual. She smiled at him and gestured for him to take a seat next to her. "Hiya, Harry!"

"Othniel and Tallulah will be here in a moment," explained Harry. "They think they're chasing Ephraim, but I saw him in his cage with my own eyes not even five minutes ago."

Ana sighed. "I don't think that's Ephraim they're chasing…" She smiled again. "Oh, and these are my friends, Daphne Greengrass and Hermione Granger. I spent the week with them at Hogwarts – it was awesome!"

Harry extended his hand across the table. "Hello there," he said in a shy voice. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter. Nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy your stay here at Ilvermorny."

Daphne took his hand first. She was barely able to resist the urge to yank the scrawny lad across the table and give him a bear hug. Instead, she took his hand and shook it gently while offering a friendly smile. "Hiya Harry," she squeaked. "Ana's told me quite a bit about you. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your friends a bit better."

Hermione went next. "Charmed to make your acquaintance, Harry." She giggled. "Your friend Anastasia went into beast mode in the Quiz Bowl – Ilvermorny's going to be incredibly difficult to beat the next few years!"

Harry's eyes widened. "So, you won then? Awesome!"

Ana shook her head sadly. "Not exactly… Hogwarts won – on a technicality. We submitted our final answer a couple of seconds too late, and the Slytherin head of house invoked the challenge clause to overturn it."

"Oh." Harry's expression went totally blank – he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"It doesn't matter who won the blasted contest," said Daphne. "Ana played with the heart of a champion – she'll have her share of championships when it's all said and done."

The four children chatted away as they waited for Othniel and Tallulah to join them. To Harry's surprise, he found Hermione and especially Daphne very easy to talk to. Both Hogwarts girls had a certain innocence about them, which was quite refreshing; not to mention that Daphne acted nothing at all like an entitled princess like so many pureblood heiresses.

"Don't forget that tomorrow evening is the Easter feast," Ana reminded her friends. "Formal robes."

Daphne shrugged. "So, our regular uniforms then?"

"Probably," replied Hermione. "Professor McGonagall would tell us otherwise."

At that moment, Othniel and Tallulah made it to the table. Othniel had a scowl on his face so large that if it could be any bigger, it might have been stuck there permanently. "Ephraim got away from us this morning," he grumbled. "Tallulah and I have chased after him a good half hour, and the little dipshit kept eluding us! D'you guys mind helping us find him after breakfast?"

Ana and Harry burst into laughter.

Tallulah looked at her friends with a puzzled expression on her face. "What's so funny?"

"I'll explain later," promised Ana. "In the meantime, I have a couple of friends from Magical Britain that I want you to meet…"