"What on Earth?" Harry said as soon as they entered their room. It was a cosy little circle with a couple of windows set high on the walls looking out on the dark Scottish skies. Three beds made an equilateral triangle in the room, but what had surprised Harry was that their luggage sat next to their beds.

"House elves, mate," Neville said. "They're fast and they're always listening."

"House whats?" Kevin asked.

"Oh, right, you're muggleborn," Harry said. Then, more loudly, he continued, "Is the house elf who worked on our bags listening and willing to appear for us?"

A wizened old house elf popped up in front of them, causing Entwhistle to jump backwards in shock. "Hello, Wizardlings," she said. "Did Eunys do a good job with your bagses?"

"Yes, you did, thank you," Harry said. "We really appreciate it."

Neville nodded enthusiastically, while Kevin's nod was much more frightened.

"Thank yous very much," Eunys said. "Eunys has worked here since brave master Thomas Stanley passed away and this is the first time a Wizardling has ever thanked her. Yous has made Eunys very happy this night. Please be calling Eunys if yous ever needs anything."

"I'm glad." Harry waved and Eunys popped away again.

"What on Earth was that?" Kevin asked as soon as she left.

One short explanation of house elves later, Kevin said, "Let me get this straight: older wizarding families and institutions have enthusiastic slaves-slash-benign magical parasites who do all of their housework for them?"

"I'm not sure I'd call them 'slaves,'" Harry said, "but, basically, yes. And apparently they don't get thanked enough, so we're going to fix that." He caught Neville's eyes and they nodded to one another.

"Oh, wow," Kevin said. "Every time I turn around, it seems like I'm learning something new and crazy about the Wizarding World. Thank you for explaining that to me, by the way. So are you both purebloods, then? I initially wanted to room with you because I saw you do that handshake after Potter got Sorted to Hufflepuff and I thought you both might be muggleborn or at least halfbloods, but you seem to know an awful lot already."

"I'm a pureblood," Neville said. "Harry here is a half-blood, but he grew up with muggles."

"It's a long story," Harry said.

"Oh, OK," Kevin said. "Thank you for letting me room with you, by the way. All Smith wanted to do was talk about his rich, old, pureblood family, and all Finch-Fletchley wanted to do was talk about his rich, old, muggle family. I would have gone spare if I had to room with them."

"Same here," Harry said.

Kevin nodded. "Us middle-class boys have to stick together."

Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly and looked at Neville, who blushed a little.

"Um…what did I say?" Kevin asked.

Harry bowed. "The future Lord Potter, at your service."

Neville grinned and did likewise. "The future Lord Longbottom, at your service."

Kevin's jaw dropped. "Are you having me on? You're so…normal."

"I was raised by Sirius, the Lord Black," Harry said, carefully keeping to his cover story. "He's…not a traditional lord."

Neville grinned. "Harry and Sirius have been good influences on me."

"Can I tell Hermione you said I was a good influence?" Harry asked.

"Sure," Neville said. "She might even believe it."

Harry gave him a two-fingered salute, which he returned.

"Oh," Kevin said. "Wow. This is going to take some getting used to. So you know Granger, too? You seemed pretty happy to see her."

"She's my best friend," Harry said, "and a muggleborn, just like you. I've known her since before we knew she was a witch."

"Really?" Kevin asked. "How did you figure it out? I didn't know what I was till Professor Flitwick came to our house."

"Sirius figured it out," Harry said. "We were pretty excited."

"I'm glad she could come with you here, then." Kevin looked around. "So, how should we decide who gets what bed?"

"Dunno," Harry said. "Thumb wrestling?"

The other two boys shrugged, so thumb wrestling it was. Harry had an excellent showing and beat Neville, but Kevin won one more match overall and so got first choice. Harry's last thought before collapsing into his surprisingly fluffy bed was that it had been a crazy day, but a good one, and he probably couldn't ask for more than that.

As soon as the door to Hermione's dormitory closed behind her and her four roommates, Hannah Abbott spun around with a huge grin on her face. "We may have gotten kicked out of the party downstairs, but that doesn't mean our night has to be over. I say we treat tonight like a huge sleepover!"

"That sounds lovely," Sally-Anne Perks said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I'd like that," Susan said. "I never get to have sleepovers. Auntie is too security-conscious."

"Auntie?" Megan Jones asked her. She was tall for her age and sturdily built, so she loomed over the rest of them through no real fault of her own.

"Amelia Bones," Susan replied.

"Oh, right!" Hermione said. "She was wonderful when Harry and I met her, and everyone says she's the best Department Head in the entire Ministry."

"Thank you," Susan said shyly. "I'll tell her you said so."

Hannah fixed a predatory smile on Hermione. "That reminds me of something, though. You and Harry seemed awfully cosy tonight, and I think I even saw a kiss on the cheek. Is he your boyfriend?"

Hermione was suddenly the target of four very curious stares and cursed her cheeks for warming up. "We aren't putting labels on it yet," she replied. "He's my best friend, though, and I hope that never changes."

"So he's still available?" Hannah asked playfully. Or probably playfully. Hermione was definitely out of her depth here. Hannah was incredibly vivacious and on her way to growing into a beautiful young woman.

"You'd have to ask him that," Hermione replied. A jealous little part of her raged at Hannah's temerity, but the rest of her wasn't worried.

"Or maybe you shouldn't," Susan said pointedly. "You've seen Granger's Severing Charms."

"Oh." Hannah's face fell. "I didn't mean—"

"It's alright, really," Hermione said. "I wouldn't hex you for trying to ask Harry on a date."

"That's nice of—" Hannah began.

Susan spoke up. "Um…Hanners, she didn't say what she'd do if you succeeded."

Hannah froze and they all turned to look at Hermione, who affected the biggest confused look she could. "Oh," she said, putting one finger to her chin, "I didn't, did I?"

"I was just kidding!" Hannah said quickly.

"It's alright, really." Hermione laughed, hoping it sounded as good-natured as she could make it. "I'm not going to curse anyone because Harry decides he likes them better than me. We're still young. Maybe the first girl Harry dates will win his heart forever…or maybe their relationship will fall apart like almost every other adolescent relationship and they'll never speak again. You never know."

"That's a good point," Hannah said. She had no guile at all and Hermione could practically see her gears turning as she tried to work out whether to let Hermione try first and pick up the pieces or whether to get in first herself and risk it.

It was actually pretty funny, and that was even before she factored in the secret, partially broken engagement.

Sally-Anne raised a dainty little hand. "What did you mean about the Severing Charms? How do you know Hermione's are so good?"

The next ten minutes turned into an action-packed retelling of the events of poor Neville's birthday party. Hermione apologised for Harry's body-checking of Susan, but the girl seemed so excited to have become tangentially involved in the affair that she didn't mind at all.

Sally-Anne put her hand to her lips. "Oh, my. Does that sort of thing happen often at Wizarding parties?"

"Not usually," Hannah said. "That was a weird one."

"Well, there was the time with the grindylows at the swimming party," Megan said.

"Oh, right!" Hannah said. "Poor Sophie Roper had to get Essence of Dittany applied for weeks to keep from scarring."

"That doesn't…worry you?" Sally Anne asked.

"It's pretty rare," Hannah said confidently. Megan and Susan nodded.

"It's OK to be worried," Hermione told Sally-Anne. "I am, which is why I've practised my Severing Charms so much."

"Could you show us?" Megan Jones asked. "I'm curious now."

"Sure," Hermione said. "Sirius had us practising this last weekend. Does anyone have a spare large sheet of parchment?"

"I do." Susan dug around in her trunk (which had somehow appeared in their room before they'd arrived—Hermione suspected house elves) and pulled out a sheet with some scribbles on it.

"Perfect," Hermione said. "Now, everyone get out of the way. Susan, toss that up in the air, but make sure it falls so that none of our beds are behind it from my perspective."

Susan nodded and took in the lay of the room for a moment. The five beds were laid out in the circular room as if they were the points of a hexagon inscribed on the circle, with the sixth point being the door. After a moment she nodded, took a deep breath, and tossed the parchment into the air.

Hermione did her best to ignore her audience and focus on the piece of parchment. Just like Sirius had taught them, she hit it with one Severing Charm on the way up, then chose a piece and slashed that with a second Severing Charm as it fell.

Four jaws hit the floor at about the same time as the three pieces of parchment. Hermione did her best not to be smug, levelled her wand at the parchment pieces, and said, "Pergamentum Reparo."

Before their eyes, the pieces knitted themselves back together. "There we go," Hermione said. "Good as new." She was now extra-glad she'd learnt that Charm, which she'd originally picked up in case her notes accidentally got ripped.

"Merlin!" Susan said. "That was amazing, Granger."

The other girls nodded mutely.

"Call me Hermione, please," Hermione said. "We all need to stick together, regardless of what we feel about boys."

"You're right," Megan said firmly. Hannah and Sally-Anne nodded.

"Can you teach me to do that?" Susan was still staring at the parchment, eyes wide. "Auntie always tries not to be disappointed that I'm not an incredible dueller like her, but I can tell she is. I'd like to make her proud for once."

"Then you will," Hermione said. "I'll teach all of you, if you want. I get the impression that people at this school think Hufflepuff is a joke, but I think we'll have the last laugh."

"That would be amazing," Megan said. "I've always heard that Hufflepuff was the House for rejects and people who just weren't good enough for the other Houses, but I doubt there's another Firstie who'll be able to do that by Christmas, to say nothing of right now. No offence, Hermione, but if you can do that, how did you end up in here?"

"Well, Harry could do it," Hermione said. "He's not quite got the aiming down like I do, but his cuts go much deeper than mine."

"I'm sure he could," Susan said. "And, Megan, I think you're asking the wrong question. She's clearly smart and powerful. So how amazing of a friend is she that the Hat put her here, anyway?"

"I wouldn't say I'm amazing," Hermione said. "I just try to be a good friend."

"How many times have you saved Harry's life?" Susan pressed.

Hermione paused and thought for a moment, then decided not to go there and responded, "We're friends. We protect each other whenever we need to."

"Hermione," Susan said seriously, "today is your first day at Hogwarts and when I asked you how many times you've saved Harry's life, you had to think about it. I only expected you to say 'once' because I was there for that one. You are an amazing witch and he's lucky to have you as a friend, and I hope I'll be your friend by the end of the year, too."

"Harry's saved me, too," Hermione said.

"That somehow makes you even more amazing," Megan said drily.

Hannah nodded. "I don't think I understood what was going on here. I won't bother Harry, I promise."

"It's alright, really," Hermione said. "I'm not going to hurt anyone because they fancy Harry."

"It's not that! I thought you and Harry were just friends, but you're clearly so much more than that." The blonde girl sighed. "Your love story is going to be amazing and not only do I not want to get in the way of that, I'll bet anyone who does get in the way is going to be flattened. No, thank you. I know Destiny when I see it, and this is Destiny with a capital 'D'."

"I don't believe in Destiny," Hermione said. "I believe in getting up every morning, being the best friend to Harry that I can, and expecting nothing less from him."

"It's alright," Hannah said. "That just makes your story even more epic."

"Don't try to disagree," Susan said. "She's impossible when she gets like this."

Sally-Anne furrowed her brows. "There's such a thing as Capital-'D' Destiny in the Wizarding World?"

"There are genuine seers who have visions and speak prophecies!" Hannah gushed. "Those are all collected and displayed in the Hall of Prophecies in the Department of Mysteries."

"Oh, my!" Sally-Anne said. "So there might be a prophecy about me that anyone could listen to?"

"Not anyone," Hermione said. "Only people named on the orb can pick it up without it destroying their minds."

Sally-Anne, Megan, and Hannah paled. Susan's eyebrows shot up.

"Yikes!" Megan said. "I'm not going anywhere near those things."

"None of you should," Susan said. "They're very dangerous."

"Definitely," Hermione said. "And they tend to be vague, so there's not much benefit to them even existing, in my opinion."

Hannah shook her head. "That's why Divination is an art. Just as only those with the Sight can prophesize, only the truly skilled can divine meaning from those glimpses of Destiny."

"I prefer science to art," Hermione said.

Susan held up her hands in a placating manner. "And that's why there are lots of types of people in the world. Hannah can help us with our Divination revisions and Hermione can help us with other things." She paused. "Probably all of the other things, come to think of it."

"Maybe not Herbology," Hermione said in an attempt to be modest.

She and Susan and Hannah shared a look, then simultaneously said, "Neville."

"There we go, then," Susan said. "Now we have a plan for the year."

"That sounds good to me," Megan said.

"Me, too," Sally-Anne said in her soft voice, "I'm pretty nervous about being here, but at least I'm with you."

"Don't worry," Hannah said. "This school is here because the faculty want us to succeed. They'll help us."

Hermione nodded, though privately, she wasn't convinced. Her experience of "help" from the Wizarding World had been mixed thus far. Still, there was no sense in any of them losing sleep over it. When teachers failed, there were always books.

High in a tower on the other side of the castle, five boys discussed the events of the day. "I don't believe Potter ended up in Hufflepuff," Ron Weasley said. "And that's after he told me he wasn't really Harry Potter. I think he's mental." He decided not to mention Percy's altercation with Potter until he could figure out what had happened and whether it would make him look bad, too.

Ernie MacMillan shrugged. "Maybe he's not all that much of a wizard. I haven't seen him do much magic when I've spent time with him."

Ron tried to suppress his jealousy about Ernie being able to spend so much time with Potter. Stupid poncy MacMillan and Potter going to poncy parties. They were probably really boring, anyway.

"Does your House really matter that much?" Dean Thomas asked.

"Oh, absolutely," MacMillan said. "We're in Gryffindor, so that means the Sorting Hat knew we were the bravest and the strongest wizards. Slytherins are weak, so they can only succeed by their cunning, Ravenclaws have to study extra hard to hope to be as good as we are, and Hufflepuffs…well, they can't even hope for that."

Dean shrugged. "If you say so, mate."

"I hope you're right," Oliver Rivers said. "I've never been much for studying and I'm nervous about exams."

"Don't be nervous," Seamus Finnigan said. "Be a Gryffindor! We're going to walk into that exam room and dare them to ask questions we can't answer."

"Exactly!" Ernie said. "When I came here, I thought Potter would be Sorted to Gryffindor and protect all of the weaker students from Slytherin bullying. It looks like he's not going to be doing that, though, so we're going to have to pick up the slack. Who's with me?"

"I'm in!" Seamus said. "We'll show them all what we're made of."

"Me, too!" Ron was starting to think he might have written off Ernie too soon. He definitely had some good points. "I thought it would be amazing to be Harry Potter's friend, but since he's apparently just a duffer, it looks like we're going to need to be amazing in his place."

Oliver shook his head. "I'm just going to try to pass my classes, guys, but I'll help you out if you ever need an extra hand on something."

"Same here," Dean said. "I'm still not clear on why you think Potter is supposed to be some amazing wizard, anyway."

"He's the Boy-Who-Lived!" Ernie said. "He defeated the Dark Wizard He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back in 1981."

"1981?" Dean's dark eyebrows shot up. "He was one bloody year old! What'd he do, take a shite on that wizard?"

"No one knows," Oliver said. "His house was blown up and he was found alone, all trace of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gone."

"Gone? Then how do you know he's dead?" Dean asked. "This sounds like a muggle horror movie. You think the bad guy is dead, but then you look back and there's no body and before you can escape, bam, you get a meathook right in the throat."

The rest of them jumped a little at that terrifying mental image. "Don't even joke about that!" Oliver said. "He's definitely dead. Everybody says so. Besides, you're muggleborn, right? He'd have killed you already if he were still alive somewhere."

"Oh." Dean grew quiet. "I see. Well, I'm glad he's dead, then."

"Us, too," Ron said. "And we're going to ensure all of those Slytherins whose parents followed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named don't cause too much trouble here at Hogwarts, because we're Gryffindors and that's what we do."

"Exactly!" Ernie held out his hand. "To friendship, victory, and the honour of Gryffindor!"

Ron and Seamus both held out their hands, but they couldn't figure out how to shake in three ways simultaneously.

Dean looked over after about thirty seconds of them trying different positions. "Ernie, hold out your hand and grab Ron's right forearm. Ron, you grab Seamus's right forearm with your right hand, and Seamus, you grab Ernie's right forearm with your right hand."

"Oh, thank you!" Ernie said as they finally sorted out their handshake. "Are you sure you don't want in on this?"

"Nah, mate, I'm good," Dean said. "Let me know if you need me to help you mess up any Dark Wizards, though. My mother always taught me not to start anything, but if someone comes looking for trouble, I'm happy to oblige."

"I understand," Ernie said. "We'll let you both know if we need a hand, but I don't think there's anything at this school that we three can't handle together. By the end of our time here, they're going to be talking about the Golden Gryffindors, not the Boy-Who-Lived."

[A/N that is probably more detail than anyone cares about: I've been thinking about how old to make Minerva McGonagall. Based on the books and some deuterocanonical material, she was born only a year later than Dame Maggie Smith. However, Smith first played that role ten years after the first book came out, making her 66 at the time instead of McGonagall's canon age of 56 or so. I generally prefer to stick with the books, but I know women in their mid-50s and I cannot imagine McGonagall being merely that age based on how she's described in the books. Also, that would mean she was only 36 when she first met Harry's parents, and I have trouble picturing her as that young based on her interactions with them. (That Smith's portrayal is iconic may be affecting my perception, too. I know Rickman's portrayal of Snape is also iconic, but him being the same age as Harry's parents is vital to the plot, while McGonagall's age doesn't matter so much.) So I think I'm going to go with Maggie Smith's age while she portrayed the character and have McGonagall be born c.1925. I apologize to anyone who pictured her as more like the fifty-five-or-so year-old Maggie Smith in Sister Act.]