A thousand candles floated gracefully above the four massive tables in the Great Hall, the ceiling reflecting a clear sky filled with a field of stars with a round moon shining bright like a silver sickle.

Hundreds of Hogwarts students sat at the four tables, each of which were absolutely loaded to capacity with food of all kinds.

After a short speech from Professor Dumbledore, the wise—but slightly eccentric—headmaster assuring everybody of the safety of the Boy Who Lived and then explaining how the point system worked, the Great Hall became abuzz with the sound of children talking and laughing and the clattering of utensils against plates as new and returning students alike became acquainted with their new and old classmates.

Except the Gryffindor table.

Naturally, there were stray outcroppings of conversation scattered about the table, mostly among small groups, but most of the older students, typically in the fifth-year and up crowd, looked around at one another a bit worriedly and whispered furtively underneath the din of the otherwise cheerful hall. Joss would not have been surprised to hear the number of sidelong glances he got from the older students when he was not looking.

Despite the slightly frosty reception from some of the older Gryffindor students, who were obviously not too excited to have another Wright in their ranks, Joss found a surprisingly warm welcome from the younger students in their House.

He had already befriended two of the other first-year Gryffindors, Rowan Khanna and Ben Copper, and he quickly found himself on good terms with one of the other first-year boys, Charlie Weasley. There was another, called Jae Kim, but he was nowhere to be found once Joss took his seat.

The Wrights were a pureblood family, or at least they were until Joss's parents married, so naturally he knew of the Weasleys. Red hair, freckles, and a few… not so nice things that he heard some distant cousins muttering when their parents weren't around.

Charlie certainly resembled the first two attributes; long, shaggy red hair that would have given Joss's mother a fit and a heavy dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks. However, one trait that he possessed that Joss couldn't trace back to the Weasleys was his love of dragons and other magical creatures—but especially the scaly flying reptiles.

Sitting next to Charlie was someone who looked quite similar, albeit a bit older: Charlie's older brother, a third-year by the name of Bill. Handsome, funny and confident, Bill was every bit the cool older brother that Joss remembered Jacob as (minus a few "endearing" quirks), and Joss immediately took a liking to the older Weasley. Bill's hair was a bit longer than Charlie's, and admittedly quite smooth-looking, though he lacked the cluster of freckles his brother had, and rather than robes like the younger students, he wore a white collared shirt and a red tie with diagonal yellow stripes.

There were a few other second- and third-years who offered to help Joss and company find their way around if they needed it, mostly friends of Bill's, and one or two fifth-years that had liked Jacob, but outside of them, the welcome mostly ran out.

Among the older students who weren't very keen on having the younger brother of Jacob Wright joining them, most of them stayed silent and kept to themselves, though much to Joss's dismay, none of them made their disapproval quite as obvious as their Prefect, Angelica Cole. When the time came for the first-years to be shown the way to the dorms, the Gryffindor Prefect was the first on her feet.

"First-years, this way!" she began, her tone tense.

Joss and Charlie ceased a very fascinating conversation they had been having about dragons as they heard the shout, turning their heads to look at the girl standing at the end of the table. She was a bit taller than the two of them, with dark skin and black hair and wearing black robes with red trim not unlike Charlie's brother Bill, though she had a bright red badge with the word 'Prefect' printed across a roaring yellow lion pinned to the front of her robe.

When nobody seemed to heed her right away, not even her male counterpart, she repeated sharply, "First-years—and HARVEY! Over here!"

At 'HARVEY!' a chubbier Gryffindor boy in similar dress with a similar badge on his robe stood and hurried to stand beside her, his face red with embarrassment. "U-uh, what she said! First-years, come on!" he called out, as other Prefects made their way to the end of their tables.

"Better get going… Angelica over there's always been a bit of a stickler," Bill whispered to the newest members of Gryffindor house, popping a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "I'll see you guys later. Good luck! She seems a bit more ticked than usual."

Joss, Rowan, Ben and Charlie stood all at once. Around the room, other first-years were rising to their feet, some hesitantly and others eagerly as they filed down the rows to join their Prefects near the end of the room. At the opposite side, Joss could see the spiky pink hair of Tonks joining the other Hufflepuffs, along with the blonde girl with braids and the redheaded girl—who Charlie quickly denied that she was related to the Weasleys in any way.

As the first-year Gryffindors formed up a queue, the girls lining up in front of Angelica Cole and the boys in front of Harvey. To Joss's dismay, he found himself pushed to the front of the Gryffindor boys, looking up (barely) at the chubby Prefect named Harvey.

The Prefect was only a few inches taller than Joss, maybe about the height of his mum, Joss figured, with messy ash-blond hair and round cheeks. His robes were in a state of disarray that wouldn't be expected out of someone given the title of Prefect, all dishevelled and wrinkled, as if they had been laying on the floor up until the day before leaving for school. Oddly enough, his Prefect's badge was on the wrong side too.

Joss couldn't help but wonder how someone like this became a Prefect, and it seemed like the sentiment was echoed by the prickly Angelica Cole, who was scolding Harvey as the first-years approached.

"And thirdly, your badge is on the wrong side!" Angelica hissed in a furious whisper, her index, middle and ring finger extended as she had been using them to count. "You're setting a bad example, Harvey! Act like a Prefe—"

"Angelica…" Harvey said nervously, his eyes darting back and forth between the somewhat frightened new students and his partner who was berating him. The female Prefect seemed to take the hint after a few more insults, looking positively mortified once she realized the students had already assembled.

"U-umm… I'm sorry you had to see that," Angelica Cole apologised quickly. "Follow us." She turned on her heel and began walking toward the massive doors at the end of the Great Hall, with Harvey quickly turning and hurrying after, beckoning Joss and the other Gryffindors forward.

The two Prefects led the first-years out of the Great Hall, though it would be more accurate to say that Angelica led the first-years and Harvey out; the male Prefect trailed behind at a frantic pace, several steps behind Angelica and even a few of the first-year girls. Joss, Rowan and the rest were half-considering overtaking him and just following behind Angelica—but she seemed angry enough already, and they did not want to set her off further.

Due to the obvious leadership (and lack thereof) between the two Prefects, the trek up to the Gryffindor Tower seemed as if it would be taking longer than it probably should. Joss was undaunted, however; Rowan was right behind him pointing out statues, tapestries, classrooms and the like; Ben Copper was only a couple of steps behind Rowan, glancing around at everything the black-haired boy indicated, eyes wide with awe—or was it fear?

Behind them, Charlie was walking along at a rather casual pace, occasionally making a remark to try and calm Ben but to no avail. He did not seem particularly bothered by the dynamic between their Prefects; no doubt Bill had prepared him for dealing with those two.

Bringing up the rear was the mysterious Jae Kim, who had disappeared further down the table than the other first-years, who had all grouped up around the older Weasley brother. He was clearly of Asian descent, with a messy mop of black hair, and he seemed a bit shady, but that was all Joss could really make of him. He kept to himself as they walked, not really saying anything.

Angelica and the female first-years took a quick lead, the students overtaking Harvey and the other boys; the male Prefect seemed a bit winded already just from the walk up the first flight of stairs. They passed through a large doorway that led into a massive room that reached up toward the sky for what seemed like forever, ornamented with thousands upon thousands of portraits with dozens of staircases that moved.

"Mind the staircases… they can be right prats sometimes," Harvey explained, guiding the Gryffindor boys onto one that began to move under their feet, using it as a shortcut to get ahead of Angelica and the others. It was significantly taller than the one the female Prefect had taken, and as such was able to lift them to a floor above her.

Ben Copper was absolutely terrified of it. He let out a very audible gasp as the staircase began to rumble, looking around in pure horror as it slowly moved under their feet.

Rowan looked rather shocked when he saw Ben's expression; "Didn't I tell you this would happen?" he asked.

"I thought you were joking!" Ben shot back, clutching onto the handrail with both white-knuckled hands.

Joss felt weightless as the staircase moved beneath them, his stomach doing somersaults as if it half expected the flight of stairs to collapse and send them tumbling to the very bottom, but no such incident happened yet.

And so the staircase swung upward, connecting to an empty floor landing with a loud click. "Come on then, boys!" Harvey called triumphantly, seemingly losing his tiredness. "We've taken the lead!"

Then the male Prefect picked up his pace, quickly leaving behind the younger boys who were in his charge. However, he stopped at the edge of the landing to allow them to catch up as another staircase swung around to attach to it.

"Hop to it, gentlemen! I get five galleons if we make it to the tower first!" said Harvey, racing up the staircase. Joss couldn't believe that just moments ago, the older boy had been huffing and puffing like a poor hungry wolf that was being denied a meal by three obnoxious pigs.

Joss's legs were beginning to ache from climbing several staircases, but he kept quiet about it. Had he ever walked this many staircases in his entire life? Considering they had only ascended about six thus far, yes he had, but never in a row such as this.

But nobody else was complaining, and if there was one thing Jocelyn Wright did not do, it was complain about staircases. He trooped forward, listening to Rowan continue to give Ben the guided tour, albeit a more abridged version due to Harvey's pace, driven onward in hopes to find solace with his cat.

The Gryffindor boys maintained their surprising lead over Angelica and the girls, heading up a couple more staircases and finally turning down a short corridor, where, at the end, a portrait of a fat woman in a pink silk dress hung upon the wall.

"That's the Fat Lady! My uncle told me about her!" Rowan said excitedly from Joss's side.

Ben looked over at him in confusion. "What do you mean? Isn't it just a painting?" he asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

Charlie grinned from the other side of Joss. "Haven't you realised by now, Copper? Nothing here is 'just a painting,'" he remarked. "That's the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room!"

"Righty-oh, ah… younger Weasley," replied Harvey as they drew closer to the portrait. Charlie seemed a bit miffed that his name was forgotten, but Harvey pushed onward before the second Weasley brother could say anything.

The corridor was lit by flickering torches, casting six shadows upon the wall as they walked down it. A long crimson rug led the way to the painting, tasselled with gold and embroidered with a roaring golden lion. Could there be any doubt that this was the way to Gryffindor house?

As the group of Gryffindor boys approached the painting, the Fat Lady began to move. They were very subtle movements, little more than turning her head to look at them and blinking her eyes, as well as the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she appeared to breathe, but by Merlin, she was moving!

Granted, all the other portraits they had passed on their way up had been moving, but it had never seemed to freak Ben out quite so much as she did. Joss didn't think much of it himself; growing up in a wizarding family, he was used to pictures and photographs that moved.

Ben Copper gasped as she opened her mouth and spoke: "Password?" Her voice was low and regal, almost like what one could expect from a female lion; her voice alone made it no wonder why she guarded the Gryffindor Tower.

Five pairs of eyes settled on the chubby Prefect, who stood beaming in front of the Fat Lady. "The password is…" Harvey began proudly, puffing up his chest.

The five boys looked at him expectantly. Out of the corner of his eye, Joss could see that just past Rowan, Ben Copper was already assuming the worst. Glancing forward again, the Fat Lady had the same expectant expression etched onto her canvas face.

"The password is…" Harvey recited again. "Uh…"

Two or three minutes must have passed before Jae Kim spoke up: "You do remember the password, don't you?" he asked, a bit pointedly.

"O-of course I do!" sputtered Harvey, appearing indignant. "I'm just stalling. For, uh, dramatic effect! Yeah, that's it…"

"This whole school is mad…" Joss heard Ben Copper mutter nervously.

"Alright, alright, I can't take the stares anymore," Harvey said, deflating. He cleared his throat, and finally said the password: "The password is… Password1."

"No." The Fat Lady didn't even look at him when she said it.

"Password2."

"No."

"Oh, bloody hell," Harvey said under his breath. "Well, I've forgotten. We'll have to wait for Angelica to get here."

"You've got to be kidding me," Jae Kim growled.

"I could take a couple guesses!" piped up Rowan, his eyes lighting up brightly behind his glasses.

"I should have asked Bill," Charlie said nonchalantly. He grinned over at Joss. "Now, I believe we were talking about the Hebridean Blacks?"

Though Joss was nowhere near as well-versed in the subject of dragons as his older brother, or even Rowan (who would interject occasionally with facts that stumped even Charlie), he had read Jacob's Care of Magical Creatures books more than a time or two since his brother's disappearance.

The three of them talked dragons, while Jae Kim poked around the short corridor, analysing every space between the bricks in the flickering torchlight. Ben Copper appeared to be torn between where he should go; he was naturally more familiar with Joss and Rowan, but the topic of dragons was clearly frightening him.

Harvey, however, stood against a corner of the corridor near the Fat Lady's portrait, staring straight down at his feet. "Angelica is going to kill me," he could be heard muttering.

He was wrong, of course; Angelica did not, in fact, kill Harvey—as this would be illegal, and likely get her expelled from the school.

It felt as though Joss and his group had been talking for anywhere from one, to three, to even eight hours, but finally Angelica Cole arrived with the Gryffindor girls. What had taken them so long? Joss thought. They were right behind us, weren't they?

"What are you still doing out here, Harvey?" Angelica asked, approaching the group of boys who were still waiting out in the corridor. Twelve shadows now danced upon the walls, shambling back and forth as the flames from the torches swayed.

"I, uh… wanted to wait for you!" he replied, not sounding very convincing.

"You forgot," Angelica said sharply, the look on her face suddenly turning murderous.

"D-don't be silly! How could I forget the password, of all things? I live here too!" Harvey sputtered back, shrinking back under Angelica's withering gaze.

"Then what is it?" she asked, the group of ten first-years standing as awkward witnesses to the one-sided argument. Joss felt bad for Harvey; Mrs Wright wasn't the most agreeable person to live with, and Joss had been on the losing end of many arguments over the past few years—especially when Mr Wright was not home, and Joss was beginning to near Hogwarts-age.

"It's, uh… a very good password," Harvey said. "A very secure one. One that truly compliments our good lady's passion for security."

"Oh, why thank you Harvey," the Fat Lady remarked, though the Prefect didn't look back, or even acknowledge that she spoke, rather standing frozen as Angelica stared him down.

For a moment, Angelica looked like she was going to erupt into shouting, and steam would shoot out from her ears like a tea kettle. Instead, however, she just pushed past Harvey and stalked right up to the Fat Lady's portrait, and spoke the password in a flat tone of voice: "Gone to plaid."

Nodding once, the portrait of the Fat Lady immediately swung away from the wall, revealing a round hole big enough for a person to fit through.

And upon seeing this, Ben Copper promptly gasped, as he had so many times that night that Joss couldn't help but wonder how he still had breath to gasp with.

"Follow me," Angelica said, taking the lead once more. She strode ahead of them, stooping over as she climbed into the hole that was behind the portrait.

Following the lead of the Prefect who guided them, the girls head in through the portrait hole first. Joss couldn't recall the names of any of the first-year girls who had been sorted into Gryffindor, though he was sure he would get acquainted with them eventually.

The boys went through next; Rowan plunged forward excitedly, practically diving in through the hole as soon as the last girl had cleared the entryway.

Joss went next, followed closely by Charlie. Ben seemed practically catatonic, his pale face etched into an open-mouthed, pallid mask of shock.

It would have been funny—if it weren't for the fact that Charlie and Joss were the ones stuck pulling the blond statue through the portrait hole. More than once, the Wright boy looked for help from Jae Kim, who was the last to go through, next to Harvey. He figured Jae would have helped if he wasn't too busy laughing.

As they dragged Ben Copper through the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, the three were caught off balance and fell in a heap to the floor. Harvey hurried through the hole soon after, and he and Rowan helped the three back to their feet.

Now finally inside the room, Joss got his first good glimpse of what would be his primary home for the next seven years.

Joss could not remember if he had ever been in a round room before, but this was definitely one—and a comfortable round room at that. Comfy armchairs were spread all throughout the large room, interspersed here and there with tables for doing homework and setting things on as most tables are designed for.

On one of the walls sat a large fireplace, the mantle of which was adorned with a portrait of a lion, and inside burned a fire that roared like a lion, giving the whole room a cosy, warm feeling, probably like the insides of a lion, though nobody wants to get that close in order to make a proper comparison.

On another wall, there was a bulletin board that already had a couple of papers pinned to it. Looking closer, Joss noticed that one was calling for students to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team; another was a note written in the same handwriting as his Hogwarts acceptance letter, listing basic rules and courtesies that the students would be expected to follow while in the common room; and lastly, a small poster with the words "Lost Donkey" printed on it above a picture of…

"Harvey, why are you on this poster?" Angelica asked pointedly, before quickly crumpling it up and thrusting it into her counterpart's chest.

"A bit of a joke," Harvey said quickly, tossing the crumpled poster into a wastepaper basket. "Nothing to worry about. Shall we take them up to their dormitories now?"

Angelica glared at Harvey for changing the subject, but relented with a nod. "Follow me, ladies!" she said, snapping her fingers to gain the attention of the girls, who had all congregated around the fireplace.

Harvey turned to the boys, who were all awkwardly clustered around him, a bit afraid of Angelica's temper, and offered them a friendly smile. "Alright boys, how about we go see where you'll be sleeping?"

Without a word, he turned back around and began walking toward a doorway opposite the massive fireplace, and the boys began to follow, forming a haphazard queue behind him. They ascended a spiral staircase, Jae Kim in front behind Harvey, followed by a nervous Ben Copper who was worriedly asking if these stairs were going to start moving too. Rowan was next, assuring Ben that they would not move—but informing him that if he tried to enter the girls' dormitories, those stairs would turn into a slide and send him back into the common room.

This scared him even more.

Charlie and Joss were the last two to enter the doorway, Joss finding himself between Rowan and the Weasley. He crossed the threshold and began to climb the staircase, the sounds of six pairs of shoes resounding off the stone steps as they ascended.

It was a short walk, only going up one floor before stopping on a landing that had just enough room for the boys. A doorway sat in the middle of the landing, separated from the world by a wooden door with a gleaming doorknob. Harvey reached out and wrapped a large hand around it, turning it and opening the door for the first-year boys.

"Head on in, check out your new digs," Harvey suggested, waving them inward.

As the boys entered, Joss was surprised at just how roomy it was. There was room enough for five four-poster beds, all with red beddings and draperies, surrounding a red rug emblazoned with the Gryffindor lion. In the middle of the floor, just barely leaving the lion uncovered, were the boys' trunks. Large windows with crimson curtains flanked each bed, and on one of the window sills directly across from the doorway was a large water jug.

And already resting on one of the beds was a young tortoiseshell cat, stretched out as if he owned it. Joss's heart leapt for joy as he saw it, and slipped behind Jae Kim to head over to the bed. Wordlessly, Joss sat down softly on the bed and reached out to pet the cat's exposed belly.

Rowan, who had become fond of the cat on the train ride, came over too and knelt down to pet the cat. Joss began to coo softly at the cat, who was now purring quite loudly at the combined petting.

Charlie and Ben came over too, leaving the disinterested Jae Kim to look around on his own. Ben stood at the end of the bedframe, watching the cat nervously, too afraid to pet him. Charlie, however, tackled the unpetted backside of the cat.

The natural questions that came with the appearance of pets were asked; Charlie asked for the cat's name, and Joss was surprised to find that Ben was the only other person who know who Billy Joel was; Ben asked if BJ would bite him, to which Joss considered replying yes, but instead said no, not wanting to make their roommate even more on edge.

At that moment, Harvey stepped in, looking a bit sheepish. "Come on guys, you could have waited for me to give my speech before playing with the cat," he said. "But while we're at it, let me pet him. Step aside, Cooper."

The night was a bit weird, as most nights are when five people who have never met (or mostly never met) spend the night in the same room. Pleasantries were exchanged, and a bit of awkwardness settled around the dormitory once Harvey left.

Jae picked a bed and closed up his draperies, clearly not interested in conversation outside of the greetings and introducing themselves. Charlie and Rowan picked the beds on either side of Joss's, and spent time trying to lure BJ over to them to pet him.

Oddly enough, BJ took quite a liking to Ben, who curled up in a ball the moment the cat even looked in his direction.

Nonetheless, the night proceeded, with Joss, Rowan and Charlie talking quietly for several hours, or what felt like several hours, until their eyelids were heavy and they agreed that they needed to sleep.

It wasn't long until Joss was the only one left awake in the dormitory. BJ was curled up in a small black and orange ball just beside Joss's knee, snoozing peacefully while every other human except his owner slept.

As Joss lay in the soft school bed, wrapped up in the blankets, his mind was unwilling to come to rest.

The disdain of the older students hadn't gone unnoticed to him, and he knew that it was all because he was Jacob's younger brother. Bill and a few of his friends seemed to be the only ones who weren't judging him for the actions of his brother.

But why? What did Jacob do to make these students hate him so much?

It must have been bad if they felt the need to transfer it onto Joss.

He nestled himself deeper under the covers as the wind whipped around Gryffindor Tower, and he began to think about the sheer size of the castle. Was it possible that Jacob was somewhere, hearing this exact same wind batter the building?

His thoughts then travelled to the next day, and with it, his first classes at Hogwarts. Rowan wouldn't stop babbling on about them at dinner; they had Charms in the morning, followed by Potions.

Jacob had thoroughly enjoyed Charms, and often told his little brother about the diminutive Professor Flitwick, who was arguably Jacob's favourite teacher. He had also quite liked Potions, and had a great deal of respect for Professor Slughorn, though Joss couldn't place anyone with his description at the feast earlier.

Thinking of his brother, and how much he had loved his time at Hogwarts was enough to settle Joss down. Reaching out to give BJ a gentle pet on the back, he turned onto his side and closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

He couldn't be sure exactly when he woke up, but it was most likely sometime around six in the morning when Rowan excitedly leapt from his bed to rouse everyone, only to be met by two thrown slippers courtesy of Charlie Weasley and Jae Kim.

Still tired, Joss rolled out of bed and planted his feet down on the floor, finding that he hadn't bothered to take his socks off before bed. Not that this was particularly relevant to anything, rather an interesting anecdote on his part.

"Good morning," Charlie greeted in a sleepy tone, similarly swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning," Joss replied, noticing that BJ had left his spot on the bed and was now terrorizing Ben Copper just by staring at him from the edge of his bed.

"Good morning!" Rowan said. Joss whipped his head around to find his friend already dressed in his robes, now with a red trim added to them to signify his status as a Gryffindor. "I can't believe it, we're about to have our first classes at Hogwarts! Aren't you guys excited?!"

"Khanna, if you don't take it down a couple notches you'll get the other slipper," Jae Kim warned, buttoning up his shirt.

"Sorry, it's just… I'm so excited, I'm surprised I could even sleep!" Rowan apologized, though he didn't seem very sorry.

Joss stood from his bed and went over to his trunk, propping the lid open to find his clothes. He knew that he wasn't going back to sleep any time soon, so he may as well get dressed.

As he sifted through the neatly folded clothes—no doubt properly arranged by his mother the night before he left—he remembered that his father had mentioned a present. His hand dug through the soft fabric and soon hit a bit of metal; his fingers wrapped around it and he pulled it out to reveal…

"A wireless?" Charlie asked, crouching down beside Joss as he put on a black tie. "Where'd you get that?"

Joss couldn't help but grin. "My dad must have stuck it in there before we left," he said.

"Do you think it'll work?" Rowan inquired, coming over and sitting on Joss's bed. "Muggle devices go haywire around here, after all."

"We'll just have to find out tonight," Joss replied, setting it back down and wrapping it up in a nightshirt, before getting dressed as BJ stalked his way back over to Joss's bed.

Sliding on his robes, Joss looked over to the cat that now lay curled on his bed and frowned. His parents hadn't packed any cat food, and he doubted that there were enough mice in Gryffindor Tower to keep him fed. Was he going to need to send a letter home, and then sneak food up to the dormitory until the family owl came swooping in carrying a grocery bag full of cat food? He hadn't even thought of that.

"We should get going soon, Bill always says that once breakfast is gone, it's gone," said Charlie, his voice breaking Joss out of his thoughts.

I can ask Bill, he may know, Joss noted mentally. He nodded, closing up his trunk and looking around at the five assembled Gryffindors. "Let's go," he agreed, and together they all walked out of the dormitory.

The common room was relatively empty as they entered it, most of the older students probably either still asleep or making their way down to breakfast already.

Bill Weasley was waiting for them, however, with his usual confident smile etched onto his face as he waved at his brother and his companions.

"Morning!" he greeted as the first-years approached. "How'd you enjoy your first night in Gryffindor Tower? The wind get to you at all?"

A chorus of "No" came from Charlie, Joss, Rowan and Jae, though Ben replied with a quick, "Yes!" which caused the older Weasley to laugh.

"You'll get used to it Ben, you've got seven years to go," he said. "Let's get going then, breakfast is always best when it first comes out. It never tastes quite the same after the first helping is gone."

Bill led the boys toward the exit, Charlie and a starstruck Rowan following close behind as Ben and Jae brought up the rear. Joss, whose shoe had come untied during the trek down the stairs to the common room, knelt off to the side to tie it, waving his friends on ahead with the promise that he'd catch up.

Satisfied by the newfound tightness in his shoe, and by the probability that it wouldn't slip off and cause him to trip down any of the thousands of stairs, Joss stood up and went to catch up.

However, he was stopped by a sharp voice calling out, "WRIGHT!"

He turned and saw a skinny boy with a mean expression on his pinched face walking his way. "Uh… yes?" Joss asked, looking up at the boy who he figured to be around Bill's age, or perhaps a little older.

"I'm only going to tell you once, Wright. Watch your step around here," he warned coldly, getting in Joss's face. "Your brother brought a bad name to Gryffindor. I don't care if Dumbledore himself invited you here, if you set one foot out of line, I won't hesitate to finish you myself."

Joss couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in disgust as the boy's morning breath hit his face, and this only seemed to make the older student more furious. He started advancing, and Joss started backing up.

"That's enough, Wiley!" came a shout from the doorway to the boys' dormitories. Both Joss and the boy now known as Wiley turned their heads to see Harvey, his eyes narrowed and striding toward them with an angry look on his face. "He's a first-year! Leave him alone!"

Wiley retreated a bit as Harvey approached them. Joss had to admit, despite seeing how he was the night before, the normally friendly Prefect was scary when angry.

"Harvey, he doesn't belong here!" he shot back, placing an armchair between himself and the Prefect. "You were there when his brother got expelled! You of all people should have a reason to hate him!"

Just like the cowering boy put a piece of furniture between him and Harvey, the Prefect made sure to place himself between Joss and the piece of furniture. "Go down to breakfast before I give you detention," he ordered, his voice cold.

Wiley scowled at Joss and Harvey but complied, stalking out of the common room and slamming the door behind him.

"Are you alright, Wright? He didn't do anything, did he?" Harvey asked, turning around to look at Joss. His expression softened into one of concern,

"Y-yes, I'm fine," Joss breathed a sigh of relief as the older boy left, releasing a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. He looked up to Harvey, suddenly regretting that he had questioned why he had been made Prefect the night before. "Thank you, Harvey…"

Harvey waved a hand and looped his arm around Joss's shoulders. "Don't mention it," he said, guiding Joss along toward the exit. "I wouldn't be much of a Prefect if one of the firsties got beat up on their first day, would I?"

Joss had the decency to blush in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to cause any trouble," he replied.

"It's not your fault, Wiley's a prat anyway," Harvey said as they exited the common room and stepped into the short corridor that led out to the Grand Staircase.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung closed behind them, and Joss was brutally reminded that the entire castle wouldn't be as warm as the common room was. He shivered as the heat that came from the roaring fireplace was shut away behind the painting and exposed them to the air outside. It wasn't cold, but it was still a drastic jump between temperatures.

The two Gryffindors walked out onto the landing and began to descend the stairs. After clearing a flight of stairs, Joss turned his head slightly to look at Harvey.

"Um…" he stuttered softly. "I have a question."

"I'd assume so, most people do on their first day," Harvey replied cheekily.

"What did my brother do to make everyone hate him so much?"

Harvey froze for a second but regained his composure very quickly. However, Joss could have sworn he saw Harvey's blue eyes cloud up for a second.

"I know Wiley isn't the only one who doesn't want me here," Joss continued. "But… I just don't know why?"

"That's… a loaded question," Harvey replied finally. He seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I'd guess that a lot of them turned on him because he cost us the House Cup the year he got expelled. I always rather liked him, though."

Joss studied him for a moment, then nodded. He felt there was something that Harvey wasn't saying, but he didn't want to push when Harvey already seemed very apprehensive about the subject.

They walked in silence for a bit, passing a group of second-year Gryffindors who greeted the two of them without even the slightest bit of disdain toward Joss. He was glad to know that there were some who didn't hate him, at least.

"So, your name is Jocelyn, right?" Harvey asked as they reached the second floor. He was starting to sweat from the descent, and though Joss's legs weren't very happy with him, he wasn't hurting like he was on the ascent last night.

"Joss is fine," the younger Gryffindor replied. "Only my mum calls me Jocelyn."

"Your brother talked a lot about you," Harvey said. "He figured you'd take to Hogwarts like a fish to water."

"He did?" Joss asked, surprised. He felt some sort of swelling sensation in his chest.

"Of course. He thought very highly of you," Harvey said. They stepped onto the final landing, one last set of stairs leading down to the Entrance Hall. "I think I see what he means. When you were sitting up on the stool with the Sorting Hat on your head, I was probably one of the only ones who was hoping you got into Gryffindor."

The swelling sensation intensified as they entered the Great Hall. The clatter of utensils against plates and students chattering was already making quite the racket.

Joss and Harvey made their way over to the Gryffindor table, and though he felt some of the other students giving him dirty looks—including Wiley, who looked practically murderous, Joss didn't really care. Harvey helped make him feel at ease, and the presence of the Professors didn't hurt either.

Looking up to the staff table, Joss once again looked for the Potions Master that his brother spoke so highly of back home. Slughorn, nor anyone matching Slughorn's description, was there; however, he noticed there was a greasy-haired man with a large, hooked nose who looked like he hadn't seen sunlight in years who was staring at him from the table.

Quite a few sets of eyes were on him, he noticed, and it wasn't just from Gryffindors or the Headmaster's Table. Doing his best to ignore them, he parted from Harvey and thanked him before going to sit down in an open seat between Charlie and Rowan and digging into a plate of kippers.

Bill, who was sitting across from Charlie, looked over at Joss with a worried expression. "Everything alright, Joss? You took a while getting here," he said. "Did something happen with Harvey?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Joss spotted Harvey, and a few seats down, Wiley. Did he tell Bill and the others about this? He figured that he would be able to get some help from his friends if anything were to happen, but he didn't know them well enough to know that they wouldn't go looking for a fight…

"Everything is alright," Joss agreed, taking a sip of his orange juice. He decided it would be better to leave it for now. "I was tying my shoe, and Harvey and I started talking as we went down the stairs."

Bill gave him a meaningful look, then nodded. "Harvey's a good bloke. I'm glad they made him Prefect," he said simply.

Rowan then went into an impassioned speech about the virtues of a good Prefect, and then went into how he intended to become a Prefect, as well as Head Boy, which then led onto an excited dialogue about their classes that they'd be taking that soon blended together in Joss's mind.

Breakfast went by quick enough, and from the constant joking between Bill and Charlie Joss soon found himself ignoring the dirty looks sent his way by other students. Soon, however, the time came for them to head off to their classes and Bill bade them farewell as he went off with some other third-years.

Standing from the table, Joss, Charlie, Rowan and Ben all bunched together as they too exited the Great Hall.

Surprisingly enough, it was Rowan who led the way to Charms class. Joss was shocked at how well he knew the layout of the castle, even warning them of a step that sunk when stepped on, but Joss chalked that up to how much reading the black-haired boy did.

It wasn't long before they found themselves in the Charms corridor, and it was even less time before they found themselves entering the Charms classroom.

Bright light from the morning sun filtered into the room through a set of high windows that sat on the wall directly behind the teacher's table as a warm fire crackled in a gap between the desks directly across from the door.

Three rows of desks sat against the walls on either side of the room, facing the teacher's table. An assortment of books lay in tall stacks on the floor by the table, and behind them was a large chair with a high back.

And standing in front of the stacks of books, beaming at the first-years as they entered, was none other than Professor Flitwick. Even though it was so long ago, Joss had never forgotten how Jacob described the diminutive teacher—and was surprised to see how accurate he was.

Professor Flitwick was very short in stature, with a shock of brown hair and a bushy moustache. However, despite his size, Joss knew from reputation that this tiny man was not one to be messed with—Jacob told him all about how he was a Duelling champion in his younger years.

"Welcome, welcome!" the Professor called to them as they entered. "Please, find a seat, we'll be beginning shortly."

Rowan, Ben, Charlie and Joss trooped in and began looking for somewhere to sit. Jae Kim had already arrived and found a place at the back of the room near a set of blackboards; the girls from their house had also found somewhere to sit, and most of the first-year Ravenclaws had taken seats as well.

Once again Rowan led the way to their seats, and once again Joss found himself being stopped, though this time was a much better, and shorter experience. As soon as he passed him, Flitwick cleared his throat softly.

"Good morning Mr Wright," Professor Flitwick greeted him as Joss's friends found places at the desks. "I'd like a word, if you don't mind…"

Joss's stomach tightened in knots. Was this going to end up like his confrontation with Wiley? Surely a teacher couldn't hold this sort of grudge… "Of course, Professor Flitwick," Joss said nervously.

"How are you liking Hogwarts?" asked the tiny teacher.

This question surprised him, and after a moment of trying to figure out what to say, Joss responded with, "It's very nice, thank you."

"I'm glad. I've been wondering when I'd find you in my classroom," said Flitwick. "I'm sure you'll do very well here, if you're anything like your brother. He was one of my most skilled students of his year."

"Thank you sir," Joss said again, feeling the knots begin to loosen.

"Of course, he also happened to be one of my more rebellious students…" Flitwick added, looking up at Joss. Behind his thick glasses, Joss saw an immense deal of power in his eyes, so much that the knots began to tighten again, and multiply. "I do hope that you are at least willing to follow the rules?"

Joss paused, knowing he'd need to choose his next words carefully. Flitwick seemed amiable enough, but getting on his bad side on the first day was something Joss wanted to avoid at all costs. Of course, if he could avoid getting on the bad side of this master dueller at all, that would be optimal, but…

"Of course, sir," Joss replied. "I'm here to learn as much as anyone. I don't want to cause any trouble."

It wasn't a complete lie, of course. He was here to learn, first and foremost, and he knew that that was the way things needed to be, and naturally he didn't want to become a troublemaker, especially so early on. However, if the chance came up to find his brother…

The short man regarded him carefully for a moment, before regaining his smile and nodding. "Very good. I think we'll get along swimmingly," he said, before gesturing with a tiny hand to where Joss's friends were sitting. "Please, take a seat. We'll be beginning class very soon."

Joss nodded in response and smiled back at the Professor. He walked across the room to join his friends at the desk, the knots now completely undone and replaced with a fluttering feeling.

As he sat down beside Rowan, Charlie leaned forward and asked in a quiet voice, "What did Professor Flitwick want to talk to you about?"

Hesitant to reveal the full answer, Joss answered, "He had my brother a few years back."

Charlie nodded, placated by this answer, and sat back against the wall.

Rowan again began to talk their ears off about the history of Charms, Professor Flitwick's duelling abilities and the like, as a few more students filed their way in. As soon as they found their seats, Professor Flitwick went over to the stacks of books, which Joss was surprised to find that he actually used as a staircase up to the top of the table and clambered up them so that he could stand at eye level with the students.

"Good morning everyone!" Professor Flitwick greeted cheerfully. "My name is Professor Flitwick, and I will be your Charms Master for the next few years. Please be sure to follow my instructions carefully, and take precautions when doing your work! Magic, even in simple forms such as this, is a dangerous tool and should be treated as such."

"Now, today we will be learning a very important spell: The Wand-Lighting Charm! This charm is useful in dark places, whether you are searching a shadowy room for hidden dangers… or attempting to find a scroll that rolled under the sofa," Flitwick joked. He brandished his wand, and waved it in an inverted V-shape. "Lumos!"

The tip of his wand lit up with a brilliant blue light, and with the combined assault of the charm and the sun behind it, Joss's eyes stung slightly.

"Now, let us begin!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed.

The tiny Charms Master then launched into an explanation on the uses of the Wand-Lighting Charm, highlighting its use of being able to help find things, as well as its usefulness when reading late at night. Rowan lit up like the tip of a wand properly using the Wand-Lighting Charm at that comment.

"Think of the motions as a capital 'A,' but without the bar!" their teacher advised, looking around the room as his students went to work on the first spell they would learn at Hogwarts.

It didn't take long for the four Gryffindor boys to figure out a method of study that worked out quite well. Joss and Charlie worked on practicing the charm together as Rowan took notes; Ben Copper did his part by doing his best not to freak out by the sudden appearance of light on his dormmates' wands.

Joss soon discovered that he had a knack for charmwork, and earned commendations from Professor Flitwick for producing not only the brightest light, but also for being one of the first to have that light remain solid without even the slightest wink.

Charlie did very well also. Though his light flickered on and off for the first few times he tried it, he soon got the hang of it after watching Joss do it once or twice.

After the two of them succeeded in casting the charm, the two of them went to work helping Ben and Rowan. Rowan picked it up quick enough, but the ever-terrified Ben Copper was hesitant to do the actions, afraid that he would somehow do something wrong and blow himself up.

It took the rest of the period, as well as the encouragement of Professor Flitwick, but finally Ben cast the Wand-Lighting Charm right as the class came to an end.

"L-Lumos!" Ben stuttered out, and under the watchful gaze of the three other Gryffindors, the tip of his wand bloomed into a bright light, only a tad darker than Joss's. As the charm lit up his pale face, his terrified expression quickly faded, evolving into a smile of excitement as he held it aloft.

"Well done, Mr Copper!" said Flitwick, who had asked Joss and Rowan to pick him up and place him on the desk with them. "You and Mr Wright have both done exceedingly well today. Ten points to Gryffindor, for producing some of the brightest lights I've seen from first-years in quite some time!"

Pride swelled in Joss's chest as he looked over to Ben with a grin. Charlie gave the blond boy a congratulatory nudge with his elbow as Ben sat there, astonished.

"Good going, Ben!" Joss praised as the four exited their row and made toward the doorway.

They were halfway out the door when Joss remembered that they had left Professor Flitwick on the desk and went back to help him down. As soon as the tiny professor was back on the floor, they were back out the door and heading to their next class—Potions, all the way down in the dungeons.

"Say, Joss, how did you get so good with the Wand-Lighting Charm?" Charlie asked as they began their descent down the Grand Staircase. "You got the hang of it pretty fast."

"I agree, you had it before any of us did," Rowan pointed out, once again taking the lead to guide them down to the dungeons.

Joss gave them a sly grin. "I have an older brother who went to Hogwarts and was home in the summers. Fill in the blanks yourself," he replied.

Though he didn't really know what to expect when he had heard that Potions took place down in the dungeons of the castle, when the four of them stepped off the narrow spiral staircase in single file, Joss was surprised to see just how miserable the Dungeon Corridor was.

Long and made of stone, the gloomy hallway seemed to stretch on for miles and miles into the earth before them. It was lit by dim torches, and contrary to the ones in the Gryffindor corridor, these did not seem inviting. As they passed them one by one, the orange flames seemed to dance mockingly in their sconces, questioning them what their business was down here.

Because it was so much darker, Rowan decided that this seemed to be the perfect time to test out his newly-learned spell. Calling out, "Lumos!" he ran on ahead, allowing the bright blue light to illuminate the shadowy corridor as the other three Gryffindors trailed back behind him, not in any particular hurry to rush off into the darkness that yawned ahead.

Soon the boys lost sight of their black-haired companion, and Ben Copper immediately assumed the worst. "W-what if he got lost? He was showing us the way, are we going to be lost too?" he asked worriedly.

"He's fine, Ben," Charlie replied. "Like you said, he was showing us the way—there's no way he'd get lost."

"Yeah, he's probably found the classroom and is waiting for us outside the door right now," Joss agreed.

They walked a little further, until they came to a part of the corridor where the distance between torches was significantly less, and the shadows were also significantly less. Ahead, they saw the outlines of two figures, and soon they could hear voices.

"Admit it! Say I'm the most powerful witch at Hogwarts!" ordered a girl's voice in a commanding tone.

"I can't!" came Rowan's voice, audibly uncomfortable to be in such a situation.

"Is that…" Charlie began, but Joss didn't catch the end of his sentence, instead rushing forward to come to Rowan's aid.

"It's logically impossible! I've made numerous lists of the most powerful witches at Hogwarts based on multiple factors," Rowan explained to his accoster, not even looking over as Joss came to his side. "Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Madam Hooch, Madam Pomfrey, all the seventh-years… you're just a first-year, like me!"

"I'm nothing like you," the girl shot back coldly. Joss was finally able to get a look at her.

Her school robes were trimmed with green—the sign of a Slytherin. She was clearly their age, as Rowan had already pointed out, and stood only an inch or two shorter than Joss. Her dark brown hair was short and messy, and one section of it was dyed an orange colour and stuck out from the rest. She had a pair of dark violet eyes that narrowed at Joss as she became aware of his presence.

"What's going on, Rowan?" Joss asked, taking a step forward in case he needed to place himself between them, just as Harvey had done only a few hours before.

"Joss!" Rowan exclaimed, jumping a little in surprise. He clearly hadn't realized that he was there.

"Joss?" the girl repeated, sneering as if his name left a bad taste on her tongue. "What sort of stupid name is Joss?"

"It's short for Jocelyn," Rowan explained, missing the murderous look that Joss gave him.

"Oh, I know who you are now!" the girl said, her violet eyes glinting ruthlessly. "Jocelyn Wright, little brother to Jacob Wright. Also known as the boy who disgraced Gryffindor, lost his mind, and—"

"And who are you to be talking about my brother like that?" Joss asked sharply, every inch of his body trembling as he did his best to keep his temper in check.

"Merula Snyde, first-year Slytherin, and the best witch at Hogwarts," she said haughtily. She put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "I heard the professors whispering about you at the feast. I'll bet you think that you're better than me." Her taunting gaze transformed into a cruel sneer as she said, "I should put you out of your misery, before you try to ruin the school like your brother…"

"SHUT UP!" Joss growled, finally losing his composure.

He'd had to stand there and deal with it when Wiley insulted Jacob, only saved by the intervention of Harvey; he had no choice but to pretend that he didn't hear the whispers at the breakfast table; but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. He knew there was nothing he could do about the others, but here she was, right in front of him…

"Aww, did I hit a soft spot?" the girl taunted. "Don't like hearing about your missing brother?"

His hands balled into fists, nails digging into his palms; he reflexively wanted to go for his wand, and it was taking every bit of his willpower to not do so. The Wand-Lighting Charm wasn't the only spell that Jacob taught him… but he couldn't afford to attack another student. That was a big no-no from a rules standpoint, and he knew that Jacob wouldn't want it that way either.

"Wright." As if Merula Snyde wasn't enough to deal with, a soft voice that seemed to be the audible incarnation of a sneer appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Joss hadn't even heard the man approach, but sure enough he was there, standing right behind Merula. "I knew you would be trouble."

He was tall and thin, with a mane of greasy black hair and a large hooked nose. Now dressed in flowing black robes, the man who had been staring at Joss during the feast stood in the torchlight of the dungeons looking positively like an overgrown bat.

"Professor Snape!" Merula exclaimed, turning her head to look up at the man.

Moments before, Joss had been ready to fight Merula, but with this man's sudden appearance, he felt weaker than ever. There was something about this Professor that unnerved him; he suddenly understood how Ben Copper felt all the time.

Joss was about to open his mouth to explain the situation, but Professor Snape cut him off in that soft voice as sharp as a dagger. "Get to class and be thankful you aren't in detention." Each word was spoken with such deliberation that it seemed as if the dagger was choosing where to stab.

Snape breezed past them, his robes rustling like the leathery wings of the bat he resembled. Merula followed close behind, sticking her tongue out at Joss like a schoolyard bully.

As soon as they were gone, Rowan turned to Joss and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Joss… she just cornered me and went off about being 'the strongest witch in Hogwarts,' I didn't know what to do…"

Joss shook his head, his stomach twisting in knots as he realized that the man who had just accosted him was their new Potions Professor, and not Slughorn as he was hoping. "Don't thank me, Rowan. That's what friends are for."

At the mention of them being friends, Rowan smiled again. "Right. Well… we should probably go inside."

"Yeah, we don't want to be late," Charlie said from behind them. Joss jumped in shock, not even realizing that he was there.

"Do we have to? I'd really rather avoid those two…" objected Ben, peeking his blond head out from behind Charlie.

"Wait, why are you hiding behind me?" Charlie asked, clearly unaware that the cowardly Gryffindor was using him for cover.

"Professor Snape reminded me of a bat. I don't like bats." Ben answered simply.

There was a brief pause, the air becoming silent as the other three found themselves unsure of what to say. Finally, Rowan quietly led the way into the Potions Classroom, Ben hurrying in behind the other three.

As if the corridor outside wasn't gloomy enough, while the room was more brightly lit, it was exponentially creepier. The dusty shelves were stocked full of glass jars of various sizes, filled with pickled animals and things that Joss could not identify, nor did he particularly want to know what they were.

Looking back over his shoulder, he noticed that Ben looked like he was about to faint.

There were five tables spread around the room, with four stools at each of them. They must have been among the last to arrive, because all but four stools throughout the entire classroom were unoccupied. Ben and Charlie made a beeline for a table with some of the girls from their house, leaving Joss and Rowan standing in the entryway looking for seats of their own.

And as luck would have it, the only free seats left… were at the same table as Merula Snyde.

She grinned meanly at them as they approached. Joss and Rowan didn't even look at her as they sat down, but that seemed to only make her grin widen.

No less than a second after they were seated, Professor Snape cleared his throat and shifted quickly into lecture mode.

"This is your first Potions lesson here at Hogwarts," he began, his voice just slightly louder than it was outside. "And judging by the looks of bewilderment on some of your faces, it may very well be your last."

Joss looked over and Rowan already had out a piece of parchment and was copying Snape's statement word for word.

"You are here to learn the art of potion-making, not to wave around your wand foolishly and reciting silly incantations. This is science—pure skill and attention to detail is required," explained Snape, beginning to walk back and forth from his position at the front of the class. A few paces away from him, a charmed piece of chalk was writing instructions on the blackboard. "So long as you pay attention, you may very well learn something. Ensnare the senses. Bewitch the mind. Keep your mouths shut."

Out of the corner of his eye, Joss thought that Merula was mouthing something in his direction. However, he was doing his best just to ignore her—being at a table with her was hard enough, he wasn't sure if he could handle looking at her.

"Today, you will be producing a simple Cure for Boils. Whether or not this is your first day, I expect perfection… regardless of if I believe you to be capable of it," Snape said. Joss could have sworn that the professor looked right at him as he said that. "And know that failing to meet my expectations has severe consequences. Let us begin."

Joss looked away from the professor, turning his gaze to the cauldron in front of him. Beside him, Rowan was still scribbling to get every last word Snape said.

"You think you're so special, but you're guaranteed to fail, Wright," Merula whispered, smirking at him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Joss asked in a tense voice. If it weren't for Snape's presence, he was sure he would have snapped by now.

"Oh, just wait and see," she replied in a prideful tone.

He felt something on his shoulder and looked over to see Rowan's hand. "Just ignore her Joss, after that encounter with Snape we have to brew this potion perfectly."

Clenching his teeth, Joss nodded. He couldn't let her get under his skin, not in this class. He just had to focus. "Right. Let's do this," he said.

Rowan opened his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions to the recipe for their potion and he and Joss began taking notes. Snape soon began to call students up to collect ingredients for their potions—starting with the Slytherins. Merula was one of the first to go, and the brief reprieve from her taunts was indescribably refreshing for Joss.

Before long, Rowan and Joss were called up to collect ingredients, though they were sent to a shelf near the back of the room that was dark and covered in cobwebs. Charlie and Ben had just finished collecting their ingredients and gave the pair a short wave as they returned to their table.

They cleared away the cobwebs as best as they could, Joss's stomach tightening further as he began to wonder if Snape used those in potions too, but it was still too dark to see some of the labels on the jars. At Rowan's request, Joss used the Wand-Lighting Charm they had learned just before. Collecting the last of the ingredients, they returned to their table and got to work on the potion.

With a partner like Rowan, the Cure for Boils was simple. Since he had read Magical Drafts so many times already, he handled the minute details as Joss carried out the mixing and crushing and grinding. Joss couldn't help but feel that he had gotten the raw end of the deal.

Nonetheless, the potion came along, and it came along quite well. Pink smoke was soon rising from the cauldron, which signified a correctly made potion. From Joss's standpoint, it seemed as if it were near perfect!

"We did it, Joss!" Rowan said, turning to him with a bright smile that Joss couldn't help but return. "From my own research, hardly anyone brews this correctly on their first try!"

However, just as Rowan said that, the potion began to bubble and shoot of sparks, and the cauldron shook and rattled.

"Wait, what's happening?" Joss asked, his smile falling as the knots of worry rewound themselves in his stomach, coiling like the snake on Merula's Slytherin badge. "

Rowan's smile dropped as well as he adjusted his glasses and began to flip through pieces of parchment. "You didn't add Bulbadox Powder, did you?" he asked. Joss shook his head in response, and Rowan's expression took on one of puzzlement. "From my studies, this looks like the beginnings of the explosive reaction caused by adding Bulbadox Powder…"

Before Joss could question further, the cauldron exploded right in front of them, snapping almost in two. The potion seemed to fizzle into nothingness. All Joss could do was sit there, unsure of what had just happened.

Rowan said that the reaction was caused by Bulbadox Powder, but he knew he didn't add any. He knew that Rowan wouldn't add any.

His eyes narrowed, and met the violet eyes of the smirking Slytherin across from him.

You'll see, she had taunted. "Congratulations Wright, you've cured the table of boils!" she now mocked.

He saw.

Snape saw too, but he did not see what Joss saw. "You should never have been allowed in this class, Wright," he said coldly. "Even among Gryffindors, there have been none such as you and your brother to be so reckless. Ten points from Gryffindor!"

The words burst from Joss's mouth defiantly, refusing to accept the outcome. It was all he could do to temper his words to maintain the guise of being respectful; "Sir, I believe that Merula did something to my cauldron!"

Snape's lips curled in distaste. "Take responsibility for your failure, Wright," he advised.

"Sir, Merula threatened Rowan and I and insulted my brother, and said that she would do something to guarantee I failed," Joss explained, doing his best to keep his tone level. The fear instilled by Professor Snape and the anger cultivated by Merula were at odds inside him, and at this point it was anyone's guess as to which would win out.

Snape turned to Merula and raised an eyebrow. "Is this true, Ms Snyde?" he asked, his tone of voice conveying plainly that he did not particularly believe Joss.

"Of course not, Professor Snape!" Merula said in mock-indignance. "He's clearly mad, and just as driven to ruin Hogwarts as his brother was."

"Your family has represented Slytherin well over the years, Ms Snyde," said Snape, a bit sceptically. "I will be watching you closely to ensure the same can be said of you."

Snape walked off, and Merula's smirk became even smirkier. Joss turned his head aside roughly, sure that if he even looked at her again, his anger would become victorious and defeat his fear of Snape.

"You did the right thing, telling him about Merula," Rowan whispered to him as they began cleaning up. "I'm sure you would have lost more house points if you didn't."

"I wouldn't have lost any if he believed me in the first place," Joss whispered back roughly.

Snape had retaken the position at the front of the room that he held at the beginning of class. Looking around at them in disappointment, he said, "Dismissed. I've had more than enough of you all for one day."

The Slytherins filed out first, followed soon by the Gryffindor girls, who gave Joss looks that varied from disgust to pity. Joss and Rowan followed after Jae Kim, as Charlie and Ben hurried to meet them.

"Bad luck there, Joss," Charlie said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "What happened? It looked pretty ugly…"

"Merula sabotaged our potion," Joss explained, his fists clenching as they began the ascent up the narrow spiral staircase out of the dungeons. "She must have coated the cauldron with Bulbadox Powder."

"What's her problem anyway?" Charlie asked. "You've never even spoken to her before today, have you?"

Ben spoke up for the first time since his comment about bats. "She's just horrible… before I came to your compartment, I was stuck with her following me around," he said nervously. "She kept threatening me, and calling me a Mudblood… I lost her in the crowd, but I can't help but think about what it would have been like if I were stuck riding with her."

The air around them warmed up significantly as they came into the Grand Staircase and began to ascend toward Gryffindor Tower. Silence took them for an entire flight of stairs.

"Mudblood?" Rowan repeated, his voice quiet like he were repeating a curse word.

"Ben… that's terrible," Joss said softly, feeling his anger subside in favour of sympathy for his new friend.

"I'm sure it'd be worse if I knew what it meant," Ben said.

"I think you'd rather not know," Charlie responded.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them again, and persisted all the way up to the seventh floor landing. Every now and them one of them would try to make a joke to lighten things up, but all of them were in a foul mood after that.

They made their way down the short corridor and approached the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Enjoy your first day?" she asked, looking between them. "Although… I'd assume not."

"Professor Snape," Ben said.

"Slytherins," Charlie said.

"Both of those things," Rowan agreed.

"Gone to plaid," Joss recited.

With an understanding nod, the portrait swung open for them and they entered the common room. Joss was hoping that either Bill or Harvey would have been there to greet them, or else the room would be empty so he could go up to the dormitory without hassle.

But of course, as his good fortune had so recently been rubbish, he had no such luck.

Standing there with a livid expression on her face… was Angelica Cole.

Ben ducked behind Charlie once again. Charlie ducked behind Rowan. And Rowan ducked behind the one person she was focused on.

"Wright, I'd like a word with you about those house points," she said in a tone of thinly veiled anger.

So, uh… it's been a while. So long in fact that I'm not sure any of this story's followers actually held out hopes that this would be continued. But rest assured, this story is not dead! It took much, much longer than intended, but I've finally updated, and I intend to keep updating!

First off, I apologize for the long time between the first chapter and this one. Life got in the way, and life's finally starting to take a bit of a chill pill to give me time for writing. I'll also admit that Year 5 dragging on so long drained my interest in Hogwarts Mystery in general for some time, but some of the latest sidequests have actually redeemed such interest.

Anyway, I'm back! Hopefully it won't be over half a year until I update next—and if it is, I give you full permission to hunt me down and hit me with a chair repeatedly until I update.

So this chapter walked us through the Start-of-Term Feast, Charms and Potions, as well as Jocelyn's first encounter with Merula Snyde! We also saw an early friendship between the four Gryffindor boys, who I never understood why we didn't know them since we shared a room with them if our characters were Gryffs. We met our two Prefects, Angelica Cole and my own creation, Harvey [last name redacted], as well as ya boi Bill Weasley. Also, an appearance by everybody's favorite superhero... (na na na na na na na na...) BATSNAPE!

Lastly, I'm just going to throw it out there that, previous update times notwithstanding, I'm hoping to start updating with enough frequency that I may actually surpass the game's current location. That being said, if it does come to that and I don't take half a year to get through the next chapter, instead of taking a break to wait for the game to catch up, I'll write the story the way I see it playing out, as some fanfiction writers actually did during the break between HBP and DH. Also, I'll only be writing a few of the sidequests, specifically ones that have actual relevance to the story. If you want to see certain ones done, feel free to let me know!

Anyways, I'll be parting once again with my usual closing now that, author's note included, this chapter has reached 12k words and 37 pages in Word.

Take care, brrrrrrush yo hair, I'll see ya when I see ya,

PEACE~