Hero Program 12.0

"Mi'lady," Harry said, trying to be suave as he offered a hand to help Lavender out of the boat and from the blush on her face he was succeeding.

+5 Relationship with Lavender Brown

Tonks linked her arm through Neville's as they walked to the castle. "I wish we were going to be in the same house," Tonks complained.

"You know what house you're getting?" Lavender asked, surprised.

Harry patted her arm as they walked at the rear of the group of excited first years. "We know ourselves pretty well, but even just knowing you for a few minutes I can tell what house you'll be in."

"Really, what?" Lavender asked curiously.

"Gryffindor," Harry replied. "You are as brave as you are beautiful, so no other house will do for you."

+15 Relationship with Lavender Brown

"So what houses are you guys going to be in?" Lavender asked, her face flushed a darker shade of brown as she tried to change the subject.

"Ravenclaw," Tonks replied, with amusement.

"Hufflepuff," Neville added a moment later.

"Slytherin," Harry said cheerfully.

"Slytherin?" she asked, confused as he didn't seem the Slytherin type.

"I plan on being the next Gryffindor!" he said cheerfully.

"And that'll get you put in Slytherin?" Lavender asked doubtfully.

"It's a huge ambition," Harry said honestly. "Have you read about everything he accomplished? Those are some mighty big shoes to fill."

"It's counter intuitive, I know," Tonks admitted, "but there you are."

Not wanting to admit she didn't understand what Tonks said, Lavender turned to Neville. "So why Hufflepuff?" she asked.

"Because my friends are the bedrock on which my world is built," Neville answered, gaining plus ten to his relationship with both Tonks and Harry, and even scoring three points with Lavender.

"I love learning new things," Tonks told Lavender before she could ask.

"Everyone smarten yourselves up," Hagrid announced from the front, as the group entered a foyer just off the great hall, and a prim looking witch met the group.

Lavender rejoined the girls she shared a compartment with on the train, leaving the three alone.

"Make note of anything interesting, and we'll meet up and compare them later," Tonks ordered.

"Speaking of which," Neville said, "we need pens and notepads, I'm not planning on trying to write everything with parchment and quills outside of class."

"I should have enough to cover us for a while," Tonks admitted, "but we're going to want to look into finding a way to buy muggle things during the school year."

There was a series of gasps and shrieks from the assorted first years as a trio of ghosts floated through the wall in front of them and introduced themselves. The three ignored it, as it was close enough to canon as to not matter to them.

"We should look into spells the teachers use for day to day life here," Neville said. "We can each beg our head of house to get a list of them so we have something to study while bored in class."

"Didn't you just jump on me for saying something about school being boring?" Harry complained.

"Yeah, but I am referring to the fact that we have the first year spells down already, not learning magic in general," Neville explained.

"Oh, I get ya," Harry said. "Not sure asking Snape for a list of spells is a good idea though."

"Good point," Tonks agreed. "We'll just share our list with you, they should be similar anyway."

"Line up," Minerva McGonagall ordered, attracting the trio's attention before they were back to talking among themselves as canon didn't seem to misfire until they trooped into the great hall and saw the staff. The head of Slytherin was Horace Slughorn and the head of Gryffindor was Sirius Black. If there were any other changes to the staff, the three couldn't tell as they stared at the head table and talked about how this would change things.

"Neville Longbottom!" the Sorting Hat called out, breaking the three from their whispered conversation.

"Wish me luck," Neville muttered before striding forward to take a seat on the stool and let the school's assistant Headmistress put the Sorting Hat on him.

*Huh, never seen a situation like this before,* the hat thought at him, *not that it matters, Helga would have adopted you-"Hufflepuff!" the hat announced loudly.

Neville handed the hat to the headmistress and walked to his new house table amidst their applause. Introductions were made and he was relieved to find that it seemed to contain the canon puffs so there were no surprises coming from that direction.

"Harry Potter!" Minerva called out, causing the students to start whispering loudly to one another.

Harry walked forward, ignoring the stares and whispers. The Sorting Hat he was already wearing allowed him to avoid the angst and embarrassment he would normally feel in this situation. As the Sorting Hat came into contact with the one Harry was wearing as a headband, there was a brief flicker of magic, a flood of knowledge and power transferring between the two. Minerva blinked as the Sorting Hat darkened and firmed up, looking like it had been the recipient of a dozen specialized reparo charms.

"Slytherin!" the hat announced loudly, causing an even larger commotion among the students.

Harry simply handed Minerva the hat and joined his new house where only a few people applauded, Malfoy being the one to start it.

"James Potter Junior!" Minerva announced, causing yet another stir among the students.

Harry watched, curious as to what his twin brother was actually like. He turned out to look pretty much like Harry expected him to look. Junior had a couple of inches on Harry, height and waist, expensive robes, though it looked to be more for toughness than to look pretty, and he'd obviously had something done with his hair as it was nothing like Harry's rat's nest.

*Quidditch robes,* the hat told Harry, *technically legal as there's nothing in the rules against them and he's had a lot of work done on his hair, teeth, and nails.*

*Seriously?* Harry thought at the hat.

*Got some dark red highlights in his hair, near glamour level creams used on his nails and teeth,* the hat confirmed.

"I hear he's had training under Gilderoy Lockhart himself," one of the first years whispered to another, making Harry hide his smirk.

"Gryffindor!" the Hogwarts' sorting hat called out almost as soon as it touched Junior's head. He actually pouted for a brief second before pasting on a bright smile and joining his table, among three quarters of the school applauding him.

A few at the Slytherin table applauded as well, including Draco Malfoy, much to Harry's surprise.

"Not going to cheer for your brother?" Malfoy asked politely.

"I was dumped on the doorstep of distant relatives in the middle of the night while he was raised as a pampered prince," Harry explained, "I seriously doubt we'll get along."

"But now that they know you aren't a squib, won't they welcome you back in the family?" Draco asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Harry was a little surprised at Draco being so... nice, but went along with it. "I was never kicked out of the family, more shuffled off to the side and ignored. Makes me wonder if there's a reason for it, now that I think about it, a family bylaw maybe?"

Quest: Examine the Clay!
Learn the secrets of the Potter family to claim '?'

"Nymphadora Tonks!" Minerva called out.

Tonks forced the Willow part of her personality down, taking away the majority of shyness and embarrassment she felt.

*Ah, the third member of your party* the Hogwarts' Hat told her cheerfully. *Jessie thinks you've really come out of your shell or rather that Xander pried your shell open with his penis, but from what I can see it's more you packed away childish habits. Your shy little Willow self was as much mask as truth.*

Tonks froze in shock, fearing what her friends would think if they knew what she was really like.

*Don't be so melodramatic,* the hat told her with a mental snort, *no one is quite what they seem. Jessie is more than just a hormonal horn dog and Xander isn't just... huh. You actually have him pegged pretty well, even the darkness inside him. Ahh, no wonder, that's part of his attraction to you, but we are getting off track,* the Hogwarts' Hat told her. *You have all the traits needed for any of the houses, even if you don't openly display them. I would recommend Slytherin, as your desire for power would see you in good stead there.*

*The power they seek there is transitory,* Tonks thought back, *knowledge is the only real power!*

*Well said my little feathered serpent. You have the spirit of Rowena, I'll give you that, so it better be-*

*THE LIBRARY!* Tonks thought loudly.

"The Library! What?! No!" The hat quickly corrected itself, "Ravenclaw!"

The Weasley twins leapt to their feet, just beating all of Ravenclaw in leading the standing ovation. Minerva fought down a smile as she accepted the hat back.

"It was worth a shot," Tonks offered with a shrug, causing several of the teachers and Dumbledore to burst out laughing.

+25 relationship points Hogwarts' staff

+7 relationship points Voldemort

It took all her metamorph abilities to keep a smile on her face as she joined her Hogwarts' house.

Typing by: Abyssal Angel