Disclaimer: You know how these go, J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter Franchise and I am simply an admirer who makes no money off of this.

Clambering onto the bench, Mina looked around at the rowdy room. Her fellow Ravenclaws were abuzz with the new school year, trying to guess how many first years they would get. They had a bet with Hufflepuff on that they would get more, and Mina really didn't want to lose a galleon this early in the school year. There was an excitement in the Great Hall that really only happened at the start of term, especially at the prospect of the feast that would soon be before them. Her mouth was already watering.

She let out a small smile as her friend, and fellow Ravenclaw, almost fell onto the seat with a small 'ouch'.

"I really hate Jae, have I ever mentioned that before?" Anne-Marie said while rubbing her arm, glaring at the Slytherin who she was talking about. The aforementioned girl snickered and slipped her hand out for a high five to one of her cronies.

"Just a couple hundred thousand times."

"Well, I bloody mean it. How can someone be that cruel just for the fun of it? If I were anything like her, I'd hex her into the next century," Her friend brushed her red hair over her shoulder.

Mina shot her a look, not ready for a fight this soon into the semester. If they scared the first years off then she'd definitely lose her money.

"I won't do it, of course! I said if I were like her," Anne-Marie schooled her features before continuing. "Anyways, I'll prob just slip her a draught that makes her food taste like butter later in the semester," She let out a devious grin.

Anne-Marie Moore had been one of her best friends since her first year, and frankly she scared Mina sometimes. Sometimes Mina couldn't help but think about how she was a Ravenclaw and not Gryffindor. She was truly a bright witch, who just so happened to apply herself to some questionable things. Like draughts that made food taste like butter. With a name like hers, Anne-Marie had been the topic of bullying since their first year ('could you have any Moore names, Anne-Marie?' got old pretty quickly), but Anne, as she liked to be called, was quick on her feet and threw whatever back at her abusers. Most of whom have learned by now that it wasn't worth the time to mess with her.

Anne dodged Mina's pointed look, instead turning to another housemate striking up a conversation on something that wasn't what they were currently talking about.

Mina took the moment to let her eyes rest on the Gryffindor table for a moment. Particularly one Oliver Wood.

He was quite the looker, and like one too many girls she may have fancied him just a smidge. But she had a strict, 'no boy trouble' rule, deciding that as a whole they caused more damage romantically instead of good. But they were still good to look at. Especially when their eyes twinkled as they talked.

She blinked as two arms came down in front of her on the other side of the table, the body they belonged to cutting off her view. Bugger.

"Whatcha looking at, Mina?" Aiden smiled down at her, a lot further down than last year she noted, as he took his seat.

"Just checking out the competition," she said, tilting her head to the quidditch players sitting at the Gryffindor table.

Anne cut away from her conversation halfway through, smiling knowingly at Mina.

'Oh, you're checking them out alright." Mina stepped on her foot, Anne let out a small 'Ow! That hurt, you know!', and Aiden either didn't hear or pretended not to hear. Most Likely the latter.

"Anyways, it's not like I had much time last year to play against them. I've got to size them up now or they'll get the better of me. Can't have my good name being tainted." They sobered up for a moment at the mention of her being petrified for the better part of the previous year. But Aiden was always quick to a joke.

"I can hear it now. 'That Mina Donnelly could really do with a flying class! She won the game, but I don't like the face she makes when she scores. It looks like this'," Aiden twitched his eye jokingly, poking fun at her.

"No, it's more like this," Anne made a scrunched up face, and Mina put her head in her hands as this continued for the next minute or so. They were referring to her first game their second year, where she sneezed after she scored a goal just as the snitch had been caught. They were over exaggerating it, but her team had told her she was allergic to winning for a month. (Although, if you asked Madam Pomfrey, she had just been coming down with the flu, though no one would take Mina's word at that.)

She groaned as they kept trying to one up another, getting more and more outrageous with each face, but let out a small smile at her friends.

Aiden threw back his head with laughter at a particularly bad face that Anne made, and put up his hands in defeat. Anne did a small fake bow, and Mina buried her head back into her hands at how embarrassing her friends were. Aiden nodded his head up at the head table that the professors were seated at.

"New defense against the dark arts professor?"

"You know it. New year, new professor. Like clockwork. Hopefully he actually knows what he's doing instead of just boasting about how many books he's written instead," Mina rolled her eyes at the though of Lockhart. In the short time she had spent attending classes last year, she had a low opinion of him within the first couple of classes. What a complete and utter git.

"I don't know, at least Lockhart was nice to look at. Although, he's not too bad either, but I prefer my men blonde," Anne said as she twirled some hair around her finger.

"You also prefer them dumb as bricks," Mina received a playful elbow to her ribs at her comment.

"Hey!" Anne started, "I can't help it. They're just so wrong and hopeless. He tried telling me to cast a spell that would've melded my shoes to my feet, and I knew it was love," She let out a dreamy sigh. Aiden and Mina shared a look, trying to communicate that they knew they were the only sane ones left in their trio.

"I'm not even going to pretend to get that," Aiden said as Dumbledore stood to give his speech. Anne was frantically waving at Aiden to get him to be quiet, despite having finished what he had said. He gave her an annoyed look, but Anne ignored him, hanging on the edge of her seat.

Mina smiled, ready for what this year had in store for her.

Hey! It's been ages since I've written fan fiction (at least on this website), but I've finally crawled back because I really wanted to write this story. I know that this is a little short but I didn't want to tire myself out.

If you have any favorite tropes let me know, because I very much want to put as many of my favorite tropes into this, and if I can make it fit I'll throw yours in too.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed if you checked it out, I'll pop out another chapter when I can.