The morning after his birthday, following an oddly relaxing breakfast with the Granger family, Harry asked "Hermione, do you want to help me brew some of these nutrition potions? I think that togeth-"

Harry was never able to finish his sentence as before he knew it Hermione had jumped out of her seat, eyes sparkling with excitement "oh, I thought you'd never ask! I've been researching the recipe ever since we got home!"

"Oh, er, you have?" Harry asked, confused as to why she would go through so much trouble.

"Of course! Potion brewing is fascinating. The fact that these magical ingredients can have totally different effects depending on what they're mixed with, not to mention that some potions even use common muggle ingredients, like salt or garlic, is simply astounding. Oh I can't wait to get started!"

Harry was impressed, both by Hermione's knowledge of the subject already, and the fact that she seemed to get all of that out in one breath. Smiling at her enthusiasm he said simply "alright, let's get started then."

The duo grabbed their potions kits, Harry's cauldron, and their textbooks and headed to the Granger's garage, at Mr. Granger's suggestion, so they would have good ventilation without being out in the open.

"Why don't we just make one batch for now," Harry suggested. "So if we mess up we won't waste too many ingredients? Besides, I wouldn't feel comfortable working on it alone, at least not for the first time."

"Good idea, Harry," said Hermione brightly as she pulled out her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. She found the nutrition potion they were looking for in the third chapter of the book and began to read through the instructions for what Harry suspected was the dozenth time.

Overall the process went very smoothly, with Harry and Hermione working well together. Harry, with his years of experience cooking had a lot of good habits that translated well, such as preparing all of his ingredients beforehand and placing them in a logical order so that he always knew what had to be added next. Hermione, on the other hand, was able to focus on the minute details that much more important in potion brewing than in cooking, like the precision of her measurements or adding in a counterclockwise turn after every 10th clockwise stir.

After about an hour of work they were left with a potion that looked, if not exactly the same shade of yellow as the potion their professor had sent, very similar.

"What do you reckon? Think I'll be able to take this?" Harry asked Hermione thoughtfully.

"Hmm," said Hermione, biting her lip. "Well you still have one more dose for tomorrow, right? Why don't you send a sample of it to the professor so that he can check it first?"

"Yeah, I think I will," Harry replied. "Thanks, Hermione, I couldn't have done it without you!" And with that he ran off to his room, vial of potion in hand to send it off with Hedwig.

The next few weeks passed quickly, basically as a blur to Harry. He spent most week days with Hermione and whichever of her parents stayed home from work that day. They filled their time chatting, going on little adventures around the neighborhood, and Harry quite enjoyed helping Mrs. Granger and Hermione garden. Harry also relished the opportunity to play different sports with Mr. Granger and would often spend an hour or two before dinner in the yard playing with him while Hermione and/or Mrs. Granger watched. Occasionally they even got the Granger women to play with them as well.

Harry and Hermione typically spent their evenings pouring through their new text books, each enthralled by the topics they would soon be learning. Hermione had nearly memorized each of their texts by the end of the summer, while Harry settled for getting the gist of each topic before moving on to the next, too impatient to see what else he'd be learning to wait until he had memorized everything. Harry also spent quite a bit of time reading through the additional books that Knifewrench had suggested for him, learning all he could about wizarding culture and etiquette. And Hermione, of course when he offered, couldn't turn down the opportunity to learn something new.

Each weekend, the Grangers would take Harry on an outing of some sort. They visited museums in London, went for hikes in the countryside, and even, to Harry's mortification at being taught such a basic skill, taught Harry how to ride a bike.

Every other week, Harry and Hermione would also each brew a new batch of the nutrition potion for Harry. After sending Hedwig off with his sample, their potions professor had deemed their concoction "Acceptable" but failed to offer any advice on how to improve it. Since they had already done it once together, each felt confident enough to tackle the potion on their own. And the nutrition regiment was certainly having an impact on Harry. Between the consistent potion consumption, plus the regular and full sized meals he was eating, and the consistent exercise he was getting playing with Mr. Granger, Harry filled out quite a bit over the summer. He was still a little on the small side for his age, definitely nowhere near the size of his cousin or any of his friends, but he wasn't quite as scrawny as he had been either.

Despite all the new experiences he was having this summer, the thing Harry was coming to treasure the most, however, was his friendship with Hermione. He had never had a friend before, Dudley had always seen to that. He wasn't even sure that he knew how to have a friend. But the two got along well, and Harry found himself eager to share everything that he could with Hermione, from his thoughts and ideas on the classes they would be taking to his own fears and insecurities about attending Hogwarts. One thing he did avoid mentioning though, was his past. As far as he was concerned that was over now, and had no bearing on him anymore. Hermione was at least tactful enough not to push and ask, for which Harry was immensely grateful.

Really, the only worry that Harry couldn't' share with Hermione about Hogwarts was also his biggest. They had read in Hogwarts: a History about the four different houses Hogwarts had. He thought he didn't really seem to fit into any of them, but was sure that Hermione would be going to Ravenclaw, and he knew he had no chance of being selected for that house. And once she was in a different house from him, he was sure that they would stop hanging around together, and he would lose his first ever friend. Or, even worse, that even if they miraculously did end up in the same house, once they got to Hogwarts Hermione would realize he wasn't worth hanging around anymore, and would choose to leave him.

But of course, he couldn't mention any of this Hermione. No, he would simply have to enjoy their friendship for as long as it lasted, and look back on it fondly once it invariably ended. And so it was that on the last day of the summer, as Harry packed he found himself extremely conflicted. He was both, excited about the prospect of going to Hogwarts, but also horrified at the idea that soon, much too soon, his friendship with Hermione would surely end.

He sat on the edge of his bed, looking down at the journal that Hermione had given to him for his birthday in his hands as these thoughts rushed through his mind. He heard a soft knock on his door and looked up to Hermione sidling into the room through his open door.

"Erm, Harry, could I talk to you?" she asked, nervously.

"Sure, what's up?" he replied, feigning casualness. He was sure that his eyes were at least a little glassy as he broke out of his thoughtful reprieve.

"Well, it's just that tomorrow we head to school and I'm nervous," she began.

"What do you have to nervous about, Hermione? You've basically memorized the entire book set we bought," he replied, chuckling.

"It's not that. I'm worried because, well I've never really been able to make many friends before. Any, really," she finished in a small voice, staring down at her feet.

"Well, I'm your friend, aren't I?" Harry asked nervously, horrified that he had mistaken their interactions all summer as friendship when he really had just been thrust upon her and her family. Afterall, what the hell did he know about friendship?

"Of course you're my friend, Harry. But don't you see? That's what I'm nervous about. I've never had friends before and I'm sure that as soon as we get to school, you'll be gone just like the rest of them!" She spoke quickly and angrily, the words falling out of her mouth as tears started to threaten her eyes. "After all, why would anyone want to stay friends with a bossy know-it-all like me?"

Harry quickly got up and cross the room. Lifting Hermione's face by her chin, so that she had to look at him for the first time since entering, despite the moisture in her eyes he said "Hermione, you're my first and my only friend. The only one I've ever had. I'm not going anywhere. This summer has been the best of my entire life, and you're a big reason why. I've been sitting in here worried about you leaving me behind once we get to school. I guess we're both kinda silly, huh?"

"You were worried that I'd leave you?" she asked, tentatively. And then before he could respond, before he could do anything, Harry found himself wrapped tightly in a hug, the first hug he could ever remember being given. After tensing up for a second, he slowly wrapped his arms around Hermione as well.

"Harry, of course I wouldn't leave you behind once we got to school. I think you're kinda stuck with me. That's what friends are for," she finished, happily.

'Yes,' Harry thought as he held Hermione, relief pouring through him that she wasn't going to leave him after all. 'This is what friends are for.'

The next morning, Harry and the Grangers rose earlier than usual. Both Harry and Hermione had already done the majority of their packing the night before, but they were too excited, and in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Granger, anxious for their impending departure.

Harry, determined to make sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger understood just how much he appreciated them, woke up early, and after his morning ablutions and finalizing his packing, headed down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone. He pulled out all the stops, trying to convey all of his gratitude through this one meal.

Mr. Granger, stumbling into the kitchen around 7:30 stopped at the sight of Harry grinning as he finished the final touches on their breakfast.

"Harry, we talked about this, I'm the cook. Besides, it's your last day here, I'm supposed to spoil the two of you one last time!" Mr. Granger protested, smiling all the while.

"Sorry, Mr. Granger. I just had to let you all know how thankful I am for everything"

"Not at all," said Mr. Granger, seriously. "Harry, I hope you know, you're always welcome here. Emma and I may not be your guardians, but if you ever need somewhere to go, no matter what, our home is open to you."

"I- thank you, Mr. Granger," Harry replied, eyes glassy.

"Now then, enough of that!" replied Mr. Granger, enthusiasm returning to his voice. Why don't I go round up those two sleepyheads so we can enjoy this delicious smelling breakfast together!"

When Mr. Granger returned, with Mrs. Granger and Hermione in tow both looking thoroughly disheveled, the four of them ate their final breakfast together, reflecting on the highlights of their summer and, for the millionth time, wondering aloud what life would be like at Hogwarts together.

Harry and Mr. Granger loaded the car up while Hermione and Mrs. Granger finished getting ready for the day. At around 9 o'clock they set off together for Kings Cross Station. Traffic was light, as it was a Sunday and they made it to the main platform just before 10 o'clock. As per Professor McGonagall's instructions, they headed towards platforms 9 and 10 and examined the barrier between them.

It certainly looked solid enough to Harry, but as he looked around he saw another teenager, around 16 or 17 years old, he thought, walk straight at the barrier and then before he knew it, the teenager was gone. Supposing they were in the right place, Harry looked at the Grangers, winked at Hermione, and then set off at a run for the barrier.

He emerged onto a platform, not all that dissimilar from the one he had just left, although how this could exist and seem to occupy the same space as another platform he didn't understand. On the tracks in front of him sat a scarlet steam engine with the words 'Hogwarts Express' emblazoned on the front. He noticed around the platform moderate number of witches and wizards, going about their business, enjoying a last few moments together before the children left for school.

As Harry examined his surroundings, the three Grangers erupted from the wall behind him, nearly running him over with Hermione's luggage cart. Really, they had no need for carts as their trunks were enchanted to weigh next to nothing, but as a small boy and girl walking around the station carrying a large trunk easily might look a little strange, they opted to use the carts to keep up appearances.

Hermione looked around in wonder, as Harry had for a little bit before they made their way onto the platform proper. Thankfully, they had arrived on the earlier side, so there weren't too many witches and wizards around, so only a handful of people gawked at Harry as some seemed to realize who he was. Flattening his hair over his scar, Harry lead the group towards a nearby train door before turning around to say his farewells.

He was shocked to see, as he turned around, that Mrs. Granger was holding her husband's arm tightly, clearly fighting back tears, and even Mr. Granger had a strange grim look around the mouth.

"Well, this is it," Mr. Granger said. He extended a hand towards Harry, knowing that he didn't like to be touched too much. "You take care of yourself, Harry. Study hard, but don't forget to have fun. And make sure our Hermione doesn't lock herself away in the library too much."

Shaking Mr. Granger's hand, Harry replied "of course, sir," in a shaky voice as he suddenly found himself reluctant to leave.

As Mr. Granger scooped up Hermione into an enormous hug, lifting her from her feet to her mild protestations and extreme embarrassment, Mrs. Granger walked over to Harry, looking like she desperately wanted to hug him goodbye, but unwilling to make him uncomfortable. With a slight gesture of his arms, she understood the message and wrapped him up in a tight, if brief hug.

"Harry, dear, do be careful. Learn lots and have fun. And also, thank you," she said.

"You're thanking me? For what? I'm the one who's thankful to you," he said as they broke apart.

"For everything you do for our Hermione, of course. I can't remember a summer where I've seen her laugh so much or have as much fun. I was nervous sending about sending her away, at first, but now that I know she'll have when we're not around, I'm just so glad."

"I'm happy to have her around too. It's not so scary, since it's the two of us together," he replied, smiling brightly.

With a nod, Mrs. Granger turned to Hermione as her husband finally set her back on the ground and with a much tamer hug and kiss to the top of her head, Mr. and Mrs. Granger said their final goodbyes as Harry and Hermione grabbed their trunks and headed onto the train.

They chose an empty compartment around midway on the train, most of the compartments were still empty as they were so early, stowed their trunks and sat across from each other, next to the window. Despite their sadness at their sendoff from Hermione's parents, both were positively bouncing in their seats, excited for the adventure to come.

They spent the next twenty minutes or so chatting as the train slowly began to fill up. They turned as their compartment door slid open and a pudgy, round-faced boy with dark brown hair looked in.

"Er, excuse me, do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full," said the boy.

"Not at all!" said Hermione brightly.

Relieved, the boy dragged his trunk into the compartment. Seeing that it wasn't featherlight like his own and Hermione's, Harry jumped out of his seat to help the boy stow it in on the shelf overhead.

"Thanks!" he said, slightly out of breath after dragging the heavy trunk around. "I'm Neville, by the way, Neville Longbottom."

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry, er, Harry Potter," Harry said, reluctantly stating his last name. Sure enough, Neville gasped at hearing it, but rather than Neville's eyes flicking up to look at his scar, he looked Harry excitedly in the eye.

"Are you really? I've wanted to meet you for so long! Where have you been all this time? Our parents were great friends, you know!"

"Oh, er, really? I didn't know actually. I've been living with my muggle…relatives. Didn't even know I was a wizard until a few months ago. That's when I met Hermione."

Neville looked dumbfounded at this. "Really? You didn't even know you were a wiz- wait, do you know about You-Know-Who?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, we heard about him. One of the Hogwarts professors gave both of us an introduction to magic, and she told me a little bit about that. We've both been reading up on it since."

"Wow. Well is there anything you want to know? I'm a pureblood and have had tons of wizarding history and traditions drilled into me for as long as I can remember. My grandmother is pretty insistent about me learning all this. I'm happy to help."

Harry was surprised, not only had Neville not looked at his scar, but he was actually treating him pretty normally. Not only that, but he was offering to help, apparently for no other reason than the fact that their parents had been friends.

"Sure, Neville, that sounds great. So which house do you think you'll be in?"

But they never got to hear which house Neville thought they'd be in as, with about five minutes left before the train's departure, the trio noticed a troop of red heads appear suddenly on the platform, frantically scrambling to get on the train in time. The mother, a short, plump woman with very kind eyes was ushering along a slip of a girl who looked too young to be going to Hogwarts, and very angry about that fact.

There were four boys with them as well, a tall lanky boy who looked to be about 15 with horn rimmed glasses and silver badge pinned to his puffed out chest, a pair of twins with a shorter but stockier build than their older brother, identical mischievous grins plastered to their faces, and a younger boy, almost as tall as the twins despite appearing to be younger, with a freckled face, blue eyes, and a very long, and dirt smeared nose.

Each of the boys dutifully lined up to receive a hug and kiss from their mother before being ushered onto the train, with their mother taking an extra moment to wipe at the youngest boy's nose before letting him go. The girl, their younger sister, was clinging to the twins, seemingly unwilling to let them go as they struggled to extricate themselves from her grasp.

"Those'll be the Weasleys," said Neville as the scene outside their window concluded. "They're good folk, if a bit scrambled. I think the youngest boy, Ron I think, is supposed to be in our year actually."

As if on cue, the door to their compartment slid open again, with the aforementioned Ron taking them all in before quickly asking "Hi, could I sit here?"

"Sure!" replied Harry. He again jumped off his seat and, with Neville, helped Ron lift his ancient trunk into the rack overhead. As they did, Harry's hair shifted across his forehead, revealing his scar.

"Blimey! You're Harry Potter!" Ron exclaimed, eyes wide as he saw it.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," said Harry, coolly.

"Sorry, mate. It's just that, you know, you're famous!" Ron continued, clearly still in awe.

"Yeah, famous because my parents got killed. I'd prefer not to be, believe it or not," he nearly growled through gritted teeth.

"Blimey, Harry. Everyone always focuses on the good bit, about you defeating You-Know-Who. Everyone obviously knows about what happened to your parents, but I guess everyone prefers to try to forget about that piece. I'm really sorry." And he looked it, Ron had appeared stricken at Harry's words, and he could tell that Ron really meant his apology as he said it. Harry also noticed Neville nodding along with Ron's explanation.

"It's ok," Harry sighed. Stretching out his hand "let's start over, yeah?"

Grinning, Ron quickly shook Harry's hand. "You got it. I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley"

The four of them took their seats as the train started to pull away from the station, and after a round of introductions from Hermione and Neville, began happily chatting about their summers and their expectations about Hogwarts.

At one point they were visited by Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George they learned, who learned Harry's identity with a lot more tact than their younger brother. After a brief look of surprise crossed their faces they treated Harry normally enough. They did, however, gossip apparently as about an hour after they had departed the compartment, three more visitors arrived.

"Rumor has it that Harry Potter is in this compartment," a thin boy with a long nose and pale blonde, slicked back hair said as he looked into the compartment. He was flanked on either side by a pair of gorillas.

'Wait, no,' thought Harry. 'Those aren't gorillas, just two boys who look very much like a pair of gorillas. Blimey, they might give Dudley a run for his money in the dumb brute department.'

"Well?" demanded the blonde boy. "Is it true?"

His eyes scanned over the compartment, quickly discounting Hermione as a possibility for obvious reasons, while one look at Ron's flaming hair quickly identified him as a Weasley. His eyes began to flick back and forth between Harry and Neville, waiting expectantly for one of them to answer, like they wouldn't dare not to.

"Yeah," Harry grunted finally. "What do you want?"

"The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. I just wanted to know who the supposed 'savior' of the wizarding world was," he sneered. "Imagine my surprise that he's some scrawny kid in muggle clothing. Come on Crabbe, Goyle. I find it hard to breath in this stench." Turning abruptly Malfoy strode away down the corridor, his two cronies lumbering behind him.

"Malfoy," Ron spat as he slammed the door shut. "What a git."

"Do you know him?" asked Hermione.

"Nah, but everyone knows the Malfoys are as Dark as families come. Big time You-Know-Who sympathizers," he replied.

"Not just that," piped in Neville. "But Gran says that his father, Lucius I think, was actually one of You-Know-Who's followers. Apparently, he avoided prison by claiming to be cursed. And with a lot of gold. Gran's on the Wizengamot until I come of age, said she tried everything she could to get him convicted, but they threw out all the evidence she brought against him."

"Well, I don't think Malfoy and I will be getting along," said Harry, sarcastically.

After another two hours, Ron's other brother, Percy, stopped by the compartment to tell them a few things. First, he was a prefect. Second, because he was a prefect, they had to listen to him at all times while at Hogwarts and on the Hogwarts express. Third, they should really try to become prefects themselves, although they probably wouldn't be able to hack it, only the most exceptional students ever achieved such an exalted standing. And fourth, almost as an afterthought while leaving the compartment, that they were nearing the school and ought to get their robes on.

They quickly got dressed and before long the train started to slow and eventually came to a stop. As they hopped off the train, trunks in hand, they were directed to leave their trunks in a sectioned off portion of the platform by a nearby prefect.

That finished, they turned as they heard a booming voice call out "Firs' years! Firs' years o'er here!"

Smiling, Harry and Hermione recognized Hagrid's massive form holding a lantern as a group of student who appeared their age, looking nervous and more than a little intimidated by the behemoth of a man, gathered in front of him. Pulling Ron and Neville along with them, they quickly made their way up to Hagrid.

"Hi Hagrid!" they chimed in unison, smiling up at their biggest friend.

"'Arry! 'Ermione! Was wonderin' when I'd be seein' you lot," he said warmly. "An' who's this?"

"This is Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom, we met them on the train ride here. Ron, Neville, this is Hagrid, gamekeeper of Hogwarts," said Hermione brightly.

"Nice to meet you," said Ron and Neville, clearly staring up at the large man in awe.

"Oho, another Weasley! I spend half me life chasin' yer brothers away from the forest, I do! Good lads though, nice to meet ya. You too, Neville. Knew yer parents, I did. Well anyway, looks like tha's abou' all you firs' years," he said. "Firs' years, follow me!"

They made their way down from the station and after a short walk found themselves at the edge of a large lake. Gasping, Harry took in his first sight of Hogwarts. It was a large castle across the lake, several towers piercing the stars with hundreds of windows lit up and reflected in the lake below.

All of the first year quickly scampered into the small row boats Hagrid indicated, with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville all sharing a boat. Harry noticed that there were no oars in the boat though, but just before he could ask where the oars were the boat began to glide across the water smoothly of its own accord, barely leaving a ripple in its wake.

Open mouthed, the four first years stared up at the imposing castle in front of them. Harry could practically feel the magic humming in the air. He had read all about Hogwarts over the summer, but none of that reading could compare to seeing it in person.

After about 10 minutes, the boats came to a stop in small boat house. As they disembarked, Harry noticed a tall, severe looking woman watching them all shrewdly. Smiling as he recognized Professor McGonagall, Harry helped Hermione out of the boat before walking up to the professor.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. Thanks for the quill! I used it just like you said I think Hermione and I are both up to snuff now."

"You're very welcome, Mr. Potter. It's nice to see you again, and you as well, Ms. Granger," replied Professor McGonagall. Then, speaking to the entire group she said "welcome, all to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, head of Gryffindor house, and your future transfiguration instructor. Now if you will follow me, I will show you to the Great Hall."

Professor McGonagall appeared to have the uncanny ability that few teachers possessed to keep a group of children absolutely silent with nothing more than a look. The group of first years followed her quietly up the stairs out of the boathouse and along a short pathway before entering the castle proper. They were standing in a large atrium with staircases going off in every which direction. To their right were two massive doors, reaching from the floor to the ceiling, easily over a hundred feet in height. The doors were currently open to the outside as they saw a large sweeping lawn and off in the distance the front gates of Hogwarts, currently sealed, flanked by two statues of large winged boars.

They were led through a pair of equally impressive doors into the large room directly across the atrium from them. In it were four long tables teeming with students, all wearing black robes trimmed with one of four colors: green, blue, yellow, and red. As they made their way to the back of the room where a fifth long table stood, perpendicular to the others, at which a group of adults sat, Harry looked up at the ceiling which reflected a perfect imitation of the night sky above the roof. Harry and Hermione had read about the enchanted ceiling in Hogwarts: a History and neither could wait to see it ever since.

Stopping before the Head table, Harry noticed a short wooden stool upon which sat a very ancient, and very battered looking, long pointed wizard's hat. Looking around at the other first years nervously, Harry wasn't quite sure what was going on. Harry had read about the sorting, but for the life him neither he nor Hermione were able to find out how students were actually sorted. It must have something to do with this hat though.

Suddenly, a rip at the brim of the hat burst open and the hat began to speak, no sing, to the entire hall of students. At the conclusion of its song, Professor McGonagall strode forward with a long scroll of parchment in her hand.

"I will call each of your names, when I do, you will take a seat on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat, which will determine which house you will belong to. While here, your house will be like your family, there to support you when you're down, and to celebrate with you when you succeed. Good deeds will earn your house points, while poor decisions will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the highest point total will win the house cup. Any questions?"

Nobody dared raise their hand, not in front of a room this full of people, all staring at the group of first years expectantly. With no questions forthcoming, Professor McGonagall began to call each name from the list. For some, the hat decided which house they belonged in quickly, others took longer. The longest so far took about three minutes. That was, Professor McGonagall called "Granger, Hermione!"

With a quick look at Harry, Hermione scrambled up to the stool. She sat quickly as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. Harry watched in anticipation wondering where his friend would be sorted. He waited. And he waited. Eventually, nearly ten minutes passed before the finally reached a decision.

"Gryffindor!"

As the Gryffindor house cheered and clapped, Harry clapped along with them for his friend, surprised she hadn't ended up in Ravenclaw. He noticed that Hermione was blushing pink as she dashed to the Gryffindor table, taking a seat next Fred, or was it George?

Soon after, Professor McGonagall called Neville's name. Gulping, he stepped forward and took his place on the stool. The hat barely touched his head before it yelled "Gryffindor!"

With a look of surprise at the hat's decision, Neville stumbled away from the stool and got halfway to the Gryffindor table before realizing that he was still wearing the hat and jogging back and abashedly handing it back to Professor McGonagall, much to the laughter of everyone in the hall.

The next names continued fairly uneventfully, with the students being divided fairly evenly between the four houses. As the sorting went on, Harry noticed small grumblings coming from the assembled student body, clearly impatient and wanting to get to the feast already. However, as Professor McGonagall called Harry's name, he noticed the hall went deadly silent. He even noticed Professor Dumbledore shift forward in his grand chair at the center of the Head table, watching him expectantly.

Harry stepped forward slowly and sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head where, being too large, it slipped over his eyes, obscuring his vision of the hall.

'Hmm, interesting, interesting,' said a small voice in his ear, no – in his head!

'Another Potter, eh? Yes I see a lot of your father in you. He was in Gryffindor, you know, although I considered putting him in Hufflepuff too. Loyal to a fault he was. Hmm, interesting, plenty of your mother too. Another Gryffindor, although she could have done just as well in Ravenclaw, I'm sure. Yes, this is very interesting indeed,' the hat rambled in his head.

'Let's see here, shall we? You've plenty of courage, recklessness even I'd call it. Oh Godric would've liked you for sure. And then there's that loyalty, yes you would do anything for your friend, the Granger girl, wouldn't you? She was another difficult one to place. Plenty of intelligence too, although plenty of self-doubt to go with it, I see. Yes, Ravenclaw would certainly help you sort that out. Ah, and here we have that ambition, a thirst to prove yourself, to show everyone that you belong, eh? Yes, old Salazar could have done great things with you, certainly. Hmm, but where to put you, where to put you.'

The hat continued to muse over his placement as the minutes ticked by. After nearly fifteen minutes the hat seemed to come to a decision before finally it roared for the crowd to hear "GRYFFINDOR!"

Relief flooded through Harry as he removed the hat to see the Great Hall, and specifically the Gryffindor table erupting with applause. Nearly everyone at the Gryffindor table was on their feet cheering.

"We've got Potter! We've got Potter!" chanted the Weasley twins, standing on top of the benches waving their arms wildly.

As Harry reached the table nearly everyone wanted to shake his hand or pat him on the back before he was finally able to take his seat across the table from Hermione, who was looking just as relieved as he felt that they were in the same house.

Once the noise quieted down the rest of the sorting proceeded rather quickly until they got to Ron Weasley. He had confidently stated on the train that of course he was going to be in Gryffindor as both his parents and all five of his older brothers had been Gryffindors. Harry was surprised, then, when the sorting hat took almost eight minutes before coming to the same conclusion as Ron and yelled "Gryffindor!"

Ron, looking rather embarrassed about something, quickly handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall and made his way to the table to sit next to Harry.

Once the remaining three students were sorted, Professor Dumbledore gave a short, and rather odd speech before the tables in front of them were suddenly laden with more food than Harry had ever seen in his life. He spent the rest of the feast stuffing himself until he could barely move, and chatting with his new house mates. There were five boys in his year, including himself, and only three girls.

As the last scraps of food disappeared from the table, Professor Dumbledore stood again and delivered some start of term announcements. As Professor Dumbledore mentioned something about an off limits corridor on the third floor, Harry simultaneously met the eyes of one of the professors, a sallow skinned man with greasy black hair and a large hook nose, and felt a sharp pain shoot through his scar.

Hand jumping up to his scar, Harry never took his eyes away from the professor, who looked at him angrily before his face changed and he looked almost confused. As the pain in his scar subsided, Harry broke the eye contact before looking at the turban adorned professor next to him, the same one he had met in the leaky cauldron who had been stuttering at meeting him. Harry definitely hoped that wouldn't continue or he wouldn't learn anything in his classes.

Before long Professor Dumbledore concluded his speech and the students began making their way towards the large double doors. Percy stood up importantly, puffing out his chest before gathering all eight of the first year Gryffindors.

He showed them the way to Gryffindor tower and told them the password they would need to open the entrance to their common room. Once inside, he pointed the girls to their dormitories and the boys to theirs. Hermione tiredly shot Harry a look, mouthed 'good night' and made her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitory as Harry followed Ron up the stairs to the boys'.

The dormitory was a circular room with five four poster beds arrayed in a semicircle facing the entrance. Harry's trunk had already been brought up and placed at the foot of the bed second from the left, right between Ron on the left and Neville on the right. Quickly donning his pajamas and uttering a quick good night to his new dormmates, Harry fell into the bed, exhausted from the long day. His last thought before falling asleep though, was one of happiness. He still had Hermione, and now he had Ron and Neville too. With them around, this wasn't so scary, with them around, he was sure he could do this. And with that, he promptly fell asleep.

A/N: Covered a lot of ground in this one! I felt bad I took two weeks for my last update, so now y'all get two chapters in one weekend! Also, I meant to say this in my last chapter, but as I'm sure some of you have noticed, I'm trying to use British english slang and terminology where I can. I am American, however, and have never even been to the UK, so if I've messed something up in that regard, I'm sorry, I hope I haven't offended anyone, and please let me know so I can correct it!

And seriously a big thank you to everyone engaging with this story, it really makes my day seeing people enjoying it and how excited some of you are for the next chapter to be posted. It really keeps me going, and appreciate all of you, whether you like, review, or just read along, thank you!

And finally, a quick question for any fellow writers out there! As I've been getting into my groove with this project I've noticed I write best with music on in the background, so my question for you is, what music do you like to listen to when you write? Any and all suggestions are welcome!