John, in his infinite wisdom as a third year, made sure he sat at the end of the table so as to greet the newest Hufflepuffs. The house had a long-standing tradition that while they all looked out for the others, every other class kept a special eye on each other. The seventh years looked after the fifths, sixths looked out for fourths, fifths looked after thirds, fourths looked after seconds, and thirds looked after firsts. It had really helped John to have his housemates support him so wholeheartedly, and he couldn't wait to repay the favor.

"Alright, John?" a male voice asked. John looked over to see Greg Lestrade, Hufflepuff fifth year and John's personal mentor.

"Alright," John replied. "Congratulations, by the way."

Greg smiled down at the prefect badge pinned on his chest. "They gave it to me as a reward for mentoring your meddling arse," he joked, bumping shoulders with John.

"I wasn't that bad!"

"Mate, you did magic no one ever heard of and needed to be kept out of trouble," Greg said, shaking his head. "Managing the rest of the house will be a cakewalk after you."

John flushed. He had magical talent, that was for sure. He could wave a wand and do whatever magic he wanted, but give him an actual incantation and his spells fizzled. His magical abilities, so far out of the norm and a bit dangerous at times, needed special lessons. But whenever he got frustrated or excited, interesting things tended to happen with his magic. He couldn't really help it, and the longer he studied, the more he found that magic resisted being rationalized. "Was I really that bad?" John asked.

Greg replied with a Look, his eyebrows rising up to say 'Are you really asking me that?' John thought back on his first two years. He had a hard time focusing sometimes, and he made some messes-no, a lot of messes-which Greg had to clean up. John thought back on his first days at Hogwarts; he had barely been able to control his magic. He was better with it now, of course, but even last year had been hard in that respect. His magic just wanted to slip out whenever he was holding a wand. John grinned sheepishly up at Greg, who understood that his point had been made. "I'm looking forward to you getting a firstie," he admitted. "I know I learned a lot about myself while I was trying to help you. I think the same is going to happen to you."

John smiled as Headmistress McGonagall called for attention on the platform. She made a short speech and then the new students were being led in. The Sorting Hat sang his song, calling for house unity and fellowship. John eyed the Slytherin table across the hall warily. Any Hufflepuff knew how to make friends, regardless of house, but Slytherins were the most resistant.

After the Hat's song, the sorting started. Names flew by, the entire Hall listening intently for the one defining shout of the Hat. Hufflepuff got a stretch of new students, all looking around the hall with bright eyes. Each time a new student was given to Hufflepuff, the house banged on the table four quick times and shouted the last name of the new student before cheering as normal. Greg said that the tradition went back twenty-four years, as Hufflepuffs had started doing it after the Second Wizarding War.

Almost halfway through the Sorting, Professor Creevy called up, "Holmes, Sherlock!" John nudged Greg. "Is that—"

"Mycroft Holmes's little brother?" Greg interrupted. "Yeah, it is." They watched, unsurprised, as the newest Holmes was sorted into Slytherin. The Slytherins all cheered, Mycroft clapped politely and inclined his head towards his little brother, who bared his teeth in response and sat down as far away as he could from his housemates. "Well," Greg said. "There's gotta be a story there."

"Don't blame the kid. His brother is Head Boy. Coming into school with such big shoes to fill? I wouldn't be happy at all," John replied, his gaze sweeping over to Harry at the Gryffindor table as "Homer, Ian" became a Ravenclaw. He looked back at the platform to see a girl, "Hooper, Molly," get called up. She was under the hat for barely a second before it shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Four rapid bangs, a loud cry of "HOOPER!" and then cheers accompanied Molly to her seat next to John. He introduced himself and Greg, clasping her on the shoulder for a second. "Ipsom, Veruca," was declared a Slytherin; John immediately watched the young Holmes boy cross his arms over his chest, refusing to celebrate. All throughout the feast, John's eyes kept sliding back to this strange boy who was so ill-at-ease with the rest of the world.