AN: What?! Two updates in one day?! Unheard of! I'm gonna say right now, don't get used to it... writing Harry's chapter after Ginny's is so much easier :) But here we go! Trying to make up for the time before :) ALL HAIL ROWLING!

Chapter 4

Harry awoke with a stiff neck. Obviously he needed to have brought a pillow down with him. The chair in the common room wasn't exactly the most comfortable piece of furniture he had been confronted with. Though, living at Grimmauld his whole life, he should be glad that it hadn't decided to eat him alive.

He scanned the room around him. It was empty for now, but he figured a mass of students would be emerging from the staircases on the far wall. Some of those students he would care not to see again.

Lavendar Brown, for instance. She and her posse of followers sought him out when he entered the feast. She practically screamed when he said he was in Gryffindor. A group of second years were nearly pushed off the bench to make room for him. He felt awful, but as soon as they saw him, they gave up their seats willingly and found spots near the middle of the table.

Harry didn't understand. Why was he treated like this? He had done absolutely nothing to prove himself. If Sirius or Remus had walked through the doors, he would not be fazed if every person gave up their seat. They had given their lives to the Order and saving the wizarding world from destruction!

Harry had done nothing to deserve this respect. He was cooped up in an old castle with a bunch of manic strangers.

It only got slightly better after the feast. When Harry had been led to his dorm, he entered to find four other boys, lounging on their beds and talking.

When they heard him enter, all conversation ended. A tall boy with skin lighter than that of the chocolate Moony kept around. His stride got him across the room in three steps.

"I guess that would explain the extra bed." His voice was low and smooth. "Dean Thomas. You must be Harry Potter."

He stuck his hand out and Harry took it. At least this guy was more mature than the girls that had followed him since the train.

"Here we have Seamus Finnegan, Neville Longbottom, and Ron Weasley." Each boy smiled and acknowledged Harry in some way or another. The first was a ferrety looking boy with a spattering of freckles across his nose. He was shorter, but stood strong with his shoulders squared. The next boy seemed more reserved and had a limp mess of curls that fell into his eyes. The third had red hair that clashed with the draping around his bed. A mass of freckles covered the bridge of his nose, his cheekbones, and forehead. He smiled in a casual way that made Harry relax.

"Hello, everyone."

"You're stuff's already at the end of your bed and your wardrobe is filled," Seamus said, leaning against his bedpost. "Not that we had anything to do with that."

"Yeah, the house elves kicked us out of the room so they could unpack," Neville said, picking up his pillow and fluffing it.

"Do they do that for everyone?" Harry asked, wondering what Kreacher might have said to the staff here.

"Oh yeah, but we all have been in the same room since first year so they had ours done before we got here. They had to do yours special," Seamus answered, still sizing Harry up. It was starting to make Harry a little uneasy.

There was a pregnant pause. Dean, Seamus, and Ron were still watching what Harry would do.

"Right. Does anyone know how to answer the last Transfiguration question?" Ron asked, seemingly just entering the conversation.

Seamus broke eye contact with Harry. "Ron. You know Neville and I aren't taking that class and Dean probably didn't do the homework."

"Speak for yourself," Dean said, pushing Seamus off balance. "Yeah I got the answer here, Ron." Dean picked out the parchment from the bag hung up on the peg by his bed. "Don't copy word-for-word this time."

Ron smiled. "Don't worry. I learned my lesson after the second set of a hundred letters needing to be sealed."

"I still can't believe you got off that easy," Neville said, placing the pillow back behind his head.

"Not my fault Slughorn is a softy," Ron said, taking the parchment from Dean's grasp.

"Well I'm gonna head to bed so I hope you all will be considerate and shut yer yaps!" Seamus flopped onto his bed with much gusto.

"I just love it when he goes full Irish on us," Dean said, smirking at Harry.

"Not funny, Thomas," Seamus muffled into his pillow.

Dean laughed and sat on his bed, removed some flimsy, clear things from his eyes and pulled up the covers.

Neville, already lying down, closed the curtains and began to snore slightly.

Harry sat on his bed. It was in the corner, next to Ron who was still sitting up and scribbling away on his parchment.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but Harry was uneasy. He shifted every so often, but couldn't get comfortable.

"You keep moving like that, you're gonna rub a hole in your sheets," Ron said, finishing up his scribbling.

"Sorry," Harry said, immediately stiffening. "I've been kinda anxious all day."

"Expected that," he replied, tossing the rolled up parchment on his bedside table.

"Alright, I guess."

"Meet some good people?"

"Uhh," Harry answered carefully. "I met people. I haven't made final judgments yet."

"Like who?"

"Umm… Lavendar Bro—"

"Of course you did."

"Yeah, I mean, is that a—?"

"Good thing? Well, of sorts. Lavendar knows a lot of people so she's kinda like a bridge to good people."

"Do you like her?"

"Well we're kinda on again off again…"

"What?"

"We've dated and broken up and dated an—"

Seamus slapped his hands on his mattress. "Ron, can you not talk about Lavendar for, like, a day? Just one?"

Ron chuckled, "To be fair Seamus, Harry brought it up."

"First rule of the dorm, Harry. Not one word about Lavendar Brown. That girl is the craziest witch I've ever met. And I live in Ireland." Seamus trailed off to unintelligible grumbles before going silent again.

Ron shook his head. "Seamus isn't exactly a fan of hers."

Harry shook his head. "No, but you don't seem to be either, yet you date?"

Ron shrugged. "I'm not really in it for her though. If you get what I mean."

Harry had a vague idea of what he meant, but that didn't mean he liked it. "Yeah I guess I do," he said, standing up to pace.

"Bloody hell, Harry. You need to calm down a bit," Ron said, already shimmying down under his covers.

"I need to walk around a bit, I think," Harry said, making his way to the door.

Ron called from his bed, "Curfew was at 9 so don't get caught."

Harry tucked a bundle under his arm. "Not a problem."

"Ok then. See ya around, Harry."

And then Harry slipped into the hall. It was clear of people, so Harry pulled his Invisibility Cloak over his head and tip toed down the stairs.

The common room was still buzzing, mostly with second and third years basking in the freedom of no bed times and hardly any schoolwork. Harry slipped past them, careful not to tread on any toes or bump any shoulders. As the portrait opened to admit the last few stragglers, Harry stole his chance and slipped out before the Fat Lady closed again.

Once in the hall, Harry pulled out a plain piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

With those words, ink erupted from the page, filling in elaborate patterns and letters. As the ink stilled, Harry could read the writing in the middle. "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present The Marauder's Map".

It was as if his father was standing next to him, urging him to go and explore. Urging him to go cause mischief and seek adventure.

And he did. Though there was a lot more castle than he was expecting and the food from the feast had left him incredibly tired and so he turned in. He felt bad for waking up The Fat Lady, but there was no other way in.

As he stepped into the common room, he sat in the chair, cleared the map, and laid back. It had been a particularly stressful day and he knew it wasn't gonna get any easier for him. He closed his eyes for a second and soon was completely asleep.

Suddenly he was jolted awake again by a knock on his feet. Rather than look at the perpetrator, he looked down at his feet to make sure they were still covered. Random shoes lying around are one thing. Feet lying around in them are a whole different thing.

Once he saw they were completely concealed, he turned to see a flash of red sneak through the portrait hole.

With a sigh of relief, he decided he should probably make his way to his dormitory to get ready for the day, as hard as he knew it was going to be.

"Harry! Harry, wait up!"

Harry cringed at the sound of his name. He already knew to whom it belonged and he was really reconsidering his decision to leave the Cloak in his trunk.

Lavender snuck around Harry. "We didn't really get a chance to say good bye last night. That prefect kinda whisked you away before we could."

"I could always say it now. Good bye, Lavender." Harry started to walk quickly away from her.

Unfortunately, Lavender caught up easily and was giggling. "Oh, Harry! You're so funny you know."

"Incredibly," Harry replied, deadpan.

"It's gonna serve you well. I'm not the only one that falls for a comedian."

"Perfect." She was dense.

"Well it's gonna be a fun day ahead. I mean we get our schedules and sometimes we'll be in classes with Ravenclaw or Hufflep…"

Harry was amazed that someone could possibly have that many words in their brain at one time. Harry only half listened as she blabbered on about scheduling and the different classes they would take and which professors were awful (though many of the teachers she listed were part of the order and were incredibly instructive to him) and what the best paths were to get to each room.

As they walked, girls in different colored ties joined them. Lavender sported a red tie, matching Harry's and Parvati's. Padma was wearing a blue tie while others wore yellow. As they appeared, Lavender would introduce them, but Harry didn't pay very close attention to their names.

Entering the Great Hall, the cloud of girls around him didn't diminish. They started to sit at the Gryffindor table when a stern voice cut them off.

"Ladies. I don't care who the new student is, you will sit at your appropriate house tables."

As the girls moved away, Harry caught sight of Professor McGonagall. She was tall, slender, and draped in burgundy robes. Her lips were pinched tight so only a thin line was visible. She waved her hands so as to shoo the girls away.

Lavender smiled with victory as she sat at the table. "Harry, come sit down."

"Miss Brown, I'm sorry to inform you that Mr. Potter is needed elsewhere at this time. Don't worry, Potter. You will still get breakfast."

She turned swiftly and Harry quickly turned away from Lavender's pout to follow her. She led him up to her office.

Inside, she sat behind her desk and gestured to the plush chair in front. Harry sat as McGonagall whirled her wand. A plate of breakfast food appeared on her desk and she pushed it towards Harry.

Harry thanked her and took a bite of the eggs.

McGonagall removed her hat and placed it on the corner of her desk. "So, Harry. How have the days treated you thus far?" She smiled affectionately.

Harry smiled in return. McGonagall was one of the Order members who visited Grimmauld Place for meetings. She was stern and disciplined, but in a motherly way. Those characteristics must have been why she ended up on Lavender's awful list.

"You know, it's not terrible." He said after swallowing his first bites. "I've never really been around this many people so it's a… it's a bit of an adventure."

"I'm sure," she responded, adjusting the papers on her desk. "And when the likes of Lavender Brown take a liking to you, well people will be around."

Harry smiled again in response. He picked up the toast and took a bite.

McGonagall cleared her throat. "Well as much as I would love to have just a social visit, there are a few things you need to be informed about before you go into classes today."

And she began to speak quickly, listing off rules and points systems and academic jargon. Harry took bites of his breakfast, listened, and wondered if he would every really be able to understand this school.

Harry was amazed that even with his map he wasn't going to make it to his first class in time. He had seriously underestimated the amount of time it would take to get from McGonagall's office to the dungeon Potions classroom.

As he neared the door, he heard a bellow from the professor, welcoming the students. He pushed the door and it swung open easily, drawing more attention to the doorway than he had hoped.

Harry stood their awkwardly, suddenly very aware of the hair that had fallen in front of his face. He brushed it back, moving it away from his forehead.

Every student was staring at him. He definitely needed to get used to that. No one was saying anything so he was gonna need to start. "Umm, is this sixth year, umm advanced potions?"

Professor Slughorn shook himself awake and replied, "Ah yes, old boy! Come in and sit. We were just starting."

Harry stepped carefully into the room. A table near the front had three empty chairs. That was his best bet.

"Professor Slughorn!" a shrill voice sounded. "We can make a table of five over here!"

Harry turned and recognized the pushy girl. Lavender had introduced her, but he couldn't remember the name. Roma? Mildred? She had a strange look on her face and backed away slightly.

"There's no reason for that Ms. Vane. Not when there is a perfectly good seat with Ms. Weasley."

Weasley? Ron's sister maybe? Ron seemed like a normal person so it could be worse. He quickly walked to her table and plopped into his seat.

The first thing he noticed was her hair. It was a fiery red that was braided down past her shoulder. Her bangs fell loosely, hiding her tilted face.

Manners. He needed to be polite to his table partner. "Hello." Pause. "Umm, what's your name?"

The girl's head rose. Her expression was passive, but Harry could see something else, though he wasn't too sure of what it was. Her eyes were brown, but bright and full of life. The rest of her persona, however, did not match.

She responded quietly, "Ginny." She then went searching through her bag and pulling out her book.

Harry was pretty sure there was another step in this whole social interaction deal. "Aren't you going to ask who I am?"

Without looking up she responded, "I know what your name is."

"Really?"

She looked back to his eyes. "Everyone knows your name, Harry Potter."

AN: Ah! They both met each other! Heads up to everyone: this story line is only supposed to encompass this year, possibly the summer. If it seems slow, it's because it is. And the chapters overlap time wise so definitely slower :) sorry if it's not what you're expecting, but I appreciate the feedback no matter what! :D Love you all!