The next day dawned bright. Megan was so jumpy she wasn't even sleepy when she got up. She quickly got dressed and looked out the window to admire the view. It would have been difficult in the dark. She slipped between the curtains and sat on the sill a moment. There was a large lake, which she guessed was the one they had crossed to get here. The sun shone brightly, even if it was still early. There were many trees around the castle, and she saw a small stone hut that stood near the edge of the forest she had heard about. It had to be Hagrid's... yes! There he was! Walking Fang and Mira!

"Morning."

Megan jumped.

"Oh... sorry. Morning, Hermione."

"Boy, you really are jumpy, huh?" Hermione said, as she rose too.

"Yes... I'm torn between fear and excitement." She admitted.

They were soon ready, Ginny following, and they headed down to the common room.

"Ron, Harry!" Hermione called.

Indeed, they were there, just heading to the hallway leading to the entrance of the common room from the fat lady's portrait.

"Sleep well?" Harry asked, holding a hand out to Ginny as they went down the few steps between them.

"Wonderfully. You?"

"Same here. It's nothing like my brothers described, it's ten times better!"

"I agree, except my source was a book." Megan said.

"Oh, no, not another bookworm, we've got Hermione for that already," Ron teased.

They laughed and set out. Megan had never felt more comfortable.

Most students weren't there yet when they arrived in the Great Hall. Classes weren't for another hour, so they spent their breakfast talking about their first impressions, and a little about themselves. Megan tried to answer honestly, but she didn't like going into the details. It was still too painful. And also, she was still waiting to see if this wasn't a dream. She was so used to her life with the Durlseys, a change had seemed almost impossible. But now, she had finally been given a chance to live her life on her own terms. But just to be absolutely sure...

"Hermione, pinch me, would you?"

"What? Why?"

"I'm worried I'm still dreaming."

Slightly confused, she obliged nonetheless. Megan winced, and then, looked around.

"It's real. Now I can relax." she said.

Hermione looked at her a little concerned.

"Uh... are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just couldn't bare if this was just a dream."

A little later, Megan and her friends got to their feet and headed to the Entrance Hall. They wanted to get off early to avoid getting late by being lost. As they were leaving the Great Hall, someone called her name.

"Hey, Megan! Hold on!"

She turned around and was surprised to see Cedric hurrying towards her. She felt herself flush slightly.

"Oh, hi, Cedric," she said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Congrats on making Gryffindor," he smiled. "Though, Hufflepuff would have been happy to have you."

"I know," she smiled back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, these are my friends Hermione, Harry, Ron, Ginny."

"Your dads work at the Ministry, right? Nelson and Weasley?"

"That's right."

"And this is Cedric Diggory, you guys. I met him at the station, too."

She turned back to Cedric.

"Was something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing. I just know how nervous I was on my first day and wanted to wish you luck and tell you not to worry if you made a mistake. We all do sometimes, right?"

"That's so nice of you," Megan said.

"Hey, Cedric! Come on, we'll be late!"

"Be right there!" he called. "Well, you heard, duty calls. I'll catch you later."

"Bye, have a good first day."

"You too."

He waved and walked off. And so, they headed off to their first ever class as wizards at Hogwarts: Charms.

The charms teacher was a tiny little wizard with white hair and a wrinkled face named Flitwick. Megan's first impression was that he was a very cheerful, friendly wizard, and he got all excited when, while doing the register, he noticed Megan's name.

"Oh, what an honour it is to have you here, Miss Potter, truly, it is!"

Everyone turned to look at her of course, making her flushed. But she had to admit it was nice to be shown up for a good reason for once.

"Uh... thank you, sir..." she said, slightly embarrassed and glad they weren't sharing the room with the Slytherins.

After he'd gotten over his excitement, he finished the register and proceeded to teaching them the first thing a beginner wizard learned: Levitation.

"Levi-what?" a boy called Seamus asked.

"Levitation, my boy," Flitwick said patiently. "That is to say, making objects, or sometimes people, fly. Now, this is quite simple but does require a fair amount of concentration."

"Why can't it just be called flying?" Seamus grumbled.

"Because flying is quite a bit more complex and difficult to achieve," Flitwick answered.

They didn't practice spell casting just yet. They practised their diction of the spells, which Professor Flitwick insisted was very important, if you didn't want to have a completely different result. But when the bell went, and they all gathered their things to leave for their next class, Megan was happy. She had seen people with even Ron's lineage of wizards stumble over the words. But she, a musician and reader at heart, had found no problem at all. Hermione, who was born to a Muggle family, had succeeded with flying colours too. They walked out towards their next class.

"I can't wait to start using magic," Hermione was saying excitedly.

"Me neither, but I hope I don't look like too much of a fool..." Megan said.

"You won't, you saw us back there, both of you grew up with Muggles and you did better than the rest of us! That just proves lineage means nothing." Ron said.

Next was potions class. This took place in one of the dungeons. It was dark and damp down there, but their cauldrons kept them warm.

"I am here to teach you the subtle art of potion making," Potions teacher Severus Snape said in a cold soft voice. "Now... let's see how much I can hope to teach you in the time you'll be here..."

He looked around. Megan saw Neville quiver slightly when Snape looked his way. Then his eyes fell upon her, and she held his gaze politely but firmly.

"Ah... Miss Potter. Our new celebrity."

There was a silence as everyone watched.

"Tell me, what is the result of mixing asphodel and wormwood?"

Megan had been quite intrigued by the potions book so she knew a fair bit of what was in it.

"It makes a very strong sleeping potion, but the wormwood needs to be infused."

"Correct. And where would you look to find a Bezoar?"

"Inside the stomach of a goat."

"What is it used for?"

"It cures most poisons." Megan answered.

They watched each other, barely noticing that everyone was holding their breath. Would he snap? He seemed the type who punished easily.

"Correct. Five points for Gryffindor."

Hermione beamed at her. It was clear she had had the right answers too. Ron and Harry though, looked at her in amazement.

"You said you grew up with Muggles!" Ron said after they had left the classroom.

"I did," she assured. "But when I got my books, I was so eager to learn I read them cover to cover. So I picked up a few things on the way."

"Oh, I agree, they're so interesting," Hermione said.

The boys exchanged a look.