THREE I KNOW SO

Watching the first-year students get sorted was always one of Eurydice's favorite parts of the welcome feast at Hogwarts. Something about seeing these students -- some of them experiencing magic for the first time in their lives -- with so much life and excitement in their eyes reminded her of when she had once been hopeful for a life of magic such as this. It had been a long time since she had truly felt the magic of Hogwarts thrum through her veins and she envied those who got to live with it for the first time in their lives. She loved magic, that much was true, but growing up it simply didn't feel as tied to her as it once had.

She heard Ron Weasley clapping beside her as another first year was sorted into Gryffindor, all of them cheering as they welcomed a new student to their ranks. All she wanted to do was feel welcoming as she knew how terrifying this could be for some first-year students. As she turned to the students next to her, she noticed Ron and Hermione were sitting, but Harry was nowhere to be found.

"Oi, Weasley," Eurydice whispered as she nudged the redhead next to her to get his attention. When he raised an eyebrow at her -- mainly because she rarely spoke to Ron even though she did think he was rather sweet -- she asked, "Where's Harry? He didn't come off the train with you?"

Ron shook his head, "He disappeared about an hour before we got to Hogwarts, haven' seen him since."

"Curious," Eurydice mumbled more to herself than she did to Ron, whose attention was back on the first year taking a seat next to Hermione. The dark-haired girl looked around, waiting to see if there was a chance Harry was anywhere else at the table, but the messy black hair and stark green eyes were absolutely nowhere to be found.

There was a tap on her shoulder that got her attention as she turned around, realizing Heloise had leaned over the gap between their tables to say something to Eurydice, "What are you looking for? Everything okay? Something bugging you?"

"Harry isn't here," Eurydice answered as she continued to glance between Heloise and the doors to the great hall. First-year she had been absolutely ecstatic that the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables were next to each other. If she couldn't be in the same house as Heloise, at least they could share their meals together. However, the separate houses never stopped them from whispering each other's respective common room passwords to each other whenever they changed. They had even swapped ties once to sneak around, but as they got older and more familiar with the students of Hogwarts, that stopped working as well as it did when they were kids.

"Maybe he was tired and turned in early?" Heloise offered with a shrug as her eyes met Eurydice's and then darted towards the door before landing back on the girl, "It's cute you're worried about him, but I'm gonna be honest, Dice, he's probably totally fine."

"You know I hate when you call me Dice," Eurydice scoffed, rolling her eyes as her gaze was trained on the door, "Yeah he could be fine, but he's quite literally always getting into trouble, you know that, right? Like he almost died last year, the year before that, the year before that--"

"Oi, all right, I see your point," the blonde laughed as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice, "but stressin' won't do you any good, Di, just relax, I'm sure he'll show up at some point."

As if Heloise could see the future, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in strode Harry with... a bloody nose. Eurydice raised a silent eyebrow at her friend as if to say told ya so, but the girl just shrugged her off and turned back to her own table. Eurydice rolled her eyes before turning back to her own table but keeping an eye on Harry out of the corner of her gaze. She watched as he pulled Hermione and Ron into a hug before sitting down. She could hear Hermione asking him what had happened, but he brushed her off and he usually did. Eurydice held back a scoff as she heard Harry tell them it was nothing.

The sorting had finished and one of the first-years had sat down next to her and the poor girl was absolutely shaking. She had short dark hair hardly past her shoulders and deep brown eyes and if anything she reminded Eurydice of when she had first sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"I'm Eurydice," the girl introduced herself as she nudged the younger girl on the shoulder. When the girl didn't respond except for a wide stare, she prompted, "And you are?"

"Uh, I'm Athena," the girl -- Athena -- responded, "Um, my friends on the train said Gryffindor's are the brave ones so I think the hat made a mistake because I'm quite nervous right now."

"I was nervous too, scared out of mind because my family was filled with Ravenclaws and Slytherins. I reckon there hasn't been a Gryffindor in my family for a century," Eurydice explained as she took a sip of her drink, "but the sorting hat doesn't lie. If you didn't belong here, you wouldn't be here, Miss Athena. Before you know it, it'll feel like home, I promise."

The girl giggled at this, explaining, "I don't know what houses my parents were in. I don't think they went here considering seeing an owl on their windowsill with a letter from a magical school gave them quite a shock. Thankfully, one of my friends got a letter too, but her mum was less surprised."

"Muggles, that's what we call 'em," Eurydice explained, "People without magic. Where's your friend now? She didn't make it to Gryffindor?"

"She's all the way over there," the last word was whispered as Athena pointed over to the furthest table all the way across the great hall -- Slytherin. "Isn't that the evil one? I don't think she's evil."

"Don't let the little rumors scare you, my mother was in Slytherin and she is one of the kindest people I have ever met," Eurydice said with a shrug, "My best friend is over there in Hufflepuff, you see her? It's the blonde with those long curls and the loudest laugh at the table. We get on just fine being in separate houses. I'm sure the same will go for your friend, don't worry too much about it."

Something about speaking to a first-year reminded her so much of when she was younger, except she didn't really have anyone to guide her when she was new. The Weasley twins had been nicer to her than most, but they were gone now. She remembered wishing that she and Heloise were in the same house for the longest time, but those wishes had subsided.

"You really think so?" Athena asked, a glint of hope in her eyes.

Eurydice nodded as her eyes drifted over to Heloise, "I know so."

eurydice: i hate hogwarts, i hate magic, get me out of here i have nothing to live for

some first year: I'm scared

eurydice: bro this is the best place on earth you'll be fine