The next morning, I was leaving the Great Hall after breakfast when I felt a tug on my thick braid of red hair. Startled, I spun around, and scowled. "Had to sneak up on me, did you?"

Mason's eyes sparkled with laughter, the usual contagious grin lighting up his face. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I just wanted to see if we have any classes together."

Once we'd got out of the way of the other people exiting the Hall, we took out our schedules for comparison. "Hm... Charms, History of Magic, and Herbology, it seems," I said.

"Oi, Mason!"

I glanced back and saw a couple of other Hufflepuffs waving at him. "Already got a fan following?" I laughed.

My friend shrugged. "What can I say? I make friends easily."

"Yeah, yeah, no need to rub it in my face," I said with a wry smile. "Anyways, you'd better not keep them waiting, or they won't be your friends for long."

Mason rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever. I'll see you after lunch, alright?"

"See ya," I sighed, running ahead to catch up with Autumn, who'd lagged up ahead to wait for me.

When I fell into step beside her, she looked at me curiously. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"Oh, his name's Mason Bones. We're old friends."

"Just friends?"

I scoffed. "Definitely just friends; don't be silly. Didn't I tell you a guy's never really liked me?"

"Stop it," she laughed. "Saying it once was acceptable, but twice in twenty-four hours is whiny."

---

Autumn and I walked into Transfiguration a few minutes early, and found McGonagall sitting at her desk. She looked up as we came in and smiled at us. "Miss Potter, good to see you. And Miss... Stevenson, I believe?"

"Yes, Professor," Autumn said, a bit awkwardly.

"Good. You may sit in any available seats; we'll be starting soon. You have your wands, I trust?"

"I should hope so," I said, chuckling. "I believe that's rather important."

"Yes," McGonagall sighed, "but you'd be surprised how many first years I've seen come to class without them."

I laughed. "Well, Professor, my name will not be on that list."

"Good. Well, you may take your seats."

We found empty seats near the middle of the room and sat down. "You and Professor McGonagall know each other?" Autumn asked

"Oh, yeah. She's been around for a long time, and my family knows her well. My dad looks up to her a great deal."

"How old do you think she is?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? She taught my grandparents, so... pretty old. But I couldn't care less, as she's really quite nice and, to hear my dad tell it, totally badass."

Autumn giggled. "You know, I'm inclined to believe that."

The classroom was by now mostly full. Just as McGonagall had risen and opened her mouth to begin class, I heard laughing from the doorway and a blonde girl walked in.

This was Julia Addams, the first one sorted yesterday, who was put in Slytherin. The nonchalance I remembered from when I'd first seen her was still present as she meandered her way towards an empty seat, stopping once or twice to whisper something to another kid. She finally slipped into a seat next to a wary-looking Charlie Corner, smirking at him before turning to the front of the room with a decidedly bored expression on her face.

"You are late, Miss Addams," said Professor McGonagall, wearing a stern expression as she stared the girl down.

Julia Addams rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. It's the first day; you should be happy I bothered to show up at all."

"I do not appreciate tardiness, nor do I appreciate your tone. If you do not make amends to both situations from this moment on, I shall not hesitate to take points from Slytherin house, and if that fails, to give you detention."

The blonde girl leaned forward in her seat, narrowing her dark blue eyes at the woman in front of her. "My father would not be pleased by such utterly ridiculous punishments. I assume you know his position?"

McGonagall returned the glare she was being given, and said, in a completely calm voice, "Your father, no matter what close relations he may have with the Minister of Magic, has no jurisdiction at Hogwarts. If you do not wish to be punished, I suggest that from now on you refrain from making such foolish comments and learn some respect for your elders."

Julia looked ready to shoot back a snarky comment, but at the last moment apparently decided against it and sunk back into her chair, scowling.

I glanced at Autumn, amused, and saw that she, too, was stifling a smile. "Definitely badass," she murmured.

I couldn't help but laugh. So far, Hogwarts was turning out to be a great deal of fun.

---

Next was Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught by Professor Howell, with the Gryffindors. I was happy to see Hugo, who I introduced to Autumn before leaving him to find a seat with his friends. I looked around for Charlie Corner, just in case he was sitting by himself as he had been (until Julia came in) for Transfiguration, but to my surprise found him already deep in conversation with someone it took me only a second to remember. Scarlett Boot, the short, impressive Gryffindor, was talking and laughing with him as if they'd known one another for years.

Autumn and I slid into the seats in front of the chatting pair, giving them friendly (and slightly curious) smiles as we sat. "She's really pretty, isn't she?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Autumn agreed. "I wonder what on earth attached her to him? He's not much of a looker, if we're being honest. That hair-" She made a fake gagging noise, and I chuckled. It was true, his hair was rather long in an unattractive sort of way and did look slightly greasy. He was at least nice, though.

"Yeah, well... maybe she has a thing for long hair? Who knows? I suppose if you got rid of the hair, he wouldn't be bad. He does have nice eyes, I think."

Autumn laughed. "You're being generous, but okay."

As it happened, we got a real answer very soon. When class was over, as we were getting up to leave, I heard Charlie's voice: "Hey, Lily, hold up for a minute, will you?"

I turned to face him, as did Autumn, though she was ahead of me and already exiting the row. "Sure, what's up?" I said.

"Well, Charlie said he'd introduce us, so I thought I'd take him up on it now." This was from his companion, who peered intensely at me through her glasses and held out a hand. "I'm Scarlett."

I shook her hand. "Lily. I suppose you already knew that, though. It seems most people do. It's good to meet you."

"Oh, you as well. I'm thrilled. I always thought it would be interesting to meet someone famous... and I guess you're close to it at least."

I shrugged. I didn't really like to think of myself like that, but hey, if she wanted to I wasn't going to stop her.

"Scarlett and I are old friends," Charlie cut in, by way of explanation. "We practically grew up together; our families are very close."

"It's a bit weird sometimes," Scarlett elaborated, "seeing as we've done everything together since we were kids... like, we literally took baths together." She laughed, and Charlie chuckled, although from the look on his face he found that particular fact more embarrassing than funny.

"What a history," I said dryly. "I suppose your families are already planning your wedding."

Scarlett forced a laugh, but this time it was her who looked embarrassed. "Oh, certainly not."

"That," Charlie said in a wry tone, "would be a perfect disaster. Wouldn't it?"

The girl looked flustered. "Well, I mean... maybe, but... it's not sure to be..."

Autumn and I glanced at each other, smirking. This girl was far gone.

"We should probably get going," I said, despite wanting to see what would happen next. "We'll see you at lunch, Charlie." I dragged Autumn out into the hallway, where we both immediately burst into fits of laughter.

"Here I was thinking she seemed intimidating," I giggled, "and a couple of words from Charlie leave her speechless!"

Autumn recovered herself, sighing. "We shouldn't make fun of her, I suppose. Haven't we all been there? It's awful, fancying a friend who's oblivious. We ought to show some compassion."

"Yes, I suppose we should," I mused. "But did you see her face when he said 'disaster'? Priceless." Just like that, we were back in the grips of laughter, and although it may have been rude I definitely didn't care.