circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.

Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy

scrawl:

Dear Harry,

I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three? 

I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.

Hagrid

Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled Yes, please, see you later on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.

It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.

"Did you get anything, Amelia?" Neville asked turning to Amelia who was sitting next to him(as a student with no house she can sit where she likes) Amelia shook her head. "No. I didn't get an owl at the pet shop my dad doesn't like birds in the house." Neville gave a small nod.

"Amelia there is something I have been meaning to ask you something," Amelia hummed in repose letting Hermione know she could go on," When we first met you said your last name was Ovis but when you get called up to be sorted you where called Potter why?"

Ron and Harry stopped chatting to look at Amelia even though they hadn't talked to her much or at all really they were wondering about her last name. "Oh, you see I'm adopted. My adopted last name is really Anderson but just recently I found out I was adopted and got sent here where my birth name is Potter. I go by Ovis becouse I prefer the name. I can assure you though there is no relation between me and Harry if that is what you have been wondering."

They all nodded seeming satisfied with the answer. Amelia smiled happy with the half-lie she told them. She didn't wish to tell Harry about her being his sister. He had been through a lot with finding out about being the Boy who lived and a wizard she didn't need to add on to it. A few seconds later an owl landed in front of her dropping a note before it flew off again.

"But you said you don't have an owl?" Ron asked Amelia picked up the letter and opened it. "I don't." She read it to herself and smiled. It was like Harry's but it was asking her to come and visit. "Looks like I will be coming with you, Harry."

At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry -- he hated him.

Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new -- celebrity."
Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their