Natalie and Calliope remained with the twins and Lee for the entire journey. Calliope was able to fully appreciate how close Natalie and George had grown in the past year, having bonded over their missing friend/sibling.

The two cracked many jokes with each other and Lee, they seemed so happy and carefree. This made Calliope feel quite separate from them as she was by no means carefree, as she still held the belief that she was the weapon that Sirius had mentioned. 

Calliope found herself watching Harry across the hall as he talked with Ron and Hermione. She couldn't help but feel jealous of the boy. Whilst there were many things that he did not know about his own life, all of his problems could be explained. Plus Calliope envied the close bond that Harry had formed with Sirius.

Calliope was desperate to hold onto anything relating to her father, and both Sirius and Remus were linked to Isaac Doge, as they were two of his best friends during his time at Hogwarts. She had begun developing a relationship with Remus before she was taken by Voldemort, and she had hardly seen him over the summer due to him being away on 'Order Business' for a large amount of the time.

Sirius, however, seemed to want to have absolutely nothing to do with Calliope. After originally having introduced himself in a friendly manner, Sirius had grown cold when Calliope told him he was going to die. Of course, she couldn't blame him for this, but he had given her the cold shoulder all summer, but she had been forced to watch Sirius growing closer with Harry. She couldn't resent Harry for this as he was in desperate need of a parental figure in his life, but she was only part-human, she couldn't help feeling jealous.

These thoughts whirled through Calliope's head as the sorting took place. Once "Zeller, Rose." had been sorted into Hufflepuff, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet to address the students.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore, "welcome! To our old hands- welcome back! There is a time for speechmaking, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

There was an appreciative laugh and a spattering of applause. Out of nowhere, the tables were suddenly groaning under the weight of plates upon plates of food.

"I'm so glad that Dumbledore doesn't go on before the feast starts," Natalie said as she filled up her plate with mashed potatoes, "I mean, we've all been on a train, and some people haven't eaten since this morning, so everyone's pretty hungry. And no one wants to listen to him before they've eaten. I'll happily listen to anything he has to say, but only once I've got a full stomach, you know?" Natalie looked up at Calliope expectantly, "Do you want some potatoes, Callie?"

"Yes please," Calliope passed her plate across the table to Natalie, who gave her several dollops of mashed potatoes, before passing the plate back.

"Who's that lady in the pink?" Natalie asked as she dug into her meal, "and why's she wearing that stupid bow on her head, it's like something my Grandma Gloria would wear and she's like five hundred years old, I mean a massive bow on her forehead. I guess it must give her extra hight because she's pretty short. Don't you think she looks like a toad Callie?"

"Yeah," Calliope cocked her head looking at the woman who was sat at the teacher's table, "she really does."

"I don't think that I'm going to like her Callie," said Natalie, "I really don't think we're going to get on."

"You've got to give everyone a chance Nat," Calliope chided her friend, "you can't just assume that you're not going to get on with someone, she could be the most lovely person in the world."

********

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, for those kind words of welcome," the woman dressed in pink, who Dumbledore had introduced as Professor Umbridge, "well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"

Calliope glanced over at Fred and George on the Gryffindor table, the twins glanced at each other, both with raised eyebrows. George seemed to be holding back a laugh, Fred glanced over at the Hufflepuff table, and he met Calliope's eyes, he winked at her. Calliope rolled her eyes and looked back to the front.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll all be very good friends! The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them forever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have neem called to the noble profession of teaching." 

Many of the teachers could be seen exchanging significant looks with each other at the teacher's table, all behind Umbridge's back. 

"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has bought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sale must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balanced, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation..."

Calliope felt herself being watched again, and she looked up to see Fred staring at her again. It seemed that many people were losing interest in what Umbridge was saying, the quiet in the hall began to break as students began putting their heads together with their friends and muttering.

"...because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some others, outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward into a new era of openness, effectiveness and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited."