Frank had enjoyed the walk with Gerard. It was better than maneuvering the halls alone, especially with the added eerie feeling that the night brought to it. He made his way down to the Slytherin common room, speaking the password and hurrying inside.

The green lights were somehow comforting as he made his way further into the room.

"Iero?"

Frank froze at the soft voice. He was busted, he knew it. Technically, it was his second day, so he had accomplished his goal of not getting in trouble until at least the second day...

"Just me." A girl with dark hair popped up from one of the chairs. In the green light, Frank could make out Jamia's face.

"Oh... Hi." Frank muttered, turning to go to his dorm room.

"Frank, would you wait a minute!" Jamia exclaimed, pushing herself up off the black seat. She had a look of irritated determination on her face. "I have something I'd like to say."

"And I have a bed I'd like to sleep with." Frank said, turning back to her. "What do you want?"

She let air out through her nose as her lip pursed. "I wanted to apologize."  She said, rather bitterly. "I already apologized to Tyler, but I thought I'd give you one as well."

"Why's that?" Frank asked, feeling surprised but not wanting to let on.

She crossed her arms, looking towards Frank's feet. "I seemed to have offended you with the comment, and I'd rather not make enemies in my own house."

"Do you not know why it was offensive?" Frank asked, feeling his surprise leave him almost instantly. "You only care about covering your own ass?"

She looked surprised by his response. Her eyes grew wide. "I'm trying to apologize. Tyler forgave me-"

"Tyler better never hear that foul word come out of your mouth again." Frank snapped, "I don't care if he literally has mud running through his veins, you never use that word."

"What does it matter!?" Jamia's voice raised as anger spread across her face, "You're a pure blood! Why do you care so much!?"

Frank shook his head. "If you don't get it now, I doubt you ever will." He made his way over to the entrance of the dorm rooms before stopping. He looked back at Jamia, "I appreciate your apologizing, but don't expect me to suddenly become your new bff."

With that, he turned away her and walked down to his dorm without another word. He was careful to keep as quiet as possible so as not to disturb the others already sleeping soundly. Brendon, for some reason, was sleeping with his legs dangling off the side of his bed. Spencer was sprawled out on his bed, snoring up at the ceiling. Tyler was curled up in a ball, breathing softly through his nose. Frank rubbed his eye as he made it over to his own bed.

"I'm gunna regret life later..." He mumbled to himself as he stripped out of his robes, leaving them lazily on the floor. He crawled into his bed, rolling himself into the covers as if he was a burrito. He closed his eyes, trying to push the moment from the common room out of his thoughts as he drifted to sleep.

He didn't want those thoughts tainting his dreams. He simply inhaled deeply as he fell into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

---

The first week of school had passed, and the lessons proved to be possibly more challenging than first anticipated. Frank had his forehead rested against the house table in the great hall as he groaned. It was Saturday, thank Merlin's beard, but he still felt wiped out.

"How am I not doing it right? It's a friggin' feather! How can I not make a feather float!?" Brendon complained next to him.

"You're pronouncing it wrong!" Hayley said, "It's 'wingardium leviosa'."

"That's what I'm saying!" Brendon argued loudly.

"I swear to god, you are not going to be saying anything if you don't shush." Frank groaned, banging his head against the table.

"Awww, is Frankie cranky?" Brendon teased as Frank felt fingers ruffle his hair.

"I will hex you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Please save hexing for when we're not in front of teachers." Hayley said, smacking the back of Frank's head before he heard an 'ow' from Brendon.

Frank sat up, tiredly, blinking at the bickering two next to him. It was playful, but still too much to allow a slight relaxation in that moment.

"Hey! Owls!" Brendon spoke suddenly, his gaze snapping up at the ceiling.

Frank looked up at the ceiling to see hundreds of owls swooping into the great hall. They flew between all the different tables, dropping letters or just continuing to fly in circles.

"Fool!" Frank called out with a laugh as the black owl swooped down, landing on the stone floor behind him. It looked up at him  before dropping the letter held in his beak onto the ground. "You know, I can see why Alex gave you that name when he was six." Frank said as he leaned back to pick up the letter.

Fool clicked his beak in response before propelling himself back into the air. Frank watched as he flew just a table over, landing right on Alex's shoulder, much to the Ravenclaw's surprise.

Frank laughed as he opened his letter, seeing excited words from his mother. Congratulations and a message from his father, despite his being away for quidditch. Frank felt pride bloom in his chest with the letter. He really felt like he had made them proud.

A few tables down, Gerard was swishing his cereal around in a milk filled bowl when the small owl from earlier in the week landed right next to it.

"Hello." Gerard grinned at the owl, "Did you find my house okay?"

The small owl ruffled its feathers with the shake of its head before placing the letter right in front of Gerard. It then proceeded to help itself to Gerard's bowled breakfast.

"You've earned it." Gerard said as he slid the letter close. He eagerly ripped it open, laughing when he saw Mikey's scrawled writing at the very top.

He read over the letter quickly, feeling a mixture of happiness and sadness from it. He missed home, but he did like it here. Mikey wrote about how eager he was to be at Hogwarts in two years, and how he hoped they could be in the same house. His mother wrote about how happy she was for him and how dad, though he didn't fully understand, was extremely happy for him too.

"So you send letters by owl?" Max asked as he spread some jam on his toast, "Do people even use the postal service for anything besides Amazon purchases anymore?"

"Magical families do." Gerard replied with a shrug as he closed the letter. He slipped it into his robes while making a menal note to hide it later.

Max nodded, simply deciding to bite into his toast rather than add on. Around that time, Patrick and Melanie wandered into the great hall. Melanie looked cheerful, while Patrick looked tired.

"Hello, boys!" She waved as she came upon a spot next to Max, "How goes the day?"

"We found the kitchens." Patrick said before yawning. Melanie looked chipper as she nodded.

"House elves were nervous, but very nice." She said, "Even offered to make us some food!"

"Is that why you weren't in bed this morning?" Max asked as he passed Patrick some warm tea.

"Melanie asked me to go with her at about six thirty this morning." Patrick smiled, tiredly.

Melanie smiled, sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want to go alone, and Eli is a heavy sleeper."

"Gerard, why is there an owl swimming in your cereal?" Patrick asked, tilting head at Gerard.

Gerard looked down to see the tiny owl happily using his bowl of cereal like a bird bath. It fluffed its wings before ducking its head in the milk. It pecked at one of the few cereal bits still floating around. When it noticed Gerard looking, it screeched with the outstretch of its wings.

"I think my meal has been completely hijacked." Gerard laughed. He reached out and scratched the small creature's head, earning a soft 'hoot'. "It's okay. I was pretty much done anyway."

"We should explore the grounds today!" Melanie exclaimed as Gerard held his hand out for the small owl to climb onto, "We've been around the castle, but hardly outside!"

"Pretty little Hufflepuff like you not been outside yet? That's just a crime." A voice from behind Melanie caused her, as well as the three boys around her, to turn. The blue haired boy from the sorting ceremony was smirking at Melanie.

She simply tilted her head at him curiously. "I don't think we've met. I'm Melanie."

The boy nodded. "I'm Josh. Pleased to meet you." He tapped his heels together, "I've been exploring along the forbidden forest a bit already, would you care to join me?"

The blond side of Melanie's hair shifted to a light shade of pink. "I'd love to. Can we travel along the lake?"

Josh grinned. "Whatever you'd wish, m'lady."

"Melanie's crushing on a Gryffindor..." Max hummed in a singsong tone as he brought a cup of juice to his lips.

Melanie shot him a look that made him choke on his juice before turning back to Josh. "When do you want to go?"

Josh shrugged, looking back at some of the other Gryffindor students behind him. "Before lunch?" He spoke in a questioning tone as he turned back to Melanie.

Her smile widened as her hair grew a darker shade of pink, "How about during? I'll pack a lunch."

"O-okay!" Josh nodded with the grin widening across his face, "That sounds sick."

The two nodded at each other for a moment before turning back to their respected tables. Melanie looked between the three boys that were observing her with wide eyes. "Not a word." She threatened, rather unthreateningly.

"Don't look at me." Gerard shook his head as the small owl on his arm shook off access milk and took flight. He shrunk back a bit as the owl did so, but still had a small grin on his face. "I hope you have fun."

She simply smiled back at him before standing. "I should go ask the house elves if I could prepare something for it. Offer to help if anything." She looked over at Patrick, "Care to go back? Or can I simply walk you back to the common room so that you can get some sleep?"

"Sleep sounds good." Patrick smiled. He pushed himself up to follow her.

"Oh! Could you water the flowers by my bed?" Gerard asked Patrick.

"Sure thing, Gerard." Patrick yawned, rubbing his eye. "Where'd you get those, anyway?"

Gerard smiled as he thought back to the night in the owlery. "A friend."

"What kind of friend?" Max asked as Melanie lead Patrick off.

Gerard shrugged, "Just a friend. C'mon, Max, we're like twelve. Far too young to think like that."

"Too young, but maybe not that far off." Max shrugged. He turned his head to the side, stealing a quick glance at the Gryffindor table.

Gerard looked over at the lion table. A group of boys with Josh were laughing loudly at something while throwing pieces of bread at each other. There was a broad shouldered boy with dark hair, a boy with shaggy brown hair, and a boy with spiked black hair.

"I take it as you've found a friend you'd like to make?" Gerard asked, shifting his gaze back to Max.

Max smiled down at his cup of juice. "Maybe when I figure everything out..."

Gerard shrugged, turning his head when heard loud laughter at the end of the hall. Frank was standing with a few other Slytherins, as well as, a taller Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. He smiled fondly over at the short, dark haired boy. "We've still got a lot of time..."

"True." Max yawned. He laughed, "Maybe I could get my hands on a love potion sometime."

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Gerard suggested, "Next time you're in Diagon Alley, check it out. They've got a couple joke, temporary ones."

"Really? They sell things like that?" Max asked with disbelief, "Couldn't that be dangerous?"

"The joke ones aren't nearly powerful enough to be that bad." Dallon chimed into the conversation, making Gerard and Max jump. He laughed, "Sorry." He smiled apologetically, "Trouble comes in love potion when you have something like amortentia."

"Do explain." Max said, leaning on the table.

"It's the most powerful love potion in existence." Dallon said, "Like, insanely powerful. It's not so much even love as it is infatuation or obsession."

"Did we go over this in potions?" Max asked, "I do not remember this; is this when I fell asleep in class?"

Gerard laughed, "He's just a bookworm."

Dallon's cheeks flooded with crimson as he nodded. "With our common room, plus the library, it's hard not to be."

Gerard laughed, shaking his head. "So, is the library your destination for the day?"

"I don't know. I kinda want to explore this place a bit myself." Dallon replied.

"Maybe I will too." Gerard shrugged, "I've seen some of the castle, but that was at night."

"What were you doing out at night?" Max asked.

A grin spread on Gerard's face. "Visiting the owls."

"You better be careful, Gerard." Ray spun in his heat to look back at Gerard, "This castle is notorious for bad things happening to students."

Max pointed at Ray. "Real comforting, thanks."

Gerard heard another boom of laughter, causing him to look back at the great hall's entrance. One of the boys from the group with Frank was gone, but the dark haired boy was still there with a large grin on his face. His laughter left a smile on Gerard's face for some reason.

"Gerard and the Slytherin, sitting in a tree..."

Gerard turned back to his friends, who all became very suddenly interested in anything that wasn't Gerard. "Don't make me quote Melanie from earlier." He threatened.

"Gerard, you're just as unthreatening as Melanie." Max said with a soft giggle, "Forgive me if I'm not too afraid."

Gerard rolled his eyes. He looked back at the boy in the entrance of the great hall. He certainly wanted to know more about the Slytherin boy, but he felt like it was too early to even consider something more than friends. His friends may have been scoping out the scene, but Gerard didn't feel the need to. They would be here for seven years; there was plenty of time...