Remilda and Raelyn tagged closely behind Snape after they had been sorted. But instead of the three steps for his one, they were doing their best not to pass him up. Even Remilda felt excited about it all. There wasn't one bit of anything that she wasn't excited for.

Classes? She was excited for. Being surrounded by new people? Stoked for that. Was she missing Ilvermorny? Of course, but that was at the back of her mind.

The room that Snape led to was the dining hall. It was huge, there were four long tables that went the length of the room, each of them had a different houses flags above them. That at the front of the room, there was a long table as well, which looked to be where the teachers sat. Then behind the table, was four thin and tall glass hour glasses. On the top were little gems that matched the colors of the houses and the bottom was empty. Then behind those were four long windows. On the other walls were windows maybe half the size. Then there were white candles floating near the ceiling that was reflecting the sky outside. It was beautiful, much less modern compared to Ilvermorny.

"Come on," Raelyn smiled as she tapped Remilia's arm and then motioned towards the middle of the table with the Gryffindor flags above it. There sat Harry, Ron, and Hermione; then the Weasley twins weren't far from them. "hey!" Raelyn smiled as they approached the group.

"You guys got put in Gryffindor?!" Hermione smiled, looking up at the two girls standing behind her. Remilda smiled as Hermione and Harry shifted to the side a bit so they could sit down. "Congratulations!" Hermione beamed as she hugged Remilda from the side.

"What house were your parents in?" Ron asked.

Remilda was about to answer, but Raelyn happily took over. "Our mom went to Ilvermorny, our dad went here. He was in Gryffindor too, wasn't he?"

Remilda nodded, "Yeah he was,"

"Welcome to Gryffindor, ladies," one of the twins said from a few feet away.

The group of them filled the time with meaningless chitchat, until finally the stool with the sorting hat was carried into the dining hall. And a woman who was wearing a dark, emerald green robe, a hat to match, and square glasses rose up with a piece of paper.

"We're going to be beginning the sorting now," she announced as the tall doors were opened and the heard of First Years walked in. Most of them had wandering eyes and were just as excited about it as Remilda had been when she first walked in.

Remilda didn't pay much attention the the Sorting. Instead she let her eyes wander a bit more, mainly at the table of teachers. There was a untidy woman there, her hair was dull brown, and she had a bright purple cloth bandana. She wore a handmade shawl, that had a few buttons, and she had big round glasses that made her look like a beetle.

"Who's she?" Remilda asked Hermione.

"That's Professor Trelawney," Hermione sighed, not too enthusastic, "she teaches Divination. Then that's Professor Vector, she teaches Arithmancy. Then that's the Herbology teacher, Professor Sprout." she took a breath and then continued, "Professor Burbage, she's Muggle Studies. Then for Study of Ancient Runes it's Professor Babbling, Professor Flitwick, he teaches Charms class. Then Professor Snape, you already met him..."

Remilda scoffed, "He seems like a real joy to have as a teacher..." she muttered.

"Oh, and next to Flitwick on the other side, I don't know who that is..." Hermione muttered to herself. "And I assume, the woman in the pink, on the end is our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"Assume?" Remilda echoed, looking at Hermione with a raised eyebrow.

"Our teacher last year turned out to be a death eater coming out of retirement, disguised as our real real teacher." Ron explained simply, "Hogwarts hasn't had a very good track record..."

The entire room began clapping as an older student picked up the stool and hat to bring it out of the room as the last of the sorted first years were greeted into their houses. As that happened, Dumbledore stood up still clapping, and walking around the table and to the podium.

"Welcome, this year we have two changes in staff. I'm pleased to welcome back Professor Grubblyplank who will be replacing Professor Harris while he is on circumstantial leave," Dumbledore began right off the bat with announcements. Which Remilda liked, "and then I'm pleased to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Dolores Umbridge."

Raelyn laughed a bit and quickly covered her mouth, but she couldn't contain herself. She had to stifle her laughter.

"Raelyn, are you serious. Get a grip!" Remilda hissed through gritted teeth, "First Snape, now this. Shh!"

Raelyn looked over at her, with tears in her eyes, "Look at her, Remmy! There's no way..."

"-- as usual our caretaker has asked me to remind you that --"

Remilda focused back in on Dumbledore just as Umbridge cleared her throat lightly and put her pink bag on the table. A gentle but fake looking smile was plastered on her face as everyone turned their attention, even Dumbledore did. She then stood up from her seat, and walked around the end of the table and towards the podium.

" 'Mione, she was at my hearing..." Harry said quietly looking over his shoulder and past Rae and Remmy towards Hermione. "she works for Fudge..."

"Thank you, Headmaster," she smiled as she took a place in front of the podium, "And how lovely to see all of your bright and happy faces smiling up at me. I'm sure we'll all become great and close friends..."

"That's not that likely..." the Weasley twins muttered in unison a bit louder than anyone had expected them to.

Umbridge hesitated, and her smile faltered a bit at the sound of them. But she quickly regained her composure. "The Ministry of Magic as always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance, although each headmaster has brought something...new to this historic school," she paused and flashed Dumbledore a smile, "progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, and perfect what can be perfected. And rid of practices that must be prohibited."

With that, Umbridge smiled and then returned to her seat. The entire dining hall shifted uneasily, until Dumbledore clapped. But the look on his face was still unsure.

"What did that mean?" Harry asked, looking back at the others.

"It means the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts..." Hermione states sternly as Dumbledore went on with his speech.

As the speech ended, the feast then began. And in the blink of an eye, dishes and utensils appeared along with an endless amount of food. So they all ate their food, and despite the speech that Umbridge gave, everyone went on as normal. Then afterwards, Remilda followed the others up a few flights of stairs, and eventually into the Gryffindor common room. A large group of students had already gotten there, there was music playing as people were mingling with one another and talking about their holiday.

"This is amazing..." Remilda muttered in Hermione's direction as Harry was telling Raelyn about the sword that was above the fireplace, and Ron mingled with a few others.

"Did you not have common rooms at Ilvermorny?" she asked.

"No, we did...they just weren't as...nice I guess. We didn't really have much art inside the houses. It was up to the students to decorate how they wanted it..." she explained as she scanned the portraits. "I mean, these are amazing--"

Suddenly Raelyn's stern and projected voice cut through the fun atmosphere that surrounded everyone on the first evening back, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that everyone thinks that Harry killed Cedric." a thick Scottish accent responded in a equally as harsh and stern voice.

"People who are too afraid to admit that Voldemort is back think Harry killed him," Raelyn replied.

"Oh no..." Remilda muttered as she hurried past a few other students who were listening to the conversation now as well. Hermione followed.

"What's the problem?" Ron asked as he walked up to stand next to Harry.

"Come on, Ron, you don't honestly believe the stuff Potter's spewing off, do you?" the boy asked.

"Potters must be the only family with common sense then-"

"Yeah, I do." Ron said quickly, cutting Raelyn off before she could keep going. "Does anyone else have a problem with Harry?" he asked, and the room feel completely silent. Nothing but the music was playing and filling the room with any type of sound. Ron then went with Harry upstairs, leaving Raelyn still aggravated.

After Ron and Harry had gone, Raelyn approached Remilda and Hermione. Perhaps she had been expecting Remilda to back her up, but that didn't happen.

"Raelyn you can't keep doing that." Remilda stated, "The goal is to stay out of trouble. Dad has a enough on his plate."

Raelyn rose an eyebrow sharply and crossed her arms, "I couldn't just let him say that to Harry,"

"You could have said it in a way that wasn't as rude." Remilda retorted, and Raelyn replied with a eyeroll.

Before they could continue their conversation, a group of students came up to them and Hermione. The one in the middle looked a bit younger, but she could have passed for their age. The other two were definetely in their third year at least.

"Is it true that you two are Harry's cousins?" they asked, and Remilda and Raelyn nodded, "And you two transferred from Ilvermorny?"

And again they nodded.

"I'm Lavender Brown, this is Katie Bell and Penny Harper," the girl in the middle smiled as she held out her hand. Both Remilda and Raelyn took a turn shaking her hand. "Which one of you is Raelyn?"

"I am, why?"

"You're in a room with us," Katie smiled.

"That means you and I are in the other Fifth Year Girls room," Hermione smiled, nudging Remilda.

At least Raelyn isn't in there too, was Remilda's first thought.

And that was the first time that had ever happened.