We parted ways with River and Adalyn at the platform. Rose, Albus, Scorpius, and I followed the older students to the long line of carriages. Just like at Christmas, there was nothing driving them. I spotted Arthur waving to us from one of them, and led our group over to that carriage.

When I climbed in, there was a flash of blonde, then someone was hugging me. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Hi, Luna!"

She smiled excitedly and sat down next to Arthur. I quickly moved out of the way so the rest of our friends could climb aboard.

Arthur glanced apprehensively at Scorpius as the blond boy sat down across from him. Last year, they hadn't spoken much, and apparently Arthur still thought Scorpius was like his sister Ciara. Or, maybe he just had a hard time changing his mind about people. At least he was being civil, though.

"This might possibly be the first time since the school was founded that there's been people from every House getting along," Rose said after a while.

"Sweet. Maybe we'll be put in Hogwarts, A History someday," I said.

"I bet you'll be put in anyway, Astra," Luna said.

"You and James saved the whole school!" added Arthur.

My smile faded a little. Yeah, we did, I suppose. But it cost me my best friend. I quickly brightened up, though. No need to make my friends worry. That was the last thing I wanted. I looked around, and no one seemed to have noticed my brief lapse. Well, Scorpius was giving me a funny look, but he quickly changed it into a smile when he saw me looking his way.

The carriage ride was over too soon, and we followed the stream of students into the school. You could just see the first years in their boats on the lake. It was too dark and too far away recognize any of them, though. I followed my friends inside.

Once inside the Great Hall, we parted ways and walked to our respective House tables. I was a bit disappointed to see that last year's Gryfflepuff table had been separated into two tables once again. Maybe the headmaster would let us move them back together later in the year.

Right, the new headmaster.

I stood on my tiptoes to see over the crowd of students to the teachers' table.  Most people around me were also straining to catch a glimpse of our new headmaster. Strangely enough, the seat that Professor McGonagall had occupied the year before was empty. Maybe there was a ceremony for introducing a new headmaster? I shrugged and sat down next to Rose.

Lacy Macmillian and Iris Brown were sitting across from us. They waved excitedly, then went back to their whispering, like normal. We were at the end of the table closest to the front. There were several open seats that Iris said were reserved for incoming first years.

Albus, on the other side of Rose, leaned forward to see me. "Victoire's at the front!"

Rose and I whipped our heads around to see that yes, indeed, Victoire was standing near the teacher's table with another boy, listening intently to Professor Flitwick.

"Who's the boy?" Rose asked.

"The Headboy, obviously," Lacy said.

"Well, of course! But who is he?"

"He was on the Slytherin Quidditch team last year," I said helpfully. "Can't remember his name."

Before we could talk more about it, the doors to the Great Hall were opened once more and Professor Longbottom led a procession of first years in. I watched them for a moment, then something else caught my eye.

A man was coming out of one of the doors near the front of the hall, leading a girl that I didn't recognize. She was about my age, though. The man led her to the empty stool near the front and had her stand there, then he rounded the teachers' table and sat in the headmaster's seat. Before I could point it out to Rose and Albus, Professor Longbottom was lining up the first years near the front and Professor Potter was placing the Sorting Hat on the stool.

Everyone watched it, waiting for it to open its mouth, a rip near the brim, and sing. The Hall was deathly quiet as the Hat opened its rip.

"Hogwarts has survived long and true,
Through trials to defeat the best
And ever since it's been here,
I've been sorting the greatest.

'Where do I go?' you ask yourself,
Well worry no more!
I tell you where you belong,
And I've never been wrong before!
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,
And I'll probe into your mind.
Never fear, for I always can
Put you with your kind.

Hufflepuff might be the right fit,
If you're hardworking and honest.
They'll welcome you and make you feel
That Hufflepuff is the best.
For with them you'll find hardworkers,
The loyal and the true,
But don't think that they are pushovers,
Because fighting they can do.

Ravenclaw is also good,
For those who feel a burning,
A passion that can only be
Satisfied by learning.
Perhaps not book smarts,
But creativity is fostered here!
Good grades are not required,
There's more kinds of learning, never fear!

Slytherin could suit you,
Though their reputation is not good.
Don't judge based on what others say,
For ambition is misunderstood.
Cunning and perseverance
Do not make one mad;
And just because they long for power
Does not make Slytherin bad.

Gryffindor, that mighty House,
Where chivalry reigns supreme,
Courage and honor beyond all else
Mark their longings and their dreams.
These smart kids are stereotyped,
Known only to be brave.
Perhaps you belong with your peers
By whom the school was saved."

I's just taken a drink of water, and managed to choke on it.

"All equal Houses, all very good,
It depends on who you are.
I will know once you try me on,
For I am the best sorter by far!"

The hall burst into cheers. Some of the first years looked relieved. Some looked even more worried. I saw River and Adalyn standing next to each other. They waved excitedly.

By now, other people had noticed the girl I'd seen at the beginning. She wasn't standing with the the first years. Instead, she was next to Professor Longbottom, nodding as he whispered something to her. Professor Longbottom then stepped forward, holding a list of the first years.

"Students! Before we start the normal Sorting, we have a second year transfer student who must be sorted! Colette St. Pierre comes to us from Beauxbatons, and I expect you to all make her feel welcome, understood?"

Some people, including James, shouted, "YES, PROFESSOR LONGBOTTOM!" Other just mumbled something.

Professor Longbottom motioned to the stool, and the girl, Colette, glided over to it. She situated herself on the stool, then the Sorting Hat was placed on her head.

For a long time, there was silence. The Sorting Hat normally took ten seconds to a minute on each student, but Colette was up there for at least three. She seemed to be arguing with it.

Finally, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Colette looked very put out as she walked over to our table. She sat at the very end on the bench I was on, as far away from me as she could get. Everyone was frowning at her, even as we clapped politely.

Professor Longbottom smiled, then started calling names. "Armoth, Annalise!"

A small girl squeezed out of the line, obviously not happy about going first. She scurried over to the stool and sat down. The Sorting Hat didn't take long to place her in Ravenclaw.

Boehler, Margaret and Boot, Michael were sent to Hufflepuff, and soon the tables were filling up. The first new Gryffindor (besides Colette, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere except here) was a girl named Ivory Corner.

Dove, Bethany, got sent to Ravenclaw, and I saw her sit down next to Luna. I hoped they would become friends... Luna needed some in her own House.

I couldn't remember most of the names. I tried to pay attention to the ones sent to Gryffindor, at least. There weren't many for a while. After Ivory, it was only Goldstein, Caleb, then nothing as Professor Longbottom called out the h's, i's, j's, and k's. Finally, I recognized a name.

"Longbottom, Alyssa!"

Alyssa hugged her sister, then proudly marched up to the stool. She beamed at her dad as he placed the hat on her head. I glanced over at Arthur, who had his eyes closed and his fingers crossed, and was whispering something.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Alyssa looked surprised, but she shrugged and skipped over to her new House's table. I saw Arthur clapping and cheering, and I had a feeling I knew what he had been whispering earlier.

Next was Anna. She looked a lot less confident than her sister as she walked towards the stool. Her dad helped her up, then put the hat on her head. Then, we waited.

Before long, the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Anna looked surprised as the hat was lifted off her head, but as she walked over to us, she smiled. I patted the seat next to me, and she gladly took it.

"Lostry, Adalyn!"

River gave her an encouraging smile, then pushed her forward.

Please don't be in Gryffindor.

Adalyn slowly walked toward the stool.

Please don't be in Gryffindor.

Professor Longbottom put the Hat on her head.

Please.

She sat there.

Not.

It opened its brim.

Gryffindor.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Adalyn looked like she was about to cry as Professor Longbottom helped her off the stool. I felt a little bad for her. I was thinking more along the lines of Hufflepuff... I couldn't help the tiniest hint of relief from crawling into me, though.

Scorpius waved her over to him, and she sat down. I tried not to look her way, but I couldn't miss the fact that she had her head on the table and it looked like she was sobbing.

As Adalyn sat down, Professor Longbottom called a name that quickly pulled my attention away from her.

"Malfoy, Dean!"

I immediately glanced across the Hall at Scorpius, who was staring at this new Malfoy in as much confusion as I was. Everyone watched as the tall boy stepped up to the stool.

The Hat had barely touched his head when it yelled out the last thing I expected to hear.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Dean looked excited, and started walking towards our table. We were all clapping half-heartedly. What on earth? A Malfoy in Gryffindor?

He sat down by Lacy, who probably would have immediately started interrogating him if the Sorting hadn't continued.

"Malleville, Dorothy!" She slowly walked over to the stool, looking very somber. After a minute or two, the hat placed her in Slytherin. Montero, Elodie, was sent to Gryffindor, then Myers, Bethany, to Slytherin.

A few names later, after Provenza, Gilroy (what were his parents thinking?), was sent to Hufflepuff, Rogers, Cedric, got called up. He strode over to the stool confidently, and sat down, smiling out at the students.

The hat was placed on his head. A moment later, it called, "GRYFFINDOR!" We exploded into cheers. Cedric hopped off the stool, whooping and doing a victory dance.

River was the last person I recognized in the line. She waved to me as she walked over to the stool.

The hat was on her for a long time. Finally, it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" I saw her shrug in Adalyn's direction, then waltz over to sit next to Anna Longbottom.

After "Zinth, Carson," was sorted into Slytherin, everyone turned their attention to our new headmaster. I hadn't paid much attention to him earlier, but now I focused on him.

He was a bit overweight, and looked like he couldn't be older than sixty. His face appeared incredibly serious as he stood up to address the school.

"Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am your new headmaster, Professor Brutus Pouri. I have a few announcements before we start eating."

Several people around me groaned.

"First, when I arrived here I noticed that two of your tables, I believe the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, were pushed together. I'm afraid that will no longer be permitted."

Immediately, an outburst. No more Gryfflepuff? No way.

Professor Pouri raised his hands for silence. It didn't work, and, eventually, he pulled his wand out and waved it, resulting in a loud boom. That shut everyone up.

"As I was saying, that will no longer be permitted. Students are allowed to mingle with those of other Houses during their free time, not dinner time.

"Next, I would like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students, no matter what."

I wondered if there had really been students who broke that rule. Why would they? The forest was full of werewolves and centaurs. Yes, last year I had thrown myself into dangerous situations, but for a purpose. Why would anyone voluntarily go into the Forbidden Forest?

Professor Pouri was continuing his speech. "Please give a big round of applause for this year's Headboy and girl, Benjamin Flemings and Victoire Weasley!"

Everyone clapped politely. The Slytherins and most of the Gryffindors were whooping and cheering.

"Finally, I hear we have some heroes in these halls." I felt my face heat up. "Let's have a big round of applause for the two stars of Gryffindor, James Potter and Astra Lewis!" Most people clapped and cheered. I wanted to melt into my seat.

"I would like to speak to both of them after the feast," Professor Pouri said. I glanced at James, down the table, who was glaring suspiciously at the headmaster. I looked back at the teachers' table, and Professor Pouri was staring right at me. I stared right back.

His gaze didn't falter as he said, "Let the feast begin!" Only once he's sat down did he look away. It was creepy.

Before anyone had time to say anything, Lacy turned to Dean Malfoy and said, "Why are you in Gryffindor? You're a Malfoy."

Dean glared at her. "Because I'm brave, maybe?"

"But all the Malfoys hate Gryffindor," Iris said.

"Except Scorpius," Albus corrected.

"Right," Iris said, "but he doesn't count."

"It was Uncle Harry's House," Rose added slowly, "and after everything with Voldemort..."

"My parents were not Death Eaters," Dean said fiercely.

Lacy said, "But the Malfoys were-"

"My parents weren't. Neither were my grandparents. My dad's uncle, Lucius Malfoy, was a Death Eater. But my family wasn't."

I shrugged. "Cool. Okay. You aren't descended from Death Eaters."

Dean blinked in surprise. Everyone was staring at me. "Just...you're just okay with me...just like that?"

"Yeah," I said, "I mean, you can't help what Lucius Malfoy did. That's Scorpius's grandpa, right?" Rose nodded.

Lacy frowned at me for a minute, then shrugged. "Well, I guess you're fine, then." Dean smiled. I was surprised my opinion could change Lacy's mind about him, honestly. But it did. Maybe being a hero last year had given me more influence than I'd thought.

Most of the other first years were already getting to know each other, but I noticed the new girl, Colette, sitting alone at the end of the table. I quickly stood up and walked over to her.

"Hi!" 

She ignored me.

I frowned and sat down across from her. "Hello."

She stabbed a green bean with her fork. I watched her for a few seconds, studying her. She had long black hair, with a huge blue bow. Strange. I wondered if she'd wanted to be in Ravenclaw.

"Colette?"

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say hi. You know, welcome you to Gryffindor."

Colette looked up finally and laughed. A mean laugh. "Wonderful. This is the worst House. I would rather be in Ravenclaw! Or even Hufflepuff."

I frowned. "What's so bad about it? And what's wrong with Hufflepuff?"

Colette rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't understand. You are Gryffindor's little princess, after all." Her tone implied that that was not at all something I should want to be.

I glared at her. "You're just going to have to live with this House. You got put here, too, so I don't see what you're complaining about. Would you rather be in Slytherin?"

"In a heartbeat."

I balled my hands into fists in frustration. What was wrong with her? "Prats like you have a hard time in Gryffindor, for sure." I stood up and marched away from her.

I spent the rest of feast meeting the new Gryffindor first years. Cedric and River were definitely going to be the most memorable students in their year. Cedric was unintentionally funny and seemed to have no fear of being in front of people (hence his victory dance), and River had a way of making everything hilarious. She and Luke were getting along perfectly, making muggle references every few minutes to confuse all the purebloods and halfbloods.

Finally, the food on the golden plates disappeared, and the sleepy first years were led away by the prefects. Molly Weasley, another one of Albus's cousins, was a prefect this year, and looked very dignified as she led the first years out of the Hall.

James came and found me, and together we wandered over to the teachers' table, where Professor Pouri was waiting for us. He led us to the room I'd seen him enter from.

It was a much smaller room, lined with pictures of witches and wizards. There was a huge fireplace at one end of the room, but there was no fire. It was cold in there, and the only pieces of furniture were a few chairs.

Professor Pouri motioned to two of the chairs, and James and I sat down. He paced in front of us for a minute, then cleared his throat and said, "It's nice to meet you two."

I fidgeted and muttered that it was nice to meet him, too. James just stared at him coldly.

"Anyway, children, I would just like to make it clear that while your actions last year were heroic, I do not want you putting yourselves in harm's way this year. All right? I will not tolerate you breaking rules, even if you do manage to save someone in the process."

If he'd already singled us out as troublemakers, that was bad. I mean, yes, that is exactly what we were, but he shouldn't have known that already.

James frowned. "It's not like the aurors were doing a very good job catching her. If we hadn't, she would have come back this year and continued." His voice was tighter than normal.

Professor Pouri stopped pacing. "I don't care if all the aurors in the world can't stop something. The only reason that insane child didn't kill you was because she cared about the two of you. You did not know who she was beforehand, either. So I'm afraid that your argument won't stand, James."

James glared at the professor but didn't reply.

"Do I have your word that you won't break the rules this year?" Professor Pouri asked.

"Most certainly not."

Professor Pouri stared at James, then glanced at me. I didn't move. Before the professor could say anything else, James added, "You have my word that once I'm caught, I'll be truthful, but you can't stop me from breaking the rules. You probably won't ever catch me. Same for Astra, right?"

"Of course."

Professor Pouri sighed. "We'll see about that. I suspect you don't want to start the school year with detention, so I'm going to let you go now before you say something you'll regret."

He paused, then added, "Just remember, I can turn invisible as well."

He turned and walked out, leaving both of us stunned.

How did he know about the Cloak?

~~~~

I am no longer taking new students for this book! However, now the next one is open!

Student credits:
Bethany Dove - going_insane_
Dean Malfoy - liefshannah
Brigette Myers - hannahsue--
Dorothy Malleville - CayleighBug
Rosemary Smith - A_lyssa

Funny story: I was writing this chapter, all happy and inspired, then I remembered I have to write another Sorting Hat song! So of course I freaked out for a good ten minutes then got to work and that how you got Ellie's Second Sorting Song. Sorry if it's bad!

One thing I did add in it, though, is how the House stereotypes are stupid. They annoy me so much! And I know Astra has fallen in to the normal Hogwarts student mindset of believing them, but don't worry, I did that on purpose. There is a point.

Vote and comment for my inept poetry/songwriting skills!

~Ellie