When the plates filled with food, Marley realized exactly how hungry she was at that moment. The Hogwarts feast was everything Marley had dreamed of and more. The golden plates shimmered under the enchanted ceiling, now dark and speckled with stars. Every kind of food imaginable lined the table—roast chicken, creamy mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, steaming bowls of soup, and fresh bread that seemed to melt in her mouth.

She piled lamb chops, potatoes, peas, and carrots onto her plate, all notions of Harry erased from her mind for the time being. All she wanted to do was eat. However, a couple of times, between bites, Marley looked over her shoulder at Daphne, who was attempting to fit in as best she could with some of the girls at the Slytherin table. Marley made a mental note to talk to her tomorrow and offer her at least a little bit of comfort.

"I don't think I can eat another bite," Hannah remarked with a frown, rubbing her stomach. Her frown only deepened when all of the food vanished, leaving the plates as clean as before, and was replaced with an array of desserts. Treacle tart, chocolate éclairs, pumpkin pasties, and custards adorned the table. Hannah let out a little whimper, eyeing a mound of chocolate mousse. "Fine, maybe one or two more bites."

Marley giggled, reaching for a small treacle tart. She savored the sweetness as it melted on her tongue, her nerves from earlier fading into a warm contentment. However, she was feeling quite similar to Hannah. She was ready to sleep. She was ready to find her bed and collapse under a pile of blankets, not to be woken until the late hours of the morning. Finally all of the desserts disappeared and the plates were spotless.

An elderly man that Marley recognized as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and held out his hands, quieting the crowd. Every student's attention fixed on the headmaster.

"Ahem, just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered," he began, his voice filled with warmth and energy. "I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils, no matter what your parents may have told you. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."

At this, he glanced at some of the older students.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

On that grim note, the students all exchanged concerned glances.

"And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Marley, Susan, and Hannah scrambled to their feet. Marley caught sight of a fifth year boy waving his hands at them.

"First year Hufflepuffs, this way please!" He and a Hufflepuff girl began corralling their new charges together in one place. "Stick with us, we'll show you the way to the dormitories!"

When they reached a cozy nook in the basement, one of the prefects stopped in front of a stack of barrels arranged in an unassuming corner. She turned to face the group, a small smile on her face.

"Welcome to the Hufflepuff common room," she said. "To enter, you need to tap this barrel here"—she pointed to one near the middle—"in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff. Like this."

She demonstrated, and the barrel swung open, revealing a round doorway. A collective gasp rose from the group as they stepped inside.

The common room was unlike anything Marley had ever seen. The circular space was warm and inviting, with low ceilings that gave it a snug, homey feel. The walls were lined with bookshelves, their contents spilling over onto small tables and into cozy reading nooks. Potted plants hung from the ceiling, their leaves swaying gently as though touched by an invisible breeze. A crackling fire burned in the hearth, its glow casting flickering shadows across the room.

Soft, overstuffed armchairs in shades of yellow and deep brown were arranged in clusters, and the floor was covered with thick, earthy-toned rugs. Marley felt as though she had stepped into a warm, magical burrow, a safe haven hidden away from the rest of the world.

"This is amazing," Hannah whispered, her eyes wide.

Their dormitory was just as charming. The circular room had beds with thick, golden blankets and matching curtains. The walls were painted a soft, buttery yellow, and each bed had a small potted plant beside it. Marley chose the bed closest to the window, where the glass offered a view of the starry night sky.

"I'm exhausted," Susan exclaimed, tossing herself onto her bed with a thud. "Why bother changing into pajamas at this point?"

"Maybe so your robes aren't a wrinkly mess for the first day of classes tomorrow," Marley quipped, changing into her pajamas herself. "I don't know about you, but I want to be somewhat presentable."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Oi, as long I do my hair, I'll look fine. Right?" She looked at Hannah for help. "Right?" When neither of the girls said anything, Susan let out a disgruntled sigh. "Fine then, I'll change."

"I do hope Daphne is doing alright," Hannah mused. She had already changed and was sitting in bed, brushing out her hair. "She really didn't want to be in Slytherin."

"Well, we can sit with her for breakfast tomorrow," Marley reminded her. "I'm sure she'd like that."

A few minutes later, Susan had changed into her pajamas and was already face down on her bed, snoring. Hannah walked over and pulled the blanket up over her body.

"Poor girl. Guess we ought to go to bed too," the blonde girl said. "See you in the morning, Marley."

Marley hummed in response. She was sitting on her bed as well, her mind now filled with Harry again. She was so nervous to meet him, but she made up her mind that by the time the week was over, she was going to have talked to him.

The next morning had Marley waking up significantly earlier than she would've liked, but she wasn't complaining. After all, she was at Hogwarts about to start her first day of classes. Hannah was up around the same time, but it was hard to get Susan out of bed. They had tried unsuccessfully to rouse Susan, and she muttered something incoherent and burrowed deeper into her blanket.

Marley and Hannah looked down at her, frowning.

"This bodes well for the future," Marley muttered before giving up. "Suit yourself, Susan, Hannah and I are going to go get our class schedules."

As the two left their dormitories, Hannah cast a look back. "Maybe we should try again?"

"We won't let her miss class, but it's certainly her fault if she misses breakfast."

The Great Hall was buzzing with energy as students filled the long tables, the aroma of breakfast wafting through the air. Marley and Hannah took seats at the Hufflepuff table and began piling their plates with scrambled eggs, toast, and sausages.

Teachers roamed the aisles, passing out schedules to students they spotted. A plump, jolly woman came up to the two girls right as they were taking their seats.

"Ah, Abbott and Potter," she said, searching her stack of papers. Finally, she found what she was looking for and handed them to the girls. "I'm Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff and your Herbology professor. Let me know if you need anything!"

"Thank you," the two girls chorused as the woman walked away.

Marley examined the schedule. "Looks like we have History of Magic first with the..." She started coughing violently.

"With the Gryffindors?" Hannah finished, patting the girl on the back in concern. "Are you alright?"

Marley just nodded and took a swig of her pumpkin juice. "Yep, fine."

In reality, she was not fine. In fact she was bewildered that she would be presented with an opportunity to talk to Harry so quickly, and part of her didn't want to take it.

"And then we have double Transfiguration with the Slytherins, that'll be fun," Hannah said bitterly.

"At least you'll have me," a voice came before plopping down on the other side of Marley.

Daphne looked perfectly pissed at the world as she piled eggs and sausage onto her plate.

The two Hufflepuffs' faces lit up at the sight of their friend.

"Are the Slytherins being horrible?" Marley asked.

"Yes, and I'm being horrible with them," Daphne replied. "I'm pretending to care about Pansy Parkinson's heirloom necklace from her grandmother, and the next big pureblood event that the Zabinis are hosting. Gosh, it makes me sick."

Hannah frowned. "I'm sorry, Daph. Well you can spend as much time as you want with us."

"Speaking of, where's Susan?" Daphne asked, looking around for their redheaded friend.

"Refusing to get out of bed," Marley replied, finishing off her bacon. "She'll be fine, we'll go get her before class starts."

The three girls finished breakfast while talking about what classes they were looking forward to. It wasn't long before Daphne mentioned she ought to get down to the greenhouses for her first Herbology lesson, and Hannah and Marley realized they needed to drag Susan out of bed.

As the two Hufflepuffs exited the hall, they found their way to Hufflepuff dormitory blocked by two redhead twins, identical grins on their mischievous faces.

"Marley, right?" One of them asked.

Hannah cast Marley an uneasy look.

"Uh, yeah, you're Fred and George, right?"

The twins nod in unison.

"I'm the better looking one, remember?" the same twin said, and Marley instantly remembered that that was Fred. Apparently she was going to have to learn how to tell the two apart.

"Anyway, we wanted to have a word with you," George said.

Hannah groaned. "It's already been many words," she complained. "They're trying to ambush you for one of their silly little pranks! The prefects warned me about you two!"

"Okay, little badger, we meant alone," Fred responded pointedly. "Run off now."

Marley looked at Hannah. "It's okay, I'll meet you and Susan at History of Magic." Once Hannah had left, after many encouraging looks from Marley, the young girl looked up at the twins. "What do you want? I have to get to class."

"We just wanted to check in... you know, see how your first day is going."

"Firstly, that's weird, we barely know each other," Marley responded in disbelief. "Secondly, my day hasn't really even started, so it might've been better to ask that after my classes."

"Exactly!" Fred exclaimed. "Plenty of time for things to go wrong."

"And when they do," George said, leaning closer, "you'll know where to find us." Then he turned to Fred. "See, I told you so. Okay, guess we'll talk to you after dinner then."

With that, the twins turned and left, leaving the very odd interaction.

"No, that's not what I meant!" Marley called after them, but they were already too far down the hall to hear her. "Why did they need to talk to me privately for that?" she grumbled, and set off for class.

✦✦✦

When Marley said she despised History of Magic with every inch of her being, she meant it. She looked over at Harry every now and then. Professor Binns's voice and Susan's snoring had become background noise. One of the first things that Marley noticed about Harry is that his eyes were green, unlike her brown ones. That must've been the color of their Mum's eyes. She'd only ever seen black and white pictures of her parents. He also had a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt. When Marley saw it, she nearly laughed. How funny it was that his scar had a shape. She had a scar under her ribcage from when Nymphadora had knocked her into the corner of the coffee table, but it was just a small, three centimeter line.

What she didn't notice, however, was that every time Marley looked at Professor Binns, or her notes, or the book in front of her, Harry was stealing glances her way too.

He'd only recently found out that he had a sister, and was doing everything in his power to not stand up and announce himself to her right then and there. He was examining her too, trying to find his parents in her. But most of the time he was just in awe that he had a sister at all. No one seemed interested in this Marlene. Eyes had been following him all day, accompanied by muttering and whispers, but no one seemed to care about Marlene. Harry even mentioned it to Ron. He'd said something along the lines of 'Didn't know there was another Potter family' (even though he knew full well that this was his sister), and Ron simply replied 'yeah, what of it?'.

Marley's quill hovered over her parchment, but her notes were sparse—just a scattering of dates and incomplete sentences. Her thoughts kept returning to Harry, to the way he tilted his head when he whispered to Ron, to the faint furrow in his brow as he jotted down notes.

When class finally ended, Marley gathered her notes that were part fragments of sentences and part doodles, and looked over at Harry. She felt as if someone was pushing her in his direction, but her feet were glued to the floor in defiance. What if he didn't like her? What if it was some mistake and they weren't actually siblings? What if there was another Harry Potter? What if he didn't know that he had a sister? All of these questions and more flashed through the girl's head, and before she had a chance to make her decision, Susan had grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the classroom.

Marley opened her mouth to protest but realized there was really no point. Doing so would involve her spilling her whole story, and that was exactly what she'd been cautioned against doing. So she reluctantly followed Susan down to the Great Hall for lunch. After all, she told herself by the end of the week, and she still had a couple more classes with Harry before that timeline was up.

The trio of Hufflepuff girls were joined by Daphne in the hallway where they had lunch, chatting about their Herbology and History of Magic lessons, but Marley mostly stayed quiet. She laughed at a joke every now and then, and nodded in agreement to complaints about Professor Binns, but beyond that she stayed contemplative about Harry.

The transition from the dim classroom to the bright, bustling Great Hall was almost jarring. The tables were laden with food again, the midday meal filling the air with the mouthwatering aromas of roast chicken, hearty soups, and fresh bread. Marley and her friends found their usual spot at the Hufflepuff table, where they eagerly dove into the feast.

"Marley? Hey, are you listening?" Susan asked, waving her hand in front of the Potter girl's face. "We're talking about Quidditch tryouts next week."

"Oh, yeah," Marley said with a nod. "Are you guys gonna tryout?"

Hannah laughed. "As if, even if I wanted to, first years never get on the team.

"But I won't lie, our Seeker... he's pretty cute..." Susan drifted off, biting her nails and looking at the fourth year boy.

Marley shoved Susan by the shoulder. "He's a fourth year!"

Daphne rolled her eyes but grinned. "You've mentioned him, oh, maybe five times since we got here."

"Maybe when we're fourth years," Susan replied with a shrug.

The other two girls gaped at Susan.

"I can't help it," Susan said, her cheeks reddening. "He's so... perfect. And he's a Hufflepuff! That has to mean something, right?"

Marley chuckled, tearing off a piece of bread. "Like what? That he'll suddenly notice you just because you're in the same house?"

"Exactly!" Susan said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Good luck with that," Hannah said, raising an eyebrow as she cut into her chicken.

Daphne smirked, leaning in conspiratorially. "Just don't turn into one of those girls who faints every time he walks by."

"I wouldn't!" Susan protested, though her smile gave her away.

The conversation shifted to their upcoming classes, and Marley felt her excitement bubble up again as she glanced at her schedule.

Marley grinned. "We've got Transfiguration next, you ready?"

Susan shuddered. "For the wrath of McGonagall?"

"One, you haven't done anything to ask for her wrath, and two I'm actually very excited for Transfiguration. My, er, sister is a Metamorphmagus, so I've seen her change her appearance so many times—it's fascinating. She can turn her nose into a pig's snout, or her hair into rainbow colors."

Hannah and Susan gaped at Marley.

"But that's so rare!" Hannah exclaimed. "Do you have it, too?"

Marley paused. "Uh, no, like you said, it's rare. We don't even know where she got it. We should get going though." Marley didn't think it would be so hard to talk about her foster family, but it was, especially while being in the same room as her real family. It was going to be real hard to keep up this facade for seven whole years. "But Transfiguration feels like the closest I can get to doing something like that myself. It's like real, physical magic, you know?"

Hannah nodded, her eyes wide. "I get that. It does sound amazing when you put it like that."

"I'm so jealous of your sister," Susan said wistfully. "Imagine being able to do that!"

"She makes it look easy, but she says it takes a lot of control," Marley said. "That's why I want to be good at Transfiguration. It's all about focus and precision."

Turns out, Marley was incredible at Transfiguration. After taking a long couple pages of notes, Professor McGonagall handed out matchsticks and instructed the first years to turn them into sewing needles. Within five minutes, Marley had achieved a silver, pointy needle, and within ten minutes, she had three. McGonagall cracked a small smile and even awarded the girl five points to Hufflepuff.

The glow of pride that filled Marley carried her through the rest of the lesson. By the time class ended, she was practically skipping out of the room, her earlier worries about Harry momentarily forgotten.

That evening, the corridors of Hogwarts were quieter as Marley made her way back to the Hufflepuff common room. The torches flickered softly on the stone walls, casting long shadows that danced as she walked. When Fred and George approached her that evening, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the young girl had a rather large smile on her face.

"Well, little Potter," George began, catching her as she was walking into the Great Hall for dinner.

"How was your day?"

"For real, this time."

Marley just laughed. "You know, I'm going to push away the weird vibes you two are sending, because I actually had a really good first day. Thanks for asking."

Fred feigned shock, placing a hand over his heart. "A good first day? At Hogwarts? Unheard of."

"What's been your favorite part so far?" George asked, his tone surprisingly genuine.

"Transfiguration," Marley admitted, her face lighting up. "Professor McGonagall is incredible."

Fred and George exchanged a knowing look. "She is," Fred said. "Though she doesn't let us get away with anything."

"Not that we try," George added with a wink.

"Right," Marley said, rolling her eyes. And with no other words, she pushed past the twins and sat down at the Hufflepuff table across from Susan and Hannah.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Did those Weasley twins ambush you again?"

"Nope," Marley said, loading her plate with Shepherd's Pie. "Just saying hi."

"Wait, why are the Weasley twins ambushing you?" Susan asked.

Hannah shrugged. "I don't know, this morning they asked to talk to Marley. Alone."

"That's a little weird," the redhead replied.

"Yeah... I know. But our parents are friends, so they're probably just trying to be friendly."

"Just be friendly?" Susan snapped back. "Fred and George are never just friendly. There's got to be some kind of a motive."

"Doesn't mean I can't be nice."

Hannah laughed. "Marley, you are definitely a Hufflepuff."

. . . . . . . . . . 𝙖𝙗𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 . . . . . . . . . .

I've said it once, but I'll say it again, I love Marley. She's the cutest.

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