Richard got up slowly, dazzled. He handed the hat over to Professor Longbottom, who smiled warmly at him, and walked over to the Gryffindor table. Why on earth had the hat done this? Why Gryffindor, the house of the courageous ones? Certainly many of his character-treats where more outstanding than his courage? And what were those last words supposed to mean? What you need, not what you want? Why should he need Gryffindor house? That was ridiculous. He did not need anyone.

He smiled when he sat down opposite to Shila, who smiled back rather weakly. She was the only one sorted into Gryffindor who did not look happy about the hat’s choice.

“Are you all right?” asked James Potter, who sat next to her.

Shila nodded, still looking shaken. “I just… I expected to be sorted into Ravenclaw. My whole family expected it. But the hat said I… I wasn’t suited for Ravenclaw.”

“Well, you’re suited for Gryffindor, so what’s the matter?”

Richard rolled his eyes inwardly. What a dumb question. What a James-like question. Not suited for Ravenclaw was the same as “not smart enough”, which came close to “not smart at all” or even “being dumb”. No wonder Shila didn’t look happy.

But Richard did not say anything and left it to James to cheer up Shila. He was at once joined in his efforts by Fred Weasley. Richard directed his attention back towards his plate. It was still empty and he was quite hungry. He was just wondering when the food would appear, when Professor McGonagall got up, a faint smile on her face. Silence fell again over the great hall.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, first years,” the headmistress said. “And welcome back to all of the older students. I wish you all a successful, a wonderful year at Hogwarts. Let the feast begin.”

As she sat down again, the dishes in front of the students filled themselves with food. Richard did not waste time and dug in, just as the other students around him, or maybe just a tiny bit more. He felt he deserved it. It was the best food he’d ever eaten. At home, there had never been enough food, most of the days leftovers, a lot of time no food at all, because his mother had simply forgotten to go to the food bank, let alone cook. As long as he could remember, “dinner” meant for Richard to go to the fridge and just hope the best. Lunch, luckily, had been served at school, and breakfast he had never had.

Now that he could eat all he liked, Richard helped himself generously to pie, and pork, and roast chicken, and everything else there was. For a while he was completely occupied with eating. Only when he had finished his second helping he remembered to have a look out at his surroundings.

Fred and James were still working on cheering Shila. The two boys liked to finish each other’s jokes, and after Fred had produced a peanut apparently out of Shila’s ear, the girl really started to giggle.

“How did you do that?” she wanted to know, when the peanut vanished again. Richard yawned. He had seen sleights of hand like this before.

“Magic,” Fred gave back, grinning.

“Nooo,” Shila made. “You couldn’t. You’d need a wand for that, and you’d have to say a spell. They don’t do nonverbal spells until after the OWLs!”

Fred laughed about her know-it-all-tone.

“We’ve got our own kind of magic,” James, who didn’t want to be left out, replied. “Look here.”

He raised his empty left hand, made a show of turning it around, then closed it to a fist. With his right hand he made three circles above it, and then pulled out a long piece of light fabric from his fist.

Shila stared amazed. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she whispered.

“It’s a Muggle trick,” Richard sneered. “There’s no magic to it at all. Every Muggle could learn it.”

“It is still amazing,” Shila giggled, when Fred acted as if he had pulled a walnut out of her nose. She looked like she had completely forgotten about Gryffindor or Ravenclaw house.

When the plates had cleaned themselves from the desserts, Professor McGonagall got up again. “Now that we all have eaten, I have a few more announcements to make. First, I would like to remind you that the forest down on the grounds is forbidden to all students.

Second, there will be Quidditch trials in the second week of the term. Anyone who is interested to play should contact Madam Hooch.”

“Aw,” James groaned. “I wish they would allow first years their brooms… Are you gonna try out, Fred?”

“Sure,” Fred gave back, but did not say anything more, because Professor McGonagall turned into their direction.

“Last, I have to inform you that Professor Binns has finally decided to move on to the other side,” Professor McGonagall continued, and the whole hall exploded with cheers. The headmistress had to clear her throat several times, before it fell silent again.

“I am sure we all wish him a merry afterlife,” she added drily, “and let us welcome Professor Wedge, our new teacher for History of Magic.”

A small witch with light skin and curly brown hair that was just turning grey jumped to her feet. Standing up, she was barely longer than sitting down. Her smile was warm and sincere.

“That’s a soft one,” James muttered, and applauded Professor Wedge as the other students.

Silently, Richard thought the same.

“Your schedules will be handed out tomorrow at breakfast,” McGonagall finished. “I wish you all a very good night now. Prefects will lead the first years to the dormitories.”

A great moving of chairs erupted when the students got up. The Gryffindor first years gathered at the end of the table closest to the door, and waited until a sturdy fifth grader came to pick them up, followed by a smaller girl of the same age. “I’m your prefect Chad Blaine,” the boy introduced himself.

“I’m Leona Carl,” the girl continued, smiling warmly. “Don’t be afraid to ask us if you have any questions or problems.”

As if, Richard thought. The girl looked like the junior-edition of Mrs. Ran, the social worker at his old school. Mrs. Candy, Richard had called her by himself, for she had always had some kind of candy with herself, which she shared generously. It had been the only good thing about her, and taking too much candy had been very dangerous, because then she would start asking stupid questions about his mother and how she was doing, and how he was doing, and once she had started there was no way to stop her. Her questions had been easy, though, easy to answer with lies.

Richard returned the prefects’ smiles happily. The most important thing he had learned from Mrs. Candy was to never simply block a question. Subtlety was the key. Tell an answer and yet don’t give an answer, and smile happy. If one looked angry, the Mses. Candy of the world became even more gluey.

The two prefects led the way towards the Gryffindor Tower, and Richard very carefully memorized the way as they walked. He had heard that first years tended to get lost in Hogwarts, but he was not going to be one of those blokes.

When a boy named Darrell got stuck in a step that vanished, Richard jumped the trick step, but the new girl Jocelyn behind him trapped right into it as well. Chad Blaine helped her, all chivalrous at once. Richard rolled his eye, and then wondered whether maybe wizards were more old-fashioned about this kind of thing. Maybe he needed to polish his manners a little? It wouldn’t do to stand out negatively in that regard.

But for this night he was too tired to do much. Behind James and the boy Darrell he passed through the hole behind the portrait of the pink lady. “Fred Weasley” was password, which Richard thought just a bit tasteless, considering that another Fred Weasley was just a few steps behind him. He didn’t mention it, though, because Fred looked quite proud.

“I’ve heard that the Pink Lady always chooses the name of one of the victims from the Battle,” Shila whispered. “Or other victims of Voldemort.”

Should be easy to remember, Richard thought. And just as easy to hack. After all, the fountain in the hall showed the names as well.

He would have thought that the wizards had gotten over the whole war-thing in the eighteen years that had passed since the end of the Second War, but apparently, their memory was very long-lasting. Then again, the Muggles still mentioned World War II when ever appropriate, and also sometimes when not.

With a wide smile he finally eyed the Gryffindor common room, his new home: It was a round room high up, viewing the grounds, decorated in red and gold. A fire burned invitingly in the fire place, and small groups of armchairs gathered everywhere.

Yes, this would do nicely as his new home.

Chad led the boys up a spiral staircase, behind which their dormitory laid. James and Fred obviously regretted that they had to split, but did with foretelling grins on their faces.

“Tomorrow,” Fred said and vanished.

As Richard entered the dormitory, for once he was unable to hide his true feelings, but it really did not matter. It could not hurt if the other boys knew just exactly how happy he was to be in Hogwarts. Smiling he took his new bed in possession, and he knew at once that he would spend, if possible, all his holydays and school breaks at Hogwarts. Leaning back he had a wild dream about never having to meet his parents again, until he was a full grown wizards and could hex them completely out of his life. He would never worry about the police again. Or his Dad’s friends. Or his mother, throwing up across the carpet, or about being kicked out by the landlord…

While he was giving himself to his happy dreams about his life as a wizard in his full powers, the other five boys gathered around James. There was Darrell, a small white boy, just a little rabbit-like looking with his glasses, and his mousy hair. Then there was Jaden Lawson, a brown-skinned boy who was not much taller than Darrell, but much bigger. Jermaine Cole was a slightly darker brown than Jaden, a little about average height, and a little lanky, with dreadlocks. Next came Finn Fulton, who was very tall and very thin, with reddish-blond hair and skin that looked like it would burn the second he stepped into the sun. The last boy was named Aldo Mancini. He had very sun-tanned skin and black hair, and was the only other boy who wore second hand robes like Richard.

“So…,” Darrell began. “You’re Harry Potter’s son?”

Richard snorted. What a great opener.

When James nodded, not very modestly, they all uttered different sounds of excitement.

“That’s cool,” Jaden exclaimed, and continued: “I heard he’ll come to talk during Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.”

“He usually does, once or twice a year,” James nodded.

“Awesome,” Aldo said.

Watching them, Richard could tell that Finn was not quite getting what the others were talking about. He was probably Muggle-born as well, and listened intently. Jermaine looked like he knew about Potter, but hung back at least a little. Maybe he would turn out to be someone sensible, who didn’t get taken by fame as easily as the others.

James couldn’t help but enjoy the interest the other new Gryffindors showed. His parents had warned him not to boast and not to expect special treatment, but he did, even if just a little. He couldn’t quite see what was wrong with that. It annoyed him that Richard still was not showing any signs of attention, especially since Richard seemed to watch every one else constantly. It did make Richard interesting, though. Or not interesting, more intriguing. Who was that boy? Where did he come from? What had him made practice spells at the train?

He had to find out, and he would find out. But not tonight.

He was tired and stuffed from the food, and tomorrow his first year at school would start. He could barely wait for it.

The next morning, James was extremely glad he had brought the Marauder’s Map. Quite a few people were watching him as soon as he left the dormitory and it would have looked rather stupid if Harry Potter’s son had proven unable to find his classes alone. He did not have to worry about the walk to the great hall, as for breakfast he was accompanied by Fred, but when they got their schedules from Professor Longbottom, Fred learned that his first class would be Herbology out in the greenhouses on the grounds – so there was no way he could guide James to History of Magic.

With some luck, James managed to escape the crowd on the corridor. In a quiet corner he pulled out the Marauder’s Map, and whispered: “I solemnly swear that I’m up to no-good,” and at once the Map appeared, with hundreds of little dots moving through the halls. James found himself, and the room for History of Magic. He noticed that he was on the wrong floor, but found a very handy short cut which opened up behind a portrait not far away. He hurried over into another empty corridor, patted a little pony on a meadow and quickly stepped onto the staircase that appeared behind the picture.

Richard could not help but smile when James appeared at the class room just a few seconds before the bell rang, He himself had left breakfast early, so he had been in no hurry to find the room. It did seem like he was the only one though, which was great. Shila came, chattering shyly with five girls, and Darrell, Jaden, and Finn, who apparently were working on getting to know each other better, as did Jermaine and Aldo. Richard sighed. He would have to do that later himself, just to be on the safe side, and not to appear anti-social. That’s what they had called him at his old school, anti-social. Well, Mrs. Ran had. The other kids had had different names for him, which he did not care to remember.

But before he could carefully mix with the other students, thankfully Professor Wedge showed up. She was wearing a long black skirt underneath her robes, which looked quite, well, witchy indeed, with lots of black tufts, and a matching shirt, lots of scarf and quite a bit jewelry. Her face was round and smiling, as she opened the door, humming to herself.

A soft one, really, James thought when he followed her into the class room. He took a seat at the second row – not too close to the teacher, not too far away – and was passed by Shila, who took a seat front row in the middle. Richard placed himself front row as well, but a little more to the side. Darrel, Finn and Jaden came to join James, though. The other five girls of Gryffindor, James couldn’t remember their names from last night, split up: one of them filled the second row, the other four went to sit behind James with the other two boys. They were giggling softly.

Professor Wedge cleared her throat loudly, and Finn and Darrel stopped talking, but it took the four girls in the last row a moment to notice that the lesson had begun.

“I welcome you all to your first year, your very first lesson at Hogwarts,” Professor Wedge started, smiling warmly at them. “I do hope that you all will feel at home at Hogwarts quickly. Now let’s see who’s with us today…” She hummed softly, as she filed through a bunch of papers, pulling out a sheet.

“Darrel Adams?”, she began taking the roll, and Darrel raised his hands.

“Very nice,” said Professor Wedge. “Jocelyn Davidson?”

James leaned around to look at her, when the girl at the far end of second row raised her hand quite timidly. “Here,” she said in a soft voice.

“Welcome, dear,” Professor Wedge said, then furrowed her brows. “Though you may not have an easy start…”

James was not sure whether he had understood the teacher correctly, and eyed Jocelyn curiously. The girl looked his direction, when she tried to avoid the teacher’s gaze. James gasped, when, for just a second, their eyes connected. He knew those eyes! His brother had these eyes, and his father: bright green!

He realized he was staring at the girl, and smiled, trying to look charming, and for a second there was a look like recognition at Jocelyn’s face, but then the girl paled, as if she was scared, averted her gaze and stared down at her hands. James furrowed a brow. He had met many people over time, but he had never met fear. Most people loved him, some people envied him, others tried to steal some of his popularity and fame, but nobody had ever been afraid of him!

That was downright ridiculous!

And just a bit annoying. Now there were two people he couldn’t understand, and both of them in his house and year. First Richard, who was staring at Professor Wedge as if she was withholding the secret of enlightenment from him, and now Jocelyn, who did not dare looking up at all.

Instead of following the lesson, James decided to have a closer look at what his class-mates were doing, even though he felt like Richard doing it. The weird boy seemed to have a contest with Shila about who could answer the most questions. Shila was putting up a brave fight, but it seemed like Richard had not only read but absorbed those textbooks. Considering that he was quite obviously Muggle-born, his knowledge was rather imressive, though there were some question where James felt he could have given better, more detailed answers. He didn’t, though. Finn, Darrel, Jermaine, Aldo and Jaden behaved like boys would at their first day of class: Finn was shy, and apparently slightly confused, while the rest tried to present their best side to the teacher while not showing off as Richard did.

“What a jerk,” Jaden muttered under his breath, when Richard corrected one of his answers. James could hear him, and Richard apparently as well, for he suddenly spun around and shot Jaden a look that could have made water freeze.

“Nosy little know-it-all,” Darrell agreed. Jaden and Darrell seemed to be on their best way to become friends. Maybe it was because they were both so short, James wondered.

“He’s been studying at the train-ride,” he pitched in.

Both boys turned his direction. “Really?” they wanted to know.

James nodded. “Bet he’s been up all night rereading that textbook,” he continued. Only when he said it, he realized he did not like Richard at all.