The next morning, when they woke up, Lilleth didn't want for a second to get out of her bed. The copper lamps, which had extinguished themselves once they were all ready for bed, were lit again and providing a very warm and cosy light, along with the windows at the top of the walls. The patchwork quilt was so cheerful that Lilleth felt as if it was almost greeting her good morning, and paired with Mourka cuddled up on her feet, she didn't think it would be possible for her to move at all.

Piper was the first to get up, yawning and stretching.

"Morning." she said cheerily.

"Morning." said Mira.

At Lilleth's feet, Mourka yawned as well and got to his feet, arching his back and hissing, which Lilleth took to mean that he was hungry.

"Alright, alright, fine." she muttered, dragging herself out from under the covers. She made her way over to her trunk, which was at the food of her bed, and opened it, pulling out a bag of cat food and the bowl she had bought with his name on it. As soon as the food was in the bowl, he began eagerly eating it, his tail swinging happily in the air as he did so.

"He's so sweet." said Missy, smiling. "How old is he?"

"I think he's only about one." said Lilleth, taking a seat on the floor and stroking him fondly. "I only got him a couple of months ago. His mother got pregnant and their owners couldn't look after all the kittens, so he went to the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley and has been there ever since."

"That's so sad." said Mira. "But what about the others?"

"As far as I know, he was the only one they didn't want." said Lilleth, shrugging. "Not sure why. But lucky for me though."

"Lucky for all of us." Piper laughed. "Well, I think I need a shower after the lake yesterday."

"Yes, just drying off didn't make me feel clean." Lilleth agreed. "I mean, good adventure for the first day, I suppose."

"Were you the ones who fell in the lake?" asked Ella curiously.

Lilleth and Piper nodded, and shared a grin. They had to admit, looking back on it, the whole thing had been rather funny.

"You shower first, I'll go after you." said Lilleth.

Once they were all on their feet, the frantic scramble to get ready before breakfast began. It turned out that everyone wanted showers, so they had to all have quick five minute ones in the shower attached to the bathroom. After they had showered, they took their uniforms out of their trunks and got dressed in the newly coloured and embellished clothes. Piper still had trouble tying her tie, so Lilleth showed her how to do it before tying her own.

"What lessons do you think we're going to have today?" asked Mira, who was sat on her bed stroking Mourka. The two had quickly become good friends.

"I'm quite hoping for potions." said Missy. "My mum and I really like baking together, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

"Not with Professor Snape." said Lilleth. "My friend told me all about him. He's evil apparently."

"I'm sure he can't be that bad." said Ella. "Come on, we'd better go if we want to get to the Great Hall for breakfast. I'm starving."

"Me too." Lilleth agreed, laughing.

They headed out of the dorm room and down the stairs, back to the common room that they'd seen the previous evening. It was even better now. Light flooded in through the circular windows, making some of the plants hanging from the ceiling dance in excitement, and showing off the rippling grass and dandelions just outside the glass.

Out in the hallway, just out of the barrels, they considered going to look at the kitchens to see what they could find, but decided not to, and instead made their way along the hallway and up the staircase to the grand Entrance Hall, and then into the Great Hall.

Almost immediately, Lilleth spotted a boy at the Slytherin table with bright, platinum blonde hair who seemed to be entertaining his friends with a funny story, as they were all roaring with laughter. But at the Gryffindor table, Harry, Ron and Hermione were all glaring at him, and Lilleth knew at once that this was Draco Malfoy, the boy that Harry hated.

But his mood seemed to instantly improve as he looked up and saw Lilleth, and a wide grin appeared on his face as he waved at her.

"Isn't that... Harry Potter?" asked Ella breathlessly.

"Yes, it is!" said Piper excitedly. "Why's he waving at us though?"

"He's waving at me." said Lilleth, going bright red. "We grew up together."

"Lucky!" exclaimed Missy. "What's he like?"

Lilleth shrugged. "Bit of a tosser, really." she said. "Back in a moment."

The other girls all nodded and headed off to the Hufflepuff table, while Lilleth skipped over to the Gryffindor table.

"Good first night?" asked Harry as Lilleth took a seat.

"Yeah." said Lilleth, grinning. "The Hufflepuff common room and dorms are amazing."

"Who fell in the lake?" asked one of the Weasley twins. "We heard that one of the boats capsized."

"Me, Piper, Blake and Dennis." said Lilleth. "Dennis was pushed out by the giant squid."

"Sounds exciting." said Hermione dryly.

"Very." said Lilleth, smirking. "Anyway, I should go, see you later."

"See you." said Harry.

She walked back around the Ravenclaw table to join her other friends back at the Hufflepuff table, where they had just been given their timetables. Piper handed hers over as she took a seat.

"Oh, good, Transfiguration with the Gryffindors first." said Piper.

"Why is that good?" asked Missy. "I mean, not that it's bad, but why in particular?"

"My brother and I have a bet that he's going to be late to his first lesson, so I can make sure he isn't lying to me." said Piper smugly.