Houses, Hats, and Alleys

Professor McGonagall walked into the Hospital Wing the next morning to find Rose wide awake and wearing a black robe with a Hogwarts crest stitched to it. The young girl was examining it with a look of disgust on her face.

"Do I really have to wear this?" the crimson-haired girl whined.

"It is required of all students," Minerva said sternly, trying hard to ignore the fact that the girl was already finished. Where did she get the material for it?

"But it's so… boring!" She turned to face the older woman. "Can't I at least add some color?"

"No, and you will stop whining immediately!" Minerva said sharply. It was way too early for this. She was going to need far more tea if this girl was going to whine the whole time they were at Diagon Alley. Calming draught also sounded good.

"Fine, I'll wear it," the girl grumbled, pouting a little. "But I'd like it to go on record that I protested!"

Minerva stared at the girl, the older woman's face indicating her lack of amusement.

"Noted," she said flatly. "Ms. Peta-Lorrum, where did you get that pattern?"

"I found it in one of the books I read last night!" the little girl exclaimed, smiling. "Are we going to go to Diagon Alley now?"

Minerva opened her mouth, looking for the right words.

"You…" she said, still processing the girl's words. "You made a robe from a pattern you read once?"

"Yeah, why?"

"In one night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Okay," she said slowly. "Where did you learn about Diagon Alley?"

"In one of the books I read!"

"How many books did you read last night?"

"I'm not sure," Peta-Lorrum said, looking up as she thought. "Twenty-four, I think."

"Twenty–," Minerva began, then regained her composure. "How?"

The Deputy Headmistress realized that she was starting to ask that question too much.

"Scholar's touch of course," Rose replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh, of course," Minerva replied. She didn't expect a better answer from the girl, so she decided to stop trying. "Well, we must be off. Have you ever used the Flu Network before?"

"Nope!" she exclaimed.

"Follow me, and I'll explain on the way."

Minerva turned around, then turned back to make sure that the girl was moving along. To her amazement, Peta-Lorrum had already changed back into her cloak. Minerva figured that the girl had just pulled off her robe, but when she looked around, she didn't see it. She opened her mouth to ask, but then closed it again, deciding that it wasn't worth it.

"Now that I've got a copy of the school supplies list," McGonagall said as they left the Hospital Wing. "Let's go down the list to figure out exactly what you need."

"Alright, then! Fire away!"

"Cauldron?"

"Got it!"

"Where?"

Rose pulled off a charm from her bracelet. The charm grew into a large, black hole. Rose reached into the hole and pulled out a cauldron.

"In my portable hole, of course," she replied. "I keep all of my crafting supplies in it!"

"Oh… Okay then," Professor McGonagall replied as Rose replaced the hole on her bracelet. The Transfiguration Professor checked the next item on her list. "Scales?"

"For measuring materials?"

"Yes."

"Got 'em."

"Quills and parchment?"

"Got 'em."

"Pointy hat?"

"Why?"

"Another part of the school uniform."

"Don't have it, but I can make one in no time."

"Alright, then. Dragonhide gloves?"

"What?!" Rose practically shrieked. "Dragon?!"

"They're best for handling dangerous plants and potions."

"Sure, whatever," Rose said dismissively. "You did say dragon, right?"

"Yes."

"As in large, scaly, flying reptiles that feast on puppies and kitties and the happiness of children?"

"Is there a problem?"

Rose didn't know what dragons were like here, but in her plane, they were flying terrors that swooped down from the sky one day and ruined your life. Why did the entire student body require gloves made from their hide?

"I've got my gloves, and I can handle just about anything with them. It's gonna take more than a few spiky plants to breach my AC, and I'm immune to fire, so I should be fine."

Minerva looked at the girl's gloves, then made a note to get dragonhide gloves for her.

How far do this poor girl's delusions go? Why does she think she's immune to fire?

"Finally, a telescope."

"Why would I have a telescope? They're not at all worth their price!"

"A telescope is required for Astronomy class."

"Alright, I guess I could just make one," Rose said, stopping in her tracks. "Spyglass is probably Blacksmithing or Gemcutting, so I get +32. Toss in a moment of prescience for a total of +52, and multiply it by a DC of 20 for a high-quality item, DC 30 for quick crafting, so that's 1590 with minimum check result, 2140 maximum, and 1860 average. That would mean… five to seven weeks to complete it." Rose grimaced. "That won't do. Or I could just go the easy way and have Serendipity make it for me." Rose sighed. "What did I ever do without her?"

While the strange girl was rambling, Minerva just made a note to buy her a telescope if possible. There were sure to be spares lying around somewhere.

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, if you're quite finished, we must get going."

The trip to Diagon Alley was fairly uneventful. Sure, there were houses stacked on top of other houses, but Rose had seen something similar to that in Sentrum, the trade capital of her home plane. She was bored with all the NPCs, talking about a bunch of things that were of little consequence to her. Rose had never been one for gossip; she had Reflectesalon if she needed information.

<Professor McGonagall is impressed by how enthusiastic you are about Transfiguration,> Reflectesalon informed her.

<Thanks, Ref,> she replied absentmindedly.

What did interest her were her textbooks. Even with the ability to read them just by touching them, she actually wanted to read them like a normal person. After they purchased what textbooks they could from a used bookstore, Rose picked up the first one, which turned out to be her Transfiguration textbook, and began reading it. Of course, she read all of them with scholar's touch when she put them in her picnic basket after purchasing them.

Rose spun on one foot to avoid the wall in front of her.

As an item familiar with greater sapience, Reflectesalon had the ability to see, hear, and speak. However, Rose had given him strict orders not to speak out loud, as she found the looks she got when talking to her "imaginary friend" to be absolutely hilarious. The ability to see and hear meant that Reflectesalon could be her eyes and ears when she had her nose in a book or a puzzle box.

Professor McGonagall led them to a shop that had the word "Ollivanders'" written across it. Of course, Rose didn't notice this, as she was still reading her Transfiguration book, but Reflectesalon was kind enough to inform her about it.

<Door.>

Rose groped around with her free hand for the doorknob, not wanting to stop reading her book. After a few tries, she finally found the doorknob, and opened the door. She suspected that Professor McGonagall had intentionally not held it open for her in an effort to get Rose to pay attention to where she was walking. Rose suspected this mostly because Reflectesalon told her as such.

"Ah, Professor Minerva McGonagall," an old man greeted the witch. "Nine-and-a-half inches, fir body, dragon heartstring core. Excellent for advanced Transfigurations, of course."

"Mr. Ollivander," Rose's new teacher replied, a little cheerfully.

Rose wondered if that was that as cheerful as the woman got. What did she do that stressed her out so much? Was being second-in-command at Hogwarts that difficult?

"This is Rose Peta-Lorrum, a prospective Muggle-born student," Professor McGonagall explained.

Upon hearing her name, Rose curtsied instinctively, without so much as glancing up from her book.

"And she needs a wand, of course," Ollivander said understandingly. "I'm sure I have just the–"

"Actually, she already has one," Minerva said, glaring suspiciously at Rose, "I'm unsure as to how she acquired one, but I'm giving her the benefit of a doubt–"

"I made it!" Rose said excitedly, having finally put down the book to pay enough attention to the conversation.

This should be good, Minerva thought. She was still working on trying to figure out how the girl had apparated the previous day, but the only conclusion she had was that the girl was a House-elf in disguise. When Minerva honestly entertained the idea, it made perfect sense.

Few creatures of which Minerva knew were capable of apparating within the grounds of Hogwarts, and House-elves were one of them. Adding to that how ridiculous the girl's name was, and that she didn't talk about real places, an uneducated House-elf disguising itself as a human in order to sneak into Hogwarts fit all the details she had perfectly.

Which brought Minerva's thoughts to the girl's wand. Peta-Lorrum claimed that she had made it herself, so Minerva was confident that the "wand" would be just a stick the girl carved in the woods. The intention of bringing the girl to see Ollivander was to have an expert see the wand, thus outing the girl before she made it to Sorting.

"Why don't I have a look at it?" Ollivander suggested, breaking the silence. "I presume that that is your purpose here today."

"It is," Minerva confirmed. "Ms. Peta-Lorrum, would you please hand Mr. Ollivander your wand?"

Rose hesitated. She didn't like letting people use her equipment, especially Serendipity. When she graduated from Arcrel, Headmaster Ozerl had imparted upon her the secret to crafting equipment such that only a chosen person could use it. Rose had then abused this secret and made all of her equipment work only for her.

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, I promise I'll be as delicate as I possibly can," Ollivander assured her. "If you truly did make your own wand, then you know how steady one's hands must be. It's very precise and delicate work, and I would never want to damage another crafter's handiwork."

If there was one thing to be said about Rose's vocabulary, it involved many words for "to set on fire".

Rose flicked her wrist and Serendipity appeared in her left hand. One component of each of her gloves was a casting glove, which allowed her to store and activate a single magic item in each glove. Serendipity stayed in her left glove, and her other baby stayed in her right.

Rose carefully handed Serendipity to Ollivander, who used just as much care in handling her as Rose.

Ollivander gingerly held Serendipity as he brought her over to a small table, as Rose walked alongside him.

Professor McGonagall followed, but kept her distance to allow Ollivander to do his work.

Ollivander took a seat at the table which was covered in tools. Many of them were tools for carving or polishing wood, and suspended over the table was a large magnifying glass. Ollivander placed the "wand" on the table, and looked at her through the magnifying glass.

"Fascinating. While the specific magic of a wand is complex, there are three primary components: the body, the core, and the runes. Starting with the runes, I see a pattern to them, although the layout is unfamiliar. All the runes are etched in here, although I have never seen most of these. What language are these?"

Really? Rose thought. Those were just decoration. Why do they need runes for their wands?

In Rose's home plane of De'rok, wands were charged with magic at creation, and the magic faded with each use. A fully-charged wand had 50 uses, or "charges", and after that it was a stick. Serendipity was a staff, which operated on similar rules, but staves were typically stronger, and could thus hold more powerful spells. As Rose had learned, wands in her new plane were different, in that multiple spells could be cast from them, unlike at home, where only one spell could be cast from a wand.

"I mostly used Ignan and Celestial runes, although there are a bunch of Dwarven and Elven runes, and even one or two Illumian runes."

"Ignan?"

"Common language on the Elemental Plane of Fire," Rose said, as if that explained everything. "Celestial is typically spoken on the Upper Planes, and Dwarven and Elven speak for themselves."

"What's an Illumian?" Minerva asked, hoping to poke holes in the girl's stories.

"A race that used to be human," Rose explained. "Their founder, whose name I forget, infused himself with the magic of a language he discovered."

"Finely polished wood," Ollivander continued, turning back to the wand. "What is this material? It looks like normal wood, but there aren't as many cracks as I would expect."

"Darkwood," Rose told him, taking a few steps towards the table. "It's far more durable than normal wood, but just as light. Also, I liked the color!"

"Fascinating. What did you use for the core?"

Rose froze up. She didn't have a plausible answer for that. She didn't even know what that meant!

<Ref, help?>

<He suspects unicorn hair,> Reflectesalon offered.

"Unicorn hair," she repeated.

"As I suspected," Ollivander said. "Although I don't recognize this specific runic pattern, it certainly suggests unicorn hair. This is truly remarkable work, little girl. I see no seal from where the two halves were joined around the core. That's very difficult to do. Where did you learn to do this?"

"Arcrel Academy!"

Her imaginary school again, thought McGonagall.

"I've never heard of that particular establishment, but the staff there should be commended for their teaching abilities," Ollivander said, handing Serendipity back to Rose. "Would you mind giving us a demonstration of its abilities?"

"She," Rose corrected. "Serendipity is female."

"Of course."

Rose ran through everything that she had learned in the past day, and figured that a quick illusion would suffice.

Due to the inability to place more than one charge on Serendipity, Rose had to power surge her first. Power surge was one of Rose's favorite infusions. For a small XP cost, she could add four temporary charges to any of her staves or wands. Most adventurers didn't like XP costs, but Rose typically collected enough to make up for it.

She waved Serendipity as if she were conducting an orchestra. She could pick any verbal component she liked thanks to her False Theurgy skill trick, and according to the research she'd done, spells in that plane needed a verbal component.

<Elven sounds magical,> she told Reflectesalon. <I'll use Elven.>

"Tia cla," she whispered quietly.

As she did, she waved Serendipity gently through the air. Rose petals began to flutter out of her "wand", swirling around her as if there were a soft breeze. Each one slowly fell to the floor as they circled the girl. As each petal touched the ground, it turned to dust, fading away into nothing.

Rose watched all of this with a look of satisfaction.

"Well, there you have it," Ollivander said. "I believe her wand will suffice."

Minerva watched the spectacle with amazement. Not only had the girl gotten her "wand" past Ollivander, the best of the best, but it actually did something. Peta-Lorrum had successfully cast a spell from her wand, although Minerva remained suspicious of the girl. Minerva had never heard of that particular spell, and she'd at least heard of most spells in existence. Sure, the effects were easily produced, but not with that incantation.

Most importantly, if the wand actually worked, then there were two plausible explanations: Either the girl was telling the truth, or the wand was stolen. House-elves could easily use magic, especially the older ones. A House-elf stealing a wand from its former master explained everything.

"Thank you, Sir," Rose said. With a flick of her wrist, Serendipity returned to her glove. "It was nice meeting you!"

"And you as well, Ms. Peta-Lorrum." Ollivander turned to Professor McGonagall. "Until the next time, Professor?"

"Until the next time," she replied, nodding.

Hermione Granger boarded the Hogwarts Express the next morning and began to look for somewhere to sit. Everywhere she looked, there were people already talking with one another. Just like it was in primary school, everyone but her had friends.

It wasn't that she couldn't sit down and start talking to people. Many of the students here were new, just like her, but if primary school was any indication of what Hogwarts would be like, then she was better keeping to herself. Besides which, all Hermione wanted to do was read. With luck, she'd find someone quiet, or a compartment on her own where she could sit quietly and read one of her books.

Hermione got to the end of the train and found the one compartment that was nearly empty. It's sole occupant was a girl in a red cloak and black dress, curled up on the floor with a book in her hand. If Hermione wasn't mistaken, the other girl was reading their Potions textbook.

Probably a first-year, Hermione thought.

"Is it alright if I sit here?" Hermione asked. "Most of the other compartments are taken."

"Sure!"

Hermione sat down in the compartment, taking her one of her books out of her bag. That was when she noticed that the other girl's hair was crimson. Not red, as Hermione had originally thought, and not a trick of the light.

She must dye it, Hermione thought. Or whatever it is wizards do. She can't be Muggle-born with those clothes.

"How come you're sitting on the floor?" Hermione asked the crimson-haired girl.

"Because I like to curl up when I read, and I didn't want to put my boots on the seats."

"Why not just take off your boots?"

"I like my boots! I mean sure, once I activate them in the morning, I don't need them until the next morning, but still!"

Hermione wasn't sure how to respond to that. What did the other girl mean by "activate"?

"'Activate'?" Hermione asked, determined to learn everything about her new world.

"Yup!" the girl exclaimed. She closed her book and hopped up on the opposite seat. "Mostly the primal suite. You know, primal instincts and all those. Also, a schema of swift haste."

"Primal instincts?" Hermione asked.

She knew many spells had an English name in addition to their incantations, but she hadn't heard of that one.

"Second-level Ranger spell," replied the girl as if it were common knowledge. "You've also got the first-level primal hunter, third-level primal senses, and fourth-level primal speed."

Definitely not a Muggle-born, Hermione thought. And probably not a first-year either. What does 'level' mean? Is that another way of saying part of the second-year curriculum?

"My name's Rose," the other girl said. "Rose Peta-Lorrum!"

"Sorry, did you say 'Rose Petal'?"

"Peta-Lorrum," Rose corrected her. "Mum's last name was Peta, Dad's was Lorrum, and neither wanted to change. So, they gave me both of them!"

"Oh," the other girl replied. "Er, sorry, my name's Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you, Hermione!"

"Nice to meet you, I guess," Hermione replied.

Rose tilted her head.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied quickly. "It's just a lot to take in. I'm a Muggle-born, so this is all new to me."

"Oh," Rose said.

"What about you?" Hermione asked. "Pureblood?"

"Nope!" Rose exclaimed. "Mum wasn't a Witch, and Dad wasn't a Wizard!"

"If you're not a pureblood, then how come you know so much magic already?"

"My brother told me about the primal suite," Rose replied.

"Oh," Hermione said. "So you're both Muggle-born?"

"I guess," Rose said. "Sk'lar's adopted, though."

You've got to be kidding me, Hermione thought. Her name is "Rose Petal", and his name is "Scholar".

"No," Rose said. "Peta-Lorrum and Sk'lar."

"Alright," Hermione said, still not believing the girl. Hermione didn't know what to believe, but that sounded too ridiculous to be true. Then again, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was called "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" according to Hogwarts: A History, so maybe Rose did just have a strange name.

A boy with a round face pulled the compartment door open. He looked panicked, and there were even tears in his eyes.

"Excuse me," he said. "Have either of you seen a toad? He got away from me, and now I can't find him anywhere!"

"No, sorry," Hermione replied.

"Nope!" Rose said, pulling a charm off of her bracelet. "But I can find him for you!"

"You can?" he asked hopefully.

Before the childrens' eyes, the charm grew into a full-sized quiver. From that quiver she produced a staff.

"Prying Eyes"

Several orange, floating orbs appeared and began to orbit around the crimson-haired girl, patiently awaiting orders.

"Search the train," she instructed them. "Come back if you find a toad."

The orbs flew out of the compartment. The boy stared at the orbs as they flew off.

"What was that spell?" Hermione asked.

"Prying Eyes."

"That doesn't sound like any of the spells I've heard of, and I've already read the Standard Book of Spells. Volumes One and Two."

"Most people underestimate its usefulness," Rose continued. "It's great for brute-force searching. Although, now that I think about it, I could've just used locate creature, but prying eyes is a lot more fun."

One of the eyes flew back into the compartment, and landed in Rose's hand. She stared at it for a few seconds, then it vanished and she turned to the boy.

"Neville, there's a toad outside the second compartment down," Rose informed him. "That might be him."

"Thanks," he replied. "Wait, how did you know my name?"

"My imaginary friend told me!" Rose exclaimed, beaming. "He can read minds!"

The two students stared at her for a moment, then Neville ran to get his toad.

"So Hermione, you like reading?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. I've already read all the first-year textbooks," Hermione replied confidently.

"So you're just starting, then?" asked Rose.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yup!"

Hermione nodded. She glanced out the window, wondering how long it was until they reached Hogwarts. It couldn't have been too much longer, and she wanted to change into her robes soon.

"I'll head outside to see if Neville needs any help finding Trevor," Rose said. "You should change into your robes in the meantime. You seem worried about it."

"Thanks," Hermione replied, as Rose left.

Hermione watched her leave, then began to change into the wool furnace that they called robes.

"How did she know I was getting antsy about our robes?" she asked herself. "She can't really read peoples' minds. Can she?"

Before too long, the train pulled into Hogwarts. Hermione wasn't sure when Rose had changed into her robes, but she had reentered the compartment wearing them, so Hermione figured the crimson-haired girl had pulled them on while she was out.

After being led by an enormous man, and crossing a lake, they arrived at the castle.

Professor McGonagall lined up the first-years in alphabetical order according to last name. That put Rose between a slightly panicky girl with dirty-blonde hair and a rather shy boy with jet black hair.

"What do you think they're going to have us do?" the girl asked.

<Sally-Anne Perks,> Reflectesalon told Rose.

"I don't know," Rose replied. "All the books I've read were rather vague about it. It must be some sort of mind reading, since we get sorted by personality traits."

"Personality traits?" asked Sally-Anne, still panicky.

"I just don't want to be sorted into Slytherin," the boy behind her mumbled.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Rose said dismissively. "If it's personality-based, then if you don't want to be somewhere, you won't!"

"How can you be so sure?" Sally-Anne asked.

"If you don't want to be somewhere, then it conflicts with your personality, right?"

"I guess," Sally-Anne said. Harry just nodded.

When they arrived at the Great Hall, all eyes were on them. In the center of the back wall, there was a stool with a pointed hat perched on it. To the surprise of the students, and fascination of Rose, it started singing.

After it was finished, each of the students were called up one by one. As each student was called, the hat was placed on their head. Most students were immediately placed in one house or another by the hat. There were a few, such as Hermione, who took almost a minute to be sorted.

While this was going on, Rose had her notebook out and was jotting down each person and where they were sorted. One of her friends from back home had once told her that anything could be important, so Rose was certain to record everything. Both Hermione and Sally-Anne were sorted into Gryffindor. With Neville also being placed into Gryffindor, Rose found it interesting that everyone she had met so far was being placed in Gryffindor.

"Peta-Lorrum, Rose!"

"Good luck, Harry," she whispered to Harry as she skipped over to the stool. Hiding her hands in her sleeves, she flicked out Serendipity and power surged her. Hiding away Serendipity again, Rose sat down on the stool, and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head.

"Salutations, Funny Talking Hat!" Rose whispered. She used the word hat to trigger the spell doublespeak.

The skill trick False Theurgy allowed her to change the verbal component of any spell she cast to that of another spell of the same level. Wish was a ninth-level spell, which gave her a limited number of choices for spells. Fortunately for her, one of those spells was power word kill, which had an arbitrary verbal component, so long as it was a single word. That meant that she could cast wish from Serendipity using any single word she wanted, so long as she thought her actual wish.

Doublespeak was a spell that disguised a conversation to those outside of the conversation. To the rest of the Great Hall, the Hat and Rose were talking about random, mundane topics. Rose wasn't sure about what she would be speaking, but she wanted to continue the "mad girl" impression she was giving the staff for her own amusement.

"How do you work?"

"Muggle-born, eh?" asked the Hat. "Most purebloods just accept that I'm magical."

"Well, obviously you're magical, but what sort of magic?"

The Hat paused for a moment, evidently confused.

"Occlumency shields?" the Hat asked. "Apparently not Muggle-born. Please lower your occlumency shields, young lady."

"Occlumency, occlumency," Rose muttered. "What's an occlumency?"

"The shielding you've got over your mind," the Sorting Hat said impatiently.

"Oh, that's mind blank!"

"What's mind blank?"

"An eighth-level spell that prevents attempts to 'detect, influence, or read emotions or thoughts'. It also lasts for 24 hours!"

"Whatever it is, would you please stop it?"

"Hmmmm," Rose thought for a second. "Nope!"

"Why not?"

"Because I can't just suppress it. If I wanted to grant you access, I'd have to figure out some way of dispelling it, since I can't just dismiss it either. I mean sure, I could set up an antimagic field, but then that'd disable you! And that's not to mention all of my own equipment. Maybe a suppressing field, but that's pretty hit and miss."

"I can't place you if–"

"I wanna be in Gryffindor!"

The Hat paused for a moment.

"Why?"

"Because that's where you put Hermione, and she's my friend!"

"Which makes you the crimson-haired girl with the odd name she met on the Express."

"See? Friends!"

"Little girl, give me one good reason why I shouldn't have Professor Dumbledore expel you right now."

"Because I've got three charges left on Serendipity, and one of them could be a disintegrate with your name on it."

While the Sorting Hat excelled at reading minds, that didn't mean it wasn't good at reading people. Most years, the students were sorted the second they all walked into the Great Hall. This year was no different; Malfoy went to Slytherin with his goons, and Weasley would be sorted into Gryffindor. The Abbot girl was easily pegged as a Hufflepuff, although Granger had been tricky.

Given how this girl spoke and presented herself, the Hat had every reason to believe that she was telling the truth. So it decided to humor the girl.

"And you think you would do well in Gryffindor?"

"You said something about bravery in your song, right?"

"Yes," the hat replied curtly.

"Well, I'm brave!"

"How so?"

"The entire school is staring at me wondering about what we're talking, hoping that we wrap it up soon," Rose replied. "And I'm still talking, despite the hundreds of people wanting me to stop. How is that not brave?"

"…" the hat …'d.

"Also, one of their house colours is red, and I like red!"

The Sorting Hat wasn't sure about this girl. It felt that it should notify Professor Dumbledore immediately about the problematic student, but for the time being, it needed to put her somewhere. If there were any house that would take someone eager to join because they wanted to be with their friend, it was Hufflepuff. On the other hand, putting her in Hufflepuff wouldn't end well for Hufflepuff.

She hadn't smirked once, so Slytherin was out, and Ravenclaw didn't seem like a good fit either.

Might as well, thought the Sorting Hat.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

A thunderous applause erupted from the Gryffindor table as Rose stood up and handed the hat back to McGonagall. As she skipped over to the Gryffindor table, Rose was fairly certain that she had heard a faint groan from Professor McGonagall as she walked passed.

Rose took her seat next to Hermione as Harry was also sorted into Gryffindor.

<That can't be a coincidence,> Rose said to Reflectesalon. She jotted down a few more notes in her notebook as the Sorting ended.

After the Sorting, Professor Dumbledore stood up and addressed the Great Hall.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

"What?" Hermione asked. "Is he alright?"

Rose wasn't paying attention. She was busy furiously scribbling down the exact words that Dumbledore had just said.

"It's gotta be a puzzle of some sort," Rose said. "Maybe phonetics? NBOT? No, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe an anagram? OBNT? ONBT? TOBN? BTON? Maybe it's something to do with the actual words? 'Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak'."

Rose continued her ramblings as food appeared on the table in front of her. Her ring of greater sustenance removed the need to eat or drink, so while the rest of the table ignored her, she ignored the food.

After the feast, Professor Dumbledore told them a few more rules, but only two were of importance. The first was that they weren't allowed to use magic in the corridors. That made sense to Rose, but she knew they didn't keep antimagic fields in the hallways, otherwise her equipment wouldn't have worked. Failing that, how were they enforcing that rule? Were they enforcing that rule?

"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."

Rose's eyes grew wide, and her mind began to spin with the possibilities. What would they have in a school that would necessitate warning students not to go near it?

Whatever it was, Rose couldn't wait to find out.

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