Changes.

"What is going on!"

Back in Dumbledore's office, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Snape and Dumbledore himself were discussing today's incident in the hall.

"The Potter boy is not supposed to be in Slytherin!" Snape said, "Why would the hat even sort him in there. A place he doesn't belong."

Dumbledore was silent as he glanced at the Hat that was placed on the shelf. The Hat opened its mouth again, "I did what I was made to do. Sort people into their houses. Harry Potter, the moment I entered his mind, I knew it was either going to be Gryffindor or Slytherin. I was initially going to place him in Gryffindor because that's where he was meant to be and that's where he wanted to be, but soon after a bit of my suggestion he started doubting himself, so instead of making him regret his decisions, later on, he was put in Slytherin, a place where he will find his true self."

"Severus, you and I both know a house doesn't make a person's character." Dumbledore said after a sigh, "Harry wants power which is completely understandable, imagine a child who just suddenly knew about magic and now knows his parent's death wasn't a car accident his muggle guardians made it out to be. Even if it was me, I would still seek power in the hope of changing something."

"But Albus, the search of power has been the reason for doom of many, what if..."

"I understand your concerns Minevra, but we can't change what has already been done." Dumbledore said, "All we can hope is for him to understand his responsibilities and grow up to be a wizard which his parents would be proud of. And there's something that tells me it would be alright."

"You mean that kid?" The hat asked from the shelf, "Yes, he can indeed be a huge change after all he's one of the reasons."

"What are you talking about?" Snape asked the hat still not so pleased with it.

"The Rakepick kid, he's the reason the Granger girl wanted to be in Ravenclaw, he's also the reason Harry Potter had doubts about himself on whether he could live up to people's expectations or not and also surprisingly one of the indirect reasons the Weasley kid wanted to prove himself even more than before."

When the name Rakepick was dropped, Snape's face twisted more horribly than before while McGonagall could only sigh.

"How did he do all of this?" She asked, "As far as I know, before 15 days there were no signs of him even being in Hogwarts."

"Subtle things." The hat answered, "Small things always lead to big changes and that's the cause of it all."

"And I hope we can keep these changes around otherwise we might have a bit more on our hands than we could handle."

―==(oIo)==―

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other. Though for some it might be confusing, Miles was more than Happy to be around this sort of place as it felt much more like home.

The class routines were a bit confusing but most of it was easier to follow once you got used to it. Gryffindor had Potions, Defence against the dark, Charms and Flying with Slythering. Then Astronomy, History, Herbology, and Transfiguration with Ravenclaw and only two classes of Xylomancy and Magical Theory with Hufflepuff.

Miles lazily made his way through the hall for breakfast as he looked around to find familiar faces sitting alone or keeping it to themselves. He went over to Hufflepuff's table first as he patted Cedric from behind.

The fangirls of Cedric from all four houses turned over as they watched what was going on.

"Thought I would say hi." Miles said sitting next to the empty seat behind him, "Don't want you telling me off later on."

"You'd be surprised, as I was going to do that today." Cedric joked, "As you ignored me saying hi to you last night."

"Did you?"

"Yeah, but I understand the first day could be a bit overwhelming. I mean you didn't even glance in my direction." Cedric said, "So ready for your classes?"

"I should be good enough," Miles said as he grabbed a toast from the table, "I don't think it will be too hard but the way Snape's eyeing me I don't think I will have a really good first class."

"You have Potions first, do you?" Cedric said as he looked over towards the high table where Snape was sitting, "He's a bit bias towards Slytherin but I don't think he will cause you a lot of trouble."

"I hope so."

"Cheer up!" Cedric said, "Let me introduce you to my friends, they all play Quidditch with me, this is Anthony Rickett, this lady here is Tamsin Applebee and he is Herbert Fleet, there are still others but most of them are out trying to help with the scheduling of the practice."

"Hello!" Miles said to all of them as they all smiled back.

"So, Mr. Rakepick would you play for Gryffindor next year?"

"You mean, Quidditch?" Miles asked, "I don't think I will. It just seems too Hectic to follow but I might play here and there just for fun sake."

"For fun huh?"

"You should really talk to that lady over there." Tamsin said, "She's been looking at you ever since you first came here."

Miles looked over to see Susan looking at him from time and time again as she quickly turned her head when he looked at her, "Oh! She's a friend." Miles said.

"Just a friend?" Cedric decided to tease him a little but Miles didn't budge.

"Talking about friends I wanted to talk to you about something." Miles said, "Can you look after the two, Susan and Ron over there."

"You mean the Weasley kid?"

"Yeah! You don't have to be their baby sitter or anything, just make sure no one picks on them within Hufflepuff at least."

"Don't worry about that." Cedric shook his head, "Hufflepuffs are the best when it comes to unity and though I think it will take some getting used to for Ron, I assure you that no one will do anything of that sort."

Miles looked at Ron who was awkwardly eating his food as there were still people talking with him but he seemed to quickly fit in as he quickly joined in the conversation when the topic about Quidditch was raised.

"Thanks, I owe you one!" Miles said smiling at him.

Though this interaction was normal for the two of them, a lot of the girls, on the other hand from all houses, had already gone a bit crazy especially the older ones who were muttering things no one could understand as they watched the two good looking men interact with one another. The men next to them shifted there seats far away, as the blushed from the things they heard the girls speak.

Unaware of all this, Miles stood up and looked at the Ravenclaw table to find Hermione missing as he shrugged and went over towards the Slytherin table towards the lonely Harry as he was followed by Susan.

"You're not even going to greet me good morning?" Susan asked getting close to him.

"There's someone else that might need a bit of that." Miles said as he pointed towards Harry.

Susan stiffened a little as she didn't really have a good impression of the Slytherins especially the families sitting around.

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The classes routine are not really identical to the book but I did try to mix it all up as much as possible so I can have interaction with all the characters as much as possible.