There was a slight chill as the boats drifted across the black lake, a thin mist gripping at the sides. Overhead the stars arced across the sky, glimmering jewels in a field of midnight. It was a beautiful night, Eudora thought, the silence broken only by the soft splashes of the little boats carrying the new students across.

Without speaking, without chattering, or complaining, or any words the young witches and wizards departed the boats. Carried through passages and halls until they soon found themselves before a pair of massive oaken doors. There stood a tiny, ancient man garbed in robes of white and blue, a smile on his face as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

“Good evening, good evening everyone!” he said. “Please follow me.”

Rather than entering through the main doors Eudora found herself led off to the side, a chamber nearby where they were to wait. It was a bit of a tight fit, and even if they could all move around a bit there wasn't much breathing room.

“Hello everyone, and so many of you there are! I am Professor Flitwick, Assistant Headmaster and professor of Charms, we'll all be seeing quite a bit of each other and it is wonderful to meet you all. Now for those of you who don't know you'll shortly be sorted into one of the four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. These houses will be your homes for the next few years, and each has their merit. After that will begin the start-of-term banquet, and I'm sure you're all hungry.” He looked around to confirm, and Eudora had to admit that yes, she did indeed want something to eat. “Now, you'll have a few moments to make sure you're in order, wouldn't want to make a bad impression, and then we'll begin!”

No sooner had he left than groups started to form up. Gawain was pushed a bit out of the way as the girls all began to circle, Eudora now caught in the middle of them. The boys too began to fuss a bit, but seemed more interested in talking about exactly how everyone would be sorted.

“Do I look okay?” a girl asked, blonde curls held tight as she turned towards Eudora, giving her a full look.

After a quick once over and a thumbs up the process was repeated in the opposite direction, with the darker haired girl holding her arms out.

“Good?” she asked the new girl.

“Perfect. You on the other hand, oh sweetie...” the blonde turned towards brown-headed youth who looked absolutely shell shocked at everything around her.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, seemingly worried.

“Your robes are a mess,” Eudora told her, shaking her head as she reached forward to fix the disaster that was the girl's clothes.

“Oh, sorry, not really used to these,” she dissembled as she looked about. “I'm Sarah, nice to meet you.”

“Clearly, I'm Julia, Julia Skeeter, pleasure to meet you.” The blonde held out one bony hand as she spoke, but to Eudora, not Sarah.

“Eudora Pyrites, nice to meet you too.”

“Don't mind them, some people are just bad mannered,” butted in the familiar Regina, taking the new girl by the arm and leading her away.

Sarah had looked a bit off kilter, but didn't seem to resist, drawing a line between them.

“Catty,” Julia said, leaning in. “Wonder what her problem is.”

“I almost hexed her on the train. She's got big opinions,” Eudora replied, rolling her eyes. “May have to cure her of them later.”

“Oh I like you. Always have a plan, that's what my auntie says, and hanging out with a girl clearly of muggle stock...” the last big was barely audible, mumbled from behind a raised hand.

“Maybe, but we can't have her making the rest of us look bad.” That got a chortle.

Before long Professor Flitwick returned, smiling at the students before leading them into the packed great hall. Candles flickered above, floating under the illusion of the pristine night sky. Row after row of student looked at the newcomers, a hall more filled than it had been in over a century.

Not so long ago there had been a war of titanic destruction, wizards and witches dying in droves, monsters loose, even this place of education had come under attack, shattered stone and broken statues lining the halls, but afterwards... Afterwards the wizarding population of Britain and the world had gone through a bit of an explosion, with the threat that had darkened their doors for so long now gone families grew like weeds, a new generation larger than had been seen in ages. The incoming class today was massive, a record that looked to be soon broken by those coming in the next few years.

Many of the students didn't know, but upon a stool sat an old hat, burned, patched, sewn back together, it was ancient, storied, the way students were sorted and no other. Beside it stood little Professor Flitwick, smiling. It was clear which students were muggle-born, because they were the ones shocked when the hat began to sing. An elbow from Regina, who Eudora was really beginning to dislike made her miss the first verse or two, but she heard the end clearly.

But now a time of danger, the houses must unite, to stand together strong through every day and each long night
The cunning Slytherins, a plan will surely make, while brilliant Ravenclaws all the hardest questions take.
Brave Gryffindor will always be, standing ready for a fight, and let none doubt Helga's will work with all their might.
And so the houses four, can any threat withstand, so long as all will stand together.
It's time the sorting now began!

“AARONS, LLOYD!” The diminutive professor called, and a stunned looking boy stumbled forward. The hat was placed on his head, and soon after a call came out “HUFFLEPUFF!” from the cloth decider.

It was an arduous process, as one by one the incoming first years were called forwards.

“BLACKWOOD, MORGAN!” went straight to “SLYTHERIN!” the first, but soon followed by “BRATTLEBY, BESTIANNA!”.

Eudora was too excited to pay too much attention. What would she do if she got placed somewhere weird? How would she ever fit in? Time slipped by until finally a call slipped her from her reverie.

“OLIVANDER, GAWAIN!” the hat barely touched him before calling out “RAVENCLAW!” which seemed right, he was sharp as a knife but lacked the sort of... desire, that Eudora saw in herself.

“PYRITES, EUDORA!” Stepping forward and sitting the hat was soon placed upon her, settling down, it felt like everyone was waiting, watching, partially because they were.

Surprisingly there was a sigh in her ear, coming from deep within the hat. “You know,” she heard, almost in her own head. “You do have options. It's all up here, you don't have to go to Slytherin. You've a sharp mind and keen wit, you could fit in in Ravenclaw. You're loyal too, I can see it, and brave. How many your age would have looked down a dragon and tried to save someone?”

“You object to where I want to go?” she thought right back, pretty sure the hat could see into her head.

“It's not about what I want, it's about where you would fit best, where the best place is for you. Yet I can see your mind is made up, and I can see why, and you're not wrong either. Very well then, since you're sure.”

“SLYTHERIN!”

Trying not to let anyone see her press her sweating palms to her robes she quickly made her way over to the table, a number of her fellow students patting her pack as she joined them. Eudora fell in with the group, sure that this would work out.

There were still so many more, and one after another they came forward. Eudora didn't bother to hide her laugh when Regina went to Hufflepuff rather than Gryffindor as she'd said she wanted, served her right. The girl didn't seem brave, just a bit of a... well, not brave. As an aside she noticed that Thomas, the boy she'd met on the train had gone to the red and gold house, interesting.

All the new Slytherins were watching the older ones, and quickly learning. Chatter was good, smiles and nice conversation, but manners were strictly enforced. You needed to sit straight, use your silverware properly, and act right. This all came to the fore when one of the new boys spoke.

“Well, at least no mudbloods here,” he laughed, but all conversation around him died, every older student was looking, eyes hard.

A girl beside him, perhaps third year leaned forward, almost hissing, just loud enough for Eudora to hear her.

“You kiss your mother with that mouth? Disgusting, and if I ever hear that kind of filth from you again in public I'll see to it that one of the prefects gives you so many lines you'll wish you'd never been born.” It seemed there'd been some concerted efforts to remove at least the worst of the blood purity beliefs from the house, at least 'in public'.

The boy seemed to shrink, almost crumbling in on himself while muttering. “My apologies.”

The girl turned to Eudora, face changing completely. “I'm Nicola, pleasure to meet you. Try the apple ones, they're the best,” she said, nodding towards a plate of pastries.

“Eudora, nice to meet you.” She did take one of the little desserts, as they smelled lovely.

“The same as at the dragon attack right? Father works at the ministry, told me to keep an eye out for you. Did you really chain it back up? Good job, I'm so glad you ended up here with us.” Her auburn hair shook as she spoke, a small smile blooming on her face as she seemed to read Eudora's reactions.

Someone had come by to see Eudora after the incident. It seemed that video of it had escaped, leading to the massive breach in The Statute of Secrecy, in that she was clearly seen casting magic at the dragon. The interrogation had been brief, the official not at all angry at what she'd done, but chiding that she shouldn't be doing magic yet unless there was an emergency. As if she didn't know that, but there were exceptions to even The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. There'd even been talk about an award, but mostly Eudora had wanted to be left alone.

“What's that?” the young Skeeter said. “How have I not heard about that yet!? Do tell.”

The rest of the mean and part of the way to the dungeon common room she had to tell all the details to curious housemates. In the end she almost fell into bed, full of good food and utterly exhausted. Little did she know that all over the world magical officials were also under siege from questions about that same incident, and so many others.