New Friends

The great hall turned quiet as the sorting began.

The sorting was designed to put people of a similar mentality together so they can better learn and not clash with those who don't agree with their particular style of doing things. There were times it made mistakes though it would never admit it, some wondering if during its long existence the magic was beginning to wane from time to time.

Everyone ended up going to the same houses except Hermione who ended up in Ravenclaw as she should.

Then it was Trenton's turn, walking up he paused briefly when he felt a small connection to Dumbledore's wand that no one else seemed to notice thankfully, not even Dumbledore himself. It was so brief he thought nothing of it, brushing it off as he sat down waiting for the hat to be placed on his head.

Sorting Hat- "Another difficult one, today has not been easy, let's see here, should you be a Griffonder? You have the bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry, hmmm, Ravenclaw maybe, you are one who seeks knowledge, no? Slytherin, while you have ambition, it's not enough... Let's see hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play it can only be HUFFLEPUFF!" it declares his house.

Hermione who was sure Trenton would end up with her in Ravenclaw turned gloomy as she watched her best friend head to his house.

Trenton locked eyes with her and shrugged before giving her a happy wave hoping she would be okay by herself. He wasn't too worried, they didn't even attend the same classes back in regular school, so she should get over it.

He found a seat without saying much as they all waited for the sorting to finish.

Dumbledore wearing a pair of glasses then came to the podium and started giving his speech.

Trenton wondered what his glasses showed him, before flinching when Dumbledore's gaze passed over him.

Dumbledore- "One last thing, The third-floor corridor has been sealed off this year, so make sure you check with your heads or perfects for any changes this might cause... Now let the banquet begin."

Food of all kinds appeared before everyone and with it came the ghost who wished to join the festivities and welcome the new children.

Trenton staring at the ghosts started to wonder why death let them be, maybe they were too useless to care about, or maybe he liked to let a few run around to remind wizards they still don't know everything and there is still far more to see.

Once the feast began the first years began to receive and give introductions to those around them.

Trenton introduced himself to the boy next to him who had short brown hair and eyes- "Hello, I'm Trenton."

"Hi, I'm Wayne Hopkins, unusual hair color I have to say, only other red hairs around here are the Weasley's, so fair warning, your likely going to be compared to them a lot." He chuckled when Trenton helplessly sighed.

Trenton- "Yeah, thanks for that, hope I can count on you not to be one of them."

"Sure thing, you got lucky, you ended up in the nicest house by far."

Trenton- "Is that so?"

Wayne nodded- "Yeah man, are you a muggle-born?"

Trenton- "Yes."

Wayne- "Well that explains it, I'm a half-blood myself, my brother and I grew up learning about Hogwarts from my dad, he told us how nice everyone was in Hufflepuff when he was a kid and how nasty the other houses could be... Take Slytherin, everyone knows the darkest wizards come out of that house, then there are the Griffondors who like to pretend they're the saviors fighting against the evil snakes, a bit of a clash between the two."

Seeing Wayne start eating again without finish, Trenton asked- "Yeah, and what about the Ravens?"

Wayne swallowing his food- "The Ravens are more book-oriented, but they have been known to shove their knowledge in other people's faces, the house cup usually ends up in their hands, though Hufflepuff has always been a contender with Slytherin close behind, Grififondors however rarely wins it." He said biasedly elevating his house above Slytherin.

Trenton- "What's the house cup?"

Wayne- "The house cup is awarded to the house with the most points at the end of the year and the one who wins gets various rewards."

Someone listening poked their nose in- "Slytherin won it last year, but everyone knows it's because of how biased Snape is, no one understands why Dumbledore lets him get away with it... Hi I'm Emily 2nd year, I couldn't help but hear your conversation." said a girl with black hair and brown eyes.

Trenton-"Snape huh." he said trying to recall what he could on the man.

Emily- "Yeah, he teaches potions, whatever you do, don't stand out when you have his class otherwise he'll be breathing down your neck all year long."

Hearing a loud snort they tuned towards a tall, skinny blond boy with an upturned nose- "Potions, the poor man's magic."

Trenton- "All information is useful information, may I know your name?"

The boy proudly lifted his chin as he pompously spoke, trying to reflect an air of superiority- "Zacharias Smith, you best remember it, I'm a legacy."

"What's a legacy?" Trenton asked Wayne and Emily.

Zacharias Smith hearing him sneered- "Right I almost forgot you're a muggle-born, being a legacy means I'm a descendant of one of the founders, can you guess which, that's right this is my house." he boasted.

Everyone around the kid started giving him weird looks, wondering how such a kid made it into Hufflepuff, but if he was a legacy it made slightly more sense.

Trenton was thinking about how he should avoid interacting with this kid as much as possible, nothing good would come from it.

Wayne leaned close and whispered- "I hope we don't end up bunking with him."

Trenton couldn't help but agree if it wasn't for the fact he saw Malfoy get sorted into Slytherin he would have confused the two of them.

With the feast coming to an end they were lead by the perfects back to their respective common rooms.

One Perfect pointed the double door entryway- "This is the entrance to our common room, in order to enter all have to do is be accompanied by another member of the house and each opens their respective doors at the same time, alone and it won't open, and needless to say it won't open for any member of another house though some have tried to knock us out and force their way in but the magic is more sophisticated than that, the parties must be willing."

After entering they were greeted by a wondrous sight of plant life interlaced into and around the room. Instead of a fireplace, there was a special glowing plant that gave off heat.

Perfect- "Our house head, Professor Sprout, as you may have guessed is the Herbology teacher, she's spent a great deal of time and effort into setting up this place to be as nice as possible, in the study you'll find plants that help you concentrate and next to your bunks you'll find plants that'll help you fall asleep easier, magical plants can be quiet useful when used correctly."

With a simple explanation of where everything was, they were left to find their rooms and settle in.

With 4 to a room, Trenton and Wayne partnered up after hitting it off at the banquet and looked for a room with two others while avoiding Zacharias Smith.

They ended up with a nice kid named Justin Finch-Fletchley with neatly combed short dark brown hair and eyes that was also muggle-born like Trenton. The other kid was a pure-blood named Ernest Macmillan who was a stout-looking boy with short blondish hair and hazel eyes that sounded somewhat pompous.

They hoped Ernest wouldn't become a problem down the road, but at least he didn't sound as bad as Zacharias.

They talked a bit, getting to know each other since they were going to be stuck as bunkmates.

Trenton learned that Finch was from an upper-class Muggle family which helped him find common ground with Ernest who was thankfully not blood prejudiced although he did sound proud being a pureblood.

He also learned about Wayne's brother Carl, who is a Gryffindor in his 2nd year, telling him they don't talk much and weren't very close.

Trenton then gathered everyone's attention- "I know we just met, but I hope we all become good friends."

After receiving everyone's approval of the idea he continued- "Now before we turn in for the night, I would like to ask you guys for a favor..."