Amulet of time 1: The Age of The Founders

Chapter 6: Introductions and a Feast

Hermione smiled at the girl. At least they're not all bad. I wonder what happened over the last 1000 years to make the Slytherins so prejudiced.

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**Harry's POV**

"Lastly, we have Harry Potter of Ravenclaw House!"

Harry walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to a tall girl, who looked remarkably similar to Lady Ravenclaw. She had a haughty look on her face, as if she was better than the rest.

"I am Lady Galatea Ravenclaw, only daughter of Lady Rowena Ravenclaw. Welcome to Ravenclaw House, Harry Potter. I am the fifth year female prefect and later I shall be giving you a list of the rules of Hogwarts, as well as individual rules solely for Ravenclaw House."

"Um…. Thanks," Harry said, tentatively.

"Indeed. So, where are you from? Tell me about yourself. You look like a fine specimen. Are you betrothed?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Ah, well, maybe we can arrange something. My mother would like to see me married this summer. I turn 16 in October, you see. She would like me to produce an heir as soon as I graduate. A powerful line such as ours cannot be allowed to die out. Don't you agree?"

Harry nodded uncomfortably. He hadn't thought about the marriage aspect of Anglo-Saxon society. It just never occurred to him how important heirs were for pureblood families. He certainly didn't want to marry yet, so a betrothal wasn't a good idea, especially for when he went back to his own time. She wasn't that bad, he supposed, but she seemed a little full of herself. Like a toned down version of Malfoy, but without the prejudice. I might be able to survive in Ravenclaw for a while, I suppose. As long as I don't get turned into another Hermione, I'll be fine. Galatea was still talking to him, so he tuned back in to what she was saying and started to help himself to the feast.

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At the end of the feast, the prefects stood up to lead their housemates back to their common rooms. The founders nodded at the four time travellers, reminding them that they had a meeting to go to. They all nodded in response, before following their Houses back to their new homes. They had agreed earlier to meet outside the gargoyle guarding Gryffindor's office, once they had found out where their common rooms were and what the password was.

Twenty minutes later, all four students met in the corridor heading towards the office. Hermione was the first to pipe up.

"Slytherin isn't as bad as it is in our time. There's one boy we'll have to watch out for, Horatio d'Escargot, but the rest seem ok. Horatio seems to be worse than Malfoy. He's a Norman aristocrat, and thinks he's better than the rest of us."

"Well, Ravenclaw seems ok too. This one girl, Galatea, seems to have taken a liking to me. She's a bit stuck up and wants to marry me…" Harry added with a blush.

"WHAT!" Ron exclaimed, "Harry, mate, you can't get married! That's just… wrong, on so many levels."

"I know, Ron, and I'm not marrying her! She's not bad company and she's Lady Ravenclaw's daughter, so you'd better be nice to her. Now, can we change the subject? Ginny, how's Hufflepuff?"

"It's fine, but you'll never believe who's a first year there, and my new friend."

"Who?" chorused three voices.

"Peeves."

"WHAT!," her brother shouted again, "Peeves, as in poltergeist Peeves?"

"That's what I said, Ron. He's so sweet and innocent as a first year. We'll have plenty of blackmail material when we get home."

"I know what you mean. My new friend in Gryffindor is called Ardwick de Mimsy-Porpington. I think he's one of Nearly-Headless Nick's ancestors. I'll introduce you tomorrow, we'll have lessons together."

"What do you mean? We can't all have lessons together."

"We do, 'Mione." Harry added, "As there are so few students, all four houses have lessons together. We'll all be in the same fifth year classes. And there's more time on the timetable, as we don't have electives. All of the courses are compulsory, which means you'll have to do Divination!"

"Are you sure, Harry?" the brown haired girl asked, aghast, "How do you know that?"

"Galatea was telling me all about it at the feast."

"And I heard about some of that from Ardwick," Ron agreed.

By this time the four found themselves standing in front of the gargoyle. Before they could start trying to guess passwords, it swung open in front of them, revealing the intimidating form of Salazar Slytherin. He raised one eyebrow at them in a very Snape-like manner, before silently turning and leading them up to the office. Once there, they took a seat on one of the couches while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff finished a discussion they were having. When they were all seated, Gryffindor addressed the students in front of him.

"As today is Thursday, you will have your first day of lessons tomorrow. I suggest you spend this time getting used to your new situation. At the weekend, I would also recommend you begin research in the library to see if you can find out how to get home. Until you come up with something, we will be giving you lessons every evening, for three hours, between seven and ten. On Mondays you will study sword fighting with me, on Tuesdays you will learn the animagus transformation with Lady Hufflepuff. On Wednesdays you will study martial arts and hand to hand combat with Lord Slytherin. On Thursdays you will study the art of invisibility with Lady Ravenclaw. Fridays will be archery with Lady Hufflepuff. Saturdays will be spent practicing duelling with me. Sundays will be devoted to wandless magic with Lady Ravenclaw. Now, don't worry about remembering all of this, it will appear on your timetable sheets tomorrow. Now, I think you've all had a very long night, so you should all retire to bed. You have a big day tomorrow."

With that, the students bid the founders a good night and left the office. Splitting at the Entrance Hall, they wished each other pleasant dreams and headed to their new houses.