"I guess the nice thing about obvious systems of rules is that you can feel very clever if you learn to cheat."

"Yeah! And I will, too."

"Good luck!"

And now that he has a book in his lap the odds there will be any more conversation are not excellent.

That's okay. Miranda, too, has books, and she also has notes to jot down about the conversation that has already gone by.

Eventually she tells him to shoo so she can change into her uniform.

He will do that.

And then she will return the favor and then books!

And excited glances out the window as they get closer.

The castle is glorious.

The first years are herded over to the boats while everyone else heads for carriages. "Um, can you do me a favor?" Miranda asks Minor.

"Oh?"

"I'm prooooobably going to fall out of these boats at some point. I don't want to dunk my owl, would you carry her?"

"Sure, but why'd'you think you'll fall out of the boats..."

"I trip on things a lot. Being on a boat will not help." She hands over Amber's cage.

"You just have to sit still." He is careful with Amber's cage and gets into a boat.

"I'm mostly worried about getting in and out..." She manages to place her trunk and then wobble into the boat.

And they get a couple of additional boat-companions. Minor knows one and tells the other it is a pleasure to make her acquaintance.

It is a pleasure to make the acquaintance of the boat companions too!

Miranda sits quite still as they boat across the lake. She does stumble enough to nearly drop her trunk and immerse one foot halfway up the calf on her way out of the boat but manages to suffer no worse results, and takes her owl back when they're safely on dry land. She squelches up to the deputy headmistress, Professor Mole, around whom they are assembling, to mention that she goes by her middle name, can that be called instead of her first, please? and Professor Mole says no and Miranda sighs and drops it.

He's at Hogwarts! He gives Miranda back her owl and then bounces up and down excitedly even though it's not very dignified.

"Swan" is earlier in the alphabet than "Way", so Miranda gets sorted before Minor does. The Hat takes about twenty seconds to mull her over, then sends her to Slytherin.

There are three Ways this year - the other two are not his cousins - but 'Minor' comes before "Thaddeus" or "Zachariah".

I want to be in Ravenclaw, he thinks very determinedly at the hat. I'm smart, I'm smart, I want to be in Ravenclaw.

You are smart, says the Hat, and ambitious -

I'd be miserable in Slytherin. I'd be miserable anywhere except in Ravenclaw, I'm smart, I want to be in Ravenclaw -

Yes, you've said, says the Hat, alright, better be - "RAVENCLAW!" and people are watching he really does have to be dignified so he calmly walks over to the Ravenclaw table and doesn't bounce at all and gives Aaron a brotherly hug and not a clingy one and says "I'll have to write Father -"

"As if he was in doubt," Aaron says with a snort.

Thaddeus is a Hufflepuff. Zachariah's a Slytherin. Not that Minor particularly cares; they're not his cousins.

Headmistress Twimble gives a speech about how they are all here to learn, and to exalt the great tradition of Hogwarts, and to enrich Wizarding Britain by their embrace of the fine education Hogwarts will provide, and so on. And then the feast appears!

(He sneaks out some parchment to write a letter to his parents about everything that has happened and Hogwarts is of course exactly as described but he is still very pleased and impressed with it but not overawed or anything he's sure he'll find things he can make better and it was a pretty even sort this year, he knows some of the kids with him in Ravenclaw - see, he didn't lead with the fact HE IS IN RAVENCLAW because that'd suggest it was in doubt - and he almost forgets to eat but the feast drags on long enough he finishes his letter and there's still all this tasty food around.)

Miranda does not forget to eat, but she introduces herself to the people around her, she prefers Miranda, thank you, the headmistress can't pronounce her first name anyway...

And eventually the feast is over, even the desserts. He is bouncing. Just a little. He stops because it isn't dignified.

And somebody's going to show them to their dorms, right?