"But Miranda's as good as me."

"You're doing better in a couple classes than I am," says Miranda.

"You haven't thrown anything into a ceiling," Alli points out loftily. "However! It is Miranda's birthday and so she is the specialest anyway."

"It's not against the rules, not officially," Emma provides. "Just- uncommon."

"I'm in!" Jenny agrees. "The other Hufflepuffs always tell us to hang out with our friends, anyway." She looks at Alli uncertainly. "But, er..."

"Ask me if I care what my housemates think," Alli snorts. "The older kids might be mean about it, but I have a few more weeks to play the Stupid First Year card, so they'll just lecture me and I'll ignore them and we'll all go our merry ways."

"I found out the other day," says Miranda, heading for the Ravenclaw table, "that technically people are allowed in the Ravenclaw common room. It's not a password to get in like the others, it's a riddle. If you can solve the riddle you can be there."

"...is it about, like, magical stuff?" asks Jenny, concerned. "Cause, hi."

"The riddles are calibrated," says Karen. "The older students get harder ones than we do - I think maybe non-Ravenclaws also get harder ones, because it is the Ravenclaw common room, but since it's not not-allowed for you to be there, we can just let you in anyway."

"I'm down," Alli says. "Seeing other common rooms? Yes please."

Emma is slightly more skeptical. "Is it just- a common room?" She asks. "I assume it's like ours, and, it'd be fun to see and all, but, um. Just chairs and stuff?"

"Well, and books. It has its own little library. And a few rows of study carrels for fifth and seventh years, and a soundproofed arguing corner."

"Oh my god I want an arguing corner!"

"The arguing corner is really fun, if you're outside of it you can't hear a thing but you can see that people in it are yelling at each other. People sometimes go just inside the border of it to listen to the arguments."

"What do they argue about?" Emma wonders.

Jenny grins. "And is watching better than dueling?"

"They argue about politics and magic theory and whether a hippocampus could beat a hippogriff in a fight if it took place in a tank of chest-deep water and anything else," says Miranda. "I think it's more interesting than dueling, but maybe if there was a dueling corner that would change my mind."

"Noooo, the dueling corner should be in Hufflepuff! Then we could each have a corner!"

"Hey now. It should be in Slytherin. It'd keep all the angry older kids occupied."

"Do they take it out in unfortunate ways if they're unoccupied?"

"I haven't seen much. I would like to keep it that way forever. But you hear things, y'know? Complaints about how they were locked up during the Battle, that kind of thing." She sighs. "My year is going to be the year of Sit Down and Shut Up, at this rate. Seems safer."

Emma squirms. She doesn't like thinking of Hogwarts as unsafe. Disagreeing with a houseful of Slytherins sounds like it qualifies, though. "There isn't, um, a transfer option or something...?" she offers weakly. No one questions the Sorting Hat, she's sure Alli has no chance, but- unsafe.

"Not after you're sorted, I think. I could probably have gone to the Owly, but if you aren't lined up for another school I think your only option is to withdraw completely."

"I'll live," Alli shrugs. "What kind of Slytherin would I be if I couldn't avoid consequences?"