Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry smiled to himself as he pushed the remainder of his eggs around his plate at breakfast. He and Ron both knew those were fighting words.

"We've been over this Ronald," Hermione said exasperatedly. She only used his given name if she was irritated with him. It was a quality Harry found endearing in both of his friends. Ron didn't know how to engage Hermione in conversation other than to goad her into correcting him, because that had always been the nature of their relationship from the start, and Hermione couldn't (or wouldn't) back down from a chance to try to correct him. Harry for his part found it more amusing to stay out of it and just watch. "We'll only be gone for two weeks, not the entire school year."

"Two weeks to start," Ron said, dipping a piece of toast into his pumpkin hot chocolate. "Then you'll be off to another house for two weeks, then another. Why you'd even want to leave Gryffindor in the first place-" He acted as if it was beyond him, but he knew full well that Hermione would just repeat her desire to learn and be a part of creating inter-house unity. She'd talked about how excited she was to participate in the inter-house exchange for forty minutes the night before after McGonagall had made the announcement in the common room.

She sighed heavily. "Just because you think Gryffindor's the greatest doesn't mean everybody does Ronald."

"You don't like it?" he asked.

"I didn't say that. But three fourths of the other students here love their own houses as much as we love ours."

"I don't want Slytherins in the common room," Ron said, wrinkling his nose up at the idea. "Or Ravenclaws... they think they're better than everyone else. I barely even know anybody in Hufflepuff."

"Well now you'll get the chance to meet people in other houses," Hermione said smugly.

They ate in silence for a few minutes and Harry wondered if the spat was over, but as soon as Hermione pulled her nose out of her Charms book Ron was waiting to pounce. His words were aimed at Harry though. "Her I can understand," Ron said, "but why'd you have to go put your name on the house exchange list Harry? It'll be so boring without you for two whole weeks! And some other guy will be in your bed and using our desk!"

"Actually," Hermione piped up, not even giving Harry a chance to answer, "I heard Dean, Seamus, and Neville are all doing the exchange too. It looks like you'll be the only one in the dorms for the next two weeks."

Ron grumbled into his cereal. "Nutters," he repeated. Harry and Hermione grinned at each other.

Harry actually thought it would be interesting to see what other houses were like. He'd always heard things about other houses, but like Ron he had few friends outside Gryffindor. He'd always wondered what the other common rooms were like, and he had a morbid curiosity about what life might have been like if he'd let the hat place him in Slytherin. Of course, he might not get to see Slytherin, but at least he'd get to see the other houses. A spot in the exchange wasn't guaranteed according to McGonagall. Students put their name on a list along with the houses they wanted to visit for two weeks, and the teachers coordinated based on gender and year. A sixth year boy couldn't visit another house if there wasn't a bed available in the sixth year boy's dormitory. Harry had put his name down for all three of the other houses and so had Hermione. Ron hadn't wanted to participate at all, though he would have to since there would be people from other houses coming in and out of Gryffindor tower all year.

"It's going to cause problems, mark my words," Ron said gravely. "Besides, I doubt Slytherins will even want to visit Gryffindor. I wouldn't want to visit Slytherin." Ron didn't say that he didn't think Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws would want to visit Gryffindor, but they all knew he was thinking it. Ron had a very ‘us vs them' mentality. He believed most of the other houses didn't like Gryffindor. Harry had to admit that he'd heard a lot of anti-Gryffindor sentiment over the years as well from students in other houses, but most of it came from Slytherin.

"Well Harry and I are going to visit Slytherin," Hermione said, and Ron's eyes bulged.

"What? You know what Snape's like Harry! And Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Well I'm not guaranteed to get to visit anywhere am I?" Harry said, finally giving up on his eggs. School had only been back in for a few weeks but his stomach still wasn't used to normal amounts of food yet.

"Let's hope a spot doesn't come open then," Ron said, deflating a little.

Hermione looked as though she was going to say something, but Harry spoke first. "I was almost put in Slytherin you know."

Ron stilled and Hermione raised her brows. A few people around them also seemed to be listening.

"Don't prank me right now Harry," Ron said, "not when I'm in a bad mood."

"It's not a joke," Harry said. "The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but I asked to be put in Gryffindor because I didn't want to be in the same house as Draco."

"You're not joking?" Ron asked, just to be sure.

"It's true," Harry said. Harry almost felt bad for Ron since he wanted no part in the exchange, but if he wanted to feel miserable for himself, he'd have to do it alone because Harry was looking forward to it. Hermione said the same later that day.

"The list is supposed to come out after dinner," Hermione said after Ron had gone up to the dormitory alone to sulk. "I like how they've set things up. It's good that they won't allow people below fourth year. I don't think they're mature enough."

"I heard Professor McGonagall telling some seventh years that it was because they needed time to get established in their own houses first before they went to learn about other house values and dynamics. She said if it goes well this year they might do it again."

"I heard they were thinking about every other year," Hermione said. "I wonder if they had done this earlier if there wouldn't be so much bad blood between Gryffindor and Slytherin. I suspect they waited until the twins were out of school to start though. Imagine all the pranks they would have pulled on other houses..."

After dinner Professor McGonagall came to the Gryffindor common room to post the list of the first round of exchanges, and even those not participating gathered eagerly to see who would be going where. A seventh year Prefect fought his way to the head of the crowd and told people to pipe down so he could read the list aloud.

"Hermione Granger will be going to Hufflepuff, and switching places with Megan Jones. Duncan Mcconnell will be going to Ravenclaw to switch with Garret Rivers. Katie Bell's going to Slytherin and Rylee French is coming in." A chorus of ‘ooh's' went up from the room. Katie and Rylee were both Quidditch players and the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry was focused ninety percent on Quidditch games.

"Pipe down!" Katie shouted. "Rylee's my friend! If you don't treat her right while she's here I'm going to bring a bag of bludgers in here and let them loose!"

The Prefect spoke up again and continued reading names until he got to Harry's which was last on the list. "Harry Potter is going to Ravenclaw and switching with Terry Boot."

The crowd of Gryffindors dispersed to go back to their homework or board games but the chatter didn't die down as people talked about the students from other houses that would be there for the next two weeks.

"Eight in all," Hermione said. Ron came down the stairs at that moment and Hermione listed off the people coming into Gryffindor for him. "There are two Hufflepuffs: Megan Jones in sixth and Kellen Price in 4th. Three Ravenclaws: Matilda Morgan in 5th, Terry Boot in 6th and Garret Rivers in 7th. Three Slytherins: Elise Parkinson in 4th, Sylace Reid in 5th, and Rylee French in 7th."

"At least there won't be any Slytherins in my dorm," Ron said to console himself, but then he turned around and said, "But I can't stand Terry Boot. He's a know-it-all. He likes to correct people." Harry refrained from saying that Hermione did the same thing.

Hermione ignored Ron's comment altogether. "I was hoping to see Ravenclaw first," she said, "but Hufflepuff will be interesting too. Harry, you'll have to learn to answer riddles."

"I will?" he asked.

"Ravenclaw doesn't use passwords to get into their common room. The portrait asks you to answer a riddle and you can't go in until you get it right."

"Hm." Harry didn't know if he'd be any good at answering riddles since he'd never answered one before.

"It looks like they spread the students around fairly evenly," Hermione said, going over the names of the people who would be visiting Gryffindor again. "There's only one boy and girl in each year. Three Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs and three Ravenclaws."

"Well they have to spread people around, don't they?" Ron asked. "People wouldn't be getting much of a ‘Gryffindor' experience if they were staying in a dorm room with four or five people from other houses that weren't Gryffindors."

"Yes," said Hermione.

With so many other boys in Gryffindor wanting the chance to visit other houses, Harry wondered if he'd get the chance to see Hufflepuff or Slytherin at all that year.

* * *

Saturday morning Harry was supposed to sit at Ravenclaw table. McGonagall had said things would start Saturday and that if they went to sit at their ‘new house' at breakfast than someone would show them where their new common room was and how to get in. Harry separated with his friends in the Entrance Hall and went to sit at Ravenclaw while Hermione went to sit at Hufflepuff. Ginny Weasley was already sitting at Ravenclaw table so Harry sat down next to her.

"Good morning Harry," she said brightly.

"Where's Luna?" Harry asked. He knew Ginny and Luna were friends, and even before the house exchange program Ginny was frequently to be seen sitting with Luna at Ravenclaw, or Luna with Ginny at Gryffindor.

Ginny pointed across the hall to Slytherin. "She's over there." Harry followed her gaze and found Luna sitting next to Draco, who looked about as sour as Ron did. Luna on the other hand was beaming and had piled her plate high with cinnamon rolls.

"She asked for Slytherin?" Harry asked.

"I think she asked for all of the houses. You're going to Slytherin eventually aren't you?" she asked.

"Eventually," Harry agreed. "What about you?"

"I only wanted to try Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. I heard that not many people put their name down for Slytherin."

"Well they must have. There's three in Gryffindor this week."

"There's four in Ravenclaw," Michael Corner said. He was in Harry's year. Harry thought Michael was ok. He didn't seem as stuck up as Terry Boot usually did and usually kept to himself.

"How many people are going to Ravenclaw today?" Harry asked Michael.

"Eight. One boy and girl in each year."

"The same for Gryffindor," Ginny said.

"Professor Flitwick said we're to incorporate you into the house as much as possible," a fourth year boy said next to Ginny, but then he looked Ginny and Harry over and looked as though it wouldn't be possible."

"I'm top of my year in Defense," Ginny said, "so is Harry." Harry wanted to tell Ginny she shouldn't have to explain herself or defend her intelligence but he was secretly glad she'd spoken up because it meant he didn't have to.

"It's not about grades," the boy said. "Anybody can study hard enough to get good grades."

"Then what is it about?" Harry asked, trying to sound as though it were an innocent question and not like he was irritated. They were here to learn after all about the dynamics of Ravenclaw house.

"Gryffindors lose a lot of points," he said, "and get a lot of detentions, and pick a lot of fights. We don't do that in Ravenclaw."

"We do lose a lot of points," Ginny agreed, "but we work extra hard to earn them back. Not everybody in the house picks fights, and not that many people get detention." Usually it was Harry, Ron, or the twins getting detention but Ginny didn't say so since Harry was going to have to fit in right beside her in Ravenclaw for the next two weeks.

Harry noted that a lot of the Ravenclaws around them were listening to the discussion intently, and some seemed to be taking mental notes.

"I'd actually prefer not to fight at all," Harry said. "I'd rather have a boring life than be in danger all the time."

"You did participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament," a seventh year girl said. Harry thought her name might have been Iris but wasn't sure. She used to date an older Gryffindor who had graduated at the end of the previous year.

"It wasn't my choice," Harry said.

"We know you didn't put your name in the cup," the third year boy said, "but you still chose to do the tournament."

"The ministry said I had to," Harry told them. "The cup made a magically binding contract. Anyone the cup chose had to participate."

The Ravenclaws around them soon gave their attention to other similar conversations going on with the other visitors to the house, and Harry thought integrating into a new house might be harder than he thought. He glanced at Hufflepuff and was glad that Hermione didn't seem to be having any trouble at all making friends. She was chatting amiably with the other sixth year girls, though about what he couldn't hear. Behind him at Gryffindor, Ron was sulking to himself while Dean and Seamus talked to Terry Boot and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team (minus Harry) had seated themselves around Rylee French and were talking about Quidditch. It seemed they'd taken Katie Bell's warning seriously and had decided to surround her to protect her from any insults any of the other Gryffindors might have been thinking about throwing their way.

After breakfast was finished, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Mathe MacDougal offered to show Harry up to Ravenclaw and to their dorm. Several girls in Ginny's year offered to show her around, so she and Harry split up.

"Are any of you going to do the exchange?" Harry asked on their way to Ravenclaw tower, which was on the west side of the school.

"All of us," Anthony said. "We'll have to wait our turn though. I'm going to see Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Not Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"Definitely not," he replied.

"I'm going to see Hufflepuff and Gryffindor," Michael said.

"I'm only going to see Hufflepuff," said Mathe MacDougal. Harry had the impression that Mathe was a very reserved person. He'd rarely heard him speak at all, even in class.

"This is the entrance to our common room," Michael said at the top of a spiraling staircase. It was a plain door with a bronze knocker. He used the knocker to knock three times and then a mouth and eyes appeared on the knocker and the knocker began to speak.

"Oooh, a Gryffindor. Shall I give you a dangerous riddle then? Danger is what excites you isn't it?"

"Erm," Harry said. Danger didn't excite him at all, but if this was the kind of thing Ravenclaws were exposed to then he could see why people thought poorly of Gryffindors and thought they were reckless. "I'm a Ravenclaw for the next two weeks," Harry said.

"Oh, a new Ravenclaw, but still a Gryffindor at heart. Tell me young man, there is a man who is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms: the first is full of raging fires; the second has assassins who like to use deadly spells, the third has lions who haven't eaten in years. Which room is the safest?"

Harry frowned. All three seemed like poor options to him, and he couldn't think of an answer because he was wondering who this man was and why he was condemned to death.

"If you can't get it, we're also allowed to answer," Anthony said. "It's not uncommon to see ten or twelve Ravenclaws standing outside the common room working together to come up with an answer. Ravenclaws help each other."

"So do Gryffindors," Harry said. "I'd like to try, I just need a moment." He thought and then looked at the knocker who was watching him eagerly and waiting for his answer. "Why was the man condemned to death?"

"He was a murderer."

"So he doesn't have his wand or any other weapons?"

"No."

The three boys sniggered behind him. "Of course he doesn't."

"But is he a mage? Can he use wandless magic?"

"That's an interesting question young man. For the sake of the riddle, let us say he is defenseless."

Harry thought about it some more. If he was defenseless he couldn't put out a fire or make himself impervious to the flames, he couldn't fight off an assassin, and he couldn't fight hungry lions. But the lions hadn't eaten in years had they?"

"Are they regular lions or magical lions?"

"Plain, ordinary lions."

"I'll give you the answer, but first, was the man innocent? You said he was a murderer, but was that proven?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I knew a man who went to jail for murder, but he was innocent," Harry said. It wasn't relevant at all to the answer and wouldn't get them into the common room any quicker, but Harry had a pressing need to know.

"Then let us say he was innocent."

"He should choose the room with the lions. They starved to death since they haven't eaten for years. Unless someone sustained them with magic."

The door opened and the knocker laughed as they went inside.

"People don't usually ask that many questions," Mathe said.

"It's a Gryffindor thing," Harry said with a grin, pleased with himself that he'd gotten them into the common room. He was only glad the riddle wasn't harder, and he was sure Hermione would be pleased with his win over the knocker too.

"This is our common room," Michael said. It was large and round with a tall domed ceiling painted with the night sky and full of stars and other constellations. No wonder Ravenclaws usually did well in Astronomy class, if they looked at the constellations every day. They were even labeled in loopy bronze cursive that glowed like the painted stars. There were tall windows along one half of the room with long blue curtains draped down to the floor. Five or six large blue couches and a dozen soft blue chairs were arranged around the room. There were only two doors leading off of the common room, and Michael said they lead to the bathrooms. Unlike in Gryffindor tower, there weren't doors that lead to the boys and girls dormitories. Instead two sets of light gray stone stairs curved up the walls and lead to different arches.

"This one's our staircase," Anthony said, leading Harry and the other boys up the stairs on the left. They went nearly to the top of the tall common room before they made it to the second archway from the top. Once through the archway there was a short hallway, only ten or twelve feet long, and then a door. Anthony opened the door and inside Harry found a round dormitory similar to the dorms in Gryffindor. Four poster beds with long blue silken hangings were spaced evenly around the circular room and there was a large circular blue rug in the center. There were three windows looking out on the Forbidden Forest and the Quidditch Pitch.

"This one's Terry's bed," Michael said, pointing to a bed next to one of the windows. "But it's yours until you go back to Gryffindor. There's drawers that pull out from under your bed for your clothes and your trunk goes at the foot."

"No desks?" Harry asked, looking around.

The other boys raised their brows. "We don't need them. We study in the common room."

"Oh," Harry said. "We study in the common room together too, but sometimes it gets noisy so we go to our rooms to study. We have three desks in our dorm. Ron and I share one." He looked around the room and also noted there weren't any wardrobes.

"What else?" Mathe asked.

"We have wardrobes too," Harry said. Mathe led him back to the short hallway and pointed to the wall. Harry hadn't noticed for some reason but along one wall there was one large built-in wardrobe with six doors and a cubby underneath each door at the bottom and also one at the top.

"We keep our coats, robes, shoes and brooms in here," Mathe told him. "We don't like the dorms to get dirty so we keep our shoes and anything else dirty out here. He pointed to the opposite wall where there was a small square wooden door. "Dirty laundry goes in there. When it's done it'll be in the top cubby for you."

"That's really nice," Harry thought aloud. "Our laundry shoot is in short corridor between our common room and the entrance to Gryffindor. There's just one for the whole house." Sometimes the laundry shoot got backed up if someone didn't stuff their clothes in far enough, and then other people instead of fixing the problem would just stuff theirs in too. At least once a week there ended up being a pile of dirty laundry all over the floor that you had to walk around to get in or out of the common room.

Harry went back into the dorm and found that his trunk was already at the foot of his new bed. Inside he found that his robes had changed and now had blue cuffs and collars and had the Ravenclaw crest. He thought it felt weird to see anything other than the Gryffindor logo there.

"So your common room is noisy?" Anthony asked.

"Sometimes, usually after a Quidditch match or on the weekends. A lot of times we go to the library to study or our dorms."

"We hold study groups in the common room. Different subjects are studied on different couches or at different tables. Whatever you're working on, you go to that area. If someone needs help and you know the answer, you help them."

"That's interesting," Harry said. "Do you study all the time?"

The other three boys looked at each other.

"No?" Harry asked.

"We- conduct a lot of experiments," Anthony said.

"What do you mean experiments?"

"Well, we test a lot of magic. A lot of people like to invent new things. When people are done studying they usually gather to see what new thing is being worked on."

"Like what?" Harry asked. That sounded interesting.

"Last week we found a new use for Newts Eyes. It was on accident of course, because a potion exploded when Arran Atturbury tried to see if he could transfigure it with the fifth principle of transfiguration."

"What's the new use?"

"Hair gel," Michael said. "It'll harden your hair like a helmet. A group have been working on how to replicate the effects without getting it everywhere so it'll actually be useful to sell. There's a Slytherin who sells hair products and we figure we could sell him the recipe."

"Hm." Harry had heard of the fourth year selling hair gels that turned your hair colors but he didn't realize it was a Slytherin. He could certainly use something to make his hair lie flat he mused.

"What do Gryffindors do when not studying then?" Mathe asked.

"Play games, practice Quidditch, talk, go for walks, go to the lake to swim. I like to visit my owl in the owlery and visit Hagrid out on the grounds. I like to be outside the best. I know some others go out to visit friends in other houses. Sometimes there are parties on the weekends and Professor McGonagall comes in at one in the morning to tell us to pipe down because she can't sleep. I don't usually stick around for the parties though."

"Why not?" Mathe asked.

"I like the quiet," Harry said.

They asked each other questions for the next few minutes and then they went back to the common room, which was full of people since it was a Saturday. Harry was surprised to find Professor Flitwick in the common room visiting with students. Professor McGonagall usually didn't come into Gryffindor unless it was to give them an announcement, pull someone out of the room to talk to, or tell them to quiet down because it was so late.

"Does Professor Flitwick come in often?"

"He's here most of the time," Anthony said. "Doesn't Professor McGonagall help Gryffindors?"

"Well she helps us, but we don't see her much in the common room. If we need her we go to her quarters to get her or her office."

"Ah Harry!" Professor Flitwick said when he spotted him a moment later. "How are you liking Ravenclaw?"

"Very well sir," Harry said.

"If you need help with anything let me know. Right now we're about to see if we can combine three forms of transfiguration at once. It should be very exciting." The other three sixth year boys gathered around the group to watch and Harry went to stand next to Michael.

"Transfiguration?" he asked.

"You didn't think Professor Flitwick only liked charms did you?"

The Professor held up his wand and aimed it at a feather on the center of a round table. Two other students held up their wands as well. Ginny was one of them. "On three then." He counted and when he hit three all three of them began casting at the feather. All at once the feather changed to purple, began to grow, and began to change into a bird. Just as the bird became the size of an eagle, it suddenly changed back to a feather and began to grow out of control. There were several shouts of surprise and the three stopped casting. The large purple feather kept growing however and before it stopped was filling up the majority of the common room, causing the thirty people currently there to either drop to the floor or back up to the very edges of the room.

"That was interesting," Professor Flitwick said with a squeak of delight. "What do you think happened?"

"When I was transfiguring it into a bird it was like the magic was fighting me and flowing back into my wand," one of the boys who had been participating said. "I don't think the bird liked what was happening and decided it didn't want to grow anymore."

"The feather seemed to want to be bigger though," a second year girl said.

Students began to examine the feather (they had little choice since it was pressing in all around them) and began calling out their observations. "It's still light!" a boy called. "I wonder why it's light when it's so big!"

"Look at the pores on the stem!" another boy shouted from across the room.

"Think it'll make good potions ingredients?"

"Think we could sell it to Slytherin? Maybe they'll want to make a giant quill out of it."

"Look at the way the color seeped into the fibers... it's like it's just on the surface and underneath it's still white!"

"Look at-"

"Look at-"

Harry couldn't help but be in awe by the feather. Everyone seemed to be excited, and Harry felt excited too. Transfiguration had never seemed this exciting before. Why didn't McGonagall teach class like this?

By the time someone had taken pictures of the final result of the experiment, and they had opened a window and forced the gigantic feather out to Ravenclaws waiting at the base of the tower below (they were going to show it to some Slytherins who might have an interest), Harry had a thorough grasp of the third, fifth, and sixth forms of Transfiguration and why they had interacted as they had. Several Ravenclaws had pulled out books and began taking turns reading aloud about the different forms and other people called their thoughts out about how the forms must have interacted. Lunch was nearly over by the time Harry exited the common room with Ginny and several others, a smile on his face.

"Sometimes we're late to meals," a girl told Ginny. "We just get too excited about what's going on in the common room."

"I noticed you sometimes come in late," Ginny said. Harry had noticed too and had always assumed, as others in Gryffindor had, that Ravenclaws thought they were better than everyone else and showed up late to meals so they wouldn't have to sit with the rest of the school. Now he knew they were just excited, and wondered what other kinds of crazy things went on in Ravenclaw tower.

He found out after dinner.

Professor Flitwick gave the entire house permission to go out after curfew to look at the stars. People took their blankets off of their beds and some brought pillows and they made their way up to the top of Ravenclaw tower through a trap door. The roof was flat aside from the ramparts which were there to keep them from falling off. It was chilly out but wasn't too bad and Professor Flitwick conjured several large warming stones that gave off heat but no light (another invention from an experiment gone wrong several years earlier).

Students laid around on their backs in groups of friends and stared up at the stars. Some groups whispered quietly and others were silent or had fallen asleep. Professor Flitwick and the older Prefects went around waking students up who had fallen asleep and ushered them back down the stairs to their dormitories. By eleven thirty the top of the tower was mostly empty save for ten or fifteen older students. Professor Flitwick had gone back to his own quarters at the base of Ravenclaw tower below the common room.

Harry enjoyed the quiet and the cool air. He loved being outside. The Dursleys had often locked him out at night thinking they were punishing him (and they were if it was raining or cold), but truth be told Harry liked being outside at night. If it was summer or early fall he saw it as a blessing to be away from them and out in the night where he could feel a freedom he wasn't allowed to feel inside the oppressive house in his cupboard under the stairs. He'd long since outgrown his cupboard and felt too cramped and claustrophobic inside. Outside on the grass he could stretch out and look at the stars as he was doing now. The grass was also softer than the floor of the cupboard. He'd had a cot when he was younger, but it was uncomfortable and he was two feet too tall to use it anymore so it had gone into the shed to be forgotten.

"How often does Professor Flitwick let you do this?" Harry asked quietly to anyone who was still awake and on the top of the tower. The other sixth year boys had already gone to bed.

"Not very often," a fifth year girl said next to Ginny. Ginny got up and dragged her blanket over to where Harry was lying alone. She laid in the opposite direction of him so only their heads were next to each other. "Only when it's warm out, the Ravenclaw continued. "I suspect he's let us today since we had visitors, but it'll be too cold soon to do it anymore."

"You don't do this in Gryffindor?" A boy asked, though it was too dark for Harry to see who it was.

"The roof of Gryffindor tower isn't flat," Ginny answered. "We do stay up late on weekends, but inside, and it's noisy."

"I like the quiet," Harry repeated his statement from earlier in the day.

"So do I," Ginny said, though Harry wondered at it because she was usually right in the middle of the party with the others playing exploding snap or talking to her friends.

Ginny rose and went to bed twenty minutes later and finally when Harry was the last one on the tower, he breathed a sigh of relief. He'd felt like he'd needed to put on a show all day, to prove he could fit in here and not make trouble for Ravenclaw. From the time he sat down at breakfast, to having to answer the riddle right, to answering everyone's questions. Being alone outside under the stars, he could just be himself, just like at the Dursleys. He felt he could be himself in Gryffindor, but maybe just because he'd been in Gryffindor for so long. He wondered if he'd ever be able to just be himself in Ravenclaw, but thought he'd like to try rather than to not. He rose and went back down through the trapdoor. The common room was empty and quiet and the lights were waved down. In the sixth year boy's dorm some of the boys were sleeping, but Michael was awake, reading in bed with a light conjured in a jar. He looked up as Harry entered but didn't say anything.

Harry got in bed with his soft blue blanket and pillow and pulled the covers over himself, wishing he were still back outside on the roof.

* * *

Harry found himself going from group to group in the common room to see what people were working on, and the next time Professor Flitwick came in and a student proposed an experiment, Harry volunteered to help. Professor Flitwick was delighted. Harry was confused at first by what was being asked of him, and Flitwick and the others gathered there had to explain it to Harry three times, but he finally understood and they began the experiment. The experiment failed, but Harry didn't feel like it was a failure. He'd gotten to try something new, and he felt he had a good understanding on the theory of how magic flowed from participating. It left him with a lot of questions however and he went and sat at a group studying next to the girl's stairs who were still discussing the experiment.

* * *

Monday Harry only got to see Ron and the other Gryffindors once during Charms, but Harry wanted to fully experience being a Ravenclaw so he sat with the other sixth year boys. Ron frowned at him but didn't say anything until after class was over.

"Hey I thought we could at least sit together in classes."

"Well yeah," Harry said, "but I'm only going to be with them for two weeks. I've been learning a lot. It's been a lot of fun. Ron you won't believe what we did on Saturday."

Ron raised his brows. "It can't be that much better than Gryffindor."

Harry ignored his comment. "We transfigured this huge feather that filled up the whole common room! I don't know why we don't experiment with magic more in Gryffindor. The twins would have loved Ravenclaw. All the things they come up with-"

"A feather? Why is that interesting?"

"And we stayed up really late Saturday looking at the stars on the roof."

"We stay up late all the time. What's the big deal?"

"Harry, we have Potions next, come on!" The other sixth year Ravenclaws were waving for him to follow so Harry flashed Ron a grin and followed the Ravenclaws down the hall, leaving Ron staring after them in the corridor.

"We have Potions with Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, always," Anthony said. "You know you can sit with your friends in classes. You don't have to sit with us."

"Well- we can be friends can't we?" Harry asked brightly. He really liked Mathe. Mathe was usually quiet, but seemed to be the one who asked the most questions about Gryffindor, even though he had no interest in visiting Gryffindor.

The others looked at each other and then Mathe gave a silent nod. They entered the Potions classroom and Hermione was sitting in her normal seat where she usually sat next to Harry or Ron. Harry waved at her but went to sit with Mathe instead.

Professor Snape turned from where he was writing the day's lesson the blackboard and surveyed the room, picking out the students who were out of place in his normally well ordered Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class. There were several. His gaze lingered on Potter, sitting next to Mathe and he wondered that the Potter brat was even participating in the Headmaster's experiment in inter-house unity at all. He would have thought the brat would have preferred to stay in his own house with his adoring fans, yet there he sat in Ravenclaw robes. He'd seen the brat's name on the Slytherin inter-house exchange roster and had scoffed. If he could help it, he would never allow him into the Slytherin common room. The trouble he would cause would not be worth it, no matter what the Headmaster said. There had already been one fight over the weekend in his common room, and he was sure it would have been worse if Potter had been there.

"Today we will be discussing the flow of magic when intermixing magic and potions."

Harry sat up straighter. He'd just learned something about the flow of magic yesterday afternoon in the common room and wondered how it could apply to potion making. He took notes as he usually did but found himself raising his hand two or three times to ask questions. That wasn't normal for him in Potions. Snape ignored him so he wrote his questions down at the bottom of his notes thinking he'd ask Professor Flitwick later.

Mathe, Harry found out, was not very good at brewing potions. Harry was only fair, and was usually thankful to be paired with Hermione a couple of times a week so he could get a good grade. Mathe was only making things worse however so Harry began pouring over his notes trying to find a way to fix their potion.

"It's not the right shade," Harry said, "but he didn't discuss how to fix it, or if he did I missed it."

"I usually pair up with Terry. He's the best at Potions in Ravenclaw. He's always experimenting with them in his free time. His entire trunk is full of potions books."

"Well," Harry started, "I wonder what would happen if we added more boar hair?"

"It would explode," sneered Snape as he came up behind the pair, lip curled. "But by all means Potter, add the boar hair."

Harry looked up at him. He might have seen this as in insult before, but after seeing all the interesting results of failed experiments over the last two days in Ravenclaw, he asked, "What would happen if I did add it? What would it make?"

Severus narrowed his eyes. The boy didn't seem to be challenging him, he seemed genuinely curious. What was he playing at? He'd raised his hand several times earlier in the class. Was he trying to show off since he was spending two weeks in Ravenclaw?

"A sticky mess all over my classroom walls," Snape said. "Which you and Mr. MacDougal would be cleaning up."

"Would the potion have any interesting properties?" Harry asked.

"Only as interesting as watching two sixth years do detention through lunch."

Snape started to stalk away to the next workbench, but Harry stopped him with another question, "Since the shade is much too dark, is there anything we can add or do to fix the potion?"

Snape turned and shook his head with a sneer. "No Potter. It is ruined, like many of your failed attempts at potion making."

Severus heard whispering behind his back and strained to hear if Harry was saying nasty things about him to Mathe MacDougal, but all he heard was talk of boar hair. He was just about to turn and tell Potter he'd better not do what he thought he was about to do when the potion exploded and flew everywhere, including the ceiling and the back of Severus' hair and robes.

"POTTER! DETENTION!"

Everyone was looking at Harry and Mathe, but neither seemed sorry for the exploded potion.

"We'll clean it up sir," Mathe said. Harry hurried to the wall with an empty phial and began scraping sticky potion off the wall with a stirrer.

"Ten points from Ravenclaw for your insolence," Snape spat before using his wand to clean his hair and robes and stalking into the supply cupboard.

"We can test it later," Harry said, "after detention."

"Gryffindors," he heard the Hufflepuff next to Hermione mutter, but Harry paid her no mind, because today he was experimenting on what it was like to be completely Ravenclaw, and the Ravenclaw Harry really wanted to know what this exploded potion was good for, if anything. At least he'd get some use out of the botched potion since there would have been no way to fix it for a grade.

Harry and Mathe stayed through lunch to clean the room while Professor Snape went on a tirade (mostly to Harry) about adding extra boar hair when he'd just told them their potion would explode, and to Mathe for letting him do it.

When Harry and Mathe were finished cleaning they ran all the way to the Great Hall and managed to snag some fruit just as others were leaving to go to class.

"I'm surprised he took points," Lisa Turpin said as the group of sixth year Ravenclaws made their way to Transfiguration which they'd have with Slytherin. "You were just curious about the result."

"Doesn't he normally take points from Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.

"Not from the sixth years," Michael said.

"Well there was that one time he got mad at us for selling the pink hair dye potion to Slytherin," Anthony reminded him. "We lost twenty for that, but that's the only time."

"He always takes points from Gryffindors," Harry said.

"For what?"

"Um... last week Ron's tie wasn't tied nice enough. He was right, it was a little sloppy. And on the first day of class this year I got ten points taken because my hair was a mess. I try to get it to lay flat, but it has a mind of it's own."

"Are you making this up?" Lisa asked.

"No," Harry said. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think Gryffindors are liars, or just me?" He was genuinely curious what others thought about Gryffindor now.

"Neither," she said, "I was just wondering."

* * *

"I wonder what Hufflepuff will be like," Harry said aloud a week after he'd been in Ravenclaw. He was enjoying his time there but it was a strange feeling, because he was missing Gryffindor but also looking forward to seeing the other houses already.

"I heard they don't have beds," Anthony said.

"Do they sleep on the floor then?" Michael asked.

"I don't know."

"What about Gryffindor?" Mathe asked.

"It's a lot like these dorms, like I said before, except lots of red. We don't have a rug on the floor so the floor's always cold for bare feet. And we have desks and wardrobes which we share. There's only one window, it's above the desk I share with Ron and it looks out over the front of the grounds. We can see who comes and goes from the Entrance Hall from Gryffindor."

"Ravenclaw tower is known for it's views," Anthony said. "We can see the Quidditch Pitch, the Forest, and the Potions Greenhouse Snape and Sprout keep."

"I didn't know there was a special greenhouse," Harry said.

"They don't use it for classes. Only Professors are allowed to go in. There's supposed to be man eating plants inside."

* * *

Harry stood anxiously behind the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Rhys Conall, on Sunday morning after breakfast as he spoke to several of his Quidditch players about practice that afternoon. When he turned and found Harry waiting behind him he gave him a cautious look.

"Potter."

"I was wondering if I could go to practice with you." Harry knew it was a request that would likely be shot down. Quidditch teams were secretive by nature because they kept their plays close to the chest. Harry didn't actually want to see any secret plays or report back on them to Gryffindor (that would be cheating and wouldn't be fun or fair), but he was interested in seeing how other teams ran their practices.

"Come on then," Rhys said.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"You're here for a reason, aren't you? You seem to have taken to Ravenclaw."

"It's interesting," Harry said, "I would have liked being sorted here."

"Really?" Rhys asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It's a lot of fun and I've been learning a lot."

"I thought Gryffindors thought their house was the best and none of the others mattered."

"I wouldn't be part of the exchange if I thought that," Harry said. "My friend Ron thinks that," he admitted, "he's not very happy that Hermione and his sister Ginny and I have gone to visit other houses, but he'll come around eventually."

"We'll have to change all our plays after you see practice."

Harry bit his lip. "I don't actually want to see your plays," he said. "I know you'll basically be wasting a practice on me attending if you don't do any real plays, but I'd just really like to see how your practices go. I'd like to be Quidditch Captain next year and it'd be nice to see the different ways practices can be managed."

"You are a surprise," he said.

"Can Ginny come too? I think she'd like to see."

"Might as well if we're going to waste a practice." He grinned at Harry though and Harry jogged to catch up to Ginny who had already made her way back to Ravenclaw tower.

There was a group of people outside the door to Ravenclaw when Harry got there. Apparently the riddle the knocker had come up with this morning was extra challenging and no one could figure out the answer.

"What's the riddle?" Harry asked.

"The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?" said a first year girl. She was sitting on the stairs and thinking as were many of the Ravenclaws gathered there. Harry had no idea. He was often left waiting outside the common room until other Ravenclaws came and were able to answer the riddle. Every so often a person would say an answer and the knocker would only laugh. Finally a second year girl asked, "Am I footsteps?" and the knocker congratulated her and opened the door. Harry had learned to take whatever he might need for the day when leaving the Ravenclaw common room so he wouldn't find later that he'd forgotten something and have to go back for it and potentially get stuck outside.

* * *

Harry and Ginny did drills with the Ravenclaw team and were surprised to find that their experimentation didn't stop with spells and transfiguration and potions. The team seemed to be constantly experimenting with new moves, such as how easy it might be to leap from one broom to another in mid flight, switching places with another player (it wasn't easy as it turned out, and though they practiced only feet above the ground, two Chasers ended up going to the Hospital Wing before practice was over. Harry and Ginny tried as well but only got scraped and bruised for their efforts, though Harry was still pleased he'd attended their practice in the end.

* * *

Harry was actually sorry to have to leave Ravenclaw at the end of the two weeks. On their last night in Ravenclaw tower Professor Flitwick allowed them all to stay up late again on the roof. It was colder so he cast a charm above and around them creating a bubble to keep the wind out of their space. Harry and Ginny stayed up talking with their new friends for most of the night. Being in Ravenclaw might not have been so bad, Harry thought as he drifted off to sleep for the last time in the sixth year Ravenclaw boy's dormitory.