Complete Explanation: Harry returns to Hogwarts and meets two transfer students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. With them come a lot of problems, a lot of evil, and just a little bit of love. What do these students have to do with Harry and Voldemort? Don't you wish you knew?

Disclaimer: I, of course, own nothing that you recognize. Which is a lot. So I take no credit.

NOTE: This story is set in Harry's sixth year so it's full of spoilers from all the other books, so if you haven't read them, don't read this.

I hope everyone likes it and reviews, although the first chapter isn't really that interesting. But read it anyway...

*Chapter One: Welcome to Hogwarts.*

"Hurry up Ron, were going to miss the train." snapped Hermione Granger as she, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter hurried across Platform 9¾ toward the Hogwarts Express, which would take them to school for the year.

"That's easy for you to say! You aren't pushing one of these!" exclaimed Ron, referring to the trolley full of luggage that rolled along in front of him.

"Well, you were the one who wanted to combine all our things onto two trolleys, weren't you? So there's really no reason for you to be complaining." replied Hermione curtly. She shifted the one thing she was carrying, her cat Crookshanks, over her other shoulder. He hissed as she jostled him. "Sorry baby." she whispered.

Hermione glanced over at Harry, who was pushing their other trolley. He'd been strangely silent all morning. In fact, she recalled, Harry hadn't really done much of anything all summer. He'd stayed with his aunt and uncle up until the day before, when he'd met up with them in Diagon Alley to get his school things.

This was strange, because Harry hated his aunt and uncle almost as much as they hated him. Why hadn't he tried to leave them? His responses to her letters had been short, a mere three lines on each.

Sighing, she figured that Harry was probably still upset about the death of his godfather, Sirius. 'He probably blames himself.' she thought. If Harry had bothered to learn Occlumency like she'd told him, he wouldn't have seen that vision, wouldn't have gone to the Ministry of Magic. He wouldn't have needed rescuing.

Still, Harry hadn't even tried to move on. He seemed stuck in a daze. She couldn't help but wonder if there was something else bothering him.

Climbing onto the Hogwarts Express, Hermione tried to forget her worrying. After all, she was going back to her favorite place in the entire world. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Smiling contentedly, Hermione wondered what they'd be learning that year. Unlike most students, she loved to work and found all of her school assignments fascinating. Her only concern was their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. They'd had a new teacher every year, and each one of them had been involved in one of Harry's adventures.

As she opened the door to an empty compartment, Hermione glanced at Harry again. Her eyes flicked over the lightening-bolt scar on his forehead. If only he'd never gotten that. She wondered about how things would be different if Harry had never been attacked by the Dark Lord when he was a baby.

Harry's story was legend. Lord Voldemort had tried to kill him when he was only one-year-old. Somehow the curse had backfired and Voldemort had been stripped of his body. The Dark Lord had disappeared from the world.

Harry had been left with no mom or dad, because before Voldemort could get to him he'd had to go through Harry's parents. Harry had been sent to live with his nasty aunt and uncle, who were not wizards and instead hated Harry's kind. Harry had grown up in a terrible place. Then, when he turned eleven, Harry had begun his seven years at Hogwarts.

It was too bad that in that same year, Voldemort started trying to resurface. It was thanks to Harry Potter and his friends that Voldemort hadn't returned in Harry's first two years at Hogwarts. Then, in Harry's fourth year, Voldemort had returned, and only at the end of their fifth year had the Ministry and therefore the community acknowledged his presence.

Every year something terrible happened to them. Hermione knew without a doubt that their sixth year would be no different. She just didn't know what exactly to expect.

Shaking her head, Hermione tried to listen as Ron began talking about his favorite thing in the world- Quidditch. While the wizard sport played on broomstick was interesting, Hermione didn't understand how the boys could go on about it for hours.

Fortunately, Hermione was not going to have to sit through hours of Quidditch talk. Harry Potter had something that he needed to talk to his friends about, and talk to them he would.

In fact, he was so focused that he interrupted Ron mid-sentence.

"Guys, I need to tell you something." The tone of his voice made Ron forget what he'd been saying, and Hermione sat up in her seat.

"Well then, go on Harry." she urged. Finally we'll be getting somewhere. She thought to herself.

"Okay, you both remember how last year, we fought to keep a prophecy away from the Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic?" At their nods he continued. "Well, that Prophecy was about me. Me and Voldemort."

"Well we figured that much. Your name was on the glass ball, remember how-" Ron started, but Hermione threw him a glare and he shut up.

"We never got to hear the Prophecy because it broke, but when I was in Dumbledore's office afterward, he showed me the original prophecy from a Pensieve."

"A pen-what?" asked Ron.

"It stores your memories so that they don't cloud you mind." Hermione rattled off the answer.

"Yeah, well, Dumbledore heard Professor Trelawney when she actually made the prediction and-"

"That woman made an actual prediction? Are you serious? I thought she was a fake!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yeah, no way could it have been real, but then, Harry did hear one back in third year- remember?" said Ron.

"Apart from the ones where she said he'd die?" scoffed Hermione.

"Would the two of you just keep quiet? I'm trying to talk here!" exclaimed Harry. After their mumbled 'sorrys', Harry continued. "Yeah well, I've memorized the Prophecy. Here, listen." He recited it into the silence.

"THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES....BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES...AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT...AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES....THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES...."

For once it seemed as if neither Hermione nor Ron had anything to say. They just stared at Harry with horrified eyes.

"Yeah, well, you get it, right? I either have to kill him or be killed." Harry muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you sure it's you? It never said your name..." thought Hermione aloud.

"It's me. Voldemort marked me. I've been over this with Dumbledore. The only question is what to do now that I know." Harry sighed. "I don't really want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know."

"Wow." breathed Ron softly. "This is interesting." There was a pause, in which all three were unsure of what to say. In the end, both Hermione and Ron decided to leave Harry be for the moment.

"Would you dears like anything to eat?" asked a lady from the door of their compartment. That distracted Ron as he and Harry made a huge selection, with Harry's money of course, and settled down for the ride. Hermione sat and looked out the window, wishing again that things could be simple.

But then, simple just wasn't their thing. No, they did much better when things were chaotic.

~*~*~

The sorting of the first years went by rather quickly. There were fewer students than in previous years. Harry wondered if perhaps parents were too fearful of the Dark Lord to send their children to a place like Hogwarts. A place where Harry Potter stayed.

Of the three new Gryffindors, there was only one boy. His name was Robert Creevey, and he was the third Creevey to attend Hogwarts. His brothers, Dennis and Colin, considered Harry to be someone worth adoring. Colin was never without his camera, and was most often using it to take pictures of Harry. No doubt Robert would be just as annoying.

Dumbledore stood and clapped his hands for their attention. Harry raised his eyes from the first years and focused on the Headmaster. As Harry took in the man, he couldn't help but see that Dumbledore seemed incredibly old. He seemed almost finished with his life. But thinking about that was stupid. Harry knew that Dumbledore would do everything in his power to remain there for Harry until his inevitable encounter with Voldemort was played out.

"I congratulate all of our first years on their acceptance into Hogwarts. Now, if I may, I must also introduce two very different students. They are part of our exchange program. As many of you may have heard, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have agreed to this in order to better the relationships between the two schools."

"From Hogwarts, Padma Patil and Hannah Abbott have both gone to different schools. In their place, Hogwarts would like to welcome Jonathan LeMont and Miranda Raie." At that, two students emerged from the shadows in the corner of the Great Hall. Coming around the table, they made quite an interesting pair.

The boy was tall. He was obviously the student from Beauxbatons, the signature blonde hair hanging down just past his shoulders. His eyes shown in the light from the torches, and Harry could obviously tell that the deep blue, almost purple orbs were drawing attention to the boy. Looking around, he found that most of the female population was practically drooling.

Jonathan seemed to shift nervously. No doubt his looks were fairly common at his old school. Harry felt a bit sorry for the boy, but he didn't waste too much time on him. With that type of nervousness, there was no way the boy would ever make it into Gryffindor. Most likely Dumbledore would put him with the Hufflepuffs.

Harry shifted his attention to the student from Durmstrang. The girl was strikingly pale. Her dark red lips and long black hair framed her skin which looked almost too white. Her eyes studied the students in front of her. Harry sucked in his breath as he locked eyes with her and discovered that her eyes were impossibly black.

She stared back at him, not bothering to glance at his scar, but instead simply looking at him. When her gaze moved on, Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding. Miranda gazed around the room, not looking the least bit intimidated. Harry felt a sort of awe toward her.

"Well, now that you've all had your fun staring at our new students, I would like them to be sorted by the Sorting Hat into appropriate houses for their stay here." Dumbledore gestured for Miranda to take a seat on the stool.

The Sorting Hat made quick work of her. "SLYTHERIN!" it bellowed after a few seconds. Harry felt a rush of disappointment, but then asked himself if he'd expected a Durmstrang student to be placed anywhere else.

He looked over and saw Miranda sitting down next to Draco Malfoy, Harry's long time enemy. Malfoy looked over at Harry and sneered. Harry glared back at him. He had a feeling that his problems with Malfoy had just gotten worse.

Jonathan quickly took Miranda's place on the stool, but the hat took much longer to place him. Jonathan seemed to argue with the hat just as much as Harry had. After a good five minutes, the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry sat up. This was an interesting development. He hadn't expected Jonathan to be in Gryffindor. But then, he told himself, he didn't even know the boy. Why should he judge? Jonathan settled himself next to Hermione, and the feast began.

"Well Jonathan, you're the Beauxbatons student, aren't you?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, I am. How could you tell?" Jonathan replied. 'Not from your accent.' thought Harry. The boy didn't have one at all!

"Your hair. When the others came for the Triwizard Tournament, they almost all had blonde hair." answered Hermione.

"Ah, yes, the tournament. I so wished I could participate in that. Unfortunately, I was not old enough. Of course, that might not have been a problem." Jonathan remarked softly.

"Er, why's that?" asked Hermione. She looked up at Harry and Ron, all of them knowing only too well what Jonathan was referring too.

"Your young Harry Potter seemed to participate while he was underage." Jonathan didn't look up from his food as he spoke, so he didn't realize that the whole of the sixth year Gryffindor House was listening to him.

"Yes, Harry Potter's cheating the system was big news for our school. We were all outraged when we heard what he did. And then he went on and murdered the other Hogwarts Champion so that he could be the soul victor." Hermione stifled her gasp of outrage as Jonathan continued.

"We were all very much in shock when our representatives came home with the news." Jonathan paused and seemed to notice the silence around him.

Looking up, he glanced across the table and locked eyes with Harry. Staring at him, Harry watched in a sort of sense of amusement as Jonathan's eyes took in his scar, then widened slightly, and a deep red rushed to his cheeks.

"H-Harry P-Potter." Jonathan whispered. "G-Gryffindor is your house?" Nobody answered him. Jonathan glanced around and noticed the glares of the sixth years. Ron's face was so red with fury that Harry was sure he would see smoke coming out of his ears any second. Hermione looked at Jonathan with something that Harry could only define as pity.

"Um, perhaps my story is not correct?" supplied Jonathan. "If so, please enlighten me." At first nobody could say anything. They all turned weak eyes to Harry. Sighing, Harry realized that, as the one who'd been insulted it was probably his responsibility to correct Jonathan.

Then Harry realized that he'd probably be the one to correct Jonathan even if the problem wasn't about him. Dean and Seamus looked at him in the same way they did when they waited for instruction during DA meetings. It seemed Harry was their leader in more places than those lessons.

"Well Jonathan, let's put it this way. Almost everything you said was untrue." Harry replied slowly, encouraged by Hermione's nod of approval. Apparently his calm response sat well with her.

"While I did participate in the tournament, it was not arranged by my doing. A Death Eater disguised as one of our professors tricked the Goblet into making me compete. I did not want to." Jonathan glanced around at all the vigorous nods of the others before returning his attention to Harry.

"In the final task, Cedric and I decided to take the cup together, to make it a tie. The cup turned out to be a portkey. We landed in a graveyard. There, Cedric was murdered by what was currently Lord Voldemort." Harry noticed Jonathan wince at the name.

"Voldemort returned to his human form, very much alive. I'm sure you already knew all of that. Why did you think otherwise? Don't you read the Daily Prophet?" Harry asked.

"Not really, we do not trust it. That paper is always telling lies. We just start throwing them away whenever a copy makes its way onto our grounds. I- um, I apologize Harry Potter. I was very, very wrong." Jonathan looked up at Harry with a pained expression. Harry suddenly felt tired of the conversation.

"It's okay Jonathan. Now you know." He said quietly. There was a quiet hush along the table. The students all knew the story, but they had never heard Harry speak so calmly about it. Harry had surprised himself, but he knew there were more important things to think about.

Ron glanced back and forth between Harry and Jonathan. He realized that Harry had just spoken more to Jonathan than he had to him or Hermione all day. Except for the explanation of his Prophecy, or course.

For a moment longer, the table was quiet. Then the students began to talk again. Ron glanced over at Harry, and was surprised to see him staring over at the Slytherin table. He followed Harry's gaze and saw with some surprise that Harry was looking at Malfoy.

"What's the matter Harry?" Ron asked quietly, so that only the two of them could hear. Harry turned confused eyes to Ron.

"What do you mean?" he asked slowly, blinking slowly.

"Something happen with Malfoy? You've been staring." Ron remarked.

"Malfoy? What are you talking about?" asked Harry, wrinkling up his nose. "I was looking at- er, nobody."

"Come on! What were you looking at? You're an awful liar you know." Ron pestered him.

"Oh fine. I was..." He lowered his voice so that Ron barely heard him. "I was looking at Miranda."

"The new girl? Why?" exclaimed Ron, drawing a curious glance from Parvati Patil.

"I, well, she's... I don't know!" Harry sighed, leaning forward on his elbows.

"Do you- are you- you don't-" Ron stammered.

"What? Spit it out Weasley."

"You like her!" Ron exclaimed, making Parvati glance over again.

"I do not! I don't even know her!"

"You do like her! You look just like Ginny did when she was drooling over you!"

"No, I don't Ron." Harry snapped. "Shove off."

"No- I'm sure about this, but Harry?"

"What?" Harry turned to him, exasperated.

"Be careful, okay. She is in Slytherin." Ron warned.

"Whatever." Harry rolled his eyes. But he couldn't help wondering, 'So what if she is in Slytherin? Someone that beautiful can't be evil!'

~*~*~

Draco Malfoy stared at the creature in front of him. She was stunning, and so cruel. He was enchanted.

"Tell me, what is there to do around here? I mean, besides attend classes?" Miranda asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Well, not much. My father always said Hogwarts was the worst place in the world. All there is to do is play Quidditch and maybe go to Hogsmeade." He sneered and threw a quick glance over at the Gryffindor table. "That and bother those pathetic Gryffindors."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, Slytherins have always been at odds with Gryffindors, and my personal relationship with Harry Potter has just made things more fun." Draco smirked.

"Explain." she ordered. Surprised by her tone, Draco hesitated a second. She noticed his pause and frowned, causing him to quickly continue.

"Let's just say that causing trouble for The-Boy-Who-Lived is one of my top priorities." supplied Draco.

"Can I be of any assistance?" asked Miranda. Draco looked at her eyes and noticed them shining with a mischievous glint. No, actually, they were shining with flecks of red. Miranda had red in her eyes! He felt arms shiver as he remembered his father telling him something about Voldemort's eyes being red...

Pushing that aside, Draco gave Miranda one of his rare smiles. "I'm sure you can be of perfect use." he told her.

"Do tell." She leaned forward slightly, eager to hear his plan.

"Well, why don't you get to know the Trio to start with. Maybe they'll be able to trust a new face, even if it is Slytherin."

"The Trio?"

"Harry Potter and his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. They are the very substance of Gryffindor."

"Okay, I'll earn their trust. But why should they give me the time of day?" questioned Miranda.

"They don't know you. They're the type of people to always look for the positive. Besides, I do believe Potter has already developed a sort of attraction toward you." They both glanced over at the Gryffindor table, and noticed Harry's gaze on them.

"Yes, I do think I can use that to my advantage, but why are we doing this again? You know, causing trouble?" asked Miranda, her forehead wrinkling.

"Why, we are doing this to have a little fun. Nothing more. Now, why don't you go introduce yourself to Potter." said Draco.

"Why, I do believe that I'll do just that. I've always liked having fun." Miranda smirked as she rose from the table and started toward the unsuspecting Gryfinndors.

At the last second, she changed her mind and altered her course. Stepping outside the Great Hall, she pulled out her wand and quickly charmed herself invisible. It was always best to understand how your opponent thought before going against them. The rule rushed back at her, and she obeyed her training. After all, she wasn't from Durmstrang for nothing.

Silently walking up to the Gryffindors, she hovered behind them, intent on their conversation. She listened as the girl, Hermione Granger, talked to Jonathan LeMont. Resisting the urge to yank the girl's pretty, long brown hair, Miranda focused on Jonathan.

His gaze kept shifting around, as he watched the activity inside the Great Hall. Of course, he would be on his guard. Jonathan knew when he was in danger. He could probably feel her presence, and her absence from the Slytherin table probably added to his suspicion. She'd never liked Jonathan.

She knew that she'd have to go on pretending not to know him from somewhere else. That way he wouldn't find out how much she knew about him, and neither would any nosy Hogwarts students. Still, she couldn't just ignore him.

Smirking to herself, she encouraged her eyes to drop their invisibility and meet Jonathan's. She knew her feelings toward him would change her eyes to an extremely dark red, and he would be reminded of someone else who had red eyes...

Sure enough, Jonathan practically jumped up from the table. He succeeded in dumping his entire goblet of water all over the boy called Ron Weasley. Quickly, Miranda changed her eyes back to invisible, and watched with glee the unfolding events.

Ron sputtered as the cold water soaked into his robes. His slight cry of outrage silenced the table as eyes turned to them. Miranda smothered her laughter as a girl who could only be Ron's sister snorted and in turn started choking on her own water.

The boy sitting next to her immediately put down his camera and began pounding her back with enough force to knock the poor girl into the table. Hermione cried out for him to stop it, reaching across the table to put a restraining hand on the boy.

Jonathan was meanwhile apologizing to Ron, stuttering over his words in what appeared to be complete sincerity. Miranda knew better. Jonathan was all lies. There was never a sincere word out of his mouth.

There was only one person out of the group that wasn't doing anything. Harry Potter just watched the whole thing with a bemused expression on his face, like it was some boring sitcom on one of those Muggle TV's.

Feeling the need to further be involved in the situation, Miranda placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. He instantly jerked up, the muscles in his arms coiling. He glanced around sharply for his attacker.

Making no noise, she gently trailed her hand up to his chin, and forcefully turned his head toward her. His eyes frantically searched the empty air. Smiling, Miranda let her other hand glide over his face while she held his head still with her other hand.

Slowly, Miranda pushed back the locks of hair covering Harry's scar. She traced the mark almost lovingly. He tried to pull away, but she held him in place. She knew he wouldn't raise his hands to search for her because it would draw too much attention from the students.

Carefully, she leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his scar, causing the mark to instantly burn green. She knew that it must have hurt him, but he showed no sign of pain. Smiling, she withdrew. Then, she whispered into his ear, so that nobody would hear, and he wouldn't be able to identify the voice.

"Hello Harry Potter. How are you this fine evening?"

"Just wonderful." He whispered back. "Who are you?"

"A friend, Harry Potter, believe it or not, I am a friend." With that, she walked over to the Slytherin table. Grabbing Draco's arm, she dragged the Slytherin boy out into the hallway.

"What are you doing?" he hissed at her, his voice venom.

"I'm learning about my enemy before I act. That's what you're supposed to do. You know that." She flicked her wand and turned to face him, now visible, right down to the frown on her face.

"What?" he asked, annoyed by her disapproving glare.

"Why do you bother to mess with them? They are just pesky little kids! Are they even worth your time, Draco, son of Lucius?" she challenged him. She knew that he'd either have to admit that they were worthy of his time, or else acknowledge that what he did was stupid.

"Er, well, you see..." Draco stammered to a halt.

"Exactly, not worth your time." She answered for him. "How about I introduce you to a different type of entertainment." Draco agreed, which was good, because Miranda hadn't meant it as a suggestion, but as an order.

~*~*~

What do you think? Keep it going? Please give me your comments. If you like it, maybe I'll try to get the next chapter out this week. There's more magic in it, and Harry's little crush on Miranda has some funny side effects. And what exactly is Miranda showing Draco. And who is Jonathan LeMont? Guess you'll just have to wait and see.