Harry Potter and the Exchange Student

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING that you RECOGNIZE

Chapter one

            Alan Flyer sat in his favorite chair at his home in the state of Pennsylvania in America. It was a sleepy little town where nothing exciting ever happened. But Alan was quite excited that night as he was to be an exchange student to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was in his seventh and final year at his own school.

            Alan attended Hawkwing Academy in an abandoned skyscraper in Pittsburgh. The headmaster of Alan's school had told him that in Britain wizards held a different view of Normals (Normal being the American word for Muggle). He had also said that British wizards had their own money system and didn't mingle with Normals unless necessary. Alan was to take a plane to Britain and meet a Mister Arthur Weasley who was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He would be taken the their headquarters to spend the week before school. The Order had agreed to do this out of concern for the student's safety.

            Alan however didn't care about any of this, as his only thought was to meet Harry Potter. He packed his things as he ran his fingers through his short brown hair, and had gotten his mother's permission to visit Hogsmead. He was very excited as his plane took off for London.

            A few days later he arrived at the London airport and awaited the arrival of Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley was a tall wizard with very red hair and wore a bright yellow-green cloak. He was accompanied by another wizard dressed rather shabbily and wearing gray clothes. Alan walked over and greeted the pair.

            "Your Mr. Weasley then," Alan asked politely.

            "Yes I am," Mr. Weasley replied shaking Alan's hand, "and this is Remus Lupin," he added pointing to the wizard in the shabby gray clothes.

            Alan shook Mr. Lupin's hand and introduced himself as they made their way to the London underground.

            "You know," Alan said to Mr. Weasley, "In America they call this a subway."

            Mr. Weasley looked at him curiously and asked, "Do they? What else is different about America?"

            "Well the Normals all use telephones that aren't plugged into the walls called cell phones," Alan explained.

            When Mr. Weasley asked what a Normal was Alan explained that it was what Americans called Muggles. And since Alan had been warned that Mr. Weasley had a curiosity for muggle artifacts Alan gave him a book called "Muggle Inventions Since 1938 and How They Work". Mr. Weasley looked as though it was the happiest day of his life.

            Soon they reached the Headquarters of the Order and he was given the address of number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Once inside he was shown to the room he would be using and ushered into the kitchen for lunch.

            There in the basement kitchen of number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Alan had his first meeting with Harry Potter and his friends. He took the steps two at a time and took a seat directly across the table from Harry and his friends. Soon they were introduced and lunch was under way. After lunch Alan decided to visit Harry in his room.

            Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were in Harry's room talking about the start of term and their last year at Hogwarts when Alan walked in.

            "Hey everyone," Alan intentioned as he walked into the room.

            They all looked up at him and Hermione was the first to speak, "Hello Alan, please join us wont you I have so many questions for you."

            Alan made his way into the room and stood near them. Soon he was bombarded with questions from Hermione about the schools in America, Ron asked about Quidditch in the States, and Harry and Ginny asked about the wizarding community in America.

            Hermione really dominated the conversation though with questions about schools, "What are the school uniforms like?"

            "Well," he answered, "we ware mostly just a pair of gray denim jeans and a black t-shirt with our house crest on it."

            "Where is your school," she asked quite intent on finding out everything she could.

            Alan answered, "I go to Hawkwing Academy. Its located in an abandoned skyscraper in Pittsburgh." She was surprised that the school would be in the middle of a muggle city but Alan went on to explain that in America, all wizards went to muggle primary school regardless of their status and everyone used muggle modes of transportation and muggle technology more often than they did in Britain.

            Ron occasionally slipped in questions about Quidditch like, "Where do you play Quiddich at in the city."

            "There is a hidden Quidditch field under one of the American football stadiums."

Alan also explained that in America what British muggles called football was called soccer.

            Harry had asked what kind of money they used in America and Alan explained that wizards in America used the same money as the muggles and that some wizards in American muggle government slipped hidden requests for funding in certain laws. And so they all found out much about America and how things worked there. But it was Alan who found out the most about his new friends, The Boy Who Lived of course was Harry. However there were also two other legends in the making; The Wizard of the Flame, and The Keeper of the Legendary Love.

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            Soon they were on their way to school on the Hogwarts Express, and everyone was content to return and Alan was quite comfortable to be going with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But soon their peace was disturbed by none other than Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Malfoy had on a smug smile as he always did when he came to taunt them and they were sick of him.

            "Well, well, well…" He began, "if it isn't scar-head, the mud-blood, and a good-for-nothing as usual. Who's your new friend?"

            "Leave us alone Malfoy," Ron and Harry said in unison.

            "You two should learn some respect for your betters," Malfoy continued and turned to Alan, "and who are you?"

            Harry leapt up, eyes flashing with rage, hands balling into fists, anger showing in his face; but before he could do anything Alan had also stood up and had pushed him back into his seat.

            Alan then turned to Malfoy pulled out from his jeans pocket a small stick like an overly wide piece of white chalk. He flicked his wrist and the stick grew into a ten-inch long wand.

            Alan had an almost board expression on his face as he faced the three intruders and noticed that he was taller, "You would be Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle, correct?"

            Malfoy smiled at this, "At least someone realizes we're important," he replied sneering at Harry.

            Alan however had a different opinion of Malfoy, "Yes," he said, "Yes, you are the bully who is now starved for attention," Malfoy's eyes flashed at hearing this but Alan pushed on as if he didn't notice, "Your father is the Death Eater who is never home now with his duties for Lord Voldemort, your mother has been going mad with worry for you and her husband and is now too distressed to notice you, and (thanks to Harry) you don't even have a house elf to boss around anymore."

            Everyone's eyes were on Alan and Malfoy looked like he was about to explode. He quickly pulled out his own wand and began a spell. Not quickly enough however because Alan knew it was coming and slashed his wand sideways as if to slice Malfoy's stomach open but instead the three intruders flew out the open compartment door and were frozen against the opposite wall. Alan flicked his wand again and to everyone's surprise Crabbe and Goyle, who were previously big, muscled, and stupid were now just big and stupid because their muscles had tuned to near complete flab.

            Alan silently closed the door to their compartment and sat pleasantly down on the cushioned seat beside Harry. At that point everyone still in the compartment noticed that Alan had kept his near-board expression through the entire encounter.

            Soon it was night and the train slowed to a halt and let its passengers off to attend the beginning of term feast and the sorting of the first years. And speaking of first years they heard Hagrid's now familiar voice calling over the crowd. He greeted them all in turn (being very happy indeed to meet Alan) and continued to yell, "Firs' years this way," and the four friends Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Alan all took seats in a carriage pulled by what Harry now knew were thestrals. And soon they were all at the feast.

            Prof. Dumbledore stood and welcomed everyone to the feast, everyone returning and all those first arriving. He also gave the customary start of term announcements, "Please note that the Forbidden forest is out of bounds to all students, and that we have a new student joining us in his seventh year to study the difference in the cultures of Britain and America. He is an outside observer to all classes and is in no particular house so no house points may be taken from him or whichever house he chooses to 'tag along with'.

Now that the sorting has been complete let us now feast."

            Everyone at once noticed at once two things; first that the 'new student' had chosen to sit at the Gryffindor table with Harry Potter and his friends, and that the plates as always had filled (seemingly of their own accord) with all the food anyone could ask for.

            Alan, who was wearing his own school's uniform featuring the crest of Hawkwing Academy, was not thinking of classes but was troubled by what he had seen, heard, and felt in that train compartment, but he hadn't seen with his eyes. Malfoy was going to be a problem.

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Over breakfast the next day, the houses got their class schedules. Hermione however was much more curios as to Alan's behavior on the train and more importantly had questions about his wand and the spells he had used.

            "Alan," she said tentatively and when he looked up she asked, "What spells did you use on Malfoy on the train yesterday and what's with your wand?"

            Alan saw that Harry and Ron were also curios about the matter and stopped griping over their classes for the day to listen to him answer, "Well," he began, "In America muggles are a bit more attentive than they are here in Britain so we have to keep everything we own compact since there aren't any all wizard settlements and nowhere to hide form prying eyes in muggle neighborhoods so we make everything either collapsible or make things like my school bag and trunk; big on the inside yet nothing a muggle would notice on the outside. And as for the spells Americans tend to be more inclined toward humor than physical revenge."

            "That spell that made Crabbe and Goyle flabby seemed physical enough to me," she replied.

            "I meant we don't like causing physical pain," Alan said defensively raising his hands, "but you should have at least read about them. The first was a force wall charm and the second was a simple softening hex."

            Hermione was puzzled, "But you didn't even say anything when you used them."

            "We sort of shorten the words to be so small you could use them without saying the whole thing," Alan had suddenly gone blank after he finished speaking and Hermione who was right across from him noticed his eyes go a shade deeper blue than usual and his white skin had gotten a lot paler for some reason.

            Ron looked at him, concerned and asked, "You ok mate?"

            Alan, still looking blank said, "Of course, no problem," although not very convincingly and then as though startled out of some sort of trance he looked around and began eating again but said no more.

            Hermione however saw his eyes darken yet another time making them so blue as to be almost violet.

            Their first class was Transfiguration with Huffelpuf. After that Alan followed Ron and Harry to Divination, and soon it was lunch and they were talking about afternoon classes, which to the Gryffindor's dismay, started with Potions with the Slyterins. Alan sat in on this pairing up with Neville Longbottom. Alan not only managed to help Neville scrape out a decent potion but he also succeeded in keeping Prof. Snape from taking any points from Gryffindor.

            However at the end of class he asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione to wait for him up the hall somewhere while he talked with Professor Snape.

            As Alan approached him Snape looked up and grunted, "What do you want?"

            "Sir," he began in his rich tenor voice, "one would think that holding childish childhood grudges would be beneath someone of your age and apparent wisdom."

            Snape's head snapped up from the paper he was grading and looked as though he could kill this pest for speaking to him this way. Rage flashed in his eyes as he replied, "So, Potter and his friends told you about that did they?"

            Alan had seen this coming as well, "No Sir they did not but it is quite unhealthy for someone to hold on to something like that this long and it is unfair that you take great pleasure for treating them like you do."

            Snape almost lost it with that remark and suddenly he saw Alan's eyes go very wide and he became confused, "What was that all about boy?"

            Alan still not recovered from his shock muttered, "So that's why you left the Dark Lord!"

            "What did you say boy," Snape's voice going deadly quiet he stood up and stared at Alan who was still in shock.

            "It was her wasn't it," continued to ramble, "She's the reason you now work for the Order."

            Snape pulled out his wand and proceeded to cast the Legilimens spell and found himself looking at his own memories in this boy's head. He broke the spell and shook Alan to his senses now shocked himself. "You had better sit and explain this boy," he told Alan, "Tell Potter and his friends to go on without you and come back and explain this."

            Alan did as he was told and made his friends go on without him to the next class and sat down in Snape's office to explain what had happened.

            "Now," said Professor Snape as they were both seated, "Tell me what happened and why."

            And so Alan began, "The first thing you should know is that I was reading your memories and feelings because I am a Malvadar," Snape looked very confused so he continued, "A malvadar is a sort of mind reader who can read your memories, feelings, and emotions without spells or potions. It is a very rare gift that only shows up every twenty or so generations in some unique families like my own and so is in very few books or magazines." Snape nodded that he understood and told Alan to continue. "When a malvadar is in a general area and has a line of sight he or she can read memories of that person, however when any person within range of the malvadar loses control of their emotions like you just did Sir their memories flood the area like an over-boiling cauldron and the malvadar may see or feel things he or she was not looking for."

            Snape thought about this explanation and finally spoke, "So when I lost my temper you saw things you weren't looking for. Does Prof. Dumbledore know you are one of these…" he fumbled around for the word.

            "Malvadars," Alan quickly supplied, "Yes, in fact that is why he agreed to take me into the school." Alan was trying to see whether or not Snape had cooled down or not he added "Also if a malvadar looses control of his own emotions other people in the area may begin to see and feel his or her thoughts."

            Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't see Alan again until they got back to the Gryffindor Common Room where they found him sitting on one of the couches staring thoughtfully into the fire. It was nearly dark outside and all of the classes were over for the day. All three of them sat down in chairs or on the couch near Alan to find out what had happened with Prof. Snape. When they asked if he had gotten a detention he told them no and then considered telling them what he was like he had with Snape.

            "Come on Alan there's definitely something wrong with you, I mean you come to any of the other classes with us and we haven't seen you anywhere since Potions class." Ron was definitely worried.

            Alan thought for a few minutes and then told them that he needed to talk to Harry alone for a while and suggested that he meet him back in the common room around ten thirty that same night. With that he walked, staring blankly, up the stairs to his private dormitory.

            Ten thirty came and Harry walked down to the common room wondering what Alan could possibly want to talk about. Harry thought back to all the times someone had wanted to talk to him alone and remembered that when this happened it was usually bad news. He found Alan lying on the same couch as earlier wearing a pair of dark blue plaid pajama pants and a white nightshirt. Harry walked to a chair that was right across from him and sat down facing his new friend.

            Alan sat up and looked at Harry with that same blank look as before but this time his eyes were a very dark shade of blue, as if the only way to tell what Alan was feeling was to watch the color of his eyes change from light to dark. Alan just sat there for a few moments before daring to speak, trying to figure out how he could say this without hurting his newest friend. First he told Harry that Snape had let him go without detention. He then began to explain to Harry exactly what he was and that he knew more about his new friends than they had actually said. "And that is why I asked to speak to you alone." Alan was trying not to loose control as he explained everything to Harry. "I assure you I meant no harm to you or your friends and I will understand if you don't want me to hang around anymore."

            Alan waited for Harry's reply. Harry was concentrating very hard on not losing his temper and trying to think clearly. Alan was now sitting with his face in his hands.

What dose this mean? How much does he know about us? Harry looked up and thought one more time about what he would say and finally said, "First, how much do you know about me?"

            Alan looked up from his hands and thought carefully about what he knew and told Harry everything, "At first I only knew what you had told me and since then I have only taken a few tentative reaches to find out how you felt about certain subjects or people. But when you lost your temper at Malfoy I saw everything that happened in the last two years." Harry looked up and Alan saw the look of terror on his face. "Well, not everything," Alan added just then, "just the things that were bothering you most, like the death of Sirius Black and everything Malfoy had ever said or done to you. I want you to think about this Harry and I'll give you a few days to decide if you still want me as your friend. Also decide if you want to tell the others and find out if they want to know what I saw of them. Please think carefully Harry; I'll tag along with the Ravenclaws, Huffelpufs, and Slytherins for two days so you can think. I'll see you then," Alan began to climb the stairs to his room but stopped short saying one more thing to Harry, "Oh and you really care more about one of your friends than you think you do," and with that he went to bed.

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            For the next two days Alan ate with the other houses, attended classes with anyone but the Gryffindors and when asked why by Ron and Hermione he only said, "I have to see the school from every houses' viewpoint and how different the houses are and why."

            At lunch the second day Harry found Alan eating with the Ravenclaws and pulled him out into the Great Hall to speak to him. Alan's face was blank as usual and Harry spoke before Alan could say anything.

            "Alan," Harry said thoughtfully, "I have talked it over with Ron and Hermione and they wish to know what you know about them before we make a decision. But there is something I need to ask you first." Harry was very confused and desperate to understand something, "What did you mean I 'care for one of my friends more than I know'?"

            Alan thought and then replied, "I'm really sorry Harry but that is something I can not tell you. It is not my place to make you realize how you feel about someone." He caught a look in Harry's eyes, "No Harry I can't even tell you who. It is not allowed in the code of conduct."

            Harry looked disappointed but nodded that he understood, "We'll meet you in the Gryffindor common room tonight." Alan nodded and they both went back to lunch.

            Later that night Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all waited in the common room in chairs around the fire. It was nearly midnight when Alan climbed through the portrait hole. He walked silently over to the four waiting friends and sat down. He waited for a few minutes and then looked at each of them in turn. He nodded to them and spoke. "Harry already knows everything I found out about him so I will take you one by one to the other side of the room and you may ask me any question. Only know that there are some answers that I can not give you because of the code of conduct."

            Alan's talks with Ron and Ginny were short and wanting to sleep on the answer they climbed the stairs to their respective dormitories. But Alan had more to say to Hermione.

             Hermione asked him what he knew and he told her, "I have seen things that you have hidden from yourself and things you don't know about yourself. In the time I've known you your emotions have run rampant so I have seen more of you than anyone else. I know that in your first year Ron and Harry had saved you from a troll, in second year you were petrified and could feel Harry with you asking for your help. In third year Harry saved you from many dementors, and in fourth you found yourself very worried when Harry competed in the Triwizard Tournament. In your fifth year you forced yourself to go with Harry to the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, and last year he saved you from an unspeakable horror. I know that you are not always as confident as you seem."

            Hermione was trying to be calm and not panic; how much does he know?

            As if on cue Alan said, "More than either you or I would like."

            Hermione asked, "What else do you know? What have I been hiding from myself?"

            Alan's eyes grew shades darker again and continued. "First I must tell you that you that you care more about one of your friends more than you think. But I am not so sure I should tell you the rest." Alan looked over near the fire and noticed that Harry was still sitting there lost in thought.

            Harry sat thinking as Alan talked with Hermione. It had been nearly a half an hour since they started. Harry looked up to check on them and saw that they were both walking over finally finished. Alan set Hermione down on the couch next to Harry and trekked up to his room. Harry listened as Alan closed his door and then he watched Hermione sitting next to him. She looked like she was in shock. "What's wrong Hermoine?" She looked him in the eyes and he thought he saw tears forming in them. Hermione began to cry and in doing so threw her arms around Harry's waist and buried her face in the front of his robes. Harry held her to him comforting her though from what he didn't know. "Oh Harry," Hermione sobbed and at that moment both of them realized that what they were doing felt so right.

            Up in his room Alan could feel two doors open deep within the two people left in the common room and he knew that this would make them realize what they had not seen even on the first day the two had met. He knew that it had to happen. This would help bring down the Ultimate Terror.

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            It was around midnight the very night after the telling of what he had found. Alan was standing in the very center of the castle. He knew it was there and the teachers knew it was there but not even the marauders had found this particular room. No student ever found it after it had been charmed so that everyone under a certain age could not find it. No it was not invisible, it was in plain sight. The chapel of Hogwarts castle had not been used since the sixteenth century because wizards soon stopped caring what religion they were. And no one had gotten married at Hogwarts since the fifteenth century.

            Alan could find it because his religion was the most radical in the world. Alan could find it because this is where his instructions came from. The only person that ever came to this chapel was Dumbledore and he was seated of to the side of the room. Alan knew he was there and Dumbledore knew that Alan was there but neither spoke to the other.

            Alan had come to get his instructions and get them he did. He knew that someday in the far, far future everyone would worship his religion. No one would force them to and no one would persuade them to. Alan's religion only had one simple commandment.

Thou Shalt Believe.