Author's Note: This is something I came up with yesterday, a few years back I was on this one writer's ff page that mentioned that a number of Harry Potter fics seem to be done by Americans, and that she could tell by the way some of these stories were written, some of which according to her had an apparent lack of Britishisms. That is according to her some of the writers didn't put enough effort into language and culture. That's not to criticize them however, quite the opposite. With the abundance of US Harry Potter writers I figured it might be fun to write a story about an American Wizarding School set in the Pacific Northwest. Anyway this idea is very much a work in progress and I've only now realized just how far out of touch I am with the franchise. I'll be frank I haven't picked up a book in years and apparently my Harry Potter know how isn't what it once was. And had to give myself a brief recap of how the wizarding world works. Anyway this should make for a fun project and if anybody at all would like to give me some pointers and refresh my memory a bit that would be a great help. And ignore the spelling of Hermione, McGonnigal and Gryffindor. ^^' Enjoy!
Transference
Chapter 1
It seems as though wherever they went trouble was sure to follow, for the past few years now Harry and his friends Hermonie and Ron had been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and for the umpteenth time now they had been called up to the Headmaster's office in what seems to have become an unfortunate annual tradition as the trio shuffled onward while Professor McGonnigal led the way walking briskly ahead of them as their cloaks swished underneath them, while they were left wondering what they had done this time to earn the professor's ire. Anymore it didn't seem to take much for them to issue out demerits to Griffendore House as the now infamous trio headed upstairs towards Professor Dumbledore's office as Professor McGonnigal muttered the ever changing magic word to the golden phoenix statue that revealed the stairway to his study.
"Come on step lively." she told them as she maintained the same gait as before climbing the stairwell three or four steps ahead of them as they walked glumly behind her.
"What on earth did you get us into this time Ron?" Hermonie murmured.
"Me? I didn't do anything yet. I just got here!" the redheaded wizard defended.
"Well I'm sure whatever it is, it can't be very good news for us." she muttered leading the group with Ron and Harry following close behind.
"Come on guys, let's see what the professor has to say." Harry mentioned resignedly while Ron was more wary of the possibly consequences to come.
"Haven't even been here not 20 minutes and already in trouble. Lovely." Ron muttered.
"Honestly I don't even know why I continue to hang out with you two." Hermonie grumbled wearing a dark sweater and short skirt with the Hogwarts seal across her heart and a white dress shirt and black tie underneath. While her friends were dressed in similar garb with Ron sporting a red sweater and dark slacks underneath his robe while Harry's matched Hermonie's sweater with beige slacks underneath his own.
"Less talking, more walking you three." McGonnigal reminded them as she continued ahead of them.
The trio of students reached the summit and stood outside his office door moments later as McGonnigal stood over them and let the students as she thrust open the oversized door. Peering into the room Professor Dumbledore could be seen wandering around his office and tending to Faukes the phoenix as the fireplace roared in the back right corner of the room as he turned to face his students.
"Ahh, Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter and Weasley come in, come in." he greeted them with open arms in an aged voice as the head wizard invited them in.
The three Griffendore students remained close together as they gingerly entered his domain while McGonnigal stood behind them, her hands folded together at her waist waiting on their due punishment. Harry was the first one to speak as the professor sat behind the desk with Potter breaking the ubiquitous silence.
"Um, what are we here for sir?" he asked gently, speaking barely above a whisper. The Headmaster clasped his hands together against his desk pausing only briefly as he addressed them.
"I'm afraid there's been some trouble." he answered.
"Trouble?" Harry asked looking back at his friends who were just as confused.
"What..sort of trouble?" he added and the professor shrugged.
"All kinds, it seems as though every year you've been here there's been some of my mystery, disaster or conspiracy that inexplicably ties back to you three. I am not saying that you are to blame for all of this, but with all these terribly unfortunate events plaguing our school, the Ministry of Magic thought it best to have you all expelled from Hogwarts." the headmaster told them leaving them flabbergasted.
"What?" Harry said.
"Expel us?! Professor you can't possibly be serious!" Hermonie said taking the worst offense at this.
"Yeah it's not...totally our fault..." Ron stated and shrank behind his friends.
"Needless to say I have no intention of expelling you. I wouldn't dream of it, but as you know the Ministry has started to tighten down restrictions since You-know-who's return from death. Therefore I fear in your best interest that you be transferred to another school." the professor told them while chewing on a lemon drop.
"But where? There's no other wizarding school in the United Kingdom is there?" Harry said looking at his friends and over to Dumbledore.
"Not in the UK no. But I'm sure as you already know there are several wizarding schools scattered throughout the world." he said shaking his head slightly as he continued to chew on his favorite treat. Hermonie furrowed her brow as she thought.
"There's another school in France, but its the only one I know of that's closest enough." she told them.
"I'm afraid I'll be sending you a little further than that." the professor told them.
"Russia?" Harry asked.
"No." he said shaking his head.
"Australia?" he added.
"Not exactly." the professor stated.
"Well where else is there?" Ron said as the professor smiled.
"I'm sending you three across the pond." he said while a sense of dread settled into his students' faces.
"You don't mean..." Hermonie stated.
"Your sending us to America? How are we going to explain this to our folks?" Ron said flustered.
"You need not worry, I have already taken the liberty of apparating to each house and explained it to your parents first hand. However some were harder to convince than others, they understood that we are doing this for your protection." he explained as they appeared downcast.
"And what about the school, what do they know about it?" Harry asked in the same low voice as before.
"Let us worry about that, the reason for your absence must remain a secret in order to avoid reprisal from the Ministry of Magic. They suspect too much of you as it is Harry." the headmaster elaborated.
"Things must be getting pretty bad then." Ron noted to his friends.
"So then where is this new school?" Harry asked the professor.
"In the northwestern part of the United States, a place the muggles call 'Washington State'" McGonagall said standing behind them.
"Thank you Professor." Dumbledore said bowing to her slightly from his desk.
"The academy is located in the wilderness region within the northern part of the state. It's a considerable distance from their nearest city of Seattle." he explained.
"So when are we supposed to leave?" he asked turning back to the headmaster.
"I'm afraid your departure cannot be delayed, you must leave the school grounds immediately." the professor told them.
"Immediately?" Hermonie asked.
"I'm afraid so, pack your things and meet on the Hogwarts express in one hour." the headmaster replied.
Outside his chamber however there was one interloper listening in on the private conversation, said eavesdropper was the notorious Draco Malfoy. For many years now he had been a thorn and chief tormentor of the Gryffindor trio along with his dimwitted lackeys Crabb and Goyle. In recent years however Malfoy has become more malicious through each phase of young Harry Potter's life and was overjoyed at the prospect of his sworn enemies driven out of Hogwarts. And being the malicious bastard he is, now had plenty of ammunition to drag their names through the mud as the blonde bully smirked behind the door.
"Heh. This is too good to be true Potter, Weasley and their mudblood pet Granger are on the outs with Hogwarts. I can't wait to tell everybody." he snerked as he began to stand up.
"Tell everyone what Mr. Malfoy?" a grave voice intoned as the student froze while a figure stood over him. The blonde looked over his shoulder to see his advisor Professor Snape glaring down at the young student.
"What are you doing up here?" Snape asked in his usual demeanor.
"I..." the student stammered as he cowered underneath the professor.
"Is there someone out there Professor Snape?" Professor Dumbledore asked from behind the door as Snape looked up.
"I'm afraid so headmaster." he replied.
"Send him in." he said.
"Very good sir." Professor Snape answered as he dragged Malfoy into the room. The students looked back to face him with a look of open disgust as they came into the room.
"It seems as though you have an eavesdropper professor." Snape stated as he dragged Draco in by his upper left arm while the boy staggered alongside him.
"Shall I produce a potion that will extract the event from his mind?" Professor Snape asked.
"No wait, don't do that. I can keep quiet about this, honest." Malfoy pleaded while the headmaster folded his hands together underneath his chin in contemplation as Harry looked back at him.
"Let me speak with him privately, the rest of you are free to go. You know what must be done." Dumbledore told them as the students left to pack as Snape and McGonnigal remained on either side of the door.
A short time later they were in the main corridor walking side by side as dozens of students rushed past them on their way to class as the trio slowly headed towards the swinging staircase in a daze while Nearly Headless Nick and several of their instructors surveyed them and called out to them through the crowd telling them to get to class, but their cries went unnoticed as they slowly climbed the staircase and then swung crossways taking them up to their floor, after giving the latest password to the painted lady they entered their quarters and flopped down on the beds.
"Can't believe they're throwing us out of Hogwarts...and sending us to America no less." Ron muttered laying face down near the foot of his bed, while his friend Harry sat on the edge of his with one leg tucked underneath him. In the girls' dorm Hermonie lay across her bed on her stomach with arms folded as she pondered the situation.
"It doesn't seem fair though, but the professor is he believes is best for us." Harry replied softly.
"Well its rubbish, its not our fault all these things happen...you just happen to be a bloody weirdness magnet is all." Ron said half jokingly as Harry let out an amused grunt before looking back at him.
"Come on we better start packing." he told Ron as he got up.
Author's Note: All right so what did you think of that? I'll admit this was a little short but I hope it was to everyone's liking. This is only my second Harry Potter fanfic and clearly its been a while XD. Let me know what you think of it and what you think Malfoy's fate should be. I should warn you though that I am an H/Hr fan and not a fan of Malfoy by any means, so I hope that doesnt affect the readership too much. XD I was thinking of having him and Luna tag along because let's face it you can't have a story without an antagonist and how you think the American school should be portrayed I've considered having it include more supernatural elements for the student body than what Hogwarts has as well as having students there use modern technology such as cellphone wands to signify the cultural difference between Hogwarts as a 'traditional' wizarding school and 'new school' / '21st century' methodology. Let me know what you think. Also if there are any British readers out there (and there's plenty of them) if you can help me with the differences between our fine cultures your insight would be greatly valued and appreciated. Also I ask that you would keep my home state of Illinois in your thoughts as the northern part has been ravaged with tornadoes this past Sunday along with parts of the Midwest.
Please review,
Green Gallant.