Hello all and welcome to our second attempt at writing this story! A friend of ours pointed out a few flaws in our writing so we've decided to fix a few things.

First of all, this is obviously an AU with several OCs with their own backgrounds. There are also a few kinds of Magical Creatures not included in the marvelous J.K. Rowling's canon.

Second of all, we put a lot of thought into this so it would be great if you guys showed support and helped us along the way if you guys have any ideas. We have a general idea of what we're trying to do (to tell you would spoil it), but suggestions and constructive criticisms are more than welcome. We also made Getsuei and Jasmine a bit younger to make their moments of immaturity make more sense.

Big changes in the timeline won't happen until Goblet of Fire. Third Year is just introducing the characters and small changes.

Enjoy and Review!

Introductions

Harry Potter has had a fairly unusual month since his Aunt Marge arrived at the Dursleys' on his birthday.

To summarize, he blew her up like a balloon about a week following her arrival in a bout of accidental magic in his rage, then proceeded to take yet another mode of Magical transportation he'd never heard of before, called the Knight Bus, all the way to London where he met the Minister of Magic in the Leaky Cauldron, where he rented him a room for the rest of the summer and got him his books! Why?

Before getting on the Hogwarts Express, Mr. Weasley pulled him aside and warned him about the man who escaped from Azkaban, one Sirius Black. He told Harry to be careful and to not seek him out, but why?

Also, he saw these two people who looked old enough to be Hogwarts students during his stay at the Leaky Cauldron, yet he'd never seen them before. He assumed they were Muggle-born based on their clothing, but they seemed like odd individuals…

Why did the Minister think it was important to speak with him? Why did Mr. Weasley warn him to not seek out Sirius Black since he'd never heard of the man? And who were those two strangers at the Cauldron?

He mentioned this to Ron and Hermione when the train left Kings Cross Station. Ron told him that Minister Fudge probably wanted to finally meet the famous Boy-Who-Lived. Hermione told him that she couldn't make sense of these things at the moment and cracked open her copy of Hogwarts: A History for the umpteenth time. Ron shrugged and began feeding Scabbers and putting on the tonic he got earlier.

Knowing that the conversation reached a temporary end, Harry slumped in his seat next to the sleeping Professor Lupin and took out a small book from his pocket. It was a puzzle book he received from a friend he began talking to long ago, for a school project involving pen pals back in the Muggle World.

"Um, Harry?" Hermione's voice stopped him from attempting to figure out the first brainteaser.

"Hmm?" he looked up to see her scanning the cover of his book, which had the title, Puzzling Brainteasers in big bold lettering.

"Where did you get that book?"

"It was a gift," Harry responded quickly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at this and glanced at Ron, who was still feeding Scabbers and not paying attention. Just as she was about to say something else, there was a knock at the door of the compartment before it slowly slid open and a head with wavy, brown hair peeked in.

"Terribly sorry if I'm interrupting something," said the girl with an obvious American accent, her visible greyish blue eye looking around the compartment before she opened the door fully. "But my friend and I were wondering if we could sit here; everywhere else is full."

With the door fully open, the trio could see her companion behind her. Messy, jaw-length white hair and bright blue eyes were clearly seen over the brunette's head, "Jazzy, are you done negotiating? My legs are aching from standing too long." Unlike his friend, he sounded properly British.

Harry's eyebrows rose. These were the strangers he saw at the Leaky Cauldron.

The brunette rolled her eyes and ignored her friend, "So… can we stay here?"

The trio exchanged looks and nodded towards the newcomers' question.

With a smile, the brunette sat by the sleeping professor with the white haired boy by the door while Harry moved to sit between Ron and Hermione.

"Where are your trunks, out of curiosity?" Hermione gave a raised brow towards the two.

The white haired boy spoke up, "We used Shrinking Charms. Wouldn't your teachers have suggested that instead of lugging those around?"

The sound of flesh hitting flesh resounded through the compartment, "Why didn't I think of that?" Ron exclaimed.

"Anyway," Hermione gave Ron a strange look. "I'm Hermione Granger."

Harry, getting the hint, gave the two a small smile, "I'm Harry Potter." Harry was slightly surprised and relieved that they only smiled and nodded at his introduction.

"Ron Weasley," he then pointed to his rat. "And this is my rat, Scabbers."

The brunette smiled brightly, "I'm Jasmine Oakwood and the prankster over here is Shippou."

'Shippou' stuck out his tongue childishly. "It's Getsuei Tanaka and I thought we agreed not to reveal what I do, Jazzy," he said, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed.

Eyes turned to the white-haired teen when he introduced himself. His name sounded Japanese, but he hardly looked Asian. Before anyone could ask about his heritage, he shrugged and said, "My mum's originally from Devon." Ron shrugged; Harry and Hermione raised eyebrows at the statement, but said nothing.

Hermione's eyes were drawn to Getsuei's hair. It was such an unnatural colour for someone who was just in his teens. It wasn't a platinum blond, but snow white, like Professor Dumbledore's beard, but it didn't look like it was dyed. Then again, she thought, one could do wonders with magic, and hair dye potions were not unheard of.

"It's real."

Hermione blinked. "Huh?" was her intelligent response.

"My hair colour," Getsuei responded with a crooked smile. "It's all natural. Not quite sure why, though. Most of my relatives have brown or auburn hair. Maybe it's a mutation…" he trailed off.

"Why, exactly, are you here?" Hermione blurted. Eyes went to her and she shook her head and continued. "We've never seen you two at Hogwarts and you're clearly not first-years."

The two blinked and looked towards one another. "We're transfers," Jasmine explained. "Your Headmaster thought it would be a good idea to open up the school for foreign students."

"'Foreign' meaning her," Getsuei quipped pointing at his companion with his thumb. "I actually received a letter two summers ago when I was already living in the States, but I was set on going to school there."

"You mean the New Salem Academy of Magic?" Hermione asked, her hand half-raised as if she was still in a classroom. She noticed Harry and Ron looking at her strangely. "Honestly, boys," she exclaimed in embarrassment, her cheeks flushed. "Don't you two read?!"

Jasmine chuckled as Ron spoke, "Not as much as you, Hermione."

Harry rolled his eyes, the puzzle book forgotten on his lap as he asked, "I'm guessing you two were close friends at Salem, yeah?"

Jasmine smiled brightly as Getsuei grinned. "Yeah, we were!" they exclaimed in unison. They paused and stared at each other, then burst into laughter. The trio seemed to be at a loss in regards to these two new students' odd behaviour.

"Anyway," Jasmine smiled, getting over her spontaneous laughing fit. "I was obviously born and raised in America, the accent being a dead giveaway." She paused and giggled a bit. "I went to Salem Academy too and I received a letter from the Headmaster this June, don't know why he sent an owl though," she trailed off in thought.

"Oh!" Getsuei exclaimed, noticing the confused stares. "Americans don't use owls for their post like Europeans. They use different types of birds like hawks, eagles or the occasional pigeon for short-distance post."

Jasmine seemed to shudder when Getsuei mentioned pigeons. "Those poor idiots," Getsuei could hear from her mutterings, earning a small grin from him.

Jasmine shot him a halfhearted glare then turned back to the trio, "Anything we should know about Hogwarts?"

The trio explained about the Houses and different professors, who to avoid and which professor was in charge of which House. Hermione was doing most of the talking, with Harry and Ron commenting here and there.

"…Oh, and be careful with my twin brothers, Fred and George," Ron added. "They have a bit of a reputation at the school as pranksters. There's a reason they call them the Terror Twins."

"They sound like my kind of people," Getsuei said as his lips stretched into a foxy-looking grin. Hermione noted that his canines were a bit longer and sharper than usually seen on people.

Jasmine rolled her eyes and elbowed the white-haired boy's side.

"Please tell me you won't get into any trouble this year," Jasmine begged.

"Fine, fine," Getsuei conceded, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "I'll try not to."

"What about Quidditch?" Getsuei asked after the explanation.

"Well, the Houses have their own teams and compete for the Quidditch Cup," Ron explained. "Harry's the Seeker for the Gryffindor team and Fred and George are Beaters. They're pretty good, but we haven't won the Cup yet…" he trailed off with a sad expression.

"A bit Quidditch-crazy, that one," Hermione joked, jabbing a thumb in the redhead's direction.

Jasmine seemed to stare off in thought, "Getsuei used to drag me to Quidditch matches, whenever there was one in town. I'm still not that… fond of them, would you say?" She said while rubbing her shoulder.

"Come on, that was one time Jazzy," Getsuei said.

She glared over at her white-haired friend. The trio exchanged worried glances when Getsuei smiled good-naturedly and breathed mental sighs of relief when she punched him lightly in the chest.

"You knew I hated flying… I still do."

"Well, maybe if you had dodged that tree you wouldn't be having this problem."

She huffed and crossed her arms, pouting as Getsuei grinned and gave her a one-armed hug.

Harry, believing this to be a private conversation, decided to not ask about the incident.

"You two seem awfully close," Hermione observed.

"You could say that," Getsuei said. "Our families are awfully close so we've pretty much grown up together."

"And I'm the only one who stands his jokes and pranks long enough," his friend grumbled.

"So, are you two…?" Ron started.

"Together? No," Jasmine replied. "It's more of a sibling relationship."

Ron was about to say something, before an orange blur came from the overhead compartment and latched onto Ron's face with a yowl.

Ron squawked loudly as he tried to protect Scabbers from Crookshanks. Scabbers squeaked in fright and dropped onto the floor.

Jasmine calmly picked up the rat and looked at it with a raised eyebrow. She then gave Crookshanks a look as he jumped onto Hermione's lap. Crookshanks returned the look with one of his own before purring under Hermione's hand.

"Here's your rat, Ron," Jasmine smiled, handing Scabbers back to the redhead.

"Control your bloody cat, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed loudly at the bushy-haired witch as Harry leaned back on his seat and raised his puzzle book to his face, as if willing himself to disappear.

"Cats chase rats, Ronald!" returned Hermione with as much intensity as was given, completely ignoring the sleeping Professor Lupin. The two newcomers could practically see the daggers as these two glared at each other.

Jasmine and Getsuei exchanged a look and sighed deeply. They suddenly tensed, but the trio was too busy to notice. The train slowed down to a stop.

"Why are we stopping so early?" Ron wondered, looking out the window. "This doesn't look like Hogsmeade."

Jasmine shivered as the temperature began to drop and Getsuei's eyes darted around quickly, as if sensing a threat.

He put a hand on Jasmine's shoulder and squeezed, somehow stopping her shivering and said, "Please wake up our esteemed Professor Lupin, Jazzy. I think we have company."