Chapter One: There's Something In My Mashed Potatoes!
Ron was starving. He looked up anxiously up toward the staff table, where the Sorting Hat was placing the next batch of first year students. He sighed with relief as the last nervous, trembling little girl got up, and skipped off happily toward Ravenclaw. In fact, his mind was so engrossed in what his stomach was doing, that he didn't notice two people suddenly appear in the middle of the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy noticed. He couldn't not notice, since one of the two, a smaller form completely covered in a royal blue cloak, was standing right in the middle of the platter of mashed potatoes in front of him.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and most of the other students, stood up on the benches to get a better look at what was going on across the room. The staff table was simply staring in shock, all except Dumbledore, who looked suspiciously like he was about to burst out laughing, and Snape, who gave bother newcomers a disapproving stare.
As if frozen, neither form moved for a moment, and then, suddenly, the smaller form pulled back the hood of its cloak, and rose a few feet in the air as to be on the same eye level as the tall, shimmering form beside her.
And it was a her. A rather short girl with dark brown hair was all Harry could make out from his vantage point, that, and a very angry expression on her face. But she said nothing. That was the most curious part. Her facial expressions would change from angry, to simply smoldering, to angry and back again, but for all Harry was straining his ears, he couldn't hear a single word.
The shimmering form was harder to make out. While the shorter stranger was a very sold, concrete looking girl with mashed potatoes dripping off her shoes, the taller form was semi-transparent, and for all that he had managed to land in the middle of the gravy, there was no sign of food on his clothes.
The hall remained in total silence for what seemed like ages while the newcomers stared at each other intently. Then Dumbledore discretely cleared his throat, and both heads snapped in his direction, as if they had been unaware of his presence before. The girl turned bright red as the taller form moved a shimmering hand to the small of her back and guided her straight down the Slytherin table, which they floated right off the end of, not setting foot on the ground until they reached the staff table, where the shimmer form came to a "landing" right in front of Dumbledore.
"Sorry about the entrance Professor Dumbledore, we were caught up a bit and- "
"What he means is he completely forgot about the time change," came a disgruntled female voice as the girl cut off her tall companion.
As soon as the strangers opened their mouths, whispering erupted all over the Great Hall. There had been some strange spectacles at meals before, but a pair of Americans dropping right out of thin air ranked up there with the best of them.
"What are Yanks doing here?" Ron whispered to Harry.
"Shhhh, Dumbledore's talking," Hermione was intent on hearing everything. The boys re-focused their attention on the high table. Dumbledore was speaking.
"Well, I must say Juaquin, I was hoping that at least you would have arrived in person. But, I should have known you'd be too busy to come away... You don't think it would have been better to send the girl by the Express?"
"I was confidant it would be faster if-"
"He wanted to show off, is what he means, Professor. He got all excited when he found out that he would be taking me instead of my mentor, Professor de La Vega."
Dumbledore looked up sharply at the girl, as if he hadn't noticed her there before. "Indeed... well, would you be good enough to make the introductions, Juaquin?"
The shimmering form seemed to hold his head a little higher. "Lucy, this is the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, and the Hogwarts faculty, your future teachers. Headmaster, Professors, this is Lucy."
She was facing the staff table, but only Hagrid and Dumbledore caught the Look Lucy flashed when Juaquin introduced her in such an offhand, unimportant manner.
In a voice that sounded as if it was meant for just the faculty, but which carried to the furthest corner of the room, Dumbledore added, "Miss Montero is a recent graduate of the Intermediate program at the Espiritu Institute in New Mexico, and will be joining the Hogwarts student body this year."
At this all the student tables erupted in gossip, but no one had time to worry about stopping it, as soon as they saw the figures at the head table begin to talk, they fells silent, eager to hear more.
"And now, headmaster, you must forgive me, I'm afraid I can't stay long in this form, I'm recovering from a nasty Enchantment Flu and staying in limbo this long takes a lot out of me." Even as he spoke, the shape of Juaquin began flickering more and more rapidly.
The new girl, Lucy, gave a snort. "Typical, cause a mess and leave me to clean it up."
Juaquin gave her a Look, before Dumbledore said, "Yes, yes, quite right, you may return to your body Juaquin, although I would like to speak to Professor de La Vege directly."
Juaquin gave a curt nod. "He rather thought you would sir. I believe Lucy knows how to get in touch with him, if she feels up to it, of course."
"I feel fine, why don't you go back and lie down, Juaquin, you look positively exhausted." Lucy gave Juaquin a contemptuous stare as what remained of his form dissipated in a little puff of blue sparks.
"Professor McGonagall, if you would be kind enough to stop and bring that hat back here a moment, I believe we have one more student to place."
A rather bemused McGonagall place the three-legged stool down where it was, and motioned for Lucy to come over."
As Lucy began to float across the room again, McGonagall, quite firmly said, "On the ground, if you please." Lucy dropped the three inches immediately and walked, somewhat shakily, to the stool, sagging a bit as she sat down and the Sorting Hat was dropped on her head.
The minute the old hat touched her brow, however, Lucy's glum face lit up. Her expressions kept changing from mere contentment, to deep concentration, to near-laughter. No one except McGonagall and Dumbledore seemed to know what was going on, and only McGonagall seemed determined to stop it.
"IF YOU PLEASE!" The hat gave a guilty little start, and Lucy smothered her smile, looking discretely away from McGonagall as the hat boomed out, "Gryffindor!"
With extreme reluctance, Lucy took off the hat and, somewhat unsteadily, leaning heavily on the ends of the four tables, followed McGonagall's pointed finger to the Gryffindor table at the end of the hall. The students were so confused as to what was going on, they didn't even think to cheer, and it was the first time a new Hogwarts student had not been met by the house-mates with applause.
The table was full, and Lucy, somewhat unsure of what to do, wavered there, as Draco Malfoy's voice came sharply across the room.
"Leave it to Gryffindor to attract the world-wide trash! Honestly, an Am-" Draco's rant was cut short as a particularly large drumstick bashed him in the side of the head, knocking him off balance and over the back of the bench. He got to his feet, sputtering, "Who threw that! Come on, who was it?" But none of the Slytherins could point a finger, it was as if the drumstick had flown completely on its own.
None of the Gryffindors had been looking at Malfoy, so most of them caught the little wrinkle that had appeared on Lucy's forehead as she stared intently at the window behind them, the window that reflected Draco's position across the hall. And nobody missed the little smile of satisfaction on Lucy's face as Draco fell, his legs flying up over his head, off the bench.
As the rest of the hall laughed, George and Fred both ushered Lucy over toward them, and the entire Gryffindor table looked intently at Malfoy, laughing and applauding.
Ron was starving. He looked up anxiously up toward the staff table, where the Sorting Hat was placing the next batch of first year students. He sighed with relief as the last nervous, trembling little girl got up, and skipped off happily toward Ravenclaw. In fact, his mind was so engrossed in what his stomach was doing, that he didn't notice two people suddenly appear in the middle of the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy noticed. He couldn't not notice, since one of the two, a smaller form completely covered in a royal blue cloak, was standing right in the middle of the platter of mashed potatoes in front of him.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and most of the other students, stood up on the benches to get a better look at what was going on across the room. The staff table was simply staring in shock, all except Dumbledore, who looked suspiciously like he was about to burst out laughing, and Snape, who gave bother newcomers a disapproving stare.
As if frozen, neither form moved for a moment, and then, suddenly, the smaller form pulled back the hood of its cloak, and rose a few feet in the air as to be on the same eye level as the tall, shimmering form beside her.
And it was a her. A rather short girl with dark brown hair was all Harry could make out from his vantage point, that, and a very angry expression on her face. But she said nothing. That was the most curious part. Her facial expressions would change from angry, to simply smoldering, to angry and back again, but for all Harry was straining his ears, he couldn't hear a single word.
The shimmering form was harder to make out. While the shorter stranger was a very sold, concrete looking girl with mashed potatoes dripping off her shoes, the taller form was semi-transparent, and for all that he had managed to land in the middle of the gravy, there was no sign of food on his clothes.
The hall remained in total silence for what seemed like ages while the newcomers stared at each other intently. Then Dumbledore discretely cleared his throat, and both heads snapped in his direction, as if they had been unaware of his presence before. The girl turned bright red as the taller form moved a shimmering hand to the small of her back and guided her straight down the Slytherin table, which they floated right off the end of, not setting foot on the ground until they reached the staff table, where the shimmer form came to a "landing" right in front of Dumbledore.
"Sorry about the entrance Professor Dumbledore, we were caught up a bit and- "
"What he means is he completely forgot about the time change," came a disgruntled female voice as the girl cut off her tall companion.
As soon as the strangers opened their mouths, whispering erupted all over the Great Hall. There had been some strange spectacles at meals before, but a pair of Americans dropping right out of thin air ranked up there with the best of them.
"What are Yanks doing here?" Ron whispered to Harry.
"Shhhh, Dumbledore's talking," Hermione was intent on hearing everything. The boys re-focused their attention on the high table. Dumbledore was speaking.
"Well, I must say Juaquin, I was hoping that at least you would have arrived in person. But, I should have known you'd be too busy to come away... You don't think it would have been better to send the girl by the Express?"
"I was confidant it would be faster if-"
"He wanted to show off, is what he means, Professor. He got all excited when he found out that he would be taking me instead of my mentor, Professor de La Vega."
Dumbledore looked up sharply at the girl, as if he hadn't noticed her there before. "Indeed... well, would you be good enough to make the introductions, Juaquin?"
The shimmering form seemed to hold his head a little higher. "Lucy, this is the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, and the Hogwarts faculty, your future teachers. Headmaster, Professors, this is Lucy."
She was facing the staff table, but only Hagrid and Dumbledore caught the Look Lucy flashed when Juaquin introduced her in such an offhand, unimportant manner.
In a voice that sounded as if it was meant for just the faculty, but which carried to the furthest corner of the room, Dumbledore added, "Miss Montero is a recent graduate of the Intermediate program at the Espiritu Institute in New Mexico, and will be joining the Hogwarts student body this year."
At this all the student tables erupted in gossip, but no one had time to worry about stopping it, as soon as they saw the figures at the head table begin to talk, they fells silent, eager to hear more.
"And now, headmaster, you must forgive me, I'm afraid I can't stay long in this form, I'm recovering from a nasty Enchantment Flu and staying in limbo this long takes a lot out of me." Even as he spoke, the shape of Juaquin began flickering more and more rapidly.
The new girl, Lucy, gave a snort. "Typical, cause a mess and leave me to clean it up."
Juaquin gave her a Look, before Dumbledore said, "Yes, yes, quite right, you may return to your body Juaquin, although I would like to speak to Professor de La Vege directly."
Juaquin gave a curt nod. "He rather thought you would sir. I believe Lucy knows how to get in touch with him, if she feels up to it, of course."
"I feel fine, why don't you go back and lie down, Juaquin, you look positively exhausted." Lucy gave Juaquin a contemptuous stare as what remained of his form dissipated in a little puff of blue sparks.
"Professor McGonagall, if you would be kind enough to stop and bring that hat back here a moment, I believe we have one more student to place."
A rather bemused McGonagall place the three-legged stool down where it was, and motioned for Lucy to come over."
As Lucy began to float across the room again, McGonagall, quite firmly said, "On the ground, if you please." Lucy dropped the three inches immediately and walked, somewhat shakily, to the stool, sagging a bit as she sat down and the Sorting Hat was dropped on her head.
The minute the old hat touched her brow, however, Lucy's glum face lit up. Her expressions kept changing from mere contentment, to deep concentration, to near-laughter. No one except McGonagall and Dumbledore seemed to know what was going on, and only McGonagall seemed determined to stop it.
"IF YOU PLEASE!" The hat gave a guilty little start, and Lucy smothered her smile, looking discretely away from McGonagall as the hat boomed out, "Gryffindor!"
With extreme reluctance, Lucy took off the hat and, somewhat unsteadily, leaning heavily on the ends of the four tables, followed McGonagall's pointed finger to the Gryffindor table at the end of the hall. The students were so confused as to what was going on, they didn't even think to cheer, and it was the first time a new Hogwarts student had not been met by the house-mates with applause.
The table was full, and Lucy, somewhat unsure of what to do, wavered there, as Draco Malfoy's voice came sharply across the room.
"Leave it to Gryffindor to attract the world-wide trash! Honestly, an Am-" Draco's rant was cut short as a particularly large drumstick bashed him in the side of the head, knocking him off balance and over the back of the bench. He got to his feet, sputtering, "Who threw that! Come on, who was it?" But none of the Slytherins could point a finger, it was as if the drumstick had flown completely on its own.
None of the Gryffindors had been looking at Malfoy, so most of them caught the little wrinkle that had appeared on Lucy's forehead as she stared intently at the window behind them, the window that reflected Draco's position across the hall. And nobody missed the little smile of satisfaction on Lucy's face as Draco fell, his legs flying up over his head, off the bench.
As the rest of the hall laughed, George and Fred both ushered Lucy over toward them, and the entire Gryffindor table looked intently at Malfoy, laughing and applauding.