Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to the beautiful JK Rowling and I am making no profit off this work.
Dear Mum and Dad,
The trip on the Navi ship went fine, although Rose kept on griping about the food. Can you ask Hugo to tell her to shut up? The journey only took about three days and we got to stop in Jamaica for a day and we bought a few souvenirs. No, I didn't spend all our money, don't worry Mum. And yes, we checked that everything was perfectly non-magical, don't worry dad. We just got to New York last night, or I suppose it was this morning and I wrote this letter right after we reached, just like you said. We're going to Ilvermorny later today. I really should go to sleep now since it's about three in the morning and we will be meeting the people who are going to show us around at eight. Rose is already passed out.
Good night (or I suppose it's good morning in Britain)
Albus
The morning dawned with a harsh brightness and Albus belatedly remembered that he'd forgotten to close the curtains the night before. Squeezing his eyes shut, he groaned and tried to roll over, trying to block out the intrusive sunlight. After a few frustrating moments, he resigned himself to getting up and padded over to the window, shielding his eyes.
His room faced the Muggle part of New York and he felt quite dizzy watching the cars zoom by. The sun had risen only an hour ago and New York was already fully alive. Even in London, there had never been so much traffic.
Or, he supposed sensibly, he'd just never been in a Muggle enough part of London.
After dressing, he shrugged on a jacket, pocketed his key and walked across the hall to Rose's room. He had to knock on it several times before she wrenched the door open, her eyes bleary and her face twisted in a scowl.
"What?" she asked angrily.
"Y'know, we are in a foreign country and the only person is this place you know is me so you really should be nice," Albus said mildly.
"The only thing I need to do is go back to sleep. And the only thing you need to do is shut up. Now leave."
She moved to slam the door shut.
"You realize that we have to meet with our American contact in about half an hour," Albus said, drawing her up short.
He quite enjoyed the way her scowl dropped.
"Oh…" Rose murmured.
"Yeah oh… I'm going to get breakfast downstairs. You best get ready. I'll be surprised if you even have time to eat."
She stuck her tongue out at him and slammed the door shut.
He shrugged and continued downstairs.
The hotel - the Blue Kneezle - was quite nice, he thought, looking around. It was clearly meant to hold a far greater amount of people than the Leaky Cauldron and was decorated very carefully. He'd read that the Muggles saw it as an abandoned department store.
The lobby was almost full when he walked in and he proceeded to bump into the majority of people who were milling around.
Cheeks burning, he ducked his head and meekly started eating his eggs. Rose came down twenty minutes later in her new bright blue and red robes. Albus glared at her as she sat down.
"What?" She asked, grinning at him.
"What the bloody hell are you wearing? Everybody is staring at us," he hissed, nodding at the witches and wizards were glancing bemusedly at them.
"You are such a people-pleaser. No wonder you're not a Gryffindor. Now where the hell is the food?"
Before Albus could open his mouth, they were accosted by an extremely tall and thin witch.
"Albus Potter and Rose Weasley?" she asked, looking at them keenly.
"We - yes," Albus muttered, rather intimidated.
"Excellent," the woman boomed. "I am Akira Nakamura, Head of the Foreign Liaison Department at the Magical Congress of the United States of America."
"Um… Good morning?" Rose said.
"I will be showing you a little bit of magical New York City today and will go to Ilvermorny this evening," Nakamura continued as if she hadn't heard Rose. "But first - the forms."
She placed a thick stack of forms on the table. Rose and Albus' jaws dropped.
They hastily started signing.
"One last thing," Nakamura said when they finished, their hands aching. "Your wand permit. This is the most important thing I have to give you and you must keep it with you at all times. Without it, you are absolutely forbidden to use magic anywhere in MACUSA domain."
Albus had heard of wand permits as he accepted his. Apparently, wizards and witches in North America were absolutely cutthroat about the Statute of Secrecy.
After they had carefully stowed away their permits, Rose and Albus meekly followed Nakamura to the entrance to Vetita Lane, which Albus guessed was the American counterpart to Diagon Alley.
The first thing he noticed about the place was that it was far more uniform than Diagon Alley ever was. It was obvious that someone had carefully planned the street, whereas Diagon Alley sometimes felt that it had grown out haphazardly from the ground. Albus felt a stab of homesickness and thought wistfully of the Hogwarts Express, which was surely heading for the castle about then.
Nakamura glanced back at them with practiced haughtiness. "MACUSA has already taken care of providing for your school materials and robes. Provided of course that you have given us the correct specifications?"
Both Rose and Albus nodded hastily.
"Excellent. We will only be taking a quick trip down to Gringotts then to exchange your money."
The rest of the day passed in a haze. Nakamura whisked them through Wisteria Avenue, apparently the American version of Diagon Alley, at breakneck pace to Gringotts, where they exchanged their Galleons for Dragots, and then to a sleepy government office where they received their school materials and, without giving either Rose or Albus a chance to catch their breath, they were standing with their hands halfway stretched to a tin can doubling as a port key.
Nakamura's harsh face softened slightly and Albus realized with a start that there was something resembling beauty in her face.
"I do hope you two will have a good year at Ilvermorny. Be assured, we all hope you have an excellent time, especially as it has been a good forty years since Ilvermorny and Hogwarts have participated in an exchange."
After a chorus of thank yous and well wishes, Rose and Albus placed their hands lightly on the sides of the portkey. Albus scrunched his eyes shut, willing his body not to vomit as the familiar uncomfortable sensation swirled suddenly in his stomach.
Dear Albus,
We're glad to hear you're having such a nice time. You went to Jamaica then? James won't stop griping about how "unfair" it is that you're having such fun while he is "studying both his and Merlin's pants off." Do make sure you send something to him and Lily soon. We aren't sure if we can stand this much longer. In any case, be careful of what you eat (nobody has forgotten about the Puking Pumpkin Incident, I assure you) and make sure you're learning. Of course neither you nor Rose need much reminder of that.
We look forward to hearing about your adventures!
Love,
Mum and Dad
Hope you enjoyed! Updates will be pretty often. If you liked it, please remember to comment! Tell me what you would like to see in Ilvermorny.