Things Will Never Be The Same Disclaimer:
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The castle was huge, and the lights from it glittered in the night, onto the lake. Julia put a hand to her forehead, it was rather hot, and she was extremely excited. Her blonde hair danced over her face and she pushed it away before pulling it into a rough pony tail.
The boat swayed a little bit and Julia stiffened, looking at the water below her boat, which was bound to be freezing. The first year behind her that shook the boat grinned sheepishly at her.
"I'm sorry," she apologised. Julia smiled at her. She was the first person to talk to her apart from Ron, the games keeper, who, she found out, was also the Quidditch coach. "Aren't you a bit big for a first year?" she asked, and Julia noticed that she was nervous.
"G'day, yes, I am," she smiled at the girls' reaction to her. "I'monexchange here for the year."
"Where are you from? You have a cool accent."
"Thanks," Julia shivered in the cold and pulled her coat around her shoulders more tightly. "Well, it's a lot warmer than here," she started grinning. "I'm from Australia."
"Really? That's pretty cool. Voldemort's reign of terror didn't reach Australia did it?"
"Sort of," Julia said pensively, "I think it affected just about everywhere in different ways. It isn't a very well known fact, but many Australian witches and wizards were stationed around Europe fighting the dark. And there were many terrorists that got to Australia also."
"Oh. That's not good," she stated obviously.
"Yeah, nothing was really good, with Voldemort concerned."
The boat scraped against the ground and Julia and the little girl, who had red hair and brown eyes got out.
"My name is Julia Stellar," Julia said as they started walking towards the castle.
"I'm Monica Weasley. My father is Ron, the games keeper."
"That's interesting," Julia said. "I met him, he seems nice. Do you have any other brothers or sisters?"
"Yes, I have two brothers, one insixth year, and one in third year, and another sister in fourth year, I'm the baby of the family," Monica said gloomily.
"Oh, that's not good."
There was silence for a little while, until they reached the great oak doors. Julia tried to take everything in, but it was all too mind boggling.
Ron knocked on the door three times and Monica went to him, Julia hanging around the back of the group.
Everyone filed in as the door opened to a stern looking woman with greying hair and sharp eyes, apart from Julia, who was stopped short by Ron.
"You're to come with me," he told her with a friendly smile, "we're meeting up with Professor Dumbledore before he takes you to the feast."
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David laughed as Sarah told him of her holiday in Australia, where Daniel, her twin brother, was chased by an emu on the plains.
"We were visiting family. He still has a scratch on his cheek," she finished, laughing. "Where did he go anyway?"
"The bathroom," David said. "Do you know why Dumbledore isn't here?" he asked Sarah.
"No idea," she said with a shrug.
Just then the first years filed in and Daniel snuck in behind them.
"Look, there's Monica," Robert told them. David focused on the pretty little girl and smiled proudly. She was like his sister, as much as she was Roberts.
"Isn't she cute in her uniform?" Sarah said. She had met Monica once, but she had changed a bit since then. Daniel grinned.
"Oh, she's hot alright," he joked. David and Robert both punched him playfully on the shoulders. "Sorry, I was joking, no need to get defensive."
All the girls loved Daniel, David wouldnt be surprised if he'd impress a veela. And he did use his looks to get what he wanted, which gave Daniel the shits, but they were friends all the same.
Sarah, though not as manipulative as Daniel, was also very good looking. They were identical twins, and as Sarah had grown the guys had began to drool over her and much as the girls did with Daniel.
Robert, like his father and the rest of his family, had red hair and freckles, though his hair was fluffy like his mothers. He was tall, and lanky, but the best friend around.
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Julia felt her nervousness grow as she and Dumbledore waited out in a back room for her name to be announced. When it was, no applause greeted it, only silence. Dumbledore had said it was a surprise and no one knew about her coming, so she imagined they were all confused as to why this new student got extra notice.
The two walked out and Julia went to the front of the stage, rubbing her gloved hands over her throat, it instantly warmed and she spoke loudly.
"Hello. My name, as you know, is Julia Stellar. I will be spending the year at Hogwarts. I'm staying with a family from London, who has a daughter here, Jessica Powers. I'm from Australia, the land 'down under'," she said with a nervous laugh. Almost all the people in the hall had their gazes fixed on her.
"I have been lead to believe that I am the first foreign exchange student to be here in Hogwarts, and I am very glad your school has been kind enough to allow me this experience.
"I was asked to talk to you about my country, and tell you a little about myself. So here goes:
"My country, The Commonwealth of Australia, was part of the British Empire for a long time, in 1901 we gained our own government. Then, in 2007, we became a Republic and separated our country from the rule of the Queen. We gained a new flag, a new anthem, and new currency. The magical community had nothing to do with this.
"During the vote most of our witches and wizards were fighting the war with our mother country, England."
Julia paused for a moment to let her words sink in, a tear staining her cheek. She hoped no one had noticed.
"I have a little English Ancestry, but it is mainly German and Norwegian. I guess I have a little bit of a lot of things in me, actually.
"Anyway, my favourite subjects in Australia are AQL, which is a class dedicated to the Australian Quidditch League. It's different to Quidditch here. If anyone would like to know about it, be sure to ask!" Julia grinned. A lot of the boys looked interested in that, as well as some of the girls. As she scanned the hall while she was talking she noticed that the table on the far left had a bunch of quite sour looking people.
"Another favourite subject of mine is Magical Creatures. In Australia we have quite a few different animals than you guys. For one thing, we don't have Werewolves. We have a type of Dingo (that's like a dog), which has the same effects though. Then I also love Defence Against the Dark Arts. In Australia it's something we take very seriously. Ok, so we didn't have a Voldemort, but we have had a lot of dark wizards and witches, which is understandable, seeing as we started out as a convict nation, and most of us have convict ancestors. But the Australian Ministry is so over the top that most people dont get past even small amounts of bullying..."
Julia cleared her throat.
"Well, that's really all I have time for before Dumbledore kicks me off," there were a few chuckles, "so I hope to talk to you later!"
Julia rubbed her throat again and sat down at the Ravenclaw table. She was to spend a quarter of the year with each house, and first was Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor, then Slytherin, then Hufflepuff.
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"I'm guessing she's a Ravenclaw," David said. "Pity, I would have liked to have gotten to know her a bit."
"Yeah, but she seems nice," Sarah said. "I'm sure she's not going to be judgemental."
Once the feast had finished David, Sarah, Daniel and Robert all went straight to Gryffindor Tower.
"So, David, how's life at the orphanage?" Daniel asked, flopping onto a chair, his hair falling lightly over his face into his eyes as he grinned. He knew David hated the orphanage, and like to joke about it.
"Oh, it's great, you know," David said casually, "I was made to wash all the sheets and things because I accidentally spilt red cordial all over my muggle friends' sheets. Absolutely spiffing!"
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Julia opened her eyes and was met with the royal blue of her bed hangings. She yawned, stretched, and then pulled open the hangings. All the other girls, it seemed, were up already. The sun was shining through the window and casting shadows across the floor.
Julia got up, dressed and looked at the magic watch on her arm. It had a winged kangaroo behind the twelve hands. It was 11:00am. It was very unusual for her to sleep in, and she quickly went into the bathroom, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and made her way to the grounds, where she had seen people milling around from her window.
It was chilly outside, yet people seemed amazingly used to it.
"Julia!"
Haley Quist, a muggle-born witch in Ravenclaw raced up to her, grinning.
"Hey," Julia smiled at her. Haley was a round-faced witch with bright blue eyes and short cut blonde hair. She was chubby, but extremely sweet.
"Guess what?"
"I can't guess... what?"
"The Gryffindor boys, who are like, the most gorgeous guys in the school, were asking about you this morning."
"Oh, ok." Julia couldn't help but grin slightly. "Who are they?"
"Daniel Lovegood, David Martin and Robert Weasley. There are two other guys in our year that are Gryffindors, but they're not like... as popular. Daniel and Robert are really the only ones that date. David is a poofter, well, so everyone believes. He doesn't care though. He's the Gryffindor seeker, and he's never lost them a game, so everyone still likes him, even with the homosexual reputation." Haley said as she walked Julia over to where the other Ravenclaw girls were.
"Morning Julia," Renee Chang said. She was a pretty girl, half Asian. Her mother was Cho Chang, and her father left when she was two. Julia had been told that last night when she'd met all the girls in her dorm. Jessica was two years younger than her, so they weren't in the same dormitory. Millicent Rosemary, Artemis Maigre and Lee Smith were also there, finishing the Ravenclaw 6th year girls. "Some of the Gryffindor guys were looking for you earlier. They've gone now though."
"Oh well, if they are interested in knowing anything, they'll be back."
"Yes, I guess you are right," Renee replied.
Julia and the girls sat around and talked for an hour, until it was 12:30, and then they went in the castle for lunch. It was warm in the Great Hall and Julia, who had been getting cold, welcomed the warmth.
"Ah it's nicer in here, not so cold!" Julia said, pretending to be in heaven. Renee pointed over to the table next to theirs, which was Gryffindor.
"See the guy with the red hair in the middle of the two dark haired boys?" Julia nodded. "Well, that's Robert Weasley, the guy on the left is Daniel Lovegood and the other one, on the right, is David Martin."
David looked over at her and caught her eye, she grinned and quickly turned back to facing her own table, feeling slightly breathless and giggly. He was extremely good looking, and he looked like he had a nice body too. His hair was dark brown, it might have even been black, and she couldn't really see what colour his eyes were, but they looked dark.
Artemis giggled too. "He's still looking at you," she whispered. She was facing the Gryffindor table anyway, and so it wouldn't look so obvious if she was looking.
Julia, who could feel his eyes on her back, felt her face redden. The other girls laughed at her. "Be quiet," she laughed.
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After lunch David went alone down to the lake, saying he had to go and see Ron, and he declined politely when the other guys offered to join him. He wanted to think...
His father had left him... then his mother not long after that... whoever she was... but why? What was wrong with him? Dumbledore had told him that they were both alive, and who his father was, but had said it wasnt his place to say who his mother was... well then who's place was it? No one else was going to tell him.
David kicked the water, soaking his boot and socks. He would find out one day... it was just a matter of when...
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There we are, i fixed some mistakes! on to the next chapter! please review!!!