SCOTTY MIDNIGHT – Atchison London

"Damnit Arthur!" Molly exclaimed as she crammed into the muggle van they had gotten over the summer, "I told you we should've left earlier." In the trunk were bags for six children. If they were going to make it to the Hogwarts Express, it would be a miracle. Or maybe just magic…

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in the back together with Ginny, Fred, and George in front of them. Fred and George were teasing Ginny about boys and bugging her in other assorted ways as the van started up to drive like an owl with a howler. "Why do you think Dumbledore made that new rule about not wearing robes and the lot?" Hermione asked quizzically, a tone almost never heard from her.

Harry sat against the window, propping his head upon his hand. He seemed to ignore the question and be more interested in the cloudy sky outside. Ron, who sat between the two, finally answered, "Maybe with all the transfers Hogwarts couldn't get any more." Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes, not even caring about the joke he had made.

Harry suddenly became interested in the contents of his pockets. He had gotten himself a muggle cell-phone, as the rest of the crew had, but that wasn't what he was looking for. He took out an envelope, covered in the beautiful writing of Albus Dumbledore. He handed it to Ron and Hermione, their hands barely waiting to open it.

" 'Harry, I would like to inform you not to pack any of your school robes,' " Hermione read aloud, " ' This is merely a safety precaution, for if any Death Eaters were to penetrate the school, they would expect students in robes.' " She stopped reading with a perplexed look on her face. "I'm not exactly sure whether that is stupid or genius," she stated, dumbstruck.

The many conversations that took place in the car ride varied on topic, but always kept off one subject: Sirius Black. Sirius had died, and Harry took it hard. He revealed to Ron and Hermione that he had taken up self-mutilation, so they stayed away from that subject like a slug from salt. They finally reached the train station and unpacked the numerous bags. "Go, go, go!" Molly rushed them. They immediately ran into platform 9 ¾, in more than one way. Most of the students were already on the train, and, surprising, most of them were sitting in the front.

Harry led the others, having lost Fred and George along the line somewhere. As they neared the second to last car, they noticed a blonde head, belonging to Luna Lovegood. "There you are," she said, in her usual dreamy tone, "We decided to sit with the transfer students from Misthills Academy in California." She led them into the last cart, which seemed to be much larger than expected. As they stepped in, they heard one last person rushing on.

"You've got to be kidding me," a voice stated from behind them. A silvery blonde head followed them in and closed the door. "I'm stuck with you?" Draco Malfoy teased. Over the summer, he had gotten to like them better, somehow. He had even sent them letters announcing it. Harry and the others that he came with chuckled. "Hey Draco," they each said, or something along the lines of it, and patted him on the back. They then all seemed to remember at the same time, that there were the American kids here.

One boy, tall and skinny, got up, seeming to be the leader of them. His hair was jet black with blood red tips. "Um… Hi. I'm Scotty Midnight. These losers are too chicken to introduce themselves, so I volunteered." He was adorned in all black, with a little red and white in places. He raised his hand to shake any of the other students. Harry took Scotty's hand and shook it firmly. "Harry, Harry Potter," he introduced.

When most of the introductions had gotten done, the seasoned Hogwarts students knew that there was sitting with them, Annabelle Jointsnap, a girl with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair, Ophelia Ebony, a pale girl with black hair, Trevor Bloodstain, a tall muscular boy with curly tan hair, but there was one boy sitting against the window who had yet to introduce himself. He was sitting across from Malfoy, so Malfoy chose to say hello. "Hey, um… you didn't introduce himself," he said to the boy, nudging his arm.

The boy sighed. "I wouldn't want to get killed," he said, uncaringly.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows at this. "Killed? None of us would kill you." He sounded accused.

"You might not," he muttered, then pointing at Harry, "But he will."

Harry looked perplexed. "And why in hell would I want to do that?"

The boy sighed as he looked Harry in the green eyes, swiping a strand of hair from his own vision. "My name is Tom Riddle," he began, looking at the astonished faces of the Brits, all but the blonde girl that had originally sat with them, "Junior."

Harry then winced; "Um… so you're Voldemort's…" he trailed off. Ron twitched a little at this, for he had gotten better at hearing the name.

"Son," Tom finished. "I am the son of the man that tried to kill you. Isn't that a comforting thought?" he added, gloomily, but with a smirk.

"Er…" Harry started again, "Then who's your mum?"

"I'll give you a hint," he rolled his eyes, "His aunt." He pointed at Draco.

Draco's eye twitched. "B-B-Bellatrix?"

"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner," Tom replied sarcastically. His friends were quiet, not wanting to ruin the somberness of the conversation. Tom again whisked his black hair out of his bright green eyes.

After quite a few moments of silence, the food-cart wheeled into the back car of the train. "Um… can I get a chocolate frog?" the deep voice of Trevor Bloodstain asked, soon getting his requested item. By the time the cart wheeled back out, Ron and Trevor each had a chocolate frog, Ophelia had a package of every-flavored beans, and Scotty was scarfing down a batwing brownie. Ophelia was ranting about the "u" in "flavour" or, as it's spelled in America, "flavor." Hermione found this annoying and Ginny found it humorous. Trevor and Ron were discussing chocolate frogs, and Ron's almost fell out of his mouth when Trevor said that he never kept the cards.

All the new students seemed to be enjoying themselves, except Tom. Harry stared at him, unsure what to make of him. Friend or foe? He had obviously been sent overseas, most likely because neither Voldemort nor Bellatrix would be capable of rearing offspring. So he had no influence from them… good.

Trevor and Scotty exchanged glances, and Scotty nodded. It was time. "Um… Trevor and myself would like to let you know things, just so you can know everything, especially since you already know about Tom." Tom glared at his friend. Scotty started, since his speech was less important than Trevor's. He sighed. "I'm no public speaker, that's obvious, but I just kinda thought that you should know, since it seems like we've all become fast friends." He glanced at the faces of the Brits. "I'm bisexual."

"Well, that's not half as bad as I expected, af—" Harry ended his sentence short, not wishing to offend Tom. "That's not bad at all." Tom rolled his eyes as Trevor got up and Scotty sat down.

"My speech is a bit more," he paused, looking for the right word, "Shocking." As he spoke, Luna noticed something… not exactly peculiar about him, but different. Definitely different. Ginny and Hermione stared at him, swooning, noticeably. Scotty did too, but more secretly. He just laid it on them, Heather-style. "I'm a vampire."

Hermione gasped and the other Brits looked astonished, except for Luna. She had noticed something, his fangs as he spoke, the lumps on his shoulderblades whenever he turned around. He embarrassedly smirked as he sat down. "But I thought that the Ministry of Magic classified Vampires as non-Wizards."

Trevor sighed. His expression, however, then changed to a proud look. "I guess they didn't tell you about what happened in the US Ministry of Magic." He smirked at Hermione's frustration of not knowing something. Scotty saw and understood her expression, trying not to crack up. Trevor was an idiot, except for when it came to vampires. "In New York, the city that the USMM is in, a large group of vampires held a protest, called the Black Parade, to prove that they were equal to wizards. Well, the MM finally gave in and the one over here followed suit.

Hermione sat in astonishment that she hadn't heard this. Ophelia walked to Hermione and maneuvered for Ginny to scooch over. Ophelia sat down in the now empty spot, and whispered to Hermione, "Just a heads up, when it comes to anything except vampires, he is a total airhead." Hermione and Ginny giggled at this, and Ophelia moved back next to Annabelle. Scotty looked concernedly at Belle. "Belle, you okay?" he asked. She nodded, perplexedly.

"Sorry, I'm just feeling quiet," she explained. To this Scotty leaned back into his own seat. Suddenly, at about the same time, Ophelia randomly announced, "Grapefruit!" as Luna started to say, "I could really go for a grapefruit." The whole car, even Tom, cracked up at the spontaneous telepathy of the outbursts. The two girls got up to find the snack cart, and Ophelia linked arms with Luna, just a friendly gesture.

As the two girls left the car, Harry moved to next to Tom. "Er… Hi," he said as he sat next to his mortal enemy's son. All he got in response was a gold glare. Outside it began to rain. "Listen, Tom, I just wanted to tell you, I'm not holding your background against you. I don't care that you're the son of Voldemort and Bellatrix." He felt the glare soften a bit. "Thanks," Tom replied, a soft smile replacing his glare.

Belle was now sitting with Hermione and Ginny, telling them some story about Misthills. Harry, Tom, and Draco were talking about something intriguing, and Luna and Ophelia were still out looking for grapefruits. Ron, Trevor, and Scotty, however, sat silently. "So…" started Scotty, looking for something to talk about. Trevor had nothing to say, and said nothing, leaving Scotty to come up with something, or Ron. "Either of you any good at Quidditch?" Ron finally asked.

"Eh. I've played a bit, but I'm not that good," said Scotty. Ron nodded, knowing that not everyone was blessed with skill.

"I've played a bit, but I don't play competitively." Ron nodded again. Luna and Ophelia walked back in, arms still linked. "We lucked out!" Ophelia announced, taking a seat next to her new friend.

"We got grapefruit juice and grapefruit slices," Luna stated, still dreamily. She took a sip from a small cup as Ophelia took a bite of grapefruit. "How can you eat them like that?" Hermione asked, astonished. "Years of training," Ophelia answered. Luna nodded in agreement, as if this were a true statement.

Scotty was sharing stories with Harry. Harry was about to tell him a story when Scotty interrupted about having heard in the newspaper. Trevor was enthralled in telling a story to Ginny and Hermione, who were swooning over him. Riddle and Malfoy were sharing their problems, mainly about having Death Eater parents, with each other. Ophelia and Luna weren't even really talking about anything. Ophelia switched from topic to topic and Luna didn't seem to mind, or notice. However, two of the students were being very quiet.

Ron saw out of the corner of his eye a beautiful face. He looked and smiled, seeing that Belle wished to sit next to him. "Sure, you can," he answered, scooting over. He looked at her, letting all her beauty seep in. Scotty glanced over and chuckled. "Um… so…" Ron stuttered, trying to start a conversation.

Belle chuckled at his lack of words. "You, my good man," she said in a mocking tone, "Have quite a way with words." She then broke out cracking up, and Ron soon joined her. They laughed together until their eyes watered, and some after that.

Just then, the train came to a halt. The group left their car, their bags having been taken to their rooms already. Harry and Scotty led the group, which had officially become one instead of two. The transfers had taken to calling the non-transfers of the group "The Brits", while the Brits were calling the newbies "The Yanks," both fitting nicknames. They overcast sky was now black, the air cold. Ginny almost giggled when she noticed Ron and Belle walking awfully close. Ron almost chuckled when he noticed the way Hermione and Ginny were looking at Trevor dreamily.

Running toward the group came Fred, George, and Neville. "Oi!" the twins yelled in unison, and Neville waved. "So, made friends with the transfers?" mocked Fred. "Or did you adopt them?" George replied, both snickering. "Hi, I'm Neville," Neville stated, shaking Scotty's hand. Scotty sighed, not wanting to have to introduce everyone. He made a hand gesture for the rest of the Yanks to come from behind him. They each waved and introduced themselves, much to Scotty's pleasure. Again, Tom did not introduce himself. Scotty glared and Tom stepped forward, much closer to the three than anyone else was. He would have to get used to this. "I am Tom Riddle Jr., the son of Lord Voldemort," Neville's hand squeezed into a fist, "And Bellatrix Lestrange." After the shock passed and some mocking from the twins, the group dissolved back to how it had been.

A large carriage rode up to them. Most of the group saw it just flying, some thinking it enchanted. However, Harry, Luna, and Neville saw black, reptilian horses, called Thestrals, pulling it. Trevor and Scotty approached the Thestrals. Tom held his ground, but didn't get in the carriage. Harry murmured to the three Yanks, "You see 'em, too?" They each nodded. It was a given that Trevor had seen death, since he was a vampire, and the same with Tom, for a different reason. But Scotty didn't seem the type. Luna put a warm hand on Scotty's shoulder, "Who did you see?" she whispered, dreamily as ever. Scotty sighed. "My friend, Helena."

Soon enough, everyone was in the carriage and was whisked off to the school. A pair of giant doors opened before them. "WELCOME TO HOGWARTS!" boomed the voice of an elderly wizard with long white hair and a long beard of the same color. This was Albus Dumbledore.