Me: I really am starting too many fanfictions for my own good… -_-'

Rebbie: Then stop.

Me: But these ideas are too much fun! Plus I just get bombarded with motivation and voila, a chapter pops out for a brand new story!

Rebbie: You need help….

Me: Go away…

SO, Hi! If you don't know me, I'm Venom, and don't worry about Rebbie. She's a rude, obnoxious, necessary evil.

Anyways, this is Max Ride and Harry Potter, but I know Max Ride better, so the emphasis will be placed on that. Sorry for HP fans. There will still be a lot of HP, but please don't complain. This is my first crossover. And it won't be following any book, since that would make life difficult for a first-timer. Besides, I'm letting creative juices flow here.

And disclaimer: Yada yada, own nothing, yada yada, married Malfoy, yada yada, kidnapped JP, yada yada. (I wish.)

So, here goes nothing.

Max's POV

The only other thing that seemed to be alive in this desolate place was the ginormous tree that could easily kill me. Yet, even as I passed by, I received nothing but a small shiver from it.

If even the tree was afraid, then I was certainly much more calm than I should've been.

I had my back to the school; turned my back to the memories, the mischief, the magic. I couldn't remain here. The farther I got from it, the lesser the pain would be for those who remained inside. The farther I strode from the school, my hands in my pockets, my wand broken in a heap somewhere behind me, the further I fell into misery.

But that's what I wanted, right? To suffer in return for all those I made suffer? To be miserable because I had brutally betrayed and thus caused misery upon those who trusted and loved me? That is what I asked for, is it not?

Not exactly. No. But Karma sucks sometimes. This was what I had to do, I knew that now. Only I could do it. I had to suck up and deal, or else I would never pull through. Not that I deserved to. I knew full well I'd probably die before the whole thing played out. And then what? And then….

STOP! Scratch this. You're probably very confused. Let's start from the beginning.

"Max, for the last time, there is absolutely nothing there." Nudge whined as I stopped the group for probably the fifth time to stare at something to the left of me in the woods.

You see, for the past hour or so, we had been getting ourselves nice and comfy in our resting spot for the next few days. It was a decent woods, a pretty one, in the middle of absolutely god-forsaken nowhere. Which was how we liked it. But as we had been getting ready, I kept seeing this faint shimmering in the corner of my eye, a shimmer that would disappear as I looked at it. I had asked the rest of the Flock if they had seen it, but judging by the crazy looks I got, it was a no.

Still, I kept seeing it, even as I gathered firewood. And the Flock believed me to some extent, because they didn't go to that portion of the area we had landed in. It was almost as if they couldn't. So as they all stared at me, and I at it, whatever it was, a wave of anxious tension swept over the camp.

"I know you think that Nudge, but I'm not so sure."

I took a few steps towards where I had last seen the shimmering, and suddenly a gust of wind swirled around me, nearly knocking me off my feet. I turned around to look at the Flock in question, but they were still staring at me the same way as before. The wind had only affected me.

Turning back to the strange, whatever, I held a hand up, and was quite surprised when my hand came in contact with something. I closed my eyes; the thing beneath hand pulsed and beat like a heart, and was warm to the touch, but was as slick and as firm as a slippery rock. I could almost feel my heartbeat syncing to the beat of the thing my hand rested on and with each beat I became one with it, and I could feel the vibrations it was sending out. It stretched far into the air, and so far to the left and right I was surprised we didn't hit it while we had been flying. I felt it curve as it finally did end at the top and sides, and come down to form a dome.

It was a gigantic barrier. I wonder what's on the other side.

Go to it, Max.

Why?

And as usual, no response.

"Earth to Max?" I heard Gazzy call from behind me, and I jolted from my mental state. I looked at the place my hand rested and could see that across the barrier little silver veins had sprouted, growing fast and spreading wide.

"Max, what did you do?" Angel asked quietly from behind me. Unable to tear my eyes or hand away, I replied, "No idea."

Then without warning, a gap appeared in the barrier, right where my hand was, and before I knew what was happening, I had fallen through to the other side, landing not-so-gracefully on my hands and knees. I stood up, shaking myself off and dusting my hands and assessed the situation. It was odd though. The forest seemed no different on this side than it had on the other. Why put up a barrier to protect something that's the same?

And what the hell was that barrier? If that was some sort of new scientific development or weaponry, it was one hell of a good one, and creepy one at that.

"Well, don't just stand there, come on!" I encouraged, turning back to my Flock. Fang looked at me wearily, but stepped through the hole in the barrier, carefully avoiding the edges. Angel and Nudge followed by Gazzy leading Iggy came through shortly thereafter. I gave them a wide smile and turned to glance around the place.

And that's when I noticed about fifty or so heads turned to stare at us, many of them with jaws hanging open. A few wimpy ones looked terribly frightened. But the one that caught my eye was the huge one standing in front of them all, beside some big horse that looked part eagle. The huge guy stood at least eight feet tall and was wearing what looked like roughly re-sewn patches of animal skin, and his belt was barely more than a rope and showed off his more than slight belly. I could barely see his face amid the mess of a tangled brown beard and moustache, with hair to match.

The kids were the oddest things too. They looked about my age, but they all wore matching black cloaks. Seriously. Cloaks. The ones that swished, had hoods, tied at the neck, and totally let you pass How to Be a Creeper 101. I didn't even know people still made those. I noticed, however, that there were two different symbols on the cloaks. Some had a red and gold symbol with a lion-ish figurine, and the word Gryffindor. Others a similar design, but green and silver, a snake, and the word Slytherin. Underneath the cloaks, the outfits were all basically the same: white shirts, grey sweaters with trimming the color of the symbol, a tie the color of the symbol, and for the guys black pants and shoes, and the girls grey skirts, grey socks, and black dress shoes.

I cleared my throat to lose the stares and gave a quick glance behind me. The barrier's gap was gone. We were stuck. I highly doubted my hand trick would work again.

"What are ya doing 'ere? This is secret grounds, this is. How did you get past that there barrier?" The big guy said. I just sort of looked at him, then back towards the barrier.

"You mean that thing? It let me through and all I did was touch it. Some barrier. Is this like a class or something? Sorry to intrude. If you could show us the way out, we'd be happy to leave." I told him, shrugging. He continued to stare at me.

"Now wait one minute! What is yer business with Hogwarts? How did you really get through that barrier?" He asked me.

I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing. Hogwarts? What is that, a disease? I wasn't the only one laughing; I could hear sniggering from behind me, and even a few of the students in the class seemed to have suddenly come to the realization of the stupidity of the name.

"Look mister, I touched the freakin thing, and it practically dissolved under my hand. Now if you don't mind showing us how to get back through it, since I'm quite sure the same trick won't work twice, I'd be very grateful." I ordered, hands on my hips, using my official Max-is-boss voice. Without waiting, I started to walk away, the Flock following. I had no idea where I was going, but if it wasn't here, it worked.

"Are ya a witch?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, turning on my heel. I would have been offended, but the big guy seemed so completely sincere, I almost believed he was being serious.

"Have ya ever done anything with magic." He stated. I stared at him dubiously before I burst out into laughter again.

"You're joking right? I've seen some pretty frigged up things in my life, and I've heard some pretty weirdo ideas, but magic? Now that's the best one yet." It was his turn to look at me like I was crazy.

"Well if ya ain't a witch, then how'd ya get through the barrier? Dumbledore himself put that up."

Dumbledore? Hogwarts? What is this place? A loony bin? I've had enough trouble with those.

"What's a Dumbledore?" Angel asked from behind me. I shrugged to her, and the others just looked confused.

"Why, he's only the greatest wizard that ever lived!" The giant explained dumbfounded. I nodded, like I had heard it all before.

"That's nice and all, but I couldn't care less if Dumbledore invented chocolate, not to mention if he's some wizard. So are you going to show us the way out, or should we just start walking now?" I asked, continuing to walk away, the Flock in tow.

"Hold on just a minute! Was' yer name?"

"Although I really don't see how it matters at the moment, it's Max. Maximum Ride. Out of courtesy, what do they call you?" I responded. I was really itching to leave, the staring from the students was starting to creep me out. But there was an aching curiosity about this place that I couldn't just deny I had.

"Hagrid. What about the rest of ya?"

Nudge finally decided to open her yap, and though I half wished I could warn him, I mildly wanted to watch their reactions. "I'm Nudge. This is Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel. Is it true about magic? Are you a school? We went to a school once! That sucked. It turned out they really were trying to capture us, so that wasn't fun. Max got a boyfriend there. He was kind of a wimp, although he was really sweet. Fang kissed a slut too. We had to wear ugly uniforms. Your uniforms are okay, though a little bland. A little sparkle would do you great. Could I be a witch? Max does some pretty freaky things sometimes. She spotted that barrier no problemo. I bet she is a witch! Could we come to this school? It would be so much fun! Oh can we Max, can we? Please? It would be good for us! And we wouldn't have to run away anymore. And food and shelter… please? Max! Please!"

"Nudge! Shut up!" Iggy demanded, placing a hand over her mouth with his amazing accuracy. Despite that, however, Nudge turned her eyes to me, and I had to do everything I could to look away, but the pull was too much. Finally I sighed and gave into Bambi eyes.

"Oh my God Nudge, put them away. I'll see what I can do." I sighed. Turning to Hagrid, I shrugged at his shocked face. "So. Is there some test, or something?"

"Why don't ya follow me. We'll go see Dumbledore." Oh joy. "Class dismissed."

I turned to the rest of the Flock. Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge, all looked extremely excited. Fang's eyes matched my expression: what the hell are you doing? I don't know. I gave Fang a light smile. This was better for the Flock. We would have food, shelter, education. Did I doubt the magic? Oh who the hell knows. In my life, anything was possible. "Come on guys. Let's give it a shot."

So, that's how we ended up sitting in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore, by the way, was this young looking old guy. Does that make sense? He look over a hundred years old, sporting a long white beard and matching long white hair, and numerous wrinkles, but he carried himself with the air of someone in his late forties. He wore half moon glasses and a purple cloaky-thing. Very wizard-like, I'm assuming. His voice was soothing, but at the same time, kind of annoying. It had that tone, the one where it never really got mad, and I didn't like people who never got mad.

Oh, yeah, he happened to be the Headmaster. Go him.

"So, Max, you are looking to transfer into Hogwarts, is that correct?" He asked me. I stared at him. To be honest, his room was quite scary with portraits that moved and these candies that bit your fingers, as Iggy found out the hard way, and a phoenix, the only part I liked. There was also a hat that was quite dusty, but for some reason I felt it was watching me.

"As I'm sure you have been made aware, Hogwarts is a school for witchcraft and wizardry. I can tell right away that you, Max, have magic potential. There is no definite test for the others, however either way, the little ones are too young to enter. They may, however, stay with you in your dormitory when you are sorted. As for Nudge, Fang, and Iggy, we will take a trip to Diagon Alley, as Max will be needing items for school, and at Ollivander's you may test out a few wands and if any react at all, then there is possible potential in you. It is halfway through the day, so Hagrid, if you would be so kind as to take our newest additions to Diagon Alley and assist them in their purchases, I will talk with the other teachers to have them made aware of the situation." Dumbledore informed us from behind his desk, a gentle smile plastered on his face.

"Wait, just like that?" I asked incredulously. I think I was kind of hoping he would say no and shove us out. This school kind of gave me the creeps, and the looks the kids gave us on our way to the office were a little odd and far from welcoming. On the way up I had noticed two other uniform symbols, and from what I could tell, there was a lot of tension between the four.

"We don't even have money." Iggy added.

"What do you mean I'm too young!" Gazzy exploded. Thank god Nudge said nothing, I don't think I'd be able to handle it at the moment.

"Sorted?" Fang muttered quietly. To be honest, that was the only part of the speech by Dumbledore I hadn't quite liked. Everything else was pretty legit and easily agreeable.

"Hogwarts is always willing to accept new students. And we have a fund for new students as well. And I'm sorry, Gazzy, but first years must be eleven. Yes, sorted. Entering students are sorted by the sorting hat, which places you into one of four houses. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. Slytherin is normally associated with cunning, ambition, leaders, and determination. Gryffindor is bravery, chivalry, and recklessness. Ravenclaw is deemed by intelligence and wit, and cleverness. Hufflepuff is loyal, just, and patient. But do not go judging now. People are not always placed into the house they believe they belong in, or that everyone believes they will go into." He explained.

I don't know if I felt better, or much worse.

"Cauldrons, potions, books on spells? Is this all for real?"

"Oh come on Max! Live a little! This is magic! Like spells and wands and stuff like that! It'll be awesome! Oh, I wonder which house I'll be sorted into! I really like blue so Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad. Gryffindor sounded pretty cool as well. What about you guys! We should all take a guess on which one we think we'll be in! Max first!"

"You're giving me a headache Nudge."

"Oops… Sorry…"

"Ah, here we are. Ollivander's. Ain't no better place to buy a wand. Now, Max, yer a witch fer sure. Ollivander will know how to find yer wand right away. As fer the rest of ya, we'll try out a few. If something happens, ya may take the magic classes. If not, ya may stay and take the regular classes. In ya go."

When we walked in, the first thing that crossed my mind was damn this place needs a maid. Then I sneezed. That alerted the store owner, an old guy who look as old as Dumbledore, but didn't have the air of youth. When he started speaking, he voice was quiet and raspy, telling me he had gone through a lot to be where he was. He spoke for a few minutes with Hagrid, and then began looking over the Flock, starting with Angel. When he reached me, his eyes lit up.

"Yes. You are the one seeking a wand. I know just the one." Disappearing among his many shelves, I turned and met Fang's eyes. This guy was starting to send me loopy vibes.

He came back rather quickly, holding a worn and dusty box. He set the box down on the counter and opened the lid with delicate hands. Lifting the wand from the box, he handed it to me. Honestly, I was expecting a stick, but the wand presented to me was rather pretty, with a few carved spirals towards the end, and it was a pretty light mahogany color.

When I touched the wand, however, the light above started spazzing and then blew up. Nudge screamed and Iggy and Gazzy began cracking up. Feeling freaked out, I placed the wand back on the table carefully.

Mr. Ollivander sighed. "Not that one, I guess." He turned his eyes back to me and studied me for a few moments, until I began to feel like he was seeing through me.

"I know. But I don't know why." He mumbled quietly, making his way to the very back of the store down the aisle directly in front of us. We watched as he picked a box off of the middle shelf and studied it, before turning back to stare at me.

When he opened the box, I held back a gasp at the wand. It wasn't as pretty as the first one. No, in fact, it was very simple, very plain. It had two protruding rings near the bottom, and instead of being light, it was so dark it was almost black. I thought it was more suited to go to Fang than to me. But instead he held the wand out to me.

Reaching out hesitantly, I grasped the wand just under the two rings, expecting something catastrophic to happen. Instead, a swirl of silver light formed at the tip of the wand then burst forward, spiraling up and around my head, down and circling my wrist where it stayed for a few moments before traveling my finger back into my wand.

I looked up to see everyone watching me in awe and I must've had a shocked face because I had absolutely no idea what had just happened. I was torn between chucking the wand across the room and hugging it.

"It's so strange." Mr. Ollivander said. I turned to him.

"What?"

"That wand. Thirteen inches, ash, phoenix feather. That's a powerful wand, Ms. Ride. A powerful, powerful wand. I remember every wand I sell, and I don't sell many like that one you have in your hand." He told me, and I wasn't sure if he was warning me or just telling me a fact.

"Then why are you letting me have it?" I asked. If anyone should be in charge of a powerful wand, it was most definitely not me.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Ms. Ride. That wand has chosen you. It is your choice how to wield the power in you through that wand, but the wand has chosen you."

I looked from him to my wand, turning it over in my hands. For some reason, I felt extremely connected to this wand, almost as if it were calling to me.

"I'll keep it."

While Mr. Ollivander found wands for Fang, Iggy, and Nudge, all of which were lighter, and made with either unicorn hair or dragon heartstring, I kept turning my wand over in my hands. I didn't want to stop touching it. It was like getting a new piece of technology, or a kitten. You just don't want to stop playing with it. you have to see it, play with it, feel it to know its real, it's yours. That wand, I could feel the bond between myself and it. It was so odd, but so calming.

"Well then, if that be all. We best continue shoppin' fer yer school stuff. Yer goin' to need more since the four a ya will be attending."

As we left the store, I paused in the doorway and looked back at Mr. Ollivander. He didn't wave or smile at me, and I didn't wave or smile at him. I merely looked down at the wand in my hand and then back at him, and nodded, before leaving.

I think he understood.

Well, there it is. My first chapter. Next….. Sorting! Yay! I'm sure we all know how that's going to go…

Or do we?

Rebbie: Shut up.

Me: I hate you. But not you lovely reviewers!