Another Beginning
In the years after the final downfall of the Dark Lord, Hogwarts opens its doors to the other wizarding schools of the world. Now a group of misfit, and rather nonconformist foreigners must attend Hogwarts…against their will.
Disclaimer: This story has been written by Punkette-Witch, but the prologue was written spur-of-the moment by Jinxeh. The standard rules apply—anything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, and anything you don't belongs to Punkette-Witch. As a despiser of Mary-Sues, Jinxeh would like to add that she worked with Punkette on this to make sure that it stayed cliché-free. Yay. Reviews are appreciated. Flames are ignored online, and laughed at offline. Enjoy!
Note: The prologue is not written from the main character's point of view, but the rest of the story is.
People say that moving is such a grand thing that when you do you'll make new friends and be able to start over. They tell you that everything will be ok and that you'll get used to it eventually. But what if what you want isn't that but to live where you are, keep the friends you have, and live the life you love without worry of changing too much to fast. Oh, but life isn't always the way we want it. Things are always changing, some times gradually, sometimes drastically, but mostly in a way you'll never suspect.
It was good to be home.
That was all Ali could even think about as she stood in her kitchen in her small home, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed. Looking through the small window above the sink, she smiled slightly as she saw the flames of the bonfire suddenly spring up in the middle of her backyard. As a small celebration of sorts about Ali's and Andrea's return from their magical boarding school, her parents had decided to have a bonfire the very same night of their return. She didn't mind; bonfires could be fun, with the muggle traditions of making 'smores' and cooking hotdogs—or 'not-dogs' in the case of her adoptive 'sister', Andrea.
As she watched, the very last rays of the sun disappeared from the sky, the once violet and orange streaks in the clouds gone, to be replaced by dark blues and the impending blackness that always came that time of the early evening. Nighttime had always been a favorite time to Ali, as she had always been rather nocturnal for some reason…of course, for Andrea it was choice.
Even as she watched, her father tossed a few more wooden branches into the middle of the bonfire as the flames began to simmer down and stay within the confines of the newly-dug fire pit. His lanky frame was silhouetted against the bright flames for a moment until they too began to simmer and become less erratic in nature. Ali could just see her mother's more slightly more pudgy figure as she sat at the picnic table a few feet away from the fire. Her arms were crossed much as her daughter's were as she watched her, and her mouth was moving; judging from the speed in which her lips moved, obviously she was talking animatedly.
And then, as Ali began to laugh, Andrea suddenly ran into the homely little scene, the long back of her coat flapping as she giggled maniacally and made to look like she was going to jump right into the fire. Ali rolled her eyes and laughed softly under her breath as her father caught Andrea around the middle and practically dragged her away from the flames. Everyone knew that Andrea liked to have her fun—she just liked to scare people for some odd reason. Though it was to be said that she had a rather unhealthy affinity with fire…
"Hey, Ali!" Andrea called towards the house as Ali's father let her go. "Get out here! And bring the not-dogs!" she added with a grin as she leapt atop the picnic table that Ali's mother sat upon. A moment later, she had lifted her head and was suddenly howling like a dog might when it was exposed to truly bad music.
Rolling her eyes now, Ali picked up the package of 'not-dogs' from the counter where she had recently put them and pulled open the screen door leading to the backyard. She almost stumbled once because of the dim lighting outside, but as she went closer to the fire the lighting became better and she was able to retain her balance quite easily.
"Here's your soy-dogs, wolf-girl," said Ali in amusement, stopping right in front of the picnic table and holding up the package of muggle food. "Shouldn't you be eating meat if you're going to howl at the moon like that?"
Black-glossed lips simply grinned down at her in return, thickly-outlined eyes shining as Andrea hopped down from the table and snatched the food out of Ali's hand. The chains on her trench coat clanging against one another—she usually chose to wear that coat, even when it was the beginning of the summer like it was now—she skipped away towards the fire.
"Sometimes I wonder where we went wrong with her…" Ali sighed to her mother as she sat next to her on the picnic table bench. "She's just so strange…"
"You know as well as I do that it wasn't us that did it to her," said her mother with a slight smile, looking over at her daughter with serious eyes. Ali's blue-green eyes were barely visible to her mother, hidden in shadow because of the flickering firelight that was upon them both, but if they could be seen they would most likely betray the troubled feeling that she felt inside. They both know that the fault of Andrea's strange and oftentimes disturbing behavior lied with her original parents, and not them.
"Glad to be home?" asked Ali's father, sauntering over after he had given Andrea a metal stick to cook her not-dogs with, and after having instructed her on how to not set fire to herself while she did it. "Gotta say—we missed you, kiddo!"
"Yeah, it's nice to be home," Ali agreed, brushing some of her shoulder-length brown hair out of her face and exposing her rather round cheeks. Unlike her friend, Andrea, she hardly ever chose to wear makeup. Even her clothing was simple—now that she wasn't at school, she chose to wear simple blue jeans and a green sweater with her rather raggedy white tennis shoes. "But I'll be glad to go back, too—after a while I get homesick for the Academy," she laughed.
If she had been paying attention, she might have noticed the rather unsettled glance that had passed between her two parents. But, as it were, she was much too busy watching Andrea to make sure she didn't set fire to her hair to notice. Either way, her parents seemed to have come to the conclusion that now was probably the best time to talk to the two teenaged girls.
"Andrea, come over here for a minute," said Mr. Martin, Ali's father, when he saw that Andrea had burnt her soy-dog into a black crisp. She liked them better that way, for some reason. Surprisingly, Andrea obeyed, sauntering over with a bit of a grin in her face, and her smoldering not-dog stuck on the metal stick. 'One would understand burning the thing if it was a normal hot dog, but come on; what was the point in burning something that didn't need to be burned…' Ali thought, shaking her head at her friend.
"Yes, kinda-sorta parental units?" Andrea asked innocently, hopping onto the picnic table once more and then dropping to her rear so that she sat on the top, with her booted feet resting on the bench next to Ali. "Uh-oh…you both got that…look…on your face…" she said suddenly, looking between the two adults. "This is it, isn't it? You're going to send me into slavery, aren't you? Damn it, I knew this day would come…"
"First off, watch your language," said Mr. Martin sternly, before he relaxed his expression again and smiled weakly at the two girls. "Second off…look you two…Ali…your mother and I found out something a couple of days ago, and we thought we should tell you about it now, before you heard it from someone else…"
"I agree with Andrea's words of wisdom," said Ali instantly, pointing up to her friend. "This is a definite 'uh-oh' moment, judging from the looks on your faces…"
"No, this is actually a good thing!" said her mother earnestly as she turned to face her. "You see…you know how much your father and I love working for the Department of Magic, but we…well…we've both gotten promotions," she said, smiling up at her husband happily.
"You did?" asked Andrea in confusion.
"You did?" asked Ali, only with a certain amount of excitement in her voice. "Really? That's awesome! You're still working at the Department though, right?" she asked suddenly, upon seeing the troubled expression on her father's face.
"That's part of the catch," said Mr. Martin with a sigh as he ran his hand through his lanky brown hair. Everything that Ali had, she had gotten from her father—except for his lanky structure. Like her mother, she was more pudgy than anything. She never complained about it though, even when people compared her to the deathly skinny girl that was known as Andrea. "We get the promotions…and really, it's a great opportunity for us…but…we have to move."
"What?" asked Andrea, suddenly enraged as she leapt to her booted feet. "What do you mean, we have to move? Move where?"
"It's not far, is it?" asked Ali, a slight trace of panic to be perceived within her light voice. "Like…we won't have to transfer schools, right?"
Outside, it looked like Ali was doing a pretty good job of staying calm, despite the shakiness of her voice. Inside, it was a different story—her heart was pounding, and her mind was racing frantically as she tried to figure out what her parents were trying to say. Her school friends, Frank, Jon, Jen, and Patti, were supposed to be staying with her and Andrea for a large portion of the summer—was that going to change now?
"Yes, actually," said Mrs. Martin apologetically. "You see we, like many Department employees, are being transferred…to the Ministry of Magic. That's in London."
"London?" Andrea shrieked, quite beside herself. "I can't go to London! Have you seen what people wear there? All of those little prints and the tweed coats and—ewww!"
'Isn't London supposed to be the punk capital of the world or something, though?' thought Ali to herself in confusion. A moment later, she pushed that thought out of her head and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "London, dad? But—but we'll still be able to stay at the Academy, right?"
"Actually Ali…we thought that…well…we're not allowed to explain why—though be rest assured that it does have something to do with all of the transfers—we thought it would be better if you were at least in the same country as us when you attend school…"
There was silence for a moment, as each girl tried to figure out what they were saying. Surprisingly, it was Andrea who managed to speak first, her breaths all coming in short gasps as she nearly hyperventilated.
"You mean—you mean…Hogwarts?" she gasped. "But…but…we don't know anyone at Hogwarts! I can't go to Hogwarts! I can't!"
"It's better for you there!" Mrs. Martin said soothingly. "And safer…" she added under her breath.
'Safer?' thought Ali. 'What is she talking about? God, the way she's acting it's like You-Know-Who's alive again or something…' even though she knew that wasn't true—The Dark Lord, Voldemort, had fallen when she had just been a little girl, at the hands of the famous Harry Potter.
"But…I've never even been to London before," said Ali weakly. "And what about my friends? I was supposed to spend like half of the summer with them! Is that canceled too? I mean, I won't even be able to go to school with them anymore, and—"
"It's okay," said Mr. Martin, hastily interjecting her. "We're not moving for a few more weeks—and you can still have your friends come over. They'll just have to…er stay with us at our new home instead. We've already found one—it's not actually in the city, but in the country just like here! You'll see—everything will be fine!" he said, plastering on a fake smile.
'Famous last words…' Ali told herself mentally. But on the outside, she forced a fake smile upon her lips and tried to look sincere in her happiness for her parents despite the fact that Andrea was ranting and raving and stomping her feet atop the picnic table.