i know the new student thing has been done over and over but i'm hoping some twists i have planned will keep you interested.

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Harry woke up in the room of his best friend Ron Weasley. He had arrived at the Burrow the previous day, just in time to spend the night and then go to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys. Harry stretched and stood up slowly.

Ron was still sleeping soundly and Harry shook him lightly.

"Not yet Mum..." Ron mumbled through his sleep.

"Ron, its me, Harry. Wake up," Harry said continuing to shake his friend. "Wake up!" Harry's continuous shaking did very little to wake Ron so he began to shake harder.

A quiet knock came from the door as Harry tried to figure out how to wake Ron up. "Harry?" came Ginny's voice from the other side of the door.

"Just a second," Harry said, suddenly very aware of the fact that he was only in sweats. He grabbed a shirt off the floor and slid it over his head. "Come in," he called.

Ron's little sister, Ginny, opened the door slowly and looked in side. Harry smiled at her and for once she didn't go scarlet. At seeing her brother she rolled her eyes and entered the room.

"He's still asleep?" she said. Ginny walked right up to the bed and pushed Ron completely off the edge. Harry stared in shock.

"Hey!" Ron yelled as he hit the floor, now very awake. "What was that for Har..." he stopped as he sat up and saw his sister standing there laughing. "Ginny! Get out!"

"Breakfast is ready," she said simply. She walked out of the room, not giving Harry another glance. That was odd, Ginny had been very taken with Harry since his first time at the Burrow, and was usually very bad at hiding it.

Ron stood up slowly, stretching lazily. "I'm hungry," he said. Of course he was hungry, he was Ron. They got dressed quickly and headed downstairs.

"Good morning boys," Mr. Weasley said, looking over his newspaper at them.

"Morning," they answered together as they sat down at the table.

Mrs. Weasley entered from the kitchen, carrying two plates full of food. "I thought you two would never get up," she said, placing the plates in front of them. "Now eat up. We'll be shopping all day today and then tomorrow its off to school."

Ron groaned quietly while Harry was quiet happy. Summer with his aunt, uncle, and cousin weren't exactly relaxing. Both boys ate quickly, and soon the whole family (plus Harry) were flying through the Floo Network.
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Fina Jennings stepped out into the crowded street. There were a lot more people today, probably all the last minute shoppers, people who didn't want to spend more than one night away from home before they had to leave for school. She leaned against the cold brick behind her heavily and wished that were her situation. Fina had been at the Leaky Cauldron for some time now. She reached into the old leather backpack she carried over her shoulder and pulled out a piece of paper.

It was the same piece of parchment that had been delivered to her by owl post several weeks before. She had been quite surprised when she saw the Hogwarts seal on the back. After all, she went to Smantin, a top wizarding school in America. When Fina asked her father what it was about, he informed her that they would be moving to England in a few days. He had been made the new Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation for Britain's Ministry of Magic that same day. She had been shocked and, senselessly, she had yelled at him.

But she wouldn't think about that anymore. She'd had a good month and a half without him and now she had to get her new supplies. She headed towards Gringotts and tried to figure out how to convert dollars into pounds into knuts.
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Harry walked into Flourish and Blotts with Ron at his side. They looked around casually, this was where they were supposed to be meeting Hermione.

And then they saw her, or at least, they thought it was her. Standing not three yards in front of them was a young women resembling Hermione Granger. She was the same height and had the same hair, but there were different things as well. She was a little tanner than usual, she wasn't dressed quite like Hermione would have been, and the clothes she had on seemed to enhance the fact that, well, she had developed.

Ron gawked. "That's not her," he stumbled. "Hermione's not supposed to be such a- a- girl." Suddenly, as he looked at Hermione in her knee-length skirt and the sleeveless shirt that hugged her delicate form, Harry and Ron were for some reason reminded of the Yule Ball.

"You're right," came Mrs. Weasley's voice as she walked up behind them. Both boys started and turned to look at her, but she was looking at Hermione. "She's a young women."

"Harry! Ron!" The boys looked away and saw Hermione waving them over to where she was standing. They walked over and she hugged them both tightly.

"How've you two been? Are you both well? Oh, I feel like I haven't seen you two in AGES!" she gushed excitedly as she hugged them again.

"It's good to see you too, Hermione," Harry said, laughing as all doubts that this was the same Hermione he had known since 1st year disappeared.

"It's not like we haven't been writing to you all summer, Hermione. What'd you do? Get lost in book and forget to read our letters?" Ron said. Harry thought his voice sounded a bit strained.

"You know very well, Ron Weasley, that I read each and every one of the letters you and Harry sent me," Hermione replied indignantly.

"Speaking of our letters, Hermione," Harry said, a thought coming to him, "You didn't write nearly as many as usual."

"Well, I was a little busy," Hermione said, rather nervously. Harry looked at her questioningly and she suddenly became very interested in her shoes.

"Probably too busy in Bulgaria with Vicky," Ron muttered, all strangeness in his voice gone.

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to reply, someone stumbled into her, knocking her books all over the floor.

"Oh my God!" said the young woman as she hurriedly helped Hermione pick up her books, while balancing her own stack under one arm.

"Oh, it's alright," Hermione said calmly. The girls finished gathering up the books and stood as Harry and Ron stared.

"I'm Fina, Fina Jennings," The girl said, holding out her hand. Harry noticed that her American accent was painfully obvious, but soon his focus changed. She was beautiful. Not the kind off beautiful that smacked you in the face, but the kind that just sort of snuck up on you and crept over you slowly as you looked at her.

"Hermione Granger," she replied, taking Fina's hand. "It's a pleasure."

"Even after I tried to give you a concussion?" Fina asked, a sly yet somehow innocent smile creeping across her face. To Ron and Harry's surprise, Hermione laughed easily at the joke.

"How'd she do that?" Ron whispered to Harry, amazed at this American's ability to break right through Hermione's usually serious shell. Harry just shrugged, his eyes never leaving the girl before him.

There was something about her, something he couldn't quite pinpoint, that drew him in. He studied every feature carefully. Her hair was brown and strait, rather than the usual blond that came with her pale skin tone, and fell just beyond her shoulders. Her face was soft and young in expression but she held herself as a person wise beyond her years. Everything about her presence screamed of strength. Harry came to her eyes, green eyes, just slightly darker than his own, and they were the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

At that moment, Harry realized the very deep green pools he'd been studying were staring back at him, as were his two best friends. He immediately turned a bright shade of red and moved his gaze to the floor. But then, slowly, a hand entered his vision.

"Fina Jennings."

Harry looked up. Her voice remained unchanged and she wasn't looking at him like he was a psycho.

Harry took her hand nervously. "I'm Harry Potter," Harry said. Then he flinched, he hadn't wanted to use his last name. He had grown used to people gushing over him, but somehow he didn't want this strange American girl to.

"Nice to meet you," she said simply. There was no 'Oh my gosh!', no 'You're really him aren't you?', and no 'Can I see your scar?'.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said, nudging his way in to shake Fina's hand. Hermione rolled her eyes but Fina just smiled good-naturedly.

"Nice to meet you Ron," she said.

"Are those Fifth Year books?" Hermione asked. Harry looked down and realized he hadn't even noticed them.

"Yeah," Fina said, looking at the stack of books under her arm, "My dad just transferred here from the American Ministry. I'll be starting Hogwarts as a Fifth Year student."

"Really?" Ron said, with just enough hopefulness in his voice to warrant a
glare from Hermione.

"I didn't think Hogwarts took transfer students," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Oh they don't, trust me, I found every possible reason I shouldn't go to
Hogwarts, but they just kept saying they'd make an exception."

"You mean you didn't want to go to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, trying to hide the shock apparent in her voice.

"Don't get me wrong," Fina replied quickly. "I know Hogwarts is highly
respected all over the world, but I didn't want to leave the US and all my friends," Fina said, a certain longing in her voice.

"Miss Jennings," the four teenagers looked up to see a large man wearing
official Ministry robes, "its time to move on."

"Gee, look, its my oh-so-wonderful escort." Fina turned to her companions, "Dad's really busy, so he couldn't come with me, and we don't have a house yet so I've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron. I was fine on my own, but that annoying Fudge guy insisted someone watch out for me." Fina rolled her eyes. Her 'escort' cleared his throat impatiently as Fina slid the books she'd been carrying into the cauldron her escort was carrying. "He is quite helpful with the lifting though. It was nice meeting you guys."

"Bye Fina," Hermione called.

"See you," Harry shouted over the growing distance. Fina looked back and waved.

"Oy! Ron! There you are," called Fred, walking over to his brother, with George close behind.

"Yeah come on," George said.

"Come on where?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Fred and George looked at each other. "Uh," Fred began, "Mum gave us some money to go buy new dress robes."

George winked at Harry.

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PLEASE review. I know that wasn't much but if you're interested in more let me know and I'll give it to you!
-coyote