"Neville, aren't you just dying to meet them? I've heard that the schooling system in America is extremely different and it will be so exciting to finally…"
"Hermione, pause for breath! He put a pale hand on the woman's shoulder and gripped her through the fitted jacket she wore. She stopped talking long enough to take a shaky breath and rock onto the balls of her feet as she looked excitedly to the skies.
"You know that the new headmistress is McGonagall's relative? Nancy, she's lovely and gets on very well with Luna. She's often over for dinner." Hermione looked up at Neville and smiled absently. They were suddenly distracted by a high pitched squeal and a happy giggle. Both were bursting from the red haired girl sprinting in their direction.
"Mum! Why didn't you tell us you were coming to welcome the American students?" she thumped into the midriff of Hermione and squeezed her tightly. Hermione beamed at her daughter.
"Your father and I thought it would be a nice surprise. How's Hugo?" Rose told her mother all that had happened since her last letter and often glanced fondly at her friendly herbology teacher who often sent chocolate down to her and her brother from the teachers table. They continued to talk and hug each other until they began to hear a dull roar rise in the spring air. Rose was becoming more excited and clutching at Hermione's Ministry uniform.
Over the horizon rose a swarm that buzzed like a colony of angry bees. Rose was almost jumping now and even Hermione was rocking on her feet. As the cloud came closer it became larger and the noise was thunderous. A collection of hundreds of motorcycles were roaring through the sky approaching fast. Hagrid and his new apprentice waved them to the clearing so that they could land and ran when they were too close. They landed all at once and the noise died, the silence seemed vast and empty. The Americans were here.
A short, stout man ran over to Hermione and lifted her off her feet. She looked shocked and her hand stuck out awkwardly as she has anticipated shaking his. She was not an unfriendly woman but with so much time working in the Ministry she had become comfortable with hand shaking. Rose was smiling so widely that Neville was reminded of many Christmases they had spent together. The man clasped Rose's hands in his and called out in a heavy Texan accent "Skylar!"
A young brunette girl of Rose's age ran over and hurled herself at Rose. The giggling was like no other noise Neville had ever heard. The chittering continued as Hermione and the portly man, Mr Jacob Arthur, began to talk animatedly about the Ministry's excitement about the new link between the countries.
Rose took her pen pal by the arm and skipped towards the towering silhouette of Hogwarts. This exchange would bring new things to Hogwarts. But would it necessarily be good?
