The girl
stood uncertainly in the London train station. She glanced uneasily around her.
Everyone here was gabbling in their harsh, strange language, and as far as she
could tell, every one of them was a Muggle.
The tall, commanding man beside her leaned down slightly to
her ear and said in her own, beautiful, familiar tongue, "Hu Li, the
instructions were to go through the gate between platforms nine and ten. Nine
and Three-Quarters is there."
Hu Li looked at him. It was solid railing, or at least looked
that way. But she had always been taught to look beyond to the obvious to see
the truth. And she trusted old Wang. He was an old friend of her father's.
She pushed the cart with her heavy trunk in it easily, as if
it weighed nothing. She knew that Wang pityingly watched her do this, knowing
the source of her strength. She looked back at him, her cart pushed up against
the railing. He smiled. "Go on, Hu Li. And good luck." He bowed. "May the birds
of fortune alight on your shoulder and may the crickets of compromise chirp for
you."
Hu Li closed her eyes and pushed. The extrasensory atmosphere
suddenly changed and she knew she was no longer with the Muggles. She opened
her eyes. Wizards and witches milled around with their children, kissing them
goodbye, double-checking their trunks, and seeing them onto the train. The huge
crimson train waited patiently, breathing smoke and fire like the
scarlet-colored Chinese Fireball that her father's friend Ziyi back in China
had showed her. This was Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
She was a little nervous. No, make that pretty damn nervous.
She was not in Hong Kong anymore – or even in Asia. She was in London, in Great
Britain, in Europe. People were different here. Not like the Americans – at
least she had been there for a while. Hu Li almost wished she could have gone
to one of the two American schools of magic – but Albus Dumbledore had a job
for her to do. Dumbledore trusted that Hu Li would do it and do it well. She
wished she had the same confident thoughts.
Suddenly Hu Li felt a slight shove from behind. She stumbled,
then regained her balance and turned to see two red-haired boys and a taller
boy with hair like thick black snakes. Dreadlocks, she remembered they were
called here. The boys with hair like fire, she saw on closer inspection, were
identical.
One of them bowed to her. At least they are courteous, she
thought, and felt a little better. "So sorry," he said in that funny accent.
"Wasn't watching where I was heading. ' Course, if old Lee hadn't tripped me -"
"I did not!" said the taller boy in indignation. "If you
weren't so clumsy -"
The other fire-haired boy interrupted, "Hey, are you new?"
Hu Li nodded. English, she told her tongue firmly. Make
English sounds. "Yes," she said hesitatingly. "I am Zhang – I mean, I am Hu Li
Zhang. I'm a transfer from a school in Hong Kong." Nice job, she told herself,
angry. In Europe, they do not put the family names first. You are not Zhang Hu
Li here.
Their eyes widened. "Cool," said the Lee boy reverently. He
stuck out his hand. "Lee Jordan.
She took his hand and pumped it up and down like she had seen
her father do to other Europeans and Americans. "Pleased to meet you."
The other two boys held out their hands at the same time.
"Fred and George Weasley," said one of them.
Lee Jordan said, "So, Hu Li, why'd you transfer from Hong
Kong?"
She rather liked these boys so far. "I came to Hogwarts," she
said carefully, "because my
father is good friends with
Professor Dumbledore, and my father wants me to finish my education in Europe."
At least this year, she added mentally. She hoped that her mission would not
take three years.
"What year are you going into?" said a red-haired boy. George,
she guessed, remembering the other one had both his shoes tied.
"Fifth year," Hu Li answered.
George, looking pleased, said, "That's the year that my
brother Ron and his friends -" Just then the train's whistle blew a loud clear
note.
The other redhead, presumably Fred, clapped her on the back.
"Well, it was jolly good talking to you, Hu Li. We'll see you later." They
boarded the crimson train, leaving her standing there with her trunk.
Hu Li quickly boarded the train as well. The first three
compartments she walked through were nearly full, and to sit down in one of
them would mean she'd have to sit next to someone, and she did not want that
just yet.
The fourth compartment was much less full. She passed a
quartet of hard-faced girls and then a long section of empty seats, otherwise
occupied only by three boys in the far back. She sat across from them.
Two of the boys were talking quietly and looking at something.
The other one was sitting calmly in his seat, not talking to the other two. Hu
Li reached out mentally and felt his aura – cool, wise, sophisticated, at ease,
and a very slight note of dissatisfaction with something in his life. That boy
glanced at her curiously.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye and inhaled the
scents and auras of the compartment. She smelled cheap, brash perfume,
bubblegum, and a Muggle soft drink coming from the four girls at the very front
of the compartment. From the boy looking at her, she smelled cool night air,
limes, and expensive shampoo. From the other two, she smelled steamed broccoli
and some other disgusting and indefinable odor. They were crude, mean-looking
beasts, and she didn't want to get any closer to them. They were vile enough
from where she was, and she didn't think her extremely perceptive senses would
be able to stomach them.
The atmosphere – now this was an interesting and unusual
compartment. While all the others she had entered had been full of excitement,
laughter, and slight apprehension, this one had a crackling and uncomfortable
air of malice, spite, and cruel rivalry – coming mostly from the four girls and
the two crude boys. The other boy seemed to be above all of it, lofty and
imperious.
The girls in the very front of the compartment were plotting
evilly against one Hermione Granger. Hu Li's sharp hearing could pick out every
word they said, although they were quite far away and they whispered. As far as
she could tell, this poor girl's only crimes were to be top of the year, have
bushy brown hair, and to be friends with two boys. Hu Li felt sorry for
Hermione Granger and mentally dismissed these girls from her list of possible
friends. What a fun crowd, she thought darkly.
"Are you new here?" said a low, drawling voice. The nonchalant
boy who had been observing her for five minutes had finally spoken to her. She
turned and looked directly into his face.
He was rather handsome, Hu Li realized with some pleasure, and
he wore his good looks with a casual grace. White blond hair, an insolent
mouth, cool gray eyes, and a pale face looked back at her. "Yes," she said just
as coolly. "I am. I'm a transfer from Hong Kong."
He leaned back in his seat. "Hong Kong, now that's a hell of a
haul. Why Hogwarts?"
She repeated the same reason she had given the red-haired
Weasleys and Lee Jordan.
The good-looking blonde boy nodded. "Friends of old
Dumbledore, eh? What's your name,
anyway?"
"Hu Li Zhang," she said offhandedly. "And yours?"
The boy looked at her wryly through half-closed gray eyes, his
head resting on the back of his chair. "I'm Draco Malfoy. Welcome to Hogwarts."
He closed his eyes and smiled, a lazy but charming smile.
Hu Li said, watching him, "I'm going into fifth year. What
about you?"
"Fifth," he said, opening his eyes and sitting up suddenly.
"The plot thickens. What House do you think you'll be put into?"
"House?" she repeated faintly.
"Oh yeah, we separate the students by Houses at Hogwarts …"
And he was off, explaining about Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and
Gryffindor. She couldn't help but notice he seemed to be prejudiced in favor of
the House of Slytherin.
"Let me guess – you're a Slytherin," she said dryly, knowing
what the answer was even before he opened his mouth.
"Good call," he said, looking only mildly pleased. "Didn't
they have Houses at the school in Hong Kong?"
"No. I went to the Golden Dragon Academy of the Magical Arts –
or at least that's its name roughly translated. We had no Houses. We had –
well, I don't even know the term for it in English. They did separate us like
your Houses for the sake of friendly competition."
Draco Malfoy looked at her kindly. "You're new to the English
language, aren't you? And I don't mean to offend you in any way."
"Yes," she said anxiously. "Does it show?"
"Not a bit," he said calmly. "Is your native tongue Chinese?"
"Yes," she replied. "I've only been learning English for the
last two years. I'm afraid I haven't picked up everything yet."
"Not to worry. We British are always willing to help out a
pretty girl," he said with eyes closed and mouth almost smiling. She looked at
him closely.
Just then, the two other boys turned to Draco and said, "Hey,
who're you talking to?"
Draco seemed impatient. "Hu Li Zhang. Transfer from Hong
Kong." Hey, that rhymes, Hu Li thought.
One of them guffawed and stood up, holding whatever he had
been looking at in his hand. "Hey, I'd like to introduce myself as -"
He never got a chance to introduce himself as anything. At
that moment, the thing he had been holding in his hand exploded. It was one of
those no-heat wet-start firecrackers, Hu Li had time to recall. The oaf
promptly let out a bellow and dropped the flaming thing into Hu Li's hands.
She shrieked a curse in Chinese and threw the firecracker down
the compartment's corridor. However, even her unnaturally swift reflexes were
too slow for an already-burning firecracker to save her hands from harsh burns.
Draco snarled, "Damn it, Goyle!" and leapt up next to Hu Li.
"My God, are you all right?"
Hu Li looked down at her hands, covered with severe red
blisters and scorched a rough crimson in some places, and up into Draco's
concerned face. To hell with this, she thought, and stood up. "Sorry, Draco,"
she said calmly. "I'm leaving to find a more peaceful place."
Ignoring the vicious pain in her hands and Draco's demands
that she get medical attention, she pulled her trunk out of there, leaving
Goyle with very itchy purple spots on his face and Draco standing, looking
after her. She could feel his disappointment, but ignored that too.
She pulled her trunk through two more compartments until she
found one that wasn't full.
Only three people, two boys and a
girl about her age, occupied this one. She set her trunk down with a thud and
sensed that the pain in her hands was already almost gone.
Hearing the noise from her trunk, they looked at her in
surprise. She said carefully, "Hi. Is it all right if I sit down there?" She
pointed to the last seat.
They stared at her. Hu Li sized them up in three seconds flat.
The girl was smart-looking and pretty and had lots of thick brown hair.
Hermione Granger, she thought. The next was a tall, gangly, red-haired boy with
freckles. She thought, Ron Weasley, remembering what George Weasley had been
about to tell her. The last was a dark-haired, emerald-eyed boy with glasses
and a scar on his forehead. Ah, she thought. The famous Harry Potter. At last
we meet.
Hermione spoke up pleasantly.
"Of course you can. Please sit here." She pointed to the empty seat next to
her.
Hu Li said quickly, "Oh no, thank you, but I don't want to
impose."
Harry Potter said, "You're not imposing. It's okay."
She began again, "No, really, I don't wish to make anyone
uncomfortable."
Ron Weasley said, "Uncomfortable? I am the epitome of
comfortable." He leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and smiled.
Unconsciously, she thought of Draco. Comfortable – a good word to describe
Draco Malfoy.
"Well -" she said reluctantly, allowing Hermione to jump up
and pull her over to the seat to which they had pointed. Hu Li sat down.
"Well," she said. "I'm Hu Li Zhang, transfer from Hong Kong."
It was becoming like a title for her, the way her father announced himself as
"Zhang Lo, Auror."
"Wow," said Hermione. "That must be fascinating, I've read so
much about the Asian forms of magic and how they -"
"Herm," interrupted Harry. "Go easy before you frighten her
away. Maybe before you start spouting off your knowledge we should introduce
ourselves."
"Oh, that's all right," said Hu Li. "I know who you all are."
It might have been the wrong thing to say, judging from the
startled expressions on their faces. "You – you know who we are?" said Ron, who
was no longer looking comfortable. "I mean, everyone knows who Harry is, but
us, too?"
"Oh, yes," said Hu Li faintly. "You're Ron Weasley, and you're
Hermione Granger, and you're Harry Potter. Right?"
Hermione said slowly, "How do
you know all that?"
Hu Li replied, "Well, I had a run-in with Ron's two brothers
back at King's Cross, and I heard people talking about Hermione – Hermione's
grades in the other compartment I was in, and of course, even in Hong Kong we
know who Harry Potter is."
The three looked at each other. "Makes sense," said Ron,
shrugging. "Why did you move from the other compartment?"
Hu Li looked down at her hands. They were smooth and lithe and
ivory-colored – just as they always had been, without a trace of scarring or
burns. "There were two very unpleasant boys, and one dropped a firecracker on
me."
"Are you all right?" said Harry with concern. "Did it burn
you?"
She held up her hands. "No. I managed to throw it down the
corridor before it burned me."
Hermione said thoughtfully, "I wonder who the unpleasant boys
were?"
Hu Li said, "Draco called the one who dropped the firecracker
'Goyle,' if that's any help."
Once again they looked at each other, Ron and Harry with
undisguised disgust on their faces. "Draco?" said Ron. "Malfoy set
off a firecracker on you?"
"No – Draco was very kind, he wanted to help me. It was Goyle
who set it off," Hu Li said uncertainly, wondering why there faces expressed
such loathing.
Harry said carefully, "Are you sure it was Draco who
was kind? Blonde, pale, arrogant sort of fellow? It couldn't have been - he's
the nastiest Slytherin prat we've got at Hogwarts."
Hu Li said, confused, "It can't be the same one, he was very
nice to me."
Hermione said helpfully, "It's okay, he was probably just
getting ready to insult you."
Hu Li stared at her hands. He had not been faking being nice
to her. She had read a lot of things behind his auras and unsaid words, but
none of them had been falsity. But how could she explain that to these nice
people without telling them who – what – she really was?
"I suppose," she said uneasily.
"Chocolate Frog?" said Ron, holding up a sweet.
"What's that?" said Hu Li, fascinated by the English writing
on the wrapper.
"They don't have these in China?" said Ron.
She shook her head. "And it's Hong Kong. I am from China, but
I spend most of my time in Hong Kong." Hu Li accepted the Chocolate Frog and
they munched pleasantly for a while. Hu Li obeyed their instructions to slip
into her Hogwarts robes, and she pulled them quickly over her Muggle clothes.
"Wonder who the new DADA teacher is?" Ron said gloomily after
more sweets. "I'll poison myself with basilisk venom if it's Snape."
"I'll skydive off the North Tower, sans parachute,"
Harry said with equal gloominess.
Hu Li felt her muscles tense slightly. "Snape? Severus
Snape?" she said slowly.
Once again they stared at her. "You know him?" said Harry
dismally.
Damn, she thought. What now? "We've met," Hu Li replied,
keeping her eyes on her Pumpkin Pasty. "Why?"
"Oh, nothing, he's only the most merciless and evil Potions
teacher in the world," said Ron bitterly.
Hu Li could not keep a smile off her lips. "Potions, eh? He
was always so good at Potions."
Harry stared. "Don't even tell me you're friends with Snape."
"No one said anything about being friends with him," Hu Li
said evenly. "I just said we've met. He knows my father."
"Your father," repeated Ron.
"Yes," Hu Li said with just the merest trace of impatience.
"He's an Auror in China."
"And he knows Snape," said Harry.
"Oh for goodness' sake," said Hermione irritably. "She didn't
say her and Snape are getting married, she just said she knew him. Get over
it." Hu Li looked up at Hermione and smiled gratefully. Hermione gave her a
wink.
"So tell me everything about Hogwarts," said Hu Li, stretching
her arms lazily.
"Well, the staircases move, the paintings talk, the teachers
are bizarre, and the food is excellent," said Ron. "That's about everything."
Hu Li and Hermione both gave Ron exasperated looks. He grinned
slightly. Hermione said to Hu Li, "It's quite a big school, or at least I think
it is, but you'll get used to it in no time."
"We have a great Quidditch team, or at least we did until Wood
and Alicia Spinnet graduated," said Harry glumly.
Hu Li sat up straight. "There are positions open?"
"Keeper and Chaser," said Harry excitedly. "Are you any good?"
"I suppose," she said. "I was a Chaser on the team back at
Golden Dragon. Oh – my school in Hong Kong," she added, seeing their befuddled
looks.
"Great," said Harry. "You can try out and see if you make the
team."
Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought.
"Great," she repeated.
Hermione said breathlessly, "So your father is an Auror? That
must be incredibly interesting, to live with a real Auror."
"Oh, I wouldn't know," said Hu Li. "He's not even home most
of the time. It's usually just me, the housekeeper, and the housekeeper's finch
most of the time."
"What about your mother?" said Ron, not noticing the ferocious
look Hermione was giving him.
"Dead," she said shortly. Ah, lying to them already, are
we? said a nasty little voice inside her head. She swallowed.
"I'm sorry," said Ron softly.
"Don't worry about it," she said uncomfortably. "I didn't even
know her. I was two or three when she – died." Hu Li picked up a colorful
little bag and said in a desperate effort to change the subject, "Ah, what are
these?"
"Oh, those are Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," said Harry.
"A surprise with every mouthful."
Hu Li put them down hastily. Harry grinned at her. "Come on,
live it up. Bring some
excitement into you life."
"Thank you, I've had enough in the last few hours," she said.
Well, that's not a lie, at least, she thought to herself.
Hermione was peering out the window. "We're nearly there! I
can't wait!"
"By the way, what houses are you three in?" said Hu Li.
"Gryffindor," they said simultaneously. Hermione added, "We're
not saying it's the only good house -"
"We're not?" said Ron and Harry at the same time.
"- because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are also good, but
Slytherin … well," Hermione said, "I don't think I'd want to be a Slytherin."
"That's right," said Harry. "I mean, look at Malfoy."
Hu Li avoided Hermione's perceptive gaze. "Right," she
muttered.
The train suddenly slowed and stopped. They all stood up.
"Well, here we are," said Hu Li nervously. "How do you get separated into
Houses, anyway?"
Ron began with relish, "Well, first they take you down to the
dungeons and chain you to the wall. They leave you there for maybe a day with
only the rats for company, and then they -"
"Ron," Hermione cut him off.
Ron looked at Hu Li apologetically. "Sorry – new student
harassment. I couldn't resist."
Hermione explained, "They put the Sorting Hat on you. It looks
into your mind and figures out what House you belong in by your main
characteristics. No lying to the Sorting Hat."
Hu Li felt cold fear clutch at her stomach. "It looks into
your mind? Does it – does it say what it sees?"
"Oh, no, not out loud," Harry assured her. "It talks to you
inside your head."
Like I haven't got enough of that already, Hu Li thought.