Chapter Two: The Other House

I craned my neck above the crowds, trying to spot his mesmerising face in between the mass of teen wizards. I was sure this usually wouldn't be a challenge, seeing as he has a very…distinctive looking face, but trying to spot someone whilst being ushered through crammed hallways and up unstable staircases by nagging teachers isn't so easy.

"Pay attention, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall shouted at me unexpectedly, as I accidentally bumped into a nervous looking first year, knocking his pocket-sized map out of his hand.

"Where do you think he went?" I asked Harry and Ron anxiously.

"Maybe he's already in the Great Hall," Harry replied. That made sense.

"Or," said Ron, "Maybe he's hiding."

I ignored his remark. It wasn't worth the argument.

"Hermione! Ron! Harry!"

Luna Lovegood, one of the few genuine friends that I actually had at Hogwarts, had just emerged from the crowds and into my line of vision. She wrapped her arms around me, her long, blonde hair smelling sweetly of strawberries.

"I've missed you so much!" she smiled, releasing me from her friendly bind and moving on to Ron and Harry.

"I've been so lonely all summer. I really wanted someone to talk to but I could find no one who would listen; the attic moths weren't very attentive and the nargles aren't very friendly these days either. I think it might be my perfume."

Usually, I would be very concerned about Luna's mental health when she said something utterly ridiculous like this, but I was a little too preoccupied to listen to her deranged fairytales at this moment in time. I'd chat to her properly later.

"Hey, Hermione," said two, hearty voices at once.

"Hey Fred, George," I replied, while subtlety pushing Harry forward slightly so I could see the students around the door to the Great Hall more clearly.

To be honest, I didn't even know why I was looking for him, it made no sense. I guess I just needed to know that he was safe and not passed out in the woods somewhere. I didn't want to come across as overly obsessed either though. Once he settled in, I'm sure he'd have girls literally crawling all over him. What hormonal teenager could resist a person like that?

Focus Hermione, Focus, I thought to myself. If I even saw just a glint of his pure, pale face, I could relax –

We gradually stopped moving. There seemed to be some sort of hold-up ahead of us.

That's when I noticed what I'd been missing all along.

………………………..

Groups of students were hovering around the entrance to the Great Hall blocking our path, some pointing and speculating to themselves, others deep in conversation, everyone with confused looking faces. Harry noticed this strange behaviour too and beckoned me to push forward with him.

He saw it before I did: instead of there being four long tables in the centre of the great hall, there were five. This was not normal.

"What on earth?" I babbled, turning to face Harry, entering the common state of disbelief that seemed to be taking over everybody's mind. "Five tables?! How can that be? There can't be five houses! There only ever was and only ever will be four houses in Hogwarts – there isn't a fifth founder! Why is there five?"

"Relax, Hermione," Harry said, easing my tension. "Remember what Matthew said on the train? His school is coming to Hogwarts this year. Dumbledore must have thought it was best to put another table out for them to sit at. If it's a big school, I'm sure we wouldn't have all fitted at the usual four tables. It must be a table for them to sit at."

Once again, Harry made perfect sense. How did I not put that equation together myself? I didn't actually believe Matthew when he was telling us about the 'other train' and his school on the way here. Maybe he's not completely insane after all. Nevertheless, I still needed to find him.

I made my way to the Gryffindor house table with everybody and sat down in my usual seat. Was the hall…bigger than usual?

I looked up at the staff table, which overlooked all of the commotion in the hall. I counted the chairs in Latin in my head, unus, duos, three, quattuor

There were two extra chairs. Yes, extra. This meant that the ominous position of the defence against the dark arts teacher must have been filled, also meaning that two new teachers were coming to the school. For a few seconds, I contemplated the thought of new subjects being added to the curriculum, but then Ron nudged me in the ribs and that thought left my head.

"Look," he whispered.

By now everyone was seated, the empty table to my extreme right, and the teachers filed into their chairs at the top of the room. Hagrid beamed down at us, wearing his brown, signature, moleskin suit that was extremely shabby. Two seats were still vacant. Dumbledore stood up, his purple robes glistening in the moonlight of the enchanted star-lit sky. He began to speak.

"Welcome back, students," he smiled. "It's such a delight to see you all looking so young, well and healthy. And to the first-years, welcome."

He scratched the top of his balding head, stealing a quick glance at Professor , who seemed unsure about something. He adjusted his half-moon spectacles and continued.

"I'm not exactly sure where to start with this one, I can see I owe you all an explanation. The question buzzing in each of your heads must be the same – why is there an extra house table?

"The answer is simple: We have quite a large number of new students joining us this year, a full school, in fact. The school that is joining us, however, is relatively small, so it's only an extra sixty students in simple English.

"Their own wizarding school, Melbotts Academy, has closed for the time being due to exceptional circumstances. I felt that there was no point of letting the student's education suffer, because of some foolish mistake the board of management made and so, I made the suggestion that they come and spend their school year at Hogwarts, in our company. I hope you do not mind too much. They have travelled a long way to be with us today, from Washington in America to be exact."

At this point, an unmistakable buzz of excitement spread throughout the hall.

Unless my ears deceived me, I was almost certain that I'd heard Dumbledore mutter the word 'regrettably' after the word 'suggestion'.

I was I was sure it was coming. I was sure I would see him soon.

"As Hogwarts students, I have no doubts that you will make them feel as welcome and as comfortable as possible during their stay with us. Um, I ask you to approach them with care, in the sense that I do not want you to harass them and make them feel uncomfortable in any way. They are here to pursue their education like the rest of us. Please, join me in welcoming Melbotts Academy."

Every head in the hall turned to face the great hall doors. They swung open momentarily.

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

My heart skipped a beat and I think I was beginning to hyperventilate; sixty pale-faced, angelic-looking, beautiful, god-like, handsome, perfect, amazing humans walked through the doors.

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!

I had never seen anything like them. No other thought registered in my brain. These…these people were like…were like… angels from heaven! They all looked like super-models!

Several girls let out excited squeals when they saw the male students walk through, Ron and Harry were practically drooling over the girls.

Every Hogwarts student was quiet, everyone's mouths positioned in a perfect 'O'.

Then I saw him: Matthew was standing in the middle of the throng of beautiful newcomers. He looked pretty normal, probably feeling a little uncomfortable about the hundreds of awe-struck faces staring at him and his fellow students. At least he was okay.

I looked up at the staff table; even the teachers looked shocked.

Weird thing was, all of the new students seemed to possess rather similar features to Matthew's – the pale skin, that icy-cold, uncomfortable look, not to mention how obviously incredibly gorgeous they were.

They were like a bunch of beautiful snowflakes drifting into a toxic waste dump.

In fact, I was so intrigued by them that when Dumbledore started to speak again, it startled me quite a bit. I didn't want the moment to be ruined. I wanted to see more of them.

"Well, um, welcome Melbotts Academy," he smiled, apparently uninterested in their beauty. "I'm glad to see you all look so fresh and awake after all of the travelling you've done in the last two days. Please, join us for our feast."

Dumbledore clapped his hands and all four tables were suddenly covered in mouth-watering platters of food and delicacy's. No one touched it. All the students continued to stare at the angels entering the Great Hall.

Melbotts Academy made their way to the fourth table and sat down. This was the first time I noticed yet another talent they all possessed; they were so graceful! The way they moved – it was almost like they were walking on water. They just sort of … glided …to their seats. Geez, I reckon they'd be mad not to try out for the Quidditch team, with posture and carriage as elegant as theirs.

I quickly glanced around the rest of the hall, not wanting to take my eyes off them. At least I wasn't the only one gawping.

Matthew sat in between a gangly looking boy and a girl with thick, brown hair and eyes of the exact same colour tone as his. I figured they must be relatives.

Eventually, the immense silence broke and people started to submerge themselves in conversation. Of course, the general topic was the same.

"They are so good-looking" –

"Look at the one third to the left" –

"Do you think they would date us" –

"Where are they from again" –

"How do they move like that" –

"Do you think they'll even speak to us" –

"Are they all professional models" –

Yeah, that was the gist of conversation at this point.

I scoffed a few mouthfuls of food down my throat, trying to satisfy my stomach quickly. I took a large gulp of butter-beer and turned to Harry.

"Well," I said. "What's your theory?"

Harry, still baffled by them, hadn't even touched his food yet.

"I dunno," he said, staring at some blonde girl who sat a few seats away from Matthew. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted, defeated. "I'm completely mesmerised by them. And I'm not even usually interested in boys!"

Crap, I can't believe I said that out loud. Harry didn't seem to notice.

"Well…whatever and whoever they are," he glanced quickly at the new table again, "They are more than welcome at our school."

I turned to my right. Ron wasn't there.

"Ron?" I called.

Of course, I thought. He's probably chatting up one of the brunettes.

Then something strange happened: One of the Melbotts students stood up and ran from the hall, a pained expression on his face, his jaw squared, his hands clenched into fists. A few other students followed him, the same pained expression on their faces, one taking a somewhat desiring glance at a second year Ravenclaw, and fleeing instantly too.

No one knew why this happened. We all looked eagerly at Dumbledore for an answer, who stood with his wand raised, a furious expression on his face.

Filch, the school caretaker, crossed the room and whispered frantically to Dumbledore. I couldn't make out what they were saying.

-------------------------------------------

Filch's POV:

"Dumbledore," I whispered, not wanting to be overheard. "Do you think I should take them out now?"

Dumbledore nodded discreetly.

"Yes, Filch, I think that would be best. I thought some of them were going to loose control there, imagine what could have happened! This is much more dangerous than I thought."

"I know, sir," I said, thinking of my own life.

"She told me they were fully prepared. She told me they could control themselves. Clearly not….."

"Maybe," I suggested, "Maybe they should be isolated from Hogwarts students altogether. We certainly don't want anyone to get hurt" –

"Of course not, Filch, no one can or will get hurt. That idea would make our students want to talk to them more. What would they think?"

I took a deep breath. "Do you think it would be better if we told them the truth?"

"Absolutely not. We will proceed with our original plan."

--------------------------------------------

Back to Hermione's POV:

Dumbledore lowered his wand and beckoned for Filch to say something. All eyes were on them.

Filch's ragged breathing made it a little awkward to hear exactly what he was saying.

"Right," he said. "Melbotts Academy students, follow me. And bring yer jackets."

Filch walked out of the Great Hall, the Melbotts students following him, their faces expressionless.

Matthew looked at me and gave me a sly wink.

I smiled back, unsure what this connection meant. He seemed to not be angry with me anyway.

Dumbledore wandered back up to the podium. He looked weary and beaten.

"Before you go to bed, I wish to tell you all something.

"Firstly, the Melbotts students will, as you may have gathered, have their own house whilst they are at Hogwarts. Their house will be called 'Beveldown', simply because it was their head mistress's surname. This also means that they will have their own common room and sleeping arrangements and I must stress that each of you are absolutely forbidden to go into their rooms after hours, no exceptions."

I could have sworn he looked in my direction from the corner of his eye, but he continued nevertheless.

"Secondly, we will have two new staff members joining us this year. I am sure you will meet them in due course.

"Thirdly, for all of you who are wondering, yes, the Melbotts students will be mixed in with your classes during the day time and, as I've said, I ask you all to give them space and time over the next few days. It will take them a while to get used to their new… living conditions.

"As you may also have noticed, they didn't have much of an appetite this evening."

I looked over at their table – the food was completely untouched.

"I would say they felt somewhat awkward tonight, new school, new faces, so I'm sure they just lost their appetite in the anticipation of it all. I guess what I mean is that it is in no way reflecting our marvellous cooking staff."

He smiled for a few seconds, as if remembering some private joke.

"But now I face a small problem: This hall, magnificent though it is, cannot accommodate for everybody to eat at the same time. I actually had to enlarge the floor space tonight using a rather complex spell, ensuring that we would all have enough space to eat together as a whole for at least one night. As you know, this castle is extremely old, and my problem is that by messing with its original structure, which is also very hard to do, I may disturb its foundations. It is quite possible that by doing this too frequently, the building will be damaged. In fact, it could very well collapse right now. However, I'm quite sure that it will hold for tonight.

"Therefore, Melbotts students will have different meal times than us. I hope you are not too disappointed. You will still get to see your new friends more often than not.

"Please, respect everything I said, and take me seriously. We do not want to have any problems. Now, off to bed, goodnight to you all."

He walked away from the podium, chatting to Professor McGonagall in a friendly manner.

"Blimey, talk about feeding us too much information at once," chuckled Ron, who had appeared (not that I'd originally noticed) scratching his mop of fiery red hair. "So many new things – I'm surprised you weren't taking notes, Hermione."

"Mmm-hmm," I agreed, not listening attentively I'll admit. I was way too absorbed with everything Dumbledore had just said to strike up a relatively normal conversation right now.

The new house – the new common room – the new staff members – the eating arrangements – the mysterious student behaviour (of which several examples spring to mind) – I knew for sure it would keep me awake all night. There is something so odd about -

"Hermione?" said Harry looking anxious, waving his hand in front of my face, drawing me out of my trance.

"Yes?" I said, coming back to the present.

"We're all heading to the common room now," he said, inclining his head towards Ron, Luna, Ginny, Fred, George and Seamus Finnigan, an Irish boy, standing in a small group together, talking animatedly. "Are you coming?"

"Uh, yes," I said gathering my thoughts.

I stood up and walked out of the great hall with them.

We reached the top of the stairs and were headed for the portrait hole when I absentmindedly looked out of the rain-stained, glass windows.

I paused.

Despite the pitch-blackness of night which had closed over the whole of the country at this hour, I was almost certain that I saw a bright, white something, in between the mass of darkness and trees on the outskirts of the forbidden forest.

It looked almost like a human face.

If so, it was peering out of the trees and in my direction.

Or maybe it was just me being paranoid and tired.

I walked on.

Weird.