Chapter 2: Arrival

Almost instantly as she stepped through the mirror, Maka felt as though she had been shot from a cannon as she found herself being hurled through a swirling void of black and white. Her eye's stung from the brightness and she could barely move her arms which were pinned to her sides by the force of the pull until eventually an opening appeared at the end of the tunnel. The scythe meister braced herself as she flew through the opening and landed on her feet, the soft sound of grass beneath her boots. She rubbed her eyes, swaying on the spot from the dizzying effect of the journey.

"Where…are we?" As she looked up, Maka gasped as she saw a truly gigantic castle sitting at the top of a large hill. It looked to be about three times the size of the DWMA with towering spiers and turrets at almost every point.

"Whoa. Now that's a castle." Soul stepped up beside her as he looked at the building in awe.

"I'd heard the stories, but I never would have imagined this." Crona gasped. "It makes our school look tiny."

"Ah, so is that the last of ya?" A gruff voice said from behind them. The trio turned around to see the rest of their friends and their teachers standing besides a replica of Lord Death's mirror. But they weren't alone; standing behind them was a tall burly man wearing a heavy coat that appeared to be made of fur. His face was almost completely hidden by a thick black beard and wild black hair. He was also very big for a man, standing about a foot higher than Lord Death and two feet higher than Stein.

"Yes, that's the last of them." Stein replied to the man.

"Great." The man said. "Now that that's sorted, we can make our way up to the castle."

"Excuse me?" Maka said to the man. "But who are you and where are we?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, my dear." The man said with a jolly smile. "I'm the gate keeper here at Hogwarts, and you lot happen to be in the grounds right next to me hut." Indeed, not far off from the man named Hagrid there was a large wooden hut, complete with a lush garden and not far off from his house a deep dark forest stood which looked to go on for miles.

"Your headmaster sent us a replica of this here mirror." Hagrid explained, patting its side. "He wouldn't say what it was for in the letter, but I think I understand now. Gotta say, I thought the ruddy thing was about to explode when it started glowing and spraying lighting like that."

"Yes, sorry about that, Hagrid." Stein said. "Lord Death probably should have mentioned what the purpose of the mirror was."

"Ah it's no problem." Hagrid replied as he waved the apology aside. "But anyway. There's no time for dilly-dallying, we need to get you lot to the great hall. Dinner will be starting soon in a couple of hours."

"Dinner?" Black Star questioned. "But it was only just the morning when we left a few seconds ago."

"We crossed a time zone Black Star" Kid said to him. "So it will be closer to night here than it was back home."

"Well that's annoying. I just woke up so I'm not about to go back to sleep." With that the group began to make their way up the grassy hill which lead to the enormous castle. As they made their way towards it, the DWMA students and teachers were staring at it in awe.

"WOWEE! IT'S GIGANTIC!" Patty Cheered throwing her hands in the air.

"Oh dear." Marie moaned as she put her hand to her head. "I found it difficult enough trying to find my way round the academy back home. How am I supposed to navigate a school that's twice as big without getting lost?"

"I could draw you map if you'd like" Hagrid suggested. "Although it probably won't do you much good, since the staircases like to change" He chortled.

"Oh, now I feel so much better." Marie groaned even more.

"So big guy…" Soul began. "Where exactly are we going be to be sleeping this year. I highly doubt your cabin has enough room for us all."

"Oh, don't worry that's been sorted." Hagrid said with another smile. It seemed he was quite the jolly type. "We cleared out and refurbished one of the spare towers near the Gryffindor one so that's where you'll all be staying for your time here." He pointed to said tower that was jutting out of the northwest side of the castle.

"So how many other schools are participating besides us, Sir?" Tsubaki asked.

"Oh, please just call me Hagrid, everybody does." Hagrid insisted. "And in answer to your question two more schools will be participating. One's the witch school Beauxbatons, and the other will be the wizard school Durmstrang. Plus you and Hogwarts, that makes four schools participating this year." Hagrid said.

"So there's nothing dangerous here we should worry about?"

"No, nothing, not a thing." Hagrid replied before he stroked his beard. "Except…best keep clear of the whomping willow over there, it's quite territorial." He nodded to a large gnarled tree that stood nearby that appeared to be moving on its own.

"And then there's the grindylows in the Black Lake; swim too far out and they might try to drown ya. Thankfully the giant squid's often close by to help if you're in trouble. And then there're the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest; they don't like trespassers, especially acromantulas."

"And…what are acromantulas?" Liz asked having grown rather fearful.

"Giant man-eating spiders." Hagrid replied to which Liz paled terribly. "Don't worry, I'm good friends with their Dad so you should be fine if you run into them."

"Sounds like a great deal of danger to me." Soul muttered.

"Well, students aren't allowed near any of those parts of the school anyway without supervision. But seeing as you lot aren't from around here…"

"We understand, Hagrid." Stein replied. "And I'm sure we'll be fine. If you know anything about our school, you'll know we can handle a little danger."

"That I do, Professor Stein, considering why you're here."

XXX

It wasn't long until the group reached the castle and upon entering, Hagrid soon lead them to a pair of large doors that stretched up to the ceiling.

"Well, here we are." The gatekeeper said as he clapped his hands together. "Now, I'll just go tell Dumbledore you've arrived and you can deliver your performance."

"I'm sorry, what performance?" Soul asked confused, glancing at his friends who looked just as clueless.

"You mean you weren't told?" Hagrid asked in disbelief. "Each foreign school has to give a short act in front of the Hogwarts students as a form of introduction."

"Well you'll have to give a few minutes to figure something out." Stein said.

"Alright then." Hagrid replied. "How does thirty minutes sound?"

"That'll be just fine thank you." Steins said. "You tell Dumbledore we're here and will give our introduction in half an hour." Hagrid nodded and then entered through the tall doors.

"So what do we do?" Kid said asked.

"I have an idea. It's just off the top of my head, but it should impress them enough." Stein began. "This school wants to see what we do and what we're capable of. So, I say we perform a few tricks with our weapon partners and finish off with a group resonance. How does that sound?"

"Awesome is what it sounds like!" Black Star grinned ecstatically. "I knew I'd get to perform in this whole shindig but for the first thing when we've gotten here? This is gonna be sweet!"

"Could I really deal with this though?" Crona asked somewhat doubtful. "I've never performed before. What would I even do? I'd probably just end up scaring them with Ragnarok."

"Hey shut up! I'll show you scary, pinky!" The aforementioned demon sword barked as he started pulling on his meister's cheeks like silly putty.

"Rah-nah-roth sto-ih!"

"That's enough of that now." Marie marched over to slap Ragnarok's hands away. "You behave yourself, young man." The demon rudely stuck his tongue out at her before slipping back into Crona.

"Ok, here's what we'll do. I'll go first with Marie in hand before signalling the rest of you." Stein started to explain the act. "You'll enter in pairs; first Kid and Black Star and then Maka and Crona. To round it off we'll come together in a resonance link. Everybody got that?" The others nodded as the professor stubbed out his cigarette.

"Then let's do this."

XXX

Concurrently on the other side however a magnificent main hall awaited, lined with long dining tables which seated dozens of children of varying ages, about a thousand in all: the students of Hogwarts. Additionally, there two other groups of students sitting amongst them; the students of the other attending schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. At the end of the hall sat another table, this one populated by a group of adult witches and wizards which Hagrid was currently walking toward as he approached an elderly wizard with golden glasses and a long white beard: The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

As the gatekeeper went to inform him of the arrival of their final guests, he passed by three familiar faces sitting at one of the student tables: Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three mages Maka had met before turned their heads as they saw Hagrid pass them by. Ever since their encounter with Maka, the trio hadn't been able to get the name of her mysterious whereabouts off their minds. So, it came as quite a surprise to them when they learned that this 'DWMA' would be attending the recently announced Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"So then, are we supposed to believe muggles are participating in the tournament?" Ron questioned the oddness of the idea, given how Hogwarts had never been too careful with hiding themselves from the non-magic community.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say she's your everyday muggle, Ron." Harry replied. "I certainly never saw anyone running around Privet Drive with giant scythes."

"I agree. Whoever this school is, they're no ordinary school, even if it is a muggle one." Hermione concurred as she ran a hand through her mousy hair in frustration. "Why can I still not remember where I've heard of them before though? It's on the tip of my tongue."

"Well maybe seeing them dance around will refresh your memory." The girl looked up in annoyance at a pair of teenage twin boys with red hair. They were Ron's older brothers, Fred and George; well known class clowns and troublemakers at Hogwarts.

"Too right, George. Honestly I can't imagine sort of performance to expect from a school as off the maps as this one." Fred said before glancing at Dumbledore who'd begun to raise his hands. "Looks like we're about to find out."

"And now, students." Dumbledore began. "Let us welcome our final participants from across the pond. The gifted youngsters from Death Weapon Meister Academy and their teachers Professors Franken Stein and Marie Mjolnir." With the call of their names, the doors swung open to reveal Stein standing in the doorway alone with Marie standing beside him.

"Blimey. Is it me or does that guy have a giant screw in his head?" Seamus Finnegan murmured to his classmates who looked just as shocked by the Professor's scarred appearance as well as Marie's eyepatch.

"And I thought Mad-eye was war torn." Fred muttered as the students watched Stein and Marie raise their entwined hands before the latter's body began to glow a golden yellow and, in a flash, she transformed into a black hammer similar in appearance to a tonfa.

"What the- d-did you all just see that?!" another of Harry's friends, Neville Longbottom, spluttered in disbelief.

"She turned into a weapon?! What kind of muggle does that?!" Ron gaped in disbelief as Stein twisted his bolt a couple of times, sending out a disturbing sequence of clicks as he turned it, before he shifted into a stance and then bolted down the entryway between the tables. The onlookers watched in awe as he jumped and flipped through the air, delivering occasional thrusts at the air with Marie before slamming his weapon against the floor which released several shockwaves of electricity across the floor which shook beneath the student's feet.

As the houses watched his performance Hermione couldn't take her eyes off the scarred professor. His hair, his glasses, his eyes; they were so familiar, but as she saw him rise to his feet, an amused but friendly smile on his face, the pieces finally put themselves together as the image of a younger, less altered man wielding a black scythe floated into the Gryffindor's memory.

'It's ok. The monster's gone now.'

"That man." She murmured briefly turning her friends' attention away from Stein. "I remember now: I've met him before, when I was little."

"You mean he's the bloke you heard about the DWMA from long ago?" George asked. "I can't imagine how you'd forget about meeting a man with a bolt through his noggin."

"I don't think he had one back then. I was so small when it happened. My parents told me it was just a bad dream but part of me believed it was real. I'm sure of it."

"Hermione, what are you talking about? How do you know him?" Harry asked, but the girl didn't have time to answer as Stein lifted his hand and loudly snapped his fingers before what sounded like a jet engine was heard approaching the hall.

In a burst of pinkish purple light, Kid came gliding in on his jet-powered skateboard, 'Beelzebub', Liz and Patty both held within his hands, his pinkies on their triggers. His audience gasped as he flew around the great hall, firing off shots of pink energy from his guns before he shot towards Stein and leaned back allowing the professor to swing Marie into the underside of the board launching Kid back into air. The young reaper performed a corkscrew flip followed a 360* roll before he fired off another series of rounds as the dark cloudy ceiling of the hall causing a firework display of pink thunder and lightning. He gently landed his board on the ground, holstering his pistols before kicking Beelzebub up into his open hand which then absorbed the ride into his palm.

"Unbelievable. Just what kind of muggle is he?" Ron's younger sister, Ginny asked as Kid stood beside Stein. "With flying skills like that though I bet he'd be pretty good at Quidditch."

"You never know. Maybe we can convince him to join as a substitute." Fred proposed as the third member of the DWMA entered the hall; Black Star strode into the hall, glancing at either side of his audience before he reached for the hilt of the samurai sword strapped to his belt, drawing the long magnificent blade and holding it aloft as though he were a king. He smirked before holding up his other hand in an unusual gesture as wavy black markings began to cover his exposed skin until a black shape began to emerge from his shadow. It looked like a giant stick figure with hands shaped like pitchforks.

"They're getting more unbelievable with each one." Harry marvelled as Black Star began to duel the shadow creature. Pointed appendages sprouted from its body which the boy began to swing and climb between like a monkey until he reached the stick figure's head, balancing atop it on one foot. The shadow then began to rotate its bladed arms and spikes rapidly and the students gasped as Black Star backflipped off the creature's head and dove straight downward, weaving between the spinning blades and landing on his feet. With that the monster stopped moving and sank back into the boy's shadow as the markings vanished from his skin as he spread his arms wide in a standing bow to which the crowd cheered.

"Well whoever these muggles are they're certainly something else compared to the ones we're used to." Ron muttered. "And rather fond of the limelight too." He added as Black Star was now posing for the onlookers until Stein cleared his throat to get him to join him and Kid.

And the momentum showed no signs of slowing down as the crowd's attention was drawn back to entrance as Crona stepped into view, standing firm and tall, gripping his arm with his head bowed. He looked up towards Stein and Kid who nodded to him before he spread his arms and some of the students screamed when Ragnarok burst from his back in his large Black Dragon form. The demon sword screeched before he took off from the ground dragging Crona with him.

"Ok, I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking, but there's no way muggles can make dragon's pop out of their backs!" Ron watched as Crona did a loop-de-loop.

"Well unless it's some sort of machine. You know how muggles are with their fancy technology." Seamus suggested.

"Yeah that's gotta be it." Neville agreed. "The flying board, that other guy's weird sword and now this. The muggles must have advanced their technology so much Dumbledore decided they could handle knowing about us."

"An interesting theory, Neville, but I don't think that's the case." Hermione doubted as Crona continued to perform his air show when suddenly the pounding of boots against the stone floor sounded before one last figure came speeding into the great hall. Harry, Ron and Hermione gasped when they saw the familiar sandy pigtails, deep green eyes and red & black scythe.

"…It's her." Harry recognised Maka almost instantly as she twirled her weapon in hand before using the pole the propel herself up towards Crona who caught her by her hands as the two began to perform an acrobatic act of sorts as everyone watched in amazement.

"The one you three met at the Quidditch Cup?" George asked to which the trio nodded. "Well it's a small world after all, even if we did just learn it's bigger." Crona held Maka by her hips as he swooped down towards the group before letting her drop. She rolled over and over in the air before piercing the ground with her scythe and balancing on the pole whilst Crona hovered behind the others and with a mighty beat of Ragnarok's wings all of the floating candles lighting the hall were snuffed out, plunging it into darkness.

A few moments passed until each of the DWMA members became surrounded by a glowing outline which began to expand into a large blue bubble. A tendril of light then began to emerge from the surface of each bubble, joining them until all of the bubbles were connected. With that, they began to glow a brilliant white which caused Harry and the others to shield their eyes. The bubbles then fused into one enormous whole and a large shockwave of energy burst outward which blew everyone's hair back bathing the great hall in white light, until finally the bubble faded away and the candles relit themselves. There was a long pause until the students burst into an uproar of clapping, stamping and whistling. The DWMA students each bowed to them except for the blue haired boy who jumping up and down and cheering himself

"Yes. Thank you! Thank you! I'll be signing autographs later." He yelled above the applause. With their performance complete, Marie, Soul, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty changed back into their human forms; those besides Marie surprising the audience with the revelation, as Stein shook hands with Dumbledore before the headmaster himself addressed the crowd.

"Now," he began. "I understand that you all must have a lot of questions about our friends from the DWMA. Well I'm going to fill you in as best I can, so that you can get along with them more easily." The muttering students quieted.

"First of all, as I'm sure you can tell these children are no ordinary muggles. They are a group of highly trained warriors, learning under the guidance of the Grim Reaper himself: Lord Death. The boy you saw with the guns is his son Death the Kid." The students' heads turned to face the young reaper. He nodded to confirm.

"Secondly." Dumbledore went on. "There are two types of students at the academy. Weapons, who are muggles with the ability to transform into armaments. And meisters, who are the individuals that wield them. Some of which have the ability to sense the souls of others; it's like a sixth sense to them." The students stared at the group of misfits ever more curious.

"And finally." Dumbledore said. "The students are trained in order to hunt and consume demons and witches."

At the mention of 'witches' one of the students from the Slytherin table shouted, "Are you out of your mind?!"

"If you'll let me finish." Dumbledore said calmly. "They are only trained to hunt witches who use their magic for evil. You could say that these are the muggle equivalent to our Aurors."

"Aurors?" Maka whispered curiously.

"Dark wizard hunters." Stein translated.

"I understand this is a new experience for both us and them, but I believe including them in this tournament will present a great opportunity for both the magic and muggle worlds. Therefore, I ask you all to treat our foreign guests with respect and open mindedness as I'm certain they shall do the same for us."

With the introductions concluded, and the students seemingly calmed, Dumbledore directed Stein and Marie to their seats at the teacher's table whilst the DWMA gang were pointed a row of empty spaces at the Gryffindor table. As the weapons and meisters quietly sat down, Maka looked to her left when she heard someone calling her and her eyes widened when she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione looking back at her.

"You three." She said in surprise. Soul looked passed her side in equal shock.

"Long time no see." Harry greeted them. "Martha, was it?"

"Maka." The scythe meister corrected as she extended her hand. "I never asked you your names last time."

"Harry Potter." The Boy Who Lived replied. "And these are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger." He gestured to the others who wave back.

"Hold on. These are the ones you ran into on your mission?" Black Star asked Soul who nodded.

"Didn't expect to run into them again." He said.

"Yeah and we didn't expect a scythe to have been a bloke this whole time." Ron added to which Soul laughed.

"Well considering you already found me scary as a weapon I didn't wanna go and make you lot wet yourselves if I started talking."

"Nah, only spiders would get that reaction out of Ron." Fred joked, Ron throwing a half glare back. At the sight of the twins however Kid leapt to his feet.

"AMAZING!" The striped boy shouted, his eyes sparkling and his face beaming. "ABSOLUTE SYMMETRY!"

"Err…are you alright mate?" George asked.

"Sorry about him." Liz apologised said. "He's completely obsessed with symmetry."

"Well that's a little ironic, isn't it?" Fred asked.

"What do you mean?" Patty asked curiously.

"Well, I mean he loves symmetry, but he's got those stripes on the left side of his hair and not on the right." Fred pointed out. At the mention of the only blemish on his otherwise symmetrical body, Kid collapsed back into his and slammed his head on the table, pounding his fist against it repeatedly.

"Dammit! Dammit all, he's right!" he wailed. "Why do I have to have these god forsaken stripes? Liz! Patty! You deserve far better than a piece of asymmetrical scum like me!"

"Oh boy here we go." Liz sighed as she began to rub his back to try and cheer him up. Fred and George on the other hand seemed rather confused, but also slightly amused at the kid's sudden comical outburst.

"So, what are your names?" Ginny asked. "I'm Ron's sister, Ginny and those two clowns are our brothers."

"Gred and Forge." The twins introduced themselves.

"Get used to that from them." Ginny added, rolling her eyes. "To name a few others in our house, there's Neville, Seamus, Dean and Colin." She pointed out some of the students closest to the group. Liz smiled; these folks were certainly more approachable than the witches they were used to encountering.

"Well you already know Maka and Kid's names." She gestured to the two meisters. "I'm Liz Thompson and this is my sister Patty."

"Hi~!" the bubbly pistol waved with a grin.

"My name's Tsubaki Nakatsukasa." The kindly dark arm introduced herself.

"As for me, I'm the one and only Black Star! The unstoppable assassin who'll surpass the strength of the gods!" her partner boasted with his usual over-the-top charisma.

"Well if his strength's measured by his ego he's already surpassed 'em." Seamus muttered earning a laugh from the other meisters and weapons to which Black Star didn't take well.

"Soul Eater's the name." Soul spoke up.

"Is that a nickname?" Neville asked, surprised by it.

"Nope." The scythe replied simply.

"And this is Crona." Maka patted her shy friend's shoulder. "Ragnarok why don't you say hello too?" She added.

"Ragnarok? Who's that?" Ron asked.

"Me!" the students got their answer as the demon sword emerged from Crona's back making them jump. "What's up, witches?"

"Wait! You mean that thing's actually alive?!" Hermione yelped.

"THING?! Say that to my face, buck tooth!" Ragnarok snapped at her.

"Ragnarok, calm down, she didn't mean it." Maka scolded him.

"No, he's right, that was rude of me. I'm sorry, Ragnarok." Hermione apologised though the demon just folded his arms grumpily. "It's just this is all so much. We've never seen anyone like you."

"Well I suppose we are a bit surprising for you all." Kid agreed coolly.

"Understatement of the evening, mate." Fred muttered.

"Don't worry, we'll tell you all about us later. It looks like your headmaster has something else to say." Tsubaki pointed to Dumbledore.

The man himself turned and waved a hand to four people who were standing next to what appeared to be a tall golden pillar. They picked it up and carried it in front of a pedestal before setting it down. Maka's eyes widened as she recognised the man leading the four was none other than Barty Crouch. He also seemed quite surprised when their eyes met but the man simply nodded a greeting to Maka before he faced the audience.

"Now then." He began. "As you all know, the Triwizard Tournament is an event that is not to be taken lightly. Due to the dangerousness of the three challenges, no student under the age of seventeen is allowed to put their name fourth for the tournament." The Hogwarts students began to rant and rave.

"However, because the DWMA students have been trained for situations that are on the same level of danger as the challenges in this tournament, they will be the only under-age exceptions." This added detail only irked the students further.

"Come on, that's not fair and you damn well know it!" a Hufflepuff student said.

"What makes them so special anyway?" a Ravenclaw student protested.

"THAT'S RUBBISH! THAT'S RUBBISH!" Fred and George booed together. Having enough of the clamouring, Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Eager though you may be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he began. "This age restriction is a measure all representatives believe is necessary, given the nature of the tasks and I believe those below the age will not be able to handle them." His blue eyes glinted with a mischievous spar. "And I will personally see to it that none try to get by the rules." He smirked.

He then raised his wand up to the tall object, before gently bringing his hand down. The golden shell suddenly melted away, to reveal a large stone goblet within. A cloud of blue flames appeared above the rim of goblet and flickered and licked at the air.

"The Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore stated. "Any student wishing to volunteer for the tournament must simply write their name on a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour by next week. But I must caution you all. If chosen, there's no turning back. From this moment, the Triwizard tournament has begun."

XXX

"You lot are so lucky do you know that?" Fred said to DWMA gang. After dinner- which had been unlike any other for the meisters and weapons when they first saw the never-ending feast- Stein and Marie, along with the children, had followed the Gryffindors to where the tower they would be staying in was located next door to theirs.

Though since the meisters and weapons were still wide awake, the Gryffindors decided to invite the foreigners into their common room for a chat; the first subject being the Weasley twins' frustration over the conditions of the tournament.

"I mean we're two years older than you, and yet you're the ones aloud to compete." George ranted.

"Correction" Black Star said raising a finger. "Tsubaki and Liz are year older than the rest of us; therefore, they're a year younger than you two."

"That's not the point!" Hermione said. "I can't understand why they would allow you to compete. I understand you're all trained…killers…" she struggled to get the last word out.

"Oooohhh" Ragnarok laughed as he leaned closer to Hermione. "Is the little witch afraid of us, knowing we hunt your kind down so weapons like me can eat your souls? I have to admit girly, you look particularly tasty." He then opened his mouth to reveal a set of square teeth and a long red tongue which then traced over them.

"Ragnarok stop it" Crona tried to say as strictly as he could. "Don't say things like that to her, it's not nice"

"It's okay Crona" Hermione replied. "I can tell he's just teasing me. We know bullies far worse than this."

"Worse than me?" Ragnarok asked doubtfully. "Name one"

"Draco Malfoy" Harry spoke up, which drew everyone's attention to him. "He's a Slytherin."

"That green house with the snake symbol?" Liz verified; the Gryffindors nodded. "A lot of them were giving us the stink eye when we arrived."

"Yeah they aren't exactly a friendly bunch." Neville said, revolted. "Many dark wizards came from that house and some of the students are even descendants of dark wizards."

"Yeah and Malfoy's family is one of the worst of them all." Ron spat. "They're filthy rich and they look down on the rest of us like we're peasants. They call themselves pure bloods." Maka grimaced at the mention of the word. Not a very pleasant description for a person who considers himself better than all others.

"Not only that." Hermione added. "But they also tend use a foul term to describe muggle-born wizards or witches. Like me: 'mud-blood'"

"That's disgusting" Kid said with a look of repulsion. "And if I may ask, what is a muggle? We've heard that word a lot since we got here."

"Well...you guys" Ron said. "Muggle's the term we use to describe people who can't use magic. It's not an insult like mud-blood though. Although I bet you five galleons that Malfoy's gonna make it an insult just for you guys."

"I don't think I wanna meet this guy." Soul said from one the couches he was lying on with his hands behind his head.

"If there's one thing I know about bullies" Stein began. "They're all bark and no bite. They use insults to taunt their victims. And if the victim barks back, that just gives the bully more chances to insult them. But on the inside, they're just spineless cowards who can't fight to save their own lives. You shouldn't take whatever this kid says about you seriously, especially you, Hermione."

The young witch smiled. From what the others had told her about Stein, he would have made a good defence against the dark arts teacher. Even if he wasn't a wizard. She wanted to find out if he really was the man from all those years ago. But they had only just got here; it would be better to choose her moment wisely to confirm her suspicions.

"But that's enough of that." Marie said as she stood up. "Now kids. We'll start our lessons again this Monday. So, you have Friday and the whole weekend to yourselves. Perhaps your new friends could give you a tour of the building?"

"We'd be happy to show them around" Hermione said eagerly.

"They could come with us to see Hagrid, since they've already met him." Harry suggested.

"We might even take them to visit Hogsmeade." Ron added.

"What's Hogsmeade?" Patty asked, looking up from the drawing she'd been doodling.

"Oh, you'll love it, Patty." George said. "It's the best little village around. They've got plenty of great shops, and even then, it's still a good place to take a walk."

"Sounds like fun." Soul said grinning widely.

"Well, goodnight everybody. You kids come join us when you're ready. Just don't stay up too late." Stein said as he and Marie began to leave through the portrait hole.

"Professor," Hermione asked. "There are still quite a few things I'd like to know."

"If you want to learn, come to one of our classes. I find that a much better way of teaching." Stein suggested with a smile. With that he a Marie left, and the door closed behind them.

To be continued…

Sorry about that glitch wirh the first upload. Thank you to those who brought it up.