Author's Notes: Thank you The Amendable Snow Freak and Ruby-Elmwood for your reviews, and thank you Hermione'sHairLookAlike for adding this to your alerts. I'm not sure what to think about fahrudin's review... a spam message?
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
"I found it!" Hidan yelled, barging into Kurania's room - she quickly yanked her shirt back down.
"I'm dressing! You can tell me later-"
"I found out how to summon snakes!" Hidan cheered, ignoring her entirely.
Kurania hadn't expected that. "You what?"
"I just told you-"
"Why were you looking for that?" She elaborated, frowning at him.
"For you, of course. I still have to find out how you send them back, but to summon 'em you say 'Serpensortia' and swish your wand down like this!" He demonstrated with an imaginary wand.
"I didn't ask you to do that, now get out so I can change!" And with that, she pushed him out. He complained from the hallway while she put on her clothes.
"Tell him to go away." Charon grumbled.
Kurania scowled. "I've had to put up with him way more than you have! And anyway, this idea of his, to know a few spells before we go - it's a pretty good idea. He's returning those books the second we can get an owl, though." If she had any idea how to mail something to Diagon Alley without an owl, those books would have already been sent back. "Longbottom said I might have some trouble, learning how to defend myself is a great idea!"
"Summoning serpents, unlocking doors and making teeth grow - all wonderful defensive tactics." Kinnyoa laughed at her own sarcasm.
"There's something called a shielding charm that would probably be more useful." Charon agreed.
Kurania sighed, picked up her copy of the Standard Book of Spells and searched for shield charms. She had just found one - Protego - when Hidan finally yelled, "Can I come in yet?"
"You're still out there?" Kurania called back, surprised. Hidan took that as permission and slammed the door open.
"What're you looking at that for? It's not going to be in there." Hidan gave the textbook a look full of contempt.
"Just because you didn't steal it, you think it's useless?" Kurania sneered at him. "This has information on Shielding charms, which sound much more useful to me."
"Wha- but you could summon snakes and then sic them on people!"
"You could sic me on him." Charon offered helpfully, and Kurania frowned at both of them.
"I don't want to sic anything on anyone! It's a school, not a battleground."
"Actually, it was a battleground a decade ago." Hidan informed her smugly. "Against the dark wizard Voldemort. He died in the room we'll be eating in all year!" Before Diagon Alley, Kurania had believed Hidan illeterate. Now that she knew how well he picked up annoying or stupid facts, she really wished he was illerate.
"Lovely." She mumbled. "Was this Voldy guy the one who made snakes seem evil?"
"Yeah, I think so. The book I read about him said he had a snake named Nagini - her head got cut off near the front entrance!"
"I really don't want to know who died where!" Kuriana scolded him exasperatedly.
"Oh, yes you do." Hidan said, oddly confident. "Hogwarts, A History says that six ghosts are in permittent residence-"
"Permanent." She corrected.
"-at Hogwarts, plus some that visit on Halloween."
"Did that book tell you whether or not each student gets their own room?" Kurania was sure he was teasing about the ghosts.
"No, they have different dorms for girls and boys in each year and house - oh yeah, the houses!" Hidan grinned. "There are four houses at Hogwarts and each of them has an animal for a mascot - one of them has a snake!" The way he said it made it seem as though Kurania should jump for joy at the news.
"So I will have to share a room." Kurania sighed, glancing at Charon and Kinnyoa.
"Take us anyway." Kinnyoa ordered her, while Hidan asked, "What?"
"Drat it, I still can't control which language I speak!" Kurania fumed. She couldn't tell what exactly made her switch to Parseltongue, because the cause seemed to vary.
"Sorry..? Anyway, I want to be in the house with a lion - the traits for it are bravery and-"
"Stupidity?" Kurania suggested.
"Yeah! I mean, no, it's courage!" Hidan glared at her.
"Courage and bravery are the same thing." Kurania pointed out.
"Oh, shut up!" He huffed, looking away for a moment. "there's a house for people who like to learn, another for loyal people, and the snake one's about 'am bitty on', whatever that means."
"Ambition; it means having a big goal that you'd do anything to reach." Charon provided the answer, but Kurania didn't feel like relaying it.
"I don't really think you're loyal or smart, so you'll probably be in the snake one." Hidan decided, not noticing Charon.
"I could be in the brave one." She frowned at him.
Hidan snorted. "You're scared of water and spiders and crowds-"
"You're scared of birds and the dark and heights-"
"I am NOT!" Hidan bellowed.
Thanks to their freqent arguments, Kurania and Hidan knew only six spells each when they left for school: Protego, Densaugeo, Serpensortia, Alohamora, Augamenti, and Incendio. The family Longbottom had asked to bring the two orphans to King's Cross turned out to be the Andersens, and Roselyn wasn't happy about it at all. She crossed her arms and refused to look at anyone the whole ride, gritting her teeth whenever Hidan asked a silly question or told her about the adventures she'd missed in the last two summers. Kurania didn't have to suffer that torture; she had brought ear plugs and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. The only downside of this is that by the time she realized they'd arrived, everyone was outside and all of the luggage was out of the trunk.
"What took you so long?" Roselyn snarled.
"Sorry, didn't hear you." She apologized, and showed her the earplugs. Kurania couldn't help but smirk at the furious look on Roselyn's face. "Dying of envy?"
"What's 'envy'?" Hidan asked.
Mrs. Andersen, who hadn't been the least bit bothered by Hidan's talk in the car - perhaps she also brought earplugs? - answered his question. "Envy is the same as jealousy."
The four of them grabbed carts and went to stand in between platforms 9 and 10. Another family seemed to be doing the same as them, glancing around and waiting. Mrs. Andersen squealed suddenly. "That's Harry Potter!" She quickly checked her hair. "Oh, I'd heard his godson was starting this year, but I didn't think I'd get to see him!"
"Don't ask for his autograph, Mom!" Roselyn begged. "It'd be so embarressing!"
"Why would you want his autograph?" Kurania asked, confused. The group of people they were staring at held one older lady with dark hair, one black-haired man with the craziest hair Kurania had ever seen, one ginger woman, and a young boy with violently purple hair. The man didn't seem squeal-worthy at all, and Kurania wondered if he was a celebrity. His name did sound a little familar.
Hidan explained it a little. "Harry Potter's the guy who defeated Voldemort - the evil snake guy?"
"She wants his autograph for murdering someone?" That didn't seem quite right.
"No, he stopped a murderer!"
"By murdering him."
Hidan was fuming. "That's not the point!"
"He's a hero!" Mrs. Andersen declared angrily. "You-Know-Who would have destroyed England completely if Harry Potter hadn't stopped him!"
If Kurania was in an anime, she would have sweatdropped. As things were, she asked, "Why was he trying to destroy England? And isn't Hogwarts in Scotland, anyway?"
She was saved by the fact that Harry Potter's group had began to move, and had somehow walked through a wall. The Andersens followed after them quickly, looking around to make sure nobody was watching. Kurania hesitated at the last moment and Hidan dragged her through. On the other side, a fire-truck red train waited. Kurania winced, and wondered what purpose hiding the station served when the train would be so glaringly visible once it rolled out.
Some older students helped the three with their luggage, and Hidan and Kurania climbed on board while the Andersens said their goodbyes. Kurania had wanted to go look for a compartment, but Hidan had held her back, insisting that they would sit with Roselyn. Kurania doubted that the angry girl woud allow this, but part of her hoped she would, if only so that she could watch Hidan bother Roselyn.
"What do you think you're doing?" Roselyn hissed when she climbed in and saw them waiting.
"Waiting for you, of course." Hidan rolled his eyes.
Roselyn sneered at him. "Waiting for me? What, do you think you're going to sit with me? Like Hell that's happening! You're nothing but an embarressing pain in the-"
"Rosie, c'mere!" A brown-haired boy called, stepping out of a nearby compartment. Roselyn turned pink at the sight of him, and sent a warning look to Hidan before hurrying after the boy.
Hidan frowned. "Do you think she's feeling alright?" He asked Kurania, who gave him a disbelieving look.
"How can you be so oblivious?"
"I'm not oblivious!" Hidan snapped, and then paused. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
Kurania took a deep breath through her nose. "Oblivious means clueless."
"I knew that!"
Kurania snorted and walked down the corridor, glancing into compartments to try and find an empty one. When she finally found one, She turned around to see Hidan entering the compartment that the purple-haired boy had been sitting in alone.
She hurried to follow him, but didn't have the chance to scold him as Hidan cheerfully introduced himself. "My name's Hidan Kiro - mind if I sit with you? Oh, and this is Kurania." Said girl gave him an angry look that he ignored.
"I... guess?" The boy said hesitantly. "I'm Teddy Lupin."
"Nice to meet you. Is your hair turning green?" Kurania asked, sitting down opposite Teddy, still glaring at Hidan. Hidan chose to sit by Teddy.
"Yeah... it does that." Teddy mumbled, crossing his eyes to frown at a strand of purple/green hair in his face. "I'm supposed to be able to control it, but..."
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Hidan wanted to know, thinking of his colorless hair. Kurania snickered. "It's not feminine to want to change your hair color, to, say, brown-"
"It's a bit feminine the way you asked that, though!" She laughed, and turned to Teddy.
"Are you two siblings?" He asked.
Kurania shook her head hurriedly. "No, but we... grew up together?" She said awkwardly, not sure if she wanted to announce that the two were orphans.
Teddy frowned. "Most of my friends are younger than me. They'll be going here in a couple of years, though..."
"How do you know they're magical?" Hidan asked.
Teddy gave him an odd look. "Their parents are magic, so of course they'll be." He told them. "Wait, are you two Muggleborns?"
"Muggle?" Kurania didn't recognize the term.
"A non-magical person." Hidan explained, and turned to Teddy. "We were raised in the Muggle world." It seemed he didn't want to mention their families (or lack thereof), either.
"Oh." Teddy said, glancing out the window.
"You say 'Muggle world' like the magic one's seperate." Kurania mused.
Hidan stared at her. "Did you look at any of those books?"
"Of course not! They might dust them for fingerprints, and I don't want anyone thinking I had anything to do with it!"
"Dust for fingerprints?" Teddy echoed.
"He stole a bunch of books from Diagon Alley!" Kurania told him irritably. "Apparently, textbooks just weren't enough..."
"I'm adjusting way better than you already!" Hidan argued. "You didn't know what Muggle meant, who Harry Potter was, or even who Voldemort was until I told you! Why didn't your wonderful unstolen textbooks tell you any of that?"
"...unstolen isn't a word." Kurania finally said. It was the best response she could come up with.
End Notes: Sorry this took a bit longer than normal! I write when I have time and ideas, so the updates probably won't be consistent. Sorry...
By the way... anyone want to invent a song for the Sorting Hat to sing? I'm terrible at writing songs... they all sound hideous. The idea of having the Hat go through a midlife crisis and start rapping about the Houses keeps appearing in my head too, even though I know it'd be too OOC!
Please review, whether you liked it or not - if you noticed something wrong, please tell me and I'll fix it! My favorite reviews are ones with suggestions, but even a simple 'I like it' or 'It sucks' makes me pretty happy!