1 Chapter 2

The students climbed onto the shore that skirted the edge of the castle grounds. Hagrid led them up a short hill where they could see the silhouette of a man standing there with his arms crossed. "I'll take them, Hagrid," he said. "You can go on in."

"I'll do that, Angel," he said. "See yeh in there."

He lumbered past Angel who was at least six feet but look about three next to Hagrid. The shorter man turned to look at the first years, his features briefly illuminated by lightening; his hair was dark and spiked up, his matching eyes studying the first years carefully. His solid, broad- shouldered frame was covered in a dark red velvet shirt and they could have sworn he wore leather pants, secured by a belt. "OK, so you're the new bunch of first years. I know this'll be good," he added. Phoenix couldn't help but notice that his accent wasn't European at all, but American. "So, in a minute, you'll go into the school and be Sorted into Houses. Before that though, there are a few ground rules you should know: for one, the Forbidden Forest if off limits, believe me, you don't want to be in there any way. Two, there is a curfew in the castle and if you're found outside of your House without a good excuse, you'll regret it. Now, there are several more than that but they'll be explained later, I'm sure none of your teachers will hesitate to tell them to you but I'm personally saving my speech until your first class with me. Now that that's out of the way, let's get going."

He led them to the front of the castle and pulled open a set of giant wooden doors, holding it open for them. "Hm… I wonder what he teaches," Sam muttered.

"Health, I hope," Holly quipped.

"We don't have health here, Holl," Phoenix reminded.

"I knew that," Holly said with a sincere nod.

Angel went to another set of doors and jerked his head, signaling them to come over. He pushed the doors open and light and noise spilled over the first years. Apparently the other students had arrived before them and were now getting reacquainted. They quieted down as Angel led the first years past the four tables draped in a set of colors each; gold and red on one; silver and green on another; black and yellow on the next; and blue and bronze on the last one. The High Table at which all the teachers sat was covered in pure white. In the center was an old man with long white hair and beard. To his right was a severe looking witch with black hair pulled back into a tight bun and an emerald green cloak resting on her shoulders. The chair to his left was empty. Sam was hissing information to Phoenix and Holly under her breath. "OK, the table with the gold is Griffindor, the one with the black and yellow is Hufflepuff, the blue is Ravenclaw and the green and silver is Slytherin. You probably could have figured out Slytherin just by the looks they're giving the other tables. The old man in the center of the High Table is Dumbledore and think the woman on his right is McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress."

"Who sits on the other side of him?" Phoenix asked.

"Beats me but I would imagine that Angel guy," Sam said with a shrug.

"Alright, line up and prepare for my start-of-the-year-speech-for-first- years," Angel said, waving to the general area in front of the High Table and indicating that the first years should face the House Tables. When they were in place, he paced up and down the line, rubbing his hands as he looked at them. "First years at Hogwarts are always fun but from what I hear, this year will have a bit more kick in it. Now we have Americans to add to the mix. How many do we have, Hagrid?"

Hagrid looked up. "Baker's dozen, I think, Angel," he said.

Angel nodded. "That's a nice chunk. Personally I'm kind of curious as to how this will work. Not only grades and the like but also what Houses you'll be Sorted to. Now all of you, no matter the country, will get the chance to be in the greatest House of Griffindor…" He paused to look at the red-and-gold clad table that erupted into cheers and smiled at them. "Which I personally head. But then again, your tastes may very. Your idea of the greatest House might be Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or even Slytherin. Whichever one you're sorted to, I'm sure you'll ultimately enjoy it there.

"Now I'm sure you know that there are groups everywhere you go, no matter the country, social class or age range. You have the overall groups, like the different schools; break that down to Houses, then years, then personal friends. No matter what you look at though, there are always the ones with the certain roles. You have the leader, the reckless one, the nutcase, the cool one… and then you have my personal favorite: the badass. The one who openly swims against the tide and purposely does things the others don't like just because they don't like it. Guess who the badass with the teachers is? I'm sure it's not hard to figure out, I'm the only one willing to get seriously down and dirty when it comes to arguing with the students, I'm the only one who'll go into sporadic swear words when I'm on a role and I'm usually less mature than the ones I teach because my colleagues don't like it and let's face it, you guys have more fun anyway."

He paused as cheers and whistles erupted from the other students at the tables. Phoenix noted that the Slytherins, for the most part, stayed quiet. Angel noticed this too. "I swear, Snape teaches you Slytherins to hate me," he said. "Is that like a required course in your dungeon, How To Hate Angel 101?"

"Angel," Dumbledore said warningly.

"I'm sorry, where was I?" he said. "Ah yes, my role in the teaching community. I am a rare find and I'm sure some of you know why. If you do, I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself, at least until my first class when they'll find out anyway.

"So enough of my rambling, onto the Sorting!" he said, going by the High Table and returning with a stool, a battered old wizard's hat and a scroll of parchment. "It's easy enough, I say your name, you come over and sit on the stool with the hat on. When it says your House and drops your key, you go to the table. Fair enough? All right. Ravyn Aaronson."

The blonde head immediately separated from the line of first years and went over to Angel. She gave him a sugary sweet smile that would give someone a cavity and tossed her hair in what could have been a seductive way if she were about ten years older. "I think I'm gonna be sick," Holly said, holding Sam's shoulder for support.

"I don't think he's impressed, check it out," Phoenix said with a smile, nodding to Angel. The man was looking at the bleach-blonde with a raised eyebrow and skeptical expression.

"Thank gawd, he's not an idiot," Holly said gratefully.

Ravyn sat on the stool and set the hat on her head. The hat paused before screaming "SLYTHERIN!" to everyone in the Great Hall, scaring the first years witless. The other students laughed as the younger ones jumped.

Ravyn suddenly jumped and gasped, yanking off the hat and slapping the top of her head. Her hand found a set of dangling earrings with emerald studs in them. She sighed and sat the hat back on the table before going to the table with the rest of the Slytherins. There was a set of Conways, both boys who looked incredibly similar but one went to Slytherin and the other went to Ravenclaw. Some more people then "Phoenix Hart!"

Phoenix breathed deep and went straight to the stool, not bothering to look at Angel on her way by him. She pulled the hat on and it fell over her eyes, throwing the world into darkness. She expected the hat to take a few minutes like it had with most of the others but she'd only had it on a few seconds when it yelled out "GRIFFINDOR!"

She suddenly felt something very heavy hit her head and yelped, pulling the hat off as tears ringed her eyes. She refused to let them fall but it had hurt. She pulled down a golden bracelet-looking thing about an inch wide with designs and ruby studs circling it. She hesitated, not knowing what it was. Angel saw and immediately went over, purposely blocking her burning face from the other students. "Trade me," he said, offering the scroll. She took it, handing him the piece of jewelry. He looked at it then nodded. "Arm ring. These are rare, you must be special."

She gave a shaky smile as he pulled her cloak back and slipped the ring over her hand, pushing it up to her upper arm. He nodded toward the Griffindor table and she took the hint, handing him the scroll before finding a place amid a few empty seats.

Samantha Henderson was next and she became a Griffindor as well with a new ring to prove it. They had to wait a little longer for Holly since her last name was "Wilson" but were ecstatic when she was announced a Griffindor as well. She had Sam help her fasten on her new necklace. There were a few more people before they were all gone and Angel returned the scroll to Dumbledore as he took his place on the Headmaster's left side. The old man stood up to address the students himself. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," he said, surprisingly loud for his age. "You should all know that Quidditch trials will be held in late October, please consult your House team captain if you wish to try out if, of coarse, you are not a first year. Any other announcements will be made my your teachers, Head of House or older students. Enough of this chatter and enjoy the feast!"

Frowning, Phoenix looked to the tables and her eyes widened as they suddenly were full of food. Her and her friends gratefully began to dig into it, feeling starved. "So what's Angel's big secret?" Holly asked an older Griffindor around a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"Alas, we're sworn to secrecy," the dirty blonde boy she asked said regretfully. Off her look, he shrugged. "Hey, I'm sorry but I had to go through the same thing last year. And his classes were the last ones I went to, I think you're gonna have it better than me."

"So you're in your second year?" Phoenix asked after swallowing a bite of chicken.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Name's Aaron. I love this place, I'm gonna hate it when I graduate. It's already more home to me than London."

"I'm Sam," she said. "That's Holly and Phoenix."

"You two are Americans?" he asked, looking at Holly and Phoenix.

Holly smiled. "How could you tell?" she asked rhetorically.

He shrugged. "Lucky guess. So hey, did you get a load of that first Slytherin girl?" he asked, nodding to the green and silver table where Ravyn was fitting right in with her other Housemates. "I know she's not the first to like Angel but I think she's the most open about it."

"What was that Angel said about Snape teaching the Slytherins to hate him?" Phoenix asked.

"On to the next comment: she probably won't like him for long. Snape heads Slytherin House and him and his students hate Angel and his Griffindors," Aaron explained.

"How come?" Holly asked.

"Well, asking a Griffindor? Slytherins think they're the best and hate the Griffindors who really are," Aaron said.

"What would a Slytherin say if we asked them?" Sam asked.

"That they're the best and we're stuck up," Aaron answered, stabbing a corner of his steak. He shook his head. "I swear you'll not find more annoying people anywhere."

"I believe it," Holly said, swishing the remaining mashed potatoes with her corn. "If all Slytherins are like that Ravyn…"

"They probably are," Aaron said. "They tend to be a lot alike. Oh, and one thing you need to be careful of is that they travel in packs. Never go anywhere after classes alone if you can help it. They love prowling around and looking for any student from another House to beat up, especially Griffindors. Their favorite trick is to cast some kind of hex or curse on the victim so they can't tell on them."

"If they can't tell anyone, how do you know the Slytherins do this?" Phoenix asked.

Aaron eyed her and pointed at her. "You got a good head on your shoulders, Angel would like you," he said. "But, to answer your question, some people come up with bruises, black eyes and the like and not able to tell what happened to them. Slytherins are the only real ones who have the kind of personality to do that thing unprovoked so…"

"Well, can't they bust them for it?" Holly asked.

Aaron shook his head. "As Snape so often points out, there's not enough saying that his students did do it. And if there was, he'd probably lie to get his kids out of trouble, he favors them so much."

"Isn't that, kind of, I dunno, wrong?" Phoenix asked.

"Things are different here," he said. "Dumbledore trusts his teachers to make the right choices. Unfortunately it's only the students who dislike Snape and even then, it's only ¾ of us, Slytherins adore him. And he favors them so much it's disgusting. He gives them points out the arse for the stupidest things and takes points from everyone else for everything."

"Points?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah, it's a great way for the teachers to keep us in line since the Houses are already so competitive," he said. "Students are rewarded points for their Houses as rewards but taken away as discipline. At the end of the year, there's a big ceremony for the House who has the most points and they get the House Cup. Slytherin's won it for the past seven years, due mostly to Snape I'd imagine."

"What about Quidditch?" Sam asked.

"Houses get points for Quidditch as well," Aaron said, nodding. "That's why team captains are always looking for the best on their team. I'm going to try out to be Keeper this year, Griffindor's just graduated last year."

"Good luck," Phoenix said, lifting her goblet.

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When everyone had had their fill of the main coarse, the food disappeared and was replaced by dessert. This part was much shorter since everyone barely had enough room for it as it was. When everything was gone, Dumbledore stood and clapped his hands.

Phoenix had noticed that all throughout dinner Angel had no plate but was drinking deeply from a goblet and repeatedly filled it with a pitcher set in front of him that no one else touched. Her attention was pulled from trying to see the contents of the pitcher as the teacher poured himself another gobletful when Dumbledore spoke. "Now, I'm sure you'll all want to be well-rested for your classes tomorrow so I will now ask that the Heads of Houses take your students back to your dormitories so they will not replenish their energy during your lectures."

"'Replenish our energy'?" Holly asked Aaron as the stood.

"Sleep," Aaron smiled. "Dumbledore's good and making one word into about three or four and still make it sound good."

Angel downed the rest of his goblet and stood up. "Alright, Griffindors, this way!" he called over the rising din.

They followed him from the Dining Hall, down a marble corridor and off to another. Phoenix paid careful attention to her surroundings, noticing that they went behind a few tapestries and through revolving parts of walls. Finally they ended up in front of a large portrait of a massive lady in a pink dress. Angel turned to the students. "Now I know the others know this but the first years don't. There's a password to get into Tower but if you don't have the thing that the Sorting Hat gave you, the password is useless. The entrance is double protected, just in case. For now, the password is 'nobility'."

At once, the portrait swung open as if on hinges and revealed a gaping hole behind it. Angel stayed at the hole and helped everyone through before going in himself and closing the portrait-door. Inside was a large round room full of squashy armchairs and a large fireplace that was currently unlighted. There was a large doorway at the end of the room as well. "Right, girls to the right, boys to the left, for emergencies, I'm down the center. Good night."

The students filed through the door and split into their genders at the doorway. There were spiraling staircases to both sides and short corridor down the center at the end of which they could see a closed wooden door. Sam, Phoenix, Holly and two other girls named Michelle and Sierra went up and up the girls' staircase until they reached a door that was labeled "First Years" by a bronze plaque. They went through and saw another circular room, this one smaller with five four-poster beds hung with red velvet around it, and their trunks at the foot of each of them. On the right side of each bed was a bedside table and a light lantern above it. "Bed, bed, bed," Holly said in the monotone voice of a robot as she walked stiff-legged to the bed that had her trunk at the end. She opened her trunk and sifted through the contents. "Pajamas…"

"That's why you put the most important thing on top," Phoenix said, pulling her sweat pants and t-shirt off of the rest of her uniforms. She went onto her bed and pulled the curtains so she could have privacy while she changed.

"So how many of you are Americans?" Michelle asked as she followed Phoenix's example. Soon everyone's voice was slightly muffled by the hangings.

"Just me and Phoenix," Holly said. "We met Sam on the train."

"They're pretty nice for a couple of Yanks," Sam's voice said teasingly.

"Where in America are you from?" Sierra asked.

"Los Angeles and Chicago," Phoenix said. "We city-slickers."

"Does anyone know our class schedule?" Michelle asked. "Yank or Brit, I don't care who answers if you can save me from embarrassment."

"I think we get them in the morning," Sam said, the first to pull back her hangings. Phoenix pulled the ones of her foot back so she could replace her uniform in her trunk before blowing the lantern out at the side of her bed.

"I hope so. I don't know what it's called but that's my main fear," Michelle said, shivering. "I think it's some kind of phobia."

"I'll find it for you," Phoenix promised sleepily, falling face first into her pillows. "Good night, everyone."



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So that's it. Whattcha think? I'll continue writing on this regardless but whether I update or not of ff.net depends on reviews so R/R if ya wanna see more!! Thanks a bunch. –Fyrbird